Chapter Thirty-Three: Those Things After the War

  Ye Zhiqi's robbery in Seoul shocked both China and Japan. The Japanese Minister to Korea, ōshima Kenzō, issued a statement accusing Ye Zhiqi of deliberately provoking the Japanese army stationed in Korea, ignoring the trend of peace talks between the two countries, and plotting to trigger conflicts and war again. He demanded that the Qing government severely punish Ye Zhiqi and return the stolen goods. Of course, the statement did not mention the amount of stolen goods, because these goods were also obtained by Japan through unclear channels.

  The Qing government, because Ye Zhiqi had handed over a batch of property and Ye Zhichao had bribed officials, easily issued a large sum of money to support Ye Zhiqi. Li Hongzhang responded that although China and Japan had shown a tendency towards peace talks, no ceasefire agreement had been signed up to this day, so Ye Zhiqi's attack on Hancheng was reasonable and not mistaken in any way. He only criticized him for privately leading troops to plunder without being punished severely enough. When you get rich easily next time, can you please inform me? I also want to get rich easily!

  At that time, a British journalist interviewed Ye Zhiqi and asked about his views on the matter. Ye Zhiqi calmly said: "If Japan has any dissatisfaction, they can come to Pyongyang to rob me." Everyone was silent, and the Japanese also had nothing to say.

  Ye Zhui, who was in the center of the storm, ignored all this and trained his Yonghu Jun according to the new military law and regulations, step by step. In Ye Zhui's mind, everything else was fleeting, only military power was the king's way.

  ………

  "This is your new instructor! Wang Shizhen, Wang Pingqing." Yeh Zhikui led Wang Shizhen to introduce him to the officers of the artillery outpost of the Hu Yong Military.

  Wang Shizhen was both helpless and speechless, while Ye Zhiwei did not go to fetch the shells that day, but instead had them brought over. Originally, Wang Shizhen was somewhat reluctant when Ye Zhiwei forcibly transferred him into the Hu Yong Army, but when Ye Zhiwei discussed with him the ballistics he had learned in Germany and some other knowledge known to later generations, and demonstrated the application of basic subjects such as geometry and arithmetic in cannon operation techniques in front of Wang Shizhen, it deeply convinced Wang Shizhen.

  Wang Shizhen himself graduated from the artillery department of Tianjin Wubei Academy, and his instructor was a German officer. Ye Zhiwei, on the other hand, went to Germany to study directly. The two men shared the same origin, so they naturally "hit it off". Wang Shizhen also saw that Ye Zhiwei attached great importance to the artillery team in the army, concentrating them into one battalion. In the end, he willingly agreed to join Ye Zhiwei's Hu Yongjun Artillery Battalion as an instructor.

  As soon as Ye Zhiwei's appointment was announced, many people were not convinced and discussed it among themselves. The artillery of the Hu Yongjun had a proud air about them, having made great contributions in the Sino-Japanese War and considering themselves to be the most powerful artillery unit in the Qing army. They looked down on this instructor who had no outstanding achievements on the battlefield in Korea.

  Officer Zhao Ergou bluntly said: "Sir, this Wang Jiao Xi is all skin and bones, can he be the instructor of our artillery squadron? The Tiger Courage Army's artillery squadron requires real talent and learning, it's not something that other squadrons can muddle through."

  Ye Zhi did not respond, dodging to the side and leaving the issue for Wang Shizhen to resolve. He wanted to see how this so-called "Dragon of Beiyang" would handle it.

  Wang Shizhen went straight to the point, without saying anything else, and walked in front of the large cannons produced by the Qubao Steel Factory. In front of everyone, he first explained the various structural components and functions of the cannons one by one, and then pointed out some minor problems with certain cannons, all of which were corrected one by one.

  Zhao Ergou saw that everyone was listening with great interest, and slowly being convinced by the others. He couldn't help but let out a cold snort and said: "He's just a bookworm, after all. The ultimate goal of a cannon is to hit its target, what's the use of knowing about these structural components?"

  Wang Shizhen smiled slightly and said, "Since that's the case, Captain Zhao, are you daring enough to have a shooting match with me? Let's choose a target and fire three rounds each. We'll see who hits the target more times and more accurately."

  Zhao Ergou readily agreed, and Ye Zhi Kui was also delighted to see it happen. After ordering the retrieval of two cannons that were almost identical in size, Zhao Ergou went first. With his eyes narrowed, he took aim for a while using his experience from the battlefield, then ordered the artillerymen to fire three rounds according to his requirements. Of the three shots fired, one hit the target, and the other two were not far off either. This was clearly a very good result, and Zhao Ergou looked at Wang Shizhen with great pride.

  Wang Shizhen ignored him, estimated the distance to the target, lowered his head and drew a few lines on the ground. After a moment, he raised his head and ordered the artillery to adjust the angle according to his requirements. Zhao Ergou stood aside, not taking it seriously, thinking that hitting the target would be easy with just two strokes of the pen, but it was not that simple.

  Wang Shizhen fired three cannons, two of which hit the target, and the other was very close. Wang Shizhen's move shocked many officers and soldiers at the artillery outpost, but Zhao Er Gou still didn't give up, muttering that it was just luck.

  Ye Zhi Kui glared at him fiercely and walked forward, saying: "Now you bunch of bastards know that there are mountains outside the mountain and people outside the person, don't think you're the best in the world just because you killed a few devils. From now on, all of you should learn well, Wang Jiao Shi graduated from Tianjin Martial Arts Academy, he's very capable, especially you, Zhao Er Gou, don't be jealous, wait until you've learned Wang Jiao Shi's move and then come see me."

  Wang Shizhen gradually won the respect of the artillery officers with his true talent and learning, and Ye Zhiqi treated him with even greater courtesy. Later, Wang Shizhen wrote a letter to Ye Zhiqi suggesting that he establish an engineering battalion in the Tiger and Brave Army, whose main tasks would be to conduct engineering reconnaissance, construct important fortifications, set up obstacles, carry out demolition work, build roads, set up bridges, open ferry crossings, and lay various types of mines. He also proposed cultivating absolute obedience and loyalty among soldiers, making them believe that Ye Zhiqi was their parent and that only by obeying him could they be promoted and become wealthy. Ye Zhiqi adopted all these suggestions and regarded Wang Shizhen as his right-hand man.

  As October arrived, Japan, having suffered consecutive defeats on the battlefield in Korea and with limited national strength, was heavily burdened by the enormous costs of war, leading to peasant uprisings breaking out in many parts of Japan, causing social unrest. Unable to bear it any longer, Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi clearly presented a request for peace talks to the Qing government on October 10th, and the Qing court appointed Li Hongzhang as its plenipotentiary representative, with both sides agreeing to hold peace talks in Pyongyang, Korea.

  Li Hongzhang is about to enter the court soon, and President Ye Zhi-chao of Korea ordered all troops to make preparations to assist Grand Minister Li. Ye Zhi-kui was promoted by Li Hongzhang as a personal negotiator due to his outstanding military achievements, and participated in this negotiation.

  Before Li Hongzhang entered the court, Ye Zhiqi received a secret order from Japan after the peasant uprising broke out. He chose more than 30 people who had surrendered to the Japanese army and several members of the Thirteen Hawks, carrying a large amount of property, taking a merchant ship to guide the Japanese peasant uprising. Ye Zhiqi did not ask for success, only to apply eye drops for Japan.

  Before leaving, all the surrendered Japanese soldiers had written letters of surrender opposing insults and curses to the Emperor. Once they returned to Japan, those who wanted to repent would be exposed by Ye Zhiwei, and it would be made clear that they carried huge amounts of wealth. He believed that even if the Japanese government didn't care about saving face, they wouldn't let these people go just for the treasure in their hands. Therefore, Ye Zhiwei was very confident in their "loyalty".

  On the other hand, Ye Zhiwei lets Jian Ren choose a few clever partners to buy a batch of medicinal materials in Korea under the name of a pharmaceutical merchant and go to Japan to open a pharmacy, in preparation for selling drugs in the future. Heroin has been invented and is used as a strong painkiller.

  Ye Zhiwei spent a large sum of money to contact his old German friends through the German ambassador to Korea, preparing to introduce a production line in Korea, set up a pharmaceutical company, and then openly sell these poisons as medicines to all parts of the world, with Japan being the first choice.

  Although Ming Fei was not clear why Ye Zhi Kui attached great importance to this "small business", it did not hinder her support for Ye Zhi Kui. Under the collusion between officials and merchants, the preliminary preparations for the pharmaceutical factory were carried out extremely quickly and smoothly. The problems of site selection, house building, and personnel were quickly resolved. Ye Zhi Kui would not be foolish enough to wait for the arrival of the machinery, he would sell what he had, ordering the factory to first produce some common medicines.

  After finishing all these things, Ye Zhi Kui became a master of delegation, handing over some trivial matters to Jian Ren Shi Wu, an expert in management. All he wanted was the result.