The sun never sets

Seeing that the generals were still full of murderous intent, Lin Yongchang said again: "There are only 4,000 Japanese soldiers left in Tianjin, and there are only a few cannons. We have suffered so many casualties. There are ten times more foreign troops in the capital, not only with foreign guns, but also more than 200 cannons. If we kill all the prisoners, wouldn't that help the enemy make up their minds to fight to the death?"

"Whether from a humanitarian perspective or a war perspective, I don't agree with this!"

After repeated persuasion from Lin Yongchang, the others reluctantly gave up the idea of making a big news.

"Send all our wounded back to Baoding, and reorganize the outstanding soldiers and troops on the spot," Lin Yongchang then talked about another matter, "Taking Tianjin is just the beginning, it is not time to celebrate the victory. General Wang Qi is deploying defenses in Langfang, and the foreigners may launch an attack at any time, we must move quickly!"

"Yes!"

Wang Zuolin asked again: "What about Dagu Fort?"

Dagu Fort is a coastal defense fortress, the gateway to Tianjin, and Tianjin is the gateway to Beijing. In several foreign invasions, they first captured Dagu Fort and then attacked Tianjin and Beijing. For the court, Dagu Fort is very important. For Marshal Lin, Dagu Fort is dispensable. The two undestroyed fortress guns inside are still useful. They are not used to bombard foreign warships, but can be pulled to Langfang to strengthen the defense of the position.

Lin Yongchang looked at everyone present one by one, and finally called on everyone, "General Wang, go pick two thousand elite soldiers and take down the Dagu Fort!"

The hundreds of foreigners in the fort are nothing, just get those two cannons out.

But unfortunately, Lin Yongchang's plan failed. When the rebels launched an artillery attack on Tianjin City, the Japanese troops stationed at Dagu Fort became scared. After the battle in Tianjin City was over, the hundreds of foreign devils were even more frightened. When they saw signs of the Boxers' attack, the Japanese blew up the cannons and ran away.

Wang Zuolin was very angry because of his empty-handedness and ordered all the destroyed parts to be pulled back by carts. He knew that Lin Yongchang had used parts to piece together a rifle, so he planned to collect more cannon parts and see if he could DIY a cannon.

This is of course overthinking. Cannons and rifles are two different things. If a rifle explodes, at most one person will be injured. If a cannon explodes, the people around will probably be blown up into the sky. The scrap metal that was pulled back is not useless. It can be dragged back and placed in the museum as a teaching tool and exhibit.

The Japanese salvaged the warships of the Beiyang Fleet for the public to see, and Lin Yongchang thought he could do the same. It would be fine to put it in Baoding or Taiyuan, of course, Taiyuan would be better. For a long time in the future, war will be the main thing. No matter what it is, it is not safe to put it in Baoding.

If it was only the 30,000 or 40,000 Eight-Nation Alliance troops under the city of Beijing, Lin Yongchang would not be worried at all. After fighting with Wang Shi... the Americans and the Japanese devils, he had a deeper understanding of the armies of the great powers of the time. The Eight-Nation Alliance was well-equipped and well-trained, but its tactics were rigid and backward, so it was not difficult to deal with them.

However, there are still 17 Russian troops in Northeast China. Not 17, not , but !

This is really uncomfortable. Even if the Russian army's combat effectiveness is not the strongest among the great powers, it is a real army of 17! No wonder those European countries feel a headache when they mention the "Russian steamroller". Now Lin Yongchang also has a headache.

Chapter 91: Continue the Attack

In 1900, the U.S. military was regarded as the weakling among the great powers. The Japanese were not qualified to sit on the stage and eat with the great powers. Defeating the U.S. and Japanese armies was not equivalent to defeating the Eight-Nation Alliance. Probably no one counted on the combat effectiveness of the U.S. military. Before the Great White Fleet sailed around the world, Britain, France, Germany and Russia did not take the Americans seriously.

However, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was not much different from that of the great powers. A regiment of the Japanese army was finished in two days. In Lin Yongchang's view, the foreign devils under the city of Beijing were not invincible. If there were not too many gray animals in the three northeastern provinces, Marshal Lin would have established a central government by now.

For now, let’s continue to use the label of “united front”.

After taking Tianjin, they seized mountains of ammunition, including more than a dozen cannons and tens of thousands of guns. There were also many old guns in the warehouse, which were all prepared by profiteers to sell to Marshal Lin. After assembling them, they could probably make up another 10,000 rifles. Now that Lin Yongchang had captured Tianjin, he was still prepared to give some silver to those profiteers, but the price would definitely not be as high as before.

Although the number of cannons and firearms was a little less, the bullets and shells were exactly what the rebels lacked. In the past few months, they had been fighting frequently and had consumed a lot of bullets and shells. When they fought in Tianjin, the ammunition belts of several Green guns were all used up. The captured bullets and shells just solved the urgent problem.

Without this batch of captured weapons, Lin Yongchang would have had to let his soldiers take the initiative to fight the foreign devils with rifles and swords. If there had not been a mountain of ammunition in Tianjin, Marshal Lin would not have rushed straight to Tianjin, but would have pulled his troops into the capital to fight street battles.

Now that they have ammunition, the situation has improved a lot, but we can't let our guard down. The teams that fought bravely were reorganized on the spot, trained for two days, and learned how to fire their guns. Then they were sent to Langfang.

When Chang attacked Tianjin, Wang Qi led a Type A regiment and a large number of militiamen to tear up the railway, and then dug trenches around Langfang.

The mainstream military thought of the time was "offensive tactics". Marshal Lin was ready to teach those foreign devils a lesson, letting them know that "defense is the best offense". The rebels had too few heavy machine guns and rapid-fire cannons. The Eight-Nation Alliance had more than 200 heavy machine guns and more cannons, more than five times that of the rebels. In terms of firepower, the Eight-Nation Alliance completely defeated the rebels.

Fortunately, the foreign devils' supply lines have been cut off, and their artillery shells are running out with each fire. As long as they can hold on for five, six, seven or eight days, they will be able to find an opportunity to launch a counterattack.

The news that Tianjin was lost in two days shocked many people. The captured Japanese were naturally shaken to the ground, and the confidence they had just built up was shattered. Except for the Japanese, the other foreign devils were very scared, but they still had a psychological advantage over the natives of the Far East. But they were not fools. Lin Yongchang did not drag them out and chop them up, and they did not do anything irrational.

Among the captured people, except for the seriously injured and those who were not fit to walk, all other prisoners, including prisoners of war and civilians, were taken to Baoding. They would not stop in Baoding, but would continue to head west until they entered the mines in Shanxi. Marshal Lin did not like to kill people, but preferred to let the prisoners participate in labor reform. Whether it was a prisoner of war or a corrupt official, those who could avoid beheading were spared as much as possible, and were put in shackles and handcuffs and thrown into a mine that never saw the sun. Living people were much more useful than dead people.

Well, this is what would happen if the great powers refused to pay the ransom.

Of course, those who deserved to be shot or beheaded would still be beheaded. In order to save bullets, beheading or hanging were used instead of shooting. There were only a few who were nailed to the cross like Mei Ziming. To be more precise, for the time being, there was only one American missionary, Mei Ziming.

A few days later, Shandong Governor Yuan Shikai and the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance, Alfred von Waldersee, received news of the attack on Tianjin at about the same time, and their reactions were similar. Yuan Weiting thought that the Boxers' choice to attack Tianjin was a good move, but he thought it was impossible for the Boxers to capture Tianjin.

"Even if we have ten times the number of troops, without the right weapons, we can't do anything to those Japanese people."

"Sir Yuan, the bandit leader Lin Tuzi is not an ordinary person. The rioters under his command have many foreign guns and cannons."

"That's useless!" Yuan Weiting said decisively, "It doesn't mean that we can fight wars just because we have foreign guns and cannons. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in Korea, didn't the Huai Army have foreign guns and cannons? Didn't they still get beaten miserably? I think Baldy Lin will suffer a great loss this time. He might even die at the hands of the local militia like Zhang Decheng!"

Yuan Shikai was not optimistic about the Boxer Rebellion, and his "Dragon, Tiger and Dog" and other generals and staff all had the same view. These people either fought against the Japanese in Korea or heard and saw with their own eyes how well-equipped and brave the foreign soldiers were. They were very brutal when suppressing the Boxer Rebellion, but became submissive when facing foreigners, including Westerners and Easterners.

Outside the city of Beijing, Alfred von Waldersee, commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance, hesitated for a moment after receiving news that many rioters had appeared in the rear and Tianjin had also been attacked. But soon, with the help of other generals, he decided to continue the attack.

"As long as we take Beijing, we will win this great war!"

Waldersee said so. He was also very envious of the gold, silver and jewelry in Beijing. In fact, he could not control too many troops. In name, he was the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance, but the number of German troops was too small, and many people in the alliance did not listen to him. The last time they fought in Langfang, the British ran away first, and the troops of other countries followed them and withdrew to Tianjin.

If they hadn't been fighting each other, they would have reached Beijing long ago!

Now the walls of Beijing are about to be blown down, and everyone is waiting to rush into the city and have a good time. Who is willing to go back to rescue Tianjin? If they retreat, I don’t know how long it will take to rush back. What if the Chinese escape? What if the Chinese run away with all the treasures and money in the city?

People came all the way to China to fight, not to promote the spirit of internationalism, but to make money. If you block the road to making money, let alone a German marshal, even the German emperor will be useless.

Only the commander of the Japanese Fifth Division, Yamaguchi Motoomi, wanted to go back to save the 11th Infantry Regiment, but his attitude was not very firm. The generals of other countries made sense. Tianjin had to troops. Even if we could not win a complete victory, we would never be defeated by the Boxers. Wouldn't it be great if we first broke through Beijing and then went back to kill the Boxers?

Others said: If you Japanese are worried, then divide your forces. The other troops will continue to attack the city, and you Japanese will go back to rescue Tianjin.

After hearing this, Yamaguchi Motoshin made up his mind, what's the point of saving them! He would first capture Beijing and make a fortune! Kishimoto Shikataro was a rising star that he was optimistic about, and he would definitely be able to defend Tianjin... No, he would definitely be able to defeat the Boxers! There was no need for anyone to rescue them!

Chapter 92 Reaction

When attacking Tianjin, many people who made a living there also joined

One reason is that foreigners treated Chinese people as two-legged animals, robbing and killing as they pleased, and committed numerous blood debts in North China. Many people had grudges against foreigners, and even those who had no grudges were afraid that they would be killed one day.

Secondly, after Lin Yongchang led the army to kill here, he was not polite to the local tyrants, evil gentry and traitors. He was quick and severe when he started to fight. Many people were scared and had to help the rebels transport things. Zhang Decheng lost his life because he was ambushed by the militia. The previous lesson cannot but make people vigilant. When eliminating the foreign devils, the local tyrants, evil gentry, second devils, traitors and the like were all arrested. Those who deserved to be beheaded were beheaded, and those who deserved to be sent to mine were sent to mine.

As the saying goes, revenge is for revenge, and injustice is for injustice. In wartime, everyone has to choose sides. Without waiting for Marshal Lin's order, the culprit who killed Zhang Decheng and his family were exterminated. Before that, hundreds of rebel soldiers were ambushed and killed or injured. On the battlefield, swords and knives have no eyes, and that's fine. Thousands of captured rebels were either beheaded or buried alive, leaving no one alive.

Many of Zhang Decheng's former subordinates had defected to Lin Yongchang's side, and now that they had returned, they naturally had to draw up a list. The deep ditch compound where the landlords trained could not hold out for long in the face of the cannons, and the rebels used iron and blood to reorganize the places they had passed through.

After hearing that one of his soldiers had killed an entire family, Lin Yongchang was very angry and expelled more than a dozen people from the active army and sent them to Taiyuan to study infantry. There were still many people in Shanxi, especially the big landlords whose land was confiscated and the big businessmen whose property was confiscated, who were very dissatisfied with the rebels. The locals were deeply rooted, so some outsiders had to be transferred over.

After the foreigners opened the country's borders with cannons, foreign goods poured into China from Shanghai, Tianjin and other places. Guangzhou and Zhejiang had a tradition of being compradors, but Shanxi merchants failed to change their ways in a short period of time and declined over the past few decades. The once bustling compound is now deserted, and the incident of Lin Tuzi's invasion of Shanxi has made matters worse.

Marshal Lin not only confiscated a lot of land, but also used Shanxi merchants' bonds to recruit Mongolian cavalry on the grassland. Just one cavalryman could offset the debt of 200 taels of silver. In addition, resettlement fees and military pay were never reduced. Not only did the Mongolian warriors like to work for Marshal Lin, but the Mongolian princes also liked to sell their cavalry.

Debts and resettlement expenses are one thing, and the other thing is that the things sold here by Marshal Lin are cheap. If you don't work for Marshal Lin, you can't buy cheap and useful goods.

Shanxi merchants have suffered a series of blows and are now unable to recover, so many people are dissatisfied. Even though they have been dealt with several times, some people still hold grudges. This is easy to understand. Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. Shanxi merchants were already in trouble, and now they have been taken away by Baldy Lin. No one can tolerate this.

In fact, Lin Yongchang had no intention of overthrowing the Shanxi merchants. His Shanxi cousin's bank was doing well, so he could open a bank. Yan Baichuan's father, Yan Shutang, was busy with banking affairs in Taiyuan and had already recovered from bankruptcy. He was also ordered to attract more merchants to run a bank together, which had some effect, but in every era there are always many people who can't adapt.

If you want long-term peace and stability, the most important thing is to let the majority of people benefit. The merchants in Shanxi have not seen many benefits, but have seen a lot of disadvantages, so of course they will be dissatisfied. But they are just dissatisfied now. As long as no one leads troops to attack like Wei Guangtao, the governor of Shaanxi, no one should jump out.

After taking Tianjin in two days, Marshal Lin's reputation rose to a new level. Even though the city walls were gone, it was still Tianjin City! There were still several thousand Japanese soldiers inside.

Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, previously believed that the Boxers had good ideas, but they were weak and would be killed by the Japanese army. However, a few days later, news came that the Japanese in Tianjin had surrendered in two days. Upon hearing this news, Yuan Shikai was unusually shocked, "How is it possible?"

He jumped up from his chair, took a few steps forward and grabbed Yang Shiqi's hands, "Xingcheng, is this news true?"

Yang Shiqi coughed and pulled his hand out, "It's true."

Yuan Shikai realized his own gaffe, and slowly sat back in his chair. "Didn't they say that the Japanese had a regiment in Tianjin? The Westerners also had a lot of troops there, so how could they be defeated in just three days?"

"In fact, it took the Boxers only a day and a half to capture Tianjin. All the Westerners and Japanese in the city became prisoners of Lin Tu...Lin Yongchang!"

"Why are the Japanese so weak? They were so powerful during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895!"

"Alas, it's all General Seymour's fault. He demolished the city walls of Tianjin and destroyed the fortresses outside the city. When the Boxers attacked, the defenders in the city had nowhere to defend, and the Boxers also used human wave tactics."

Yuan Shikai killed many Boxers in Shandong, and blood flowed like a river. He was very familiar with the Boxers' human wave tactics. Hearing what Yang Shiqi said, he thought of the situation where mobs rushed over from all over the mountains, so he nodded heavily, "The Boxers would use this trick. The Japanese probably had never seen it before, so they panicked."

"That's about it. After taking Tianjin, Lin Yongchang not only got countless guns and ammunition, but also gained a great reputation."

"What a pity!" The traitor Yuan Shikai patted his chair and sighed: "The Japanese

We were not careful enough and Lin Yongchang became famous! Xingcheng, what do you think we should do now? Should we send troops to take back Tianjin City?"

Yang Shiqi said: "Although the Boxers have taken Tianjin, they must have suffered heavy losses. They are definitely no longer able to fight! It is the right time to send troops now!"

"Okay, I'll call Pinqing and Zhiquan over to discuss sending troops."

Pinqing refers to Wang Shizhen, and Zhiquan refers to Duan Qirui. These two are Yuan Shikai's top generals. Wang Shizhen is a man of both civil and military talents. Yuan Shikai would consult with Wang Shizhen on matters of war and the court. Duan Qirui only deals with war, and he has the best ideas on how to fight.

As for Feng Guozhang, the last of the "Dragon, Tiger, and Dog", he was a good commander, but he had no say in policy. He did whatever his superiors said, so he was called the "Dog of the Northern Ocean".

Soon, Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui and others rushed back to Jinan Prefecture. But to Yuan Shikai's surprise, Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui both opposed sending troops to Tianjin. They spared no effort to suppress the Boxers, but they were still clear about which battles could be fought and which could not be fought.

Chapter 93: Military Expansion

“Why can’t we send troops?”

Yuan Shikai was very good at training soldiers, but he never led them to fight. The Boxers in Shandong were suppressed by Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Cao Kun and others, but he felt that the Boxers' fighting power was very poor, that was because they had too many people, otherwise they could be suppressed by the patrol battalion alone. The bandit leader Lin Yongchang was more powerful than other Boxers, and he traveled across three provinces in half a year, but that was because the Beiyang Army was in Shandong.

If the Beiyang Army went to Shanxi, they would surely beat Lin Tuzi so badly that even his mother wouldn’t be able to recognize him!

Duan Qirui said bluntly: "We have few soldiers. Even if we can defeat the Boxers, the casualties will be great!"

Wang Shizhen also said: "If the Boxers had only 10,000 people like us, we could win. If the Boxers had not obtained the foreign guns and cannons in Tianjin, we could also win. But now they have a large number of people and their weapons and equipment are not inferior to ours. It will be difficult to eliminate the Boxers in a short time if we send troops now. If the situation in Shandong fluctuates because of this, and if it causes surprise to friendly countries, it will be a big problem."

Duan Qirui said: "Sir Yuan, we need to expand the army. The Beiyang Army is very powerful, but our numbers are too small!"

Expand the army? Yuan Shikai had this idea long ago. Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and other predecessors relied on strong troops to become kings and hegemons. After the Beiyang Fleet was destroyed, the Huai Army was finished, and Li Hongzhang was also unlucky. Only with an army can you have power, this is an unchanging truth.

Yuan Shikai did not have the courage to rebel, and now he just wanted to learn from his predecessors such as Zeng, Hu, Zuo, and Li, but he also wanted to expand the number of Beiyang Army by five or ten times. If he had 100,000 elite soldiers, then he, Yuan Weiting, would be the second Li Hongzhang!

But is it a good time to expand the army now? The imperial court did not allow the Beiyang Army to expand.

"The imperial court is now in a state of panic, and it's even questionable whether it will still exist next month."

Speaking of attacking here, Wang Shizhen's face was a little gloomy. He was recommended by Yinchang, and became Yuan Shikai's adviser. According to his education and the old Confucian moral concepts, Yinchang was his sponsor, and he needed to repay the favor. But now the Eight-Nation Alliance was attacking Beijing, and he could do nothing but watch from the sidelines in Shandong.

Wang Shizhen said: "Let's make it a fait accompli first. Even if the imperial court still exists, when you have a strong army, the imperial court will have to be cautious!"

Yuan Shikai pondered for a while, "Pinqing's words make sense. There are many good families in Shandong, and we have no shortage of soldiers, but where will the guns and salaries come from?"

Military issues are ultimately economic issues. Is it good to expand the military? Of course it is good! The problem is that there is no money.

When the Beiyang New Army was training at Xiaozhan, there were less than 4.5 people, and the money spent was like water. Yuan Shikai did not have so much money to support and train the army. It was the court that paid for the new army and the monthly military pay of taels, which was for ordinary soldiers. The officers had higher salaries, and the generals had higher salaries. In addition to military pay, the purchase of foreign guns and cannons, the hiring of German instructors, etc., all used the money extorted from the people by the court.

Shandong and Hebei were so ruthless that the people were plundered to death, which led to the outbreak of the massive Boxer Rebellion. The result was that the Boxer Rebellion in Shandong was suppressed by the Beiyang Army, which was outrageous. Where is justice? Where is fairness? But the world is so cruel and unreasonable.

It is not that other places outside Shandong, Hebei and Shanxi were not plundered, but the governors and governors in the south did not care much about the imperial court. The officials in the south did not hand over the money they plundered to Beijing, or only handed over a small amount, and the rest was used locally, either for training troops or building factories.

For example, Zhang Zhidong spent more than 500 million taels of silver on the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, which was built with the money he plundered in Hubei. Everyone involved made a fortune, but in the end the steel plant was in a mess. Although the steel plant was not built well, Zhang Zhidong still did some things in Hubei, such as building schools, repairing factories, and training new troops. These all cost money, and a lot of money.

It is easy to talk about "expanding the military", but where will the money come from? Where will the guns and ammunition, as well as water bottles, military boots, uniforms, horses and other equipment come from?

Duan Qirui is very good at fighting wars and is still China's top

He is a top-notch artillery expert, but not very good at other things. "How about raising taxes?"

Cao Kun said with a smile: "You can also collect lijin!"

Raising taxes and collecting lijin were both tactics used during Zeng Guofan's time. They could solve some of the problems, but they could not support large-scale military expansion. Yuan Shikai looked at the people present at the meeting and said, "Raising taxes and collecting lijin are both good ideas, but they are not enough."

Wang Shizhen still had a solution. The Beiyang Dragon was silent for a while and said, "We can borrow money from foreigners!"

Yuan Shikai's eyes lit up, and his face seemed to be glowing. The more these people knew about foreigners, the more they had a superstitious belief in them, believing that they could do anything. They bought guns and cannons from foreigners, hired instructors from foreigners, and even went to foreigners when they ran out of money!

As long as the foreign dad takes action, things will definitely get better!

After figuring this out, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but burst into laughter. When he laughed, everyone else laughed too, except Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui. Wang Shizhen said, "Although it's not a good time to send troops now, we can prepare the troops. Once the coalition forces defeat Lin Yongchang's main force, we can help the foreigners to encircle and suppress the Boxers. Lin Yongchang has robbed a lot of guns and cannons, and even if he was defeated, there will be some left, so it would be good to give them to our Beiyang Army for use."

Duan Qirui was inspired. He was good at making battle plans. "I'll go and make preparations right away!"

"Okay! Zhiquan, you guys should come up with a plan for sending out troops first. How many soldiers will be sent out, how many will be left to guard Shandong, how much food, ammunition, and travel expenses will be needed. Prepare all of these first, and when the time is right, send out immediately!"

"Yes!"

The generals followed Duan Qirui out. Feng Guozhang stopped at the door and seemed to want to say something, but after looking at Wang Shizhen who was left behind and Yuan Shikai who was sitting at the top seat, he said nothing in the end. He turned around and left with the generals.

Yuan Shikai withdrew his gaze from Feng Guozhang and said to Wang Shizhen who was sitting next to him: "Lin Yongchang has obtained the arms from Tianjin and his strength has become even stronger. If he abandons Hebei and retreats to Shanxi to defend, or even flees to Guanzhong, then things will be difficult to deal with."

Wang Shizhen shook his head. "Lin Yongchang won't run away. He will definitely fight a decisive battle with the foreigners in Hebei!"

"Oh why?"

Wang Shizhen pulled out a few tabloids from his sleeves and said, "Please have a look, sir. These are distributed by the Boxers."

Chapter 1: The Black Hand Holds the Overlord Whip High ()

"Drive out the Tartars!"

"Down with the night raid group: six, nine, four, nine, three, six, one, thirty, five, the great powers!"

Yuan Shikai took the tabloid, read it for a few seconds, and sneered, "These things are nothing more than being used to deceive fools, nothing new. Expel the Tartars, who are the Tartars? Overthrow the foreign powers, how to overthrow them? Others are the butchers, and I am the meat. Being able to be safe and sound is the best result. Overthrow the foreign powers? Humph, the Boxers are a disaster to the country and the people, and Lin Yongchang is even worse!"

Wang Shizhen said: "Lin Yongchang not only promoted it this way, but also did it this way. The attack on Tianjin is just the beginning. Next he will fight a decisive battle with the foreigners in Hebei."