Section 125: Ministry of War discusses military affairs (1)

After the battle in Fushan City was over, the Qing army began to clean up the battlefield. During the battle on this day, the Qing army paid a heavy price of 8,200 casualties. If we calculate the reason for Hu Xiaomao's early defeat, the Qing army threw down more than 14,000 corpses inside and outside Fushan City!

When the battle was reported to Beijing, the emperor's good mood was wiped out! In the memorial drafted by Li Hongzhang and Bao Chao a few days ago, Sanyuan City had been successfully and completely captured by the Zhongzhao team. The total number of casualties was less than half of Fushan City. Why are there such serious casualties here?

When he heard Yi read the memorial halfway, he waved his hand to interrupt him, "Okay. That's it for the time being. Don't read the ones behind him anymore."

Yi agreed, slowly took a step back and stood at the head of the queue, "Your Majesty, I am thinking, I am using troops to Japan and paying attention to the world. Now that the soldiers are suffering and casualties are so serious,... I should have made plans early."

This sentence made the emperor very disliked. "What do you mean to make early plans?" he asked, "What do you want to say? What is the plan? Should you ask foreigners to reconcile them? Or just retreat in shame? What do you say about the Green Camp soldiers who died in battle? What do you say about the naval infantry who sacrificed their lives for the country to the sea?"

Yi was startled and was about to kneel down. The emperor shook his arm impatiently, "Okay!" He left his seat and walked around the room. "I told you that the battle between China and Japan must be fought to the point where one of them was destroyed and the race could not be stopped. As long as I am still the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, this matter will definitely not be mentioned again!"

"Think about it, how much money the imperial court spent and how many people died in the country, I will not mention these for the time being, but if there is no result in the war, I will start a peace talk? At this time, I ask the foreigners to relax. What should we talk to the Japanese? Should we compensate the other party or ask the other party to compensate?" He stared at Yi, who was lowered his head, "You have been in charge of the General Administration for many years, and you have to use your brain before speaking!"

Yigan swallowed and spitted, "Yes, what the emperor taught me is that my brothers are always unclear in their affairs, so please forgive me."

Seeing that his face turned blue, Shen Baozhen did not relieve his guilt for Yi. He knew that Yi's words made the emperor dislike. If there was any serious dismissal in anger, the matter would be a little difficult to deal with. Therefore, he whispered, "Emperor, in the battle of Fushan City, the soldiers of the Green Camp fought bloody battles, among which Bi Guangrong, Liu Heng, Cheng Zhangzan and others served the country and sacrificed their lives on the battlefield. It is better to be commended."

"Well," this sentence really worked, and the emperor's mind was divided. "Great praise! Since the war on Japan began in early July this year, all heroes who sacrificed for the country will be greatly praised! The cabinet will draw an order to issue the whole country; those who are above the rank of garrison will set up graves in their hometowns, and stele inscriptions; and those who are from the army will write their names and origins to be written one by one, and welcome them to the Zhaoli Temple in the capital to enjoy our Qing Dynasty forever and enjoy the highest level of pensions and silver in the army. Those who are under the garrison will also pay the highest level of pensions in the army. Those who are disabled due to injuries will immediately return to their hometown, and the four-level yamen at the province, road, prefecture, and county level will pay for their lives; and one person will be chosen from their homes and granted public office."

Seeing him talking nonstop, he seemed to continue to say something. Shen Baozhen complained in his heart: This is too much, right? Soldiers carry guns and eat food, and fight for the country is their duty. How could they be rewarded with a generous reward? "Emperor, Emperor?"

"Hmm? What?"

"I think that all these are enough to inspire the soldiers, thank you for your kindness, and fight bravely."

"Okay, just follow what you said, and that's all. Oh..." He had a sudden inspiration and added another one, "All the generals who are in charge of the first level will be rewarded with the Lie Yong Baturuga."

"yes."

"Just like that, let's go down."

After retreating several military affairs offices, the emperor immediately summoned Zhu Hongzhang. He received the imperial decree from the court and returned to the country by boat from Hegang Mansion. The road was exhausted and he felt even more panicked: although the decree resisted Shangguan for Zhang Yunlan and insulted his colleagues, he scolded him severely and removed his title of Assistant Minister of War, but in comparison, the power of the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army was more severe than that of Zhang Yunlan. All of these can be seen in the emperor's heart that his status was still not as important as that of Zhang Yunlan.

But this is not a big trouble - Zhang Yunlan, a martial artist, couldn't even recognize much, but he was loyal to the emperor. The emperor liked him and used him more seriously - on the contrary, he himself, both the emperor was using and guarded, which made himself, who had become a civil servant many years ago, trembled in his heart. With the random thoughts, Zhu Hongzhang entered the palace and knelt down, performed a great ceremony for the monarch and ministers, knelt on the floor, and waited for the emperor to ask questions.

The emperor was speechless for a while and suddenly fell to the ground, "Go out of the palace with me." He waved his hand and stopped Jingyu's movements, "Just let Liufu follow you, you don't have to go. Go out and take a few steps and come back later."

One, two, three men walked in a row, walked out of the Yangxin Gate, passed Zunyi Gate, Qianqing Gate, and walked out through the corridor in the Forbidden City. They ignored the officials who knelt down and saluted along the way, and went out until the Qing Gate that he pointed out his destination, "Let's go to the Ministry of War!"

"Your Majesty, how many steps will you take to make arrangements?"

"No need. I just want to see this time." As I spoke, I arrived in front of the Ministry of War's government office. Zhu Hongzhang took a few steps and waved his hand to the officer in the department talking on the porch. A man opposite him smiled, "Huanwen? Why are you back? I came a little late just now and didn't see you. How can I see you now? "It's Yishan."

Zhu Hongzhang shook and looked at each other. Yishan was old and knew that something was wrong. He walked a few steps outward. He saw a man wearing a bright yellow cloak coming in. He was so scared that he knelt down, "Slave... I respectfully ask the emperor for the holy care!"

The emperor had a gloomy face and stared at Yishan. The old man felt the power of the sky, and his back was instantly wet with sweat. "Slave...Slave's words are absurd,..."

The emperor was really interested in taking off his top dress on the spot, but it was hard to convince the handling of the officials for such a small matter, so he had to do it. "I heard from people that the front was tight and the back was tight! What I saw in the Ministry of War may not be so serious, but I only saw you laugh without any tension. I can also imagine how uneasy you are about the imperial court's use of troops in Japan! Liu Fu? I sent an order to the Ministry of Personnel, Yishan was demoted to three levels, and he was still the Minister of War, and was fined for one year to serve as a warning to others."

"twitter!"

Zhu Hongzhang did not dare to persuade him, and said with a solemn hand, "Emperor, Rong Chen leads the way."

"Get up." He waved his hand and asked Yishan, Liu Mingchuan, Xu Geng and others to stand up. He followed him and entered the War Lobby. He took a few steps and arrived at the East Warehouse. This place had been temporarily converted into a war room. There was a huge sand table in the center, and a Japanese lunar map was hung on the wall to the east. Among them, Yamagata Prefecture in the upper left corner and Hiroshima Prefecture in the center to the lower left have been painted with red pigments.

"I'm here today, there's something to ask you." He looked up at the map, looked at the sand table again, and said, "Since the battle against Japan in early July, it's been nearly two months now, and the war has not progressed yet, why?" He turned around and pointed, "Zhu Hongzhang, you just came back from the battlefield front, tell me?"

Zhu Hongzhang didn't expect this to be the reason, so he immediately cheered up and replied calmly, "I think the emperor has been given the advice of the emperor..."

"No need to say that there are any and nothing, talk about the serious matter!"

"Yes." Zhu Hongzhang was startled. From his heavy tone, he could tell that the emperor was in a very bad mood. This is also conceivable. The loss of his soldiers was far beyond imagination. So far, the total number of casualties in the north and south routes has exceeded 30,000, but he has only achieved such a little achievement. Why isn't it shameful?

"I think that if the progress of the war in the 60s was not as expected by the emperor, the first one was to resist the Japanese army tenaciously. Whether it was the Saita Mansion where I landed, the Hegang Mansion where Zhang Yunlan's army landed, the Sanyuan Mansion where Bao's army and Fukuyama Castle where Hu's army were able to rely on the advantageous geographical location to fight our army to the death. Most of our Qing army soldiers had no practical experience, and they would inevitably feel panic when they first set foot on the battlefield. This is one of them."

"If you want to talk about the second, it means there are insufficient soldiers." Zhu Hongzhang talked happily, "If you don't mention it, just talk about the Hegang Mansion where Zhang Junmen landed? The landing soldiers were sixteen battalions and nine thousand people. After a day and night of fighting, the remaining soldiers were less than three thousand. With such troops, it would be a fool to protect yourself. If you want to attack the city, it would be like a fool."

"Didn't the court send troops there immediately? Why did it say that the source of troops is insufficient?"

Zhu Hongzhang was about to speak, and his eyes floated and fell on Zai Yang's face. Seeing his spirited face and eager to try, he deliberately smiled apologized, "Reply to the emperor, I have just returned from Hegang Mansion. The affairs of the former army are dim. Why not just let Lord Gan report to the emperor?"

The emperor turned his head and saw his son, who smiled timidly, "Okay, it's up to you."

Gan Wei was overjoyed and gave Zhu Hongzhang a grateful look, saying, "It is precisely for the Emperor Ama to clarify the enemy and deal with it decisively, and sent merchant ships to transport troops across the sea. Only then did Hegang Mansion, Sanyuan City, and Fushan City have been successful in the three places, especially in Fushan City. The achievements made by soldiers within several hours, shake the world, and wipe out the Japanese chiefs, which shocked the enemy's courage. I think that it will take less than a long time, as long as my Green Camp soldiers work hard and take over the entire territory of Japan, it will be absolutely no problem!"

The emperor sneered and looked at his son's passionate expression, and he was curious: When did he become so arrogant? He was so young and full of words, it was really angering and funny! "It's almost autumn, and the soldiers' military uniforms for the second season of autumn and winter are ready?"

"Yes. When I say to the emperor, a total of 300,000 autumn and winter cotton packs served by each province have been shipped to the terminals of Shandong, Zhili, Liaoning and Fujian Provinces. They can be shipped after they are loaded."

"It's good." The emperor nodded and turned around, facing the sand table again, pointed his hand and drew on it. After a while, he said, "There is one thing that is right in the words of Yan'er. More troops must be sent. This matter must be resolved as soon as possible. Before early September, three hundred battalions will be sent to the north and south routes to fight. In addition, it is necessary to write clearly to the court sent by Hu Damao and Li Hongzhang that the two counties must be taken down before the end of September. If they cannot do it, the commanders of the two places will be removed from all official positions on the spot - there is no slightest bit of emotion to tell!"

"Zhe!" Everyone responded with a loud voice, and the sound of the roof shook the tiles.

"I don't understand military affairs. Tell me, if the war goes well, which direction should I move forward next?"

...


Chapter completed!