After receiving the order of the Military Commission, the Sixth Army immediately moved and dispatched two divisions and two regiments to attack Baodingfu. Now stationed in Baoding Mansion is the sixth town of Beiyang, the commander Wang Shizhen is called Beiyang Longmu, is one of Yuan Shikai's most trusted subordinates, so it is necessary to concentrate heavy troops to attack Baoding Mansion.

Since all the villages in Hebei were already under the control of the East China government, the People's Army marched all the way into Hebei Province until it approached Baoding, and the Qing army was not aware of it at all. The People's Army launched an attack on Baoding Mansion at night, and Wang Shizhen, who was stationed in Baoding Mansion, immediately ordered to abandon the military camp in Baoding and retreat to Zhuzhou.

Although the East China government did not greet Yuan Shikai during this attack, but now Yuan Shikai knows that the East China government's style of action has always been after the fight, so it is certain to use force, so Yuan Shikai has already warned Wang Shizhen that once the People's Army attacks Baoding, it must not fight with the force, and it is necessary to retreat and protect the army. Wang Shizhen is also a smart person, the last time the Qing court attacked the river and lake base area, dispatched three towns in Beiyang, but two were disabled, and now they have not recovered, and Tie Liang and Liangbi of the first town have been dismissed, Duan Churui can only be an instructor in the military academy now, and he will fight hard with the People's Army, isn't he killing himself?

After the People's Army captured Baoding, it continued to march until Gaomidian, which was only about 10 kilometers away from Zhuozhou, and then captured the county seat of Zhufuzhou in Hebei one by one. Since all the villages outside the city had been controlled by the People's Army, the attack on the county seat of Fuzhou was also carried out very smoothly, and three days later, the cities of Zhaozhou, Hejian, Baoding, Jizhou, and Daimyo were all occupied by the People's Army.

The loss of Baoding Mansion shocked the Qing court, because before that, the ministers of the four countries had repeatedly assured the Qing court that the People's Army was now taking care of itself and would not attack Beijing at all, but now the People's Army's troops were approaching Zhuzhou, and after Wang Shizhen retreated to Zhuzhou, he had issued 12 urgent documents in a row, claiming that the People's Army was too strong, and there were few soldiers in Zhuzhou City, and he was afraid that he would not be able to defeat the People's Army, so he asked the imperial court to send troops to reinforce it.

Originally, the Qing court was still hesitating how to deal with the surging pressure of public opinion, under the coercion and temptation of the ministers of the four countries and the Manchu nouveau riche, Cixi and Guangxu's hearts were also a little shaken, Bi Jing's goal of the East China government was to destroy the Qing court, which was already known to passers-by, so once the East China government won this battle, the next target must be the Qing court.

Although Cixi has the idea of dragging it out until she closes her eyes and doesn't care about what happens after her death, if she has a chance to save the Qing court, she is naturally willing to give it a try, after all, she is still the queen mother of the Qing court, even if she closes her eyes, she still has to go to see the ancestors and ancestors of the Qing court! Cixi is a very superstitious person, knowing that what he has done is indeed difficult to explain to his ancestors, and Guangxu's idea is more direct, although he is a puppet, but Bi Jing is also the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and there is a relatively strong emperor responsibility, not to mention that now Guangxu still has a trace of luck, anyway, Cixi is also 70 years old, and she can still have a few days to live, and when Cixi dies, she can officially pro-government, and then pull out the chaos and put things right, and it is not too late to make great efforts, so you can't watch the Qing court go to extinction. So at this point, it is very rare for the pair to be in harmony with each other.

The pressure of public opinion was not insurmountable for the Qing court, and the opinions of local officials could also be asked to help foreign countries exert pressure, but Cixi and Guangxu still had considerable taboo against the East China government, after all, in the past few years, the East China government's foreign performance can indeed be described as brilliant, and it is indeed unknown whether the four countries can defeat the East China government, so the Qing court has not been able to make a decision for a long time.

At this moment, the People's Army suddenly attacked and occupied Baoding Mansion, opening the door to the south of Beijing and giving the Qing court a blow. Cixi was shocked, and quickly sent Yuan Shikai to the ministers of the four countries to discuss countermeasures. Because Cixi knew that the army of the Qing court at this time could not be counted on, and if she wanted to deal with the northeast government, she still had to find help from foreigners.

In fact, the decisive action of the East China government was indeed unexpected by the envoys of the four countries, but the East China government could not hold the war for a long time, and if the war with the Qing court was prolonged, it would only consume the strength of the East China government to meet the British and French coalition forces, so after consultation, the ministers of the four countries, represented by the British minister Zhu Erdian, suggested to the Qing court that they abandon Beijing and flee to the south, and then call on the southern provinces to jointly deal with the East China government.

The idea of the ministers of the four countries was that Beijing was too close to the East China government and too vulnerable to the threat of the East China government, which was very unfavorable to the Qing court after joining the Four-Power Alliance, so it was better to abandon Beijing and flee to the south, so as to stay away from the East China government, throw the north to the East China government, and consume the strength of the East China government, and the economy of southern China was developed, and the money and food were sufficient, which was also conducive to the long-term confrontation between the Qing court and the East China government, and completely tied the Qing court to the chariot of the four countries.

When Cixi heard this suggestion, her face changed at that time, Guangxu's face sank, and the Manchu nouveau riche who were clamoring to join the Four-Power Alliance were also speechless. In fact, the idea of the envoys of the four countries is reasonable, but it focuses too much on the perspective of reality, and ignores the particularity of the Qing court, because the foundation of the Qing court is in the north, and the south is in the southeast after the Gengzi State changed the southeast mutual protection, the local power has increased greatly, and the Qing court's control over the south has been quite limited, so the Qing court has basically acquiesced to the local power of the southeastern provinces, and the southeastern provinces are still under the Qing court as the right way, so that the two sides can maintain a balanced situation.

But if the Qing court moved to the south, it was undoubtedly abandoning its foundation, and after arriving in the south, it would completely become a puppet court, Cixi was proficient in power, so it could not be seen, although Guangxu could not see so deep, but also felt that it was inappropriate, because the dynasties in Chinese history, all those who crossed to the south, were basically difficult to maintain for a long time, not to mention that the Qing court entered the customs to build a foundation, and part of the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty fled to the south to establish the Southern Ming regime, and the result was only maintained for more than 20 years, and it was basically wiped out by the Qing court.

Most of the Manchu nouveau riche don't understand power and history, but their foundation, real estate, real estate, shops, money, etc. are all in the north, and once they flee to the south, they will inevitably give up these industries, how can these Manchu nouveau riche be willing to do so?

At this time, Cixi also regretted it in her heart, after the change of Gengzi Kingdom, she repeatedly warned herself that the imperial court should recuperate and recuperate, and must not be strong, let alone provoke foreigners and the East China government, and survive the past few years in peace. But he couldn't control it, and last year he was instigated by the Manchu nouveau riche, so he was hot-headed and sent troops to attack the East China government's river and lake base areas, but was defeated by the East China government, and the new army that had been trained for several years was beaten by one-third of it.

Now there is no other way but to give in to the overseas Chinese, so Cixi ordered Yuan Shikai to negotiate with the East China government. However, Yuan Shikai is not stupid, although he can negotiate, but he can't carry this pot, so he played the Qing court, and he wanted to negotiate by himself, and the court must have an attitude first to show sincerity, otherwise it is difficult for him to come forward.

Cixi also understood that the Great Qing State could no longer find a man like Li Hongzhang, so she had no choice but to issue an edict and officially announced that the Qing court would never cooperate with Britain, France, Japan and Russia, and that the Qing court would not participate in the battle between Britain, France, Japan and Russia and the East China government, and remained neutral.

And as soon as this holy decree was made, the ministers of the four countries immediately couldn't sit still, and once again came to the yamen of the prime minister's palace to ask Yuan Shikai what was going on, and Yuan Shikai spread his hands, saying that this was the meaning of the imperial court, and he had no choice, and he could report to the imperial court on behalf of the countries if they had any requirements. Yuan Shikai pushed it like this, and the four ministers had no choice but to leave with him. So Yuan Shikai began negotiations with the East China government.

The East China government originally did not plan to destroy the Qing court now, but just forced the Qing court to not dare to join the Four-Nation Alliance by force. Therefore, the East China government also promised not to attack Beijing, but Baoding did not return it to the Qing court, on the grounds that it was not at ease with the Qing court. Moreover, the East China government intends to continue to infiltrate the villages into the Beijing area.

The East China government insisted on not returning Baoding Mansion, and the Qing court certainly had no choice. Fortunately, the People's Army withdrew from Zhuozhou, and it seemed that it did not plan to attack Beijing in the short term, so Cixi was also relieved, and the next day, Cixi and Guangxu moved to live in the Summer Palace, leaving only the Military Aircraft Department to handle government affairs.

Although the People's Army temporarily withdrew its troops, Cixi still could not be completely assured, after all, Baoding was under the control of the People's Army, and the gate was in the hands of others, of course, it could be called at any time, so Cixi thought that it would be uneasy to stay in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and move to the Summer Palace to live, which could make the distance from the People's Army a little farther, so that when the People's Army came over, it would be convenient to escape.

Due to the experience of "Northern Hunting" 6 years ago, Cixi also made careful arrangements this time, first prepared 10 donkey carts, each of which placed some clothes, daily necessities, food, and 200 taels of silver, which were guarded by a group of henchmen and eunuchs, and ordered people to rush to Huailai County to prepare pavilions, food, clothes, horses, Once they really escaped from Beijing, Huailai County was the first stop to settle down; and then they made arrangements and preparations in the state capitals along the way to escape, in short, if they fled again this time, they would never be as hasty and embarrassed as they were six years ago.