In the old Chinese concession area has a very distinctive feature, that is, as far as possible along the river arrangement, the Shanghai concession is along the Huangpu River, the Hankou concession is along the Yangtze River, and the Tianjin concession is along the Haihe River, this is mainly to consider the transportation of materials, because the construction of roads and railways is not only slow, but also large investment, but also involves the trouble of occupying land and land, it is better to be close to the river can be borrowed by water transportation, at most only need to build wharves, the investment is much smaller.

Compared with the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River, the Haihe River can indeed only be regarded as a small river, the widest is only 200 meters, and the depth is only three or five meters, but it is better to have a river than no river, and the Haihe River leads directly to the Bohai Sea, which is more advantageous than the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River.

After the establishment of the concession in Tianjin, all countries have been building and rebuilding wharves, although the concessions of various countries have been expanded many times, but the position of each concession to occupy the river bank has never changed. Because the British Tianjin Formation was the tallest and the first to be built, by this time, the facilities and design of the British wharf were the most complete among the concession wharves of various countries. It has not only set up a wharf donation office to be responsible for wharf management, but also built a number of mechanical rooms, fire water tanks, public toilets and quay wall lifters to realize the complete wharf function.

The British Concession Wharf (now Yingkou Road to Kaifeng Road) is about 1,200 meters long, and the most powerful industrial and commercial enterprises and institutions in China and Britain gathered along the coast, such as HSBC, the British Consulate, Jardine Matheson, Swire & Co., the Customs Department, China Merchants South Stack, Yonggu Engineering Company, Dagu Barge Company, British Club, Jardine Matheson South Stack, etc., all built their own wharves along the coast. Normally, the wharf is a busy and lively scene, with the sharp and piercing whistles of ships coming in and out, and the sound of rolling freight trucks almost crowding the banks of the wharf.

However, when Fukushima Yasumasa arrived at the British Concession Pier, the former busy and lively scene was completely gone, although there were still many ships docked on the shore, but it was deserted and empty, and the dense gunfire and explosions could be heard in the concession area behind him.

It turned out that this morning, in order to stabilize people's minds, the concession authorities ordered that no one should leave by boat, and sent troops to block the wharf and drive all the sailors and crews on board ashore to completely dispel the idea of some people wanting to escape by boat. But later, in order to resist the attack of the crossing army, most of the troops blocking the pier were transferred, leaving only a dozen men to guard the ship on the shore.

But now the dozen or so soldiers guarding the pier have been lying on the wharf, and there is a small steamer in the river with thick black smoke coming out of the smoke, with plaster flags hanging on the mast, and the bow of the ship is written in Japanese with the words "Tojin Maru", and several Japanese soldiers armed with rifles are on the side of the ship, beckoning to Fukushima Yasumasa: "General Fukushima, this way, this way." ”

Yasumasa Fukushima stepped up, took a few steps, and boarded the steamer, while the soldiers immediately put away the gangplank, untied the cables, and shouted, "Open the boat, open the boat, get out of the boat." ”

The steamer had already started a fire, so it immediately started and slowly sailed away from the dock, and sailed upstream, heading northwest along the Haihe River. Fukushima Yasuma was standing at the stern of the boat, looking at the pier that was gradually moving away, and the gunfire in the concession area was gradually becoming smaller, and at this moment, I saw several overseas Chinese soldiers crossing the street, coming to the pier, looking at the Tojin Maru in the distance, one soldier raised the rifle in his hand, although he gestured, but did not shoot, obviously did not intend to stop them.

Fukushima Yasumasa then turned around and came to the cabin.

The Toshin Maru is an ironwaki wooden-hulled ship with a displacement of 260 tons and a draft of 2 meters, which can be driven along the river all the way to the Beijing area. However, the hull of the Tojin Maru is not large, and the cabin is also very narrow, only seven or eight square meters, at this time, the Japanese consul in Tianjin, Ijiin Hikoyoshi, was sitting in the cabin, and after hearing the movement, he opened his eyes and said, "Fukushima-kun, please take a seat." ”

Fukushima Yasushi sat down opposite Ijiin Hikoyoshi, and Ijiin Hikoyoshi said: "We were able to escape the rental world safely this time, thanks to Fukushima-kun's arrangement, and now the other consuls are probably already prisoners of this group of overseas Chinese." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa said: "Ijiin, we are all working for the future of the empire, and we have given up the empire's concession in Japan, so the interests of the empire have suffered, so it is not a glorious thing to escape the lease. ”

Ijiin Hikoyoshi said with a smile: "Fukushima-kun, to be honest, our concession in Tianjin is just a swampy area, and the value of development is not great, so giving up the Tianjin concession will not be a big loss to the empire, and our evacuation of Tianjin is also temporary, as Fukushima-kun said, after the arrival of the German fleet, this group of overseas Chinese is doomed to failure, and when the time comes, we can kill it again, and maybe we can get a better place." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa was silent for a while before he said: "Ijiin-kun, have you ever thought about it, if the German fleet arrives and still can't defeat this group of overseas Chinese, but is defeated by this group of overseas Chinese, what should I do?"

Ijiin Hikoyoshi laughed and said, "How is this possible? How can this group of overseas Chinese be the opponent of the combined forces of the German fleet and the Eight-Nation Alliance? Fukushima-kun, are you joking?"

Fukushima Yasumasa said: "Ijiyuan-kun, I'm not kidding, when this group of overseas Chinese captured Dagukou, we didn't take it too seriously, thinking that as long as we sent troops, we would be able to recover Dagukou, but what was the result? Not only did we not recover Dagukou, on the contrary, even Tianjin was lost, who is sure that the German fleet would be able to defeat them as soon as it arrived, and according to my impressions of contacting them, this group of overseas Chinese was not as stupid as the Qing State, if they did not have a certain certainty, would they easily start a war against the Eight-Nation Alliance?"

In fact, Fukushima Yasumasa was originally full of confidence in defeating this group of overseas Chinese after the arrival of the German fleet, but after seeing that the crossing army easily broke through the defense line of the concession, Fukushima Yasumasa's confidence began to waver, and he faintly felt that this group of overseas Chinese might not be so easy to defeat.

At this time, Hikoyoshi also saw that Fukushima Yasumasa was not joking, and his face couldn't help but become solemn, and said, "Fukushima-kun, then what do you say should be done, do you want to send more troops from the empire? Or let the combined fleet also attack?"

Fukushima Yasumasa shook his head and said: "That's not enough, after all, as the Ijiin just said, the empire's interests in Tianjin are not big, on the contrary, Britain and France and other countries have a lot of interests in Tianjin, so it is right for Britain and France to be anxious, and Britain and France are too far away from the Qing country, and it is too late to send troops from the country, so we can only ask the empire to send additional troops, so we can only ask the empire to send additional troops, so we can put forward conditions to them." It's better to wait and see what happens. From this point of view, it is good to let this group of overseas Chinese make trouble, or the same sentence, only when the water is muddyed can it be fished. ”

Ijiin Hikoyoshi nodded and said, "It's still Fukushima-kun who has thought it through, okay, after we get to Beijing, let's wait and see what happens." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa took out a letter from his pocket, handed it to Hikoyoshi Ijiin, and said, "Ijiin-kun, after you arrive in Beijing, give this letter to General Yamaguchi, and then tell him what we just said, and General Yamaguchi knows what to do." ”

Ijiin Hikoyoshi was stunned and said, "Fukushima-kun, aren't you going to Beijing?"

Fukushima Yasumasa nodded and said, "It doesn't make much sense to go to Beijing now, I plan to go to Shanghai to find out the news." ”

Ijiin Hikoyoshi said: "What news did you go to Shanghai to inquire about?"

Fukushima Yasumasa said with a smile: "Ijiyuan-kun, although this war was fought in the north, but Shanghai is actually the place where the direction of this war is decided, the southern governor of the Qing State signed the [Southeast Mutual Insurance Charter] with various countries in Shanghai, and Li Hongzhang has already arrived in Shanghai, and is negotiating peace talks with the consuls of various countries. In addition, regardless of whether this group of overseas Chinese has anything to do with the southern governors of the Qing State, if they are smart people, they should know that the current Eight-Nation Alliance is not a normal embodiment of the strength of the Eight Nations at all, so even if they defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance and the German fleet, it will be useless, no matter how strong their strength is, they will never be the opponent of the combined forces of the Eight Nations, and they will eventually return to the negotiating table. Sooner or later, they will go to Shanghai as well. ”

Ijiin Hikoyoshi suddenly realized: "That's why they are more tolerant of the concession, and this is to prepare for negotiations." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa said: "Yes, I have just figured out this truth, now this group of overseas Chinese has occupied Tianjin and Dagukou, which has the capital to negotiate with various countries, and then controls the consuls and residents of various countries in the concession, which is equivalent to having a large number of hostages, and undoubtedly has a lot of bargaining chips in the negotiations with various countries, as long as they defeat the German fleet, then this negotiation is obviously very beneficial to the Qing State." ”

Ijiin Hikoyoshi nodded and said, "Fukushima-kun, you are right, do you think this group of so-called overseas Chinese can really defeat the German fleet?"

Fukushima Yasumasa smiled bitterly, although he has the rank of major general in the army, he has always been engaged in intelligence work, and military experience is his biggest weakness, so he really can't say which side can win, so he said: "I can't say clearly, but no matter which side wins, the center of the next step will definitely shift to Shanghai, so I have to rush to Shanghai immediately to prepare." ”

Hikoyoshi Ijiin said, "Okay, then Fukushima-kun plans to get off the ship there." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa thought for a while and said, "Just get off the boat at the mouth of the North Canal, you go from the North Canal to Beijing, and I will go to Shanghai." ”

Ijiin Hikoyoshi nodded and said, "There are still a few hours from here to the North Canal, Fukushima-kun will rest on the boat, and when you get to the mouth of the North Canal, I will let someone inform you." ”

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