The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 514 Poor Li Hongzhang

After sitting for a while and talking so much, Ronglu, who had been ill for more than half a year, felt a little tired.

But Cixi suddenly mentioned that Teng Yuzhao led the vanguard troops to attack the foreigners. Ronglu could only cheer himself up, took a sip of hot tea, and tried to think hard.

"Empress Dowager, the battle in Taihang Mountain just ended a month ago. Both the vanguard army and the foreigners have obviously not recovered yet. Teng Xingfu is gathering a large army and actively seeking a battle. It is obvious that he wants to force the foreigners to start peace talks with us as soon as possible. In this regard, Teng Xingfu is thinking the same as us."

Ronglu covered his mouth with his hands and coughed a few times, suppressing the discomfort in his chest.

Cixi was not worried about whether the foreigners would continue to send more troops. This was obviously because Teng Yuzhao's memorial had worked, indicating that Cixi generally agreed with Teng Yuzhao's judgment that the foreigners would not continue to send more troops.

Therefore, Ronglu did not mention whether the foreigners would send more troops, but continued.

"Empress Dowager, since the war began, Teng Xingfu has fought with fewer troops against more, but he has always been able to find opportunities to destroy part of the foreign coalition forces with superior forces in a local area. This time, the foreigners besieged Luzhou Prefecture from three directions, which is a good example."

"Now, although Teng Xingfu has suffered heavy losses and has just received a large number of new recruits, the main force of the vanguard army is still there. Most of these new recruits have undergone a month or two of training in Luzhou. In addition, after the recruitment, Teng Xingfu has been conducting high-intensity training for a period of time. The new recruits are also well fed and their morale is high."

"Such an army is certainly inferior to those veterans who have fought many battles, but with the same number of troops, it may not be inferior to the foreign coalition forces, and the chances of winning the battle are not small."

"On the other hand, although the foreign coalition forces still have more than 400,000 troops, they can be stationed in three places. This gives Teng Xingfu another opportunity. As long as Teng Xingfu concentrates a certain number of troops, no matter where he wants to deal with the foreigners, he will have an advantage in terms of military strength. This is one reason."

"Secondly, the foreigners have just suffered a great defeat, and their morale is definitely not as high as that of the vanguard army. Although the Japanese and Russians have also sent some troops to reinforce them, it is still a drop in the bucket and can't help much."

"Teng Xingfu will definitely not fight with the foreigners. Both sides will try their best to fight it out."

"Third, Teng Xingfu has won a series of great victories. Not to mention the Maxim machine guns he has now, he has captured hundreds of cannons. In terms of the number of cannons alone, he is not only not inferior to the foreigners, but also has a certain advantage. He now has two artillery towns. If they are concentrated in any one place, the foreigners will not be able to resist."

"This time, Teng Xingfu's siege of Langfang hit the waist of the foreigners' long snake formation. I guess that in this battle, Teng Xingfu must have concentrated 150,000 or 160,000 troops, if not 200,000. There are probably 300 to 400 cannons. Although the foreign coalition forces in Langfang are said to have 100,000, they can't hold out for long under the attack of so many cannons."

Ronglu frowned and continued, "Now it depends on whether the foreign devils in Tianjin and Beijing can rescue the foreigners in Langfang in time."

"So, I think that in this battle, Teng Xingfu will win, and the foreign coalition forces will be defeated. It is very likely that they will lose more than 100,000 people."

"Once the foreign coalition forces in Langfang were defeated by Teng Xingfu, the foreign coalition forces that stayed in the capital would become an isolated army without a rear base, and they would not be able to stay there. If they did not flee back to Tianjin in time, they would be hard to escape from Teng Xingfu's hands."

Finally, Ronglu vowed to Cixi, "Empress Dowager, I can say with certainty that as long as Teng Xingfu takes Langfang, the foreigners will surely rush to make peace with us."

Ronglu's analysis made Cixi stunned. After a long while, she asked in surprise.

"Zhonghua, if we don't negotiate peace, do you think it's possible for Teng Xingfu to use the vanguard army, or add Yuan Weiting's army, to recapture Tianjin and drive the foreigners out of Zhili?"

Cixi's words made Ronglu smile bitterly.

"Empress Dowager, according to Teng Xingfu, as long as we are willing to keep going, the foreigners will not be able to hold out."

"Just don't forget, Queen Mother. Some time ago, the foreigners were instigating Li Shaoquan, Zhang Xiangtao and others to divide the territory and establish their own regimes. Now that Teng Xingfu has won consecutive victories, such rumors have disappeared. These people are worried that Teng Xingfu will defeat the foreigners and then strike back to deal with them."

"But if the foreigners are forced to send reinforcements, Teng Xingfu will still have to fight and retreat, and the consequences will be unpredictable. Not to mention that there may be others ready to make moves. If the war drags on, the Russians will have to gain a foothold outside the Great Wall. That is the foundation of us Manchus, and we must not lose it!" Cixi shook her head with a wry smile and sighed.

"Zhonghua, I am a little greedy. What you said makes sense. I hope Teng Xingfu will not let us down."

"Well, since Teng Xingfu has a great chance of winning, let's discuss the rules for the peace talks."

Ronglu thought for a moment and said, "Empress Dowager, now that Teng Xingfu has published that article, his reputation has soared. Even Zhang Xiangtao is eager to get some credit from Teng Xingfu and has published an article to show his support for Teng Xingfu. We cannot lag behind, lest the people be instigated by those with ulterior motives and criticize the court."

Cixi raised her eyebrows and asked, "Zhonghua, do you mean that we should also make it clear to the world that we support Teng Xingfu?"

"Correct."

Ronglu said affirmatively, "This decree must be issued as soon as possible, at the latest as soon as Teng Xingfu captures Langfang, and then it should be announced to the whole country to make clear the court's attitude."

"Nothing."

Ronglu said carefully, "Don't mention the court's conditions for peace talks in the decree, just praise Teng Xingfu highly."

"Then we can secretly send an order to Li Shaoquan, asking him to negotiate with the foreigners according to Teng Xingfu's terms first."

"This way, no matter what the final outcome of the peace talks is, the court can advance or retreat."

Cixi nodded, then said to Ronglu with some regret.

"If this happens, I'm afraid Li Shaoquan will suffer alone."

Ronglu didn't say anything, just nodded silently.

He understood that if the peace talks had a good result, the people would attribute the credit to Teng Yuzhao, but if the peace talks had a bad result, even if it was just paying some silver as compensation, Li Hongzhang would be scolded by the people of the world.

No matter what the outcome of the peace talks is, the imperial court will not be affected. It can be said that this move has only benefits and no disadvantages for the imperial court.

Cixi sighed again, "Well, I won't bother with Li Shaoquan's Southeast Mutual Protection. In addition, I will confer the title of Third-Class Zhenguo Duke on Li Shaoquan as compensation."

After saying this, Cixi seemed to be relieved from her guilt towards Li Hongzhang and said to Ronglu.

"Zhonghua, if that's the case, we are going to accept Teng Xingfu's peace proposal in its entirety. Then tell me, will the foreigners eventually accept these proposals?"

"In other words, which ones are they most likely to accept? Which ones are they least likely to accept?"

Ronglu thought for a moment and said, "Empress Dowager, my humble opinion is that we should accept Teng Xingfu's peace proposal in its entirety without changing a single word, and use these as the basis for the peace talks."

Ronglu smiled bitterly and said, "The foreigners have never suffered such a big loss at our hands. This is probably a great shame and humiliation for them. I really can't think of the terms that the foreigners are most likely to accept."

(End of this chapter)