As soon as Luo Rongguang, the chief soldier of the backbone of the whole army, died, the remnants of the Qing army scattered one after another, Zhao Hu took advantage of the situation to take the most critical forts and docks, and then immediately used the telegraph line that had just been connected to the regiment headquarters to report victory and ask for help.

There is no way, the Dagukou fort is too big, Zhao Hu can take it down with the strength of a company, but it is impossible to completely control it, not to mention that no one in the company will use a cannon!

However, what Zhao Hu didn't know was that there was actually a shortage of people in the regiment now, because they had almost wiped out all the Qing troops in Tianjin City at this time, and with a regiment (in fact, a few cavalry companies that had to be separated, there were actually only half a regiment and a thousand people who attacked Tianjin City. The forces of Tianjin are controlled, and the pressure will only be greater than that of Zhao Hu's side. Therefore, it was not until the second batch of two cavalry regiments arrived the next day that the burden on Zhao Hu's shoulders was finally lifted.

For the main force of the cavalry regiment in Tianjin City, the timely arrival of reinforcements was like timely rain, not only because their troops were not enough to control the whole city, but also because Tianjin City at this time had not been completely taken strictly speaking

Although the fragility of the Qing army made the First Cavalry Regiment of the Revolutionary Army create an unprecedented military miracle, and only more than 100 casualties completely crushed the resistance of the Qing army in Tianjin, and more than 10,000 people were captured, but Tianjin is a large city after all, and it takes a lot of time to run from one end to the other, so after all, it failed to grasp the most important target, Li Hongzhang.

However, Li Hongzhang could not run away, because as early as before Zhao Hu and they took Dagukou, there was another cavalry company that captured the old dragon head railway station, cutting off Li Hongzhang's way out, in desperation, Lao Li could only hide in the Tianjin concession and wait for the Qing court to send reinforcements to rescue him, and there were thousands of people who hid in the concession like him, so that the Tianjin concession, which was not very large at this time, became crowded, most of these people were bureaucrats and wealthy people, and the combat mission required "to see people in life, and to see corpses in death." "It's not one or two

As early as the time when Li Hui ordered the three cavalry brigades to go north, he issued an order to recover the concession by the way, and allowed all units to use force when the foreigners resisted, but the cavalry regiment of less than 2,000 officers and soldiers was struggling enough just to contain prisoners of war and close the streets under martial law, and they also had to protect the Tianjin Machinery Bureau and other factory facilities from destruction. did not let his subordinates attack the concession directly.

With the arrival of reinforcements, Cheng Tianshu's confidence increased greatly, even if the foreigners in China were said to be more powerful than the elite of the Qing army, even if the civilians were armed, and even if many buildings in the concession even used some of the design and materials of permanent fortifications, he was completely sure of recovering the concession.

What's more, after Zhao Hu's cavalry company occupies Dagukou, the rebel army in Shandong can directly get on the ship and dock at Dagukou to go ashore, and they can arrive in Tianjin within two days, and they will also bring cannons!

At this time, Li Hui, who was far away in Shandong, was discussing a crucial issue with Yan Fu, to what extent he would offend foreigners and make him declare war on China

"You mean that as long as I move the concession or customs, the foreigners will definitely declare war on me? There's no room to turn around? Li Hui couldn't help frowning, but after repeated analysis, he finally nodded with difficulty and agreed with Yan Fu's opinion, "Indeed, the current Westerners look down on us China at all, and expect them to study us seriously and realize that it is unrealistic not to be our enemy, and we must directly fight with a certain power to make them seriously examine our strength."

"But the concession and the customs will be taken back anyway, and this is not negotiable." After making this clear, Li Hui realized that his war with the Western powers was inevitable, and he was likely to face several powers at once

After learning about the current domestic concessions, Li Hui breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately, before the First Sino-Japanese War, the three countries that had concessions in China were Britain, France, and the United States, and it was estimated that they would not be able to create an "eight-nation alliance" as they did in history.

However, considering that the other privileges of the great powers in China will also be abolished at the same time, it is certainly not only those three countries that will be strongly dissatisfied, and it is not excluded that some people will want to join in with a few old imperialist countries

"Britain and France's interests have suffered the most, and the two countries have the same attitude towards China, and they are the most likely to form an alliance; Although the Rakshasas do not have a concession in China, the possibility of intervention is also very large, and they can attack directly by land, and our navy has no place to use; On the other hand, the United States, although it also nominally has a concession in Tianjin, but in fact it has already been handed over to the Tianjin Customs for escrow, and has repeatedly proposed to return the concession (but the Qing court has never responded), Dongyang, your statement of fully opening up the domestic market will be very attractive to them, and it is very possible to strive for neutrality. Yan Fu gave Li Hui an analysis based on the situation he had, "As for the other powers, they don't have much interest in China, and they don't have much spare energy to invest here, even if they follow the coaxing, there is nothing to be afraid of." Japan, on the other hand, would be in some trouble if it had the support of the Western powers."

At this time, Li Hui suddenly said in a categorical tone, "The United States will definitely enter the war, although it is true that they will not be able to invest much force in the Far East. ”

"Why is that?" , Yan Fu was shocked.

Li Hui showed a wry smile on his face, and said to him, "We'll talk about this later, let's analyze this problem clearly first." ”

Yan Fu thought about it, so he began to conduct an in-depth analysis of Li Hui's conclusions, and with his intelligence and Li Hui's understanding of the Western powers, he quickly deduced in advance the situation that the revolutionary army would face in the future, "Unless Britain and France ignore the security of the European mainland, send the main fleet to the Far East, and patrol with six Haitian-class ships, we will definitely be able to firmly grasp the sea dominance, and under this premise, it seems that the situation is not as bad as originally thought" (To be continued. )