Chapter 201 The Darkness Before Dawn

The large-scale retreat of the Japanese army finally completed Liu Mingchuan. After losing the strength of two battalions, he finally recaptured Yuanbao Mountain, but the cannons of Yuanbao Mountain were blown up by the Japanese army and had lost its original tactical value.

Even so, Liu Mingchuan was still very happy.

What made him a little unhappy was the Lu Guangzuan Department. This new barracks actually blocked the three-line attack of the Japanese army and seriously injured the two artillery regiments and two brigades of the Japanese army.

He didn't think Lu Guangyuan's army was strong, but he saw that those strange bolts were too strong. He noticed that Lu Guangyuan had at least hundreds of such bolts. In this way, Hu Chuyuan must also have them in his hand.

But why don't you give it to him?

This made Liu Mingchuan realize that the cooperation between him and Hu Chuyuan is ultimately divided into factions. He believes that there must be a Xiang army that is closer to Hu Chuyuan, but not in the Huai line.

He really wants to lock the supply and resolutely not supply Lu Guangzuan. Let's see how tragic Lu Guangzuan can die.

But he knew in his heart that he would talk about factions at this time, but he would not take the opportunity to fight inside. Otherwise, Lu Guangyuan would die, and Hu Chuyuan would beat him sooner or later.

Regarding the situation on the battlefield, Hu Chuyuan received a telegram from Fengcheng County the next day. He didn't say anything. He just called Huang Jianxun over and asked Huang Jianxun to transfer a group of new soldiers and more than 2,000 Qingxu regiments to enter Fengcheng County along the Ocean River and re-establish a new supply point in Fengcheng County. It is specially used to supply Lu Guangchuen.

County officials are not as good as the current management.

According to the settings of the court, Hu Chuyuan's authority is much greater than that of Liu Mingchuan, but he can't cross Liu Mingchuan's personal intervention in the Dandong defense line.

He sent a telegram to Liu Mingchuan, asking Liu Mingchuan to rely on Lu Guangqiu as much as possible. His words were still very euphemistic, but it was enough for Liu Mingchuan to understand that this was not an ordinary visiting army. If he framed Lu Guangqiu, he would framed Hu Chuyuan.

After Liu Mingchuan received the telegram, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, because he did hold another person's telegram in his hand... Li Hongzhang's telegram.

They are all Huai, and they are very clear in their hearts that once Hu Chuyuan has their own military system, the Huai army will be sad. Li Hongzhang's governor of Zhili is almost unable to be saved. Then let Hu Chuyuan replace the Huai army in the army. Where will the Huai army go in the future?

Liu Mingchuan silently thought about it in his heart. In the end, he decided to play a slippery head and not offend him. Let Nie Shicheng guard Zhen'an Town, Liu Shengxiu guard Yuanbao Mountain, and Zuo Baogui guard the Toad Pond. He himself formed a stable defense of the direct line.

Subsequently, he separately asked Lu Guangxuan's troops to guard the Jiulian defense line, and dispatched the defeated Song Qing's troops and Ma Jinxu's troops to Lu Guang's troops.

Liu Ming has calculated that if Lu Guang Quan is defeated, he can still defend Wulongkou, and the responsibility will be shifted to Hu Chuyuan.

As soon as these deployments were implemented, Hu Chuyuan got the news and immediately sent power to Liu Jintang, who was stationed in Gushan, to transfer Zhang Yuanchun's battalion to the north. In Fengcheng County, he merged with Huang Jianxun's Huguang Battalion recruits to form a new Huguang Fourth Battalion and Fifth Battalion. In addition, a Qingxu regiment training camp followed.

Not only with this, he also asked Liu Mingchuan for a Northeast regiment training camp.

The two regiment training camps were responsible for escorting supplies and arms. The two new Huguang battalions were handed over to Lu Guangzuan for use. In order to avoid Zhang Yuanchun, a Hunan general, who also got in the way, he specially asked someone to write a handwritten letter to Zhang Yuanchun, with a silver ticket of 100,000 yuan.

At Lu Guangzuan's place, he also approved a military ticket of 6 million silver yuan for Lu Guangzun to distribute military pay, and made various preparations for Liu Mingchuan's internal investigation of information.

After a slight rectification and re-estimating the opponent's firepower, from November 10, 1890, the Japanese army organized three large-scale attacks on Luguang Tsuen, with heavy casualties.

By November 17, after four attacks, the three divisions in totaled nearly 13,000 people were killed and injured. Two Korean rebel brigades were disabled and more than 20,000 bodies were left on the ground.

The vast majority of corpses drifted down the Yalu River, and the blood also stained the river, which was creepy.

Nie Shicheng, who is guarding Zhen'an Town on the Western Front, can hardly believe their eyes. After fighting for so many years, they have never seen such a tragic situation.

Because Liu Ming's secret ghost, he did not allow his artillery battalion to cover Lu Guang Quan, and the damage to Lu Guang Quan was not light.

Fortunately, it was impossible for Hu Chuyuan to sit idly by. He did not hesitate to interrupt Liu Mingchuan's supplies and forced Liu Mingchuan to take charge of the whole Jiulian Fortress to Lu Guangzuan.

From November 15, Huang Jianxun joined the battlefield with the fifth battalion of Huguang as a supplementary force, and brought a batch of 155mm howitzers to Lu Guangquan. Although the number was not large, coupled with the Jiulian Fortress Fortress, it was enough to suppress the entire artillery front of the Japanese army.

The Japanese army continued to repair, waiting for the joining of the 11th Brigade and the addition of the new soldiers.

On December 3rd, the army adjusted its direction to Nie Shicheng.

Now it's Liu Mingchuan's turn to suffer. Lu Guangqian can block the continuous attack of the Japanese army. Liu Mingchuan can't stop it. After Liu Mingchuan promised to provide more supplies, the three artillery columns of Lu Guangzun's troops are inserted in front to defend and cover the Nie Shicheng's army, which can withstand the general attack launched by the Japanese army on this day.

The sky is extremely cold, and it is extremely cruel on the battlefield.

A large number of corpses cannot be disposed of and can only be burned temporarily. More corpses drift along the river and freeze along the coast, forming countless ice corpses, which is shocking.

Liu Mingchuan has reached the point of exhaustion. Song Qing's death and the defeat of Yike Tang'a have further weakened his troops. Although tens of thousands of regiments have been transferred one after another to supplement the problems of various factions, neither the left valuable department nor the Nie Shicheng department have been able to obtain the strength supplement.

If the fight goes on like this, the Huai Army will be finished.

How can Li Hongzhang allow this situation to continue? He has sent a telegram to Liu Mingchuan, asking him to resolutely retreat to Fengcheng County.

Liu Mingchuan was difficult to choose for a while. At the beginning, he and Hu Chuyuan vowed to block the Japanese army here before they got the full support of Hu Chuyuan. Now, if he retreats and let Lu Guangxuan face the attack of the whole Japanese army alone, he and Hu Chuyuan will completely turn against each other.

He thought, maybe this is the situation that Li Hongzhang wants most!

Of course, he doesn't want to do this, but he can't make the decision. Nie Shicheng and Zuo Baogui still have to listen to Li Hongzhang's schedule. On the night when he was in a dilemma, the news of Hu Chuyuan's sudden arrival in Fengcheng County came.

Liu Mingchuan was very surprised and hurriedly led his troops to Fengcheng County to meet him, and he was on his way overnight.

When he received the news, Hu Chuyuan had already led Zhang Yuanchun's fourth battalion of Huguang to Tangshan Town. Hearing that Liu Ming came to greet him, Hu Chuyuan asked the troops to camp in Tangshan Town first and meet Liu Mingchuan in his Chinese army account.

Soon, Liu Mingchuan rushed over with people and saw Hu Chuyuan in the big tent.

Lu Guangxuan and others got the news faster. It was not the direction of the main attack of the Japanese army. They took Li Kaiye to visit Hu Chuyuan early.

When Liu Mingchuan entered the big account, Hu Chuyuan, Lu Guangzheng, Li Kaiye, Huang Jianxun, Zhang Yuanchun, and other staff officers around Hu Chuyuan were discussing the situation around the map.

As soon as Liu Mingchuan came in, Hu Chuyuan saw him. He got up and arched his hand and said, "Lord Liu, it's all right!"

Liu Mingchuan immediately smiled and said, "With the Hong Fu of Lord Zizheng, Liu reluctantly defended Dandong. This is about to continue to ask for help with Lord Zizheng. Lord Zizheng has arrived in Dandong, which really makes Liu extremely happy and excited."

Hu Chuyuan smiled coldly, asked Liu Mingchuan to sit down, and then said to Li Kaiye, "Lord Liu is not an outsider. Go on!"

"Good!"

Li Kaiye answered, and then continued to point to the map and said, "Guys, the total strength of the Japanese army is still about 40,000, with the first, second and sixth elite divisions, plus the ninth brigade and the eleventh brigade. Major General Nogi's First Brigade has been scrapped. The damage of the Sixth Kumamoto Division is the most serious, and the situation of the other two divisions is not good. At present, although a large number of new recruits have been added, these troops are temporarily transferred from Japan. The preparation is insufficient. If we can turn passive to active, we will suddenly attack, even if it is damaged. If you lose a little bigger, you can also hit the morale of your opponent.

At this point, he drew several forward routes on the map and continued: "If we can unite the armies to attack together, our troops will cross the mountains and mountains, send troops from Changdian Town, cross the Yalu River, bypass the military defense line, penetrate the enemy's rear wing and suddenly launch an attack, occupy the enemy's artillery positions, and then meet the main army. After cooperation, it is bound to be able to expel the Japanese army to Donggang and mobilize troops to intercept it in Donggang, and then we can win a complete victory.

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "This is a feasible tactic, just to fight together."

Liu Mingchuan was secretly happy. No matter what the final result was, he could immediately solve the dilemma in front of him. As for whether Lu Guangjian's death and injury were serious, it was none of his business.

He thought that the tragic point of death was fine, which could offset the power in Hu Chuyuan's hand, so that the court still had to rely on the Huai army.

Thinking of this, he arched his hand with Hu Chuyuan and said, "Your Excellency, I also think this plan is very good. I am willing to lead the troops to fight in person and cross the Yalu River in Zhen'an Town."

Lu Guangzuan said, "That's not necessary. Just wait for the Japanese army to continue to attack your army, and then transfer the Donggang regiment to Langtou Town and Wen'an Beach to prepare for a decisive battle with the Japanese army."

Liu Mingchuan couldn't help but be a little worried and said, "I'm afraid it's inappropriate to expect the regiment to train troops to fight a decisive battle, right?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "Don't worry, Governor. The Japanese army may have fled to Langtou Town. Nine times out of ten, they fled to Longchuan and Turtle City, especially in Turtle City. They repaired fortifications and deployed the 14th Brigade and a volunteer brigade there. If we win the war, we will continue to march into Dingzhou, from Dingzhou to the north, and attack Turtle City from the north to the south.

After listening to these words, Liu Mingchuan was both happy and worried. He was happy about the victory. He was also a great achievement. He was worried about the victory. The Huai army was seriously damaged. It was impossible to recover. I'm afraid that he would be replaced by the new army secretly built by Hu Chuyuan from now on.

Liu Ming said that he wanted to fight this battle and win a big victory, but the condition was that Hu Chuyuan was only responsible for raising supplies, food and fodder, and the battle was under his command, and the final fruit of victory would also belong to the Huai Army.

Otherwise, will the sacrifices made in front of the Huai Army just take advantage of others?

In the factional dispute, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang cannot be exempted from vulgarity, and Liu Ming's biography is also impossible.

Seeing that he was hesitant, Hu Chuyuan knew what he was worried about and did not talk about it for the time being, that is, let Lu Guangzun and Li Kaiye make a specific battle plan, make a herb for the time being, and not in a hurry to implement it.

After the generals retreated first, Hu Chuyuan asked Liu Mingchuan to sit down again.

At this time, he sighed, "Lord Liu, I came here in such a hurry this time, not to counterattack, but to resolve your besieged situation. The so-called general will be outside, and the military life will not be accepted. I asked Lu Guang Quan to send someone to help you, but he didn't agree. In a hurry, I came over in person.

Liu Mingchuan was secretly surprised and immediately sighed, "Thank you, Mr. Zizheng. Liu is very grateful."

Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly and said, "But... It's not easy for me to say anything when I come here. It's not that Lu Guangyuan refused, but that no one in Huguangying is willing to help the governor. What do you want me to do?"

Liu Ming knew it clearly and hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, this matter is a pure misunderstanding. I really don't know the root of Huguang Camp in advance. I just thought it was a new army trained by Liu Kun and others, so there were some misunderstandings. I hope you can forgive me. You and I are both plenipotentiary supervising ministers. I am marching and fighting in Dandong. You are in Lushun. It is really related to the coldness of lips and teeth. You can't sit idly by.

When Hu Chuyuan saw him shivoid, he couldn't help sneering and said, "Lord Liu is so big-spirited. Forget a misunderstanding. I asked Huguang Camp to quietly come and help you, but I was afraid that you would have factional opinions. I told him not to compete with the Huai Army. Everything is mainly based on you and the Huai Army. Huguang Camp is only responsible for joining hands and taking advantage of it. You are good. Before the war started, the whole Huguang camp was pushed out to make cannon fodder for the Huai army. You... Be careful. Half of the generals here have stayed abroad, and they are all carefully selected by Zuo Zongtang in those years. After that, they also have a bright future in the court. Not to mention a general, even if you look down on the sentry at all now, you are also born in Changsha Wubei School, and you may be an admiral in the future. They are really going to be pulled out by you as cannon fodder. Lord Liu, I might as well say a harsh word to you. Our matter will not be over. Not to mention that I can't be sorry to Lao Zhongtang. Even Liu Kunyi and Liu Jintang will never give up with you.

Liu Mingchuan was very surprised and hurriedly explained, "Your Excellency, we don't have to be so angry. We all work for the court. As for this matter, I'm really confused for a while.

Hu Chuyuan hummed rudely.

Liu Mingchuan was proposed to be reused. In those years, he could also step on it with one foot. As long as he wanted to step on it, it was not difficult.

Liu Ming said that he knew this kind of thing in his heart.

Hu Chuyuan said again, "Mr. Governor, don't care about the Huai army now. Think about your own shortcomings first. If you have a position in the future, the Huai Army will have a way out. If you don't have a position and count on Li Zhongtang, then you are really wrong. If you want to continue to sit on the throne of the governors of the three eastern provinces, it is not difficult. The key is whether the battle in front of you can be fought well. If you listen to Li Zhongtang's words and deliberately drag it like this, so that you don't want the Huai Army to be damaged, then I can only say that you hold on slowly. I will leave with the Xiang army and Huguang Camp.

Liu Mingchuan's heart thumped. He knew that Hu Chuyuan was not here to play anything else today, but a showdown.

In this way, he only has two choices left, either to join hands with Hu Chuyuan or to join hands with Li Hongzhang. No matter what the generals below think, he must choose a way.

If he doesn't choose, and still wants to sit in the middle and watch the wind, Hu Chuyuan will immediately ask the capital to replace people and replace the Xiang army to fight this battle. Now Liu Jintang is guarding the lonely mountain with the Hunan army of five battalions. If you want to change it, you will definitely not be vague with you.

What's more vicious is to draw the army to isolate and ignore it. Then the Huai army passed on by Liu Ming is waiting to be sent to death.

Liu Mingchuan had no choice but to think about it for a while before saying to Hu Chuyuan, "I'm afraid this matter still needs to be discussed with the generals. Our army has been seriously injured, and the number of people in each battalion is less than half. The morale is low, and it is already very difficult to defend itself. How can we counterattack?"

Hu Chuyuan continued to sneer and said, "Who is to blame? I finally bought 400 machine guns from the United States secretly. Lu Ying, the sailor in Lushun Port, left 50, Liu Jintang sent 100, and the remaining 250 were brought by Lu Guangwen. How could he use so many people? Originally, there were a hundred for you, but I just asked him to take it as an exchange capital to bargain with you for support. Now do you still expect him to share the gun with you? He is a person who can take care of the overall situation, but those generals up and down in the Huguang camp, who doesn't want to chop you into seven or eight pieces?

"This...?"

Liu Mingchuan was speechless for a moment. Now he knew that he had such a calculation at the beginning, but he calculated himself.

But he understood that in the end, it was Hu Chuyuan who calculated him. From the beginning, it was Hu Chuyuan who told him well. If Liu Mingchuan treated Hu Guangying well, he would divide the gun. If he did not treat him well, he would not divide it. Ren Huai Army to die by himself.

Thinking of this, Liu Mingchuan didn't know whether it was hateful or sad.

He felt sad and always felt that the opportunity was given to him, but he didn't grasp it. Now that he is in such a situation, he has no face to go back to see Emperor Guangxu.

Hu Chuyuan then said, "Forget it, Lord Liu, I'm from Huizhou. You are from Hefei, and I won't be saved. What's more, the emperor and I tried our best to let you get out of the mountain again. If you really can't stop it, it's not easy for me to tell the emperor when I go back to the capital. At the beginning of the year, I thought about it for you. Among the young generals who came back from studying in Germany, there was a man from Hefei, Anhui named Duan Qirui. His grandfather Duan Pei once served as the leader of the horse team under your account. After he came back from Germany, I transferred him to Lushun and asked him to take some generals from Anhui and Jiangxi to organize a new Jianghuai camp. The number of people Not much, there is only one infantry, more than 1,300 people. I specially brought them this time, including the few Maxim machine guns left in Lushun Port. Be careful not to treat them as cannon fodder. Although they are still young, they are the new backbone of your Huai army.

Hearing this, Liu Mingchuan was so excited that he really wanted to kowtow to Hu Chuyuan and admit his mistake.

He was annoyed. If he had known that Hu Chuyuan had thought about it for him, why did he listen to Li Hongzhang's arrangement and secretly send Hu Guangying to the front to kill someone with a knife?

Thinking of this, Liu Mingchuan immediately got up and stood up. He was already in tears and said, "Your Excellency, Mr. Liu... Mr. Liu is very grateful. Please don't care about the matter of repaying kindness with resentment. It's all Liu who listened to the slander and was mentally [***] for a moment. Don't worry, from now on, you will let me go east, and I won't go west.

Hu Chuyuan sighed and said, "You don't have to care about this. As a Huizhou native, how can I sit and watch the Huai army run out? Now it is to save the country, and it is also to keep the real power in our hands. No matter how big the loss is, we have to do it. But you can rest assured that I have already prepared money here. As long as we win this battle beautifully, why is it difficult to rebuild the Huai army in the future?

Liu Ming Chuan immediately said, "O all right, Mr. Zizheng, let's make a deal on this matter. Mr. Liu personally went to the battle and led the three armies to fight back. He must be a credit for you and me!"

Hu Chuyuan smiled with satisfaction and said, "Okay, then I'll sit in the toad pond for you."

At this time, Liu Mingchuan showed the courage of an old soldier and hugged his fist and said, "I'm sorry!"

Hu Chuyuan also hugged his fist and said, "Your Excellency is charging forward!"

At this point, both of them laughed with relief.

In fact, as long as Liu Mingchuan makes a decision, abandons Li Hongzhang and defects to Hu Chuyuan, everything will be done later.

Hu Chuyuan didn't come with you. When people came, the money came, and the equipment came.

That night, he gave Liu Mingchuan three million silver dollars in private to reward the army, ready to fight to death.

In addition, he also introduced Duan Qirui to Liu Mingchuan, so that Liu Mingchuan can use them carefully, and don't neglect them because of their youth. Of these 1,300 people, more than a dozen have returned from German and American [***] colleges and universities, and 43 graduated from Tianjin, Nanchang and Jiangning Wubei School.

Over the years, Hu Chuyuan has spared no effort to cultivate talents, especially through the arrangement of the Fuxing Society, which has successively absorbed many real talents, including Duan Qirui, who may create a republic in the future.

Duan Qirui has not really fought a war before. He has been arranging his infantry to train in Luguang Quan's Huguang Camp. Recently, he has been preparing to build a new Jianghuai Camp alone.

When Hu Chuyuan dealt with Liu Mingchuan, the whole counterattack situation had been settled. In the Lonely Mountain Port, about 50 kilometers away from the mouth of the Yalu River, more than 60 merchant ships were ready to go. Just waiting for Hu Chuyuan's order, the Xiang army would land from Yanzhou, North Korea, cutting off the retreat of the three divisions of the Japanese army.

Hu Chuyuan believes that the winner of this battle must belong to the Chinese.

To be precise, victory belongs to the Han people and belongs to him.

As long as this battle is won, the Huai Army and the Beiyang Marine Division prepared by Li Hongzhang will completely lose their value. In the whole war, although Hu Chuyuan was overstretched, he did a little... He did not move the Beiyang Marine Division and the Nanyang Marine Division, nor gave them any chance.

Once the war is over, the merit of the army will belong to whoever it should. Anyway, it is not Li Hongzhang, and the navy has nothing to do with Li Hongzhang.

From then on, Hu Chuyuan could justly squeeze Li Hongzhang under him, especially through the large-scale decisive battle of the army, which consumed Xianghuai. At the same time, he also cultivated his future direct army and no longer had to work with Xianghuai.

After the war, he almost suppressed Li Hongzhang. His own Huguang Corps, Jianghuai Corps and Fujian and Zhejiang Corps also gradually surfaced, becoming a new force to replace the Xianghuai armies, and had a formal number and establishment in the Qing court.

If you want to see that Dawn always faces darkness, and this is the dark side of Hu Chuyuan.

It's just that Hu Chuyuan didn't expect how tragic this fate-deciding final battle would be. At least, he is far from imaginable now.

(to be continued)