Chapter Seventy Rent

  When he received Li Hongzhang's telegram inviting him to go north for a chat, Yang Feng was lying under the sun umbrella on the beach of Ba Hai, holding a fishing rod and pretending to be Jiang Taigong, with a carefully selected Japanese little slave girl kneeling beside him massaging his legs.

  What surprised him was that these Japanese women, who were used as comfort women by him, had no resentment towards their miserable situation and even looked quite satisfied. When asked, he found out that the reason was very simple - they could eat their fill.

  At that time, Japan was so poor that ordinary people couldn't afford to eat, especially low-ranking women who could only fill their stomachs with a small amount of coarse rice every day. Being able to eat fish and meat was like celebrating a holiday. Otherwise, how could they have been born looking like field mice? Just look at modern Japanese people, they've started growing taller, purely because they're no longer starving.

  But giving Yang Feng comfort women was different, this guy had no concept of money, giving his subordinates soldiers big fish and meat every day, rice and white flour were enough, although they were comfort women, but that was also their own comfort women, the treatment was naturally equal, which made those Japanese women feel like they were in a dream, as for serving men, it was not worth mentioning, weren't women born to do that? Who they served didn't matter.

  "Whether to go or not?" This guy was holding a fishing rod with a starfish caught early in the morning, hesitating about Li Ergouzi's invitation. To be honest, he had been quite idle recently, as the 3,000 new recruits from Yiwu and the 2,000 local recruits from Taiwan were still in training, and the combined fleet was still strong enough, so he didn't have the conditions to land in Japan yet. It would be best to let them continue to hurt each other with the Beiyang Navy. So lending him, no, renting him two destroyers should be fine, which could ensure a fair duel between Ding Ruchang and Ito Sukeyuki.

  Anyway, the two new destroyers built by Sweden are coming, and even if they rent two to him, it won't affect their own combat effectiveness. Besides, those two made by Armstrong look uncomfortable, so let them play with them.

  In addition, the naval blockade of Yoshino is also not good. If the logistics supply behind Yashan cannot keep up, it will be troublesome. It's terrifying to think that these Qing troops can consume bullets at a rate of tens or even hundreds of thousands per day, just like playing. In the Battle of Tian'an, 30 million out of his 1 million 7.9mm Maxim bullets were used up. Now, the Japanese army has invested two divisions in Korea, which means they have five more divisions on their home soil. This is absolutely unacceptable. At least three more must be deployed to ensure safety. Therefore, this meat grinder at Yashan must be maintained.

  But what about Pyongyang? Forget it, let them do whatever they want!

  This guy didn't know that Katsura Taro had no intention of attacking Pyongyang, he only had 10,000 men, how could he attack a city defended by more than 13,000 people? The military strength was not advantageous, the equipment was not advantageous, and the logistics were still difficult to supply. Those damn Koreans simply refused to cooperate with the Imperial Army.

  Looking at the situation of the Battle of Asan, it's better to be cautious. After all, the mission of the 3rd Division is to hold back the Qing army in Pyongyang and not let them go south to Hanseong. There are less than a regiment there now, and the Koreans are eager to move. This Qing army will definitely lose if they attack, and then the rear of ōshima Yoshimasa will be exposed. Since it's just a holding action, there's no need for a strong attack. The 3rd Division stopped at Samsong and began to build defenses on the spot, sending soldiers to search for food, preparing to hold out with Li Baoquan and others.

  The defeat in the Battle of Tiananmen has shocked Japan again, and since the start of the war, it can be said that there has not been a single piece of good news. The casualties of our soldiers have already exceeded one brigade. The combat effectiveness of the Qing army, or rather its wealth, makes Ito Hirobumi feel humiliated. Why can't you fight fairly like real warriors? Is throwing money around really the demeanor of a great power?

  However, since this war has already begun, it must be continued. If there is no money, then use lives to fill it. For the rise of the Great Japanese Empire, no matter how many people die, they will not be spared. So the first division of the Japanese army set out for Korea, and the war began to develop in the rhythm that Yang Feng expected.

  At the same time, Notsu Michizane launched another attack on Tianan after careful planning. This time he wanted to create a diversion by leaving only the division headquarters to launch an attack on the west side, but making enough noise to show a desperate effort. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tatekawa Ryōsuke, who had been reinforced overnight, suddenly launched a fierce attack on the southern line, but unfortunately failed again and suffered more than 500 casualties, including a seriously injured brigade commander.

  It's not that Zhang Gaoyuan saw through his plan, but rather the reinforcements from Xu Bangdao's unit happened to strengthen this direction. Now Tianan has 3,000 people on both sides, all of whom are the most elite troops of the Huai Army. The entire team became a hedgehog that couldn't be attacked, with the only drawback being logistics. However, despite Ping Anhao's proposal to go out and engage in a decisive battle with the Beiyang Navy according to his new tactics without Songdao, neither Ito Hirobumi nor Ito Hirofumi agreed with his tactic of gambling with the fate of the entire country.

  There is no Sado Island, and with the remaining strength of the Combined Fleet, it does not have the qualifications for a decisive battle.

  What they didn't know was that this cost the combined fleet its one and only chance.

  Just as Nozu Michitsura's second attack failed, Yang Feng finally accepted Li Hongzhang's invitation. Under the escort of two destroyers, the Jingyuan set off from Nagasaki and arrived at Weihaiwei in just one day. The Beiyang Fleet gave him enough face, specially dispatching the Jingyuan to meet him dozens of kilometers ahead. When Ye Zugui and Liu Guanxiong saw this strange black ship for the first time, they were also startled. They did not expect that someone would build a ship like this.

  But when they saw Yang Feng, their shock immediately turned into collapse.

  Because today, Boss Yang wore a pirate costume similar to Captain Jack's, with an Arabian scimitar hanging from his waist, and even braided the few small braids on his head, so it's estimated that no one will mind his hair problem anymore. Isn't it about braids? Now our heads don't lack braids, not only do we have braids in our hair, but even our beards have braids.

  Looking at Yang Feng standing on the deck with his thumb up like a ghost, both Ye Zugui and he didn't know what to say.

  "This must be General Ye! What an honor to meet you!" Yang Feng said calmly.

  The two of them finally reacted, no matter what he wore, the fact that he was a real general was solid, and they quickly bowed their heads on the deck of the Jingyuan, and the three of them chatted casually for a few more sentences before following the Jingyuan's lead, slowing down and heading slowly towards Liugong Island.

  The Jingyuan slowly spent more than an hour to finish this journey, when arriving at Liugong Island, the main leaders of the Beiyang Fleet led by Ding Ruchang had already been waiting at the dock. Although Yang Weide's position was one level lower than his, no one mentioned these things at that time. The people of the Beiyang Fleet were truly grateful to him.

  When he saw this guy, he and the Beiyang generals almost fell to the ground, but considering that he was still the governor of the Ottoman Empire, it seemed that this was his gubernatorial attire. Although the style was a bit strange, since it was foreign clothing, there was nothing surprising about it. In the past, when foreigners came to pay tribute, which one wasn't dressed in strange and exotic clothes? The imperial court had precedents for this, so there was no need to be particular about it. After exchanging pleasantries, they immediately headed to the naval ministry to meet Li Hongzhang, who had come here under the pretext of seeking an audience with Yang Feng.

  The first time I met Li Er, this guy was also a bit of a scoundrel, although he had many problems and left behind countless curses, even more than 100 years later, many people still argue about him with red faces and thick necks. But the problem is that in such an era, there were too many people in China who made grand speeches and wrote flowery articles, but seemed noble yet useless. How many people could truly leave something behind for the country and the nation?

  He is corrupt, but how many officials in modern China are not corrupt?

  He preserved his strength, resulting in the Beiyang Fleet being blocked in the harbor. Under the circumstances at that time, was there any other way? If he didn't preserve his strength and went out to fight, losing the entire fleet, then the Japanese army wouldn't have landed in Shandong but would have directly landed in Tianjin.

  He was the one who advocated for peace later on, and even opposed others' suggestions to continue fighting. But who knows what those people were thinking? In China's history of resisting foreign enemies, which instance of relocating the capital didn't result in great chaos throughout the land, with warlords fighting each other for decades? Did high-ranking officials like Zhang Zhidong not have any ambition at all? If the First Sino-Japanese War had continued to be fought after the relocation of the capital, the outcome would likely have been unpredictable.

  "General Yang, you've come a long way and must be tired." Li Ergouzi looked at the strange attire standing in front of him making a bow, but didn't know why Yang Feng didn't say a word, coughed and said indifferently.

  "Ah, I'll go see Master Zhang right away." Yang Feng finally came back to his senses and hastily bowed.

  "You and I have known each other for a long time, no need to be polite. Since you come from the West, I suppose you're not very familiar with the imperial court's etiquette. Let's just speak in the Western way." Li Hongzhang said with a smile, this was something Xue Fucheng had specifically instructed him on, playing the domestic official game with Yang Feng would only get him empty words.

  "In that case, I won't be polite anymore." Yang Feng smiled and sat down.

  "Yang, my young friend, we can be considered old friends now. I'll speak plainly to you today. I want to buy two cruisers from you, but you must give me a discount. The imperial court is currently facing financial difficulties and the Ministry of Revenue has no silver to allocate. After scraping together funds from various sources, I only have less than one million taels."