Acting governor, being promoted to second-grade admiral, and being rewarded with a yellow mandarin jacket-any one of these rewards made the hearts of the officials present palpitate!
Moreover, Emperor Guangxu had given Yang Yonglin three honors in one go, which showed how much he valued Yang Yonglin.
Even Li Hongzhang did not expect Emperor Guangxu to break the convention and give him a generous reward. As for the soldiers in the report, as long as they were reported, Emperor Guangxu would approve of them!
Li Hongzhang was a veteran at grasping the opportunity. He first thanked the Northern Navy solemnly and compared the Emperor to the Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang in history.
Emperor Guangxu was excited and agreed,""Pass down the decree, quickly transfer 2,000 student soldiers from the Fuzhou Navy School and Jiangnan Navy School to Liugong Island!”
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Li Hongzhang had finally received this sentence!
The Beiyang Navy would eventually counterattack and recover the entire Shandong. Just relying on Liugong Island's troops would not help.
The glory of his life as a famous official of the Zhongxing Dynasty was all in the Beiyang Navy and Yang Yonglin. Li Hongzhang did his best to meet Yang Yonglin's requirements.
After he left the court, he wrote a sincere letter and sent it to Liugong Island along with Emperor Guangxu's commendation.
Liugong Island, drum music noisy sky, smoke lingering.
Yang Yonglin set up the incense table and lit the incense to receive the edict under the watchful eyes of everyone.
This time, he was promoted to a second-grade admiral and was rewarded with a yellow vest. Many of his subordinates were rewarded.
Among them, Sa Zhenbing and Cheng Biguang were promoted to the left and right wing commander respectively, and Ma Jifen was also promoted to the middle army deputy general. The morale of the entire army was high.
"Yang Junmen has been promoted to the governor of Shandong. From now on, we will no longer be controlled by the local government!”Sa Zhenbing said excitedly as he tugged at the commander's robe.
These words spoke the thoughts of all the navy officers and soldiers!
Previously, they had been controlled by Li Bingheng, causing the forts on the north and south banks to be taken away by the Japanese army. Now that Yang Yonglin was acting as the governor of Shandong, he held the military, political, and financial power of the province. He was no longer controlled by others. He could finally hold his head high!
The only awkward thing was that the acting governor was still surrounded by the Japanese army and could not return to the provincial capital, Jinan.
"Yan Chongxin, draft the message! 1. Send a message to Dong Fuxiang's Gan Army, Zhang Gaoyuan's Shandong Green Army, and Sun Wanling's Songwu Army to immediately head to Weihai Wei and fight to the death with the Japanese Army!”
"Second, order Denglai Qing Dao member Liu Hanfang to guard the Wendeng area.”
"The Shandong River Defense Army is guarding the river bank. There must be no mistakes!”
The last message was somewhat inexplicable, and only Yang Yonglin knew its intention.
The River Defense Army was called an army, but in reality, they were just commoners stationed at Heti. Their combat strength was low, and they had no chance of fighting against the Japanese army.
Instead of letting them be cannon fodder, it was better to guard the river bank.
While Yang Yonglin was actively preparing for the war, the Japanese army headquarters in Lushun also launched a fierce debate.
The governor of the main camp, Prince Xiao Song, pointed at the sea map with a solemn expression and said,"Now that the Qing Dynasty has appointed Yang Yonglin as the acting governor and wants to take back the entire Shandong territory, our army is in danger!”
"Your Highness, I believe that General Dashan's Shandong Combat Army is enough to deal with Yang Yonglin! There were only about 50,000 soldiers in Shandong, but half of them were poorly equipped and lacked training. There were only about 20,000 soldiers who could fight. Moreover, the people of the Celestial Dynasty liked to fight among themselves and scheme against each other. It was difficult to achieve anything!”
A general with a smooth forehead and a black moustache said.
His name was Saori Kawakami, the Chief of Staff of the Army.
This person was courageous, brave, and resourceful. Together with Katsuhiro and Kodamigen Taro, they were known as the Three Feathered Birds of the Meiji Army.
Prince Xiao Song's pitch-black eyes flashed as he felt a heavy pressure.
The army and navy of the empire had already achieved an unprecedented victory. They were only waiting for the First Army to attack the Zhili Plain and take down the decaying Qing Empire.
However, they did not expect Yang Yonglin to appear halfway and wipe out the Japanese Torpedo Boat Force. He also sank four main warships, greatly ruining the Japanese army's plans.
After all, the Japanese army had come from afar and it was difficult to resupply.
Now that winter had just passed, there was still a shortage of food, and they were still waiting to transfer food from North Korea.
The only consolation was that they had seized a large number of guns, bullets, and supplies during the battle with the Qing army, which could last them for another three months.
These three months would be the crucial moment of the final battle!
After a fierce debate, the Japanese headquarters decided on a battle plan.
The two divisions of the First Army stationed in Lushun did not move and pretended to advance to confuse the Qing army. The navy set sail from Lushun Port and attacked Weihai with the Shandong Combat Army to destroy the Beiyang Navy.
In order to boost morale, Prince Xiao Song even personally went to the naval port to meet the Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Ito, who was recuperating.
"Sir, why are you here?"
Ito's head was wrapped in gauze as he stood up from the bed.
Ever since the defeat of Weihaiwei, he had organized many counterattacks against Liugong Island, but they all failed. Ito felt embarrassed and even had the thought of resigning.
After all, failure after failure was really frustrating!
Why was that palm-sized island like an unsinkable warship that was difficult to take down?
Prince Xiao Song faintly smiled and patted Yi Dong's shoulder, saying,"Yi Dong-kun, the headquarters has decided that you will lead the navy to fight the Northern Navy to the death!”
"Our Shandong Combat Army will also do our best to cooperate with you to subdue Weihai!”
"Work hard, Ito-kun. I believe you will become the hero of the Japanese Navy!”
After Prince Xiao Song said these few words, he turned around and left.
Ito looked at the turbulent ocean, his heart was filled with emotions, and there was a sadness like cherry blossoms in his heart.
Defeat after defeat, was he going to retire in such a disgraceful manner and be nailed to the pillar of shame in history by future generations?
No, absolutely not!
Ito suddenly pulled out his sword and roared at the ocean,""Yang Yonglin, just wait for the artillery fire of the Japanese coalition fleet! This time, I will bury you completely!”
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