Sure enough, Fukushima Yasumasa's words immediately dispelled the idea of surrendering to the consuls, so Jin Zhang immediately turned to Bauer and said, "Mr. Colonel, if the other party launches an attack, how long can we hold out?"

Bauer thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Consul, I estimate that I can only hold out for three days at most, because the area of the concession is too large, although I have reduced the defensive position, our numbers are still not enough, and the guns and ammunition are also insufficient, I think three days should be the limit." It is not known when reinforcements from Beijing will arrive in Tianjin. ”

Jin Zhang smiled bitterly and said, "Beijing has already replied, and they will not be able to rush to reinforce Tianjin in a short time, so they only ask us to hold on as long as possible." ”

It turned out that the Eight-Nation Coalition forces in Beijing received a telegram from Fukushima Yasumasa that they knew that the city of Tianjin had been lost and that the Japanese troops stationed in Tianjin had also been defeated, which also gave the Eight-Nation Alliance forces a lot of shock, although they were still very suspicious of the origin of this group of people claiming to be overseas Chinese, and thought that it was very likely that the Qing government had done it, perhaps the governor of the south. However, the commanders of the Eight-Nation Coalition have reached an agreement, that is, relying only on the current strength of the Eight-Nation Coalition in Beijing, I am afraid that it will be difficult to recover Tianjin and reopen the sea route; after all, the strength of the enemy forces that can continuously capture Tianjin and Dagukou cannot be underestimated, and only when the German fleet arrives in China can the two sides work together to be sure to defeat this enemy, at least when the German fleet arrives, and the coalition forces can regain control of the sea.

Therefore, the commander of the Eight-Nation Coalition first sent a joint telegram to Shanghai, first informing Shanghai of the progress of the war, and asking the British consul in Shanghai, Pelham Warren, to immediately investigate whether this group of so-called overseas Chinese was related to the southern governor of the Qing State.

It turned out that before the Qing court declared war on other countries, Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangguang, and Sheng Xuanhuai, the minister of post, and other southern governors of the Qing state, immediately discussed how to preserve the stability of the southeastern provinces under this tense situation and prevent the foreign powers from having an excuse to invade China; and even secretly planned that if Beijing was lost and the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu encountered unforeseen circumstances, the southeastern governors would nominate Li Hongzhang to come forward and serve as the president to support the situation in China.

On June 21, 1900, in the name of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing government simultaneously declared war on the British Empire, the United States of America, the French Third Republic, the German Empire, the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Japanese Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Spanish Empire, the Dutch Colonial Empire, and the Kingdom of Belgium.

On June 26, 1900, with the support of Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong and others, the southeast governor of the Qing Dynasty, Sheng Xuanhuai took the lead in planning, and Shanghai Daoyu Lianyuan came forward to negotiate and sign the "Southeast Mutual Insurance Charter" with the consuls of various countries in Shanghai headed by the British consul in Shanghai, Huo Bilan. Stipulation: The Boxer Rebellion was resisted and spread to the south, and the Shanghai Concession was under the joint protection of all countries, but the Yangtze River and the interior of Suzhou and Hangzhou were under the protection of the governors of the southern provinces.

Since the "Southeast Mutual Insurance Charter" was signed by Huo Bilan, the British consul in Shanghai, then now the Eight-Nation Alliance suspects that this group of so-called overseas Chinese was made by the Qing Dynasty's southeast governor, so they naturally instructed Huo Bilan to investigate clearly, and now Li Hongzhang is in Shanghai, he is one of the important supporters of the "Southeast Mutual Insurance", so he just happened to find out directly from him.

In addition, the Eight-Nation Coalition also made preparations for Shanghai, and as soon as the German fleet arrived in Shanghai, it immediately informed the German fleet of the current situation and asked the German fleet to rush to Tianjin as soon as possible, so that the two sides could work together to defeat this group of so-called overseas Chinese.

At the same time, the German Mansion in Beijing also sent a telegram to the German Governor-General of Qingdao in Qingdao, Shandong, which was roughly the same as that sent to Shanghai, urging the German fleet to rush to Tianjin as soon as possible.

After these telegrams were sent, the Eight-Nation Coalition was stationed in Beijing, and only sent some spies to Tianjin to inquire about the news, but they had no intention of sending troops at all. As for the Tianjin Concession, then they can only be left to fend for themselves. Anyway, before the arrival of the German fleet, the Eight-Nation Alliance will not easily send troops.

It's just that the consuls of various countries in Tianjin know these inside information, and they think that the Eight-Nation Coalition Army needs some preparation time, so as long as they hold on for a few more days, the Eight-Nation Coalition Army will rush to reinforce the concession.

Only Fukushima Yasumasa knew in his heart that the Eight-Nation Coalition would not rush to reinforce Tianjin in the short term, and although Fukushima Yasumasa did not have much actual combat experience, his grasp of the situation was much stronger than that of all the consuls. However, of course, Fukushima Yasumasa will not say anything, because he has already calculated that it will be beneficial for Japan to fight between the two sides, and he has also made plans to retreat from the concession as soon as it cannot be held. He had already consulted with the Japanese consul in Tianjin, Ijiin Hikoyoshi, prepared a boat on the dock, lit a fire and stood by, and as soon as the war was unfavorable, he immediately got on the ship and fled north to Beijing. The Japanese Tianjin Concession was not under construction, so there was only one consulate in Tianjin, and the number of people was only about 20 people, so it was easy to retreat.

The other consuls naturally did not know that the Japanese had evil intentions, and had secretly sold all their people, and thought that as long as they held out for a few days, they might be able to wait for reinforcements, so that not only the concession could be saved, but also their own property could be saved. Of course, the consuls of various countries still mainly have a trace of illusion, hoping to keep their property.

At this moment, I only heard "Dang Dang Dang Dang", it turned out that the bell of the hall rang, and everyone's eyes looked at the big bell together, and it was eight o'clock in the morning. And the hearts of the consuls of various countries suddenly hung in the air, as if they were waiting for trial.

And the bell at eight o'clock has not yet sounded, only to hear "boom boom boom", and the sound of explosions is heard continuously. Jin Zhang's body trembled and muttered, "The war has finally begun. ”

At this time, Colonel Bao Yi stood up and said, "Consuls, the enemy has already launched an attack, so I have to go to the front line to command the battle, and I can't stay here." ”

Jin Zhang nodded and said, "Go Colonel." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa also got up and said, "I'll go with Colonel Bauer, I should be able to help." As he spoke, he bowed to everyone and left with Bauer, but when the others were not paying attention, he exchanged glances with the Japanese consul Hikoyoshi.

After the two left, the sound of explosions continued to be heard, and the consuls of various countries were also a little restless, and they all stood up, walked to the window and looked out, as if they wanted to see the situation on the battlefield. However, Gordon Hall was located on the north side of the Victoria Garden (now Jiefang North Road Garden), the central green space of the British Concession in Tianjin, and the direction of the attack through the army was the Zizhulin area (the west side of the intersection of Jilin Road and Chengde Road in the present-day Heping District), and there was still a considerable distance between them, and there were many tall houses in between, so there was no battlefield to be seen at all.

Purple Bamboo Forest is the old place name of Tianjin, which is famous in the modern history of Tianjin. A section from Zhongzhong Road to Yingkou Road is called Zizhulin Road at this time. Therefore, Britain and France were the first to divide the riverside area of the Zizhulin area as a concession, and it was also called the "Zizhulin Concession" at that time. The British Concession built the "Zizhulin Wharf" along the river in Zizhulin, which was later the Datongdao ferry. The French Concession authorities established a barracks at the northern end of Chifeng Road, that is, the French Barracks, commonly known as the "Zizhulin Barracks". However, after the establishment of New China, these related place names have changed, and in the old time and space, the place names related to the original place of Zizhulin are probably only the ruins of Zizhulin Church.

Now the Zizhulin area is located at the junction of the British and French concessions, bordering the Haihe River in the north, Haihai Avenue in the south, near Majiakou, and is located in the waterway and thoroughfare outside Tianjin. At the height of the Boxer Rebellion, fierce battles broke out between the Boxers and the Eight-Nation Coalition over the Zizhulin area. And the crossing army also used the Purple Bamboo Forest area as the first place to attack.

After looking at the window for a while, they could not see anything, so the consuls of all countries returned to their seats in despair, and then De Xuanlin said: "Ladies and gentlemen, now that the war has begun, although we must do our best to defend the concession, we must also prepare for the worst, and the reason is to do our best to protect the inhabitants of the concession. Therefore, I suggest that the residents in the concession should be resettled in accordance with the demands of those overseas Chinese, so that if the concession really cannot be held, it can also reduce the casualties of the residents. ”

After listening to this, the other consuls also felt that De Xuanlin's suggestion was very reasonable, regardless of whether the other party would respect their promise or not, but since the other party asked for it, then they would not visit and do what they said, which was also to leave a way for themselves to live, in case the concession really could not be kept, they would also hide in the residential area, at least they could save their lives.

Of course, De Xuanlin's suggestion is also for his own sake, his current status is the director of the Tianjin Taxation Department, even if the concession is broken, it will be fine, but he must try his best to put aside the consuls of various countries, and don't involve himself.

At this time, Ijiin Hikoyoshi got up and said, "Everyone, since this is the case, I am going to arrange for the Japanese expatriate, anyway, it is useless for us to sit here, it is better to do something useful." ”

Listening to what Hikoyoshi said in Ijiin, De Xuanlin also said: "I also have to go back to the tax department, and there are still many things to deal with." ”

The two of them took the lead, and the other consuls also got up and left, each doing what they thought would be useful. After a while, Jin Zhang was the only one left in the conference room.

The sound of guns and cannons outside was still ringing, Jin Zhang touched the cross hanging on his chest, sighed softly, and said, "God, please bless us." ”

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