Chapter 131 Reactions From All Parties

In the Zhili Governor's Mansion in Tianjin, Li Hongzhang, the Minister of Beiyang, and Wang Wenshao, the Assistant Minister of Beiyang Affairs, were chatting happily. Wang Wenshao was originally the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, but after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing court used Tianjin as the gateway to the capital and summoned him to the court. At the beginning of this year, he was appointed as the Assistant Minister of Beiyang Affairs. Of course, this is what he said openly, but it actually showed that the Qing court no longer trusted Li Hongzhang and sent Wang Wenshao to contain him. Wang Wenshao had just arrived in Tianjin not long ago, and Li Hongzhang hosted a banquet today. In addition to some of Li Hongzhang's staff, there were also some people brought by Wang Wenshao. Li Hongzhang raised his glass with a smile on his face and said loudly: "Kui Shi, I am busy with military affairs. I can only spare time to entertain you today. I hope you can forgive me." Wang Wenshao also smiled and replied: "Master Zhongtang, what are you talking about? The Beiyang affairs are busy. I have seen it. I hope Master Zhongtang will not be polite and give me more unimportant small matters to handle in the future. In this way, Zhongtang will be able to spare more time to supervise major events." Li Hongzhang squinted his eyes and put down the glass. He sighed and said, "I don't want to worry about these troubles. "It's a pity that some things can't be done by me alone. Take the counterattack on Ximu City for example. Liu Kunyi is still on the way and has not yet reached Shanhaiguan. Only our Huai Army is still resisting at the front line. Not only resisting, but also planning a counterattack. This is the greatest blessing since the war began. If I don't command in person, how can the soldiers on the front line follow me?" Wang Wenshao said nothing, but secretly blamed the court for giving him this job. Seizing power from Li Hongzhang is like snatching food from a tiger's mouth. How can it be easy? If he fails, he will have to go back in disgrace. Wang Wenshao lowered his head and said nothing, but Li Hongzhang pursued him relentlessly and continued to sigh: "Now the situation in Liaodong is rotten, and the Zhenbian Army and other armies are in a state of depression. Only my Huai Army has won a few times. For example, Wei Jichen, now even the Japanese see him and walk with their heads down. When they heard that he was going to counterattack Ximu City, they stayed in the city timidly and dared not to attack lightly. I believe that even if the Hunan Army went out of the pass, it would not achieve such a great result." Wang Wenshao could only agree: "What the Lord Zhongtang said is very true. Among all the armies, only Wei Jichen fought well." Wang Wenshao praised in name, but actually criticized secretly, satirizing that only Wei Jichen was useful in the Huai Army, and the others were all good-for-nothings. For a while, at the banquet, Li Hongzhang and Wang Wenshao kept exchanging words. Outsiders seemed to be drinking and talking happily, and they could not see the hidden arrows hidden in their words. The two were evenly matched and talked excitedly. However, Sheng Xuanhuai, the director of Tianjin Telegraph Bureau, hurried in from the door. Sheng Xuanhuai didn't even say hello to the others, but walked straight to Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang saw that he was in a panic and pale, and couldn't help but ask first: "Xingsun, why are you so panicked?" "Zhongtang, something bad is going to happen. Wei Jichen, the assistant of Liaodong Military Affairs, was assassinated by the Japanese and has unfortunately died." Sheng Xuanhuai said anxiously. "What!" Li Hongzhang stood up in shock, no longer talking and laughing. The whole banquet became extremely quiet. The staff who were still noisy just now heard the news and all stopped and changed color. The atmosphere of the banquet took a sharp turn for the worse due to the news of Wei Jichen's death. "When did it happen?" Li Hongzhang stabilized his emotions and asked repeatedly. "It happened last night. This matter has been confirmed without a doubt. Ma Jinxu, Jiang Xiyi, Nie Guilin and others jointly reported it." Sheng Xuanhuai sighed and said. Zhang Peilun saw that Li Hongzhang looked dazed, so he quickly waved his hand and secretly ordered his servants to remove the banquet. Although Wang Wenshao was fighting for power with Li Hongzhang, this major event has now surpassed the struggle between the two and is related to the overall situation in Liaodong. He was also confused. "The Japanese actually did such a despicable thing, which shows that they are really afraid of Wei Jichen's counterattack. They are willing to admit defeat and feel inferior to him, so they have such dirty means. We should expose to the world that the Japanese are cowardly and timid, and they are afraid that our Qing army has reached this point." Wang Wenshao rolled his eyes and said quickly. After all, Li Hongzhang was used to big storms. After the initial shock, he immediately recovered and carefully considered the impact of Wei Jichen's death. There is no doubt that it will seriously affect the morale of the frontline soldiers, but now that things have come to this, they can only do their best to weaken the impact. Wang Wenshao's suggestion does make sense. "Send a note to all countries, strongly condemning the Japanese's despicable assassination method, and inform the soldiers of the three armies so that they share the same hatred and understand that the Japanese will be afraid and cowardly. This time, I will make the Japanese lose face." Li Hongzhang turned around and said to Sheng Xuanhuai with gritted teeth. Li Hongzhang was dreaming of further promotion after retaking Ximu City, but unfortunately he was only halfway through and was awakened by this news. You can imagine how angry he was. Li Hongzhang just said some things about how the Japanese were afraid of Wei Jichen and how they went from being brave at the beginning to being timid now. This naturally did not change the overall situation, but it could still save some of the impact after Wei Jichen's death. Hiroshima, Japan's wartime headquarters. Yamagata Aritomo took a telegram and hurried to Mutsuhito's temporary bedroom with a happy face. When he reached the door, an attendant stopped him and said, "Your Majesty has been tired all day and has just lay down to rest. Lord Yamagata, if there is nothing important, please come back tomorrow morning and don't disturb him." Yamagata Aritomo waved his hand impatiently and said, "This is great news. Your Majesty will be overjoyed when he hears it. Go and report it quickly." The attendant hesitated, but seeing the happy and impatient look on Yamagata Aritomo's face, he had no choice but to go.

In the bedroom, Mu Ren's concubine, Ye Shi Guangzi, leaned her head on his chest, with a trace of dissatisfaction on her face. Although she had resentment in her heart, she did not dare to show it. She just said indirectly: "Your Majesty, why are you not in a good mood tonight?" Mu Ren glanced at the unsatisfied concubine, smiled awkwardly, and said awkwardly: "I just ran out of the powerful diamond pills sent by the inner palace, so this is the only way tonight." Ye Shi Guangzi heard it and hurriedly opened the bedside table, took out a few red pills from it, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I have prepared it long ago." Mu Ren's eyes lit up and he took one immediately, but he still couldn't muster up any energy for a long time. Ye Shi Guangzi turned aside helplessly, thinking in his heart: Your Majesty is still old, compared to the attendant, there is a world of difference. Mu Ren pretended to be concerned about the country and the people, and concealed it by saying, "Now the situation in Liaodong has changed. I am extremely anxious and have no other thoughts." Yashiro Mitsuko had no choice but to follow his words and asked, "Your Majesty, hasn't the imperial army occupied most of Liaodong in the Qing Dynasty? Will there be any new changes?" Mu Ren sat up straight, leaned against the head of the bed, casually put on a piece of underwear, and then said slowly, "It's still that Wei Jichen. He actually gathered more than 10,000 Qing troops and attempted to counterattack Ximu City, which was just occupied by the imperial army not long ago. If he gets his hands on it, it will have a great impact on the morale of the soldiers on the front line." "Wei Jichen, is it the Wei Jichen who fabricated facts and slandered your majesty's reputation?" Yashiro Mitsuko asked, stroking Mu Ren's chest with his hands. "It's this person. I wish I could tear him into pieces, otherwise I can eliminate the hatred in my heart." Mu Ren said with a ferocious look on his face. Mitsuko Yamuro rolled her eyes at him charmingly, and said with a silly smile: "Your Majesty, why don't you kill me first?" After that, Mitsuko Yamuro bent down and kissed Mutsuhito's chest. Mutsuhito was willing but unable to do so. Just as he was about to scold Mitsuko Yamuro, there was a knock on the door. "Your Majesty, Yamagata-kun wants to see you." The attendant loudly reported outside the door. Mutsuhito hurriedly turned over the quilt, got up from the bed, quickly put on his clothes, and quickly replied: "Let Yamagata Aritomo wait, I will see you right away." "Yes, Your Majesty!" The attendant asked a guard to immediately inform Sanxian Aritomo. Not long after, Mutsuhito dressed neatly and appeared at the door, and fled in panic. Mitsuko Yamuro, who was in the bedroom, saw the attendant still standing outside the door, and couldn't help but whispered: "I feel a little sore, come in and massage me." "Yes, your majesty!" The attendant walked in quickly with a sly smile on his face, and then closed the door. When Mutsuhito came out, Yamagata Aritomo had only waited for a short while and hadn't even finished his cup of tea. He couldn't help but feel complacent in his heart and thought: It seems that my position in the eyes of His Majesty is still unmatched. When His Majesty heard that I wanted to see him, he couldn't wait to summon me. Yamagata Aritomo hurriedly stood up and performed the great ceremony of monarch and minister, and then the two of them sat down one by one. Yamagata Aritomo first apologized with a smile: "Your Majesty, I am guilty of disturbing you so late at night, but an important piece of information has come from Liaodong. I believe that after hearing it, Your Majesty will not blame me, but will blame me, Yamagata Aritomo, for not delivering this information earlier." "Oh, what information is it?" Mutsuhito became interested and asked curiously. "Your Majesty, Wei Jichen was killed in the bombing last night." Yamagata Aritomo did not dare to keep it a secret anymore, but excitedly said out loud the content of the telegram. "What did you say!" Mutsuhito woke up completely awake and stood up suddenly. "Your Majesty, Wei Jichen is dead." Yamagata Aritomo said loudly again. Mutsuhito's face muscles trembled with excitement, and he was obviously in excitement. He picked up the cup that Yamagata Aritomo had just drunk from, drank it all in one gulp, and then came to his senses. His two hands involuntarily picked up the telegram in Yamagata's hand, and muttered: "Good death, good death." Soon, Guangxu and Cixi learned the news of Wei Jichen's death. When Guangxu learned the news, he was reading Wei Jichen's letter - On Protracted War. He was so excited that his confidence was strong. He was determined to fight the Japanese to the death. Just as Wei Jichen said above, the Japanese were a small country with few people, while China was vast and rich in resources, with 400 million people. Even if space was exchanged for time, it would eventually drag the Japanese to death and win the war against Japan. Guangxu no longer doubted Wei Jichen's talent. He could see the state affairs between China and Japan so clearly and explain them so clearly. In the entire Qing Dynasty, who else could do that except Wei Jichen? Guangxu wanted to invite him to Beijing immediately to talk with him late into the night to discuss military and national affairs. He suddenly felt that Wei Jichen was here to save the Qing Dynasty and to save him, Guangxu, and was a lucky general sent to him by God.