Master Yuan, start!

To the extent that people even shouted the slogan of "Tongguang Restoration" and called Li Hongzhang the famous Prime Minister of Tongguang.

Even Ito Hirobumi, who was rising in fame in Japan, wanted to meet Li Zhongtang in person to seek good advice on governing the country.

Li Hongzhang walked slowly step by step with the help of a cane, thinking back on his past years, a smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Just as Li Hongzhang was about to continue reminiscing, a call interrupted his thoughts.

"General Tsuen, this is the latest battle report."

Ding Ruchang couldn't wait any longer. He took out the telegram from his arms, approached Li Hongzhang, and woke him up from his memories.

"Oh, it's Yu Ting." Li Hongzhang turned around and looked, then walked forward a few steps, sat on the stone chair in the courtyard, and waved his hand.

"What happened? Where was lost again?"

During this period of time, bad news came one after another, and Li Hongzhang was almost numb to it.

On his way westward to Yunnan, Guizhou's Ye Zhichao took the opportunity to capture several counties in northern Guangxi, which frightened Guangxi Governor Li Jingyi into sending troops north to defend.

At this time, news came out that Qinzhou in southern Guangxi had been occupied by the Black Flag Army, and the troops were heading straight for Lianzhou Prefecture.

In Hunan, the Xiangyong were persuaded to surrender by Liu Kunyi, and the Lingnan Huai Army could only retreat to Hengzhou Prefecture for a final resistance.

There is not a single piece of good news on such a big front.

Oh no, it can’t be said that there is no good news.

At least after Wei Rugui ran all the way back to Ganzhou City from Nanchang, with the assistance of his deputy general Lu Benyuan, he took advantage of the fact that Ganzhou City was built on the mountain, with thick walls and high mountains, and managed to hold on.

Even when Yuan Shikai personally went to Ganzhou City later, he was unable to capture Ganzhou, at least until now.

"General Quan, the infantry units can generally hold on, and there have been no mistakes for the time being, but..." Ding Ruchang hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether he should say it or not.

"Just what?" Li Hongzhang didn't get angry. He turned around and asked, "Since the troops are still able to hold on, what else is the problem?"

"It's just that something went wrong with the South China Sea Fleet." Ding Ruchang finally said it after hesitating.

"Something went wrong with the South China Sea Fleet?" Li Hongzhang frowned nervously, "Could it be that they were defeated by the Beiyang Fleet?"

Originally, Li Hongzhang planned to raid Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Fleet from the sea.

However, after hearing news of one defeat after another on the land battlefield, Li Hongzhang's confidence in the naval battlefield was no longer so strong.

"It's not that we were defeated by the Beiyang Fleet." Ding Ruchang's face was ashen, and his voice was miserable:

"The South China Sea Fleet didn't even fight, but an internal conflict broke out!"

It turned out that after the South China Sea Fleet moved north, it resupplied in Keelung, Taiwan, which was colonized by the French.

The sailors on the ship disembarked to rest and saw the news of the National Revolutionary Army's great victory in Hunan and Jiangxi in the local newspaper in Keelung.

After setting sail again, the Fujian naval officers on the Jingyuan and Laiyuan were unwilling to launch a surprise attack on Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Fleet.

Under the instigation of this group of Fujian officers, the Fujian sailors on the ship were either moved by their homesickness or persuaded by moral principles and were unwilling to work for Li Hongzhang.

All we can say is that the higher the level of education, the less likely one is to be personally dependent on another person.

In the South China Sea Fleet, this group of Fujian sailors who received early modern naval education had a higher cultural level than the Huai Army sailors.

They refused to obey and were eventually tied up in the boiler room by the Huai Army sailors on the ship.

In the early morning of the next day, when they arrived in the waters near North Korea, these Fujian sailors took advantage of the fact that everyone on the ship was asleep and tried to find a way to escape.

After escaping, they set fire to the Huai Army sailors' rooms and took advantage of the chaos to bombard the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships not far away.

In addition to this, they released smoke and took advantage of the chaos to charge around, and the formation heading north caused chaos!

Since the Laiyuan and Jingyuan ships escaped, the Huai Army's South China Sea Fleet's plan to launch a surprise attack on the Beiyang Fleet came to nothing.

The remaining warships plan to repair the holes and then return to their home port.

After all, although Dingyuan and Zhenyuan had strong ships and powerful guns, their speed was extremely slow. In addition, after being bombarded, the hulls were slightly tilted, and they had to be filled with water to maintain balance.

In order to take into account the speed of the second ship, the entire fleet formation did not return quickly.

Unexpectedly, the Laiyuan and Jingyuan ships returned and came to intercept with a temporary formation consisting of Yuan’s Beiyang Fleet’s Haifeng, Haiji and Hailong.

During the chaotic battle, the Fujian sailors on the Zhenyuan ship rioted and raised the white flag to withdraw from the battlefield.

Seeing this, the Jiyuan and Jingyuan took the Yangwei and Chaoyong and left the battlefield, fleeing south without looking back.

The Dingyuan was under siege, its bridge was blown off, the ship tilted and lost power, and it could only watch its friendly forces move away.

In the end, the South China Sea Fleet's surprise attack to the north completely failed.

Jingyuan and Laiyuan revolted, Dingyuan was captured, and Zhenyuan surrendered on the battlefield.

The essence of the South China Sea Fleet was thus taken into the hands of the Beiyang Fleet.

The remaining ships, including the Jiyuan, hurriedly returned to their home port in Guangzhou and reported the situation immediately.

Ding Ruchang, the naval ambassador, then hurried to the Governor's Office to report to Li Hongzhang.

After hearing the news, Li Hongzhang was a little stunned for a moment.

He never imagined that the South China Sea Fleet, for which he had high hopes, would end up like this.

What if we are defeated in battle and the entire army is wiped out?

Li Hongzhang felt that he would be more comfortable with this outcome.

Anyway, Jiangxi and Hunan have already been defeated again and again, so he can accept another defeat at sea.

A moment later, Li Hongzhang's face flushed crimson, and he changed his indifferent attitude and shouted:

"People from Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi cannot be trusted. They are all greedy and opportunistic people who forget their principles and act according to the situation.

In such a vast country like China, the only people we can rely on are the people of Anhui!"

Although Li Hongzhang passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, he did not like scriptures or articles. On the contrary, he preferred to write poetry and read folk novels.

Li Hongzhang, who came from the feudal era, had his own way of governing his subordinates.

Whether he was fighting against the Taiping Army or the Nian Army, whenever he had free time, he would take out the stories of Liu Bang in the late Qin Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms in the late Han Dynasty, Li Shimin in the late Sui Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Zhu Yuanzhang in the late Yuan Dynasty to read.

From these novels and vernacular stories, he realized a profound truth.

That is, only the villagers can be trusted!

Adopted sons, sworn brothers, and in-laws' homes are all bullshit.

The most reliable way is to gather a group of fellow villagers who speak the same accent around you.

Therefore, when Li Hongzhang learned that the Fujian sailors in the South China Sea Fleet were rioting, he immediately became furious and launched a barrage of insults, cursing all the people in several provinces under the jurisdiction of the Lingnan Xinghan Grand Marshal's Office.

But he forgot that the people from Anhui, on whom he had high hopes, were they reliable?

Find a book

Ye Zhichao was also from Anhui, but he ignored Li Hongzhang's orders and chose to go alone.

After venting his anger, Li Hongzhang calmed down again.

At this time, Yu Shimei, the staff member who had been standing nearby for a long time, slowly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "General Tsuen, I also have a telegram from the French."

"Hmm? What do the French say?" Li Hongzhang turned around and said:

"The one shipload of arms they provided is far from enough. Let them send a few more.

If the money is not enough, let the Bank of France lend some more to China.

I don't know what they are afraid of, but it's not like I won't return it. As long as we can recapture the capital in the future, I will return it tenfold or a hundredfold to the French."

"It's not about the loan." Yu Shimei took out the telegram and said quietly:

"The French say that Lingnan is under attack from both north and south. I hope Marshal Tsuen can make plans early, preferably..."

"What's best?"

"It's best to be prepared to lead the Lingnan Xinghan Grand Commandery to relocate if we are defeated.

Guangdong and Vietnam are separated by a river. The French said they would always welcome Marshal Tsuen to lead his troops into Vietnam."

The French telegram suddenly made Li Hongzhang wake up.

Yes, given the situation, is there really any hope of a counterattack?

However, the words between the lines of the French deeply stimulated Li Hongzhang:

"Turn around? What the hell is turning around? Isn't that just running away?

It would be fine if I just ran away, but I, Li Hongzhang, am the Grand Commander-in-Chief of Lingnan Xinghan. China has such a beautiful land, so why should I go to Vietnam and be a slave under the French?

Don’t even think about it! "

Yu Shimei knew that Li Hongzhang was furious, so he quickly took the telegram and explained, "Marshal Quan, the French probably don't mean to send the Lingnan New Army to Vietnam.

Instead, he asked Marshal Quan to lead the Lingnan New Army to defend the border between Guangxi, Yunnan and Vietnam, and rely on the French for support to resist the southward advance of Yuan's army.

Once the situation stabilizes, Marshal Tsuen will declare himself king, and the French have no objections."

"This is asking me to cut myself off from the world!" Li Hongzhang took a deep breath and said slowly:

"If I cede territory and defend it myself, wouldn't that make me a Jinghai Jiedushi?"

The Jinghai Army Jiedushi mentioned by Li Hongzhang was the name of a vassal state that governed northern Vietnam in the late Tang Dynasty.

"Before the Song Dynasty, Vietnam was part of China and was called Jinghai Army. However, after the Jinghai Army Jiedushi established itself, Vietnam embarked on the road to independence.

Today, the French want to make me the governor of Jinghai Wujun, and want to make Guangxi the Jinghai Army?

Yu Shimei did not respond. He knew that the matter of secession and independence was of great importance and would be extremely difficult to decide no matter who made it.

However, for the sake of the Lingnan Huai Army and the safety of hundreds of thousands of Anhui compatriots in Guangdong, some trade-offs had to be made.

When Yu Shimei saw Li Hongzhang finished speaking, he continued to speak to himself:

“General Quan, once we have Vietnam as our back, and the French are there to support us, if we recall the Huai Army from Lingnan, there will be nearly 100,000 soldiers guarding there.

In the mountains of Guangxi and Yunnan, Yuan's army may not have to go on a long expedition, and perhaps even Ye Zhichao can be invited back to serve.

Yuan Shikai sent a large army to the south, but failed to capture the city after a long siege. There might not be any trouble behind the scenes.

I think Yang Changjun from the Northwest, Lu Chuanlin from Shaanxi, and the group of people from Fujian are not honest. As long as..."

Yu Shimei continued to speak, but Li Hongzhang had no intention of listening anymore.