Chapter 225 The Russians Are Coming

"Oh, then I wonder what I can get from it?" Wei Jichen asked curiously after hearing what Dashanyan said.

Dashanyan thought he had a chance, and his smile became even bigger. He said hurriedly: "The empire will give Wei Jun some financial help, enough for Wei Jun to live a wealthy life for the rest of his life."

"Hahaha!" Wei Jichen laughed so hard that Dashanyan was a little confused for a while and looked at him blankly.

Ugh!

Wei Jichen suddenly opened his mouth and spit a mouthful of thick phlegm into the teacup that Dashanyan had just picked up.

Dashanyan's face immediately turned pale and blue. He slammed the teacup heavily on the low table, with a hint of anger, and his eyes seemed to be spewing fire.

"Do you think I'm a three-year-old child? You want to buy me, Wei Jichen, with a little profit." Wei Jichen sneered and looked at him with disdain.

"Mr. Wei, do you think Russia has good intentions in helping your country take back Liaodong?" Dashan Yan said, suppressing his inner anger.

"Russia, the wolf country, has long coveted the land of Liaodong and has long wanted to obtain a natural ice-free port in the Far East. Without our help, do you think you can stabilize the situation in Liaodong? Humph, I'm afraid it won't be long before the Liaodong we return to you will fall into the hands of the Russians." Dashan Yan stood up, and when the temptation failed, he used intimidation, then smiled lightly and said, "As long as you cooperate with our country, there is no need to worry about not being able to defend Liaodong. By then, you can report to your court. Our country just needs a little bit of resources. We each take what we need, so why not do it?"

"You don't have to worry about this, my Excellency. Since I, Wei Jichen, can defeat the Japanese, I can also defeat the Russian invaders." Wei Jichen didn't care and replied with a mocking face.

Dashanyan was furious. After being insulted by Wei Jichen again and again, even a clay man would be angry, not to mention that Dashanyan was not a clay man.

He lost his original calmness and cursed: "Baga, Wei Jichen, don't be too self-righteous. Do you think you are invincible after a few small victories? If it weren't for you, China, asking for peace with my Great Empire of Japan, I, Dashanyan, would have commanded the army to destroy you long ago. You should think about how you ran away like a stray dog ​​in Ximu City."

Dashanyan's words suddenly touched the deepest pain in Wei Jichen's heart.

"If you kill me, I will kill you first." Wei Jichen stood up suddenly, like a beast that chooses its prey, and stared at Dashanyan with a pair of sharp eyes.

Dashanyan was frightened and took two steps back. He regretted it in his heart now. This Wei Jichen seemed to do things in an unconventional way and was also a bold person. Besides, the other party seemed to be very skilled. He really shouldn't have brought so many people here.

When the followers of both sides saw this situation, they quickly drew their guns and confronted each other. The situation was tense and ready to explode.

Suddenly, Wei Jichen burst into laughter, pointed at Dashanyan's retreating feet, and said sarcastically: "Dashanyan, you only have this little courage, and you dare to say arrogantly that you will lead troops to destroy me. If I were you, I would have cut open my stomach long ago."

Wei Jichen would naturally not do anything to Dashanyan at this time, but it was okay to scare him. Who knew that Dashanyan was really not scared.

This was mainly because Wei Jichen was too young. In the eyes of ordinary people, young people are a little impulsive and sometimes do things without considering the consequences.

Dashanyan lost all his face, his face was ashen, and he didn't even say a polite word. He flicked his sleeves and said in a deep voice: "Let's go!"

"I won't see you off. Take your bunch of beasts and get out of the city as soon as possible." Wei Jichen said with a smile behind him.

The voice reached Dashanyan's ears, and he was so angry that he trembled all over and staggered.

After Dashanyan walked away, Wei Jichen lost his arrogance just now, and his face sank and frowned.

Wei Jichen knew that Dashanyan was right in at least one point, that is, Russia did regard Liaodong as a forbidden delicacy, and it was ready to move.

Russia began to build the Siberian Railway in 1891. Last year, the road had been built to the Lake Baikal area. The Russian Finance Minister pointed out that there was no need to take a detour, and it could be built directly from China in a straight line.

Last year and this year, the Russians took advantage of the Sino-Japanese War, when China was too busy to take care of other things and dared not cause trouble, and sent people to survey the Northeast of China, asking the Qing government to instruct local authorities to "let it pass without hindrance" and "take care of it according to their ability", hoping to make the Siberian Railway a straight line, across the Northeast and reach Vladivostok.

This would not only shorten the distance, but also make construction easier. More importantly, it would take the opportunity to control the Northeast in their own hands.

Railways are economic arteries. Once the railways are built, the surrounding minerals can be mined as much as possible.

In order to repay the indemnity for the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing government borrowed from Russia.

The Russo-Asiatic Bank, controlled by Russia and France, frequently flirted with the Qing government, threatening to have the privileges of building railways, opening mines, setting up factories, and collecting taxes in China.

A large number of people in the court, including Li Hongzhang, advocated changing the foreign policy of "using foreigners to control foreigners" before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to a policy of alliance with foreign countries. The Russians, who had made great contributions to the recovery of Liao, were in the eyes of the court, and they thought that "using the West to contain the East" was a good way.

Now even the Japanese have seen the Russians' ambitions, so why did no one in the court see it? Or were the ministers in the court just hoping for the best?

"Wei Shuai, the Japanese have withdrawn from the city." Wang Huaiqing admired Wei Jichen's performance just now. If you say that you are a man, there will probably never be anyone like Wei Shuai in the Qing Dynasty. I will follow you. There is only one word to describe him: "Happiness".

Wei Jichen looked around and saw hundreds and nearly a thousand Japanese people slowly heading towards Jinzhou from the city. Most of the Japanese people in Fuzhou City had already withdrawn.

Jinzhou will be taken over in five days, and Lushun and Dalian Bay will be taken over in half a month. At that time, all the land in Liaodong will be returned to the hands of the Chinese army.

"Let's go into the city." After Wei Jichen returned to the cavalry, he raised his whip and ordered.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, everyone heard a loud rumbling sound, and everyone was startled. When they looked over, they saw a large piece of the city gate collapsed, dust flying, and it became a broken wall.

"Da Shanyan!" Wei Jichen saw Da Shanyan standing at the back of the Japanese team on horseback, and made an invitation gesture to Wei Jichen.

It turned out that Dashanyan had been humiliated just now. After returning to his own army, he became more and more annoyed as he thought about it, so he had the city gate blown up, which was a little relieved.

Wei Jichen was too lazy to offend him, but he was much more careful than before. He first sent a small team into the city to explore the road. If the Japanese planted a few mines on the road and he accidentally stepped on them, he would not be able to explain why.

The Japanese team gradually became smaller and gradually disappeared from everyone's sight. The small detachment that went to explore the road also received news that the journey was safe.

"Come on, let's go in." Wei Jichen sighed softly.

Tick, tick...

After a sound of horse hooves, Wei Jichen led the crowd to rush in through the gap.

I saw that the city was desolate, and every bustling place was reduced to ashes, with broken walls, rubble and rubble, and countless houses so destroyed that they could no longer be inhabited.

"Family, country, world. Alas!" Wei Jichen sighed heavily.

In Fuzhou City, ten rooms and nine rooms were empty, so Wei Jichen had no choice but to temporarily use the army as a trustee until the court appointed a new prefect before he could hand over the government affairs to them. Of course, the military affairs still had to be firmly in his own hands.

After a busy day in Fuzhou, I counted the surviving people in the city and found that only some old, weak, sick and disabled people were left, while most of the young and strong people had disappeared to unknown places.

Wei Jichen had heard about something before, that is, after the Japanese occupied the Northeast, in order to improve their own short racial situation, they secretly transported a large number of strong Chinese people from the Northeast and then transported them back to Japan to be used as breeding stock.

Could it be that these disappeared young men were kidnapped by them like this?

After returning to Haicheng, Wei Jichen immediately ordered the left wing troops to be dispatched first to take back the city that the Japanese had returned. The main training and defense areas of the Liao army will be Lushunkou and Dalian Bay, but Haicheng must also have people left behind. It cannot be returned to General Shengjing in vain.

Wei Jichen thought for a while and felt that it would be better to keep Huzi's cavalry. Firstly, the cavalry can move quickly. Secondly, Huzi is his old subordinate, so he can rest assured. Thirdly, he can guard military port cities like Lushunkou and Dalian Bay. The cavalry did not play much role either.

As for the training base of the special forces, it is better to find a fixed place in the mountains around Haicheng. Haicheng is located in the hinterland of Liaodong, which is a good place for development in all directions.

Orders came out from the government office one after another, and the three armies immediately set off with great momentum.

At this time, Wei Jichen went to Changfeng Escort Agency.

The headquarters of the Changfeng Escort Bureau is located in a large courtyard in the west of Haicheng City. There are currently more than 200 escorts in the Escort Bureau, which is already considered a large force.

When Wei Jichen took Wang Huaiqing into the courtyard, he saw Zhang Zuolin training the bodyguards. Judging from his posture, he looked like he was training an army.

"Wei Shuai!" When Zhang Zuolin saw Wei Jichen, he came up to greet him with a look of surprise.

Some of the surrounding bodyguards also stepped forward to salute. Wei Jichen took a closer look and saw that many of them had marks of soldiers on their bodies. It seemed that these people were from the Wei Zijun.

After returning the gifts one by one, Zhang Zuolin invited Wei Jichen into the living room.

"Yuting, how is business now?" Wei Jichen asked after the two parties took their seats.

Zhang Zuolin said sheepishly: "The escort agency has a big air, so it doesn't make much money."

"Money is a trivial matter. The Northeast is in chaos now. If we are not careful, we will fall into eternal disaster." Wei Jichen sighed heavily and said with a heavy face.

Zhang Zuolin asked with some confusion: "Why did Commander Wei say this? The Japanese are retreating from Liaodong, and isn't the situation getting better and better?"

Zhang Zuolin is still a little immature.

"The wolf has gone, but the tiger has come. I heard that the Russians have been moving around the Northeast recently. Have you heard anything about it?" Wei Jichen bluntly pointed out that the trouble was the Russians.

When Wei Jichen said this, Zhang Zuolin suddenly realized: "No wonder when we were escorting, we met many Russians. These Russians were carrying strange things, digging around and measuring them."

"They are surveying the railway. The Russians have made several requests to the court to build a railway in the northeast of me directly to their Vladivostok. I am afraid that once this railway is built, it will cause trouble again." Wei Jichen took a sip. Tea, said worriedly.

"What do you mean, Marshal Wei?" Zhang Zuolin asked cautiously.

"There are a large number of pro-Russian officials in the imperial court now. It is not convenient for me to come forward. The Changfeng Escort Bureau travels all over the country. It should spread the sinister intentions of the Russians everywhere, arouse the vigilance of the people, and then arouse the vigilance of the Northeast officials, causing the court's wind direction to change slightly. ." Wei Jichen said seriously.

Wei Jichen actually asked Zhang Zuolin to spread some news about how the Russians bullied the Chinese and that they were plotting against the Northeast. Of course, this matter would definitely be true and would first cause panic among the people and vigilance among the Northeast officials.

Then Wei Jichen was able to unite with General Shengjing, General Heilongjiang, General Jilin, etc. to petition the imperial court to build railways, make guns, open mining plants, organize regiment training, and massively immigrate outside the customs in the Northeast. In short, the Qing government in the original history The establishment of the Governor's Office of the three northeastern provinces to develop Northeast China happened ahead of schedule.

Heilongjiang General Yiketang'a and Jilin General Changshun are both knowledgeable people, and they also have some patriotism, otherwise they would not have asked them to personally lead troops from Heilongjiang and Jilin to resist the Japanese.

Wei Jichen believed that they would not sit back and watch the area under their jurisdiction slowly fall into the hands of the Russians.

^.^，

Zhang Zuolin agreed without thinking too much.

Wei Jichen said again: "Yuting, I kicked you out of the army. Do you have any complaints in your heart?"

"I don't dare!" Zhang Zuolin quickly replied.

Wei Jichen glanced at him in a nonchalant manner and said, "Actually, it doesn't matter if you complain. Wang Shizhen and others have become big officials now, and you are just the head of a small bodyguard agency."

"My subordinates believe that our Changfeng Escort Bureau will not be worse than them in terms of development." Zhang Zuolin replied seriously.

Wei Jichen smiled and said solemnly: "It's best if you think about it this way. Do you know why I established the Changfeng Escort Bureau? Ever since I fought with the Japanese, I have always wondered in my mind why the Japanese can be so capable. We quickly invaded a large area of ​​our territory. In the end, I found that one of them is very important, that is, familiarity with the terrain and good intelligence collection. The Changfeng Escort Bureau is the eyes and ears of our Ding Liao Army. If there is any disturbance in this northeastern land, Our Ding Liao army must know first, so, Yuting, you have a great responsibility."

This was the first time that Wei Jichen had told him the truth. Zhang Zuolin was stunned after hearing this. He thought that Wei Jichen asked him to open this escort agency to make money, but he didn't expect that the ultimate goal was this.

Then, Zhang Zuolin was ecstatic in his heart. He identified the eyes and ears of the Liao army. He was the leader of the spies. He was really important.

"Shuai Wei, I will definitely make the Changfeng Escort Bureau prosperous and spread all over the country." Zhang Zuolin said excitedly.

Wei Jichen patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "There happened to be a batch of obsolete guns in the army. I scrapped a thousand of them and handed the rest to the court. For the scrapped batch, you can find a time to transport them next time. Let's go, remember, we must develop with all our strength, don't lose money quickly, and of course, don't recruit bad people."

"Yes, Marshal Wei!" Zhang Zuolin was even more happy.

Within the Yellow Sea.

The Russian fleet composed of three cruisers is slowly advancing through the waves. This is part of the Russian Far East Fleet. They have taken great pains to go south from Vladivostok, pass through the Sea of ​​Japan, the Korean Strait, and then enter the Yellow Sea. The nominal purpose is to' Justice', urging the Japanese to return the land in Liaodong, China.

The true purpose is unknown to outsiders.

On the deck of the flagship Nasimov, Captain Alek was looking at the sea in the distance with a smile.

The first mate looked at his relaxed look and couldn't help but ask: "General, aren't you afraid of a sneak attack by the Japanese fleet? We went south because Japan doesn't take the empire seriously."

Alek sneered slightly, then shook his head and said, "Japanese fleet? They are currently under martial law in their Sea of ​​Japan area. How dare they come here?"

"Then why are we still here?" the first mate asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Now that the relationship between our country and Japan is tense, it will be very dangerous for our warships to spend the winter in the Gulf of Japan, so we have to find a place to spend the winter in China." Alek said unhurriedly.

"But, General, you didn't just say that." The first mate was even more confused.

Alek said calmly: "This is politics, you will understand it later."

The first mate seemed to understand.

In the capital, Guiziliu, the foreman of the Prime Minister's Office, looked thin and pale, as if he was ill and was going to die soon.

"Your Majesty, the Russian Minister Cassini has just sent a note to the Prime Minister's Yamen, conveying the request of the Russian Navy Minister Teltov, saying that their Far East fleet cannot spend the winter in the Gulf of Japan, and requests to be berthed in Jiaozhou Bay." Officials from the Prime Minister's Yamen reported six reports to the Japanese Report.

"Cough, cough, the Germans have just left, and the Russians are here again." Prince Gong stroked his chest with his hand and felt less upset.

Guiziliu has always believed that the great powers are a physical problem, while domestic resistance and turmoil are a personal problem that can subvert their Manchu rule. This is why he strives for peace. He is afraid that the personal problem will reoccur, so there is no way to cut off any limbs. .

Not long ago, the German Minister Shenke proposed to the Prime Minister's Office to give them a military port, but Prince Gong had already declined.

However, this time the Russian's request seemed reasonable. What reason could there be for refusing? There seemed to be none. Prince Gong sighed.

"Where's Li Hongzhang?" Guiziliu wanted to find someone with whom he could discuss, and he first thought of Li Hongzhang.

The official replied: "Your Highness, Lord Li is on his way to Beijing and will arrive tomorrow."

"Well, let's delay it for now. Let's inform the Russian embassy and tell them that we will give them a reply in a few days." Prince Gong waved his hand and said helplessly.

"Yes!" The official slowly withdrew.

It is said that it is easy to invite a god but difficult to send him away. Once the Russian fleet anchors in Jiaozhou Bay, it will be extremely difficult to send it away. Unfortunately, the current situation does not allow anyone to do so. Prince Gong kept tapping his fingers on the table.