The Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Xu Yongyi to send a note to the Japanese troops outside the city to protest against the Japanese army's failure to keep the agreement.

The head of the Japanese army's Yenching diplomacy, Minister Komura Shoutaro, quibbled that the Qing Dynasty had not yet officially launched peace talks and was still in a state of war, and even if there was a 'regrettable' war, it would not be regarded as a violation of the agreement.

Just like the fact that the Qing army was at the mouth of the Tang River in advance, innocently attacking the Oriental army was all because of the 'misunderstanding' caused by the lag of news.

If the Qing Dynasty wanted to end the Ludong War, they could send a minister and a team of Japanese heralds to Ludong and order the Japanese 11th Brigade to stop the war.

In desperation, Cixi had no choice but to be a dead horse as a live horse doctor, and ordered the prime minister Yamen to select a capable minister, and together with the Japanese heralds, he immediately rushed to Ludong to deliver the order.

According to the itinerary, even if it is a fast change of horses all the way, it is estimated that it will be early March when the herald soldiers arrive in the Leiden area, and at that time it is not known what the whole Ludong chaos will become.

At noon on the same day, Li Hongzhang and his entourage arrived at Jinmen and began to set up the Dongdu beggar and embassy.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Ninghe troops arrived at Jinmen, and then handed over to the west city and the city defense on both sides of the north city with the city defense battalion.

On the same day, 15 horse-drawn wagons carrying 600,000 rounds of rifle ammunition and 360,000 taels of silver from the military depot of Dagu Fort, escorted by a company of soldiers, marched towards Yongping Mansion.

At 4 o'clock in the morning of February 26, more than 600 remnants of the 2nd Brigade of the 13th Wing of the Japanese Army surrounded Cangzhou and climbed the city wall at night, and then began to attack a battalion of city defense soldiers in the inner city.

In the early morning of the same day, Cangzhou fell, the Japanese army killed 31 Qing soldiers and captured 118 people, the rest of the Qing army fled from Sanmen, and Liu Yongde, the capital of Cangzhou, was captured.

The Japanese army then occupied Cangzhou.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, the headquarters of the 11th Brigade of the Japanese Army, the 3rd Squadron of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, and the 23rd Wing attacked Penglai City.

The battle was fierce, and when the Japanese army climbed the city wall, Li Bingheng, the governor of Ludong, personally went to the city wall to supervise the battle, and finally repelled the Japanese army.

At 16 o'clock in the afternoon, Japanese artillery arrived outside the city of Penglai.

At 17 o'clock, the temporary positions of the artillery were arranged, and then a heavy artillery bombardment began.

The combined fire of 80-caliber high-explosive bombs and 75-caliber grenade bombs exploded, and the unsuspecting Qing troops on the city wall died in pieces, falling down the city wall like dumplings, and a large number of thatched houses in the city ignited a raging fire.

The city was filled with miserable howls, like a fiery purgatory.

This terrifying artillery bombardment instantly broke the will to defend the 20,000 Qing troops in the city.

Immediately, the Qing army began to abandon the city and break through, trying to escape from death at night.

was chased and killed by the Japanese army all the way, especially the 200 Japanese cavalry, who were chased for more than ten miles, and the field was full of corpses, and the knives of the Japanese cavalry were cut to the edge.

Penglai City Falls!

On February 27, after nearly 5 days of stop-and-go, He Changying led 4,000 troops into Langfang City and began to take over the defense of Langfang City.

And Wan Benhua's 4 sentinels in southern Anhui were stationed at the four gates to control the entry and exit of Langfang.

On February 28, the 3rd Brigade of the 13th Wing of the Japanese Army arrived outside Jicheng and confronted the 3rd Battalion of Cao Fengyi, the deputy general of Ludong in the city, the 1st Battalion of the Xiangzi Army, and the Jicheng City Defense Battalion.

Although Cao Fengyi, who was in charge of the defense of Jeseong, was frightened, the walls of Jeseong were tall, there were 3,000 soldiers in the city to defend it, and the Japanese army was all infantry, so he was not very afraid and swore to die in Jeseong.

At this time, Huaien, the head of the British Baptist Church in Yantai Guangzhi Academy, took the Yanjing minister Ou Gegan and obtained a clear code telegram issued by the commander of the Japanese 1st Army, Kuroki Weizhen, and found the Japanese army captain Shigang Masayi Shaozuo.

The Japanese army was asked not to attack and enter Jeseong.

"The commander of the 1st Oriental Army, Kuroki, sent a telegram to Zhen, saying that the empire was already negotiating peace in East Asia with the Qing Dynasty, and seeing this telegram, his troops were not allowed to take the initiative to attack the Qing troops in Jicheng, that is, they were not allowed to enter Jicheng."

After reading the telegram, Shigang Masayi immediately said that although it was impossible to determine the authenticity of the telegram, the empire believed that the British friends would obey the telegram and the army would never enter Jeseong, nor would it take the initiative to attack the Qing army in the city.

However, Shigang Masayi also made his conditions, and the 4 battalions in the city were not city defense soldiers and must take the initiative to leave Jeseong.

Wynne said that although he could not make a promise, he would persuade the 4 battalions of field troops in the city to evacuate Jeseong.

Cao Fengyi, who got the news, contacted Yantai, and Liu Hanfang of Laiden Qingdao Station called back that Li Bingheng, the governor of Ludong, did not arrive in Yantai with the defeated army, and would forward the telegram to Tongzhou and report it to the Prime Minister Yamen.

In the afternoon of the same day, Liu Hanfang's telegram reached the Forbidden City, and the palace was shocked, one of which was that Penglai's 20,000 troops were all defeated, and Li Bingheng, the governor of Ludong, was still missing, and the second was that the Japanese soldiers had actually reached Jicheng.

After this battle, Lu Dong has no soldiers to fight!

Subsequently, after a fierce debate, it was confirmed by Ogergon from the Japanese army outside the city that the Japanese army would never enter Jeseong.

Cixi immediately issued an order to allow Cao Fengyi to evacuate Jicheng, garrison Qihe County, and monitor the Japanese army outside Jicheng.

At the same time, he sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang of Jinmen that he needed to leave as soon as possible.

In the evening of the same day, Dongdu beggar and Minister Plenipotentiary Li Hongzhang held a banquet in Fumanlou in Jinmen to entertain Dongdu members.

The attachés who accompanied him were: Li Jingfang, a senator of Jiangsu Cunjidao, Luo Fenglu, a counselor of the Erpinding Dai Registered Customs, Ma Jianzhong, a candidate of the Erpinding Daidai, Lin Lianhui, an alternate of the Zhili of Sipinjie, an attendant doctor, Tao Dajun, a candidate for the rank of salt ambassador, Zhang Liu, a candidate of the Hebei probationary county of the fifth rank, and Bidege, a former vice consul of the United States, ,—— a total of 33 people.

In addition, there were many servants such as the steward, the cook, the teahouse, the handyman, the sedan chair shift, the shaver, etc., and Li Hongzhang hired Dr. Cibats, M.D., from the French Embassy in China, as his entourage doctor.

There were 135 attachés and attendants.

The second rank top candidate Dao Wu Tingfang, the oriental translator candidate Luo Gengling of Zhili Prefecture, and the provincial supplement Zhixian Lu Yongming will wait for the arrival of Li Hongzhang's delegation in Nagasaki.

During the banquet, Li Hongzhang said that the state affairs were unbearable, and he choked up several times, and asked everyone to work together to win peace for the early morning.

Present at the banquet were British Consul Versace of Tianjin, Consul General of Yantai Allinger, Consul General of Tianjin of the United States Li De, Consul General of Tianjin of France Du Shilan, Consul General of Tianjin of Russia Wang Hou, and Consul General of Tianjin of Germany Sgunde.

They all praised Li Hongzhang as the pillar of the Qing Dynasty and his selflessness in seeking peace for the Qing Dynasty, and he was a model for world peace.

At noon on February 29, after a six-and-a-half-day rapid march, the Liaodong Brigade of the Anti-Japanese Army arrived at the mouth of the Tang River in Yongping Province.

Seeing the army coming from afar, the Yongping Mansion was already in a panic, the west gate, the north gate, suddenly opened, there were not many people in the city, just a moment of effort, all ran empty.

"Alas, what a wreck!"

Liu Mingyang, the commander of the Liaodong Brigade, stood on the other bank of the Tang River, looking at the Yongping Mansion in the north 2 miles, with a sad sigh on his face.

In front of him, the shallow Tang River had been lifted from the ice in advance, and when he left here at the beginning of the month and crossed the river, the large expanse of frozen blood had melted and flowed south into the Bohai Sea.

However, in the warm sun, new graves have risen everywhere in the north, which makes people feel chilled.

"The team will rest overnight, waiting for the military funds of Ninghe, Jinmen, and Dagu, and will not enter Yongping Mansion."

Liu Mingyang gave the order and said in a low voice: "As a soldier, I don't have the face to enter!" ”

At this time, 700 miles to the southwest, the 4th battalion of Cao Fengyi's department stationed in Jicheng trained 2,000 troops and began to evacuate Jicheng.