Chapter 66: The Second Battle of Yashan

  The following battles are not worth mentioning. A small village with a total area of only tens of thousands of square meters was attacked by more than 1,000 heavily armed mercenaries. If there is still something worthy of description in the battle, it would be too ridiculous. However, around 1,000 Japanese people ran away and probably hid in the northern mountains.

  However, what surprised Yang Feng was that his guide actually found him a prince. This young prince named Shang Yin was the second son of King Sho Tai of Ryukyu. After Japan occupied Ryukyu, they took his whole family to Japan and kept them under control. Later, feeling that their training had been quite successful, they released him and one brother back home in order to show off the emperor's benevolence to the people of Ryukyu.

  "Your Highness, the king and crown prince of your country are currently in the hands of the Japanese, and it is estimated that they will not return for a short period of time. However, this country cannot be without a ruler for even one day. As I am an official who has been sent by the imperial court to assist your country in restoring its sovereignty, I propose that you, Prince Wang, temporarily ascend to the throne as the king of Ryukyu. Lord Shi Li is advanced in age and virtuous, but the heavy responsibility of assisting King Sho Tai will be handed over to you after his return."

  This is the leader of the Ryukyu pro-Qing faction, who is currently planning to go to China for help. Unexpectedly, before he could leave, the great army of the Heavenly Dynasty arrived, and in one battle, almost all the Japanese in Ryukyu were annihilated. Now, with such generosity and benevolence, not only was Ryukyu restored, but such an important position was also handed over to him, which is naturally extremely exciting.

  Of course, he immediately knew that the Taiwan Zongbing in front of him, who was not like a Qing official at all, had nothing to do with the two words "benevolence".

  "The Ryukyu Islands must be thoroughly cleaned up, there are too many Japanese here, it's very dangerous. From today on, you two help me find a group of local guides to lead my soldiers, starting from the surrounding areas of Shuri, round up all the Japanese and I will take charge of sending them to Taiwan, concentrating them for deportation back to Japan. As for those Japanese officials and police, these people as invaders must be executed on the spot, only this way can Japan never dare to invade your country again." Yang Feng said viciously.

  Since he said so, Shang Yin and the two naturally did not dare to oppose, so the next day, under the leadership of the Ryukyu guide, Yang Feng's mercenaries began to clean up the entire Ryukyu from south to north, capturing Japanese officials and police officers, and directly handing them over to the Ryukyu people for execution. At first, no one dared to take action, but later Yang Feng simply told them that executing a Japanese official would be rewarded with two taels of silver, so there was no shortage of executioners. As for how they killed, he didn't care about it.

  Those Japanese immigrants were directly loaded onto ships and sent to Taiwan, of course he wouldn't be so kind as to send them back. These people were all sold domestically to human traffickers, men were sold into coal mines as slave laborers, women were sold to remote mountainous areas, if they looked good they could even be sold to brothels.

  To be honest, many Japanese immigrants in Ryukyu came before 1879, and some even earlier. This has brought considerable difficulty to the purification work. So, this guy launched a "Pure Ryukyu" movement, digging deep into the roots, which means letting Ryukyu people denounce each other. Anyone who reports and is verified can receive one or two silver rewards. This move is quite ruthless, making the whole of Ryukyu a bloody and terrifying place, with everyone looking at each other with suspicion. However, with 2,000 troops and a fleet stationed here, he can do whatever he wants without anyone intervening.

  Let's just say ordinary people won't think too much about it, these years Japanese immigrants have been arrogant and looking down on others, now they have the opportunity to take revenge and get paid for it, why not do it? Many people even dug up their ancestors' graves. As for killing Japanese officials, although intelligent Ryukyu people understand that Yang Feng is forcing them to become sworn enemies with Japan, but first, they don't have the guts to refuse, second, they can't stop those poor ordinary people from earning a few silver coins, and after killing many, they will just grit their teeth and bear it.

  Yang Feng also established a military base here under the pretext of protecting Ryukyu and eliminating the remaining Japanese armed forces, with 1,000 mercenaries stationed here. He then hired local people to expand the port for him, making Naha Port capable of berthing large warships like the "Plunderer".

  At first, Zhili was worried that this guy would do something like extorting and looting, but he was mentally prepared for it. After all, the other side helped drive out the Japanese, so they couldn't just do nothing in return. But unexpectedly, not only did the general not take anything, but all the construction projects paid wages to the Ryukyu people who worked on them. Even when his soldiers bought things on the street, they paid the full price and didn't bully the local women. This was simply bizarre for an occupying army, and soon the Ryukyu samurai grew fond of this strangely dressed general and his strangely dressed soldiers.

  They may not know that these people, from Yang Feng to soldiers, do this only because they are too poor and not worth the effort. As for women's issues, these guys have a free super-large brothel with 500 people, who would still be interested in those Ryukyu women who are as dark as charcoal?

  In addition, under Yang Feng's operation, a delegation led by Shangshun Wangzi, the younger brother of Shangyin Wang, took a destroyer to Beijing to thank Empress Dowager Cixi. After all, Yang Feng was also in the name of the imperial court, and these necessary procedures still had to be followed.

  Just as the goods were passing through Ryukyu during MacArthur's addiction, a large-scale war was unfolding in Korea. The 5th Division led by Notsu Michizō and the Tatekawa Shōbun Brigade arrived at Daejeon and immediately divided into two routes. One regiment attacked Gongju to attack Ye Zhichao, and Ye Daidai had only his own two regiments of Zhengding Lianjun, which was enough to deal with. The main force of the Japanese army then attacked Cheonan, where Zhang Gaoyuan's unit and the remnants of the Renziying that did not die were stationed.

  In fact, up to now, Li Ergezi's deployment in Yashan is still the original group of people. The reason is simple: he has no more troops to deploy. Speaking of the Qing Empire, it also had a million-strong army, but after deducting the Eight Banners who were addicted to opium and playing cards, and the Green Camps that couldn't even beat bandits as police, there were only about 200,000 left who could barely fight.

  Of course, this is just a matter of organization. Considering the problem of eating empty salaries, it's estimated that even the imperial court itself doesn't know how much there actually is. Now that war has broken out, they're hastily recruiting soldiers on the spot and giving a bunch of old farmers who have just put down their hoes a Mauser rifle they've never seen before, a Krupp 75mm field gun they can't even imagine, and he doesn't even know how to load the shells. This is the Sino-Japanese War on land.

  Li Ergouzi is now anxious and flustered because he can't find any soldiers to reinforce Yashan. The last 200,000-strong army above has only a few left for him, and in Shandong, there are still the Beiyang Guards, half of the Songwu Army, and the Suigong Army, totaling only a few thousand people, who cannot be moved because they have to keep an eye on Weihaiwei.

  In the Northeast, there were still Mingjun, Song Qing's half of Yijun, and the other half had already entered Korea to arrive in Pyongchang. He and Liu Shengxiu were preparing for the second batch to enter Korea. The remaining ones included Qinqing Army, Mingjun Zhao Huaiye's three battalions, and Shengjun Wei Rucheng's four battalions. These were absolutely not allowed to move! The only mobile force with combat effectiveness was Xu Bangdao's four battalions of Gongweijun. At this time, Li Er Guizi was worried about whether to let his three battalions go to Lushun for emergency recruitment or to Korea?

  Shandong still had an army, and the governor, Fu Run, had recently organized the "Fu" army and the "Dong" army. To be honest, sending such an army out was a bit cruel, not just to Nie Shicheng but also to them.

  It can be said that later generations described the First Sino-Japanese War as Li Hongzhang alone fighting against Japan, which is not entirely unreasonable. At least before the fall of the Yalu River, this war was indeed being held up by him alone. Although there were also Zuo Baogui's Fengtian Army and Feng Zicai's Xiang Army in the Battle of Pyongyang, Zuo Baogui himself was also a follower of Li Hongzhang. As for Feng Zicai, it is not even worth mentioning that his experience in the First Sino-Japanese War was basically just running away.

  In this case, Li Er Guizi could only petition for help. Of course, given the current transportation situation, it would take some time for reinforcements to arrive from all over the country. Not to mention the slow and inefficient bureaucratic system of the Qing dynasty, and the indifference of many people, including the highest rulers. The battle hasn't even reached the Yalu River yet? Besides, aren't the Huai Army supposed to be good at fighting? Let them continue fighting then.

  The second Battle of Yashan began like this, with 7,000 Qing troops against a not-so-complete Japanese division. Fortunately, the Sixth Brigade was eliminated, and the only thing that could make him slightly relieved was that the newly purchased 20 Maxim guns and one million rounds of ammunition were all sent to the front line. In addition, more than 20 Grunov cannons were also gathered, and Hannagen went to Korea. These days, under his leadership and that of several employees from Bofors, a perfect defensive system centered on machine guns was built at the front line, and logistical supplies were sufficient.

  This is the most reassuring thing for Li Hongzhang, the victory of the Battle of Incheon ensured the smooth transportation line, although the Yoshino was repaired, but the Matsushima had entered the dock again and was heavily damaged, it would take at least two months to come out, but the Beiyang Fleet's ships were all damaged, yet they only suffered superficial wounds, even if they didn't repair them, they could still continue fighting, although the 6-inch shells were bitter and sour, it was still very difficult for them to truly damage an ironclad warship.

  As for the problem of material reserves, he can be said to have completely laughed at Dongying. Originally, after the Japanese army occupied Dalian, they seized hundreds of millions of artillery shells and tens of millions of bullets. If not for these seizures, they might not have been able to sustain the subsequent wars. Now all these are casually left to Nie Shicheng in Yashan.