NFBE Chapter 113 Three strategies: upper, middle and lower
Chapter 113 Three strategies: upper, middle and lower
Seeing Li Lianying chewing with juice dripping everywhere, Empress Dowager Cixi disregarded her composure and grabbed one.
"Your Majesty, please be careful! This leather is quite sharp; I just cut myself and bled. Let us scrape the skin off you before you enjoy it!" Li Lianying quickly stopped her.
Soon, under Li Lianying's guidance, two palace maids scraped out the snow-white straw. Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't wait to bite into it and chew it.
Mmm! It's really good stuff; it not only quenches your thirst but also has a sweet taste!
Empress Dowager Cixi chewed several pieces until her teeth were soft before stopping. She said, "Send some to the Emperor, so he can have some too!"
Seeing the people in front chewing the stalks with gusto, the officials, nobles, and guards behind them rushed into the cornfield without being told.
More than a thousand people ate horse feed, ruining more than a dozen acres of cornfields along the roadside.
When everyone had almost finished chewing, Laifu walked over with several guards.
"Your Highness, how about these straws?" Laifu asked with a smile.
"Hmm! It's alright, I didn't expect this to be so delicious!" Pu Lun said, picking his teeth.
"I'm satisfied! Here's the money?" Laifu nodded and held out his hand.
"Grandma! Why am I the one paying? So many people have eaten!" Pu Lun said indignantly.
"Are you all the only ones with money? If you don't give it to us, who will? Should we ask the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, or the soldiers?" Lai Fu said with a smile.
"Then, how much should we give them?" Pu Lun only had one servant driving the carriage, and he was actually a little afraid of Lai Fu and the others.
"Ten taels is not too much, a hundred taels is not too little! It all depends on the prince's mood!"
"Alright!" Hearing that it was such a small amount of silver, Pu Lun stopped arguing with Lai Fu. He turned around, took out a ten-tael silver ingot from the carriage, and handed it to Lai Fu.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Shen Lian tossed the silver ingot in his hand and walked toward the next official.
The officials were still lenient with Lai Fu for such a small amount of money. He quickly collected two or three hundred taels. Finally, he approached Ma Yukun.
"Lord Ma, most of this straw is for your soldiers' consumption. Shouldn't you pay them?"
"What silver? For whom?" Ma Yukun didn't take Laifu seriously at all. In the past, a nobody like him wouldn't even have had the chance to stand in front of him.
"You've ruined someone's cornfield, are you just going to leave like this?" Lai Fu stood in front of Ma Yukun, not taking the other party, a first-rank admiral, seriously, even though he had brought about a thousand soldiers with him.
He was confident that he could defeat these Qing soldiers, who were still armed with swords and spears, with his thirty men. He even had a Maxim rifle in his carriage.
"Who dares to ask me for money? Let him come!" Ma Yukun said disdainfully.
"With our Shandong New Army involved, the money must be paid!"
"You!" Ma Yukun jumped to his feet, then shook his head. "Say it! How much do you want?"
"Is a hundred taels too much?"
"Alright!" Ma Yukun didn't want to cause a scene with Laifu over a mere hundred taels of silver.
"Thank you!" Lai Fu took the silver, cupped his hands in thanks, and turned to leave. He was too lazy to say anything more to such a Qing official.
"Xiao Yi, go and find out whose land this is!"
A short while later, several elderly farmers were brought over!
"Greetings, Your Honor!" Several farmers trembled as they approached and knelt before Laifu with a thud.
"Fellow villagers, get up quickly. Look what we've done to your cornfields! This is compensation for you!" Laifu handed over the silver.
"No, sir! We...we can't take it!" The old farmers waved their hands in fright.
“Take it! We’re different from other armies, we’re Lord Shen Lian’s soldiers!” Lai Fu grinned.
"Lord Shen?"
"You'll soon find out who he is! Xiao Yi, escort these fellow villagers back." Lai Fu waved his hand.
While Empress Dowager Cixi and her entourage were gnawing on straw, Shen Lian had already quietly led his troops to the outskirts of Beijing.
He's drinking honey water in the barracks right now; he seems to be a bit feverish lately.
"Zhiyuan, when do we attack? To rescue the Empress Dowager and His Majesty!" Nie Gongting also received news of the fall of the capital and rushed over in a panic.
"Father-in-law, don't worry! As far as I know, the Empress Dowager and His Majesty left the capital yesterday. They should be in Shanxi by now!" Shen Lian helped his father-in-law to a chair and said.
"Is the information accurate?" Nie Gongting asked, grabbing Shen Lian's hand and looking at him.
“Absolutely true!” Shen Lian said earnestly.
His father-in-law was truly loyal to the Qing Dynasty! Sigh! Shen Lian couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
"That's good! But we can't just stand by and watch the foreigners run rampant in Beijing, can we?"
"Father-in-law, the foreigners' military strength surpasses ours! And right now, they are at the height of their power. It would be best if we avoided direct confrontation. We should wait until they lower their guard before delivering a fatal blow!"
"Don't worry, father-in-law. Now that I've led my troops to the capital, I will definitely not let them get away with this!" Shen Lian patted his father-in-law's hand and assured him.
In the Governor-General's Mansion of Guangdong and Guangxi, a thin, white-haired old man with a goatee was talking to a young man.
This man was none other than Li Hongzhang, a Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall and Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi during the Qing Dynasty. He was already seventy-seven years old at this time.
"My lord, the capital has fallen! What is your next move?" the young man said anxiously, bowing with his hands clasped.
"I've always known of Zhuoru's great talent. I wonder what Zhuoru has to teach me today?" Li Hongzhang looked at the young man with admiration, nodding with a smile. This young man, though radical in his thinking, was indeed very talented!
“Then please forgive my insolence!” Liang Zhuoru cupped his hands in greeting.
"The students have three strategies: the best, the middle, and the worst! The best strategy is to use the Southeast Mutual Protection Pact as a foundation to integrate the South, and then send troops to Beijing. Together with the foreigners, we can overthrow the Qing Dynasty and establish a new republic."
“With Your Excellency’s prestige, you are perfectly capable of becoming the first president of this country. Moreover, I’ve also sounded out the foreigners, and they are willing to support you!” Liang Zhuoru said excitedly.
"I am already seventy-seven years old. How many more years can I live? I have served as an official in the court my whole life. Am I going to become a rebel before I die?" Li Hongzhang shook his head.
"That's the middle strategy: immediately head north to defend the emperor, suppress the Boxers, and forge alliances with the Eight-Nation Alliance to extricate the court from its current predicament!"
"Zhuoru, you're too young! Alas! The situation in the capital is complicated right now, with each country harboring its own ulterior motives. It's not so easy to get out of this predicament!" Li Hongzhang sighed and shook his head.
"Speaking of which, it seems that Shen Lian from Shandong went to the capital to defend the emperor, but why haven't we heard anything about him yet!" Li Zhongtang muttered to himself.
"Does His Excellency intend to choose the worst course of action again, to be summoned once more to negotiate peace with the Eight-Nation Alliance, only to have to cede territory and pay indemnities, once again bearing the infamy of history?" Liang Zhuoru said dejectedly.
"I'm getting old! Each generation has its own responsibilities! Zhuoru, the future rests on the shoulders of you young people!"