Chapter 102: The Liaodong Battlefield

  It was unexpected for the county of Shan to have a friend, but in Liaoyang he encountered his first real bloody battle. The defenders, mainly composed of Xiang Army troops led by General Wei Guangtong, actually engaged in street fighting with him in this ancient city. Although the flag army was scared away by cannon fire before the Japanese army even entered the city, this old general who had followed Zuo Zongtang on his western campaign and Li Xiubin's son, Li Guangjiu, still led 10,000 Xiang Army troops to fight against the Japanese for three whole days.

  The Japanese army also lost more than two thousand in this war, but these have no meaning now. They got what they wanted, and Shenyang officially opened its doors to them.

  Upon learning of this news, Cixi immediately panicked. After all, that was the location of the Qing imperial family's ancestral tomb. If it were to be occupied by the Japanese and the ancestral tomb were to be desecrated, how could they face their ancestors in the future?

  "Old Six, you're familiar with foreign affairs, quickly find a foreigner to help mediate this, we can't fight this war anymore. If we continue, our ancestors' tombs will be disturbed and our guilt will be too great." She said to Ghost Six with a worried expression, all these years she had manipulated her younger uncle like a ball of dough, now that trouble had arisen, she wanted him to go out and take the blame.

  "Empress, didn't Liu Kunyi go to Yingkou? As long as he can retake Haicheng, he can directly threaten the Japanese army's rear. At that time, the crisis in Fengtian will naturally be lifted. From the Battle of Liaoyang, it can be seen that this Xiang Army is still quite capable of fighting. Moreover, Yamagata Aritomo is isolated and unsupported. As long as my various armies arrive, he will surely be captured." Guizi Liu hurriedly said, while secretly despising his sister-in-law in his heart, thinking "You think I'm an idiot? Now is the time to propose a truce with the Japanese army? That's ridiculous!"

  How shameless can this be, Japan is almost destroyed by the Eight-Nation Alliance at home, while 30,000 isolated troops here have forced the imperial court to surrender, which is really unbelievable. More importantly, nearly half of the Eight-Nation Alliance are Chinese people, I'd rather not lose face than you do.

  "Old Six, then you'd better be careful, we're a family of widows and orphans. Now the situation is already chaotic." Empress Dowager Cixi said, she had made up her mind to let her younger brother go out and take responsibility for the tomb, speaking of which she wasn't very concerned about the grave of Yehe Nara's husband, he was a member of the Aixinjueluo clan while she was a member of the Yehenala clan, whether or not his grave was desecrated was none of her business, but the problem was that now she was the head of the Aixinjueluo household, so on this matter she had to put on a show.

  But she also knew that seeking peace with the Japanese at this time was indeed humiliating, as this morning's newspaper had just reported that Taiwan's General Yang Feng had captured Japan's famous city of Dejima, and Sichuan's General Song Qing had again defeated the Japanese army in Tokyo. Now the imperial court was going to beg for mercy from a branch of the Japanese army. That would probably make foreigners laugh to death. If not, the Japanese would attack Mukden, desecrating the tomb of the Wild Boar Skin, and that would lead to unanimous criticism from the princes of the imperial family. So she thought of this way to have it both ways. Anyway, as an orphaned widow, she had reason to pretend to be stupid, and let Guizi Liu go take the blame!

  Guizi Liu saw that his sister-in-law had made up her mind to let him go out and take the blame, so he also found a scapegoat.

  "The Empress Dowager, this matter of foreign diplomacy has always been handled by Li Hongzhang. Why not let him handle the negotiations as well?" Guizi Liu said, he wouldn't fall for that trick. You can find a scapegoat, why can't I? So he shamelessly pushed Li Hongzhang forward, besides, in recent years, foreign diplomacy has always been handled by the Beiyang ministers, and the Grand Council has become a mere formality."

  "Speaking of Li Hongzhang, I'm still angry about it now. If he had transferred Nie Shicheng and others from Yashan to Liaodong earlier, how could the Japanese have disturbed the Mausoleum of our ancestors? To tell the truth, we can't rely on these Han people. Now that we're speaking frankly as a family, this battle is really impossible for us to win." Cixi said with deep feeling, and at this moment she didn't pretend to be foolish anymore.

  "These barbarians only want some money. At most, they might also want some land. As for the money, we can just collect a bit more taxes; the Great Qing Empire is not short of silver, with 40 million people each contributing one or two taels, that's already 40 million taels, we can afford it. As for the land, there's even less to say, this world all belongs to us, we can give it to whoever we want."

  But the Han people's power has grown, and they want our land. In the past, our Eight Banners were able to fight and conquer this vast territory, but it's not just about conquering, we also need to hold on to it. Don't even mention now, when we fought against the Taiping Rebellion, our Eight Banners had already become useless. At that time, there was still a king who could keep things under control, but after his death, I have been worried sick for years, just barely maintaining this current situation.

  Hello, you're doing foreign affairs, so you think I'm suppressing you. But have you ever thought that if foreign affairs are done well, who will benefit? It's the Han people. Do you think I don't know that the Beiyang Fleet hasn't added a single ship in all these years and it's very dangerous to fight a war? But I couldn't give Li Hongzhang more power. We Manchu people aren't competitive enough, so I have to restrict the Han people's strength, at least not let them become powerful enough to have wild ambitions.

  Our family is reluctant to fight this war. Without a war, we have reason to disarm the Han people and slowly train our Manchu people again. But once the war starts, we can't help but let them expand their military, just like now. On the battlefield, among our Manchu people, isn't there only one Yiketang'a who can fight? Do you think that if the Han people were to join forces and seize power, Yiketang'a could stop them?

  "It's not even been a year since the war started, and if it goes on for another decade or two like the Taiping Rebellion, the Han people will have tens of millions of soldiers in their hands. At that time, even if they don't want to have ambitions, they will have them anyway. So this war cannot be fought, even if we have to pay some compensation to the foreigners and cede some territory." This time, Cixi also spoke her mind to Li Hongzhang.

  Of course, her sincere emotions did not move Qiuzi Liu at all. As for taking the blame, it didn't matter to him whether he or Li Hongzhang took the fall for Empress Dowager Cixi, as long as he himself didn't have to take it. Besides, there was an advantage to letting Li Hongzhang take the blame: if he wasn't willing to make peace, then Qiuzi Liu could transfer troops from Yashan, withdraw Japanese troops, and go fight in Liaodong's Shanyang County. Don't think that I don't know what kind of shady dealings you're up to with Yang Feng right now; the two of you are getting rich as if your ships were filled with gold and silver, while I'm left to suffer through the days like years - where is there such a good thing in this world?

  When Li Hongzhang received the imperial edict from Cixi asking him to consult with the British about mediating a ceasefire between the Qing and Japanese armies, so as to avoid disturbing the ancestral tombs of Taizu and Taizong with cannon fire, he was immediately stunned. He naturally understood that this was Cixi letting him jump into the fire pit; whoever did this would immediately become the target of public criticism, and being drowned by saliva would be a light punishment.

  He's not foolish enough to take on this doomed task, so he quickly sent a telegram to Liu Kunyi, explaining that it was impossible to seek reconciliation easily. With Shan County having no allies and being isolated, the situation cannot last long. As soon as General Liu Kunyi's army arrives, they will inevitably force them to retreat, and at that time, the crisis in Fengtian will be resolved on its own.

  He immediately received a reply after submitting this memorial, Liu Kun's military strength was insufficient, and the combat effectiveness of other troops was worrying. To ensure absolute safety, it was necessary to adjust the Yashan army to defend Liaodong by sea transportation and land directly at Yingkou. At the same time, the garrison in Lushun was ordered to dispatch its elite troops northward. Empress Dowager Cixi had been thinking about the more than 20,000 elite troops in his hands for some time, and it was unbearable for her that these people were not consumed on the battlefield but made her sleepless.

  Li Hongzhang weighed the pros and cons, and decided to bring back a portion of troops from Yashan. Liu Mingchuan, Nie Shicheng, and Zhang Gaoyuan remained in place, continuing to pin down Tian An and Cheng Huan. Meanwhile, Daisho Yoshiharu began attacking again; as for why he still had the courage to do so, that was unimportant. Then, Ye Zhicha led 5,000 troops to Liaodong, supplemented by 5,000 new recruits from Shandong, making a total of 10,000 men, which would be sufficient.

  However, this guy is also very sinister, the speed of deploying troops is slow to the extreme, Ye Zhichao's unit spent a whole five days withdrawing from Yashan, and at this time, Sanetomi Saneyoshi had already arrived under the city of Fengtian. At the same time, Liu Kunyi led three thousand Qing troops who were hastily assembled to counterattack Haicheng, Sanetomi Saneyoshi left an entire brigade here, just as the Japanese artillery was bombarding Fengtian City, the Qing artillery on the outskirts of Haicheng also fired.

  "Come on, boys! Let's go!" In the midst of exploding shells, a bearded old general yelled loudly as he charged forward with his horse and sword. Behind him, more than 3,000 cavalrymen immediately began their charge, creating a spectacular scene that made the Qing army's blood boil with excitement. The Japanese artillery continued to explode among the cavalry, but those fierce northwestern warriors were not afraid at all, charging forward towards the Japanese trenches with strange roars, and then the opposing Maxim machine guns fired.

  Shan County received over 30 Maxim guns from the Qing army during this period, all of which were assigned to Lieutenant General Sakuma Samata, who was left to guard Haicheng. These spraying death killing machines became a nightmare for Dong Fuxiang's cavalry coming from the northwest. Those poor devils holding single-shot black firebird rifles had never seen such things before. One by one, they came with dreams of dyeing their hats red with blood, only to have their dreams shattered by machine guns in less than five minutes.

  Countless cavalrymen fell in the charge, and the bodies of men and warhorses stretched out across the Liao Dong plain.

  Like the year following Zuo Zongtang to fight against Yakub Beg, Dong Fuxiang, who was waving his horse sword in the front, was hit by a bullet directly on his leg. This guy cried out and almost fell off his horse. The precious horse under him also took several bullets at the same time, and was shot to cry out and turn around to run away. His cavalrymen were also disrupted by machine guns at this time, and they ran back one after another. The Qing army infantry who followed them to charge forward were stunned.

  The startled war horses didn't care about them and suddenly disrupted the infantry, and the originally fierce attack collapsed in an instant.

  Liu Kunyi's face turned iron-green as he ordered the troops to retreat, and this leader of the Xiang Army also realized that the war was no longer what he had imagined.