Chapter 135: Death if We Don’t Win This Battle

Shao Quanzhong, who had ordered the killing of more than 30,000 prisoners without changing his expression or heart rate, was stunned when he saw the big man.

He was stunned for a long time, until Bo Zai pulled his arm, he suddenly came to his senses, his face suddenly became kind, and he returned the greeting, “Okay, okay, not bad.”

Judging from the big guy’s appearance, he is a fierce general. Lin Bozi thought Shao Quanzhong was intimidated and felt very pleased with himself.

“Brother Shao, this guy volunteered to join the army. My army sent out dozens of people to lead the insurance team, and there was a vacancy, so I recruited him. He lives in Woyang, and did not join the Nian Rebellion, but came to join the government army. This is an honest man who is with us.”

He had a clean background and was brave and good at fighting, which best met the Huai Army’s recruitment requirements.

“Brother Shao, I have tested his ability. He is very skilled in battle formations and martial arts, and can use a quick gun very quickly. He is a natural soldier. I think I have found a treasure.”

Shao Quanzhong had fully recovered and laughed, “Leave it to me. I’ll send him to the cavalry battalion as acting platoon leader. Lao Ge is a very capable guy, he can’t always lead the cavalry battalion. This cavalry battalion must be led by a brave general.”

Shao Quanzhong did not hide this from Ma Yukun, and it was obvious that he was going to promote him to be a battalion commander in the future. Ma Yukun stood at attention and said, “Thank you for your cultivation, sir.”

It is extremely difficult to train soldiers in Suzhong into qualified cavalry, and it is even more difficult to train cavalry generals. Grant is responsible for the use of personnel, and the grassroots officers are temporary, and they must really grow to a certain level before they can be officially appointed.

Bo Zai was very dissatisfied, “Brother Shao, you are so disrespectful. You stole my people. Besides, I don’t even know if he can ride a horse.”

Shao Quanzhong patted Bo Zai on the back and said, “Bo Zai, you can’t keep this talent, and you can’t control him. Only Grant can subdue him, so don’t count on him.”

What a joke, Ma Yukun can’t ride a horse? He was the one who taught me riding skills. When I joined the Yi Army, Song Qing sent me to the cavalry, and my direct superior was Ma Yukun.

Of course, I was also brave and good at fighting, and was deeply appreciated by Ma Yukun, who promoted me to cavalry sentry leader… Those were my youthful years when I really started my own business.

He followed Commander Ma all the way to the Taedong River, and in the Battle of Funabashiri, they fought against the 9th Mixed Brigade commanded by the Japanese pirate Major General Oshima Yoshimasa. They defeated the Japanese pirates with a smaller force and inflicted heavy damage. This was one of the few victories of the Qing army in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

The Japanese pirates lamented in a poem, “If we cannot win this battle, we will die under the banner. Alas, it will be a bitter battle in the bridge of the ship.”

This is a famous and brave general who has been tested in real wars. We had been looking for him everywhere to recruit him into the Huai Army, but now he has come to us on his own initiative.

What Shao Quanzhong didn’t know was that in 1940, the Japanese pirates invaded our country and sent people led by Zhang Xian to Ma Yukun’s hometown in northern Anhui and burned down his house.

More than forty years have passed, but they still hold a grudge and seek revenge because Ma Yukun has caused great psychological trauma to the Japanese pirates on the battlefield many times.

The Qing Dynasty lost the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Afterwards, only two generals were promoted for their military exploits. One of them was Ma Yukun. The other was Nie Shicheng…

…………

A month later, on November 15, the eleventh year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign.

“Reporting to the commander, the cable telegraph has been laid to Fengyang. Please preside over the opening ceremony.”

The British and American joint venture telegraph company laid a dedicated line to the Fengyang military camp for Shao Quanzhong, the British and American spokesperson in China.

Looking at the endless lines of electric poles stretching all the way to Hailing, Shao Quanzhong was overwhelmed with emotion. Our Qing Dynasty has already shown some signs of industrialization and modernization.

The radio operator sent by Hailing turned on the phone and contacted Hailing. Beep, beep, beep, Shao Quanzhong received the first telegram.

“Rong Hui is about to give birth in early December.”

Well, my wife is going to give birth to a son, this is a big deal. It just so happens that this period is the training and recuperation stage, so I can go back to Hailing to accompany her and see my son being born with my own eyes.

Although the Huai Army did not suffer heavy losses, it absorbed 1,500 core elite troops of the Yi Army and added an infantry reinforcement battalion.

The Hunan and Shanghai armies had 1008 soldiers in their battalions. Shao Quanzhong followed the standard of small-station training, with 46 soldiers in each battalion, 500 officers from the rank of sentry leader, 1554 clerks, committee members, doctors, bookkeepers, buglers, guards, cooks, and long-term servants, a total of people.

1,500 elite soldiers of the Yi Army were considered new recruits in the Huai Army and needed to be retrained. Adding the shortage caused by hundreds of instructors sent to various insurance teams in northern Anhui, the number of new recruits in the Huai Army reached 10%. It still took a period of intensive training to restore combat effectiveness. Shao Quanzhong firmly believed that a real man like himself would definitely give birth to a son. Well, there was no scientific basis for this.

“Tell them that the six prefectures and one state in northern Anhui are already the territory of the Huai Army. They can be covered with wired telegraphs, and after a while, railways can follow suit.”

The railway can actually be built now because the railway company has enough money.

However, as northern Anhui is pacified, bandits are eliminated, the imperial court sends officials to govern, and the gentry and Hui merchants who fled gradually return, the economy of northern Anhui will slowly recover.

When the railway is built to Anhui, the local people of Anhui should be included in the shares. Otherwise, if the local people have no share in this profitable business, the people of northern Anhui will be dissatisfied in the future.

Zhang Siwen behind him was thoughtful. “Second brother, you insisted that we hold the controlling stake in the railways and the Americans share the dividends, but why did you allow the British and Americans to solely own the telegraph? The telegraph involves military operations and makes money, so why don’t we control it in our own hands?”

Shao Quanzhong sighed, “I have taken loans from Britain and the United States, so I have to act as their spokesperson for their interests. The railway insists on independence, and if the telegraph insists on it as well, the foreigners will be dissatisfied.”

Zhang Siwen looked surprised and said, “Brother, don’t you think this is rare? I remember you were not such a person.”

Shao Quanzhong laughed loudly, his eyes rolling around with cunningness.

“As for your second brother, I want to fight against foreigners. First, the Japanese devils, and then the Russians. These two bastards are neighbors who are trying to seize our territory. We should make friends with those far away and attack those near. Britain, the United States, and Prussia cannot be defeated in a short time, so we have to seek refuge with them and make friends with them to gain benefits.”

“Aren’t you afraid that people will call you rare?”

“Whoever wants to curse can curse, I call this opening the door and bringing in foreign investment. I’m going to tell you something, you must not spread it.”

Shao Quanzhong lowered his voice and said, “This wired telegraph, the cables are all made of pure copper, which is very expensive, requires a large investment, and the return on investment is slow. It is not a good business.”

“This involves military secrets…”

Shao Quanzhong sneered, “First, in the next thirty years, we will not have conflicts with Britain and the United States, and we will not fight a civil war. It doesn’t matter if they control the telegraph for the time being. When we really go to war with the foreigners, I will temporarily build a dedicated line for the military to prevent the foreigners from connecting with each other. Secondly, in more than thirty years, after they get their money back, they won’t make much money. After more than thirty years, hehe——”

“Brother, do you know something?”

“Of course, more than 30 years later, the world changed drastically, and wireless telegraph was invented. The wired telegraph cables that were laid all over the world became obsolete overnight, and those capitalists were so heartbroken that they wanted to jump off the building.”

“No wonder, it turns out that you have a plan in mind, second brother.”

“It’s just right for them to do this big business. We need telegraphs now, and I don’t want to waste money on something that will be obsolete after repair. Isn’t it just right for a foreign master to pay for us?”

The two brothers looked at each other and laughed. Zhang Siwen breathed a sigh of relief. This is my second brother who is smart and always takes advantage of others.

“Okay, I’m going to go back to Hailing in ten days to accompany my wife as she prepares to give birth. Siwen, you get ready. In the next ten days, I plan to inspect the establishment of insurance teams in various places. This is the key to our control of the territory. I won’t feel at ease unless I see it with my own eyes.”

The next day, Shao Quanzhong led a guard platoon and began to patrol everywhere. The first stop was Dingyuan County, 70 miles southeast of Fengyang.

More than thirty people riding horses without any baggage covered sixty miles in the morning and were less than ten miles away from their destination. They expected to have a late lunch in Dingyuan.

Here we started to see jungles and small valleys, and occasionally heard wolves howling. The guide reported, “This is called Wolf Alley. Not far away there is a famous cliff carving at the Zen Cave Temple.”

Shao Quanzhong didn’t want to be pretentious and visit any cliff carvings.

There were dense forests on the roadside, and the sounds of birds singing and wolves howling were everywhere. Shao Quanzhong led his men and drove their horses forward quickly.

Zhang Siwen behind him suddenly shouted, “Stop moving forward!”

(End of this chapter)