The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 540 War starts again

Although Teng Yuzhao, who was standing at the gate of the courtyard, looked haggard, his eyes were still sharp. After his cold gaze swept across everyone's faces one by one, he suddenly spoke loudly.

"Order!"

Hearing that the order was to be given immediately after Teng Yuzao walked out of the cross-courtyard where he was self-confined, Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang were stunned. Then, they both looked worried and stared at Teng Yuzao with complicated eyes.

They were very worried that Teng Yuzao would do something drastic in his excitement.

Hu Dianjia in the crowd was slightly stunned, but he immediately stood still with the other generals, straightened his body, and waited for Teng Yuzhao's order.

Among these generals, except Liu Shijiu and Wu Peifu, all the other generals came from the Beiyang Military Academy and received systematic military training from the Germans. Under the training of the always rigid German instructors, their military posture and appearance were absolutely impeccable.

Even Liu Shijiu and Wu Peifu, under the influence and demonstration of these generals, their military posture and appearance were absolutely strict among all the new armies in the country.

Teng Yuzhao took a deep breath, as if trying his best to calm his mind, and then began to give orders in a resolute tone.

"Pan Jinshan's Sixth Regiment, the Second Artillery Regiment, will immediately go to Beicang and join the Third Regiment to attack the enemy in Beicang at midnight tonight. Hu Dianjia will be the commander-in-chief of the front line."

"Li Jinyu's Eighth Regiment, move towards Lutai immediately. Before dawn tomorrow, launch an attack on the enemy in Lutai, recapture Lutai, and cut off the connection between Dagukou and Tianjin."

"Liu Shijiu's Fourth Regiment stationed in Yutian and Cao Futian's Independent Column will secretly advance to Shanhaiguan tonight. The First Artillery Regiment will follow. Liu Shijiu, commander of the Fourth Regiment, will serve as the commander-in-chief of the front line. Attack Shanhaiguan as soon as possible and make sure to succeed in one strike and recapture Shanhaiguan."

"Close the route for the Russians outside the Great Wall to enter the Great Wall. The independent column will advance to seize the Qiansuo, Sheshanwa, Malangtun, and Songlingzizi line east of Shanhaiguan to serve as a barrier for Shanhaiguan. If the Russians outside the Great Wall attack, we must resolutely fight back."

Teng Yuzao also reminded Liu Shijiu, "Because they are worried that the Russians will monopolize Shanhaiguan, the foreign devils in Shanhaiguan now, although they have a small number of troops, are from almost all countries. They do not have troops stationed in Shanhaiguan City. The General Staff Office will send you the information about the foreign devils stationed in Shanhaiguan as soon as possible. Try to take advantage of the foreign devils' confusion in numbers and the lack of mutual command to quickly capture Shanhaiguan."

"In order to capture Shanhaiguan as quickly as possible, Xu Ting will bring a special guard squadron to accompany you to assist you in raiding Shanhaiguan and several coastal artillery positions, as well as the railway station."

"Those four forts are for sea defense, and they are vulnerable to internal defense."

Teng Yuzao looked at Li Xiance again, "Your troops are currently stationed in Lulong, which is the closest to Qinhuangdao. The Second Town will also move to Qinhuangdao tonight. There are only a few foreign devils stationed there. After your troops arrive, you must quickly control the port and dock to prevent the foreign devils' reinforcements from Dagukou from landing, protect the flanks and rear of the troops attacking Shanhaiguan, and be ready to rush to Shanhaiguan at any time."

Teng Yuzao glanced at the generals again and said firmly, "Attack the troops in Shanhaiguan and Qinhuangdao. No matter where they are now, they must enter the attack position before 3 a.m. the day after tomorrow and attack the target enemy before daybreak. There must be no mistakes."

"Yes."

All the generals except Hu Dianjia answered loudly. Hu Dianjia hesitated for a moment and then spoke.

"Marshal, if we suddenly start a war, it will violate the ceasefire agreement. Should we consult the court?"

"What the hell are you asking for instructions for!"

Before Teng Yuzao could say anything, Liu Shijiu had already glared and cursed, "What right do those people in Xi'an who have been frightened by the foreign devils have to care about the affairs of our vanguard army!"

Teng Yuzao glared at Liu Jiujiu, who was not often seen, and said sternly, "You are not allowed to be disrespectful to the imperial court. Considering that this is your first offense, I will let it go for now. If you dare to speak disrespectfully next time, be careful of military law!"

Liu Shijiu didn't care about Teng Yuzhao's scolding. He just curled his lips, glanced at Hu Dianjia, and snorted heavily.

Although Teng Yuzao scolded Liu Shijiu, no one took it seriously. This was not the first time that Liu Shijiu was disrespectful to the court. He had spoken outrageously many times before.

Because of the presence of him as the commander of the town and the connivance of former Boxer leaders such as Wang Decheng and Zhu Kaishan, the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town had no respect for the imperial court at all and they were just about to raise the flag of rebellion.

That's it, Teng Yuzao didn't do anything to Liu Shijiu!

After reprimanding Liu Shijiu, Teng Yuzao said to Hu Dianjia calmly, "The military situation is urgent, so there is no need to ask the court for instructions. If the court blames me, I will bear the responsibility alone!"

"You, follow the order!"

Although Teng Yuzhao's tone when speaking to Hu Dianjia was not harsh, he still said the last sentence with an unquestionable tone.

"Yes!"

Although he had noticed many unfriendly looks directed at him, Hu Dianjia still responded calmly.

Seeing Hu Dianjia accept the order, Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said calmly to the generals who received the order, "You don't have to worry about me. Time is running out. Go back to the troops and prepare."

After several generals who received their missions saluted Teng Yuzao, they began to leave in a hurry. Before Liu Shijiu left, he carefully looked at Teng Yuzao again and bowed to him, "Marshal, take good care of yourself!"

After saying that, Liu Shijiu took a big step and left with everyone else without looking back.

Hu Dianjia's questioning of Teng Yuzao's military order instantly made Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang nervous, because they had seen several generals preparing to reach for their guns. Fortunately, Hu Dianjia finally accepted the military order, which made the two of them feel relieved. Otherwise,
Teng Yuzao watched the backs of these generals disappear behind the Moon Gate a dozen steps away, then turned around and said to Wei Jinghai in a calm tone, "Ningbo, are there any reporters waiting outside the county government office?"

Although Wei Jinghai was caught off guard by the series of orders suddenly issued by Teng Yuzao, and was even a little surprised that Teng Yuzao suddenly decided to start a war with the foreign devils again, Wei Jinghai still hurriedly replied, "Marshal, these days those reporters have been rushing to the outside of the headquarters early in the morning, and they will not leave until dark. Yesterday, several foreign reporters also came, including Morrison, the reporter from The Times. He also requested to interview you, but I blocked him outside."

Teng Yuzhao nodded, raised the contract document in his hand, and spoke to Yang Shixiang, Xu Shichang, and Liu Yuzhi and Wu Peifu who had no combat mission.

"Aren't those reporters eager to know what I, Teng Yuzao, think of the peace treaty signed between the imperial court and the coalition of foreign powers? I will satisfy their request right away."

"Besides, it's time for us to make our stance clear."

"Commander!"

Yang Shixiang glanced at the few people who stayed behind and knew that these generals were Teng Yuzhao's absolute confidants. Although Xu Shichang's attitude was not very clear, he still spoke softly to Teng Yuzhao.

"Now that the foreigners have not retreated and public grievances are rising, in this critical situation, the Marshal should strive to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

Teng Yuzao naturally understood the meaning of Yang Shixiang's reminder. If Teng Yuzao openly broke with the court now, the court in Xi'an would certainly be in danger, but without this nominal maintaining force, the provinces in the country would immediately fall apart and within a short period of time split into several self-protective or even independent countries. The scene of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period would probably be repeated.

The only way to deal with it now is to quickly stabilize the domestic chaos and wait until the foreigners retreat and cannot interfere with the local politics of various provinces by force in a short period of time before making long-term plans.

Teng Yuzao smiled bitterly and nodded, "Please be at ease, Lianfu, I know what to do."

Teng Yuzao looked up at the clean blue sky, sighed deeply, and said for no reason, "Lianfu, do you still remember these two lines from Wang Bo's "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng": 'The sky is high and the earth is vast, and I feel the infinity of the universe; when joy ends and sadness comes, I know that fullness and emptiness are limited.'"

These two sentences are famous lines from "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng". How could Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang, two civil servants who passed the imperial examination and were born in the Hanlin Academy of the time, not remember them? When they heard Teng Yuzhao recite these two sentences, their worries suddenly disappeared and they couldn't help but smile.

Although he was clearly asking Yang Shixiang, Teng Yuzao did not wait for Yang Shixiang's answer. Instead, he took a deep breath again and spoke to several people in a calm tone.

"Those reporters are so concerned about our vanguard army. I should meet them. You can follow me to meet those reporters outside."

"Okay! Let's accompany the Marshal to meet these reporters." Yang Shixiang responded happily.

Outside the temporary headquarters, in the shade across the street, dozens of Chinese and foreign reporters were braving the scorching heat. The most conspicuous among these people were a few foreigners with high noses and blue eyes. There was even a tall and strong foreign woman with blonde hair and blue eyes among them.

These Chinese and foreign reporters sat on chairs that they had gotten from somewhere, talking to each other and glancing from time to time at the open door of the temporary headquarters which was guarded by a large group of vanguard soldiers, all wanting to find out what was going on inside the quiet governor's headquarters.

There were not only these reporters waiting on the street where pedestrians were sparsely populated due to the tight security. In the shade on the right side of the street, there were hundreds of vanguard officers and soldiers, all carrying Mauser pistols, and more than 200 tall Western war horses they carried.

It is obvious at first sight that these tall foreign horses were probably captured by the vanguard army from the coalition forces of the great powers.

Although these vanguard officers and soldiers who are with their war horses live in houses on the street at night, they will take turns to wait on the street during the day. The horses are also taken care of by special people, and they look like they can leave at any time.

These reporters all knew that Teng Yuzao had not seen anyone in the past two days, which made them want to meet Teng Yuzao even more to find out why this legendary general and governor who fought against the coalition of eight powers alone lost his temper.

Just a moment ago, several fast horses came running, and several vanguard soldiers who looked like messengers hurried into the camp.

According to the news these reporters received from their companions who stayed in Baoding at the Langfang Telegraph Office last night, they have learned that a peace treaty that is extremely unfavorable to the Qing Dynasty has been signed. They speculated that this is most likely the signed peace terms sent to the young Governor-General of Zhili.

Although these reporters were still unclear about the specific contents of the contract, they had already learned that the peace treaty would be signed in the near future. Moreover, according to what the foreigners said a few days ago, this peace treaty might very well be unfavorable to the Qing Dynasty.

Now, they are more eager to know how the general governor inside will react! Any of his actions may have a profound and huge impact on the current domestic situation.

You know, some well-informed reporters have said that this contract, which has just been released, has caused public outrage after some special editions, including the one that was issued last night, were issued. It is said that in some cities, people took to the streets overnight to protest against the signing of this peace treaty.

The commotion in the three towns of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang was even more serious. According to telegrams sent to them by their companions or newspapers, if it were not for the strenuous dissuasion of Zhang Zhidong, the Governor of Huguang, there would have been another attack on the Hankou Concession last night. It is said that the consuls of various countries in Hankou had already fled to the warships in the Yangtze River at night.

At this critical moment, any spark would cause huge turmoil, especially the attitude of the victorious general in the temporary headquarters, which would cause a huge shock to the municipal government. It is even possible that he would cause a huge shock that would cause the earth to collapse.

These reporters saw that almost all the senior generals of the Vanguard Army came here with serious expressions, and the officers and soldiers of the Vanguard Army waiting on the street with horses were their horsemen.

However, these senior generals of the vanguard army have not been heard from since they entered the heavily guarded headquarters the day before yesterday and yesterday respectively. This made the reporters feel that something really was about to happen, and made them even more eager to know what was going on inside.

However, the reporters' sight was, without exception, completely blocked by the tall and thick screen wall inside the headquarters' gate.

They could only prick up their ears and listen hard to any sound coming from the small headquarters to judge and speculate what was happening inside.

Some reporters with sharp ears and eyes seemed to hear the sound of something being thrown and smashed inside, but now there was no sound, which made these reporters feel itchy.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of hurried running from inside. First, several adjutants of the senior generals of the vanguard army who had followed them into the headquarters ran out quickly, shouting loudly to the groomsmen who were waiting on the street.

Following the shouts of these adjutants, not only did the vanguard officers and soldiers waiting on the street stand up immediately and quickly untie the reins of their horses, but hundreds of officers and soldiers who were resting in houses on the street also hurried out, led their horses, and hurried to the gate of the governor's headquarters.

Before the horsemen could bring the horses over, a group of senior generals of the vanguard army followed the adjutants and walked out of the camp with serious expressions, waiting anxiously for the horsemen to bring the horses over.
(End of this chapter)