At the Tianjin Navy Office, Li Hongzhang's house was full of counselors and generals. When Li Hongzhang rushed to Lushun last night, everyone learned about the defeat of the Beiyang Navy. Now everyone realized the seriousness of the situation. During dinner, Li Hongzhang hurriedly rushed back to Lushun, preparing to report to the court. At this moment, he called a group of counselors and generals to come over, and said nothing, and directly circulated Ding Ruchang's apology report to everyone.

Seeing that everyone had finished watching, they did not dare to speak first. Li Hongzhang said: "You must have known the news that my Beiyang Navy was defeated in the Dadonggou battle. The current situation is very unfavorable to us. I hurried to Lushun last night to check the situation of the navy. It can be said that it is terrible. Jingyuan, Zhiyuan, Chaoyong and Yangwei were sunk by Japanese ships. Lin Yongsheng, Deng Shichang, Huang Jianxun, and Lin Luzhong's four ships led by the four ships, all the officers and soldiers of the four ships were rescued, except for 113 people who were rescued, the other 578 people were already loyal to the court. The Jiyuan ship led Fang Boqian to escape in the battle and was taken into custody in Lushun. The Guangjia ship ran a reef on the way with Jiyuan ship and ran aground. The traffic led Wu Jingrong to abandon the ship and fled back to Lushun, which also made me lock up. The two ships Laiyuan and Jingyuan battled to the end, although the ship drove back

But it was already terrible by the fire, especially the Laiyuan ship, which had already burned the ribs of the hull, and it was a great blessing to be able to drive back. The two giant ships in Dingzhen and the remaining ships were also seriously injured. It would take more than a month to repair them. I have ordered the Lushun Shipyard to strictly order the Lushun Shipyard. If the ships cannot be repaired within a month, they will be dealt with by military law. I decided to apologize to the court and also asked the court to pay the soldiers who died in this battle. As for how to punish Fang Boqian, Yu Ting (Ding Ruchang) pleaded with me and forgive Yitang (Fang Boqian) for his life. Ye Zhichao on the land fled, and Fang Boqian ran away on the sea. They were all my backbone of Beiyang. If it was reported, I had no face? Now that Beiyang has reached this stage of the field, and if it continues to protect it, Beiyang will fall apart. I am tired, so let the court deal with it!"

After saying this, everyone knew that they would definitely not be able to survive, but no one dared to plead with him at this critical moment. It’s just that they were not alive!

On the night of September 18, Li Hongzhang asked the court to severely punish the fleeing generals, the Jiyuan ship commander Fang Boqian and the Pyongyang commander Ye Zhichao. He also asked the court to provide relief to the fallen soldiers in the Shui and Land. Wu Jingrong was from Nanyang, and it had already made Liu Kun angry that forcibly detained him. If he was cut off again, he would no longer have to rely on the governors and governors in the south to help. Therefore, Wu Jingrong was dismissed and sent back to Nanyang after being detained for two days.

The next morning, due to the fatigue of last night, Li Hongzhang had just gotten up and finished washing up. At this time, someone hurried in outside the door and shouted: "Master Zhongtang, I'm so happy!"

Li Hongzhang frowned and asked, "Shaochuan, I came to shout great joy early in the morning. Where did this joy come from!"

Shaochuan is the name of Tang Shaoyi. After North Korea started to fight, he was transferred back to the Tianjin Governor's Office to contact the great powers of various countries and at the same time inquire about Japan. This morning, he went to the Tianjin Telegram Room for routine business, but he received a telegram from the ambassador to the United States Yang Ru, which was about Zhang Yunfei's Nanyang Fleet attacking the coast of Japan. After reading the content of the telegram, Tang Shaoyi was shocked and immediately rushed to the Governor's Office to inform Li Hongzhang.

"Sir, the Nanyang Navy sneaked into several important ports along the coast of Japan, and it went very smoothly and severely damaged Japan. According to the telegram, Japan is now unable to invade the Qing Dynasty! This is a telegram from Yang Ru, the ambassador to the United States. Please check it out!" Tang Shaoyi happily handed the telegram to Li Hongzhang and said.

"What!" Li Hongzhang took the telegram from Tang Shaoyi's hand and looked. Sure enough, in the content of the telegram, he saw Zhang Yunfei leading the Nanyang fleet to successfully attack Japan and destroyed the supply bases of Wugang, Osaka Bay, and Yokosuka military ports in Japan, causing a heavy blow to Japan.

Li Hongzhang was so surprised that he couldn't speak, thinking: "I've been overwhelmed by a series of defeats these days, but I forgot about the fact that he had planned to plot against Zhang Yunfei. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yunfei had achieved such a major victory in a flash, and Li Hongzhang was so angry that he actually laughed.

Tang Shaoyi was not from Li Hongzhang's group. He didn't know that Li Hongzhang planned to plot against Zhang Yunfei, but was just Yuan Shikai's friend. After returning from North Korea, he was recommended to Li Hongzhang by Yuan Shikai. At this time, he saw Li Hongzhang laughing and thought it was Li Hongzhang who was grateful to Zhang Yunfei for giving him precious breathing time, so he said: "I believe that the Japanese army cannot attack the Qing Dynasty in a short time. You can re-arrange it to defeat Japan! Such a great contribution, you should ask the court to reward Zhang, the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, for that matter!"

Li Hongzhang suddenly heard Tang Shaoyi say that he actually asked him to submit a memorial to reward Zhang Yunfei, and immediately lowered his face and said to Tang Shaoyi: "What Shaochuan said is that I will consider it, Shaochuan will go back first! I am tired!"

Seeing that Li Hongzhang looked ugly, Tang Shaoyi thought that Li Hongzhang must be jealous of Zhang Yunfei's contribution, so he immediately reduced Li Hongzhang's performance, so he bowed and said he was leaving.

After Tang Shaoyi left, the telegram room sent the Ming army's telegram requesting the supply of the defeated North Korean troops to defend against the Japanese attack. After reading it, Li Hongzhang looked up to the sky and lamented, "It makes me feel disappointed. I will send it again and abandon it, what should I do!"

Helplessly, Li Hongzhang immediately asked a group of strategists to hold a meeting.

In the study in the south of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the young and energetic Emperor Guangxu Aisin Gioro Zai Tian kept walking back and forth in the room. At this time, the door opened. The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Minister of the Zongli Yamen, and the Emperor Weng Tonghe hurriedly ran in. Emperor Guangxu hurriedly walked up and asked, "Teacher, have you checked it clearly?"

"Your Majesty, the old minister has just checked it clearly. Yesterday, the Beiyang Navy was defeated in the waters near Dadonggou, North Korea! The day before yesterday, Pyongyang fell, and the commander Ye Zhichao abandoned the city and fled. This is a telegram memorial from the governor of Zhili Li Hongzhang." Weng Tonghe said as he handed the telegram to Emperor Guangxu with both hands.

After reading it, Emperor Guangxu said panic: "Now that both water and land are defeated, the situation in North Korea is irreversible. The Empress Dowager will take the opportunity to attack and how to deal with it!"

"Your Majesty, don't panic. Although North Korea has been occupied by Japanese pirates, Li Hongzhang, Beiyang, still has the power to fight. His navy is still in power, so it is still possible to defend the capital. The emperor can give Li Hongzhang the right to advance. At the same time, the generals of the three northeastern provinces immediately mobilize their respective troops to gather on the Shengjing line, and deploy defenses along the Yalu River to prevent Japanese pirates from invading. At the same time, he ordered the governor of the two rivers Liu Kunyi to lead the Hunan army to Shanhaiguan to help Liaodong immediately." Weng Tonghe said.

"What will the Empress Dowager explain to you? What should I do if the Empress Dowager proposes to make peace?" Emperor Guangxu asked again.

"This is easy, the emperor only needs to activate Prince Gong Yi
Chapter completed!