In the back hall of the Liangguang Governor's Palace, the weather in the midsummer evening is a little dull, but it is more comfortable than the sultry heat at noon. In a pavilion in the corner of the Taihu Lake stone near the lake, two well-dressed maids are massaging the calves of an old man in a lake gauze robe lying on a bamboo recliner. The old man seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, and there was silence all around, and even the few Goshkha standing in the cloister were like mud tires and wood sculptures. Suddenly, the old man's wrinkled face opened slightly, and a trace of essence flashed away. Outside the courtyard gate, a middle-aged man in a robe and a horse coat walked into the small courtyard in a little hurry, walked through the corridor, and climbed the Taihu Lake Stone, and the surrounding Goshha and maids also seemed to turn a blind eye, and even the rhythm of the massage did not change in the slightest.

"Zhongtang, China Merchants telegram." The middle-aged man sank slightly, and whispered in the old man's ear.

"Hmm" The old man coughed lightly for a while, sat up with the support of the two maids, and the two maids were slightly blessed, turned around and flipped away. "Youqiao, sit down."

"Yes." The middle-aged man sat down and said softly: "The west has arrived in Baoding, and it is not clear whether it will go west or south, but there are already some people around me." ”

The old man didn't seem surprised, just nodded slightly, picked up the teapot without saying a word, and washed the tea slowly.

"Yuan Xiangcheng, Yuxian, and Rebudan Jiaren all brought the elite of the headquarters, and the strength was just over 10,000. However, I didn't see Lord Cen's soldiers and horses, and according to the eyeliner, there was a new army of less than 1,000 people, which seemed to be very different from other departments, and it was reported that it was a chamber of commerce in Jinan Prefecture, led by a factory owner named Wu Chenxuan. ”

"Xiang Cheng is one better chess player after all." The old man took a sip of tea, "It can be regarded as a talent from the country, it seems that the old man can put a boat on the West Lake." ”

"Together with the call for mutual protection in the southeast this time, I am afraid that the gentry in Lianghu, Liangjiang, Sichuan and other places may not be willing to return to the past." The middle-aged man frowned and said, "If the west turns over the account book, I'm afraid it will cause a confrontation between the north and the south." ”

"Hehe, whether it is the old man, Zhang Zhidong, or Liu Shenyi in the southeast now, they no longer have that energy, and the rest are all pearls of rice, so it is difficult to do anything. What's more, our foundation is still in Beiyang, and these thoughts are just speculations by others, and the west understands it very well. ”

"In this case, Yuan Xiangcheng is probably about to take advantage of the situation." The middle-aged man also understood what the old man meant, but he was very disdainful of Yuan Shikai as a person, and he had sympathy with the monarchs of the Restoration before, so he wanted to listen to one or two.

"Xiang Cheng is also a native of Beiyang, so he will naturally surpass him when he gets this opportunity." The old man poured himself a drink, and he was very pleasant, "Young Qiao, you can't fight for a moment of honor and disgrace in the court, if you want to win luck and longevity, Xiangcheng may not take the lead in this aspect." ”

"By the way, it is reported that Yuan Xiangcheng was not the first to meet this time, so that the regimental training envoy under his command took the lead." The selfishness of the middle-aged man naturally didn't expect to hide it from the old man, and said a little stupidly. "The special reward of the west has been promoted from the donation class to the actual teaching of the political envoy in Shandong, which is really progressing."

"Well, what about the reaction of the nations now." The old man didn't care about these gossip, after all, a blue-topped man was a heaven in the eyes of the people, but a political envoy was just a pawn in his house, and there were many people who came and went, and even the porter might not remember so much.

"Now it is the German Marshal Wadsey's palm print, Britain and Germany do not agree to peace talks, Lao Maozi and Little Nose plan to get off the donkey, but after all, they are not in charge. In addition, now the capital is in chaos, the head of the coalition has just been inexplicably attacked once, I don't know which way the gods shot, tossed all night, killed one or two hundred foreign soldiers, even Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Russia several governors and generals have been tied to the ticket, and now the foreigners want to negotiate and have to tie up the ticket first, and the west has to go to the back row. ”

"Ahem" The old man was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter, coughing non-stop. "What the 100,000 tigers of the great country of the Celestial Empire didn't do, let a group of people in the rivers and lakes do it, this is our Great Qing Kingdom. Hehe, okay, this guy has helped Lafayette earn face, it's better than losing face. ”

"Then we" The middle-aged man obviously wanted the old man to give him some guidance, but after the old man smiled, he closed his eyes and recuperated, and he didn't say anything for a long time, and the middle-aged man retreated with interest.

The old man muttered between sleeping and not sleeping: "The donation class is over-taught, the old drama is sung newly, hehe, it's a little interesting." The maid who pinched her legs and rubbed her shoulders on both sides lowered her head and didn't seem to notice.

Zhang Zhidong and Liu Shenyi both expressed their hope that the imperial court and foreigners would reconcile with each other, so as to stabilize the country and the people of Li, but they did not mention the original intention that if the imperial court did not listen to the advice, it would do its own thing, and the most important thing was that Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Beiyang, also called on the imperial court and other countries to exercise restraint and jointly try to peacefully resolve the Beijing-Tianjin crisis.

If the political turmoil in the south is temporarily suspended, then the north of China is full of smoke. The Boxers, the White Lotus Sect, the Revolutionary Party, and even the bandits and bullies in various places were not willing to be lonely, and took advantage of the fact that the government and government forces in various places had no time to take care of the opportunity, and they rose up one after another, and the three to five hundred croppers dared to nominate a "Shuntian King" to come out. The little foundation of the government can keep the safety of the city up to the sky, and even many counties have only three shifts of officers to guard the city gates. In order to protect themselves, the gentry from all over the country have joined the village to start a group, and for a time the group training is also blooming everywhere, and some of the group training is simply a nest of snakes and rats, during the day it is the group practice of the joint village mutual protection, and at night it is the bandits who rob the house.

In the west of Beijing in this troubled era, there is such a Vulture Temple, located on the Guji Mountain, although the incense of the Temple is not prosperous, but under the help of the good people of the surrounding villages and towns, more than a dozen novices can barely make a living under the control of the abbot. Half a month ago, a group of boxers with yellow scarves settled here, and this group of people originally added up to more than 100 people, and the brothers who escaped from Beijing one after another came to defect, and it was already 200 and zero. A group of people originally had no subordinates to each other, so naturally they didn't accept sleep, but Senior Brother Tian, who was the leader, was very skillful, and the three Vajra protectors under his command, with two guns on the left and right, were said to be a hundred steps away from the cannon and double lights, and there was the blessing of the mana of the old mother, and when they fled, they robbed a few large banner families in Shahe Town, and they had some foundation for food, cloth, guns and ammunition. Now Senior Brother Tian also has more than 60 minions who make quick guns, plus three Dharma protectors and thirty or fifty masters who are coerced, he is naturally worthy of the dragon head big brother. cleaned up a few thorns that played tricks, and the rest were all cleaned up by the Vajra Protector, and no one dared to raise their hair again.

On the evening of this day, a Dharma protector came to the wing room of Guanyin Hall and knocked on the door, and it took a long time to hear the sobbing sound inside and the angry roar of Senior Brother Tian, "Which four pests are mourning, uncle, I am not available, hurry up and roll a few eggs." ”

"Big brother, I'm Ma Liu. The folks in Shandong Mansion have sent a letter, please call the shots. ”

"Damn, ah, ah, oh, the horse protector, ha, okay, I'll be right away, the horse protector and wait." I heard the sound of clothes squirming inside, but the woman's cry was muffled and seemed to be gagged. Senior Brother Shao Shitian poked his head out while tying his trouser belt, and when he saw Ma Liu, who was really the head of the three Dharma protectors, the depressed look on his face immediately turned into a flattering smile, "Ma Protector, but the letter in the house?" ”

"Back to the eldest brother, it is a letter from the family, please call the shots of the eldest brother." Ma Lu was neither humble nor arrogant, and waited outside the threshold with an indifferent expression.

"This, okay, let's go in" Senior Brother Tian just wanted to talk into the house, turned his head to look at the situation in the house, and quickly changed his words, "Let's go to the main hall to talk, big brother, I don't know much literacy, and I also ask the Dharma Protector to read the letter." Saying that, the two entered the Guanyin Hall one after the other. When he was young, Senior Brother Tian stood on the altar and called a little minion, "You kid, hurry up and ring the bell." ”

"Ahh The little minion didn't react for a while, and he took a kick on the ass before he ran to the bell tower, and for a while, the bell sounded urgently, and just after dinner, everyone who was gambling and resting hurriedly gathered in front of the altar in the main hall to listen to the distribution of the leading brother. Senior Brother Tian ascended the altar to point the general, dispatched 30 gunners and a dozen masters, caught up with the cart and went to the direction of the capital, the old and weak stragglers left behind were scattered, and a Wang Protector took a dozen or so law enforcement halls to inspect back and forth, everyone also guessed that there was a big operation tonight, since the big boss did not let himself participate, he was also happy to have a leisure, as for gathering crowds to make trouble, he didn't want to think about it, after all, Wang Protector's double guns are not vegetarian.

Saying that there is a branch at each end, Senior Brother Tian has just worked hard, and his legs and feet have been weak when he goes down the mountain, so he has to sit in the cart, and Ma Liu's protector also got into the car, and the two of them did not say a word in the car, and the whole team walked silently for more than an hour, and the sky was already dark, and they stopped to rest on the edge of the official road in a mountain col. A quarter of an hour later a group of men and horses turned the col and came towards them. The two sides stopped more than a dozen zhang apart, Senior Brother Tian took the horse protector to negotiate, and there were also two guys in black clothes in the crowd opposite, after a while, the later team let go to the side of the road, flashed out more than a dozen trailers on the official road, and dozens of people tied to the back of the car, now they are so tired that they are paralyzed on the ground, helpless rope tied around their necks, and they will inevitably bring down a piece if they want to lie down. Senior Brother Tian waved his hand at his subordinates, everyone hurriedly stepped forward, this look can startle everyone, it was just dark and far away, I didn't see clearly, the feelings of this car are tied to the back of the car are some blonde and blue-eyed foreign devils, look at the costumes are also some foreign officers and soldiers, good guys, actually tied the meat tickets of foreign devils, after everyone exclaimed, was kicked by Senior Brother Tian for a while, and hurriedly stepped forward according to the instructions of the big boss, the two of them served a foreign devil officers and soldiers, and they all gave a big car to themselves, The foreign devil has probably suffered a lot, and this will be obedient. A few people sat in a mule cart with their hands tied behind their backs, face to face, surrounded by minions with guns, busy with a bag of cigarettes, and finally everything was done. The two groups returned to the Vulture Monastery one after the other. Senior Brother Tian seems to be very familiar with these guys in Western black uniforms, and several people greeted each other, talking and laughing, to the effect that the foreign meat ticket tied to this time is an earth-shattering ghost and god, and they will knock on a foreign bamboo bar, and everyone will make a fortune together. Occasionally, someone inside muttered two sentences such as "to tie" and "sweep", and the masters who were driving the car couldn't understand it, and thought it was the dialect of the mound, but the old Maozi governor Alekseev who was firmly tied to the gang lowered his head and pretended to be sleepy, his eyes flashed with anger, he could understand this language, because he had dealt with these gangsters five years ago, and he also knew some Chinese, and he could guess the general meaning, so he quickly lowered his head and pricked up his ears to distinguish carefully. Just when His Excellency the Governor was worried about his fate, the Grand Protector of Ma Liu, who was walking in front, and the leader in black uniform looked at each other mysteriously and smiled, knowing in their hearts that most of this matter was in order.