Super Dictator

After hearing what Kawakami Soroku said, Mutsuhito felt much better. Kawakami Cao Liu continued to offer advice: "Your Majesty, I believe that in addition to using counterintuitive tactics to drive a wedge between Wei Jichen and the Qing Dynasty, we should also stabilize the situation on the Liaodong Peninsula and ensure that several important cities are not taken back by the Qing Dynasty. Only in this way can we obtain greater benefits in the subsequent negotiations." Kawakami Soroku saw that Muruhito's expression remained normal, and continued with some hesitation: "The Shandong Combat Army goes south to open a second battlefield. This matter cannot be delayed, but it is not yet. The Penghu Combat Detachment assembled in Hiroshima, I believe, should be transferred to support Liaodong, and the Taiwan issue should be postponed. "While the Japanese went south to attack Shandong, they also formed a mixed detachment of about 5,000 people in China. This mixed detachment. They are preparing to capture the Penghu Islands and cut off the connection between Taiwan and mainland China. Once Penghu is occupied, Taiwan will be even more isolated. Guangzhou, Fujian, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang are in the middle of the sea, transportation will be cut off, and the arms transported to the north will be captured by the Japanese army. However, the development of the situation in the Liaodong Peninsula has exceeded the expectations of the Japanese base camp. Wei Jichen wiped out nearly 10,000 Japanese troops in two battles. The Japanese troops in Liaodong are already seriously insufficient. If they do not support it, serious consequences will occur. Therefore, Kawakami Caoroku could only suggest dispatching this Penghu combat detachment. Mu Ren sighed, hating Wei Jichen even more, but he could only helplessly agree: "Let's deal with it like this." "Your Majesty, please allow me to go out again and lead the First Army to fight to the death with Wei Jichen." Shanxian Youpeng, who was making a sound, suddenly fell to the ground and said with tears in his eyes. "My dear, I can't live without you for the time being. Regarding Wei Jichen's matter, I freely advocate that I don't want to mention the matter of leading the army in battle." Mu Ren comforted him while firmly disagreeing with Shanxian Youpeng's decision to go on another expedition. ask. Just kidding, if someone from Shan County gets hot and leads his troops to fight Wei Jichen to the death, the situation in Liaodong will become even more uncontrollable. Several people discussed some other military affairs, and Kawakami Caoliu and Shanxian Youpeng hurriedly retreated. Kawakami Soroku was of course going to implement the plan to deal with Wei Jichen, while Yamagata Yutomo wanted to inform Katsura Taro's family of the news. Not long after, the news that Wei Jichen, the greatest scourge of the empire, not only did not die, but brutally killed nearly 10,000 people in the empire, spread throughout Hiroshima, and then the entire Japan. In Japan, most people are clamoring for revenge, and some people are worried that if the war continues, Japan will eventually be defeated. Therefore, they call for starting negotiations while they still have the upper hand to obtain appropriate benefits. Wei Jichen annihilated more than 10,000 Japanese in the battles of Yixiantian and Ququgou, which really shocked the entire Liaodong Peninsula. After hearing the news, all the Qing troops were in high spirits. Not only did Song Qing and Liu Kun plan a counterattack, Nie Shicheng and Yiketang'a on the front line of Dakaoling also actively fought from defense to attack, harassing the Japanese at intervals. The entire Liaodong Peninsula was in a state of excitement because of Wei Jichen's victory. All the armies were much more active, and some generals who were originally pessimistic and disappointed and could not see the victory mustered up a lot of courage. The Japanese suffered their biggest losses since the beginning of the war, their morale fell to a low point, and they changed from the original offensive posture to a defensive posture. The Japanese from all walks of life huddled in major towns and did not dare to come out to fight easily. The situation is developing as Wei Jichen expected, and it is increasingly beneficial to the Chinese army. In later generations, many experts called beasts to study the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894, and put forward various arguments to explain why China was defeated. However, some people have put forward completely different opinions, that is, China will not be defeated if it continues to fight, even with such a backward system, corrupt government, and chaotic command system. As long as the war continues, at least it will not lose as much territory as before, lose as much sovereignty as before, and pay huge indemnities, all of which have set a record since the Treaty of Nanjing. Many facts are used to illustrate this point of view. When the Japanese invaded most of the Liaodong Peninsula, occupied Weihaiwei, and annihilated the Beiyang Fleet, their military strength had reached its peak. In the original history, the Japanese were unable to follow up, and the Qing army had begun to recover a lot of lost territory in some areas. Therefore, this was also the reason why the Japanese did not follow the original plan of their base camp to launch a decisive battle with the Qing army in Zhili. , and then captured Beijing, which was the reason for agreeing to peace. But now, the situation is infinitely better than it was in the past. However, this good situation did not last long and was reversed by the Japanese in Shandong. On the 20th, the day after Wei Jichen's victory, Dashanyan ordered the Shandong Combat Army to begin landing at Rongcheng Bay. Although Li Bingheng, the governor of Shandong Province, had received Wei Jichen's warning before, he didn't take it seriously. He just transferred a few more battalions into Chengshan County just for peace of mind. Most of his troops, about 20,000 people, were still deployed. In the area east of Yantai. When the Japanese fleet pretended to attack Dengzhou on the 19th, he believed that his deployment was correct. It was not until the Japanese landed at Rongcheng Bay that he regretted it too late. There is no regret in buying medicine. On the evening of the 20th, after a brief battle between the Japanese and the Qing army, they entered Rongcheng County from the east gate. On the 25th, the Japanese Shandong Combat Army had all landed, and Dashanyan issued a march order, preparing to divide his troops into two groups to attack Weihaiwei. The reason why Wei Jichen vaguely mentioned that Japan might land from Rongcheng Bay, instead of talking loudly and pointing out like a prophet that the Japanese would definitely land from here, is because the initiative of choice itself lies in the hands of the Japanese.

As the attacking party, the Japanese could change the landing location at any time. The reason why Weihaiwei was occupied by the Japanese and the reason why the Beiyang Fleet was destroyed had no direct relationship with where the Japanese chose to land. Even if Wei Jichen said this, Li Bingheng believed it and sent an army to the Rongcheng Bay area. Could it be that the Japanese would not change the landing place. It is estimated that the original feign attack on Dengzhou became a real attack on Dengzhou. Therefore, this is really It doesn't make much sense. Before the Qing court could wake up from the surprise of Wei Jichen's great victory, the Japanese landed on the Shandong Peninsula with thunderous force and pressed against Weihaiwei like a broken bamboo. Suddenly, the whole court was silent and in an uproar. They thought they could breathe a sigh of relief and sit down to wait for peace talks. However, they did not expect that the Japanese would feint a shot and immediately retaliate in kind. Li Hongzhang, who was originally preparing to enter Beijing, immediately turned around and hurried back to the Governor's Mansion in Tianjin to continue commanding the battle. Because of Wei Jichen's great victory, Guangxu was also full of confidence, and he immediately issued an order to withdraw the peace minister Zhang Yinhuan, indicating to the world that he must fight. Nanyang Minister Zhang Zhidong and Hanlin Academy Bachelor Wen Tingshi heard about the Japanese landing in Shandong, and they all advocated a war with the Japanese. Within the Qing court, due to Wei Jichen's victory, the war faction suddenly gained the upper hand.