Li Man ordered his subordinates to pour four cups of coffee, and since he was willing to serve coffee, it proved that he no longer regarded Zhao Guanhou as an enemy for the time being, and introduced the situation while drinking. After the carjacking occurred, the bandits sent people to contact the government, and the bandits lacked trust in the government, so naturally the people who were sent to contact them would not be people in high positions. But its status in the cottage is relatively special, and it is the uncle of the big boss Sun Meiyao, Sun Guiliang. Since he is an elder, it is appropriate for him to be his representative.

The conditions put forward included that the Shandong government would stop the encirclement and suppression of the Baoqianggu, recruit the Baoqianggu, replenish weapons, money and food, and give several important village owners official status. These conditions, in the eyes of the Marquis of Leeman, were not excessive, at least compared to his son, they were nothing at all.

However, Yuxian's methods of dealing with it were extremely radical, first pretending to agree to negotiations, and when the representative Sun Guiliang and Chen Zhidao, the comprador of the Albion Huamerin Mining Company who acted as the intermediary, appeared, the officers and soldiers suddenly appeared, arrested the two and their attachés, and threw them into prison.

According to Yuxian's original intention, he probably wanted to behead them all, but Zhang Renjun, the commander of the Shandong domain, said that he couldn't do it and pleaded again and again, and although the domain secretary didn't care about the crime, once the governor was vacant, he was the most promising position to fill the governor's position. Therefore, on the side of the Yamen, the priest must also consider the attitude of the feudal division, and he did not dare to do it for a long time.

Considering the environment of the prison and Yu Xian's reputation for being thrifty, he often saved their money and food for the subordinates in the yamen, in the name of serving the imperial court and patriotically paying taxes. I am afraid that the levy will be even greater for the prisoners, and if these two people stay in prison for too long, they are afraid that their lives will not be guaranteed.

After Bassens arrived in Shandong, he thought that with his friendship with the Daikin government, there would be no problem in handling the deal. How do you know that Yuxian didn't talk about the slightest friendship, including Yuan Weiting's letters, which were all thrown away by him. He repeatedly said that the Shandong issue is a domestic affair of Jinjin, and foreigners cannot interfere, and the implication is that foreigners should not build railways in Shandong and should not act arbitrarily. After two words without speculation, almost turning his face, Bassens is now completely on Leeman's side.

He had been in China for many years, and there were quite a lot of old departments in the advisory group, and once he really threw his hands and left, Yuan Weiting's Prussian advisory group was immediately in danger of being paralyzed. The interruption of the supply of weapons by the Rite and Foreign Banks also had a great impact on the arms of the Right Army.

Fortunately, the telegraph machine agreed to lend it, and Zhao Guanhou went inside to send several telegrams in a row, and his mood was slightly settled. Although Bassens has a lot of grievances against him, including the kidnapping of his daughter, and it was because he came to China that he suffered this misfortune, but judging by his attitude, he is more reliable than Yuxian. No matter how strong Prussia's combat effectiveness is, if you want to save people in Shandong, you can't do without the help of Jinguo, and perhaps the only hope for her daughter to be rescued is in him.

Therefore, when Zhao Guanhou took the last telegram, Bassens came to his side and said: "Within seven days, I will try my best to influence the Marquis of Liman to avoid war." But after seven days, I will not hesitate to side with the Marquis. Also, I want you to understand that Hannah and you are not going to work out. ”

"Instructors can rest assured that their humble duties have their own proportions." Zhao Guanhou smiled slightly, "Humble duty will not be ignorant of advance and retreat, Miss Hannah, she will definitely be able to make a choice that is responsible for herself." You have to believe in your daughter, and you have to believe in your subordinates. ”

Marquis Liman saw that his attitude was more positive than that of Guo Yunsheng and Yuxian, and that Madame Jenson had intervened to mediate, and his attitude was also better, and his expression gradually became more sad than angry. "Please be considerate of a father's feelings, I cannot afford to lose my only son. If...... If my little Richard had three long and two short, I swear, Shandong would be bathed in a sea of blood and fire. So, please do your best to prevent this from happening. ”

Hug the calf, nest cloud view.

This place is located on the top of Baoqinggu Mountain, the mountain is dangerous, the road is difficult to walk, it is a difficult place to go up and down. Once one of the seventy-two blessed lands of Taoism, the Taoist temple of the first cave in Haixi, has become a large prison at this time. The Taoist priests who originally lived here changed in the mountains and rivers as early as possible, and because of various factors such as wars or famines, they walked cleanly. The entire Taoist temple is now the industry of the calf and grandson.

After this place was occupied by bandits, it was transformed into a meat box office, and there were more than 50 meat tickets on the top of the mountain, all of which were unavailable or unwilling to be paid by the family, just waiting for death. I don't want to be a blessing or a bad luck, because I caught more than 100 foreign tickets, and these meat tickets were all released in order to move places for foreign tickets, and now the whole mountain has become the Liuguo Hotel in Shandong.

Foreigners with high noses and deep eyes are imprisoned here, and from time to time the crowd can hear the sobbing of women, or the sound of prayers in despair. Outside the gate, more than a dozen fierce men patrolled back and forth, all holding rifles in their hands and carrying ghost-headed broadswords behind their backs. There were also several men standing on the wall, facing inside, watching the hostages.

Although Sun Meiyao strictly forbade her subordinates to have silver female tickets, the bandits took things from the hostages, which was the proper meaning of the question, but when Sun Dangjia took a gold necklace by himself a few days ago, he was met with crazy resistance by the woman. If it weren't for Sun Meiyao's strong martial arts, she would almost suffer on the spot. And the price of fierce resistance is that Hannah can only lie there now, and the food every day is only one porridge.

In the process of fighting for the necklace, she received several severe blows, the injury was not light, and she was lying on the ground coughing non-stop. The Marquis of Liman, the little Marquis of Leman, with half of the blackened nest in his hand, knelt in front of Hannah.

"Eat, Hannah, you need food now. Here are my rations for today...... I secretly hid it, and you ate it. I thought, I can go to them and ask for some water. ”

Hannah shook her head, "No...... I don't need this, I need my necklace! These damn robbers, they all deserve hell. ”

"My poor boy, if you want to get your necklace, only if you are in good health. There's nothing you can do like you are. Come, be obedient, and eat something. Then pray with me that we will believe that the Lord will send the gospel to save us. A man in his fifties, dressed in a red robe with a cross on his chest, whispered a prayer beside Hannah. Although it is a bit strange to pray in a Taoist temple, at this time, no one is paying attention to such details.

The Marquis of Leeman Jr. chimed in, "Yes, we should believe Bishop Andrew, and as long as we hold on, we will be saved." My father will send an army to attack this place and wipe out all these barbarians! ”

"Come on, if your father's army comes to attack, they'll kill us all. Besides, the Marquis didn't know that we were imprisoned here. Hannah didn't eat the nest, not so much that she wasn't hungry, but that she didn't want to eat what Liman offered. She drank only some water, and then prayed silently

"My knight, show up quickly, if you don't come again, we will only meet again in heaven. O Almighty and Merciful Lord, let my knights come quickly to save me......"

On the other side, a tall young Yankee man glanced at Hannah and muttered, "What a beautiful girl." It seems that not every Prussian girl is as strong as a dragoon. Well, Hoover, now is not the time to think about that, what you have to think about now is, how to get out of here. These robbers, how much ransom do they want, hell! Hopefully this will end soon, my time is precious, and the loss of wasting time here is much greater than the ransom. ”

A young Fuso man conversed with everyone in the queue of meat tickets, and he spoke appropriately and dealt with them appropriately, but he was not annoying. In extreme fright, the meat ticket inadvertently revealed some news that would not normally be said to strangers. And the name of this Fuso man is gradually remembered by everyone: Itanishi Hachiro.

Outside the temple gate, more than a dozen big men with red scarves on their heads and straw forks came over, and the leader greeted the guard, "It's the second boss who asked us to come over and help you watch the people together." There are a lot of tricks in these foreign demons, we have to be careful that they make the demon magic escape, we have to use a spell to keep people watching. In a few days, let's set up a big array here and sacrifice these foreigners! ”

The bandit in charge of guarding did not hesitate to pick up his gun, "Stand back!" The big boss has something to say, unless he comes with a command flag, no one is allowed to approach the meat ticket, and if he comes any further, we will shoot. ”

Those boxers had no choice but to retreat a distance, listening to the bandits scolding and scolding, "Hundreds of foreign tickets, how much is this worth, saying that the sky will be sacrificed?" Sacrifice him to a leg! If you don't receive the money, if anyone dares to tear the meat ticket, I will greet him with a gun! ”

The boxers looked at each other, knowing that what the old master said was true, these bandits were stupid and stubborn, and they had to use their magical powers to eradicate them, otherwise it would be impossible to help everyone destroy the foreign and prosperous people.

Guo Yunsheng was in the gatehouse, waiting until the sun set, no one gave water, and no one took care of food. The language with the Prussians was not good, they could not communicate, and as soon as they were about to go out, several rifles came against them, and then they did not dare to move. I can only hear the scolding outside, like the croaking of frogs in the pond, chatting to relieve worries.

When Zhao Guanhou and his entourage came out, he was shocked when he saw that it was Marquis Li Man who sent it out in person, and when he hurriedly greeted him, Zhao Guanhou only snorted at him without smiling, and did not say hello. It wasn't until a group of people returned to the temporary pavilion that Zhao Guanhou's face suddenly changed

"Master Guo, I asked you, and you said that the bandits did not send anyone to handle the negotiations. But why did I hear that this was not the case? As for the bandits, since the carjacking case occurred, they immediately sent Sun Guiliang, the leader of the cottage, to negotiate with Yufutai about Zhao'an, and the comprador of the Merlin Company was the Chinese. As a result, the group was taken by the government, and I don't know if I live or die, I don't know how Lord Guo will explain? ”

Guo Yunsheng was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Lord Zhao, I think you have misunderstood." Sun came not to recruit security, but to deceive the government and defraud the salary. Shandong bandits, their cunning nature, do not believe in their words. There was a person who pretended to be Zhao'an, and after the siege was lifted, he was a bandit again. This time, Yufutai suppressed the bandits with more than 10,000 troops, marched in all directions, and killed the thieves, so that they had nowhere to stand and no way to turn around. If we really give them money, food, and equipment, and then they will be chaotic, aren't we falling for the tricks of thieves? Therefore, Yufutai has an order, not to negotiate with the bandits, not to pay a penny of ransom, not to issue a single gun or weapon, as for the foreigners...... They observe the terrain of China's mountains and rivers, harboring evil intentions, and they must not be guarded against. Once he looks at the situation of the mountains and rivers for him, when he uses troops against us in the future, he will have all the advantages of the territory. So Futai means ......"

"Hostage sacrifice?"

"No, just don't be coerced. Thinking that those bandits are not pigs, they should know the stakes. Seeing that the official army is powerful and has no wavering heart, he will definitely look at the wind and surrender, and will never dare to harm the meat ticket. This is also Lao Futai's painstaking efforts, for fear that Lord Zhao will be too accommodating to the bandits and be fooled by them, so he never said it explicitly. ”

"In other words, you had your heart in mind from the beginning to want me to be tough on these bandits? Fuzi, never thought about it? ”

"Lord Zhao, you are not in Shandong, I don't know our local situation, these bandits can only be suppressed, not appeased. They are thieves and unruly, and they do not obey the law, so they recruit peace today and rebel tomorrow. Neither can contribute to the imperial court, nor can it stabilize the place, and with hostages in hand, they wantonly ask for it, which is no different from blackmail. It is simply unreasonable for a gang of bandits to be organized into a new army association and to demand salaries from officials based on the posts of the first association, and to pay a year's military salary at a time. In addition, its army is self-contained, and the government is not allowed to interfere, does not accept the government to send troops and officials, and does not accept reorganization and reorganization. ”

Guo Yunsheng said: "Although he is a civilian official, he assists in the grain station and also interacts with the military. Since the two armies are fighting, the most taboo is the two ends of the general's head and rat, and the battle is uncertain. The superior has no autonomy, and the subordinate is naturally at a loss, and it is difficult to win. Therefore, the subordinate officials were ordered by Xianyu to futai and concealed this news, just to stabilize the morale of the army and boost morale. As long as Lord Zhao gives an order, we can step on the calf and get rid of this stubborn disease for Shandong. ”

"If the hostage is damaged, how can the ordinary people be willing to give up, and when the Marquis of Li Man sends troops to ask for the guilt, how can the whole Shandong protect itself?"

Guo Yunsheng smiled slightly, "My lord is too worried, the Prussians are entering the army, and there is nothing to worry about." It is in Jiaozhou, but there are only thousands of soldiers, and the troops are left behind, and the number of people who can dispatch will not exceed 2,000. Foreign soldiers are good at water, but not land. There are tens of thousands of new recruits in Shandong, not to mention that there are boxers, with a hundred enemies and one, how can there be any defeat? And Futai has already prepared a fireboat, just waiting for the imperial court's edict, we will burn the foreigner warship with a fireboat, and the foreigners will have nothing to fear. And there is a general Xia Shaoxiang in Dengzhou, who once went to the Western Regions with Zuo Hou, and has seen battles with foreigners, and will never be afraid of foreigners. There are elite soldiers and famous generals, are you still afraid that you won't be able to win? As long as the imperial court makes an edict, our Shandong will advance by land and water, and strike first, and Jiaozhou will be recovered in one fell swoop, and Li Bingheng's shame will be snowed. ”

Zhao Guanhou coughed dryly, "Lord Guo, do you think that boxers can be used?" Can you fight with foreigners? ”

"There are 100,000 boxers, all of whom practice martial arts and guns, and have the heart of not fearing death. Regardless of the magic powers, just talking about this blood courage and military strength is enough to be of great use. Not only can you fight with the foreigners, but also when you fight, if you don't fight, then the whole of Shandong, within a few years, will be owned by the foreigners, and it is no longer the land of the ancestors of Dajin. Since Lord Zhao is a seven-foot man, doesn't he have the heart to serve the country with blood? My generation is full of enthusiasm, why can't we expel the foreigners and leave a name in history? ”

Zhao Guanhou shook his head helplessly, raised the tea bowl, and Huo Qiu ripped open his neck and shouted, "Send off!" (To be continued.) )