Chapter 68: Reinforcement

Last time, Cixi asked the Japanese how things went.

This time I will continue talking about it from last time.

Although Cixi was sitting in the bath, some parts of her shoulders were exposed to the water, which made her look quite different in the misty bath.

However, Yi Xin said steadily: "American Tian Bei is willing to mediate and secretly communicate with Japan."

The British's mediation failed, so Cixi approached the American ambassador to China, Tian Bei, to continue the mediation. This time, she planned to hire an American as a consultant to go to Japan to seek peace.

Cixi nodded and said: "Now that Lushun has been captured by the Japanese, our Qing Dynasty's Beiyang defense line has been opened. Fortunately, Nie Shicheng led his troops to achieve a great victory in Dakaoling. I think the Japanese will not open their mouths."

Cixi underestimated the Japanese appetite too much. Although there was a small defeat on the eastern front, Lushun was captured, and the entire Bohai Sea area was at his disposal for his navy. He could directly attack the Beijing-Tianjin area of ​​the Qing Dynasty. How could the Japanese give up?

"By the way, have you decided who will go to negotiate?" Cixi asked again.

"When we go back to Lord Buddha, I think we can first send Zhang Yinhuan, the Minister of Household Affairs, as the plenipotentiary minister. If the peace talks are blocked, we can send a higher-level official to go." Yi Xin replied respectfully.

After thinking for a while, Yi Xin added: "The emperor's effort to seek war may ruin the peace process."

Ci Xi said displeasedly: "The hair on the emperor's mouth has not yet grown. He is young and energetic. What do you know? Now our Qing Dynasty is surrounded by dangers. It is like being on the crater of a volcano and may erupt at any time. The governors of various places have issued orders to the capital." The Qing Dynasty is facing more internal troubles than external ones. If we win the war against Japan, it will be fine. If we lose, the Qing Dynasty will exist in name only and will be controlled by the Han people everywhere. "

Yi Xin nodded and said: "Yes, the emperor is too young and does not think enough about things. Now the war is losing again and again. If we don't negotiate for peace, when the Japanese capture our 'Longxing Land', where will the face of our Qing Dynasty be?" It’s not far from destruction either.”

The place of Longxing in the Qing Dynasty refers to Fengtian, which is also the target of the Japanese First Army. Fortunately, it was temporarily blocked by the Eastern Route Army.

The two of them worried about the war for a few more times, and Cixi winked at Li Lianying.

Li Lianying quickly withdrew and dismissed several serving maids, leaving only Yi Xin and Ci Xi in the room.

"Sixth Prince, are you still blaming the Ai family for deposing you?" Cixi suddenly asked quietly.

At that time, Guiziliu's reputation almost surpassed that of Cixi. Cixi could tolerate it, but the royal family had no family ties. Even the father and son would turn against each other, not to mention that the two had an affair.

"I don't dare!" Guiziliu said with no emotion or anger on his face. After being abandoned for more than ten years, I believe no one would be willing to accept it.

"If you don't dare, why haven't you come to the palace all these years?" Cixi suddenly stood up and asked.

"Lafayette is busy with everything, and I dare not enter the palace to disturb you." Yi Xin said after swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

"Really? The Ai family has nothing to do today." Cixi pulled Yi Xin into the bath with a gentle pull.

After the failure of the attack on Phoenix City, Iketanga quickly returned to defend the Lianshanguan and Saimaji areas, leaving no other opportunities for the Fifth Division to take advantage of.

In addition, Shanxian Youpeng deliberately adjusted his strategy and paid attention to the western route. On the eastern front, the war eased for a while.

In addition to following Nie Shicheng around the defense line and visiting injured soldiers all day long, Wei Jichen went to the training base in his room to train hard, hoping to improve his marksmanship and martial arts to a higher level.

After Nie Shicheng led most of his troops back to Dakaoling, the court's awards also came.

Guangxu was very generous this time, maybe it was the dew that came after a long drought, and he couldn't help but be unhappy. Wei Jichen was suddenly promoted from deputy general to chief soldier, and from a second-rank official to a full second-rank official.

As the chief soldier of Nanyang Town, Wei Jichen didn't even know where Nanyang was, but that didn't stop him from becoming the chief soldier of Nanyang Town. The chief soldier of the Qing army did not necessarily have to serve in the land. For example, Nie Shicheng was the chief soldier of Taiyuan Town before, but he always Stationed in Lutai, Tianjin.

When he became the commander-in-chief, he could bring several battalions of troops with him. However, Wei Jichen was obviously still alone in the battalion. Only Wei Ziying was under his control. Of course, once a battalion officer acted with him, Wei Jichen He can crush people to death at the highest level of officialdom.

The Qing army garrison in Dakaoling became beaming with joy for a while. If it hadn't been heard that the Japanese had captured Lushun and it was not appropriate to celebrate, they would have fallen out long ago. Even so, the generals were much more harmonious when they met each other.

Even some of the generals of the Ming Army nodded and smiled when they met Wei Jichen. Everyone was understanding. Last time, if Wei Jichen had not won the flag of the 11th Brigade and killed the Major General of the 10th Brigade, Li Mian Naofumi, the court would not have What a rich reward there will be.

Now that the military flag has been handed over to the court, I heard that Li Hongzhang was making a fuss about that flag everywhere. If the Japanese had not just captured Lushun, morale might have plummeted further.

Even so, the Japanese were very angry. I heard that a friend from Yamaxian County sent a telegram to the Japanese base camp requesting to resign as commander of the First Army because of this matter.

Wei Jichen's letter saying "Today it is Naofumi Tachimi, tomorrow it is Nozu Michizuki, and the day after tomorrow it is Yamagata Aritomo" and Naofumi Tatemi's head were also received by Yamagata Aritomo.

A friend in Shan County suffered this double blow, and I heard that it was the same person. Wei Jichen, a Chinese man, was so angry that he stayed in his room for three consecutive days and cursed loudly when he heard the word Wei Jichen. This shows that he hates Wei Jichen. To what extent.

That day, Nie Shicheng summoned all the generals to discuss matters. Unlike the last time he learned of the imperial court's commendation, this time, Nie Shicheng seemed a little worried.

Wei Jichen, Hu Dianjia, Zhou Dingchen, Ma Jinxu and others stood in the big tent.

Wei Jichen took a look and found that Nie Shicheng only summoned his own troops and some generals of the Yi Army this time. It seemed that the matter was not related to the entire Dagaoling.

When all the generals were standing on both sides and silent, Nie Shicheng spoke up: "Everyone, Xiuyan defenders Feng Sheng'a and Nie Guilin sent me a letter asking for help. After careful consideration, I decided to draw 2,000 troops from my army to support them."

Yamagata Aritomo strengthened the offensive on the west route. Nie Shicheng knew that now the two generals sent another letter asking for help, so he had to send troops to reinforce.

Everyone below began to look at each other, lowering their heads and not looking at Nie Shicheng. Going to reinforce was not a good thing. Not only would they be tired along the way, but they would also be punished if the reinforcement was not timely.

Wei Jichen thought about it. He felt that there was not much war in the east road now, and it was not a solution to stay here all the time. He could not even earn a little merit point. It would be better to try his luck in the west road. Maybe the main task would be completed by himself.

Thinking of this, Wei Jichen no longer hesitated, took a step forward and said: "I am willing to go to reinforce Xiuyan."

Nie Shicheng nodded with satisfaction, but Wei Jichen did not have so many people under his command. Although his battalion was supplemented not long ago, it was only about 500 people.

Nie Shicheng looked at Ma Jinxu, the general of the Yi Army. Ma Jinxu had just over a thousand people under his command. With Wei Jichen's troops, wasn't this just right?

Moreover, among all the armies, Nie Shicheng could only trust the Yi Army.

Ma Jinxu felt uncomfortable under Nie Shicheng's gaze, and had no choice but to step forward and say, "I am also willing to lead the troops to Xiuyan!"

"Okay, you two will lead 2,000 troops to reinforce Xiuyan, Zijie, I will assign one battalion of the 'Fengjun' to your system, and you will command 1,000 troops. I hope you won't let me down." Nie Shicheng said earnestly.

"Thank you, Marshal Nie, for your appreciation. Zijie will definitely live up to your expectations." Wei Jichen bowed and replied solemnly.

The Fengjun was originally stationed in Fengtian, Jilin. At the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, seven battalions of troops followed Zuo Baogui, the general of Gaozhou Town, to fight in North Korea. Later, Zuo Baogui died on the battlefield in Pyongyang.

The Fengjun battalions under his command naturally had to accept the fate of being reorganized everywhere.

Seeing that the big thing had been decided, the generals all smiled and began to talk and laugh, as if the people who had bowed their heads just now were not them.

"General Ma, please take care of me in the future." Wei Jichen greeted Ma Jinxu with a smile.

Ma Jinxu smiled and returned the greeting, carefully looking at the young but famous General Wei. He thought that he was already over 30 years old when he was promoted to the position of General. It was true that people are compared to each other, which makes people angry.

"Zijie's name of the God of Death can make the Japanese collapse and flee. I will rely on you more in the future." Ma Jinxu said jokingly.

In the last battle, many Japanese soldiers were captured. When these captives saw Wei Jichen, they shouted "Death God" in fear. For a while, Wei Jichen's name of the God of Death began to spread.

"General Ma, you are joking. Everyone knows that you blocked the Japanese reinforcements, allowing our army to quickly annihilate the 11th Regiment." Wei Jichen was a man who respected me, and I returned him one foot. Since Ma Jinxu was so easy to talk to, he did not hesitate to praise him.

Sure enough, Ma Jinxu said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I will go down to make some preparations."

"General Ma, take care!"

After everyone left, Wei Jichen went forward to meet Nie Shicheng alone.

"General Nie, the young Wei camp is still short of a sentry officer, and now I come to ask General Nie for someone." Wei Jichen looked like if you don't give it to me, I will never finish with you.

Nie Shicheng took a sip of tea lightly, and then said calmly: "Zijie will not take a fancy to anyone in my camp again."

Last time, Wei Jichen valued his personal soldier Wang Huaiqing, and then he persuaded Nie Shicheng for a few days, and finally persuaded him.

Wang Huaiqing was also a famous figure in later generations. He was called the Toilet General in the Republic of China because he liked to carry a toilet with him when he marched and fought, and I don't know if it was for convenience or other purposes.

When he selected soldiers, he never asked about their marksmanship or military tactics, as long as they were loyal and reliable. Therefore, he mostly selected honest soldiers from the countryside, but their combat effectiveness was not very good.

Fortunately, this person also had a biggest advantage, that is, he himself was also a loyal and brave person. When the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China in later generations, Nie Shicheng died on the battlefield. Wang Huaiqing carried his body and killed it, and finally handed Nie Shicheng's body to the Nie family.

"Okay, okay! Marshal Nie, Brother Rongcai is very talented and has weapons in his heart. Can I borrow Brother Rongcai to serve as a sentry officer in our army?" Wei Jichen asked seriously.

Unexpectedly, after listening to this, Nie Shicheng spit out the tea he had just drunk.