Chapter 037 Imated Enemy

As Jin knelt to the ground, Li Hongzhang and Ru Weng in the hall also stood up and bowed their hands to Minxiu: "I've seen He Shuo Gege."

These two are both important ministers of the imperial court. When they saw Minxiu, they did not have to salute, but out of respect for the royal family, both old ministers showed respect.

And other officials in the court knelt down, except for Ed and his German colleagues.

Zhou Charter saw this situation and knew that today's trouble was getting bigger. He no longer cares about the heroic words of "men kneeling down to his parents" and kneels down with everyone.

Minxiu ignored everyone and said to Li Hongzhang alone, "Excuse me, Li Zhongtang, who did the Beiyang sailor lose to?"

In the sand table operation, the Red Army, which was falsely attacked by the North Western Marine Division, was devastated by the Blue Army, which was greatly humiliated by the Japanese army, but Minxiu did not open the pot. Li Hongzhang was anxious, but he did not dare to offend this Gege, so he had to force a smile: "A sand table drill, Beiyang Marine Division Unfavorable battle..."

Minxiu rudely interrupted Li Hongzhang's words: "Lord Li, who did the Beiyang sailor lose to?"

"Japanese Army." Li Hongzhang said with a red face.

Minxiu sneered: "Li Zhongtang, I'm afraid what you said is inappropriate."

"What's wrong? Please make it clear." Li Hongzhang's heart was moved. Could it be that this Gege had cut out something famous? On second thought, it was incredible. Minxiu is a little girl who likes to play nonsense. She doesn't know how to fight in the military.

Minxiu looked around and shouted, "Thanks to you, you are still my generals of the Qing Dynasty, eating the salaries of the court and taking the army of the court, so easily fooled by Zhou Charter, an unlearned ruffian hooligan!"

Minxiu's comments on Zhou Charter were extremely vicious. Liu Buchan said in a hurry, "The motto is heavy. Zhou Charter is a student of Tianjin Wubei School or a student of Jin. He is not a ruffian hooligan!"

Minxiu respected Liu Bu Toad very much. Seeing Liu Bu Toad kneeling and talking, he hurriedly said, "Liu Guan, please stand up and speak."

"Thank you." Liu Buqi stood up and said, "In the eyes of the last general, this Zhou Charter is very insightful..."

"Step toad, please finish your words." Li Hongzhang hurriedly interrupted Liu Bu toad's words. Today, the Beiyang sailor has lost face. If Minxiu can save face for the Beiyang sailor, it would be a good thing.

Minxiu said, "In today's sand table drill, the attacking and defending sides are the Red Army and the Blue Army. Naturally, the Red Army is my army of the Qing Dynasty. So who is the Blue Army?"

"This..." Liu Bu toad meditated. In fact, the Red Army and the Blue Army appeared in the examination questions. According to Li Zhongtang, the imaginary enemy of the Blue Army was the Japanese army, but from beginning to end, this imaginary enemy did not make it clear to the students. It's just that everyone knows it, because the picture deliberately depicts the Matsushima, the flagship of the Japanese fleet.

Li Hongzhang plays riddles with everyone, but in fact, he has his troubles.

The Qing Dynasty has never taken Japan as the focus of strategic defense. The imaginary enemies of national defense, especially coastal defense, are all Westerners. This is determined by the current situation of the general hatred of the Qing Dynasty.

However, Li Hongzhang is clear that in the future, the number one enemy of the Qing Dynasty will be Japan!

Moreover, Li Hongzhang knows that once the war between China and Japan begins, the victory or defeat will be unpredictable.

However, in the face of the whole country's unanimous hatred of the West, Li Hongzhang's worries can't be expressed.

Even now, due to the Jin Yujun incident, Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated sharply and the war is imminent. However, the public opinion in the imperial court is still one-sided - almost everyone firmly believes that Japan is vulnerable. Once the war starts, the Qing Dynasty can easily win at most a month.

This view is well-founded.

In terms of national strength, the gross national product of the Qing Dynasty is ten times that of Japan, and its population is five times that of Japan. It is large and rich in resources. In terms of production capacity, the Qing Dynasty, after Tongzhi Zhongxing, has owned a large number of emerging foreign factories such as the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration, which can produce domestic large-scale machinery and equipment, trains, ships, and imitation rifle guns. Japan's modern industry has just started, and there are only a few immature state-owned enterprises, and the main industrial equipment is imported.

In terms of military strength, after fighting with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Army, the Xianghuai Army of the Qing Dynasty has been fighting for a long time. The Qing army is equipped with rifles and artillery, which are the most advanced weapons in the world today. The navy is even more majestic in Asia. One of the four major fleets of the Qing Dynasty, the ships of the Beiyang Marine Division is equivalent to the battle of Japan. The total number of ships, among which, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, two giant ironclad cruisers, are morexiong xiong xiong Asia. In contrast, Japan, whether it is army or navy, has a considerable gap with the Qing Dynasty.

There is no reason to list Japan as the number one enemy of the Qing Dynasty!

Only Li Hongzhang knows that the Green Camp of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty has already waned, and the emerging Xianghuai Army is not enough to count on. These armies have been extremely corrupt. They are insiders in civil war and outsiders! Only the navy can still fight with the Japanese army, but the so-called naval advantage has long ceased to exist.

The tonnage of the Japanese navy is close to that of the Beiyang Marine Division, and Japanese warships are also purchased from the West, but they are all new warships built in recent years. Their performance is better than that of the Beiyang Marine Division, and their speed is generally faster than that of the Beiyang Marine Division. Moreover, Japanese ships are generally equipped with the popular rapid-fire guns in the world today, and on the warships of the Beiyang Marine Division, There are few quick-fire guns.

The warship of the Beiyang Marine Division needs to be upgraded. Speaking of which, the Qing Dynasty is not short of money, but the Empress Dowager Buddha just refused to give the money to the Beiyang Marine Division!

The reason is that the Empress Dowager Buddha didn't say anything. Li Hongzhang knew it, but he couldn't say it.

The reason is that the Beiyang Marine is too powerful!

The strength of the Beiyang Marine Division is not that it is powerful in the world, but that this armed force is unparalleled in the Qing Dynasty.

Even if this force can't beat foreigners, if it has a crooked mind and calls out to the court, the court really can't do anything about it.

What worries the court most is that this powerful armed force is in the hands of the Han people, not the Manchus!

This is the basic national situation of the Qing Dynasty! A few Manchu rule the vast majority of the hungry Han people! The prevention of the Han people is the most important politics!

The Qing nobles would rather sacrifice their national defense than let the Han army become bigger.

Because of such an unspeakable reason, the empress dowager refused to take the silver to the Beiyang sailors, and Li Hongzhang did not dare to ask for silver. If he asked for silver again, the princes and ministers of the Qing Dynasty could not sit still!

Beiyang sailor has lagged behind in the world. It is just an embroidered pillow, but in the Qing Dynasty, it is still enough to subvert the imperial court!

Li Hongzhang tried his best to avoid war with Japan. Once the war started, the weakness of the Qing Dynasty would be exposed to the whole world.

However, the Qing school did not know this fact, and the people did not know this fact!

The Japanese are shouting for war, and the whole country of the Qing Dynasty is also a sound of war. They thought that the powerful Beiyang sailors could pinch the Japanese joint fleet like killing a fly!

The Qing school, led by Weng Tongyu, strongly demanded that the court declare war on Japan, and they completely dominated the public opinion of the court.

The main war faction vowed that the patriotism was high, and the main faction almost disappeared. Even Zhang Zhidong and Zuo Zongtang, the sober feudal officials, remained silent.

In the face of such a situation, Li Hongzhang did not dare to avoid the war, otherwise, he would become the target of public criticism.

Li Hongzhang did not dare to publicly oppose Ru Weng Tong, but he was unwilling to pull the Beiyang sailor into an eternal situation. He thought about it and remembered a plan.

He invited Ru Weng Tongqi to inspect the Tianjin Military Academy. In fact, he hoped that someone could stand up for him and say what he dared to say and persuade Ru Weng Tongqi to give up the main battle.

For this reason, he took Weihaiwei, the base of the Beiyang Marine Division, as an examination question and gave it to the students, hypothetical that the enemy was the Japanese army.

However, due to the above considerations, it is not convenient for Li Hongzhang to explicitly say this imaginary enemy, so he only marked the cruiser Matsushima in the battle of the Blue Army in the picture.

He hopes that through this school entrance examination and the answers of the students, he can let the Qing schools such as Weng Tongyu see the real combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, at least to prove that the Japanese army is not so easy to defeat.

Li Hongzhang hoped that the Qing army's battle with the Japanese army would end in a tragic victory. To achieve this victory, a national general mobilization is needed, not just rely on the Beiyang Marine Division and its surrounding Xianghuai Army. The Qing Dynasty will pay an extremely high price.

Such a high price can persuade Ru Weng to give up the main battle.

Of course, Li Hongzhang himself did not expect that under the command of Zhou Charter, he only used 4,000 troops to capture Weihaiwei. It's too much for the Oriental Fortress Weihaiwei to be so vulnerable!

Of course, all the students who participated in the school examination and the generals present recognized the Songdao, so although people can't figure out what Li Zhongtang is going to do, it is clear that the blue army in Li Zhongtang's mind is the Japanese army.

The Red Army was defeated by the Blue Army, and of course it was defeated by the Japanese army.

Now, Minxiu suddenly questioned the imaginary enemy of the Red Army, and Liu Buqi didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Li Hongzhang's imaginary enemy is the Japanese army, but Li Hongzhang has not officially announced who this imaginary enemy is.