"I go up the mountain as a tiger, I go down to the sea as a dragon, I am a great hero in the world, I wave my hand to make rain, I dance to make the wind, look at my Chinese dragon rising in the east, after many thunderstorms, how many winds, after thousands of Frost, I have spent thousands of winters, why should I be afraid of the wind, why should I be afraid of the rain, why should I be afraid of the shaking of the mountains and the ground. If I were shaken and lifted up into the sky, the force could swallow a rainbow... I have gone through bloody storms, heard thunder and lightning, and experienced ups and downs, but I didn’t know Moved by it, let it rise and fall, let it rise, let the earth crack and the sky collapse, forever longing for the red sun in the east..."
"I go up the mountain as a tiger, I go down to the sea as a dragon, I am a great hero in the world, I wave my hand to make rain, I dance to make the wind, look at the Chinese dragon rising in the east, the sons and daughters of the universal dragon are twisted into a rope, don't believe in the mysterious land of China I do not lead the wind of the world. The mighty energy is like the roaring waves of billions of dragon species. Among the turbulent winds and clouds, there is my Chinese dragon. Although I have gone through hardships and pains, the dragon clan still appears majestic after suffering. You feel that I am extraordinary. It’s not ordinary either. You and I only believe in the glory of the dragon race…”
During the song, Wang Huaiyuan watched helplessly as the new army was accelerating forward. He slapped the horse's butt hard, "Prime Minister, don't underestimate people. I, Wang Huaiyuan, also came out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. I am not afraid of death..." ..." After saying that, he urged his horse forward.
At this time, Molière, the French big-nosed man, urged his horse to follow him, "Master Wang... can you tell me how much power you still have in your hands? Maybe I can help you..."
Xiao Letian had no time to pay attention to what his two secret police officers were discussing. He was completely immersed in the spectacular scene of people and horses like dragons.
More than a thousand new troops wore uniforms and sang majestic military songs and marched forward indomitably. This is an iron army built by good men with the courage of their hearts. Every bone reveals their toughness, and their murderous aura soaring into the sky is not even seen by ghosts and gods. Dare to get close.
"This is the foundation of my career, Xiao Letian. These seeds are the gold mine that can reshape the national spirit. With them, China will have an iron backbone..."
"Who is Li Hongzhang? Ever since you said the nonsense about giving up Xinjiang and giving up Annan, you have exposed your humble heart... You are not a famous minister, nor are you a pure scholar. Compared with Marshal Zeng You are just an earthworm."
"Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang at least had a dream of a great nation in their hearts, but what do you have? Use barbarians to control barbarians. Do you think the barbarians are idiots and let you control them at will? You can't even control a small Japan. What kind of famous official in the late Qing Dynasty are you? .”
Xiao Letian looked at the west and spat hard, "Bah... Will a person who is willing to be a slave be a famous official? Can a man without a backbone be able to bear the burden of China? I want to see if you can stop me. The military front..."
At the same time, in the northwest of Wuqing, before reaching Langfang, the sky and the earth were now one. Raindrops as big as soybeans were pounding down like the wind. The small river ditches were instantly filled with water, and the big riverbanks immediately began to roar.
The strong wind whipped up the rain and whipped it like whips between the sky and the earth. The big trees on the plain swayed helplessly, making a cracking sound, and were even uprooted.
Under the dark sky, bright lightning, and deafening thunder, there was an incredible scene in Li Hongzhang's camp. In the pouring rain, three thousand Huai army elites actually stood up and exercised in the rain.
Li Hongzhang stepped on the mud with his leather boots and let the rain hit his body. He inspected his fellow villagers one by one in the military formation.
"Jiuhu, you're doing a good job. Last month, you killed two Nian Army generals in formation, which was not bad..."
"Madman Tian... you have been with me for many years as a veteran. You were my soldier when the Huai Army was not established, and now you are also a general. Well done..."
"Zhang Shatou... Back then, with a thousand men, he withstood the siege of 30,000 long hairs. You have a good defense..."
Li Hongzhang called out the names of his men one by one, and all the veterans burst into tears: "Commander...Thanks to the Commander for your support."
"Don't thank me, thank yourselves... It's all your hard work that deserves the credit. Instead, I, Li Hongzhang, want to thank you for bringing it up..."
Li Hongzhang gave an order and the soldiers from the Chinese army's tent carried out boxes full of boxes and placed them in front of the army. Opening them at random revealed bright silver ingots, and opening them again revealed handfuls of Yingyang.
Li Hongzhang shouted in the heavy rain, "Brothers, have you seen it? This is silver, a total of two hundred thousand taels, and it is all yours..."
"You are all veterans. When you see money, you will know that there is another war. The more money you have, the harder it will be to fight, and the greater the chance of death..."
"That's right, let me tell you the truth, our enemy today is Xiao Letian, the so-called Prime Minister Xiao of the East China Sea. Bah...he is bullshit. He has more than a thousand soldiers and dares to call himself the strongest army in East Asia."
"Tell me, do you accept it..."
"I don't accept it." The whole audience was thunderous.
"Very good. If you don't accept it, that's fine. If you don't accept it, we'll fight. Today we have 3,000 people and we're going to beat them by 1,000 and a half. We'll fight them in this heavy rain..."
"These two hundred thousand taels are the life money advanced to you. I, Li Hongzhang, swear to God that after we conquer Tanggu, I will reward you with another one million taels... Do you believe it or not?"
"I believe it... No need to say more, sir, we are a township party. If you don't believe me, who do you believe..."
"That's good, start dividing the money now, I will give it to you personally..."
The sound of silver coins hitting each other was everywhere in the camp, and the heavy rain could not wash away the excitement on the faces of the soldiers. Li Hongzhang was very pleased and felt very relieved about this army.
Whether it is the Hunan Army or the Huai Army, these are strong armies united by the blood of the villagers. The ancients called them township parties, and modern people call them local warlord factions.
The entire army has the same customs, the same local pronunciation, and even the same food tastes. Then everyone intermarry with each other and form an unbreakable warlord system. This intertwined force has a collective exclusiveness. As long as the leader says who They are enemies, they don't even have to use their brains to distinguish, they just do it.
Touching the shiny silver ingots and coins, people no longer cared about the pouring rain. They all stared at the commander with a murderous look, waiting for his order to be issued.
"Brothers, Xiao Letian is a Xiyi demon, and his foreign guns are really sharp. To be honest, we are no match for foreign guns, but God is good, and now with the heavy rain, their muskets are worse than fire sticks..."
"Pick up your swords and guns...Hide your bowstrings...Let us teach them today how our ancestors fought..."
"Ten thousand victories, ten thousand victories, ten thousand victories." With the roar, the Hunan Army was full of momentum. The officers received military orders and began to leave the camp and went to the ambush point to wait. No one cared about the pouring rain above their heads.
Just as groups of soldiers were leaving the camp, two war horses came running wildly from the official road to the northwest, but there was only one rider.
"Commander...receive the order...the military order from the imperial court..." What rushed up was a Mongolian knight with a round face. Only these men who grew up on horseback could control the horse in such heavy rain.
"Report to the commander...an urgent military order from the imperial court..." The knight turned over and dismounted, staggered and fell into the muddy water. The guard next to him quickly helped him up.
"Commander, by order of the Queen Mother, the capital has collected 3,000 war horses and is constantly replenishing them. However, we don't have that many cavalry. Most of the war horses are said to be for you to charge into the battle..."
"Not only that, the Queen Mother also temporarily assembled 10,000 elite troops near the capital to come to support. When I set off, the army had already gathered at the old Qihua Gate..."
"Not only that, the Queen Mother has also brought a secret order, please read it personally." As he said this, a secret letter of fire lacquer was handed to Li Hongzhang's hand.
After opening the secret letter, Li Hongzhang's eyes suddenly darkened after reading it, and he murmured, "Why is this so, so so..."
The Mongolian knight saw the hesitation in Li Hongzhang's eyes, and he shouted: "My lord, I brought three horses to deliver this letter, and one of them has already died after traveling more than a hundred miles." , in Sijiu City, in order to boost morale, the Empress Dowager took out Ouchi's silver as a reward, and after the 10,000 elites were transferred away, the capital was empty..."
"All the strong soldiers have been taken away. I think someone knows better than me whether the remaining soldiers can fight... This battle must be won. We have no way out."
Li Hongzhang glared at him and said, "Gua Nao, I am a general in an army and I still need you to teach me how to fight. Someone... take him down to drink some hot soup..."
Looking at the knight walking down, Li Hongzhang spread his hands and let the secret order be beaten into paper by the heavy rain. He did not move. There was only a lamenting voice in Li Hongzhang's heart: "If I take this step, I will never take it again." There is no turning back..."
It rains heavily here in Wuqing, but it rains even more in the capital. There are violent storms, lightning and thunder, and countless small waterfalls have broken out on Jingshan Mountain.
In Qiwang Tower, Er Mao stood in front of Ci'an and said with a wry smile, "The news just came that Cixi ordered ten thousand troops to kill in Langfang. It seems that she guessed that we asked Prime Minister Xiao for help. It seems that Li Hongzhang is in Langfang." Where is your new army waiting for you..."
A string of rosary beads in Ci'an's hand was twisted and made a clicking sound. "Haha, my sister is so strong. She won't agree to my conditions even if she lives or dead. Then why doesn't she just send troops to kill me? As long as I die, , what’s the point of him, Xiao Letian, not coming to Beijing..."
Fu Qing, who was next to him, shook his head, "No, the life of the Queen Mother will be as stable as Mount Tai from today on, because the time has dragged on for too long. I guess the governors from all over the country, including Marshal Zeng, have already made their attitude clear. It is impossible to kill the Queen Mother now." …”
"Huh, so what if we survive, it's just an empty frame without a trace of real power. I finally understand that it's impossible without a strong army in hand... Now we can only rely on Xiao Letian."
"If Xiao Letian wins, I will still be the queen mother with real power. If Xiao Letian loses, the Ai family will be in the cold palace..." At this point, Ci'an glared at Third Master Qing with extremely resentful eyes.
Third Master’s back was soaked on the spot.
