Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 358 Look, he’s anxious!

Li Yi has been very cautious and absolutely rational, having been a political animal for such a long time.

Now that the overall situation in the world has been determined, he wants to be willful in order to satisfy his own wishes!
The Qing Dynasty is about to end, and Li Yi now has the capital to be willful.

When Zuo Zongtang heard this, he immediately understood that Li Yi had made up his mind.

Although Li Yi is open to advice in daily life, he only listens to other people's advice before making a decision.

But once Li Yi makes a decision, he will definitely carry it out unswervingly.

It's no use trying to persuade her at this time.

Zuo Zongtang opened his mouth and then spoke.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

Li Yi nodded slightly and said nothing more.

At this moment, a fast horse galloped all the way to Li Yi and began to report.

"Report, Your Majesty."

"The damage to the Yellow River embankment has been surveyed. According to statistics, the embankments affected by the fire have suffered varying degrees of damage."

"The most serious part even had cracks that were a foot wide and dozens of meters long. Judging from the traces left at the scene, these cracks should have been caused by the explosion of Qing Yao's gunpowder."

"But fortunately, the Yellow River embankment was only cracked by the explosion, causing water seepage, but there was no sign of the embankment collapsing."

"As long as our army sends people to repair it later, it will be safe."

Li Yi heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Since the Yellow River embankment is intact, the final hidden danger of this battle has also disappeared.

A big win!

A real victory!
An involuntary smile appeared on his face.

"Great."

"It is a cause for celebration that the levee is intact."

"However, now that summer has arrived, the rainfall is gradually increasing. Heavy rains may occur at any time in the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the water level may change at any time. We must be prepared for this."

"Pass the order down and immediately start recruiting civilians to repair the Yellow River embankment in Dongping."

“The levee repair work must be completed before the next heavy rain!”

"No mistakes!"

"It is unacceptable that the Yellow River has burst its banks again!"

Li Yi's tone at this time was quite firm.

Upon hearing this, all the generals around responded in unison.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Li Yi nodded and said nothing more.

Soon, Yi was tied up and escorted to Li Yi.

Li Yi raised his eyes to look at Yi who was tied up in front of him, looked down at him with the attitude of a winner, and then started to tease him.

"So this is the Tartar emperor. It turns out he only has two eyes and a mouth. He looks no different from an ordinary person, right?"

"You Tartars have taken control of the Central Plains, plundering the people's wealth to support your own clans. You can be said to be enjoying all the splendor in the world."

"Now that you have fallen into my hands, it is your turn to return everything you have enjoyed before."

"Yi, do you admit your guilt?"

Upon hearing this, Yi opened his mouth, but still spoke very stubbornly.

"The winner is the king, the loser is the bandit. My only sin is that I lost to you, the Tang thief."

"I have enjoyed wealth and glory for such a long time in my life, and it is worth it. Now that I have been defeated and captured, you can kill me if you want. I will not even frown."

"But you want me to plead guilty? That's impossible!"

Once he fell into the hands of the Tang Dynasty, Yi knew he was doomed.

But precisely because of this, he showed great courage.

Come to think of it, since I'm going to die anyway, I might as well die with dignity.

After all, no matter what, he was still the emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

How can a dignified emperor behave like a little girl?
It's just a joke.

Li Yi saw this and chuckled.

"I never thought that you, a bastard who killed your brother and stole his sister-in-law, would still have such a strong character when you are about to die."

"But it is also true that in this matter, you Manchus can be considered to have a family tradition."

"After all, didn't Dorgon make a sound when his grave was dug up and his bones were crushed to dust?"

"So, Yi, what does your sister-in-law taste like? Is she worth killing your brother to get her?"

Li Yi opened his mouth and tried his best to stab Yi in the heart.

He knew that what he was saying now was not presentable and even somewhat undermined his character.

But Li Yi would feel uncomfortable if he didn't get angry with Yi.

The Tang army generals standing by all looked nervous and strange when they heard this.

They really had never seen Li Yi speak so harshly.

When Yi heard this, he felt as if his secrets had been exposed, and he instantly became angry and embarrassed.

"Tang thief!"

"You...you should stop talking nonsense."

"I didn't, I was just helping my brother take care of his sister-in-law. How could I be the kind of person who would let my brother down?!"

Li Yi grinned, turned around and spoke to the people around him.

"Look, he's anxious."

"This is what people do when their secrets are exposed and they get angry and embarrassed."

Seeing this, everyone could not help but remain speechless.

Good man, the king is really killing people today.

After taunting Yi, seeing Yi's defense broken, Li Yi's face turned cold and he said with a sneer.

"You Tartar dog, I don't know what you were thinking when you ordered the bombing of the Yellow River dike."

"Do you really know how serious the consequences will be if the Yellow River bursts its banks? Do you know how many innocent people have lost their homes and families and become displaced because of your bombing?!" Upon hearing this, Yi raised his head, smiled nonchalantly, and then said.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"The Yellow River bursting its banks will only kill a few untouchables. What does it have to do with the Qing Dynasty?"

"As long as it can continue the Qing Dynasty, I can do anything!"

Yi did not take the Yellow River bursting seriously, and did not even think he had done anything wrong.

Because in his eyes, nothing can compare to the Qing Dynasty.

As long as the Qing Dynasty could continue, he didn't care how many people died.

Upon hearing this, Li Yi gritted his teeth in hatred towards Yi and said with a cold face.

"Haha, it doesn't matter if you don't plead guilty."

"I will make you pay for this."

"If I don't cut you into pieces, I will never be able to get rid of the hatred in my heart."

"Don't worry, after you die, I will definitely send your whole family to accompany you..."

After saying this, Li Yi waved his hand and ordered his men to take Yi away.

Before taking the person away, Li Yi gave another order.

"Don't starve this dog to death. If he gets too skinny, he'll die in a few cuts when you skin him alive. Wouldn't that be too easy for him?"

The Tang army soldiers who escorted Yi away immediately clasped their fists to show that they understood.

But Yi was a little panicked.

Only then did he realize that Li Yi really wanted to skin him alive!

But things have come to this point, no matter how panicked Yi is at this moment, it will be of no avail and he can't change anything.

……

As time passed, the various Tang troops set up camp not far from the Yellow River embankment to rest.

In the central military tent, Li Yi was discussing matters with the other generals.

"The main force of the Qing demons was surrounded and annihilated by our Tang army on the south bank of the Yellow River, and even the Tartar chieftain was captured by our army."

"The Qing demons will be leaderless and in chaos. In addition, the Qing troops in Zhili, Shanxi and other places have been withdrawn to the south, so they are now short of manpower."

"For our Tang Dynasty, now is the best time to launch a northern expedition and recover our lost territory."

Zuo Zongtang stood up and said.

Li Yi pondered for a moment, then asked.

"If we want to march north, what route should we take?"

Zuo Zongtang heard this and responded.

"Reply to your Majesty's words."

"In my humble opinion, if our army wants to march north, the canal route is the best choice."

"Because advancing along the canal can minimize the loss of weapons and food along the way."

Even in later times, water transportation is the lowest-cost mode of transportation.

When fighting a war, we cannot just look at the results, we also have to consider the costs and benefits.

Otherwise, he would be like Xiang Yu, the King of Western Chu, who died after winning several victories.

Xiang Yu won almost all the wars against Liu Bang.

But because he did not calculate the costs and benefits well, the State of Chu became weaker and weaker as the war went on, while Liu Bang on the opposite side became stronger and stronger as the war went on, and stronger and stronger as the losses went on.

Until the last battle, Liu Bang surrounded Xiang Yu at Wujiang River, and Liu Bang won this battle.

One battle determines the outcome!

As a latecomer, Li Yi naturally has to learn lessons.

These are all lessons from the past.

Li Yi nodded slightly and expressed his agreement.

"Zuo Qing is right."

"Going north along the canal is indeed the best choice for my army to march north."

Afterwards, the generals of the Tang army began to discuss specific tactics and strategies together.

After discussing everything, Li Yi waved his hand and signaled everyone to go downstairs and rest.

After staying up all day, Li Yi is now feeling a little sleepy.

He yawned and prepared to go to bed.

When he woke up, it was already bright outside, and Li Yi prepared to get up and wash up.

Zhang Zhidong came out from outside the tent and handed a military report to Li Yi, asking Li Yi to take a look.

"Your Majesty, the results of our battle have been compiled. Please review them."

Seeing this, Li Yi gave up his plan to go to sleep for the time being and started reading the military newspaper instead.

As he read the contents of the military newspaper, the smile on his face became more and more obvious.

[The results of the Yellow River Campaign are as follows:]

[In the Battle of the Yellow River, our army successfully annihilated 62,000 main Qing troops heading south, of which more than 12,400 were killed, including dozens of high-ranking officials.]

[These included the Grand Councilor Shengbao, Ruilin, the Minister of War Emutai, the General Zhaokui, Chujiang, etc.]

[More than 40,000 prisoners, including the fake Qing emperor Yi...]

[They seized 20,000 Qing army war horses, 200,000 shi of grain and fodder, medicinal materials, weapons and other supplies, with a total value of nearly one million silver dollars.]

[In addition, there are 700,000 taels of silver, 100,000 taels of gold, and a number of copper coins in the Qing Dynasty Treasury.]

Well, although the Qing army sank a large amount of supplies into the lake before the war in order to free up ships to fight against the Tang army's gunboats and open up a passage to the north.

But after the war, the Tang army organized a salvage operation in Dongping Lake and recovered a lot of food and supplies.

Now we can say that we have reaped a lot of rewards!
Looking at the military newspaper, the smile on Li Yi's face was very obvious.

He knew that after this battle, the last obstacle to the Tang Dynasty's Northern Expedition would be cleared.

After that, most of the things were done with armed marches and issuing orders.

(End of this chapter)