The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 96: Clash of Consciousness

Liu Jiujiu not only did not understand Teng Yuzhao's order, he even felt a little resistant. Although the current slogan of the Boxer Rebellion was "Support the Qing and Destroy the Foreigners", their previous purpose had always been to destroy the foreigners. Now he suddenly could not kill foreigners in vain, which made him feel a little embarrassed. Liu Jiujiu was conflicted and opened his mouth for a long time without saying a word.

Teng Yuzhao naturally understood the dilemma in Liu Shijiu's mind, but he still did not change his original intention.

In his previous life, Teng Yuzao was also an old bookworm, and he would even read occasionally. Because of this, he was said by many book fans to be heartless. But even after traveling through time, Teng Yuzao was still not ready to change. If killing innocent people indiscriminately was heartless, then he would rather not have such heartlessness.

You must be ruthless to your enemy, but being the same to their women, children and the weak is cruel.

Liu Shijiu must resolve this knot himself.

Similarly, if the Boxers wanted to join the Vanguard Army, they had to get rid of this knot in their hearts, otherwise Teng Yuzhao would rather not have it.

Although Teng Yuzao wanted to recruit Liu Shijiu and his Qianzi Regiment, this Qianzi Regiment not only had better discipline, but most of the members were strong young men around 20 years old. If they could be successfully recruited, they would definitely be the best soldiers. But even so, Teng Yuzao still did not want to change his original intention.

Moreover, Teng Yuzhao now has a thought that he cannot say out loud, which is that this battle must be fought after all.

Liu Shijiu's face flushed and he opened his mouth but couldn't speak. Teng Yuzhao didn't say anything either, but pretended not to see it. With a heavy face, he took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a big puff.

Seeing that the atmosphere in the regiment headquarters was a bit weird, Li Xiance wanted to relax it, but no words came out when he opened his mouth. He knew that his superior was stubborn and would never change his mind once he made up his mind. He also agreed with Teng Yuzao's words that the only ones who needed to change were Liu Shijiu and his Qianzi Regiment. This made Li Xiance unable to think of any words to comfort him.

Li Jinyu even quietly took a step back, and with the help of Wu Peifu's cover, he reached out to his waist and secretly grasped the handle of the revolver on his belt.

Liu Shijiu is a martial arts expert. If he suddenly attacks, I'm afraid no one in the regiment will be his match.

In this strange atmosphere, a Shandong accent suddenly sounded. It was Wu Peifu who spoke.

Wu Peifu said softly, "Master, Master, what my teacher said is right. If we kill foreigners and Christians without distinguishing right from wrong, we will kill many innocent people. It has been said since ancient times that killing prisoners is unlucky, not to mention killing civilians indiscriminately."

"Moreover, to take a step back, there are also good people among the foreigners and Christians. Once we kill them indiscriminately, we will push all the foreigners and Christians to the opposite side of us. These people will regard the Vanguard Army as a flood and a beast. Since they are bound to die, how can they not fight us to the death? In that case, our casualties will increase greatly, which is equivalent to us unnecessarily increasing our own casualties, and public opinion will be extremely unfavorable to the Vanguard Army. Therefore, indiscriminate killing is not only of no benefit to us, but also extremely harmful."

Liu Shijiu's real name is Liu Chengxiang, also from Penglai, Shandong. Because of his good martial arts, he became the eldest brother of the Boxer Rebellion at the age of 19, so he was called Liu Shijiu. As time went by, people had forgotten his name.

Due to the severe suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in Shandong, Liu Shijiu also brought a dozen of his trusted brothers to settle in Gaojia Village, Jinghai, Tianjin.

Liu Jiujiu had already said this during the meal just now, and because of this, he recognized Wu Peifu, who was also from Penglai, Shandong, as a fellow countryman. Liu Jiujiu was more receptive to the words of this fellow countryman. Liu Jiujiu sighed, his expression eased, and said to Teng Yuzao, "Brother, I understand what Ziyu said. I can also restrain the brothers from killing civilians indiscriminately, but there is something I want to ask you in person. There are rumors that you were seduced by the foreign lady of Lihe Foreign Trade Bank and not only released the seriously injured captured foreign devils, but also released all the German prisoners. Is this true?"

Teng Yuzao had long expected that the issue of releasing the prisoners would be brought up, and he was mentally prepared for this. Moreover, it was someone like Liu Shijiu, so he had to explain it clearly, otherwise Liu Shijiu would probably break off all ties with him from then on.

"It is true, but I was not induced by anyone," Teng Yuzhao answered without hiding anything.

"What! You actually did this!"

Teng Yuzao's words immediately made Liu Shijiu explode. His face turned pale and he said word by word in a cold tone, "Brother, you must have your reasons for doing this. I wonder if you can tell me why you did this. Could it be that you were seduced by that foreign woman?"

Not only was Liu Shijiu's tone cold, but he also chose words without restraint. He no longer used relatively elegant words such as "foreign lady" and "temptation", but directly used more colloquial words such as "foreign woman" and "seduction", which showed his inner anger and that his emotions were on the verge of exploding.

Teng Yuzao threw the cigarette butt in his hand on the ground and crushed it with his foot, then said, "Since you understand what Ziyu said, I won't say more. I will just answer your question."

"In fact, not killing foreign prisoners and releasing seriously injured foreigners is similar to the principle of not killing innocent people. Don't say that killing prisoners is unlucky. If I kill all the captured prisoners, and then fight the coalition forces again in the future, every one of them will resist to the end, and even drag one of us down with them before they die. Brother, do you think we will suffer more casualties?"

"Now that they know that they can save their lives by being captured by our vanguard army, do you think they will still fight to the death with us if they cannot win?"

"As for releasing the seriously injured, it is the same as not killing the prisoners. If I don't treat them, they will die in my hands, which is no different from killing them. If I treat them, I will have to pay for their medical expenses in vain. Why don't I hand these wounded over to them?"

"You know, it costs money for the foreigners to treat their seriously injured soldiers, and their military expenditure is not blown by the wind, it is also limited."

"Moreover, many of these seriously injured soldiers cannot return to the battlefield even if they are treated. In addition, there is an international convention to treat the wounded of the other side. If we keep them in our hands and do not treat them, it would be a violation of morality and justice."

Seeing that Liu Shijiu had fallen into deep thought, Teng Yuzao put his hands behind his back and began to pace slowly on the ground.

"I would also like to ask my brother, do you think we can win this war?" Teng Yuzhao suddenly asked again.

"Of course we can. Those foreign devils are just barbarians from small countries. How can we lose if they fight us..."

Liu Shijiu's voice became smaller and smaller, and in the end it was almost inaudible.

Thanks: Book friend Qiang Xing Kong Ji. Zuima had not studied Liu Shijiu in detail and did not really know his real name. I started to add it in this chapter, but it was difficult to change the age issue. According to the protagonist’s age, he should be older than Liu Shijiu, so I had to continue using it. Thanks again to the book friend!
Thanks: caibing7611, 150508183717186, 20191227220704278, Laogui Wu Ge, Stubborn Ao, Shenlan and other book friends for their strong support!
Your support is the driving force of Zuima!
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(End of this chapter)