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British Vice Admiral Edward. Seymour led more than 10,000 troops of the Seven-Nation Alliance to kill Tianjin, and the Empress Dowager Cixi and the ministers in the Forbidden City court were as anxious as ants on a hot pot.

In order to protect his face, King Duan gave the Empress Dowager Cixi an excerpt, which forged four notes from foreigners: 1. Order the Empress Dowager to return to power on the same day; 2. Specify a place of residence for the emperor; 3. Acting as the commander of the world's military power; Fourth, collect money and grain from various provinces.

The Empress Dowager Cixi saw the fold, was furious, and threw it on the ground, "This foreigner deceived me too much!" She proposed to start a war with foreigners, and Zhu Zumou, a scholar at the Hanlin Academy, admonished: "The queen mother believes in the chaos of the people and the enemy of the West, and I don't know who she wants to do this big thing?" ”

Cixi said: "The military department is still the book Ronglu! ”

Zhu Zumou said: "Rong Lu is the first! ”

Cixi took a look, who is this guy? How dare you contradict me like this, and ask, "What is your name?" ”

Zhu Zumou said: "Zhu Zumou, a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy! ”

When Cixi heard this, she thought that why was the big man, it turned out to be a small Hanlin Academy, "Launch the noon gate and behead it!" ”

At this moment, the hall was quiet, resolutely out of the ranks, and said with great righteousness: "Die in war, die in war, die in the country without war, we are willing to serve the death force, and repay the queen mother's great kindness with one heart!" ”

When the ministers in the hall heard this, the black pressure fell to their knees, and the Empress Dowager Cixi saw that the ministers were standing, good, the morale was commendable, and the people's hearts were available, so they declared war - and at the same time declared war on eleven countries including Britain, Germany, France, and the United States! Of course. It must be in the name of Emperor Guangxu!

Emperor Guangxu saw that Cixi declared war with the eleven countries at once in order to train himself, putting all the people in fire and water, and the king of the dead country himself was decided, he made the last resistance, holding the jade seal and refusing to let go.

Empress Dowager Cixi ordered two eunuchs to go up and seize the jade seal, and issued a brilliant declaration of war, calling on 40,000 Chinese in the world to fight to the death against foreigners: I have been in power for more than 200 years, and I am deeply benevolent. Whoever comes to China from afar, the ancestors and ancestors will not be treated with tenderness. During the years of Daoguang and Xianfeng, they were allowed to exchange markets and beg to preach in our country...... Everyone is loyal and indignant, and there is nothing for generations. I wept to tell the temple. Resist to show the master and apprentice, and try to survive. Shame for eternity. If you fight in a big way, you will fight it out. No matter how faithful our country is, whether it is a matter of propriety and righteousness, everyone dares to die, that is, the land is vast and there are more than 20 provinces, and the people are more than 400 trillions. They have the same hatred of the enemy, and they are in a charge. The ministers of the heavens, each of them have a loyal heart, and they vent the anger of the gods and men!

This telegram declaring war was sent to the governors of the provinces. caused an uproar. When Li Hongzhang received the telegram, he was the first to express his position and immediately replied to the imperial court: "This chaos is also fateful, and Guangdong will not obey the edict."

As soon as Liu Kun, the governor of Liangjiang, received a telegram from the beginning of the war, he said to Sun Deya, the British consul in Nanjing, who had come to visit: "The government of the Empress Dowager Cixi is finished, and she can no longer maintain the order of the empire!" ”

Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, immediately consulted with Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, Xu Yingqi, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Song Xiaofei, the governor of Shandong, Liu Shutang, the governor of Zhejiang, and Wang Zhichun, the governor of Anhui, and others, and declared the independence of the southeastern provinces to the Western countries, protect the territory and the people, and not carry out the edict of the Empress Dowager Cixi and the foreigners to go to war. Moreover, once Beijing is not guaranteed, it will jointly elect Li Hongzhang as China's first president and preside over the overall situation.

In Beijing, Rong Lu began to carry out the orders of the Empress Dowager Cixi to the letter, and led Qing troops to besiege the embassies of various countries in Beijing.

Song Xiaofei led 17,000 new troops and the Beiyang Naval Division, and met with British Vice Admiral Edward. More than 10,000 troops of the Seven-Nation Coalition led by Seymour confronted each other. Song Xiaofei did not follow Rong Lu's order to go to war with Western warships and coalition forces, but took the deputy admiral of the Beiyang Naval Division and British Navy Rear Admiral Lang Weili to find British Vice Admiral Edward. Seymour Negotiations.

At first, Luang Weili refused, saying, "Edward. Seymour was my instructor at the Naval School back then, he was a famous British naval admiral, and this time the Beiyang Naval Division would definitely fail miserably. I didn't expect the Empress Dowager of the Great Qing Kingdom to be so stupid and attack the legations of various countries, and this time all countries were angry! I'm afraid I can't help, and if China and Britain go to war, according to the contract, I should avoid it. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "If China and Britain go to war, I will definitely let you avoid it, but we are now in peace talks." The Beiyang Naval Division needs you now, and you won't watch the entire naval division you trained annihilated, right? Lang Weili, we need you now, and the Chinese people need you. ”

Lang Wei ideal these years, Song Xiaofei is really good to him, when he recovered the Ryukyus, he fell in love with the two Ryukyu dancers with big breasts and heavy butts at the thanksgiving banquet held by the Ryukyu king Shangtai, Song Xiaofei also lobbied Shangtai and gave him two wild dancers, he was so happy every day, so he agreed to talk to Seymour.

Lang Weili introduced Song Xiaofei's willingness to negotiate peace with his instructor. Seymour sent a telegram to the British minister, Jurdian, asking if there was a need for peace talks. Zhu Erdian replied that now the embassies in Beijing are already in a sea of fire, and they are also being attacked by the Qing soldiers led by Rong Lu, and the situation is as dangerous as an egg, and 100,000 people are in a hurry! The combat effectiveness of Song Xiaofei's new army and the Beiyang Naval Division should not be underestimated, even if they can't defeat the Seven-Nation Alliance, they can drag on for ten days and eight days, so that the legations of various countries will be completely finished. If the coalition forces can go directly to Beijing to save people without going through the war, it would be better, and it is highly recommended to negotiate!

Edward. Seymour then invited Song Xiao to fly to the British cruiser "Britannia" to negotiate. Song Xiaofei ordered Lin Taizeng, Liu Buyun, Deng Shichang and other generals to mobilize 15 ironclad warships of more than 1,000 tons of the Beiyang Naval Division to the vicinity of Dagukou to prepare for battle, and arranged for four mosquito ships to be on standby in the coastal waters, and the heavy guns on the Dagukou fort were also raised on standby, and then boarded the cruiser "Britannia" to negotiate with Seymour.

The ironclad battleship "Britannia" is 270 meters long, 30 meters wide, 7,000 tons, two reciprocating four-cylinder, three-expansion and inverted steam engines and a low-pressure steam turbine, with a maximum power of 59,000 horsepower, a speed of more than 30 knots, four eight-inch guns, 12 six-inch rapid-fire guns, 16 47mm rapid-fire guns, and eight torpedo tubes.

As soon as Song Xiaofei boarded the warship, Edward. Seymour first took Song Xiaofei to visit the "Britannia" to show off his strength. Song Xiaofei carefully looked at the "Britannia" and felt very uncomfortable, this warship was not only strong and sharp, but also the British Navy had strict orders, and although the Beiyang Naval Division trained very hard, its momentum was obviously slightly inferior. At this time, the strongest naval strength in the world was Britain. There is a gap between the number one and sixth in the world. Moreover, the Seven-Nation Alliance and other countries have a total of 20 giant ships, and their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

However, Song Xiaofei knew that the Seven-Nation Coalition was in a hurry to go to Beijing to rescue the ministers of various countries, and he did not compromise during the negotiations, and put forward his own conditions for peace talks straight to the point: First, all countries are not allowed to allow the warships of the concession to transport land forces to the Japanese, and not a single Japanese soldier is allowed to set foot in Beijing City, otherwise the Beiyang Naval Division will fight to the end even if it fires the last torpedo! Second, the Beiyang New Army does not fight against the allied forces, but after the Seven-Nation Allied Army enters the city of Beijing, it must abide by the public law of all countries, and can only attack the Qing army, and is not allowed to burn, kill, and plunder civilians. Article 3, once the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu are captured, they will be handed over to the Beiyang New Army!

Edward. Seymour expressed his understanding and acceptance of the first two, but for the third one, he wondered in his heart, this Song Xiaofei seems to be very ambitious, and he doesn't know what Song Xiaofei wants to do! (To be continued......)