Outside the east gate of Tianjin, the mouth of the Sancha River.

Sancha estuary is the only place of shipping and transportation in Tianjin, it is also the earliest cargo distribution center in Tianjin, merchants gather, shops stand in a forest, it is one of the famous commercial centers in Tianjin, with the opening of the railway and the decline of Caoyun, there was some depression here, but after the opening of the port in Tianjin, the shipping is more and more prosperous, and the prosperity of the Sancha River is better than in the past.

Not far from the Lion Grove Bridge, there is a Gothic cathedral - the Church of the Victory of the Virgin, because the church was built on the site of the original 'Wanghailou', Tianjin people call it 'Wanghailou Church', which is a Catholic church built by the French.

Adjacent to the 'Wanghailou Church' is an orphanage called 'Mercy Hall' run by the church, which is also called 'Nursery School' because it mainly adopts infants and young children.

A carriage slowly stopped opposite the gate of the 'Hall of Mercy', and Du Mingtang, who was in his early thirties, sat in the car and did not get out, but quietly looked at the 'Hall of Mercy' with the door closed.

Yuanqi has opened a large scale of Yixue in Guangzhou and Shanghai, the main source of students is from all over the disaster relief orphans and some abandoned babies, of course, abandoned babies are basically female babies, this Tianjin disaster relief, encountered the Western church unscrupulously robbed them of business, this matter is really a bit unexpected by Du Mingtang.

At first, he didn't take it seriously, the Western Church opened an orphanage to accommodate orphans, which is not unusual, there are in various treaty ports, after all, it is not easy for the Western Church to preach in the Qing Dynasty, and opening an orphanage is not only to do charity but also to cultivate believers, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone, and it is understandable to spend money to reward those who send orphans, after all, when Yuanqi was eager to expand the scale of Yixue, he also took incentive measures.

However, after learning the news of the successive deaths of infants and toddlers adopted by the 'Mercy Hall', Du Mingtang immediately became interested in the 'Mercy Hall', and he faintly felt this opportunity.

As soon as the car door opened, a Song Zigao, who was in his twenties with braids and wearing a long shirt and dressed as a scholar, came in, "Why did Brother Du suddenly become interested in the 'Hall of Mercy'?" ”

Du Mingtang asked directly: "The Hall of Mercy has killed many babies and young children, but is it true?" ”

"Yes!" Song Zigao said simply: "There are indeed a lot of deaths during this time, there should be fifty or sixty ........" ”

Du Mingtang frowned, "What's the matter?" Epidemic disease? ”

"I don't know." Song Zigao shook his head and groaned for a while before he said, "For a long time, a lot of infants and young children adopted by the Mercy Hall have died, and very few can survive, and none of them survive. ”

Not one out of ten? What's going on? Du Mingtang's thick eyebrows furrowed, the mortality rate of infants and young children is high, but how can it not be so high, "Is there anything strange about this 'Hall of Mercy'?" ”

Song Zigao said in a low voice: "In fact, many babies are dying when they are sent in. ”

Du Mingtang asked, "Do you want to accept it when you die?" And buy it with silver? ”

"Actually, it's not about buying it with money." Song Zigao said: "At first, it was just to reward those kind-hearted people who picked up abandoned babies and sent the babies to the 'Mercy Hall', so as to encourage more well-wishers to send the abandoned babies they picked up to the 'Mercy Hall' and the taste changed after a while, and it was profitable to see them. ”

Du Mingtang asked, "Do you want to die?" ”

"Yes." Song Zigao nodded and said, "As long as it's still panting, it's okay, and the rewards are the same." Without waiting for Du Mingtang to ask, he said directly: "No one knows what those foreign priests think. ”

This is not only outlandish, but also evil! Du Mingtang was silent for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Check, find out what is wrong with the nursery halls of these Western churches as soon as possible!" ”

The frequent deaths of infants and young children in the custody of the 'Mercy Hall' not only attracted the attention of Du Mingtang, but also gradually spread in Tianjin, and the disappearance of infants and young children in Tianjin became more and more serious, and many people turned their suspicious eyes to the 'Mercy Hall' that bought and sold infants and young children.

There are also rumors inside and outside the city, some say that foreigners eat baby hearts and livers to prolong life; Some people say that foreigners specialize in digging out baby eyeballs and hearts for medicine; It is also said that baby eyeballs can refine mercury, and all kinds of bizarre and absurd rumors spread around like wings, making Tianjin people panic.

At this time, a large number of infant corpses were found in the mass graves, all of which were disemboweled, which was unbearable

Coincidentally, the people of Tianjin also caught a trafficker who was about to abduct a child who was stunned with drugs and was about to abduct him, and sent him to the county government on the spot.

This is undoubtedly the fact that the 'Wanghailou Church' sells infants and young children, but Liu Jie, the magistrate of the county, is in trouble, he knows very well that if this matter is not handled well, it will be the end of losing his official position, so he immediately reported it to the prefect Zhang Guangzao.

The prefect Zhang Guangzao was an old oilman in the officialdom, and after being promoted to the government and carefully interrogated, he secretly complained in his heart, and directly reported to the three ministers of trade and trade who were sitting in Tianjin to manage foreign affairs.

Early the next morning, Wanyan Chonghou led the prefect and the prefect of the county to escort the prisoners to the 'Wanghailou Church'.

Chonghou's original intention was to force the church to hand over people, interrogate them in court, and confront several traffickers, but Wanghailou Church ignored it at all, and directly said that there was no Wang San in the church.

After some negotiations, the church insisted that there was no such person as Wang San, and Chonghou had no choice but to lead a group of officials and servants to leave.

The officials left, but the onlookers did not disperse, after all, it was an iron case, and the people of Tianjin were not only not afraid of foreigners, but also had a sense of superiority, after all, in the first battle of Tianjin, the Qing Dynasty defeated the British, French, Spanish and Dutch coalition forces.

Blocked by so many people at the gate, the church naturally did not do anything, and sent some parishioners to disperse and persuade them, and the two sides soon had a quarrel, followed by mutual abuse, and then developed into mutual beatings.

After all, for the local people, they occupy the home advantage, and soon, more and more people gathered in the Wanghailou Church, and seeing that the situation was not good, the church personnel hurriedly closed the door and hid in the church and did not dare to come out.

The onlookers were angry and began to throw stones and garbage into the church. It is estimated that all rotten vegetable leaves and broken soles have been thrown in, what disgusting things are thrown, and what are relieving angers.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

Cao Gensheng walked into the room quickly and reported loudly: "Big shopkeeper, a large-scale sudden group incident broke out in Tianjin, and thousands of people besieged the Wanghailou Church in France. As he spoke, he took two steps forward and handed over the telegram.

After reading the telegram, Yi Zhizu immediately popped up a term in his mind - Tianjin lesson plan, and after a slight groan, he ordered: "Pay close attention!" Keep the situation informed. ”

Cao Gensheng, who was waiting, stepped back, and Zhao Liewen said with some doubts: "Will this matter in Tianjin develop further?" ”

The Tianjin lesson plan is quite a famous lesson plan, Yi Zhifen is quite impressed, and naturally knows that this matter is not so simple, but this matter is not easy to explain, smiled, and he said: "Huifu will not think that this matter is very simple, right?" ”

Isn't that easy? Zhao Liewen pondered for a while before he said: "Could it be that the royalists want to use public opinion to boycott foreigners, and then use this to make a fuss against constitutionalism?" ”

Is there such a complexity behind the Tianjin lesson plan? This imagination is really enough, Yi Zhishu immediately nodded along the water, "I don't rule out this possibility." ”

Seeing that he agreed, Zhao Liewen hurriedly said: "Now is a critical period for the imperial court to implement constitutional government, and we should not take it lightly. ”

"If someone is really manipulating or fueling the troubles behind the scenes, we can't reach it." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Let's wait and see for the time being." ”

The situation in Tianjin soon deteriorated further, and it was not the Qing officials who contributed to the trouble, but the French consul in Tianjin, Feng Daye.

The Catholic church was surrounded by thousands of people throwing stones and garbage, although there were no casualties, but the glass of the church was broken a lot, and more seriously, this is undoubtedly trampling on the dignity of France.

Chonghou has the attitude that more is better than less, and refuses to send troops.

In the afternoon, the number of people gathered around the Wanghailou church not only did not decrease but increased, Feng Daye could no longer sit still, and led the 'fire brigade' of the concession to rush to the Sankou Trade Yamen in a rage, and directly broke in.

Seeing Feng Daye shooting, Chonghou was so frightened that he hurriedly hid in the room, Feng Daye did not forgive in the living room to smash the tea bowl, slap the table and curse endlessly, Chonghou had to come out with good words to beat it away, but in his heart he wondered how to kill the arrogance of the French and save some face.

At this time, a large number of people had gathered outside the yamen, all of whom followed Feng Daye from the church, some watched the excitement, and also had the meaning of deterrence, Liu Jie, the magistrate of Tianjin, hurried to maintain order with the three classes of officials after hearing the report.

Feng Daye came out of the yamen just when he met Liu Jie, the magistrate of Tianjin who hurried to Tianjin, he clearly knew that this matter was all because of this magistrate of Tianjin, and he scared Chonghou with a shot, and he repeated the old trick, pulled out his gun and shot it casually, never thought that a chief next to Liu Jie would fall in response.

As soon as they saw that the foreigners had shot and killed people, the onlookers rushed up and beat Feng Daye to death, along with his personal secretary, and the 'fire brigade' used to put on the façade saw this situation and immediately scattered and fled for their lives.

The angry crowd then rushed back to the Wanghailou church, stormed the church, killed the two priests, and burned the church. Then he went to the consulate on the east side of the Catholic Church and killed another secretary and his wife.

The crowd, completely out of control, went to the Hall of Mercy to kill 1 0 nuns, release more than 150 orphans, and then burn the House of Mercy to the ground.

The whole city of Tianjin was completely plunged into chaos, and the crowd, carried away by the anger, killed foreigners, even religious believers, and burned churches when they saw them, and in just three hours, 4 British churches and 2 American churches were also burned.

It was not until a large number of officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division, heavily armed with loaded guns, entered the city to impose martial law that the city of Tianjin quieted down.

Jingshi, the Forbidden City, the military aircraft duty room, Prime Minister Prince Gong Yili looked at the telegram in his hand anxiously, three hours of riots, seven churches were burned, more than 20 foreigners were killed, in addition to the French, there were three Russians (mistaken for French), and more than 40 Catholics who believed in Western religion.

He knew very well that the riot in Tianjin would inevitably shock China and foreign countries, and Western countries would inevitably sign a joint protest, and if this matter could not be properly handled, it would directly affect the image of the Qing Dynasty in all countries in the world!

It's just that who should be sent to clean up this mess in Tianjin? After thinking about it, it is still the most suitable for the Yuanqi faction.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

After reading the telegram, Zhao Liewen glanced at Yi Zhicontent, who was standing at the window and smoking, to be honest, the matter in Tianjin took such a sharp turn, which shocked him very much, what a big thing, it actually caused such a big riot, to say that there was no one behind this matter to manipulate and guide, he really didn't believe it.

After pondering for a moment, he pondered and said, "Could it be the Queen Mother?" ”

"Unlikely." Yi Zhishu turned around, "This matter is aimed at the French, if it is aimed at the British, maybe it may be the Queen Mother." ”

Zhao Liewen nodded slightly, if you want to use public opinion to create trouble and deliberately provoke a war, the British are the best choice, not the French! Wait, French? His eyelids jumped, could it be that Yi Zhicontent was manipulating behind his back?

Yi Zhishu didn't know what he was thinking, and said slowly: "If something so big happens, how will the French react?" ”

Zhao Liewen said without thinking: "Strongly protest, threaten with war!" ”

"This one could be big!" Yi Zhishu nodded, "It is very likely that we will send troops together with the British." ”

Zhao Liewen's reaction was not slow at all, and immediately said tentatively: "Shouldn't the big shopkeeper be looking for an excuse to send troops to the northwest?" ”

"It's better to have an excuse." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "After all, there are many people in the country who oppose the expansion of the northwest. ”

Zhao Liewen glanced at him, "Will it affect the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War?" ”

"No, it won't." Yi Zhi said confidently: "Europe is the fundamental ...... of Britain and France." ”

Before he finished speaking, Cao Gensheng hurriedly came in and reported: "The big treasurer, the prime minister of the cabinet has called, hoping that Yuanqi will send someone to Tianjin to properly deal with the aftermath." ”