Master Yuan, start!

If you ask me, it’s okay for him to be the emperor, but as soldiers fighting in wars, it doesn’t matter who we fight for.

But look at his sons, is there any one of them who can accomplish anything?

Especially that Li Jingfang, who actually came up with such a stupid idea as assassination. What future does he have following such a boss and such a kid?

If I fail, all the time I've spent waiting for more than 20 years to become an official will be in vain!"

On the surface, Ye Zhichao's words sounded high-sounding and seemed to be in favor of the republic, but in fact, these words were obviously excuses he made for himself.

He didn't want to be labeled as a disloyal person, so he kept finding problems with Li Hongzhang.

Jiang Zikang bowed to Ye Zhichao and echoed again, "Marshal Ye, in my opinion, the Grand Commander in Guangzhou has become confused. If we send a large number of troops into Hubei now, something bad might happen.

I think not only did the army fail to reach Hubei, but it was buried in the Three Gorges!

You can't enter Hubei or Hunan, otherwise you will die.

We will stay in this Guizhou province, with its numerous ravines and valleys, guarding all the important passes and following Marshal Ye's orders!"

Jiang Zikang's remarks finally made Ye Zhichao smile with satisfaction.

Who wouldn’t like to have such caring subordinates?

Ye Zhichao took a half step forward, helped Jiang Zikang up, and said, "The garrisons in Chongqing, Wanxian, Luzhou, and Zunyi must all be deployed. We cannot afford to lose anything in eastern Sichuan.

Send someone to deliver a message to Yuan Jun, telling them we have no intention of advancing eastward, so they can rest assured."

"Yes, I will obey Marshal Ye's orders!"

Ye Zhichao nodded with satisfaction and continued, "However, we cannot be idle during this period. Now is not a good time to advance eastward, but the road to the west is still open to me.

I plan to go to Kunming, Yunnan, to teach Cen Chunxuan how to train the new army!

Once we take over Yunnan, and take advantage of the geographical advantages of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, we will have the capital to raise prices."

"Ah? Going to Yunnan?"

Jiang Zikang looked up and was greeted by Ye Zhichao's slightly ambitious eyes.

...

On October 1897, 10, the Huai Army of Guizhou broke with its usual practice and marched westward under the pretext of aiding Yunnan. After crossing the border of Guizhou Province, it first broke through Pingyi Hall and then captured Qujing Prefecture.

The defenders of Qujing never expected that the Huai Army, which was shouting the slogan of "Northern Expedition", could invade Yunnan, so they did not build any defensive fortifications and were captured easily.

On October 10, after resting for four days, the Guizhou Huai Army continued its attack and stationed troops in Kunming Prefecture.

Before the news of "the Huai Army's Northern Expedition to Yunnan" spread, on October 10, breaking news came from Hunan.

The 6th and 7th Divisions of the Jiangnan Military Region of the National Revolutionary Army crossed Wugong Mountain and headed straight for Xiangtan in the middle section of the Xiangjiang River, encircling the defenders in the city. At the same time, they divided their troops and marched north along the Xiangjiang River to the southern part of Changsha.

The 4th Division of the Central Plains Military Region of the National Revolutionary Army and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd newly formed mixed brigades captured the two small cities of Xiangyin and Ningxiang, and surrounded Changsha from the north and west.

On October 10, the Hunan Provincial Army defeated Sitan City, and after a rest, the army immediately rushed to Changsha.

On October 10, Changsha was captured, Cheng Yunhe, a Huai Army soldier defending the city, was killed in battle, and the leaders of the Hunan Army surrendered. Except for the mountainous areas in western Hunan, the northern part of Hunan was declared clear of the Huai Army's influence.

After the news that the Huai Army in Guizhou was out of control and the Hunan front was lost again reached Guangzhou, Li Hongzhang remained silent for a long time.

Chapter 404 The road is boundless

Dark clouds hovered over Lingnan, and a rare strong wind blew in Guangzhou City.

Even in Guangzhou, the cool breeze in November of the lunar calendar is a bit chilly.

The atmosphere in the Grand Marshal's Mansion was oppressive and extremely solemn. No one dared to speak first. Everyone looked at each other, wanting to wait for others to speak first.

A few days ago, after receiving the news that Wei Rugui had fled before the battle, everyone in the Governor's Office was still clamoring to punish him and escort him back to Guangzhou for military trial.

But after Yu Shimei brought back the news that Ye Zhichao would not attack Hubei but turn around to attack Yunnan, everyone became speechless and dared not say anything more.

The reason was simple: although Wei Rugui was afraid of fighting, at least he did not disobey orders.

If he is convicted, what should we do with Ye Zhichao? Can Ye Zhichao be brought back?

Since there was no way to deal with Ye Zhichao, whose behavior was more serious, they could only pretend not to see Wei Rugui's act of sending him to the city.

Looking at the expressions of everyone present who seemed to want to say something but hesitated, Li Hongzhang turned his back dejectedly and pushed open the window.

Li Hongzhang was wearing a single-breasted shirt, his eyes were empty and lifeless, and he looked at the gloomy weather outside the window blankly, completely ignoring whether his body, which was over 70 years old, could withstand the wind.

You can know a person’s face but not his heart. The heart is hidden in his belly!

Li Hongzhang now deeply understood the warning purpose of these words, but what could he do after knowing it?

When he received the news that Ye Zhichao had abandoned the eastward advance and turned his troops westward to attack Yunnan, Li Hongzhang's first reaction was anger, followed by a feeling of powerlessness.

Li Hongzhang discovered that he had no way to deal with Ye Zhichao.

Send troops to fight?

Not to mention how much food, fodder and manpower would be consumed by sending troops from Guangdong to Guizhou. If the troops near Guangzhou were transferred away, the entire Lingnan would really be left with no soldiers available.

Could it be that we are just waiting for Yuan Xiangcheng to attack?

Li Hongzhang believed that he had been kind to his fellow Hefei natives in the Huai Army, and he did not understand why Ye Zhichao would betray him.

Seeing that no one was saying anything, Li Hongzhang also remained silent. Ding Ruchang, holding the telegram of Ye Zhichao's "betrayal", looked annoyed and said loudly:

"Marshal Quan, an ungrateful person like Ye Zhichao is unworthy of being a member of the Huai Army and an Anhui native!"

Ding Ruchang's words do not seem to be offensive. How can it be considered a curse to say that one is not worthy of being an Anhui native?

However, in fact, among the Huai Army, especially the senior generals, they still attached great importance to the label of being from Anhui.

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You know, when suppressing the Nian Rebellion, since most of the Nian army were from Anhui, Li Hongzhang hinted to his Huai army not to work hard and not to fight to the death.

Even when Senggelinqin was killed by a Nian Army soldier named Zhang Piliang, Li Hongzhang did not send a large army to hunt him down, but allowed him to live in hiding in the countryside.

In fact, Li Hongzhang was really nice to the people of Anhui.

On the contrary, Li Hongzhang seemed somewhat inhumane and even cold-blooded to those who were not from Anhui.

When attacking Suzhou, Gao Yongkuan, the Taiping Army leader, led all his troops to surrender, but Li Hongzhang refused to accept any of them and killed them all.

It’s because Gao Yongkuan is not from Anhui, but from Hubei.

Ding Ruchang was a Taiping Army soldier. After a defeat, he was captured and joined the Liu Xiang Army. Later, he joined the Huai Army.

Because he was from Lujiang, Anhui, near Hefei, Ding Ruchang was highly regarded by Li Hongzhang. In the original time and space, he was promoted all the way to the admiral of the Beiyang Fleet. In this time and space, he also served as the naval ambassador of the Lingnan Governor-General's Office.

Therefore, in Ding Ruchang's view, Li Hongzhang had done his utmost to treat these Anhui people, and he did not understand why anyone would betray Li Hongzhang.

Ding Ruchang spoke first, igniting the enthusiasm of everyone in the room to speak. Everyone started to denounce Ye Zhichao one after another.

At this moment, Li Hongzhang's second son, Li Jingshu, closed the window that was letting in the cold wind, and then said viciously: "Dad, I will send people to take Ye Zhichao's wife and children in Guangzhou City and kill them as a sacrifice to the heaven!"

The others were about to speak, but after hearing what Li Jingshu said, they fell silent again.

Upon hearing this, Li Hongzhang glared at Li Jingshu with some disappointment, then slowly walked back and sat down on the sandalwood chair.

"The Li twins are really of different character." Guangdong Governor Zhang Peilun silently complained in his heart.

After Li Hongzhang sat down, he ignored his second son Li Jingshu and looked at everyone and asked, "Tell me, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, the civil and military officials present began to express their opinions one after another.

Some said they would concentrate their forces and fight a decisive battle with the main force of Yuan's army; some said they would borrow money from foreigners to expand the army and buy arms; some said they would send assassins to kill Yuan Xiangcheng directly.

But when asked about the specific operational details, these people hesitated and were unable to speak.

For example, in the first theory of decisive battle, when asked where the main forces of Yuan’s army were located between Hunan and Jiangxi, the person did not know how to answer.

Those who proposed to borrow money from foreigners also shut up when they learned that the British and Americans were unwilling to lend, and the French were willing to lend but asked for a very high price, either to lease Leizhou Prefecture or Qiongzhou Prefecture.

Listening to the noisy quarrels of the eight people, Li Hongzhang sighed, shook his head, looked at Ding Ruchang beside him, and asked, "Yuting, you are the commander of the army, and you have experience in both land and sea divisions. Tell me, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Ding Ruchang bowed and said:

"General Quan, in my opinion, since Yuan's army is attacking so fiercely, we should simply shrink our defense line and retreat slowly to the south.

Ganzhou and Hengzhou are also fortified cities, and southern Jiangxi and southern Hunan are mountainous and densely forested. As Yuan's army continued to advance southward, the battle line lengthened and supplies became difficult.

If they cannot descend in a short time, the supply line of thousands of miles will be a big blow to them.

While the army is holding its ground, please ask Marshal Tsuen to order the South China Sea Fleet to weigh anchor and set sail, heading north with all their might, to search for any trace of the Beiyang Fleet, and ideally annihilate it in its home port of Incheon!

In other words, our army must now trade the army's defense for the navy's victory!"

"Good, great! The army holds the position and the navy wins!" Li Hongzhang slammed the table hard, and his palm felt a little painful.

Among so many suggestions, he finally heard one that was feasible.

After years of personnel placement, except for positions such as captain and chief engineer, which are still held by Fujianese, the rest of the middle and lower-level positions in the South China Sea Fleet have almost all been replaced by Anhui people from the Whampoa Naval Academy.

Therefore, Li Hongzhang had great confidence in the South China Sea Fleet composed of Anhui people.

Just then, a burst of hurried footsteps was heard, and Yu Shimei hurriedly walked in from outside the house, with joy on her face that was beyond words.

He said excitedly: "Marshal Quan, I just got the news that the French are willing to provide us with two ships of arms and a command group of army and navy staffs to help us fight the war!"

Li Hongzhang was delighted at first, but then he felt something was amiss and asked, "French, when did you become so kind? Didn't they propose any new conditions?"

"No, no!" Yu Shimei said happily, "It's still the same as we discussed before. We only need the construction rights of the Yue-Han and Gui-Yue railways!"

"Then why did the French suddenly agree?" Li Hongzhang was puzzled.

"General Quan, Yuan Shikai has gone mad. He thinks he's invincible. He hasn't even unified the country yet, but he's already provoking the French." Yu Shimei waved the telegram in his hand and said:

"He sent people to kidnap the Emperor of Vietnam, which pissed off the French!"

"well!"

Li Hongzhang excitedly clapped his hands in celebration.

"There is always a way out, there is always a way out!"

Chapter 405: Empire Turning Point

London, England.

In 1897, it was the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. As December approached, British colonial officials from all over the world gathered in London to present congratulatory gifts to the Queen.

Queen Victoria was a monarch admired by almost every British person of that era.

Before the Queen ascended the throne, Britain was facing a precarious era. Although the external environment was relatively calm, public opinion was turbulent internally.