Since ancient times, the children of emperors matured precociously, and Tongzhi was no exception. Of course he knew what the palace coup was about, and because of the imperial education he received, he had no sense of guilt about the palace coup.
But Tongzhi is only a ten-year-old child after all, and a trace of pure kindness has not been wiped out. In his heart, you can kill the enemy, but you cannot insult the enemy, especially when the other person is not an enemy but a relative who lives in the Forbidden City.
The little emperor knew that he could not disobey his mother, so the anger in his heart had been accumulating until tonight when he heard the "great truth" spoken by the Kirigakure kid, the volcano in his heart erupted.
"You bitch, how dare you use this poisonous trick... drag her out and kill her with a stick? Can the Huai army stop Xiao Letian? Can the Huai army be able to withstand the iron army that can expedition to Europe?"
Cixi held Tongzhi's arm, but the little emperor kept scolding him. When he was angry, he raised his foot and kicked him. At this time, the Kirigakure kid also took the risk, "Your Majesty, listen to what this slave says... Now Xiao Letian has defeated Tianjin Guard, but He did not continue to move westward or even stay in Tianjin, which shows that Xiao Letian does not have the strength or courage to attack Beijing..."
"This is the imperial capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and this is where the dragon's heart lies in the hearts of the people. Although Xiao Letian is now the king and hegemon of Ryukyu, he still doesn't have such a big appetite for coveting Beijing... Although the people have some complaints about the imperial court, The majesty of the imperial authority is still there, but the people's sentiment has not changed..."
"So Xiao Letian has to wait. What he is waiting for is a righteous name. Li Hongzhang made it very clear. If Ci'an knows about the news that Xiao Letian returned to China with a powerful victory in the European war, this woman is likely to secretly summon It belongs to King Xiao Letian and Qin, because Xiao Letian’s army is the only one in the capital that has nothing to do with any faction, and its combat power is still strong..."
"So I beg the Queen Mother to forget the previous grievances and negotiate with the Queen Mother of the East. Isn't it just a decentralization of power? Ci'an knows how to advance and retreat. She should know what national affairs are. As long as the peace talks are successful, the Queen Mother please take away the slave's head. , to quell the anger of the people of the world."
The Kirigakure kid was also anxious, "Even if Ci'an is determined to go against us, we don't have to be afraid. The Huai army will win this battle."
"Why, why on earth do you..." Tongzhi asked sharply.
"Because I am from Fusang, because I am a ninja, and because we have our own secret method of observing clouds during the day and stargazing at night, I can predict the weather in the next ten days... Your Majesty, Queen Mother, please believe me, the land of Gyeonggi will be tomorrow There will be heavy rain, and the rain will linger for about ten days..."
"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, God is helping us..."
Just as he was talking, suddenly there was a strange gust of wind outside the hall, and several ventilation windows were blown with loud noises. The people inside the hall were frightened and looked up to see that the leaves and dust were being poured into the hall by the strong wind at any time.
At the same time, in a place called Xiaomoutun in the northwest of Wuqing County, west of the capital, a brand-new camp stood on the south side of the official road, but in the center of the camp was the flag of the Green Camp.
Countless people from the surrounding area passed by and looked at the dark camp with horror. Although the soldiers at the door were thin, they were full of energy. They did not look like Green Camp soldiers.
This is the camp where Li Hongzhang temporarily garrisoned his troops, and it is also the place where he will fight decisively to prevent Xiao Letian's advance.
In the middle of the night, Li Hongzhang looked at the clattering flags outside the tent, and was extremely astonished at the Japanese woman's qi-gazing skills.
"It's amazing. There are such talents in this small country. She said it will rain when it rains." Li Hongzhang said lightly.
People in the Central Plains may never understand what Japan is like, an island country that has been plagued by many disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, and of course endless wars.
Disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions are inevitable for humans, but there is one type of climate that humans can judge, and that is wind, frost, rain, and snow.
The experience accumulated over thousands of years in the agricultural society is not only valuable but also complex. Being able to predict the weather can not only help farming, but also help the military in combat. What the Kirigakure kid has learned is a magical skill of observing astronomical phenomena and predicting future climate changes. In fact, to put it bluntly It is just a summary and purification of countless human experiences.
"Well, this woman is quite interesting. If things go as she expected and a rain war breaks out, then our Huai soldiers are no better than these northerners... The heavy rain will also restrain firearms. It seems that we have a chance of winning. Two more points.”
Li Hongzhang muttered a few words to himself, and then turned his attention to a guest in the big tent, a down-and-out general with disheveled hair who was eating a bowl of noodles.
"General Maile, slow down, slow down... Here are the side dishes we brought from the Huai region, have a taste..." Unexpectedly, the general Li Hongzhang entertained was Maile who had retreated from Tanggu. The Huai army rangers came from Wu Qing was robbed on the official road.
"Thank you so much, Brother Shaoquan... I'm ashamed, brother, I'm ashamed..." Mailer said, feeling ashamed, while covering his face with a big ocean bowl. It seemed that it was a bit embarrassing to lose to the same person twice.
Li Hongzhang was not annoyed and continued to read the official documents on the desk. It was not until Mailer put down the bowl and wiped his mouth with a towel that he asked, "Can General Mailer tell me the details of this battle and describe to me how powerful this new army is?" It’s amazing, you know we are very likely to have to go to war with them..."
"Brother Shaoquan, how many troops have you brought, and what are their configurations?"
"Three thousand infantry, all of which have miniguns and foreign guns, and some of them have breech-loaded Desailles...the cavalry only has some rangers for communication..."
"Not enough..." Li Hongzhang shook his head before Mailer finished speaking. "With or without cannons, heavy armor, or nothing, you are definitely no match for Xiao Letian..."
Mailer recalled the cruelty on the Tanggu battlefield and couldn't help but shudder.
"Those are the gods of death from hell. They are all in blue clothes and blue trousers. They don't have any armor, and their heads are all covered with foreign patent leather hats... Each of them has a volley gun in his hand. They seem to be called Spencer. They can Shooting seven projectiles continuously at once, there was a hail of bullets in an instant..."
"There are some sharpshooters among these people. They can hit wherever they want within 200 steps... Countless of my officers are their fault. Tell me, if all the officers are dead, how can I still command the army?"
Li Hongzhang frowned, "With such powerful firearms, they must not be good at hand-to-hand combat. We can deal with them with swords and spears."
"Haha... my brother Shaoquan, you think those new troops don't dare to fight hand-to-hand, for God's sake, they regard their own lives as if they are not destined to die, they line up and attack forward with bayonets, and they even sing a song A rebellious song..."
"Those people sang, 'When you go up the mountain, you are a tiger, and when you go down to the sea, you are a dragon.' Whenever this song was played, no other sound could be heard in the entire battlefield. They wanted to shout until their throats were broken..."
"It's terrible, it's really terrible. The bright bayonet array, coupled with the devil's song, pierced through countless of our military formations, and how many Eight Banners warriors died tragically under the bayonet array..."
"By the way, there is also a group of people called the Ba Dao Team, also called the Foreign Legion. All of them are Japanese ronin... The sharp Japanese swords, which are more than one meter long, roll like wheels, and the people and horses are shattered after the sword flashes."
Mailer kept wiping cold sweat in fear. This battle had frightened him out of his courage. "What's even more frightening is the ability of this group of people to confuse. The green soldiers of the Dagukou Fort were the ones who were able to confuse and rebel... But this group of The green battalion soldiers who are like mice can finally fight hand-to-hand with our Eight Banners athletes... It is really unimaginable."
With a snap, Li Hongzhang threw the document on the table and said unhappily, "General Mailer is exaggerating. I know you are making excuses for your failure. Brother, I am not the official interrogating you, so why bother to lie to me?" …So Xiao Letian’s soldiers are all heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals.”
Mailer had a bitter look on his face, "Shaoquan, please calm down. Brother Shaoquan, please calm down... Please listen to what I have to say. I really didn't lie to you."
"This group of soldiers is indeed powerful. They are excellent at playing with firearms, fighting hand-to-hand combat, and fighting for morale... But they also have flaws. This is the experience we gained with our blood..."
As soon as Li Hongzhang heard this, he cursed in his heart, "Damn trash, you still want to extract oil when you come to me. You want to sell this thing for money, forget it, what he wants now is nothing more than bribing the court to buy his life." That’s all…”
Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang shouted, "Come here, give General Mailer a 20,000 tael of silver note... Don't refuse, just leave it alone. I won't give you money. Are you in trouble?" Well, it’s impossible to open a road in the capital without money... Hurry, hurry, get it ready..."
"Don't worry, brothers in the capital also have some connections, and they will naturally speak for me when the time comes."
Mailer held the banknote and burst into tears. He held up his hand and said, "My brother's generosity is appreciated by my brothers... I'm so ashamed that a penny can stump a heroic man."
Mailer didn't say anything this time. He took out the folder from his arms and handed it to Li Hongzhang, "Brother Shaoquan, hurry up and copy a copy. Brother, all my hard work is here..."
"Xiao Letian's new army is not a magic weapon descended from the sky. It also has shortcomings. First of all, the new army does not wear armor and only wears woolen cloth military uniforms. Although it is light and easy to move, it is difficult to defend against bows, arrows and bullets..."
"Especially for bow and arrow projectiles, as long as we can find favorable terrain and choose the projectile method to fight against the new army, we can naturally protect ourselves and kill the enemy..."
"Secondly, the New Army has no cavalry regiment and only a small number of communication and reconnaissance cavalry. They must rely on trenches and barbed wire to fight against the cavalry. If we have enough cavalry, we can defeat them..."
"Again, the new army actually has no cannons. This is really strange. The new army only has four weird continuous-shooting guns, but not a single artillery. From this point of view, Xiao Letian seems to have never been to Europe. He even We in the Qing Dynasty all know that artillery is useful, but why don’t they have any? It shouldn’t be because they have no money.”
"The last one is also the most critical one. There are too few new soldiers. I estimate that the number of new soldiers in Tanggu City will never exceed 1,500. Such strong soldiers cannot be mass-produced... I firmly believe that, I am very sure. firmly believe."
Mailer said through gritted teeth, as if he was holding Xiao Letian's bones in his mouth.
