Chapter 083 Pre-Military

The wrong strategic decision of the court is the real reason for the crisis. However, this reason is unspeakable. No one can blame the court. The emperor has always been holy, and the empress dowager is even more holy!

If defeated, the responsibility can only be borne by the front soldiers.

And Ye Zhichao is the commander-in-chief of the North Korean garrison. It is an iron fact that he flinched and gave up the capital to the Japanese. The court is looking for a scapegoat, and Ye Zhichao is the best candidate.

Now, Chenghuan has become a lonely city. Sticking to Chenghuan will be be surrounded and annihilated by the Japanese army, and retreating to Yashan is a dead end, because the maritime transportation line is broken, and when he arrives in Asan, he can only jump into the sea.

The only choice is to retreat to Pyongyang, so as to save this lonely army.

However, neither the court nor Li Hongzhang issued an order to retreat to Chenghuan.

There is an unspeakable reason - the Beiyang Marine Division suffered a loss in Fengdao. If the army does nothing and runs away without a shot. Internationally, what do the great powers think of the Qing Dynasty? In China, what do the people think of the court? Where is the emperor's face? What is the face of the old Buddha?

What's worse, Chenghuan's defenders fled without a fight, which will have an extremely negative impact on the morale of the Qing army in Pyongyang.

Li Hongzhang hoped that Ye Zhichao would fight a battle and then retreat, but he also knew that from a tactical point of view, this battle was unreasonable. Therefore, Li Hongzhang pretended to be deaf and dumb.

Of course, Ye Zhichao understood the thoughts of the court and Li Zhongtang. In fact, Ye Zhichao faces only two choices.

First, in a battle with Chenghuan, no matter how lazy he is, he can always save a little face for the court. Moreover, he may recover the bad impact caused by the loss of the capital in the court, so as to overcome the difficulties and avoid being punished for taking responsibility for defeat. But in this way, he may be destroyed by the Japanese army and never return to the Qing Dynasty.

Second, the whole army was ordered to retreat without the will of the court. In this way, it can escape from the pursuit of the Japanese army and successfully reach Pyongyang. The consequence of this is that the court will punish him several crimes and put all the responsibility for the loss of the capital and the unauthorized withdrawal of troops on him.

There is a huge risk in both options - both of them may lose their heads!

However, Ye Zhichao had a third choice - let Nie Shicheng lead Wu Yi's army to stick to Chenghuan, and he slipped away, at most, to let his subordinates symbolically put a few shots.

This idea came from Yetao.

Nie Shicheng's Wu Yi army is also a subordinate of Ye Zhichao. If Wu Yi's army can fight with the Japanese army, the court will have face, and Ye Zhichao will also escape without fighting. If Wu Yijun fights well and kills a few more Japanese, Ye Zhichao will not only make no luck, but also meritorious.

To put it bluntly, it is to sacrifice Wu Yijun!

Nie Shicheng knew Ye Zhichao's thoughts and asked, "I don't know what Admiral Ye has?"

"Since General Nie asked, I have a two-pronged plan."

"I would like to hear more about it."

"I think that the Japanese army will arrive in Chenghuan soon. If we enter our army and retreat in a hurry, it will definitely give the Japanese army a good opportunity. Therefore, Admiral decided that our army will be divided into two ways. General Nie will lead Wu Yi's army to defend Chenghuan and block the enemy under Chenghuan City. Admiral Ben will lead a man and horses to station in Tian'an. The two armies will respond to each other and retreat step by step. In this way, it can be guaranteed.

Nie Shicheng sighed in his heart that Ye Zhichao had made up his mind to run, and he ran so ruthlessly!

Tian'an is the throat road leading to Pyongyang, 80 miles away from Chenghuan. Ye Zhichao's headquarters is in Tian'an. How can we talk about "mutual response" at such a long distance! However, you can run to Pyongyang.

I thought that Ye Zhichao would let him stay happy and at least send him more people. Now it seems that Ye Zhichao wants to sell all the Wu Yi troops to the Japanese! And his direct troops refused to stay in Chenghuan.

Ye Zhichao's calculation was too refined. In doing this, one can put the responsibility of Chenghuan's loss on Nie Shicheng, and second, after Chenghuan's loss, Ye Zhichao retreated completely. In the court, he became a hero who led the army to rush out of the enemy's siege. This is exactly what Li Hongzhang hopes to see, because Li Hongzhang hopes that the Qing army can fight a battle with the Japanese army in Chenghuan. At the same time, the loss should not be too great, otherwise, the face of the court will still not be good.

Ye Zhichao arranged it in this way, which saved the face of the court and his head. However, he sold Nie Shicheng's head.

Zhou Charter finally couldn't help saying, "Admiral Ye, we can break up for you, but you have to give us enough troops. There are only 1,000 people in the Wuyi army, and the advance troops of the Japanese army have 3*, while the first army of the Japanese army has 20,000 people. How can we defend Chenghuan!"

Zhou Charter's "broken back" broke Ye Zhichao's desire to escape, and Ye Zhichao's face turned pale for a while.

Yetao sneered: "Zhou Charter, where's your braids?"

Nie Shicheng said, "Zhou Charter was ordered to go to the capital to carry out a mission and had to cut off his braids."

"Does it last?" Ye Tao shouted, "The braid is the prestige of my Qing Dynasty. The soldiers of the Qing Dynasty can be broken and the braids can't be broken! I think he is obviously afraid of death! Lord Nie, Zhou Charter is a deserter from Tianjin Military Academy. Now he has cut off his braids without authorization. He will punish both crimes and be executed according to the law!"

Zhou Charter smiled faintly: "You can kill me, but General Nie will not be a scapegoat for you!"

Ye Yu was furious: "Come on, pull out the deserter Zhou Charter and immediately correct it. Law!"

Two soldiers responded and set up Zhou Charter.

"Wait!" Nie Shicheng said, "Zhou Charter is now the general manager of the Foreign Affairs Committee of our Wuyi Army. If he violates the military law, he should also be dealt with by this general."

Ye Tao scolded, "General Nie, you actually promoted a deserter with a haircut!"

Nie Shicheng said: "Zhou Charter blew up ten Japanese cannons and injured more than 40 Japanese troops in Songgufeng. With this great merit, he was promoted in terms of his humble position. In fact, granting him the position of General Manager of Foreign Affairs is not enough to commend him for his credit. After the end of the war, I will report to the imperial court and grant him the post of defense!"

Yetao was so angry that he was a six-grade guard. Nie Shicheng wanted to promote Zhou Charter as a guard, which was obviously ridiculing him.

Ye Zhichao shook his head and said, "General Nie's soldiers are poor. Our Qing Dynasty and Japan have not yet officially declared war. Zhou Charter has not received orders to fight with the Japanese army at Songgu Peak without authorization, killing Japanese soldiers, leaving a truth for the Japanese to open the end of the war! This is not a merit, but a feat! A deserter is a death crime, and disobeying the military order is even more a death crime!"

"Farm!" Zhou Charter scolded, "The Japanese fought proclamation in Toyoshima and killed more than 1,000 officers and soldiers in the Qing Dynasty. What should I say!"

Ye Zhichao said, "My Qing Dynasty is a country of etiquette! The Japanese can be rude, and I, the Qing Dynasty, can't be unrighteous.

Zhou Charter was stunned, and there was such a logic in the world!

Heihachiro Togo killed more than 1,000 Qing troops and was regarded as a hero by the Japanese government and the people. Zhou Charter killed 40 Japanese soldiers, but was beheaded by the admiral of the Qing Dynasty!

If the Qing Dynasty wins the First Sino-Japanese War, God will be blind!

Nie Shicheng stood up and bowed his hand to Ye Zhichao and said, "Admiral Ye, I am willing to lead Wu Yi's army to stay in Chenghuan, but the Japanese soldiers are under the city. It is the time to use people. Please allow Zhou Charter Army to serve."

Zhou Charter shouted, "General Nie must do it. Staying in Chenghuan is a dead end!"

Nie Shicheng sighed, "I, Nie Shicheng, died in Chenghuan all my life, and I have returned from my old age!"

"Good!" Ye Zhi was overjoyed: "General Nie's general soldier is sincere and courageous. Now that the enemy is now, it is the right time to employ people. Zhou Charter can wear crimes and make contributions..."

"It's not guilty and meritorious service, it's the pre-military service!" Nie Shicheng did not admit the guilt of Zhou Charter.

As long as Nie Shicheng is willing to be a scapegoat, Ye Zhichao is too lazy to take care of Zhou's Charter's guilt and innocence: "Yes, please rest assured that I will lead my army to station in Tian'an and respond at any time. Of course, the strength of General Nie is a little less. In this way, 500 people from my training army will be removed from my training army and stay with General Nie's soldiers. Shou Chenghuan."

Ye Zhichao was afraid that Nie Shicheng would repent and quickly drew a battalion from his direct line for Nie Shicheng.

"Thank you, goodbye!" Nie Shicheng didn't wait for Ye Zhichao to finish speaking and strode out of the marshal's mansion with Zhou Charter.

The two came outside the Shuai Mansion, on Chenghuan Street, full of chaotic Qing soldiers, all of whom looked flustered, dressed up and ready to start.

Rumors that Ye Zhichao is going to run have spread, and the military is confused. Everyone cares about when to start running, but no one cares where the Japanese go. Some people broke into North Korean homes to grab clothes to prepare for makeup and escape, and even many soldiers have thrown down their weapons and run away.

Without far away, under the banner of the army, a team of personal soldiers was killing several unlucky deserters. The bright knives were raised in mid-air and blood splashed.

This is the elite army known as Zhili!

The commander's cowardice was like a virus, infecting the whole army.

Zhou Charter looked at the chaotic street and said, "Mr. Nie rescued him. The Charter has nothing to repay. He can only kill the enemy bravely and repay General Nie."

Nie Shicheng is willing to stay in Chenghuan in order to save Zhou Charter!

Nie Shicheng smiled and said, "You're welcome. In fact, I'm willing to stay, not just to save you. Ye Zhichao's training army can only humiliate the court. My Wu Yijun may be able to save some face for the court. We can't let Japan look down!"

"This court..." Zhou Charter shook his head and sighed, suppressing the words in his throat. There is no cure in the Qing Dynasty! Don't let Nie Shicheng hear such words.

In Nie Shicheng's mind, loyalty is equal to patriotism.

However, Zhou Charter knows that there is no equal sign between the two.

Zhou Charter is willing to fight a war with the Japanese, not for the Qing Dynasty, but for China!

The court that often beheaded the heads of ordinary people is not worthy of Zhou Charter's service.