In the afternoon, the city of Beijing was finally restored to order by the notice of the people and the urging of the Fuxing Army, and all kinds of shops were opened, but the streets were only a few pedestrians walking with their heads bowed except for the patrolling soldiers and the patrol police who surrendered anyway. The inner city is basically inhabited by Manchus according to the law of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although many of them are not like the princes and ministers who are confined by the army, but they still understand that their identity will bring disaster to themselves, if it is not for the nine gates of the inner city are guarded by the army, it is estimated that more than 300,000 Manchus will flee.

The inner city is strictly guarded, but the outer city is open, except for some important people who are ordered not to go out, as long as the ordinary people do not carry contraband, they are completely free of movement. All kinds of tricks have been played since the morning, they want the people not to be afraid and not to flee, but since they live in the outer city, they are naturally the masters who have no money, and as long as the new occupiers do not kill people or set fires, they do not want to leave Beijing at all, and they have no money at all.

In the headquarters of Zongrenfu, Lei Yizhen is urging the troops to dig trenches outside Beijing and replenish ammunition, the situation is not as simple as previously thought, the 1st, 2nd, and 27th of the New Army in Beiyang are the enemies estimated before, but near Chengde, there is another army that has been ignored before, that is, the Yi Army.

This army has a long history, the soldiers are basically veterans of the Huai Army, there were forty infantry battalions, two artillery battalions, three cavalry battalions, eight battalions were transferred to Nanjing in 03 years, and this was expanded to thirty-five battalions of the Jiang Defense Army, in history Zhang Xun relied on this army and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang coalition army to fight in Nanjing, but now because of the commander Liu Guangcai has not resigned due to illness. Zhang Xun has not yet taken over, and under the sudden change in the national situation, the commander Liu Guangcai is hesitating to wait and see. and did not cross the river to occupy Nanjing.

The Jiang Defense Army was temporarily stabilized, but the Yi Army of more than 20,000 people came to the capital under Jiang Guidi's urgent order, and the Yi Army was not terrible, but the more than 20,000 people in the north were bound to hold at least one brigade of their own side, and the 2nd Army with only three divisions and six brigades, every soldier was extremely precious. Troops can still be seen patrolling the streets now, but a few days later. It is estimated that the only ones you can see on the street are those patrol officers who surrender anyway.

"Why did Yijun receive the news from the capital so quickly?" Because of the stalemate with the legation, Xie Jintai was the most idle person in the entire command, and he also attended the meeting on the army's side.

"We only cut the telegraph line from Beijing to Miyun. The telegraph line from Miyun to Chengde was not cut. It should be that the Qing army galloped to Miyun overnight, and then Miyun sent a telegram to Chengde. Chief of Staff Xu Dachun said. We were still careless, thinking only about the telegram, and did not think that the post station fast horse was still useful. ”

"Nothing careless. There was so much movement last night. Even if there is no fast horse, the sound of guns can be transmitted for dozens of miles. Fortunately, Chengde is more than 200 kilometers here, and even a rapid march will take five days, plus rest, it will take at least six days to fight, and six days is enough for us to prepare. "Lei Yizhen pays attention to this farthest army, but he doesn't care about their arrival." The South Manchurian Railway was owned by the Japanese, and the Kanwai Railway has now been taken over by foreign troops, so it is not only impossible to transfer troops from the northeast to the customs. Even if it is possible, it cannot be adjusted. Now the situation depends on the Ministry of Politics, how many patrols and soldiers of the Praetorian Guard can be mobilized over there anyway. We can expand as many troops as we can. ”

"Janissaries, patrols, patrol police, guard barracks, etc., we only captured more than 28,000 people, and all the others stripped off their clothes and threw away their guns and hid at home. In order not to cause panic, we have not yet arrested those fleeing Qing soldiers, and we are only searching for weapons at present. Of the more than 28,000 people, most of them were Janissaries outside the city, and only a few thousand guard battalions and a small number of patrol officers were captured in the city, and half of these people were Manchurian, so it was still relatively difficult to do political work. Fan An introduced the situation of the prisoners, he thought that more than 60,000 defenders could capture 50,000, who knew that 60,000 defenders were just a book number, and only half of them could really hold guns, and the half of them were not guts, and they all ran home before they captured the city gate.

"Prisoners, regardless of Manchu and Han, as long as they are qualified soldiers, they should be incorporated into the army." Xu Dachun said. "Minus the diehards, at least 20,000 people can be cleared, right?"

"There are no diehards, the officers are eliminated, and all the soldiers are added to the troops. We are fighting to the death to see those newcomers, and I don't believe that these people can turn against the sky! "Li Liezu, the commander of the 3rd Division, said." Don't those Manchurians have a home here? Those who refuse to work hard will be beheaded all over the house. There is another thing, except for the one that goes to Zhangjiakou in Beijing, several other roads have been controlled by the Qing army, and I think that rationing of food will be implemented immediately, once Beijing is surrounded, I don't know when the siege will be lifted, I am afraid that there will be not enough food. ”

"I don't think I'll worry about this! Most of the people in Beijing are full of people, and there are many princes and nobles, and the troops besieging the city do not dare to cut off the food in the capital, and the first thing to starve to death is the thousands of yellow and red belts, and then the 400,000 Manchus will starve to death. As long as they die, half of the rations saved will be enough for our troops to go north to Yanzhou. Zhang Changguo, commander of the 4th Division, said with a smile. With these 400,000 Manchurians in hand, I think that from now on, Zhirui, the governor of Zhili, can be given free food, and if he loses a day's food, the Manchurians will be hungry for a day. If we don't take into account the foreigners, we can also ask him to send guns and ammunition, a gun for a full man, give him a fixed number every day, and if the gun is not delivered, then send him a full man's head. 400,000 heads, at least 400,000 guns. And defending the city, if you don't pay attention to it, these Manchurians are very useful......"

Zhang Changguo was about to go down, but was stopped by Lei Yizhen waving his hand, according to the previous war, there were 400,000 Manchu people in hand, and they were all strung together and rushed to the outside of the trench, and the Qing army did not say that they would not dare to open the cannon, for fear that the guns would not dare to fire. In this way, defending the city is foolproof even if it is defending it for ten years. However, Lei Yizhen felt that he was a soldier, not a butcher, he just wanted to fight well with the last troops of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and if he won the battle, it would be a great decision in the world; As for losing, will you lose?

The temporary pre-war meeting did not make much waves, and the morale of the 2nd Army in Beijing was high in the morning. The soldiers were also briefed on the situation throughout the country, and seeing that most of the provinces in the country were occupied by their own side, all the soldiers felt that they must be the heroes of the founding of the country. The Manchus were not afraid even if they came to 100,000 people.

The Beijing Fuxing Army was discussing, and the Tianjin Zhili Governor Yamen Zhirui and others were also discussing.

Zhirui was awakened by the British consul last night, and when he heard that there was a rebellion in Beijing, he began to think that the British were joking, but seeing that the British were very serious, and the military camps of various countries were being pulled out in formation, he believed that something really happened in Beijing. hurriedly dispatched troops to rescue him. He found that the telegrams from various offices in Tianjin were not working, and the railway inside and outside the Guanxi also reported that many bridges on the railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan had been bombed, which had to calm him down.

When it's almost dawn. The British once again sent someone to correct the previous news, saying that the city of Beijing had been occupied by the revolutionary army, and that they had tens of thousands of troops. Hearing that there were tens of thousands of revolutionary troops in Beijing, Zhirui, who was about to organize a patrol police to enter Beijing, stopped again. He had to wait for Ma Longbiao, the commander of the second town closest to Tianjin, to come to Tianjin to negotiate. The telegram could not be reached in the middle of the night last night, so he sent a fast horse to report the news.

Ma Longbiao is quite old, after receiving the letter in the morning, he quickly went to Tianjin, although the Ma Xin Post Road on the one hundred and twenty miles of the road has been repaired several times, but the six-hour rush still makes Ma Longbiao exhausted, and when he meets Zhirui, Ma Longbiao hurriedly said: "Commander, why did the capital mutiny?" The Janissaries of those towns ......"

"Brother Jinmen. The capital was not a mutiny, it was attacked by the revolutionary party at night. Zhirui corrected his previous mistakes. He received a lot of news after the telegram was unblocked, but he didn't dare to tell Ma Longbiao all of these situations, so he could only choose what he could say. "Now that the capital has been occupied by the revolutionary party, the emperor's life and death are uncertain......"

Zhirui said that Guangxu's life and death were uncertain, and his tears fell, and Ma Longbiao next to him couldn't sit still at all, and said loudly: "Commander, the second town can go to Tianjin tomorrow, if the train can be passed, the day after tomorrow you can enter the Beijing Division, exterminate the revolutionary party, rescue the emperor and all the princes, and protect me for ten thousand years in the Qing Dynasty!" ”

"Good! It's really a loyal minister! Zhirui looked at Ma Longbiao's appearance of wanting to fight to the death with the revolutionary party, and his heart was suddenly settled, these towns in Beiyang all had the shadow of Yuan Shikai, and he was afraid that he would not be able to command this army, "Jinmen, now that the capital is occupied, there are twenty or thirty thousand revolutionary troops in it, and your troops only need to capture Langfang the day after tomorrow, and when the first town and the 27th town arrive, our army can enter the king of Jingqin." Thinking of the blown up railway, Zhirui sighed, "It will take them five or six days to arrive." ”

"What!" Ma Longbiao was shocked that there were tens of thousands of revolutionary parties in Beijing, and then it took five or six days for the other ministries to say, "Commander, if you wait like this, you will have to dream a lot, and once Yanzhou and Yizhou still have foreign revolutionary parties to enter Beijing, then the situation will be reversed!" ”

"Jinmen, the railway from Tianjin to Yuguan was blown up by the revolutionary party, and I am afraid that it will not be able to open to traffic in a few days; The railway from Baoding to the capital was also damaged by the revolutionary party, and as soon as these two railways were broken, the first and 27th towns would not be able to get here without five or six days, so your department could only drive to Langfang, and you could not go any further when you got there. Yanzhou and Yizhou should not worry about the revolutionary parties outside the country, the foreigners have already informed us, the revolutionary army outside the customs will not let them enter the customs at all, and if they want to go north, the railway will not transport troops, if they want to forcibly transport troops, now the front carriages have also been transferred to Tianjin, and the revolutionary party will only have no cars available. This time, the foreigners are on our side. Zhirui introduced the situation, for fear that Ma Longbiao would be frightened by the revolutionary party, so he had to carry the foreigner out.

I heard that the foreigners were on the side of the Qing Dynasty, and Ma Longbiao was determined in his heart, in my Qing Dynasty Emperor is the sun, and the foreigner is the sky. Don't be afraid when the sun is gone, as long as the sky is still there, then there is nothing to worry about.

Zhirui sent Ma Longbiao, who was relieved, to rest, but he sat in the room and worried, the news received in the afternoon, most of the country was occupied by the revolutionary party, and the news of Rehe Mongolia outside the customs is unknown, but the known eighteen provinces in the Guannai, only Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi have not been captured by the revolutionary party, but in these provinces, only Zhejiang, Shandong and Zhili have heavy troops, Henan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi these provinces, I am afraid that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be occupied by the revolutionary party.

But no matter how much Guannai was lost, it was not as shocking to Zhirui as the Northeast was occupied by the revolutionary party. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, he had arranged a back road for himself, which was to prohibit the Han people from cultivating in the northeast, and Fengtian also kept six yamen, which was to prepare for the retreat of the Han people in the Guannei in the event of a rebellion in the Guan. However, the ban on reclamation for more than 200 years has provoked Japan and Russia. After the Russo-Japanese War a few years ago, in order to keep the land of Longxing, the imperial court also accelerated the pace of immigration. But who would have thought that Bao Lai Bao would still let the revolutionary party occupy it.

"My lord, the Japanese consul Koike Zhangzao asks to see you." While Zhirui was pondering, someone outside suddenly came to report.

"Koike Zhangzao?!" Zhirui was a little surprised, he was all British before, but now he came to the Japanese, and his heart suddenly hung up. "Please! Please! He hurriedly said.

The Japanese consul in Tianjin, Shozo Koike, was a continentalist who knew that Japan's future lay in China. Now that China is in the midst of the revolution, if you don't take this opportunity to bite off a piece of meat from China, you really can't stand Amaterasu. As soon as the news of the rebellion in Beijing arrived in the middle of last night. He couldn't sleep, and only thought about what would happen to Manchuria, but the news of Manchuria was not transmitted by the navy's radio until noon: the situation had reached the worst, Fengtianfu City, Liaoyang and other places. It was occupied by Zhang Rong's department last night. The revival army on the Tonghua side also surrounded and annihilated the 6th and 7th towns of the Manchurian and Mongolian New Army before dawn, and the remaining 5th town of Rehe and the 8th town of Heilongjiang are said to have also revolted before today's battle. Now the entire Manchuria still belongs to the Qing army series, and there are only three patrol battalions in the Fengtian patrol battalion, including Feng Lin Pavilion on the left road, Zhang Zuolin on the front road, and Wu Junsheng on the back road.

Manchuria is better on its own, but there is no excuse in the case. The best thing to do was for the Qing army to go up first, and wait for them to make a mess of Manchuria in a fierce battle. That was when the Great Japanese Army came into battle in the order of maintenance, with such a thought, Koike Zhangzao discussed with Ijiin Hikoyoshi in Beijing for an afternoon, and then came to the Governor's Mansion of Zhili in the dark.

Snack Zhang Zao was the consul general in Mukden before he became the consul in Tianjin, and Zhirui was the governor of the three eastern provinces a few years ago. After many years of acquaintance, the two did not have any politeness, and before Zhirui could ask what he meant, Koike Zhang Zao said: "Your Excellency, now that the situation in your country is uncertain, and the capital is occupied by the chaotic party, it is really necessary for a hero with a big decision to stand up and turn the tide." Koike has always believed that adults are heroes of China, and he is willing to do his best to help adults save the situation. ”

When the Japanese said "great decision", Zhirui's heart was just beating wildly, but he secretly calmed down, and only stood up and saluted Koike Zhang Zao after the general finished speaking, and said: "It's really a tribulation to see the truth, and this governor is deeply grateful to Your Excellency and the emperor of your country!" As long as you can recapture the capital and rescue the emperor this time, you will definitely send the prince to your country to thank you. ”

Guangxu had already confirmed his death, Zhirui did not admit it, and Koike Zhang Zao was not easy to say, but seeing that he only wanted to recapture the capital, he said: "Your Excellency Governor, now the whole country is in turmoil, and even Manchuria has been occupied by the Revival Society. Now the elite soldiers of the Qing Dynasty are all in Yanzhou, Zhejiang, but I heard that the Revival Society has mobilized 30,000 or 40,000 troops from overseas to go south from Shanghai, preparing to encircle and suppress the new army in Yanzhou together with the revival army in Yanzhou...... Fortunately, their munitions were stopped by customs, and the fighting there would not start for a while. ”

After all, Koike Zhang Zao had the news of the legation, and he knew more about the situation in the whole country than Zhirui, and as soon as he said just now that the overseas troops of the Revival Association were 30,000 or 40,000 people preparing to encircle and suppress the Yanzhou New Army with the revolutionary army in Yanzhou, Zhirui couldn't help but stand up, and then sat down again when he heard that the munitions ship was intercepted by the customs.

Seeing that Zhirui's mood had been mobilized by himself, Koike Zhangzao continued, "My lord, hundreds of thousands of troops are scattered around Yanzhou, but there are not enough soldiers on the Beijing side, and now the real way to change the current situation is to transfer the elite soldiers of Yanzhou to Beijing and Manchuria, only by consolidating these two places, then there is hope for quelling the rebellion in the whole country." ”

"Troop transfers?!" Zhirui thought about the current situation, this is indeed the only way to solve the current dilemma. "Mr. Consul, there are more than 100,000 new troops in Yanzhou, how can they be transferred to the north?"

"My lord, the troops to the west and north of Yanzhou can be withdrawn to the banks of the Yangtze River, and the troops to the south and east of Yanzhou can be withdrawn to the sea. In this way, the soldiers could go north by ship and go ashore in Manchuria, and it would take five days to prepare the ship and five days to transport it to the north, which means that after ten days, the first troops would be able to arrive in the north, and in a month at most, they would all leave Zhejiang. Koike took out the map he was carrying, compared the withdrawal route, and it could be seen that he had come prepared.

"Mr. Consul, there are more than 100,000 people, is there such a fleet of ships?" Zhirui also knows that the navy is still in his hands, but is there a ship?

"There are more than 20 steamboats in our country, which can transport troops of one division and regiment to the north at a time, while the British two companies Swire and Jardine have more steamboats, and there are also many China Merchants steamboats in your country. Your Excellency the Governor-General, as long as there are five divisions, are you still worried that Beijing and Manchuria will not be recovered? Koike said with a smile, "Now that the countries do not recognize the Renaissance Society as a belligerent group, you should take this opportunity to immediately hire the merchant fleets of the Yangtze River and coastal countries, so as to change the current situation." ”

Xiao Chi Zhang Zao's words are thousands, Zhirui listened to it and continued to spend square steps in the room, he is now worried about two problems, one is that now the countries are not outside the neutral, completely on the side of the Qing Dynasty, but when will they be outside the neutral? In addition, if more than 100,000 troops are transferred to the north, the freight can be afforded by Zhili, but the money and grain to support these troops in fighting will not be able to be supported by Zhili Province, so where can this money and grain be borrowed?

Everything that should be said has already been said, and Koike Zhangzao just drank tea and waited for Zhirui's decision. The situation in the Qing Kingdom was such that Japan, more than anyone else, wanted to see revival unify China. Excluding the grievances of the Russo-Japanese War, it is the most persistent belief of the mainlandists that the organization and determination of the Revival Society alone cannot make it bigger, and if Japan is strong, China will be weak, and China will be strong and Japan will be weak. Now Koike said that he would transfer troops to the north, but according to the Beijing protocol, Tianjin could not go ashore, and the most likely places for all the troops transferred to the north to land were Dalian and Jinzhou, and whether it was Dalian or Jinzhou, it was all Manchuria, and as long as these soldiers arrived in Manchuria, then it would not be difficult to clear the revival army in South Manchuria, and it was really not possible for the Qing army to land, and Japan could also send troops.

"Mr. Koike, when will countries adopt a neutral attitude?" Zhirui asked the question he was most worried about.

"Your Excellency the Governor, some countries already want to be strictly neutral, and some countries will choose neutrality as long as the revival will make appropriate concessions, but there are still other countries that cannot be completely neutral no matter what the revival will promise." Koike Shozo couldn't say that Britain and Japan would oppose the revival to the end, so he had to say something nonsense, "Maybe it's like fate between people, some people are happy to be friends with them even if they are not friendly to themselves; And even if some people are friendly to themselves, the two still don't have the fate to be friends. Your Excellency Governor, you should not consider the attitudes of the nations, but should do everything in your power to salvage the current situation. ”

Xiao Chi's explanation only made Zhirui smile, the Northeast, Zhili has been an official for five years, he understands the thoughts of the great powers, they hope that the Qing Dynasty is territorially complete, and they also hope that the Qing civilization will progress, but if the Qing Dynasty really wants to become like them, they will definitely tear the friendly skin and knock the Qing Dynasty down. The current Qing Dynasty will never be able to catch up with Japan, but if the Fuxing Society is allowed to sit on the throne and use their ability to resist hundreds of thousands of Qing troops in the ravine, maybe they will really catch up with Japan and become the hegemon of Asia.

They became friends with the Qing Dynasty because the Qing Dynasty would always be a third-rate country. Zhirui smiled bitterly at this, but he had already made a decision in his heart to protect Daqing or China, and he didn't go to pierce Koike's mask, but just asked again: "Mr. Koike, if the governor wants to borrow money from your country, how much money can your country provide?" ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, what you can offer as collateral?" Koike smiled more and more kindly, something he had guessed before he came.

"Mortgage?" Zhirui thought about it, he can't sign a contract with the Japanese on behalf of the Qing Dynasty now, he can only call the shots of Zhili Province, and the official property of this province is really nothing, he glanced at the master next to him, and saw that he was also confused, so he had to say: "Mr. Koike, do you think there is anything good to mortgage here?" The hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the south are really going to be transported, and we can't let them run out of money and pay. (To be continued......)