Chapter One Hundred and Ten: Besieging the City

  Since it's an imperial order to enter the capital, naturally no one should stop him anymore. In fact, both Wang Wenshao and Luo Rongguang understood what this imperial order meant. Since it was an imperial edict, their actions couldn't be faulted no matter how you looked at it. It's better to stay away from such muddy waters involving the emperor and empress as much as possible. Haven't you seen even Li Hongzhang has slipped away?

  As soon as this point came to mind, Wang Wenshao couldn't help but secretly scold the old thing for being too shameless. He must have been notified in advance by people like Yuan Shikai, so he rushed to Shanghai like a fire on his butt, and left himself here to take the blame for him.

  Under the tense gaze of everyone on Dagukou, all destroyers and landing ships sailed into Haihe River in a line, and finally even Yang Feng's black ship entered the river mouth. Only the deepest draft raider remained at sea, watching with its big guns.

  "By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The various armies have marched thousands of miles to conquer the distant land of Japan, and have achieved great merits. My heart is greatly comforted. I specially decree that they enter the capital to display their military might. Let this be known! Lord Wang, would you like to take a look at the imperial edict?" Yang Feng read out the edict on board the "Diao Chuan" ship, addressed to Wang Wenshao and Luo Rongguang, in a calm tone.

  Wang Wenshao thought, do I still need to look at it? It must be true, those are all your collaborations with the emperor, naturally there can't be any fake ones. This wealth and honor is sought after in danger, but the risk of playing with this kind of thing is a bit too high. Now being proud is useless, you'll only be considered truly capable if you succeed.

  "Governor Yang is joking," he said with a smile. "Can an imperial edict be fake?"

  "In that case, I won't be polite with you two anymore. If Lord Wang returns to Tianjin, why don't we travel on the same boat and have a good chat?" Yang Feng said.

  "Your subordinate has another matter, Lord Yang please go ahead!" Wang Wenshao hurriedly said. Following this guy back to Tianjin would be like falling into a pit of mud - it wouldn't be pleasant! This guy and Luo Rongguang quickly disembarked from the ship, then watched as their fleet sailed directly towards Tianjin.

  "Are you going to report back to the imperial court?" asked Luo Rongguang.

  "Wait until they arrive in Tianjin and send another telegram." Wang Wenshao said, Luo Rongguang immediately nodded in understanding. In fact, due to an error in estimating the ship's speed, this telegram was not sent to Beijing until Yang Feng completed his landing in Tianjin. By the time it reached Cixi's hands, Yang Feng had already set off from Tianjin in an armored carriage.

  At this time, although it was just the beginning of spring, the 500-ton small destroyer and the shallow-draft landing ship could still sail directly to Tianjin City with ease. After disembarking, they naturally dared not to intercept anyone under the banner of "returning to Beijing by imperial decree". Moreover, they had all passed through Dagukou, which was equivalent to having all the formalities in place. It's no wonder that this era's China had the strongest fighting force and the highest level of equipment, with its elite troops rushing towards Beijing like crazy. Alongside them were dozens of trucks towing cannons and artillery, kicking up clouds of yellow dust as they thundered by. Adding to this were cavalrymen riding horses purchased from Tianjin, which gave Yang Feng a sense of rumbling carts and neighing horses.

  After receiving the telegram, Cixi was stunned. She wasn't unaware that Yang Feng was so bold, but she didn't expect her little puppy to be so bold either. What is this, a coup? Does he think someone is backing him up and I won't be able to do anything about it?

  "Go and bring the Emperor here!" She suppressed her anger and said to Li Lianying.

  "Also, convey my order to the Tongzhou Garrison to intercept them on the spot. Anyone who resists will be beheaded without exception. Tell them that the imperial edict in the hands of these rebels is fake, and the Emperor has never issued an edict summoning Japanese troops to enter the capital. Yang Feng and others intend to rebel, thinking that 10,000 people can take Beijing, I don't believe it." She said coldly.

  Li Lianying went out to look around and found that the Emperor was gone, no one knew where the Emperor had gone. The little dog would not be foolish enough to wait for his father to call him to punish him, since he had made trouble, it was natural to hide first, and when Yang Feng's army arrived in Beijing, he would show up again and wouldn't have to suffer a beating. In fact, he was hiding at the home of Ghost Six at this time, Ghost Six had deep resentment towards Cixi, now that there was such a good opportunity for revenge, why not take advantage of it?

  He knew better than anyone else the combat effectiveness of nearly 100,000 Eight Banners troops around Beijing at that time. To say that Yang Feng couldn't reach the foot of the city wall in Beijing was something he wouldn't believe even if you killed him. If so, it means that Guangxu's rebellion this time is bound to succeed, why not take a winning side?

  He was spot on in his assessment of the Banner Army's combat effectiveness. At this time, Yang Feng was driving away Cixi and her several tens of thousands of elite Eight Banners troops like a duck herder in Langfang. In fact, they didn't even have five thousand men, as most of their income came from eating empty rations. The Tongzhou camp, which had a nominal strength of 50,000 men, was now down to an unknown number of soldiers, and even the commander-in-chief didn't know how many were left. Usually, they would just go through the motions during inspections, but this time, with the Empress Dowager's edict in hand, they dared to come out, mainly relying on the courage it gave them. However, when they saw the sea of bayonets, their courage immediately vanished into thin air.

  At first, they were still putting on a brave face, then an unknown official came over and sternly demanded that Yang Feng and the others surrender immediately. Yuan Shikai probably knew this guy, so he kindly took out the imperial edict and went forward to give him an opportunity, but the other party was completely ungrateful and angrily scolded Yuan Shikai for being a loyal and honest person after ignoring the imperial court's accumulated favors over the years, and actually doing such a rebellious and unfilial thing. He didn't quickly retreat, and the Empress Dowager thought of your ancestors' loyalty to the country, so maybe she would pardon you and spare your dog life.

  Yuan Shikai was rebuked by his own righteousness, speechless and facing away, finally slinking back with a sigh: "This good advice can't be heeded by that damned ghost, General, don't waste your time."

  Yang Feng was still busily preparing the artillery, after all, the other side had a considerable number of people, and many were even carrying firearms. So Li Yuncong and Song Qing decided to use the method they used on the battlefield against the Japanese army: first use the big cannons to blast them, best if accompanied by poison gas shells, then set up machine guns for cover, and finally have the infantry launch a charge. Unfortunately, before they could even finish setting up the artillery, the other side had already started running away.

  It's already commendable that those Eight Banners soldiers who usually idle around and smoke opium can withstand so many enemies for so long. Moreover, Yang Feng's performance on this side has also given them a glimmer of hope. As a result, when they saw the other side starting to set up cannons, how could they not understand what would happen next? Not running away means waiting here to get hit by cannonballs?

  "Bastards, halt!" The general, waving his saber in a rage, didn't know if it was because he hadn't ridden for a long time or the horse suddenly went mad, but all of a sudden it stood up and threw him off its back. He was immediately engulfed by the fleeing soldiers behind him.

  "What the heck is this? You can't play with people like this!" Jiang Gui said, his face filled with grief and indignation as he stared at the scattered remnants of the Zhengyang army, which had been chased away by the dogs like a flock of ducks. He was crouched down next to the artillery, preparing to launch a surprise attack.

  This scene also stunned Yang Feng. He knew that the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners was poor at this time, but it shouldn't be so bad, right? This is directly negative.

  "General, at this time, it's not just Tongzhou Camp, even Fentai Camp and Jianrui Camp, and even the latest established Shenji Camp are all of this nature. Last time Shenji Camp went out for drills, they even made a joke about someone falling off their horse before it had even started running. It turned out to be a tofu seller who was hired temporarily to fill in. Yuan Shikai chuckled on the side and said that this guy's investment was all carefully calculated. Precisely because he knew that Yang Feng's 10,000 men taking Beijing would be like child's play, so he dared to take the risk of being beheaded to mix with him."

  "Let's take a rest tonight and start attacking Beijing tomorrow." Yang Feng said helplessly, since that's the case, he didn't need to rush too much either. Let Cixi and Xiaodog fight for a while longer, anyway, with the combat power of the flag army, even if there were 100,000 troops in Beijing, it wouldn't be enough for one charge on this side. As for the city walls of Beijing, they're just a waste of a truck.

  When the news of the defeat of the 50,000-strong army in Tongzhou arrived in Beijing, Cixi was truly stunned this time. Although there were still the Imperial Guard Corps, the Peking Field Force, and other elite troops, as well as the Capture Bandit Brigade under the command of the Nine Gate Commanders, and various guard brigades around the Forbidden City, including the palace's own Inner Guards, if the Tongzhou garrison was defeated like this, it was likely that others would not fare much better.

  She was indeed very clever, but this cleverness referred to the inner court struggles and official infighting. She wasn't quite used to dealing with opponents who didn't play by the rules. However, she quickly calmed down and focused on her priorities: first, finding the Emperor, and second, preparing the defenses of Beijing City.

  This old lady is indeed a worthy descendant of the previous generation's witch, instantly coming up with the best countermeasure. It was very simple: just withdraw all the troops outside the city to inside Beijing City, where there were solid city walls to rely on. With tens of thousands of people firing guns and cannons from above, they could hold out for a while. Once the little dog is found, it's easy to deal with him - just force him to write another imperial edict. Even if he can't be found, they can still hold out for some days. Yang Feng's mutiny fears being dragged on the most; once they can't break into Beijing City, the soldiers' morale will disperse in a few days. Then, with gentle persuasion, give those generals official positions and titles, and they will be divided and dissolved.

  She was confident that no one could surpass her in this, and she would first get through the current difficulties before considering anything else. Even if it meant giving Yang Feng some benefits, wasn't a businessman just seeking wealth? The reason he listened to Xiaogou was simply because the imperial court had blocked his path to making a fortune by fighting Japan. Cixi still saw this point very clearly; if all else failed, she would let him continue fighting. Those few ruined tombs were nothing compared to her own power.

  In this way, in a panic, the Qing army outside the city retreated into the city at the fastest speed, then closed all the city gates and climbed up the city walls to prepare for a desperate battle.