Jinmen, Haiguangsi Avenue.

The horses' hooves 'clicked', the wheels 'rattled', and in the night, an inconspicuous carriage walked through the dark streets.

The coachman was stout and burly, with a pinch under the placket of his waist.

The carriage was followed by four horses, and the big men on the horses were dressed neatly in plain gray cloth shorts, but they all carried Mauser guns behind them, showing the extraordinary identity of the characters in the carriage.

Li Hongzhang and his son-in-law Zhang Peilun sat on the carriage, silent.

Although there was a charcoal fire in the carriage, it still felt very cold.

The heart is cold!

Although it was already dark, the shops and liquor stores on the street were all holding red lanterns high outside their doors, and there was an uproar everywhere, talking about the affairs of Shanhaiguan today.

The Qing Dynasty has never been secret, and today the Shengshang has successively ordered the Dingwu Army of the small station, the Jinsheng Battalion of the Machang Factory, and the defenders of the Dagu Fort to go to Tangshan to garrison the anti-Japanese soldiers.

It has long been spread and everyone knows it.

It coincides with the festive Spring Festival, as long as the life is still passable, either to visit relatives and friends, or to feast at home to entertain relatives and friends, so everyone is on the wine table, changing color to talk about the collapse of Shanhaiguan.

Especially after drinking, he slapped the table and went crazy with alcohol, and all scolded the incompetence of the army, and lost the dignity of our Huanghuang Qing Dynasty.

The old people couldn't help but think of the British and French soldiers who entered Tianjin and Beijing thirty years ago, killed people and set fires, and finally drove away Emperor Xianfeng and burned the Old Summer Palace, which was even more frightened.

When it comes to talking, the more everyone talks, the more confused they become.

——Our Qing Dynasty, with a territory of thousands of miles and an army of millions, how did we lose to the small Japanese in the land of projectiles?

"Zhongtang, Bo Xing will definitely be safe and sound, you can be relieved."

Seeing his father-in-law sitting in the carriage, with an old and silent face, Zhang Peilun endured the panic in his heart and hurriedly persuaded him.

"The old man is not worried about him, everyone has their own creation, since he chose to go to Shanhaiguan, life and death are his life!"

Li Hongzhang said in a deep voice with tired anger: "This battle should not have started in the first place, and it can be avoided completely!" - his own ability is not as good as others, and he doesn't know it, but he actually plays with fire and kills people with a knife; As a result, the old man's Beiyang was slaughtered, but he burned his own hand on fire, and the knife cut his own flesh with his backhand! Now panicked, know it hurts? ”

Zhang Peilun heard it, because Li Jingfang was trapped in Shanhaiguan and his life and death were uncertain, which really angered his father-in-law, and he said the 'great rebellion' complaint that he had never said.

"The British will not sit idly by and ignore this, you didn't see it in the middle hall, although Ganger Baoshide didn't say anything promised, but his face turned blood red with shame."

"Youqiao, you don't understand-; Pointing to the current situation, the Japanese soldiers can fight to the Beijing division in ten days, and when they occupy Yanjing, just like the time thirty years ago, even if Britain and France burned the Old Summer Palace, if they want to be round and flat, won't the imperial court pinch their noses and admit it obediently? ”

Li Hongzhang sighed and said: "Under this huge temptation, unless the British lead a large army to block the road now, no one can stop the ambition of the Japanese!" ”

"The burning of the garden was because Monk Greenqin detained 39 British and French negotiators and put them in the prison of the Old Summer Palace, and 20 maggots died, so it angered the British and French forces and burned the garden;"

Zhang Peilun lost his color and said: "Lafayette, this newly built garden, this time will not be-"

Zhang Peilun suddenly shut up, he realized that what he said just now was tantamount to acquiescing that the Japanese would be able to capture Yanjing like the British and French forces thirty years ago.

"The foreigners formulated a shameless and extremely shameless "Public Law of All Nations", saying that 'if an envoy is killed, he will break the city one day, and no chickens and dogs will be left.'" I learned about this public law only after the English and French burned down the garden; It's not good to discuss this matter in the court, you might as well write a letter to your Qingliu friends in Jingshi, and talk about it. ”

Li Hongzhang confessed to Zhang Peilun: "This "Public Law of All Nations" is extremely shameless, but who made our Qing Dynasty unable to win others? In the event of another outrage and the killing of negotiating envoys, the Orient, which is close at hand, is much more vicious than the Anglo-French forces, and their appetite is a thousand times greater than that of foreigners; Destroying the peace talks is the real disaster of destroying the country! ”

"Zhongtang, you said you can still talk?"

When Zhang Peilun heard the peace talks, he suddenly came to his senses.

"Even if you break the Qing Dynasty inside and out, you always have to talk about it in the end! However, if the Japanese army does not surround the Beijing Division, I am afraid that it will not stop the army, and is willing to sit down and negotiate peacefully. ”

"What does Zhongtang mean that the Japanese will not enter the Jinmen?"

Since Zhang Peilun heard that the mountains and seas had broken through, his mind was a mess, and he couldn't wait to get into the carriage and stay away from this military disaster.

Li Hongzhang shook his head tiredly and closed his eyes and said: "Dongyang's previous behavior can still be reluctantly solved by common sense; But this time, the world's number one power, Britain, has clearly ordered the Japanese to not enter the customs, but they dare to turn a blind eye,—— it is difficult to guess the behavior of the madman! ”

Jinmen Purple Bamboo Forest, British Imperial Embassy.

The British ambassador to Tianjin, John Bolt, was reading a telegram from London, thousands of miles away, that had just arrived.

Beside him, Vice Admiral Filimant, commander of the British Far East Fleet, and Colonel Miller Lagres, captain of the Navy Cardinal, also had a look of anger after being humiliated.

"Lord Kimberley, the Imperial Foreign Secretary, has sent an angry telegram to ask Emperor Meiji of the East why he went back on his word and attacked Shanhaiguan despite the Imperial warning."

Bao Shide handed the telegram to Philistine, whose face was full of clouds, and said with a smile: "General, you need not be so angry, any provocation against the Empire will pay its corresponding price; Now it's up to you, General, and your fleet, but in the face of a madman, you and your fleet need to have extraordinary courage. ”

"Losing one's life in the sea is the highest honor of our navy!"

The anger on Philistine's face quickly subsided, and the lines of his face were as cold as a knife.

He stood up straight, his eyes flashing with a sharp cold light, and said, "Any act that provokes the authority of the empire will pay the price of blood to atone for their sins!" ”

Jinmen Anti-Japanese Army Recruitment Office, back hall.

Tonight, Qi Youwei's mother-in-law specially made a few hard dishes for rice, and stewed a big bowl of rock sugar, red dates, lotus seeds, glutinous rice wine.

Xue Yingchun, Xiaolian, Audrey, Qi Youwei's aunt, the four of them sat together.

The atmosphere inside the room was as dead as stagnant.

"Eat vegetables, eat vegetables,——"

Qi Youwei's mother-in-law and aunt were talking, and they couldn't speak, and their hearts were as heavy as a mountain.

Although his man is not in Shanhaiguan this time, he is still blocked by tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers in the dead place of Lushun, and the commander-in-chief can point to who to save his man's man if there are three long and two short.

Xiaolian and Audrey also had a sad face and were silent.

Although these two people don't have much impression of He Changying, or don't have a very good impression, the life and death of this man are deeply related to their own quasi-men and brother who are far away in Lushun.

"I regret it, why didn't I give it to him; Three generations of his family have passed down the ,——"

As he spoke, the tears on Xue Yingchun's face rolled down in large numbers: "Uncle Ning, aunt and uncle are all excellent people, I ——, woo——, I'm sorry for them!" Woo woo——, He Changying-"

The pear blossoms bring rain, and the cuckoos cry, which makes people unbearable to hear.