Beiyang Dream

Chapter 106 Let's go, let's go to Wonsan to fight the Russians!

"Gentlemen, according to His Excellency's telegram, our main force will not be going to Seoul!"

Chang Desheng waved a telegram in his hand, stood in the lobby of the Qing Concession Government Office in Incheon, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Cao Kun had just stood up from his chair when he blurted out, "Not going to Seoul? Then where are we going?"

"Motoyama."

Duan Qirui paused, his teacup still in his hand. His face didn't change much, but Chang Desheng knew that the man was cursing inwardly.

Going to Yuanshan at this time... it seems like jumping into a fire pit!

Cao Kun, oblivious to these details, continued to press, "What are we going to Yuanshan for?"

"Resist Russia."

With a loud crash, the teacup in Bai Siwen's hand fell to the ground, shards of porcelain scattering everywhere. He no longer cared about the broken pieces; he just stared at Chang Desheng, his voice trembling slightly, "Go...go carry what?"

"Go and fight the Russians! A Russian armored cruiser has been docked in Wonsan harbor for three days." Chang Desheng held up the telegram. "The Grand Secretary has ordered us to board the Gaosheng and rush to Wonsan to deploy defenses against the Russians."

"This...this..." Duan Qirui finally couldn't hold back anymore and jumped up from his chair. "We only have two hundred men, and there are twenty useless ones..." He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes subconsciously glancing at Bai Siwen. "And twenty...flag members." He swallowed the word "useless" back.

Chang Desheng glanced at him and thought to himself: You, Duan Qirui, think those twenty Manchu young masters are useless? Heh heh, they're not useless at all, not only are they not useless, they're very useful!

He said calmly, "Zhiquan, don't be in a hurry. The Russian armored cruisers can't get ashore."

Bai Siwen finally realized: "The sailors on the Russian cruisers can go ashore! Besides, the cruisers have cannons! What are our two hundred men going to do against them?"

"Don't worry, Lord Bai," Chang Desheng smiled. "The Russians haven't broken ties with us yet. As long as we get to Yuanshan first and set up defenses in a strategic location on the shore, the Russians won't be able to take Yuanshan so easily."

He paused, then added, "The Grand Secretary has already contacted the British to borrow merchant ships to transport artillery. In ten days at most, the 12-centimeter coastal defense guns will reach Yuanshan. The Gaosheng also carries cement, steel bars, barbed wire, and entrenching tools... Our two hundred men are going to dig trenches and repair the cannons." Bai Siwen wasn't reassured at all; instead, he jumped up even higher: "Do you think the Russians will just stand by and watch us dig the trenches and repair the cannons? What will we do if they open fire?"

Chang Desheng raised an eyebrow: "We'll deal with whatever comes our way."

Yuan Shikai, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke, his voice unhurried and carrying a Henan accent: "Lord Bai, do not be afraid. I will go to Seoul immediately. After meeting with King Yi and Queen Min, I will immediately order a newly established battalion of Imperial Guards from Korea to be deployed to Wonsan, all under the command of Zhenbang." Bai Siwen hurriedly asked, "How many men are in a newly established battalion of Imperial Guards?"

Yuan Shikai held up five fingers: "A full five hundred!"

Bai Siwen's face turned pale: "Two hundred plus five hundred, that's only seven hundred... and five hundred of them are North Koreans, what's the point of fighting! No way, I'm not going, whoever wants to go can go!"

Chang Desheng thought to himself: You're deserting your post in the face of battle!

He was still smiling: "Alright, then please return, Lord Bai."

Bai Siwen was stunned.

"However..." Chang Desheng's smile faded slightly, "those twenty Manchu bannermen that Lord Bai brought must accompany me to Yuanshan."

Bai Siwen's eyes widened: "You... what do you want them to do in Yuanshan?"

What for? To be my witnesses, of course!

Wonsan is definitely not going to be peaceful from now on. If it is peaceful, how can we resist Russia? If it is peaceful, will the Russians still have an excuse to stay in Wonsan?

If something like "Russians attacking the Japanese concession" or "Japanese attacking the Russian trading post" happens in Yuanshan, these twenty pairs of eyes will be watching to prove that these things have nothing to do with me.

Moreover, if the Japanese anger the Russians and the Russians open fire on Mount Wonsan, someone needs to witness my "divine military strategy in defeating the Russians"!

Although those Manchus were no good at fighting, they were masters of boasting. If they went back and bragged to the Empress Dowager Cixi, Emperor Guangxu, and Ronglu, I would be a hero in the fight against Russia!

Chang Desheng had this plan in mind, but what he said was: "Dig trenches, move bricks, carry cement."

Bai Siwen's face turned green: "You...you dare to let the Manchu nobles do this? Do you believe I'll impeach you in a memorial to the throne!"

"As you wish." Chang Desheng still had that smiling face. "If you can't even endure this little bit of hardship, what kind of virtue do you have? You still want to apply to the Berlin Military Academy and the Prussian War Academy? Sir Bai, to enter the Berlin Military Academy, you have to serve in the army first. Does serving in the army not involve hardship? Even after graduation, don't you still have to go to the troops and lead soldiers? Braving wind and rain, how can you expect to live a life of ease?"

Bai Siwen was momentarily speechless after being rebuked, his finger trembling as he pointed at Chang Desheng: "You, you just wait... You can't touch a single one of my men, you have to wait for imperial orders!"

"Those men were all sent to my side by Lord Rong." Chang Desheng stopped smiling and said with a serious expression, "I have orders from Lord Rong and Minister Li. Lord Bai, you can leave, but they cannot."

Bai Siwen's voice changed: "Chang Zhenbang! If you cause any of these Manchu youths to die, see if the Emperor and Empress Dowager will let you off!" Chang Desheng stared at him, saying each word clearly: "If you're afraid of death, why join the army? How can you gain experience if you're afraid of death? I'll put it this way: one general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand. Of the twenty men Lord Rong entrusted to me, if you want even one or two to become pillars of the nation, several times more will perish on the battlefield! If you can't afford to lose people, how can you produce great generals? You'd better give up that idea!"

Bai Siwen stomped his foot, turned around and ran outside.

Chang Desheng watched his retreating figure, then turned to Duan Qirui and said, "Zhiquan, go and take a look."

Duan Qirui nodded and followed him out with a helpless expression.

The room fell silent for a few moments. Yuan Shikai leaned close to Chang Desheng's ear and whispered, "Brother Zhenbang, that's enough."

Chang Desheng smiled at him: "Brother Weiting, don't worry. If they were really some great nobles, they wouldn't be sent here. These people are just waste materials. If even one or two of them turn out to be useful, the higher-ups should give us credit."

Yuan Shikai nodded: "That's right, be careful. I'm leaving for Seoul tomorrow, time is of the essence."

"Alright." Chang Desheng nodded. "I'll have Jingrou and Master Li go to Seoul with you. They're bringing some goods that were transported together on the Gaosheng ship. We'll sell them off in Seoul."

Yuan Shikai patted his chest and said, "Leave it to me. In Korea, my word still carries some weight."

"There's one more thing," Chang Desheng lowered his voice further, "If the Grand Secretary reaches an agreement with the British and Japanese, we must take this opportunity to expand our troops. With troops in hand, we can do anything with more confidence!"

"I know what I'm doing." Yuan Shikai glanced at him again. "Don't be too reckless in Yuanshan. The Russians are not to be trifled with; avoid them if you can."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the curtain was lifted, and Duan Qirui rushed back in a flurry: "Lord Yuan, Brother Zhenbang, something terrible has happened! Those old men under my command have gone into an uproar, all clamoring to return to China, and they're heading to the docks now!"

Chang Desheng clasped his hands in a fist salute to Yuan Shikai and said, "Brother Weiting, I'll be right back."

Yuan Shikai waved his hand: "Go, go."

Chang Desheng and Duan Qirui had already reached the door.

Yuan Shikai muttered to himself from behind, "How wonderful, it has the same flair I had back then."

Incheon Pier.

It was low tide, and the tide had receded half a mile, revealing a large expanse of grayish-yellow mud that stank foul. The stone-built dock was narrow, and a few tin-roofed warehouses belonging to foreign firms stood crookedly on the shore, looking shabby and dilapidated.

The Gaosheng was docked at the pier, and people were unloading cargo. Luo Jingrou stood on the pier checking the ledger, while Li Yantang kept the accounts beside her; the two worked together quite efficiently. Liu Tonghai, leading more than a hundred members of the Chang family army, was moving things back and forth between the deck and the pier, shouting and cursing, but their hands never stopped.

On the dock stood twenty short men, dressed in grey cloth uniforms, carrying 1888 rifles with bayonets fixed, keeping watch nearby. These were Hakka men Chang Desheng had brought back from Borneo; short in stature, but with fierce eyes. They were all veterans of the Battle of Pontianak, having seen blood and killed in action; all were graduates of Xiaolanfang Chinese School, belonging to the "educated youth" of the 19th century!

The educated youth who joined the army, being from Guangdong, and then going back to attend the military academy in "Shiyaopu" (a place in Guangdong), had all the elements to become pillars of society!

Chang Desheng had arranged for them to stay here to prevent theft of goods, but it had turned out to be a lucky accident. The tips of bayonets were pointed directly at the group of Manchu youths who had already erupted in chaos and the thirty or so servants they had brought with them.

When Chang Desheng arrived at the dock, he saw an extremely lively scene.

Twenty Manchu bannermen, along with their servants—more than fifty people in total—were crammed into the open space north of the dock. Some were squatting, some standing, and some lying on the ground. Two were making the most noise. A young man in a silk robe was rolling around on the ground, babbling incoherently. Beside him squatted a middle-aged servant in a gray cloth jacket, his face showing both anxiety and fear, constantly tugging at his master's sleeve.

The leader of the twenty "educated youths," Luo Shijie, who had followed Chang Desheng back in Xiao Lanfang, saw Chang Desheng arrive and quickly ran over, saluting, "Sir, that... Pu Xian." He pointed to the man on the ground, "He refused to get on the boat no matter what, and has been rolling around on the ground for almost an incense stick's time."

Chang Desheng walked over.

Pu Xian was still rolling around there, his voice so loud it could be heard halfway down the street: "...My ancestors were hereditary princes! They protected Emperor Shunzhi as he marched into the pass! You southern barbarians, dare to touch me and see what happens!"

The middle-aged servant squatted down beside him, his voice filled with concern: "Sir, sir, please get up... the ground is cold..."

"What's so cold about it!" Pu Xian's voice grew even louder. "If anyone dares to let me onto that ship today, I... I'll... I'll go find my great-uncle! He's a favorite of the Emperor!"

Chang Desheng stood at the front of the crowd and looked at him for a while. He thought to himself: So your ancestors weren't good people after all. You're a descendant of the old Tartars who protected Shunzhi when he conquered the pass, what are you showing off here for?

He took a deep breath and said sternly, "Pull this guy up who's rolling around on the ground, and give him twenty lashes."

Pu Xian stopped rolling abruptly. He stared at Chang Desheng, incredulous. "You dare hit me? I am... I am..." Before he could finish, Chang Desheng switched to German: "Herr Feldwebel!" (Sergeant Major). He shouted softly, but clearly. The two Prussian sergeants standing outside the crowd, Hessmann and Wolfgang, both turned to look at him simultaneously.

Chang Desheng added in German, "Bringen Sie die Peitsche!" (Bring the whip!) Pu Xian didn't understand the whole sentence, but he understood the last word, Peitsche (whip). He had spent two years at the Tongwen Guan and knew what that word meant.

Whipping a child... that's for hitting someone!

He turned his head and saw the two foreigners already walking through the crowd. Both were dressed in impeccably tailored Prussian uniforms; one was shorter and sturdier than a stone block, the other tall and thin, with a menacing look. The tall, thin one was walking in front, carrying a sturdy-looking leather whip in his left hand.

Pu Xian's face turned pale instantly. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but no words came out. The Manchu youths who had just joined in the commotion also fell silent, all staring at the two foreign dignitaries approaching.

That's a foreigner, after all...

These foreign bigwigs all listen to the man surnamed Chang, and that man surnamed Chang is not someone to be trifled with!

Pu Xian finally got up from the ground. He moved very quickly, as if a nail had been driven into his buttocks. After standing up, he looked at Chang Desheng with a fawning expression, no longer daring to boast about his ancestors.

The two German sergeants stopped in front of Chang Desheng, one standing at attention and the heels of their boots touching.

Chang Desheng waved his hand and said in German, "It's alright, go back and continue your vigilance."

The two sergeants turned and walked back, and the dock was eerily quiet.

Pu Xian stood there, letting out a slight sigh of relief.

It seems he escaped a beating.

Chang Desheng looked at him, switched back to Chinese, and spoke loudly enough for everyone on the dock to hear: "Puxian, I keep my word. You'll receive twenty lashes as a warning. If you commit another offense, you'll be punished with interest!"

Pu Xian's lips moved slightly, but he didn't say anything.

Chang Desheng glanced at the dozens of people present again: "Listen up, all of you. Wonsan is no good place. If anyone wants to leave, I, Chang Desheng, will not stop them. But those who want to leave, you'd better think it through now... ...If you go to Lord Ronglu, that will be desertion in the face of battle!" He paused, looking at the pale faces of those who were terrified: "When Lord Rong handed you over to me, he made it very clear... ...that you are here in Korea for training. Training means enduring hardship, suffering, carrying heavy loads, and possibly dying! You will be going to the battlefield in the future. On the battlefield, you must be unafraid of hardship and death! If you can't even endure this little bit of hardship, if you don't dare to take this little risk, then in Lord Rong's eyes, you are nothing! If you miss this opportunity to study abroad and advance your career, I don't believe you will have any other opportunities! If you did, you wouldn't be here!" Seeing that no one dared to speak again.

Chang Desheng then said one last thing: "I'll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Those who want to leave, leave now; those who stay, come aboard with me. We won't wait any longer." In Yuanshan Port, on the blue sea, the Russian armored cruiser "Pamyat Azov" lay quietly at anchor. The St. Andrew's flag flew from its stern.

In the captain's cabin, First Captain Captain Leontiev put down the hydrographic report and nodded with satisfaction.

"Measure the water depth again," he said to the officer on duty. "Yuanshan looks dilapidated, but the harbor is wide and deep enough, and it doesn't freeze in winter... It's much better than Vladivostok."

The officer on duty hesitated for a moment: "Captain, a telegram just arrived from the consul's representative in Wonsan. It seems the Qing people are making a move in Incheon. Apparently, that guy surnamed Chang under Yuan Shikai has brought about two hundred men from Tianjin."

Leontiev chuckled: "Two hundred Qing Chinese? What use are they?"

He walked to the porthole, looking at the North Korean coastline, recalling the instructions from St. Petersburg: do not escalate the situation, avoid conflict with Qing China… He paused, then muttered to himself, “As long as the Qing ironclads don’t come, there’s nothing to worry about. Send a telegram to Vladivostok: ‘The Azov will continue repairs for several days; everything is normal at Wonsan anchorage.’”