At this time, Li Hongzhang smiled slightly and said, "When I was in Shanghai, I heard that you were building industries in Tianjin, building factories and producing production, and supporting agriculture. It can be seen that you are not only good at fighting, but also a key material for governing the country and governing the country. Now you have returned to China, and the court is also trying to promote the prosperity of the country and strengthening the army. You should have a great place to use your weapons. However, the Qin Political Commissar also knew that now, the Qing Dynasty was in trouble, and the great powers invaded the two palaces and went west to the west. Therefore, the imperial court did not reward you at the extreme. He also asked the Qin Political Commissar to express more feelings to you. I can guarantee that as long as the two palaces return to the capital, the court will settle down and will never let you down the talent for governing the country and maintaining the country."

Of course, Qin Zheng knew in his heart that Li Hongzhang's words were not only a defense for the Qing court, but also hinted that he would negotiate an agreement with other countries as soon as possible so that Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu could return to Beijing safely, so that the Qing court would reward time travelers.

However, time travelers have their own plans for time travelers, and they will not easily make concessions in negotiations with various countries. Moreover, time travelers' demands for the Qing court were to separatist one side, which was not so easy to meet. These requirements need to be discussed in secret. It has not reached this point yet, so Qin Zheng did not follow Li Hongzhang's words and said: "Western countries, including China's close neighbor Japan, all of them can develop industries, open up trade routes, develop industries and breed production, and start school education to enrich the country and strengthen the army. The things we do in Tianjin have been doing for a long time. Isn't this the case that Zhongtang has held the Westernization Affairs for more than 30 years?"

Although Li Hongzhang knew that Qin Zheng was not talking too much, his words also touched Li Hongzhang's worries. He nodded and said, "Yes, I have been doing the Westernization Affairs for more than 30 years, just to make the Qing Dynasty rich and strong soldiers and no longer be bullied by various countries. It's a pity that the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895..." Speaking of this, Li Hongzhang shook his head again and did not say anything further.

Qin Zheng took over Li Hongzhang's words this time and said, "Is it a pity that Zhongtang failed in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895?"

Although Li Hongzhang did not want to mention the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, Qin Zheng followed the topic and had to say a few words. He had to smile bitterly and said, "I have been in charge of the Westernization Affairs for more than 30 years and built the Beiyang Navy. At that time, he was known as the No. 1 Navy in Asia. However, in the Sino-Japanese War, he could not defeat a small country. After more than 30 years of hard work, it was just a waste of time. It really makes me feel guilty."

Qin Zheng said: "Zhongtang, I think that the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 was not the fault of the Westernization Movement. Qia Qia was because the Westernization Movement of the Qing Dynasty was not carried out enough, not good enough, and not thorough enough."

Li Hongzhang was stunned when he heard this. This was the first time he had heard of this statement. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, public opinion across the country almost unanimously accused Li Hongzhang of the Beiyang Navy, believing that the failure of Sino-Japanese War was entirely because of Li Hongzhang's improper command. The Beiyang Navy was greedy for life and fearing death. Some people even pointed the finger at the Westernization Movement, believing that the Qing court had been in charge of the Westernization Movement for more than 30 years, spent a lot of money to build a Beiyang Navy. As a result, the young Japan, which China has always looked down upon, was defeated, so it would be better not to engage in the Westernization Movement.

So after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Westernization Movement of the Qing court fell into a period of obvious bottom line, and a large number of Westernization officials also lost power in the court. However, Qin Zheng now said that the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 was not the fault of the Westernization Movement, which naturally made Li Hongzhang feel quite listened to.

Qin Zheng then said: "We believe that in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the command of Zhongtang is indeed inappropriate, and the tactics of the Beiyang Navy also have many mistakes. However, the failure of the Qing Dynasty in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 was not the responsibility of Zhongtang alone, nor was the responsibility of the Beiyang Navy. It can be said that the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 was extremely complicated and caused by many factors. However, as far as we know, although the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 ended for more than five years, the Qing Dynasty, from the court to the people, either pushed the responsibility of the imperial responsibilities, looked for scapegoats, or was entangled in some trivial matters. It seems that they have never seriously summarized the experiences and lessons."

Sa Zhenbing was a witness of the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. After the Sino-Japanese War, the whole country was quite dissatisfied with Li Hongzhang's responsibility for the failure of Sino-Japanese War on the Beiyang Navy. It was just a defeated general, not enough to speak bravely, so he could only keep silent. He suddenly felt very intimate about Qin Zheng's statement. Moreover, in recent years, Sa Zhenbing and other survivors of the Beiyang Navy have also discussed the reasons for the defeat of Sino-Japanese Wu, but they are limited to some technical aspects, such as the Beiyang Navy's failure to add a ship for seven years, without a fire cannon, without a flowering bullet, etc. Sometimes, if you think alone, Sa Zhenbing vaguely feels that these are not the main reasons for the failure of Sino-Japanese War of 1895. Now, hearing Qin Zheng's words, you can't help but say: "It seems that you are very familiar with the Sino-Japanese War of 1895!"

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "Although we have always settled on an isolated island overseas, we have not closed the island to defend ourselves. We are just moving in secret and not revealing our identity. We know most of the major events of the birth of all countries, and the land of China is our homeland, so we are even more concerned about the affairs of the Qing Dynasty. The world was shocked by the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. It was the Battle of Dadonggou, which was the battle of iron-clad ships, and the focus of research on navies in various countries. How could we not know?"

Sa Zhenbing said: "I will not hide it from the Qin Political Commissar that in the next few years, I have reflected on the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, but because of my stupidity, I have never understood it. I wonder if the Qin Political Commissar can give advice to you in the next two. Where will the Qing Dynasty be defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895?"

Even Li Hongzhang, Zhang Peilun and Li Jingfang were very moved. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, they naturally reflected on the reasons for their defeat, but they didn't know how they would view the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 with the knowledge of overseas Chinese.

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "I dare not take the advice, but we have indeed made a serious summary of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. However, the article is huge and cannot be explained clearly in one sentence or two. After arriving in Tianjin, I will find it for you. However, at this time, I can provide you with a reflection idea."

Sa Zhenbing immediately said: "I would like to hear the details."

Qin Zheng said: "[Sun Jie's military technique] It is said that war is a major event of the country, a place of life and death, and a way of survival and death, so we must observe it. Therefore, we use five things to solve it and solve it in order to find out its feelings. One is Tao, two is heaven, three is earth, four is general, and five is law... All these five are the generals, and those who know it will win, and those who don't know will not win."

This passage is the opening part of [Sun Jie's First Plan for Military Art]. The general meaning is to estimate the strength comparison between the enemy and us before fighting, and the possibility of the outcome of the war. From a macro perspective, compare and divide and study the basic conditions that determine the outcome of the war, and predict the progress and final results of the war. The five conditions given by Sun Jie to determine the outcome of the war are: Tao, heaven, earth and law. Tao refers to national politics; heaven refers to heaven and time; earth refers to terrain; general refers to combat generals; law refers to national system.

Li Hongzhang, Sa Zhenbing, Zhang Peilun, and Li Jingfang have all seen [Sun Jie's Art of War], so they naturally know the meaning of this passage, and they vaguely understand the meaning of Qin Zheng. They use this passage to divide the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and decided before the war, but they didn't understand how Qin Zheng compared the strength of China and Japan from this passage, so they looked confused. In addition to the "general", how should the four points be calculated?

Qin Zheng then said: "The way of heaven and earth, the law is a bit difficult to understand. Therefore, I will slightly modify the five conditions given by Sun Ji to decide the victory or defeat of the war, and call the monarch, ministers, soldiers and civilians. You have been important officials of the Qing Dynasty and have a considerable understanding of Japan. So please tell me, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which monarchs of the Qing and Japanese countries are more wise and more talented and more brilliant; the ministers of the Qing and Japanese countries are more dedicated to their country and do their best to help their country win this war; the combat generals of the Qing and Japanese countries are more sacrificed and fought hard, and the soldiers of the Qing and Japanese countries are more brave and tenacious, not afraid of life and death; the nationals of the Qing and Japanese countries are all over the country and unanimously support their own battles."

After hearing Qin Zheng's words, Li Hongzhang, Sa Zhenbing, Zhang Peilun, and Li Jingfang were all silent because according to Qin Zheng's statement, the comparison results of these five aspects were too clear.

The monarch of the two countries, the Meiji Emperor of Japan, was recognized as the world-renowned wise king. Before the Sino-Japanese War, he took the lead in ordering to save 30% of the palace's expenses and purchase warships for Japan. However, the actual ruler of the Qing court, Empress Dowager Cixi, moved the naval military expenditure to build the Summer Palace, while Emperor Guangxu, the famous Supreme Ruler, was completely unaware of the general trend of the world and was also smeared at the comparison of strength between China and Japan. He only relied on a bravery of qi and blood, and advocated war at the beginning. When the war was unfavorable, he was panicked and could only let Empress Dowager Cixi decide to cede the territory and negotiate peace.

Japanese ministers such as Hirofumi Ito, Okumitsu, Aitomoto Yama Prefecture, Shiki Kawayama and others worked together around the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 to help Japan win this war; and it seemed that only Li Hongzhang in the Qing court fought against Japan again. Qingliu, who was known as Weng Tongxi, continued to attack Li Hongzhang in the court, was not good at fighting. In the local area, other local officials did not give Li Hongzhang much support, and the Nanyang Navy even refused to dispatch warships to assist the Beiyang Navy in combat.

On the battlefield, Yuxiang of Ito, Heihachiro Togo, Ayama Prefecture of the 6th Army, Aitomoto, Kaitaro, Oyama Iwai and others all led the way on the battlefield and commanded the battle. In the Qing court, even if the Beiyang Navy fought well, they had fugitives like Fang Boqian. Ye Zhi, the chief general of the 6th Army, was even more greedy for life and feared death and was defeated all the way, resulting in the Qing army being completely defeated. Although there were a few generals such as Zuo Baogui and Nie Shicheng fighting hard, they could not change the overall situation. The generals were like this, and the soldiers were naturally the same. The Japanese soldiers were not afraid of fighting, but the Qing soldiers were defeated at once.

The citizens of both countries and Japanese almost unanimously supported their own wars, donated money and materials, bought ships and guns for their own countries, and even the children's games defeated Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. A considerable number of people in the Qing court did not know that China and Japan had a war.
Chapter completed!