The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 161 If I Can’t Retreat, I Won’t

"what?"

Wu Peifu's words obviously shocked Liu Shijiu. After a brief thought, Liu Shijiu seemed to have figured it out. After being stunned for a moment, he slowly sat down.

Liu Shijiu is not stupid but quite smart, or even very cunning. However, he has little exposure to the intrigues and schemes in officialdom. In particular, he is not used to some of the seemingly upright schemes commonly used in officialdom. His thinking still needs a process of adaptation and transformation.

Although Wu Peifu was only a private soldier and had just come to Teng Yuzhao's side, he could already get a glimpse of the ugly dealings in the officialdom.

Scholars who were born as scholars were inevitably exposed to a lot of wisdom and experience of their predecessors in ancient books and records. They had broad logical thinking and vision and were able to see through these tricks.

Liu Shijiu looked at Teng Yuzao, who was pacing in the room with a calm face and sipping beer, and asked Wu Peifu hesitantly, "Are you saying that Yulu's recommendation of Xingfu as the assistant of Beiyang Military Affairs made Song Yu wary of Xingfu and prevented Xingfu from returning to the Eastern Bureau. Is it because he wanted to gradually undermine Xingfu and rob him of the fortune he created?"

Liu Shijiu seemed to just feel that something was wrong, but he didn't think about it in a more serious way.

Teng Yuzao took a sip of beer and said to Wu Peifu, "Zi Yu, come and tell your uncle about this matter."

Teng Yuzhao was also very curious. He wanted to see what the future Jade Marshal was like now.

Wu Peifu nodded with a gloomy face and said, "Now the telegraph line between Tianjin and the capital is broken, and any news must be delivered by express horses. The two places are hundreds of miles apart. Even if the express horses deliver memorials, it will take two days. I'm afraid that the court has only received the news of our two great victories in Xigu and the attack on the concession. As for the victory report of the battle of Dongjuzi, it should still be on the way. The court will not know about our affairs here in time, so the position of assistant military affairs was taken away by Song Qing."

"This title of First-Class Auxiliary General Yunqiwei should be a reward given by the court for the teacher's first two battles to boost morale before the war. If the battle of Xigu, including the first entry into the concession, and the great results of the battle of Dongjuzi were known to the court, these alone should be enough for the teacher to take the position of assistant."

"Song Qing will understand this, but it will also make him more afraid of the teacher. So this time Song Qing is not just trying to dethrone the teacher, he is trying to put the teacher in a desperate situation!"

Liu Shijiu disagreed with Wu Peifu's words this time. He raised his eyebrows and said, "So what if he hates Xingfu? It's nothing big. If we were asked to stop the foreign devils from outside, it would be impossible for others to do so. But our vanguard army is not afraid of this. We will fight against the foreign devils. We have never hesitated to fight against the foreign devils. Let's have a good fight with them."

Wu Peifu grinned and said, "Although I came late, I also know about the two battles fought in the Wubei Academy. In addition to the ambush in Xigu and last night, in my opinion, the reason why we were able to win is because of the teacher's good strategy. Every great victory was actually a battle fought by tricks. Even the two battles of entering the concession and Dongjuzi were also fought by tricks."

Having said that, Wu Peifu stopped talking and glanced at Teng Yuzhao.

Wu Peifu did not say the latter part because it would somewhat damage Teng Yuzhao's reputation of being invincible.

Teng Yuzhao was not unhappy at all about Wu Peifu not being dizzy with joy over the series of victories, but still having a clear mind to see all these things. On the contrary, he was very excited.

I even felt in my heart that Wu Peifu was Wu Peifu. Even though he was in a humble position, he had a sharp vision and unique insights into problems.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said to Wu Peifu, "Zi Yu is right. Entering the concession was also a trick. As for the battle of Dongjuzi, it was slightly different. We caught the coalition forces by surprise, and then we took advantage of the situation to defeat them. I am very happy to see this. Please continue."

Seeing that Teng Yuzao was not angry but rather admired him, Wu Peifu became bolder and continued, "In fact, in my opinion, except for the battle of Dongjuzi, which was won by catching the foreign devils off guard as the teacher said, the rest were just tricks and took advantage of the geographical advantages, or we had far more troops than the foreign devils."

"Master, think about it carefully. Without our teacher's wonderful fighting methods, it would be very difficult for us to defeat the foreign devils, especially in the wild."

Li Xianze interrupted, "It's not that it's difficult. With equal forces, we have almost no chance of winning a head-on battle with the foreign devils in the wild."

Liu Shijiu's face had turned dark, but after thinking for a while, he nodded in agreement, but still said it with some reluctance.

"Since Song Qing has bad intentions and wants us to fight the foreign devils to a draw or be defeated, and maybe he even wants to kill someone with someone else's knife, not only hoping that we will lose the battle, but also hoping that Xingfu will meet with an unexpected disaster, why don't we just ignore Song Qing and retreat back to Dongjuzi, he can still bite our ball."

Wu Peifu smiled bitterly and said, "But, Teacher, you have been placed on a high pedestal by Song Qinggao, and you can no longer retreat."

"Why?" Liu Shijiu widened his eyes.

Wu Peifu continued to explain, "Don't mention that Song Qing has already reported his strategy to the court. Even if we rely on his military order alone, we can't retreat now. At least you can't go back to Dongjuzi. Otherwise, not only will you be charged with disobeying orders, but if they fail to capture Laolongtou Railway Station and the concession, the blame will also be put on you."

"Moreover, the teacher would lose his reputation as a righteous person, and people who don't know the truth would criticize the teacher. I'm afraid the court would punish the teacher."

Liu Nineteen finally understood Song Qing's intentions. His expression changed for a long time. He stood up suddenly and said in hatred, "Xingfu, these officials in the court are all the same. Why don't we just rebel?"

Seeing that Liu Jiujiu's words surprised Wu Peifu and Li Jinyu, Teng Yuzao drank the beer in the bowl in one gulp, threw the bowl on the table, and did not continue Liu Jiujiu's words, but said to Wu Peifu and Li Xiance. "Zi Yu and Kang Nian are both right. Song Qing is trying to flatter me to death. He first praised me high, making me think I can do anything, and then threw me down hard. Even if he doesn't kill me, he will break my bones and tendons."

"As for the comparison between us and the coalition forces of these great powers, we should not be blinded by a few victories. You must know that the coalition forces have undergone long-term training, which our vanguard army cannot compare with, such as shooting, bayonet fighting, and combat discipline. Once we confront the coalition forces head-on in the field, our vanguard army will be the first to collapse or even be defeated."

"The only one who has a chance of winning is our broadsword team in hand-to-hand combat, but there are not that many people with high martial arts skills."

"Also, Song Qing has pushed me into a corner now. I have nowhere to retreat."

Teng Yuzao looked at Liu Shijiu and said, "As for rebellion, don't mention it again. You'll lose your head if you do."

Teng Yuzao slowed down his tone and said slowly, "What's more, we are now invaded by foreign enemies and the country is in crisis. If I rebel, not only will I, Teng Yuzao, immediately become the target of public criticism and reviling, and lose my reputation, but I can say with certainty that the imperial court will immediately put aside their past grudges with the foreigners and join forces to deal with us."

Teng Yuzao's words made everyone feel a chill in their hearts, and they couldn't help but look at Teng Yuzao with complicated eyes.

Everyone could tell that although Teng Yuzao did not explicitly mention rebellion, he at least had this thought in mind. Or it was not that he did not dare to do so, but the timing was not right.

But what if there really was such an opportunity? How could this not shock several people?

Teng Yuzao smiled bitterly and waved his hands, "Don't take it seriously, I was just saying this casually, how could I do such a treasonous thing."

Liu Shijiu coughed lightly and said with a smile, "Xingfu, I was just angry and said some nonsense. Who would take your words seriously? Besides, there are only a few of us, who would gossip outside?"

Although Liu Shijiu had a smile on his face, his tone was somewhat cold, and after he finished speaking he even glanced at the other three people one by one.

Teng Yuzao continued, "Since we can't retreat, then we won't retreat and just follow Song Qing's orders. But he wants to use the foreigners to kill me, which is a wrong calculation."

As soon as Teng Yuzao finished speaking, everyone was stunned.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "What do you think the most urgent thing for the Dagukou coalition reinforcements to do now?"

"Of course it's to lift the siege on the concession and Laolongtou Railway Station." Liu Shijiu said without hesitation.

Then, Liu Nineteen suddenly realized, "Xingfu means that although the foreign devils hate our vanguard army to the core, they are more eager to rescue the allied forces besieged under Tianjin City and have no time to compete with us?"

"Correct."

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "You all saw that the ammunition and supplies we seized from the coalition forces are of various types, especially the vast majority of artillery shells and various rifle bullets. This shows that the coalition forces in the concession and Laolongtou Railway Station are already in a very tense situation."

"As long as we can hold off the coalition reinforcements for a day, they will not fight us any more. At most, they will leave some troops to contain us, and their main force will definitely take a detour to Tianjin City to rescue us."

"Also, this is a plain area. If they want to take a detour, they can't stop them except for heavy equipment like cannons. Their infantry can leave at will. As long as they come with enough troops this time, we won't be able to stop them."

Li Jinyu asked hesitantly, "Sir, the foreign devils can come another 10,000. Can they have so many people?"

Teng Yuzao said, "I learned from the documents seized by the assault battalion yesterday that the battalion destroyed last night was a battalion of the 35th Regiment of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army. According to the Japanese documents, the Japanese troops that landed at Dagukou this time were mainly the 5th Division, and only a part of the 9th Division came. The 5th Division was the main force of the Japanese army during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, with more than 30,000 soldiers, and the 9th Division also had more than 20,000 soldiers. Their troops must still be landing at Dagukou continuously."

"What's more, don't forget that the Russians still have more than 100,000 troops invading the three northeastern provinces. If necessary, they will be happy to send troops into the country."

"So, after the coalition forces suffered a loss, the next time they come, they will definitely not have only three or four thousand people."

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "Although we have to follow Song Qing's orders, we can't just follow his orders. We have to follow our rules."

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(End of this chapter)