Chapter 72 The Longest Day and Night (21)

The Qing army generals went straight to Wude Temple, ten kilometers away from the city. The light rain that had stopped during the night battle began to drizzle again. More than a dozen people led hundreds of personal soldiers to move forward in the rain, "Little horse, are there Japanese troops guarding the temple?"

"I didn't see this, but I took my men around the temple for a while, but I didn't see any soldiers, and there were people everywhere."

"Good boy! You have made a contribution this time." Giltoa smiled and cursed, turning to ask Du Xinyuan, "Old Du, your soldiers are very good! How about using them for me?"

"Go to you, Xiao Ma is my man. When will it be your turn to use it?"

"I want to promote him, but there is no future with you anyway." The battle ended successfully, and Giltoa was relaxed and joked with his comrades unscrupulously.

"Bah!" Du Xinyuan glared at his triangular eyes and ignored him.

Several people continued to move forward with laughter and soon, they could see the tall and magnificent buildings of Wutoji Temple. The Qing army soldiers did not know that Wutoji Temple was built to commemorate the eminent monk Jianzhen of the Tang Dynasty and to promote Buddhism. Like the Shoti Temple in Nara, they were all built under the supervision and guidance of Chinese craftsmen who accompanied Jianzhen to Japan to the east.

After hundreds of years of erosion of wind and rain, Wude Temple has only the Golden Hall, and the Lecture Hall and the East Pagoda are the original objects when it was first built. The other halls and pavilions were later rebuilt. The inner center is worshipped by Lusanna Buddha, with the Medicine Buddha and Thousand-Handed Guanyin on both sides, and the Four Heavenly Kings are surrounded by the gable walls. The courtyard is planted with famous flowers and flowers such as pine trees, osmanthus, peonies, peonies, and jade flowers from China. Before Zhang Yunlan and others entered the temple, they could smell the fragrance of rushing into the nose tube.

"Where are people?" Zhang Yunlan asked.

"Go now." Xiaoma rushed up quickly and pushed open the half-closed temple gate. Immediately, a few Qing soldiers heard the movement and turned to look, "Boss?"

"How is it, nothing unexpected happened?"

"No, the little Japanese are very honest." A Qing soldier in the head replied with a smile, "Are you here? Oh, please give me my respect!"

Zhang Yunlan stepped into the temple gate and waved his hand to the warrior who landed on one knee to pay his respects to him, "Get up." He asked, "Didn't you say there are many Japanese here? Where are they?"

"In the clearing ground behind the main hall, the brothers are watching them."

"take me."

He led Zhang Yunlan and others through the main hall. Behind it was a huge square, sitting or standing, crowded with people. When he looked down on the steps, there were dense crowds of people everywhere. I don’t know how many people were. There were men, women, young and old, looking at the Qing soldiers standing with guns around him with fear. A woman held the child in her arms tightly, as if she was afraid that the child would run around and anger the other party.

Zhang Yunlan glanced around and said, "Lao Ji, what do you say?"

"So many people, just eating is troublesome. Hegang Mansion is dilapidated and cannot tolerate them..."

"I think the environment here is pretty good. It is surrounded by mountains and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is better to serve as a residence for the military gate and the command center of our army." Du Xinyuan said, "As for the people, whether the elderly, weak, women and children, men can also be used as laborers - there are also our ships at sea, and there are still many equipment on it that have not been unloaded, so use these people."

"Old Du's method is good." Zhang Yunlan nodded immediately and turned around and called, "Meng Tongyi? Where is Tongyi?"

"Here, sir, I... are here!"

Zhang Yunlan turned around and looked at the general translator who ran with sweat on his face, "I just said that you scholars must be like soldiers, and you will train more on weekdays so that it will work then. Look at how you look now? You look like a betrayal dog!"

The general translation of the surname Meng, there is no need to mention the hatred in my heart. On the surface, I have to salute respectfully, "What the lord said is that it is all the fault of a humble position."

"You go and tell these Japanese people that the middle-aged man stands on one side, the woman and the child stands on the other side, and the elderly stand in the middle."

After a busy schedule, the people were divided into three groups, Zhang Yunlan, Du Xinyuan, and Zhou Cheng whispered a few times, and everyone looked bitter, "Sir, this is not possible, right?"

"What's not okay? You can't work and only know how to eat. What's the point of asking him for? Go quickly, go quickly!"

Du Xinyuan and others had no choice but to get down the steps and walk into the crowd. The woman, the child, walked slowly by in a team composed of adult men and the elderly. Seeing that they were thin, the elderly pointed with their hands and picked him out and organized them into a team again. The rest stood there and waited for the next instructions.

This is not a job that can be completed in a short time. There are many men in the Hegang Mansion, so you have to choose for a while. Zhang Yunlan was bored and stepped down the steps and went to the queue of women on the other side. "Translation, let them raise their heads."

Meng Tongyi said it, and the faces of hundreds of women changed to face upwards, allowing the tall and tall men to look at them from top to bottom. Zhang Yunlan looked at them and cursed in her heart, all of them were ugly ghosts! Damn, why didn’t even look good? Seeing their faces look like earth, as if they hadn’t eaten a full meal in ten days, they really couldn’t get interested at all!

The personal soldiers followed him, and they were funny. Like Zhu Hongzhang, Zhang Yunlan fell in love with this tone after enjoying the charm of a foreign woman on the Russian battlefield back then. Not to mention the latter, Zhang Yunlan has been in the army for many years and has been fighting for the country for many years. Almost every time he goes, he has to send someone to collect local beautiful women for himself. Even when he is in Vietnam, he has not let it go. This time he arrived in Japan, he probably has this kind of thought again.

In fact, even if such a thing is happening, it is nothing. The rough men in the army are often in the camp, and their yang energy is excited and they cannot vent. They have to find a way to vent their anger. What a great thing to play with one or two Japanese women? Unfortunately, it is a pity that Hegang Mansion has not been able to look down on the adults.

Zhou Cheng and his friends selected strong people among the crowd while watching coldly, "Old Du? Look?"

"What?" Du Xinyuan turned his head and smiled knowingly, "The Grand Marshal seems to be so suffocating? I heard that when he was fighting with the Russians, he would come to this time every time he fought. He was comparable to Huo Qubing back then!"

"Isn't this a violation of military law?"

"He has a special physique, even the emperor knows it." Zhou Cheng said with a smile, "Although the order is not easy to write, the generals in the army are all very clear. However, looking at his appearance, there is nothing to worry about."

Du Xinyuan smiled and suddenly pointed with his hand, "Hey! What are you looking at?" After saying that, he raised his hand and slapped a Japanese man who looked back!

The man was looking at Zhang Yunlan's movements with an impatient expression, frowned from time to time, as if he was having a silent communication with a woman, and he didn't want to see it for Du Xinyuan, "What's wrong, Old Du?"

"He is making faces." Du Xinyuan said, "Hey, who are you playing with just now?"

The Japanese was frightened, shook his head and waved his hands, and said, "What did he say?" Zhou Cheng asked Tongzhi.

“He said, ‘He didn’t do anything’.”

Zhou Cheng stared at the Japanese man for a few glances, as if he didn't believe his words, and suddenly pointed with his hand, "Drag him out and shoot him!"

Two Qing soldiers moved when they heard the order, grabbed the Japanese's arms and dragged them out. The latter was so scared that they sat on the ground, pressing the stone slabs on the ground with their heels, screaming. Others couldn't understand what he said, and they didn't care at all. They pulled his clothes and dragged him out. A Qing soldier raised his rifle and pointed it at the back of his head. The man was so scared that his face was full of tears. He knew that his life was about to come, and he was limp on the ground, and he didn't even have the power to resist.

From the other two groups of people, a pair of old men, three women and several children ran out, and it was obvious that this was a family. Seven or eight people gathered around the man, knelt down, and used their foreheads to thump on the stone slabs in the yard, and said, "They are talking..."

"You don't need to translate this, I can understand it." Zhou Cheng sneered, "Drag them all away! Execute immediately!"

Several soldiers came over and separated the family of men, women and young men. As they were crying and screaming, the sentenced soldier shot the man's head with one shot! The blood instantly dyed the ground red, like a small river, winding, "Next time, if someone lies to us again, this person is a role model!"

Zhou Cheng pointed with his hand and ordered in a cold voice, "Tell them my words!"

His cold-hearted manner immediately shocked the audience. The people cast their eyes at him again, full of resentment and fear, but the effect of killing one to warn a hundred was also excellent. In the next day, the Qing army commanded the Japanese people, like an arm and finger, without any hindrance. The latter would obediently do whatever they wanted, and would be more obedient than the most docile child.

On July 17, the supplies from many Qing warships, including the Dingyuan ship, were unloaded. Deng Shichang waved his hand to say goodbye to Zhang Yunlan and others. "" returned to China, and there was nothing to say on the way. On July 21, he arrived at Weihai Pier, Shandong.

Here, there are three urgent matters to deal with. First, send people to send the memorials drafted by Zhang Yunlan, Zhou Cheng, Giltoa and others back to Beijing. Second, add water and fuel to the ship; third, arrange the second wave of army troops in Weihai Port, with a total of twenty battalions of troops boarding the ship and preparing to set off again.

Before he arrived at the port, the troops transporting Zhu Hongzhang to the Chaohu, which arrived at the Saitan Mansion and the Jiyuan, which transported the troops led by Bao Chao to the Wenhai Mansion, had already returned to Ludagang and Yantai Port in advance. Like Deng Shichang, the return warships also brought memorials drafted by the generals of each army. Unlike Deng Shichang, the Qing army troops in these two aspects did not encounter any danger and almost stood firm in the Japanese mainland.

The emperor was naturally very happy that being able to gain a foothold in Japan so smoothly has an indescribable significance for the next step of strategic development, and it can also dispel the mouths of those among the court officials who do not have much hope for this war!

But this kind of good mood disappeared before Zhang Yunlan and others sent their memorials to resist. He sucked his teeth like a toothache, and there was a constant sound in his mouth, "Have you read the memorials?"

"Yes, I have seen it all." Yi said, "More than 4,500 soldiers were killed; more than 1,400 wounded people all wiped out the Hegang Mansion, which was defended by more than 1,400 heavy troops. I think that our losses are of course great, but the Japanese side is even more unbearable!"

"I am not worried about this, but the comparison of the number of people," Shen Baozhen said, "The Japanese side has long been planning to destroy the troops landing in Hegang Prefecture when our army is unstable. Although the matter has not been achieved, the emperor must prepare for the cause and effect."

"How do you say this?"

"Our army landing troops are in a foreign country and have no information about each other, which has led to today's failure. However, the many soldiers in Saita and Wenhai cannot support friendly forces at all? This is certainly because the Japanese army has already formulated a plan to separate and eliminate our army. And the fact that our green camp cannot be informed of each other is also a big disadvantage!"

The emperor covered his mouth with his hands and coughed a few times, "Shen Baozhen is right. After the generals in the three places are disembarking, they cannot make the news accessible. Each army can only fight on their own. This is indeed a situation that needs to be changed quickly! Tings from Zhu Hongzhang and others, tolerating them to do everything possible to get through the current dilemma of not having any news. Before the entire army lands on August 19, we must be able to speak to each other!"

"... Also, although they did not conduct detailed discussions, they had asked the Japanese to deal with the problems. How should you answer them?" The emperor raised his legs comfortably and threw the problem down. "Set this matter together, send it with the court and send it to Japan."

...


Chapter completed!