Outside the capital!

Yuan Shikai and his three henchmen had been here for a whole day, and they were constantly observing the situation in the city, while waiting for the convoy that was still on the road.

Although Yuan Shikai dared to leave halfway and retreat quietly, he didn't dare to enter the city so rashly.

And Yuan Shikai's power in Beijing was actually gradually built up after serving as the governor of Zhili. Now those senior officials in Beijing, when they see Yuan Shikai, they are at most nodding friends, and if the gift is delivered, they may take a good look.

Yuan Shikai knew very well that it was a special period, so he didn't dare to have any slackness.

"My lord, this capital city looks strange, and I went down to several other city gates to observe, and found that it is no different from here." A soldier quietly returned to Yuan Shikai's hiding place and reported what he had observed from several other city gates.

"Could it be that the secretary guessed wrong?" Yuan Shikai muttered to himself.

What they learned now was not what they had guessed before, when they arrived near the capital, Yuan Shikai deliberately kept an eye on it, he did not rush into the capital, but observed it on the spot.

It turned out that for a whole morning, no one left the city at Yongding Gate, where he was.

The caravans, laden with goods, also stopped at the gates of the city, and then the soldiers searched for them, and then the convoy entered the city, leaving all the people outside the city.

Yuan Shikai couldn't help but wonder what was going on in the capital.

And what made Yuan Shikai even more determined not to enter the city was another reason, he sent a henchman into the city to contact Li Hongzhang, wanting to see what was going on in the city.

As a result, the soldier did not encounter any problems when he entered the capital, but he was happily released after being searched, but until now, it has been a whole day, and the soldier has not returned.

Thinking of the current situation in front of him, this made Yuan Shikai think of a possibility.

I'm afraid that at this time, the capital was allowed to enter and exit, so the soldier was not able to leave the city.

But why do you want to do it again? Is it just for yourself? Yuan Shikai subconsciously shook his head, obviously, he didn't think that he was so threatening, enough for the Qing court to test himself in this way, obviously, there were other reasons for this.

"My lord, a wagon is out of town!" Just when Yuan Shikai racked his brains and couldn't guess the situation in the city, a soldier who had been observing the city gate suddenly reported.

After hearing the report, Yuan Shikai immediately stood up and walked to a place where he could vaguely see the capital.

A team of carriages slowly went out of the city under the leadership of soldiers, and there was a box on the carriage, and after leaving the city, the carriage was handed over to a group of people waiting there, and after confirming that it was correct, the team left the capital with the carriage and went directly south.

At the gate of the city, a man who looked like a merchant also turned around and returned to the city directly after seeing the carriage leave.

"Catch up with them and ask about the situation in the capital." Yuan Shikai immediately decided to go to this team to inquire about the news.

Soon, Yuan Shikai and the three of them caught up with the caravan that had just left Yongding Gate, and the caravan saw that there were only three people coming, and the clothes on their bodies were not shabby.

"This eldest brother, my three brothers came to the capital to join a distant relative doing business, and they agreed to meet at this Yongding Gate, but my three brothers waited for a day and did not see the distant relative appear, and I saw that the eldest brother was also entering the city, so I wanted to inquire about the situation in the capital from the eldest brother to see if there was any accident?" Yuan Shikai walked up to a middle-aged man who looked like a steward and asked respectfully.

"Oh, that's it. Now the capital is not allowed to enter and leave, and all caravan goods must be checked by the guards of the city gate, and they must be transferred to the city. Perhaps your relatives are waiting for you in the city, so you should go into the city as soon as possible, so as not to keep your relatives waiting for a long time. The man in charge didn't say much about the capital, and even he didn't know what was going on in the capital.

And his communication with the shopkeeper can only be through letters, and this letter must also be delivered by the soldiers at the city gate, of course, before the letter is handed over to him, it must also be checked to ensure that there is nothing in it that should not appear, so that it will be smoothly handed over.

And the businessmen have also experienced Wang Sirui's strength, so no one dares to think about this aspect, most of the content of those letters is to tell them what kind of goods to purchase, and then when to send them, at most it is to tell them about the price and safety issues.

After all, at this critical juncture, no one dares to offend Wang Sirui.

"Big brother, how can this be like this?" Yuan Shikai took out ten taels of silver from his pocket and stuffed it to the man in charge.

After the man in charge took the silver, he looked at Yuan Shikai with a smile, he didn't plan to say too much, but for the sake of the ten taels of silver, let's tell him more.

"Alas, it's not foreigners and bandits who are messing around? Last year, there was a lot of fighting, and as a result, the grain roads were frequently looted, and the price of food in the city more than doubled for a while. I don't know which one stabbed this matter to the imperial court, but the imperial court sent a messenger to personally supervise this matter. Later, the Qin sent to investigate and deal with the spies of foreigners in the city.

No, the court was scared by the foreigners, so they ordered a thorough investigation of the matter, and the city is now looking for those spies every day. As for when the door will be opened, this is estimated to wait until those spies are found. The man in charge said.

"If you want to investigate the spies, you don't have to keep the caravan out of the city, right?" Yuan Shikai continued to ask.

"No way, I heard that there is an eyeless caravan that actually went to the city to transport guns, and it was found out, otherwise how could we be so troublesome? Now this is still the decision of the Chamber of Commerce after discussing with the Qin Mission, otherwise I am afraid that the entire capital would have been out of stock a long time ago. The man in charge explained, shook his head, and continued, "Alright, it's not too early, we have to continue on our way." ”

"Thank you, big brother!" Yuan Shikai clasped his hands into fists and thanked.

Although ten taels of silver only asked a few words, it also gave Yuan Shikai a general understanding of the situation in the city.

The imperial court was frightened by the foreigners, and there were caravans to transport guns to the city, if this is the case, then it is logical that the capital is not allowed to enter the city now.

It's just that Yuan Shikai is still a little skeptical, but when he thinks of the efficiency of the imperial court, Yuan Shikai is relieved.

Zuo'anmen!

A team of cavalry on horseback and spears on their backs galloped all the way to the city gate, and the caravans waiting near Zuo'an Gate avoided them one after another.

And this scene also attracted the attention of the guards at the city gate.

However, because of the distance, the guards at the city gate did not see the situation on the other side clearly, but this did not prevent them from preparing accordingly.

For a while, a Makqin heavy machine gun deployed in the city gate cave was instantly lifted up by the machine gunner, and the bullet was quickly pushed into the chamber, and the muzzle of the black hole hole was aimed at the group of cavalry outside the city without moving.

The scale of this group is not small, there are about a hundred people, which is not a small matter for the soldiers guarding the city gates.

"It's Captain Ma! Put down your guns! On the tower of the city gate, the company commander who was in charge of guarding the city gate saw Ma Sanru who was getting closer and closer, and hurriedly commanded the soldiers below.

Ma Sanru is not small in the entire Han army, but it is not big either.

said that he was not small because he was the first group of old people to follow the army commander, and there were only about fifty old people in those old people, and Ma Sanru was the company commander at that time, second only to the army commander, so his fame was naturally not small.

It can be said that he is not very famous, because now Ma Sanru is only a regiment leader. Among the old men in the same group as him, the other four company commanders, now two are division commanders and two are brigade commanders, but Ma Sanru is only a small regiment commander.

And from the rumors, it seems that a doubt has been proven, the commander does not seem to dislike Ma Sanru, but attaches great importance to him. This makes many people a little puzzled, since they fancy him, why not let him be the teacher? At the very least, you have to give a brigade commander position.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Ma Sanru quietly left the capital with his group, but now only more than 100 people have returned, which is a little incomprehensible.

"Captain Ma!" The commander of the guard company took advantage of Ma Sanru's arrival at Zuo'anmen before he walked down the city gate tower, and hurriedly saluted Ma Sanru after entering.

Ma Sanru nodded, saluted back to the commander of the guard company, and responded to the other party's greeting, but then did not pay attention to the other party, but ordered the soldiers behind him: "Leave three people to guard here, and the other three people will go to different city gates to guard in a group." ”

After saying this, Ma Sanru looked at the company commander, "They will tell you the specific things in a while, from now on, you will be under the command of the three of them, and if you do not obey, you will be dealt with by military law." ”

"Yes, Captain Ma!" The guard company commander was stunned by Ma Sanru's bluff, and subconsciously responded.

No way, this is a habit developed in the army, as long as it is an order given by a superior, they must obey it unconditionally, unless they think that this order is in conflict with their existing order, and the officer who gave them the existing order is of a higher rank than the officer in front of them, only then can they refuse to accept the order after explaining the reason.

Originally, the company commander planned to explain to Ma Sanru, but after seeing the serious expression on Ma Sanru's face, he immediately swallowed the words in his stomach again, and now he can only wait for the specific reason to be clear before reporting to his superiors. (To be continued.) )