Chapter 117 Bottom Card

Two days after the fall of Pyongyang, on September 17, in the waters of Dadonggou, the joint fleet of Beiyang Division and Japan broke out the largest naval battle in Asia.

This naval battle is also the largest naval battle since the world navy entered the era of iron-clad cruisers! The warships used by both sides, regardless of tonnage, quantity, firepower and performance, reached the peak of the world at that time!

Those who study world military history have to admit that at the end of the 19th century, it was not Western maritime military powers that started a new era of world naval warfare, but two Asian countries that had just emerged from the Middle Ages.

The Battle of Dadonggou, or the Battle of the Yellow Sea, established the position of cruisers as the hegemony of the world. In the following 50 years, the history of the world navy has been the history of cruisers. It was not until the outbreak of World War II that the dominance of cruisers was replaced by aircraft carriers.

The battle situation on September 17 was gratifying. According to the report of Admiral Ding Ruchang of the Beiyang Marine Division, the Beiyang Marine Division sank the Japanese ships Yoshino and Akagi, and severely damaged the Japanese flagship Matsushima, Birui and Xijing Maru. The Beiyang sailor Zhiyuan's ship and Jingyuan were sunk by the Japanese ship, and Deng Shichang and Lin Yongsheng died in battle.

Ziyuan and Jingyuan were the main warships of the Beiyang Marine Division, which were sunk by the Japanese army and suffered huge losses. However, the Yoshino of the Japanese Combined Fleet was the fastest in the world at that time. The most powerful ironclad cruiser is the absolute main force of the joint fleet, and Chicheng is also a famous large tonnage cruiser of the Japanese army. And the flagship Matsushima, Birui and Nishikyomaru have completely lost their combat effectiveness. Overall, the Beiyang Marine Division still won the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

Ding Ruchang's report made Emperor Guangxu sweep away the haze of the past few days. Even Li Hongzhang, who has always been pessimistic about the war, was also refreshed and praised Ding Ruchang.

Up and down the court, there was a mountain cry of "H Long Live Our Emperor". At that time, Wenwu of the Manchu Dynasty seemed to have to admit that Guangxu Dili's move to resolutely declare war on Japan had the same heroic talent as Kangxi's holy heart to cut off the three vassal states.

However, just yesterday, a message from the commander of the British Far East Fleet completely destroyed the joy in the court.

The British told Li Hongzhang that none of the warships of the Japanese Combined Fleet had been sunk!

In the naval battle of Dadonggou, the Beiyang Marine Division was completely defeated!

This news forced Emperor Guangxu to the edge of the cliff.

This means that since Emperor Guangxu issued an edict to declare war, the Qing army has not won a battle!

From North Korea to the Yellow Sea, from land warfare to naval warfare, the Qing army lost soldiers and generals. **, there are three senior generals who died in battle, Zuo Baogui, Deng Shichang and Lin Yongsheng! The whereabouts of Shengjun commander and second-grade general guard Rugui are unknown, and it is estimated that it is also auspicious.

However, the Japanese army is pressing step by step. On the northern line, the Japanese army has approached the Yalu River, and the front of the soldiers pointed straight to Fengtian, the land of Longxing in the Qing Dynasty. On the southern line, the Japanese joint fleet has completely occupied the right to control the sea, and their troops can land on the Shandong Peninsula at any time!

The flames of war are about to burn into the land of the Qing Dynasty!

The main war faction led by Weng Tongqi was silent. They really couldn't figure it out that after Tongzhi Zhongxing, the Qing National Sea Army was so vulnerable! Everyone knows that the Qing army has the world's most advanced field guns, rifles, machine guns, cannons and armored cruisers that dominate Asia!

However, the results of the war show that this is simply a one-sided war. Before the war, the main war faction firmly believed that if the Japanese dared to launch a war, it was to hit the stone with eggs. But the result proved that the Qing Dynasty was the one who hit the stone with eggs!

The imperial historians cut their heads and couldn't figure out. What's the problem?

The Qing school shut up, and the main and Westerners also shut up.

In fact, the fiasco of the Qing army was not the victory of the Lord and faction. On the contrary, the defeat of the Qing army proved that decades of foreign affairs movement failed!

Whether it is the main war faction or the main peace faction, there is no winner in the Qing Dynasty!

However, in the view of Guangxu Emperor, there was one winner in the Qing Dynasty in the fiasco of the war, and at the same time, there was only one loser!

The loser is himself. And the winner is the empress dowager in the garden!

The Minister of Culture and Martial Arts is not a loser, even his master Weng Tongqi. Because this is not a war of ministers or a war of subjects!

This is just a war between two people. One side of the war is the emperor and the other side is the empress dowager!

Winning the war is the victory of the emperor. Losing the war is the victory of the Empress Dowager!

With the smoke of the Yellow Sea Battle dissipated, Emperor Guangxu seems to have lost the war!

The result seems to prove to the world that the emperor is faint and the empress dowager is wise!

At the same time, this war will also prove that it is completely necessary to train politics, and even more necessary to return to the curtain to listen to politics!

The Empress Dowager can even return to the Forbidden City from the garden! Just like 19 years ago, when the emperor was a four-year-old child.

"pro-government" will become a dream that Emperor Guangxu will never achieve! Behind his dragon chair, there will always be a bead curtain. Behind the curtain is a pair of always gloomy women's eyes.

However, just this morning, Emperor Guangxu heard a strange name in despair.

Inadvertently, he heard the gossip of two little eunuchs, and they talked about a man and an army.

Only then did Emperor Guangxu know that not all the Qing army was expelled from North Korea, and there was still a Qing army left in North Korea! This unit was small, only a few hundred, but they did not retreat to the north bank of the Yalu River, but stayed in Yizhou, North Korea on the south bank of the Yalu River.

This Qing army is called Zhangzi Camp. It was a strange name that led this army - Zhou Charter.

Immediately after, the minister of the Qing Dynasty to Japan sent back the news that Major General Yichang Island, the commander of the Japanese Mixed Brigade, was killed in North Korea and killed the man named Zhou Charter.

In addition, the official responsible for arresting the defeated Ye Zhichao in Liaodong sent back the investigation report. Ye Zhichao was leading other people's achievements in Chenghuan. The real winner of the battle of Chenghuan was Mr. Qian Charter Zhou.

Emperor Guangxu was like a lone monk walking in the dark wilderness, and suddenly saw a lamp appear in front of him.

Zhou Charter and his Zhangzi Camp are the lamps of Emperor Guangxu!

Because the existence of this force in North Korea means that the Qing Dynasty has not lost this war!

It means that the emperor has not lost the war with the Empress Dowager!

Emperor Guangxu immediately decided to hold an expanded meeting. The princes, officials above the second grade, the military aircraft department, the six chiefs, and the main officials of the Beiyang minister's office all attended the meeting.

The theme of the meeting is to discuss the next strategy of action against the Japanese War. However, at the beginning of the meeting, Emperor Guangxu couldn't wait to throw out the Zhou Charter. He demanded that the Beiyang minister's government, who was fully responsible for the war against Japan, come up with a plan to promote Zhou Charter. He even hinted that Zhou Charter should be awarded the second grade.

Guangxu is too young. He is only 23 years old. His mind is not enough to take on the heavy responsibility of an emperor. A mature politician should not reveal his cards so easily - what's more, Zhou Charter is his only card.

In the Yangxin Hall, Guangxu easily exposed the bottom card. In the garden, the Empress Dowager secretly sneered.

The minister of literature and martial arts of the Manchu Dynasty sighed secretly.

This war has reached the brink of failure, or has failed!

However, Emperor Guangxu actually thought that a small Mr. Qian, with a defeated soldier of only a few hundred people, could turn the tide, which was tantamount to a dream.

Even Weng Tongqi shook his head secretly. Guangxu was so anxious to promote Zhou Charter, which was the key to Zhou Charter. With the shrewd master, you can see what Guangxu wants to do at a glance. At the same time, with the old Buddha's fierceness, Guangxu will never succeed. The simplest and most direct way is to kill Zhou Charter and let Guangxu completely break his thoughts.

The Wenwu of the Man Dynasty understood Guangxu's thoughts, and they also understood the thoughts of the Empress Dowager Buddha.

Therefore, when Emperor Guangxu talked about the Zhou Charter, Zaiyi, who had just been awarded the title of Prince Duan by the Empress Dowager Cixi, said coldly, "There is something in the garden. Zhou Charter has cut his braids!"

Aixinjue Luo Zaiyi is the second son of Prince Yi Cong. After the death of his cousin, King Yizhi of Ruimin County, he had no children. Zaiyi came out as his successor and attacked Baylor. His Fujin is the niece of Empress Dowager Cixi, that is to say, Zaiyi is Cixi's niece. Because of this relationship, Cixi has great trust in Zaiyi. Just last year, Zai was awarded the former minister of the imperial government to participate in military aircraft. This year, he was awarded the title of Duan Prince. Zaiyi is powerful and with the support of Cixi, he did not pay attention to Emperor Guangxu at all.

In the Qing Dynasty, everyone knows what braids mean. Cutting braids is equivalent to conspiracy! With such murderous words in the garden, the old Buddha couldn't understand what he meant.

Guangxu's face turned pale: "Taiyuan General Nie Shicheng reported that Zhou Charter cut off his braids in order to sneak into the capital of North Korea and rescue the courtyard!"

Zai Yi sneered: "The braid is the ancestral system of my Qing Dynasty and the law of my Qing Dynasty! Zhou Charter can violate the ancestral system and abandon the law, which is enough to show that this person is an unscrupulous guy who does everything to achieve his goal. Our Qing Dynasty has always taken virtue first. He is a person with talent and no virtue. Even if he wins the battle, our Qing Kingdom can't tolerate him!"

"Nonsense!" Guangxu's palms trembled with anger: "He killed the Japanese general Yoshimasa Oshima, the only Japanese general I killed in the Qing Dynasty. The Japanese army was scared to hear that! Are you going to destroy the Great Wall and let the Japanese see jokes?

Zhou Charter killed Oshima Yichang, which is a bit of face for the Qing Dynasty. Originally, a major general was nothing, but when the Qing army was defeated, this victory seemed precious.

If you kill Zhou Charter at this time, the Japanese will laugh out loud.

Zai Yi said in protest, "A small thousand soldiers with hundreds of soldiers, also known as the Great Wall?"

"You..." Guangxu was choked and blushed, and Zaiyi was too presumptuous. This was not a dialogue between the minister and the emperor. Obviously, it was the elders to teach their children and grandchildren.

However, no one in the Manchu Dynasty stood up to denounce Zaiyi's presumptuous abious act.

Guangxu shuddered, and he remembered Emperor Xian of Han!