Seeing that Emperor Guangxu had understood, Weng Tonghe nodded with satisfaction, "The emperor has promised Li Hongzhang today, Jun Wu said, the emperor should write an imperial edict to Nanjing tomorrow and let the people below leave slowly, don't worry about time. . ”
After Emperor Guangxu heard this, he understood what Weng Tonghe meant. However, the emperor thought that the war might not be short. Even if the eunuch who delivered the order walked slowly, he might have reached Nanjing. It seemed that he would have to write a separate secret. The order was given to Liu Hai, asking him to delay until Beiyang suffered heavy losses and then come out to clean up the mess.
"Teacher is really good at predicting things. With his help, there's no need to worry about everything."
After listening to Emperor Guangxu's praise, Weng Tonghe felt happy. He now compared himself to Zhuge Liang, strategizing and winning thousands of miles.
On the second day, Emperor Guangxu actually wrote an imperial edict in accordance with Wen Tongshu's instructions and ordered it to be sent to Nanjing.
When the person who sent the imperial edict left, he quietly wrote a secret edict and sent his personal eunuch to rush to Nanjing.
People in the court were very satisfied with Emperor Guangxu's decree to form a combined fleet in the South and North Seas. In this way, the war against Japan would be somewhat certain.
But who was Li Hongzhang? He immediately saw something was wrong. What time was it now and he still sent someone to write an imperial edict and send it to Nanjing? Why bother with this when a telegram can solve the problem?
And Li Hongzhang was not a fool. Seeing this situation, he certainly would not send the Beiyang Navy north to fight the Japanese decisively.
Therefore, Li Hongzhang immediately ordered the Beiyang Navy not to go to war and to wait for the opportunity in the name of maintenance in the port.
Although the Beiyang Navy could not go to war, the land war could not stop.
After the Qing Dynasty's navy was sneak attacked by the Japanese army off the coast of Toyoshima, the army was also suddenly attacked by the Japanese army at Chenghuan Station in Asan, North Korea.
On July 26, 1894, Nie Shicheng, the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town, led more than 2,000 troops to build fortifications here and prepare to deploy defenses.
He felt that more than 2,000 soldiers were too few, so he asked the commander-in-chief Ye Zhichao to send reinforcements. However, before the reinforcements arrived, at about 4 o'clock in the morning on July 28, they were suddenly attacked by the Japanese general Oshima Yishō's troops.
After nearly three hours of fierce fighting, because the Qing army was outnumbered, their positions were lost one after another, and they were surrounded by enemies on all sides. Nie Shicheng had no choice but to lead his troops to break out, and Chenghuanyi was subsequently occupied by the Japanese army.
After Nie Shicheng led his remnant troops to join Ye Zhichao, they felt that the Japanese army was approaching fiercely and there was a big difference in the strength of the two sides. The two agreed that it was the best policy to retreat north to wait for reinforcements. Therefore, the two led their troops to bypass Seoul and retreat north to the capital of Ping'an Road, an important town in northern North Korea. Pyongyang awaits reinforcements from the Qing court.
In early August, the sub-commander Ma Yukun led the fifth battalion and one team, with about 2,100 people, and entered the DPRK together with the Shengzi Army of the Huai Army and the Fengzi and Shengzi Lianjun of Fengtian. In Pyongyang, he joined the troops of Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng who had withdrawn from Asan. Thirty-five battalions of the five armies were established, with a total of more than 17,000 people. The Qing government appointed President Ye Zhichao to station the armies in Pyongyang.
Japan took advantage of the victory in the Battle of Toshima to control the sea on the west coast of North Korea, and quickly dispatched the Army's Fifth Division with a total of more than 16,000 troops to quickly attack Pyongyang? The Third Division also landed from Wonsan? After intercepting Pyongyang road.
At that time, Pyongyang was the old capital of North Korea. The outcome of the Battle of Pyongyang was extremely critical to the war situation between China and Japan. Therefore, both sides attached great importance to it, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Because the reinforcements from all over the country are moving slowly? The first batch of reinforcements that have arrived in Pyongyang are almost the same as the Japanese troops, and they cannot have a numerical advantage.
Li Hongzhang formulated a strategic policy, "defend first, then attack". His original intention was to wait for new reinforcements to arrive before attacking. For this reason, the Qing army decided to take a defensive position in Pyongyang.
This strategy was seen through by Nozu Michizuki, the commander of the Japanese Fifth Division. He said, "The Qing army is extremely incompetent in field battles. To see its strengths, it can only defend the city." "The Qing army often has the habit of defending dangerous positions."
.So? The Japanese army decided to take risks and win a quick victory? With only more than 10,000 troops, they divided their troops into four groups and quickly attacked Pyongyang.
There were also some generals in the Qing army who originally intended to take the initiative. For example, Zuo Baobao kept suggesting a preemptive attack on the Japanese army, but they were constantly obstructed by Qing army president Ye Zhichao, and the Qing army was trapped in Pyongyang.
On September 15, the Japanese army successfully completed the encirclement of Pyongyang and attacked Pyongyang from three directions. The Japanese 9th Mixed Brigade, under the command of Major General Oshima Yishang, first launched an attack on the Qing army on the south bank of the Datong River and was met with
The Qing army resolutely counterattacked and severely damaged the 9th Brigade.
Under the desperate supervision of Commander Takeda Hideyama and Lieutenant Commander Nishijima Sukeyoshi, the Japanese army captured the fortresses on the left and right wings. However, they were subsequently attacked by the Qing army's infantry and artillery, and suffered heavy losses. The Japanese army suffered a heavy blow.
There were more than 400 casualties, and four squadron commander-level officers were killed.
However, the Japanese army focused its attack on Xuanwumen and concentrated its superior forces here. Major General Naofumi Tachimi's 10th Brigade and Colonel Sato Masaru's 18th Company were the main attackers.
Zuo Baogui, the commander-in-chief of Gaozhou Town of the Qing Army, boarded the Xuanwu Gate to take command. He saw shouts of killing everywhere, the roar of cannons, and fireworks all over the city. Unfortunately, the commander Zuo Guobao died heroically in the cannon, and three of his battalion officers successively
He took over the command banner and died heroically one after another. Xuanwu Gate was breached by the Japanese army at 2:00 in the afternoon and met with fierce resistance from the Qing army. Although the Japanese army poured into the city, they were repulsed.
Nozu Michonuki personally led the Japanese 5th Division to attack southwest of the city at seven in the morning. The Japanese army continued to charge under the cover of artillery fire, but was counterattacked by the Qing army's cavalry. The battle situation between the two sides has been stalemate, Nozu Michizuki thought about it.
The battle situation was difficult to break through and it was difficult to win quickly, so we ordered to suspend the attack and return to the base.
At this time, Qing Army President Ye Zhichao suddenly ordered people to hang out the white flag and surrender, and sent people out of the city in the rain to deliver the armistice.
That night, Ye Zhichao secretly ordered each battalion to prepare to withdraw troops overnight. The soldiers were lightly armed and armed. However, the action was hasty and the secret order could not be effectively transmitted to each soldier. The withdrawal was not effectively organized and turned into an escape.
As mentioned earlier, the Japanese army had already sent troops to cut off Pyongyang's retreat. The Qing army withdrew in a hurry and was ambushed by the Japanese army.
On a rainy night, on the muddy dirt road, the fleeing Qing army was wailing all over the field. Under the ambush of the Japanese army, they had no fighting power and flowed into rivers of blood. The Qing army killed and injured nearly 2,000 people, and more than 500 people were captured by the Japanese army.
The land battle in Pyongyang ended in a major defeat for the Qing troops.
In the next six days, the Qing army fled five hundred miles to the Yalu River, and returned to China on September 21.
The Japanese army marched forward with great success and quickly occupied the entire territory of Korea.
At this point, the Qing army's land battle also changed from its previous victory to a defeat.
Originally, Ye Zhichao, the president of the Qing army stationed in North Korea, successfully led his troops to retreat northward in Asan, and was praised by the domestic court, because Seoul, the capital of North Korea, was already controlled by Japan at that time. To retreat northward from Asan, it was necessary to bypass Seoul, but Ye Zhichao was able to successfully complete the task.
It’s not easy.
However, when Pyongyang withdrew its troops, it failed to organize effectively and retreated hastily, which caused panic among the officers and soldiers. As a result, the withdrawal turned into an escape, and they were ambushed by the Japanese army. The result was a huge defeat, which was really regrettable.
And what is Liu Hai doing at this time? Liu Hai has recruited 150,000 strong men at the beginning of the year. On the surface, these people are all followers of the army serving the regular army. In fact, Liu Hai has conducted strict training on them. After this period,
After years of tenacious training, these 150,000 people have all become an army.
Liu Hai placed these people into the original 15 divisions. At this time, Liu Hai's regular troops had reached an unprecedented 300,000.
As for the navy, Liu Hai has recalled all five old cruisers at the Keelung branch.
And the three Cossack-class light cruisers newly launched and being tested, imitated by the Shanghai Shipyard, will be put into active service immediately.
Therefore, Liu Hai's navy now has one ironclad, one armored cruiser, two Forth-class cruisers, seven Cossack-class light cruisers, and five old-fashioned cruisers.
These warships formed Liu Hai's main fleet, and others included gunboats, torpedo boats, mosquito boats, etc.
Now the total tonnage of Liu Hai's main fleet has reached more than 50,000 tons. Together with those auxiliary ships, the total tonnage of Liu Hai's fleet has also reached nearly 70,000 tons, which is fully capable of a decisive battle with the Japanese combined fleet.
Just when Liu Hai was reorganizing his military equipment and preparing to go north for a decisive battle with Japan, a secret recipe from Emperor Guangxu was delivered to Liu Hai.
After receiving the secret order, Liu Hai was originally very depressed. He was prepared to disobey the order and lead the Nanyang Fleet northward to rendezvous with the Beiyang Fleet. However, he was collectively warned by his staff.
It turns out that his staff were all natives of the Qing Dynasty. Although these people had some patriotism in their hearts, most of them only thought about their lord.
At the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, they had already analyzed clearly that if this war went south to the north to join the Beiyang and defeated the Japanese, most of the final credit would fall on Li Hongzhang.
Their lord could only make some leftovers in the end.
Moreover, after analysis, they found that whether Liu Hai was in the navy or the army, he was enough to hold a stalemate with the Japanese. If this was the case, why should the credit be given to Beiyang?
If the battle between Beiyang and the Japanese fails and the world is in turmoil, Liu Hai will send troops to turn the tide. Not only will he gain great prestige among the people, but Liu Hai will take all the credit. Why not do such a thing?
Liu Hai looked at the several staff members chatting freely in the study room, feeling very dissatisfied with the fact that they only knew about their lord and not about their country.
But Liu Hai knew that these aides were thinking of himself, so he couldn't blame them.
In fact, the more important thing is that although Liu Hai is still worried about the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, in the past few years, he has been in a high position and is no longer as pure as before. He puts his own interests slightly more seriously than the national affairs.
Some.
Therefore, as soon as these aides warned him, he followed the trend and became one of those people he looked down on just now.
After receiving the official imperial edict from Emperor Guangxu, Liu Hai reported to the court that the Nanyang Navy was insufficiently equipped and needed to replenish coal and ammunition. Only when the British sent artillery shells could the Nanyang Navy go north.