Chapter 26: It is advisable to pursue and annihilate the remaining rebels.

  Xiao Chuan's departure was indeed timely, if he had been any later, he would not have been able to leave even if he wanted to. Ye Zhi Kui immediately brought up the second echelon, if the first echelon were the despicable ones hiding in the dark and firing cold guns, then this second echelon were fierce tigers charging forward bravely from behind the scenes to the front stage.

  The Hu character camp charged forward, and the Yong character camp took a look at this and thought it was settled. The two armies of Hu and Yong had been secretly competing with each other for a long time, so they were not willing to fall behind and did not hide in the back to shoot cold guns. They directly drew their knives and went up.

  The Korean army saw the two teams in front of them killing with relish, and they were also eager to move. As the commander of the first battalion of Korea, Jian Ren Shi Wu was quite sensible. Seeing that Ye Zhikui had not given an order, he pulled his face long and ordered his personal soldiers: "No one is allowed to make a move without orders, no matter what."

  Ye Zhi's order didn't keep him waiting for long, and soon it came, just two words - Pursue the enemy!

  The North Korean army finally struck at the last moment, in three waves. The first wave broke through the enemy's defense line, the second wave stopped the enemy's counterattack, and the third wave was the final straw that crushed the camel.

  The battle began, and the camp that had been bombarded was in a state of chaos. Major General Oshimi, commander of the 5th Division of the Japanese Imperial Army, lost contact with his subordinate, Ogawa, and hastily gathered three to four hundred men to launch a desperate counterattack. He himself hid behind the lines to direct the battle, and for a time, the situation seemed promising. Other scattered Japanese soldiers also rushed to join him. The butcher saw this and ordered two squads (13 men each) of snipers to carry out targeted assassinations of the enemy officers in order to support the advance of the Youzi Army.

  "Report, General Headquarters, Major Fukuoka was killed in action by the enemy, and several captains and lieutenants were also hit, making it difficult to command the troops. The Qing army has a special assassination unit targeting high-ranking officers of the Great Japanese Army."

  "Hah!" Commander Ohmae Naotoshi slammed his hat to the ground and angrily said: "Hyeon-gyu is so despicable and cunning, he doesn't dare to engage in a fair fight with the great Imperial Japanese Army. This is not the behavior of a warrior! Pass on my orders: if the lieutenant colonel dies, the major takes command; if the major dies, the captain takes command; we will fight until every last soldier has fallen, and never be taken alive by the enemy. We would rather die with honor to show the spirit and dignity of Japanese men!"

  "Hey!" He took orders and left.

  Wu Dashan saw that the enemy troops were resisting fiercely here, and knew that if they did not defeat them in time, there would be changes. He ordered the "Brave" army to form a dare-to-die corps, personally taking command of the dare-to-die corps, and launched a desperate attack on the Japanese army.

  Three hundred dare-to-die troops, armed with big knives, charged forward into the hail of bullets, towards the position of Dai Zhenming's unit. Upon receiving this news, Commander Ye Zhiwei hastily ordered Jiang Zikang to lead the Tiger Troop in a full-scale attack.

  The two armies of China and Japan unfolded a fierce hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield, with bayonets stained red, flesh and blood flying everywhere, and the most brutal battle began. The Brave Army's Dare-to-Die Corps and the Daihatsu Shimin Department fell down in a ratio of one to one.

  "General, the Qing army and our army have engaged in close combat. Our army has only over a hundred men left. I beg of you to retreat first in order to plan for tomorrow." A subordinate with a face full of blood suggested to Da Pingzhong Min.

  ōsako Naotoshi drew his katana, saying: "This sword is called Muramasa, it has cut down the adopted son of the Tokugawa family and humiliated many famous generals. Now that it's in my hands, how can I dishonor this noble sword? Today there are only warriors who will die in battle, no generals who will retreat."

  ōsako Naotoshi led the remaining fifty or more men in a countercharge against Haibara's unit.

  Jiang Zikang saw more than 50 Japanese soldiers in the army, and they actually counterattacked. He didn't understand why, so he said to Ye Zhikui: "The Japanese are foolish, with only over 50 people, instead of retreating, they advanced, don't they know that as long as there is green mountain, you won't worry about no firewood to burn."

  Ye Zhiyuan remained silent, and Feng Guozhang saw this and continued to say: "No, if our great Qing dynasty had such soldiers and generals, we would have stood alongside the powers long ago. How could we be bullied by Westerners now?" Jiang Zikang seemed to be deep in thought.

  Ye Zhi Kui ordered the transmission to be passed down, and Da Bo Shang Min shot briefly. In a short while, only Da Bo Shang Min was left on the battlefield. Ye Zhi Kui ordered that when he saw Ren, he would persuade him to surrender. If not, he would force him to commit suicide and die.

  When I returned with two Japanese swords, one was a tachi and the other was a wakizashi. Ye Zhi Kui picked up the tachi, drew it out and took a look, its blade shone brightly, the sword's inscription read "Mura Masamune".

  ōsako Naotoshi was the first Japanese Major General to be killed in action, and after his death, the Japanese army's Ogawa detachment no longer had any large-scale resistance. Ye Zhikui didn't have time to lament, ordering the three armies' soldiers to take advantage of their victory and pursue and annihilate the defeated enemy.

  With this order, the Leaf Department went crazy and chased after them relentlessly. Even the aunt who cooked and the uncle who stir-fried joined in with pots, bowls, and pans, taking the brutality to the extreme.

  Ye Zhiwei concentrated his cavalry and chased them for over thirty miles, killing countless enemies, only stopping when the horses' mouths were foaming with white foam.

  The left and right troops met, seeing the Tiger Brave Army's aura was overwhelming, extremely fierce. Under the Tiger Brave Army's gaze that seemed to be eager for a kill, none of them dared to compete with them for merit.

  After this battle, the reputation of Hu Yuyue's army spread far and wide, striking fear into the hearts of the Qing army. Ordinary soldiers and other generals would not even bother to salute when they met, but instead would glance at them sideways and ignore them as they walked away. The officers of Hu Yuyue's army were even more arrogant, treating other armies with contempt. This later led to someone submitting a memorial to the throne accusing Hu Yuyue's army of being unruly and disobedient, ignoring orders from their superiors.

  Ogawa led the majority of his troops to escape from the camp, and before he could catch his breath, he encountered the troops of Zu Baoqi again. After being repeatedly intercepted by Zu's troops, they lost nearly a thousand more men. Ogawa did not dare to contact Yamagata Aritomo, so he led the remaining troops to flee to Hanzhong overnight.

  The Japanese commander, Yamagata Aritomo, was also ambushed by Ma Yuquan's and Wei Rugui's troops, and was caught off guard. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and led his troops to retreat slowly before suffering greater losses. Even so, they lost over a thousand men. Like Ogawa, he also encountered the blocking forces of Zuo Baogui and Lü Benyuan, losing another thousand or more men. Fortunately, his troops did not collapse and retreated slowly towards Hancheng.

  That night, the Japanese army was defeated and abandoned countless weapons, ammunition, food and other supplies, all of which were captured by the Qing army.

  On the 23rd, at dawn, the troops were busy sorting out the results of the battle and reporting them. On the night of the 23rd, Ye Zhiwei's unit annihilated around 2,000 enemies and captured over 100 Japanese soldiers. It was thanks to Jian Ren's efforts that they were able to capture so many Japanese soldiers; Jian Ren had used his silver tongue to persuade people to join their side. Zuo Baoguang and Lü Benyuan's units annihilated over 1,000 enemies, while Ma Yukun and Wei Rugui's units annihilated over 1,000 enemies as well.

  The Japanese army, including Lieutenant General O?mura Masatoshi and Major General Sato Teishiro?, suffered heavy casualties, with one lieutenant general, five major generals, and dozens of other officers killed. After a day and night of fierce fighting, the Japanese army lost more than 6,000 soldiers and retreated to Hancheng, where they hid in the city and dared not come out.

  The news spread, Japan was shaken. Although some arrogant people shouted to continue increasing troops, due to the huge consumption of war, Japan's small country and limited resources, neither sea nor land battles gained any advantage, and land battles were even more disadvantageous. The voices of the people seeking peace gradually rose, and the pro-war faction could not help but consider negotiations.

  The whole country of China was jubilant, and the Qing officials were even more so, petitioning to take advantage of the victory and drive the Japanese out of Korea. The Guangxu Emperor was overjoyed, tears streaming down his face as he worshipped his ancestors, saying that the great Qing dynasty had finally been revived in my hands.

  The Western powers were worried that China would rise to dominance in East Asia, and the British Foreign Secretary had said: "Any victory for China will have serious consequences for Europeans." Therefore, they exerted great influence to force the Qing government to negotiate a peace treaty with Japan as soon as possible.

  Cixi saw the rise of the Beiyang faction, Li Hongzhang's prestige grew daily. If he won again, the Beiyang faction would be uncontrollable and threaten Manchu rule. She hinted to Li Hongzhang "to stop after a victory, seeking peace with victory."

  Li Hongzhang had no choice but to go with the trend and secretly negotiate a peace treaty with the Japanese government in order to preserve his power.

  Ye Zhonggui originally suggested taking advantage of the situation to attack and capture Hanzhong, but upon receiving news of peace talks, he couldn't help but curse under his breath: "This child is not worthy of discussion!" He had no choice but to train his troops on one hand, while on the other hand, he vigorously expanded his influence in Korea.