The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 148: Silver's Thoughts
Seeing Liu Shijiu sitting there with red teeth and telling lies without changing his expression, everyone present couldn't help laughing.

It is absolutely impossible that their troops did not capture a single prisoner in a battle of this scale. Everyone present knew that all the prisoners must have been killed by the men of these two men.

And judging from the situation, Xue Qian wanted to stop them but failed. As for the killing of prisoners in the assault brigade, it was most likely ordered by Liu Shijiu, or at least he intentionally condoned his subordinates to do it.

It was obvious that it was a killing of prisoners, but Liu Shijiu said it openly. According to Liu Shijiu's statement, even if the British, Russian and Japanese coalition forces were sitting here now, they would probably be furious, because it would be difficult for them to refute and expose Liu Shijiu. They could not say that Liu Shijiu was talking nonsense and that their people were afraid of death and chose to surrender voluntarily.

Teng Yuzhao was very afraid that these people would burst out laughing, which would make it difficult for him to continue his performance. He coughed lightly and waved his hand to signal Xue Qian to sit down, then sighed solemnly and said.

"That's right. We must not underestimate these foreign devils, especially those Japanese devils. They also have many brave and fearless thugs. It is really not easy to catch one alive."

"but."

Teng Yuzhao felt that he had to keep his mouth shut and give these people a warning to avoid causing any big trouble.

"Although the foreign devils are very tenacious and will fight to the end even if they are seriously injured, if outsiders see us pretending to surrender and actually preparing to take advantage of our absence to kill the foreign devils, especially if those foreigners see us killing the wounded foreign devils who are still fighting, I am afraid that they will still misunderstand our vanguard army. People who don't know the truth will think we are killing prisoners."

"So, we should be careful with these stubborn foreigners, so as not to give them any excuses to accuse us."

Teng Yuzao's understated and far-fetched remarks left Liu Shijiu and Xue Qian stunned.

Even the other people were a little stunned. They understood clearly what Teng Yuzao said. He was going to turn a blind eye to the killing of prisoners!
Liu Shijiu had already understood the meaning of Teng Yuzao's words, and laughed, "Xingfu is indeed a man who has studied abroad. He is reasonable. Don't worry, the foreign devils killed by the assault team are all die-hard foreign devils. They will never give others a handle. If any bastard can't clean up the mess, I will let him get out of the assault team."

Xue Qian, who was still hesitating, suddenly realized what Liu Shijiu said and finally smiled.

Teng Yuzhao was worried that Liu Shijiu would say something explicit, which would make things difficult for him. After all, this was the rule he set himself, so he hurriedly asked Wei Jinghai who was standing beside him.

"Ningbo, what good things are there in the East Bureau?"

Since the officers and soldiers of the regiment participating in the search of Dongjuzi and the guards of Hu Daqiu did not wait for lunch before carrying out their mission, they were chewing black bread while searching, so the progress was very fast. Just now, Li Yaoting had handed over a list of supplies in Dongjuzi that would be useful to the vanguard army to Wei Jinghai.

Dongjuzi is one of the most modernized factories in China, on par with the Jiangnan Arsenal. It specializes in manufacturing artillery shells and bullets for the Beiyang Navy and other Beiyang units, as well as Rehe, and the three provinces outside the Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. It has not only gunpowder and explosives factories, but also steel mills and foundries, artillery shell, bullet, torpedo factories, and gun repair factories, and of course a mint. Its equipment is also very advanced, and the new equipment was mainly purchased from Britain.

There are even a complete set of Siemens Martin steelmaking furnaces, a new British-made steel casting machine, a 10-ton hydraulic press that is also very advanced internationally, several -ton cranes, and a large number of new lathes for manufacturing artillery shells, bullets and repairing firearms.

Due to the advanced equipment here, not only are the types and models of ammunition produced complete, but the annual output is also large.

Dongjuzi employs more than 2000 workers all year round. Two years ago, in 1898, its annual output reached: 20 kilograms of black powder, and 32 kilograms of overtime production; 9 kilograms of dynamite, and 11 kilograms of overtime production; 3 kilograms of cotton powder, and 1 kilograms of overtime production; 04 kilograms of smokeless powder; 2 million Mauser bullets, and 3 million rounds of overtime production; 10000 million copper caps, and 382 million rounds of overtime production; 400 shells of various types, and more can be produced as needed.

In addition to producing arms, Dongjuzi also made some small warships and ships, including the cruise ship used by Empress Dowager Cixi.

It is particularly worth mentioning that in the sixth year of the Guangxu period, that is, in 1880, the country’s first submarine and the first pontoon bridge were built here.

With such a big factory, there won’t be a shortage of good things.

Wei Jinghai put the brown sheepskin folder he had been holding in his hand into his arms, and glanced at the others inconspicuously, indicating to Teng Yuzhao that this was not the place to take out the list.

Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "Those present here today are not only the backbone of our Vanguard Army, but also my trusted generals. Nothing about the Vanguard Army should be hidden from them. Just read it out so that everyone can understand it."

Wei Jinghai had no choice but to open the sheepskin folder, take out a few sheets of paper from it, and began to read them reluctantly while sitting down.

Although Teng Yuzhao listened with a calm expression, his heart was already filled with excitement.

东局子里的收获有：黑火药12万公斤；炸药16万多公斤；棉药1万多公斤；无烟药1200公斤，；毛瑟枪弹242万发；各式炮弹三万余发；水雷96枚；地雷629个。

In addition, there are more than 30 sets of machine tools of various sizes that can be used to repair and manufacture firearms. The so-called cotton powder is nitrocellulose explosive, and smokeless powder is the propellant of shells and bullets.

In addition, there are a large number of tools and copper and iron materials, as well as hundreds of barrels of kerosene, tens of thousands of kilograms of rice and tens of thousands of kilograms of smoked meat, pickled meat, etc., totaling no less than a hundred kinds.

However, until Wei Jinghai finished reading the list in his hand, there was no mention of the silver that Teng Yuzhao wanted to hear the most. Wei Jinghai didn't even mention the mint at all, so naturally there was no mention of silver either.

Teng Yuzao couldn't help but ask curiously, "No more?"

Wei Jinghai smiled awkwardly and replied, "That's all I have."

Teng Yuzhao saw Wei Jinghai's expression, and he also understood the meaning of Wei Jinghai's words.

Wei Jinghai simply replied that these were the “things” he had, but he did not say that he had no silver.

Teng Yuzao waved his hand, "This is a mint, how can there be no silver?"

Teng Yuzao made up another excuse and said, "I heard that the silver here not only does not belong to the Beiyang government, but is also earmarked for a specific purpose. Yu Zhongtang dare not take any of the silver here without permission. The silver in the mint has not been transported away yet. You can tell me. Except for Qionglin, the people I trust most in the vanguard army are here. Let's discuss how to deal with these things and silver."

This time, Wei Jinghai was not only helpless but also speechless. He really wanted Teng Yuzhao to hide this large sum of money to use as military funds. Li Yulin had complained more than once that there was not enough money to spend. He was well aware of the tight military expenditure situation of the vanguard army.

Wei Jinghai sighed slightly, opened the parchment folder again, took out another piece of paper, and read it reluctantly.

"We also found more than 600,000 taels of silver and more than 400,000 silver dollars in the mint's silver vault."

Wei Jinghai's words immediately left everyone in the room speechless.

This is more than one million taels of silver! It is definitely not ten thousand taels, let alone a hundred taels.

Now we have declared war on the foreigners, and Dongjuzi may fall at any time. Are we going to just leave such a huge sum of money here?
But when I think about the fact that Yu Lu even left here a large amount of explosives, shells and bullets that were urgently needed for the war and no one cared about it, it doesn't seem strange that so much silver was left unattended.

"Damn it."

Liu Shijiu was so angry that he slammed the table hard, causing the cups and plates on the table to rattle.

"This Yu Lu is just an old fool. He just threw away so many shells, bullets and more than one million taels of silver. These are the people's hard-earned money! He is going to give them to the foreign devils for nothing!"

Liu Changfa was so angry that he glared and cursed, "He is more than just confused. He is a foolish and incompetent official. The court is really blind for someone like him to sit in the position of Governor-General of Zhili."

Li Xianze glanced at Teng Yuzao quietly and slammed the table and said, "In my opinion, the Qing Dynasty is already corrupt from the root. Look, not only did they choose such a corrupt official to sit in such an important position, but those people in the court actually believed in invulnerability. It would be strange if the Qing Dynasty did not fall!"

The words of Liu Shijiu and Liu Changfa could be explained by momentary anger, but Li Xiance's words were obviously extremely treasonous, and they directly involved the highest authority in the current Qing Dynasty.

Teng Yuzhao intentionally forced Wei Jinghai to speak out the matter of the silver in public today. He also wanted to use this opportunity to see what everyone was thinking.

Liu Yuzhi sighed and said, "Yu Lu at least knows people well and promoted our lord as an exception. Otherwise, the city of Tianjin would probably be occupied by foreigners. It would be great if our lord was in the position of Governor-General of Zhili."

Liu Nineteen suddenly slammed the table again, "Why don't I go to Tianjin City and contact Zhang Decheng, Cao Futian and other Boxers. Everyone will elect you to lead the war against the foreigners. There are now 20,000 to 30,000 Boxers in Tianjin. They are so numerous that Yu Lu will not be able to refuse. Then we can have a good fight with the foreigners."

Liu Yuzhi shook his head and said, "It's not appropriate. Even if Yu Lu agrees, General Nie, General He, and Ma Yukun will not agree. Then it will not only be useless, but will also be accused of plotting against the government. Your Excellency's presidency may be in jeopardy."

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(End of this chapter)