Although he tried to persuade Li Hongzhang to lay off some of the foreigners, Lao Li was afraid of offending the Western powers, and most of them were eventually retained, but now that Li Hui has taken over the Beiyang Naval Division, he will not tolerate the continuation of this phenomenon.

"If you want to stay, you can do it, first of all, you must give up your original country and become a Chinese citizen, and the military salary treatment is also the same as that of officers of the same level of Chinese nationality, and there is no longer special preferential treatment." As soon as the reduction of military salaries and benefits came out, even the American Ma Jifen, who has the deepest feelings for China, was unwilling to continue to stay, what kind of joke, if it were not for the sake of making a lot of money, who would want to leave the advanced and developed motherland and come to the poor and backward Far East!

After being dismissed, the foreigners were not able to leave Liugong Island immediately, because the news that Liugongdao had fallen into the hands of the rebel army could not be leaked for the time being, which naturally caused great dissatisfaction among the foreigners.

Zhou Chunyu looked at the foreigners who were like fighting cocks, and said with a smile, "You don't have to be anxious, you will soon be sent to Tianjin, together with our landing force."

However, at this time, Zhou Chunyu and even his big boss Li Hui did not expect that the troops that conquered Tianjin did not come from the sea

As a result of Yan Fu's reminder, Li Hui promptly revised his revolutionary line and decided to liberate the cities, especially the big cities, first, so the three cavalry brigades that had been stopping at the Yellow River immediately changed their plans, crossed the Yellow River, and continued to attack north.

The speed of the whole cavalry unit is very fast, not to mention that the three cavalry brigades are also equipped with "heavenly horses" with amazing endurance, and after the vanguard troops throw away artillery and other heavy weapons, the advance speed is even faster and frightening, and the march of 300 miles in a day is without pressure, and it takes less than three days to kill outside Tianjin, even if the time to cross the river is added, it is only five days.

However, the attack by sea was very procrastinated, because large-scale landing operations were not common in this era, and there were no special landing ships, unless the land port had been taken in advance, and the cross-sea landing of more than 10,000 army forces would take a week just to prepare, and before they could set off, the cavalry unit had already sent back the good news from the telegraph office in Tianjin

"A leading cavalry regiment, without even bringing artillery, captured the city of Tianjin in less than a day? This Qing army is too watery, right? Li Hui felt a little unbelievable when he saw the telegram, but as the new battle reports came one after another, he finally understood what was going on

It turned out that because the limited "elite" troops in the Beijing-Tianjin area had been transferred to the front line in Liaoning, the current Tianjin defenders were old, weak, sick and disabled, and there were many old oilers who were professionally mixed with rice, and their fighting will was not even comparable to that of the Qing army in Shandong.

What's more, due to the good blockade of the news and the speed of the cavalry regiment going north, the defenders of Tianjin did not even know who the enemy was at this time, and once even thought that the Japanese army in Liaodong had hit here, and it was strange that they could organize effective resistance!

And the rebels shouted "Preferential treatment of prisoners!" Eat and be full! "It makes many Qing soldiers even have no idea of escaping, anyway, being a soldier is a mixed meal, as long as you can eat enough, why not be a prisoner?

As a result, the Qing army surrendered in pieces, and many of them also voluntarily or involuntarily became the leading party, such as Feng Yuxiang, a teenager under the age of 14

Feng Yuxiang's Baoding training army was urgently transferred to Tianjin after the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, and he had no sense of belonging to the local area, and the fifth battalion training army of Baoding Mansion was also a rabble, and it was also stationed outside Tianjin (Dagukou), and as a result, he surrendered faster than anyone else, and Feng Yuxiang naturally could only give up resistance with everyone.

Although he obediently became a prisoner, Feng Yuxiang still wanted to escape back to Baoding at first, because since his father lost his errand due to injury, the family had cut off the main source of income. It's just that because his eldest brother Feng Jidao also surrendered together and was not locked up together, he was afraid that he would affect his eldest brother, so he couldn't make up his mind.

Although Feng Yuxiang's face is immature, he has been born tall and powerful more than an adult, no matter where he puts it, he is as conspicuous as a firefly in the dark, and as a result, the company commander of the rebel army directly found him when he asked the prisoner for questioning, which immediately made Feng Yuxiang's heart bitter.

However, Feng Yuxiang didn't dare to lie, he could only reply honestly, unlike the vast majority of Qing soldiers who cowered or nodded after being taken prisoner, Feng Yuxiang's attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, and he spoke clearly and methodically, and his voice was also loud, with his standing figure and straight standing posture, at first glance it was a standard military image, the more the company commander named Zhao Hu looked at it, the more he liked it, so he thought of leaving Feng Yuxiang in the company, and did not stay like ordinary prisoners to wait for the handover, although the rebel army was disciplined, But as a sharp knife in the elite troops, this little bit of power to act cheaply is still there.

After asking about all the information he wanted to know, Zhao Hu decided to act immediately, he looked at Feng Yuxiang and asked, "Can you ride a horse?" ”

Feng Yuxiang's family couldn't afford to buy a horse, but his brother was a cavalryman, so he still learned a little horsemanship, and intuitively felt the concern from Zhao Hu's words, and he didn't feel a heat in his heart, and nodded in response, "Yes!" ”

"Alright, come with us to the battery!" , Zhao Hu laughed, and pointed to a war horse that was vacated because some personnel left to guard the prisoners of war, "That's the one, go up by yourself." ”

Looking at the tall and majestic body of the black horse, Feng Yuxiang couldn't help but feel timid, but seeing the teasing looks of the nearby cavalry, the young man's competitive spirit quickly took over, and he saw him step on the stirrup and jump, and then sit firmly on the horse's back, his movements were quite chic and magnificent, attracting a round of applause from the captives.

"This horse is so well-behaved, it doesn't bark or jump." , but Feng Yuxiang was surprised after getting on the horse, and he also had a deeper understanding of the strength of the enemy army, "It seems that they are not only powerful in firepower, accurate in marksmanship, and strict in discipline, but every detail far surpasses the officers and soldiers."

On the way, Feng Yuxiang learned more information about the rebel army, and in addition to being shocked, the idea of wanting to return to Baoding gradually began to waver, "I'm afraid that the Qing Dynasty is really going to die, so it makes no sense to flee back to Baoding, but it may harm the family, it is better to mix here first, and then return to the hometown."