The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 182 A Real Victory

Listening to Li Lianying reciting Yu Lu's memorial with great emotion, everyone in the flower hall, including Cixi, felt greatly inspired.

The battle of Tianjin City achieved great results. Not only was the 11th Regiment of the 9th Brigade of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army completely wiped out in Tianjin City and the south of the city without a single soldier escaping, but the flag of the 11th Regiment of the Japanese Army was also seized.

From the commander of the 11th Regiment, Yasuki Ishida, down, no one survived.

In addition, 645 British soldiers were annihilated; 582 American soldiers including Colonel Liscomb were annihilated; 718 French soldiers including Colonel Parac were annihilated, and 81 British, American and French coalition soldiers were captured.

In addition, when the battle was not yet over, Teng Yuzhao urgently relocated troops and deployed them reasonably. He pursued and flanked the Russian and German coalition forces that occupied the Navy Camp and defeated Ma Yukun's left army in the east of the city. This battle also wiped out more than 800 Russian soldiers and 321 German soldiers.

The two major battles wiped out more than 5,200 officers and soldiers from the six Allied forces of China, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and Japan, killed 18 Allied officers above the rank of colonel, seized 26 cannons, 8 Maxim heavy machine guns, and countless other long and short guns and ammunition.

Yu Lu also wrote in a sensational memorial, "According to the statistics of the vanguard army after the war, more than 2,000 Japanese corpses were cleared from the area of ​​several hundred feet inside the city gate, and the ground was covered with blood. The local people called it the blood sea of ​​the Japanese pirates."

In this battle, less than a hundred people from various units in Tianjin City were killed, and less than three hundred were injured, both minor and serious.

As soon as Li Lianying finished reading the memorial, his knees softened and he knelt down in front of Cixi with a plop. He then said with a look of joy, "I, your servant, congratulate Your Majesty! Congratulations to Your Majesty! Our Great Qing has produced another outstanding general. God bless the Great Qing! God bless Your Majesty!"

Gangyi had already opened the small package in his hand. He shook his hand like a magician and took out a white flag with tassels around it and a red rising sun pattern on it and unfolded it in his hand.

However, the flag in his hand looked very dirty, because there were not only several bullet holes on the flag, but also large bloodstains that had turned black.

"The regiment flag!"

Ronglu cried out in surprise, jumped up from the brocade cushion, rushed to Gangyi in a few steps, bent over to examine him carefully for a while, and then muttered to himself.

"A great victory! A truly great victory!"

Seeing Ronglu's strange expression, Cixi couldn't help but ask, "Zhonghua, is there anything special about this flag?"

Ronglu's courtesy name was Zhonghua, and he was also Cixi's nephew.

Before Ronglu could answer, Gangyi excitedly said, "Yes, each regiment of the Japanese pirates has a regiment flag. It is said that their regiment flags were personally bestowed by the Japanese emperor. The army is there with the flag, and the army is scattered without the flag. This 11th regiment belongs to the 5th Division of the Japanese pirates. It was this 5th Division that fought from Korea all the way to Liaodong in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This time, there will no longer be the name of the 11th regiment in the Japanese pirate army. This time, Teng Yuzao has really let us have a good revenge."

Zai Yi bowed with a face full of joy and said, "I also congratulate the Queen Mother! I also ask the Queen Mother to commend Lord Rong. Without Lord Rong's insight and selection of talents, Teng Yuzao would not be known to the world for his extraordinary talent. The most rare thing is that Teng Yuzao not only annihilated many enemies in this battle, but also killed the enemy chief in battle."

Ronglu didn't expect that Zai Yi, who had always regarded him as a thorn in his side, would praise him at this time. However, after a little thought, he understood Zai Yi's thoughts.

Zai Yi's praise of him was simply to discourage him from proposing peace again.

Although Ronglu laughed at Zai Yi for being too naive, after all, the other party was praising him, so he hurriedly bowed to Zai Yi.

"Thank you, Prince, for your kindness. Rong is unworthy of it. It was the Governor-General of Zhili, Yu Lu, who really had a good eye for talent. It was he who made an exception and promoted Teng Xingfu to the position of Chief of Staff. This is why we have today's unprecedented victory." Cixi was also very happy. She smiled and asked Li Lianying to stand up. Then she said to Zai Yi, Gang Yi and Rong Lu, "You are all important ministers and pillars of the country. You have all made contributions to the country. You should be rewarded and encouraged."

Cixi looked at Gangyi in confusion and asked, "Ziliang, what are the official positions of the Japanese pirates' captain, colonel, and regiment commander?"

Seeing Cixi asking questions, he explained with firmness and show-off, "Replying to the Empress Dowager, I heard that the captain of the Japanese pirates and the commander of the Western regiment are equivalent to the commander of a route in the Wuwei Army, and they are in charge of several battalions of soldiers. The rank of colonel is equivalent to the rank of the military of the great powers. The foreign officers with this rank are generally equivalent to the commander of the regiment. Compared with our Qing army, it is roughly equivalent to the military position of our third-rank guerrilla general."

Cixi looked at Ronglu with some surprise. Ronglu had organized the Wuwei Army and knew a lot about Western military affairs. Cixi was seeking confirmation from Ronglu.

Ronglu nodded and said, "Ziliang is right, that's basically it."

After receiving Ronglu's confirmation, Cixi could not help but pat the embroidered couch heavily, "Great! Teng Yuzao killed three foreign guerrilla generals in one battle, which is indeed rare, and he deserves a heavy reward."

Cixi hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively, "So, can we continue the war?"

"can!"

As soon as Cixi finished speaking, Gangyi said hurriedly, "Report to the Queen Mother, the vanguard army has won victory after victory, and the foreigners are frightened. At this moment, our army's morale is high. The Queen Mother only needs to urge us a little, and we can drive the foreigners out of the concession and recapture Dagukou in a few days."

Zai Yi also nodded repeatedly and said, "As the saying goes, morale can be boosted but not dampened. The Queen Mother should reward Teng Yuzao greatly and encourage him to make more outstanding achievements. At the same time, she should issue a proclamation to all places to let everyone in the world know that the great powers are only in name only and are not vulnerable to a single blow. Let's see how those governors and governors can save their face."

Although Zai Yi did not say which governor or governor-general they were, everyone understood that Zai Yi wanted to humiliate those governors and governor-general who had signed the "Southeast Self-Protection" agreement with the great powers.

When this matter was mentioned, Cixi's face darkened.

The governors and governors-general of the richest places in the Qing Dynasty not only all opposed her condoning the Boxer Rebellion, but also watched the foreign powers invade the Qing Dynasty and chose to turn a blind eye and not help either side!

How could this person still be a minister of the Qing Dynasty? In Cixi's view, this act was undoubtedly treason.

However, she really couldn't do anything about these provincial governors now. She couldn't dismiss them all from their posts or even arrest them!

If she really did that, it would cause chaos and the Qing Dynasty would be completely over. Given the current situation, she must make a decision early and end the war with the foreigners as soon as possible.

She had just agreed with Ronglu that Ronglu would go to the embassy to express his condolences to the envoys of various countries, and then send letters to the heads of state of Russia, Britain, Japan, Germany, the United States, France and other countries, asking them to come forward to "resolve the difficulties and save the situation.

However, Cixi was now a little hesitant.

Seeing Ronglu's face suddenly turned ugly after hearing what Gangyi and Zaiyi said, Cixi let out a long sigh and asked, "Zhonghua, what do you think?"

Your support is the driving force of Zuima!



(End of this chapter)