Chapter 067 Lonely City

The decoration in the hall is extremely luxurious, with an ink Taiji tiger hanging on the north wall, lying on the mountain, looking far away, full of domineering. Below the painting is a wide Nanmu Taishi chair, with a shelf on the left side of the chair, a sword on it, and a desk on the right, and the four treasures of the study. There are four guest chairs on the east and west sides of the hall, with calligraphy and paintings of literati hanging on the wall and embroidered curtains hanging in front of the window.

The old man made a gesture to invite him to sit down and bowed out of the hall.

Feng Guozhang sat in the guest chair on the left and said to Zhou Charter, "Why, are you still reluctant to put down your little beauty?"

Zhou Charter then put down Jin Shu and asked, "Brother, why did you come here?"

Feng Guozhang pointed to several men behind him and said, "Look who they are?"

Zhou Charter noticed that there were a total of eight people standing beside Feng Guozhang, three of whom were his classmates in Tianjin Wubei School, one named Yu Guangxin, one named Li Guoge, and one named Xin Delin. They were all students of the fourth phase of the Infantry Department.

It turned out that there was a Dongxue violence in North Korea. After the move, the domestic situation was chaotic, and Japan took advantage of the fire to rob and escalated its actions against North Korea step by step. After Taiyuan General Manager Nie Shicheng foresees the deterioration of the situation in North Korea, the Qing Dynasty will inevitably have a head-on conflict with the Japanese army. The battlefield is in North Korea, but it is very likely to develop to the front line of the Yalu River. To this end, Nie Shicheng took the initiative to ask the imperial court to go to Northeast China and North Korea to inspect and map the terrain to prepare for future wars.

Nie Shicheng has long heard that Feng Guozhang, a teacher at Tianjin Military Academy, is a rare military talent, so he asked Li Hongzhang to transfer Feng Guozhang to serve in his army, and Li Hongzhang immediately agreed.

After Feng Guozhang came to Nie Shicheng's army, he lived up to Nie Shicheng's high expectations and followed Nie Shicheng from the coast of the Yalu River to the northwest of North Korea, trekking thousands of miles, dining and experiencing all kinds of difficulties. He conducted a field survey of the mountain fortress and made a geographical map of Liaodong and North Korea, which knows thousands of miles of terrain and objects, which is deeply appreciated by Nie Shicheng.

Soon, the situation in North Korea further deteriorated, and the Japanese army sent more troops to North Korea. Li Hongzhang urgently ordered Zhili Admiral Ye Zhichao to lead his troops to enter the court by sea and station their troops in Yashan. At the same time, he ordered Nie Shicheng's Wuyi army to cross the Yalu River and move closer to Asan.

Wu Yi's army went through thousands of difficulties and dangers and finally arrived at Asan and joined Ye Zhichao's troops. Feng Guozhang also arrived at Asan with the army. At this time, the garrison in Asan was only 2,000, while the Japanese garrison in North Korea had reached 8,000, and the strength of the two sides was very different.

Li Hongzhang also realized that the problem was serious, but still pinned on the intervention of the great powers to peacefully solve the North Korea issue. Li Hongzhang's mentality at both ends made him not dare to send more troops to North Korea, and was unwilling to be too weak.

Therefore, Li Hongzhang ordered the 1,000 Qing army stationed in Tianjin Wei to remove a group of students from Tianjin Wubei School, led by Yetao, the guard battalion of Tianjin Wubei School, and take a boat to reinforce Yashan by sea. He hoped that this powerful reinforcement force could reduce its strength with the Japanese army after joining with Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng's troops. Than.

The backbone of this reinforcement force is the guard battalion of Tianjin Military Reserve School, and the battalion officer is the son of Ye Zhichao, the guard Ye. Zhou Charter's classmates Yu Guangxin, Li Guoge, Xin Delin and others also came to Asan with the army.

The Asan Qing army increased to 3,000, equipped with heavy weapons such as Gatlin machine guns and Kruppetal cannons, with a certain combat effectiveness.

However, the capital of North Korea fell into the siege of the Japanese army. The cannon was set up on Wonjin Mountain outside the west gate of the capital, and the gun was aimed at the royal palace, forcing the Korean court to declare independence, that is, to sever the clan relationship with the Qing Dynasty.

Under the pressure of the Japanese army, the Korean court, led by King Gaozong and Li Xi, frequently appealed to the Qing Dynasty and sent special envoys for help to Beijing and Jiulian City and Asan by the Yalu River, demanding that the Qing army quickly reinforce the capital.

The Qing court has always been indecisive, and the special envoy sent to Beijing has not heard from him. Song Qing, the commander of Sichuan, the commander of Jiulian City, finally sent three battalions of infantry under the command of Zhang Xun, who crossed the Yalu River in the name of escorting Zhou Charter. The troops marched slowly in the mountains in the north of North Korea and could not quench their thirst.

Now, Asan has become the only hope for North Korea.

However, Ye Zhichao, the commander-in-chief of Asan, rejected North Korea's request for help.

Ye Zhichao's reason is that there are only 3,000 defenders in Asan, who can only protect themselves and are unable to rescue the capital.

Feng Guozhang firmly opposes this. Feng Guozhang believes that the Qing army was at the invitation of the Korean court to help North Korea resist the Japanese army and guard Yashan without reinforcements the capital! If the Japanese army suddenly launched a war and could soon occupy the capital and control the North Korean court, North Korea would inevitably be forced to declare independence. At that time, the Qing army became an aggressor and completely lost the legitimacy of the garrison in Asan. At that time, it was originally a joint fight against the Japanese army, but it turned into a combination of the Japanese and North Korean armies. Expell the Qing army! The Qing Dynasty has gone in North Korea, not to mention the capital, a small mountain can't be defended!

Now, the only thing that can be done is to sink the boat, lead 3,000 elites straight to the capital, unite with the North Korean army, hold the capital, and wait for reinforcements.

Although the Japanese army has an absolute advantage in the capital, the North Korean army and the people generally hate Japan and will be able to share the same hatred with the Qing army. In addition, the capital is strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so there should be no problem in defending in the first half a month. At that time, the main force of the Qing army could rush to the capital and cooperate with the defenders to gather and annihilate the Japanese army.

The Qing army will pay a heavy price in this battle, and most of the 3,000 Qing troops will die in battle. However, from the overall situation, it is completely worth it.

Nie Shicheng fully agreed with Feng Guozhang's suggestion and strongly asked Ye Zhichao to give up Yashan and move to the capital.

However, Ye Zhichao disagrees for only one reason - there is no will of the court.

In fact, Ye Zhichao is afraid of death!

In Yashan, Ye Zhichao is the main general and Nie Shicheng is the deputy general. Moreover, 2,000 of the 3,000 people are Ye Zhichao's subordinates, and Nie Shicheng's Wu Yi army is only 1,000. Ye Zhichao refused to send troops, and Nie Shicheng had no choice.

Soon, Li Hongzhang also sent a telegram, ordering Ye Zhichao to march to the capital - the Russians expressed no position, the British did not say anything, and the Americans called for peace, but the United States did not have a warship in East Asia, so they could only shout a few words. The hope of the intervention of the great powers was dashed, and the war was imminent.

After receiving the telegram instructions from Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang, Ye Zhichao finally took action, but when the troops arrived at Chenghuan, Ye Zhichao refused to take a step forward!

He was discouraged by the Japanese!

The unwilling intervention of the great powers is tantamount to acquiesce in Japan. Japan fully has the conditions to go to war, but Ye Zhichao looks at the dangerous capital and sits back!

Just this morning, Park Yonglie, the confidant of the North Korean compound and deputy commander of the Royal Guard, rushed to Chenghuan and asked the Qing army for help.