Early in the morning, a train stops five or six kilometers from the Xizhimen railway station, and as soon as the train stops, the next moment the place is lively, and two or four, six, or even eight temporarily hired laborers carry burdens from the train to unload goods from Tianjin or Dagu.

For ten days in a row, this place, which was ten miles away from the station, was as lively as an ant's nest every day, and the whistle of the train whistled over the railway, and the white vapor shrouded the place like a fog, transporting more and more soldiers, guns and ammunition from the south by boat from Dagu to the capital. The train brought in a huge amount of supplies, which were stored, including food, ammunition, water, and troops, and everything that could be used in an upcoming siege battle.

Almost as soon as the Liberation Army arrived in the capital, the logistics department began to recruit laborers around the capital, and in just one day's work, a labor force of more than 6,000 people was formed under the incentive of "high salaries" of one dime a day, and the task of these people was to assist in the war effort. When the three divisions that arrived in the capital from outside the border set up a battle line around the capital and began to try to attack the capital, this group of laborers began to unload the war materials from Shanghai, Ma'anshan and other places from the trains.

After several tentative sieges were frustrated, the labor corps began to dig the foundations under the command of the officers. Workers worked all night to build several solid concrete foundations at a distance of just over 100 meters from the railway, and at first, the officers and soldiers, including those who jumped off the train, did not know why they had to dig the foundations there.

But when the laborers got a batch of big guys out of the arsenal of the Beiyang Army in Tianjin, people finally understood why the foundation was built, and the heaviest task of the laborers in the past three days was probably to transport the barrels weighing dozens of tons from the train to the foundation.

"Work harder...... Hey ho ......"

With the deafening sound of the trumpet, as the laborers desperately pushed the tail of the cannon, a thick barrel on the log kept rolling forward, and the body of the cannon glowed with metal in the sunlight was already stained with too much mud at this time, and hundreds of laborers dragged the heavy barrel like mules in the mud.

"One 240-mm cannon, two 210-mm cannons, and six 150-mm cannons!"

Lin Yuqing, who followed behind Cai Yi, looked a little proud, these cannons were "grabbed" from the Tianjin Beiyang Armory, for which he even paid a special visit to Yuan Shikai, but when he went to visit, a team of officers and soldiers had already occupied the armory.

"These cannons are all things that foreigners don't want after the demolition of the Dagukou Fort! I didn't expect it to be cheap! ”

Lin Yuqing grinned, but his face looked like he had taken advantage.

"Dagu is the gateway to Tianjin, the gate of Tianjin and even Yanjing, and several foreign invasions have continued to invade after landing in Dagu. Before the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, there were 4 batteries on the north and south banks: the main battery was on the south bank of the Haihe estuary, with 20 artillery pieces of various kinds; On the north bank of the mouth of the Haihe River there was the North Battery, on which there were 74 guns; To the northwest of the North Battery, there was also a newly built battery, with a total of 20 guns of various kinds; The northwest battery was also built to the northwest of the North Battery, and 20 guns were also installed. Most of the artillery on these batteries are Krupp, Armstrong and domestic imitations, which are extremely powerful, and the batteries are broken, and the guns are transported away......"

"Not really! Commander-in-chief, I checked the paperwork, the 4 280 mm and 210 mm Krupp guns on the battery were pulled to Qingdao by the Germans, and the 2 imitation Armstrong 800-pound all-steel breech guns made by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau were pulled to the mouth of Lushun by Lao Maozi, and the two divided the Krupp guns again, leaving us with either the guns made by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, or the Armstrong cannons. ”

Compared with the sadness and indignation on Cai Yi's face when he talked about some things, Lin Yuqing showed a pity on the contrary, in his opinion, the most regrettable thing was that those big guys were pulled away.

"Commander-in-chief, if those two 800-pound big guys are here, I'll get them over on time, aim at this city wall at that time, and shoot two shots, so that I can blow this city wall into the sky! A group of bastards raised by a son of a bitch, Gengzi never saw them work so hard at that time! ”

Carrying the dozens of miles long, up to dozens of meters of Lin Yuqing is that annoying, on this city wall he lost the surnames of more than 100 brothers, originally wanted to learn from the Eight-Nation Alliance to attack the capital from the sewers, but as a result, the Qing army, which suffered a loss in the year of Gengzi, actually used soil to block a few sewers, and if it was not possible, it was changed to a strong attack. Ordered the troops to conduct a tentative reconnaissance of the city gates west of Yanjing, but the results were also unsatisfactory.

"Gengzi, it's the foreigners who came over, and the momentum of the foreigners is three points weaker, and there are not many people who want to fight with the foreigners, when the Indians touched into the outer city from the sewers, there were onlookers on both sides of the river, and even the Qing army was watching, no one shot, and even the **-year-old children in Hangzhou went to the city wall to defend it, the foreigners came, they thought it was just to lose some silver, cut some land, anyway, it was not theirs, but this time it was different, they knew that if they lost, there would be nothing!"

Staring at the looming city wall in the distance, Cai Ye spoke.

"Compared with the city all over the city, from now on, the 24 banners of the capital are stained with the slippery of the capital, in other places, not only men, the old and weak, women and children are all in the city, the city is broken and jumps the city, the well jumps, and the family [***], but this place is ......"

He shook his head, the backbone of the people was shown in those small places, as for the capital, the news from the city that many bannermen who had joined the recruitment, that is, they did not contribute to the work.

"It doesn't matter if he has any backbone, I'll take this city anyway!"

Lin Yuqing's eyes showed the impulse of some young people, and he stared at the city wall.

"Commander-in-chief, these 5,000 rounds of heavy artillery shells have been shipped from Ma'anshan and Shanghai today, and you will be reluctant to ...... then."

Turning his head to look at the commander-in-chief, Lin Yuqing knew that the commander-in-chief was sending warships from Guangzhou to the capital, and there was no way to send the troops in the capital now, that is, the Guangfu Army and the Beiyang Army, the young master would not agree to Yuan Shikai commanding the troops, so he transferred him from Guangzhou to the capital.

As for the inside story mentioned by some people, it is not what he considers, what is the reorganization of the Second Army in Guangzhou, what is in order to prevent local officers from supporting the army and self-respect, all of this has nothing to do with him, in Lin Yuqing's opinion, whether it is the commander of the family or the commander-in-chief in front of them, if they want to betray the young master...... Then it's no wonder he's gone.

The 5,000 rounds of artillery shells he mentioned were new shells manufactured by Jiangnan and Ma'anshan Arsenals, using picric acid high explosives as a charge, which was far more powerful than the black powder used in the old shells.

"How can the ancient capitals of the two dynasties be completely destroyed in the war, I will write a letter of persuasion!"

Cai Yi shook his head, in his heart he did not want to see the ancient capital of the two dynasties destroyed in the war, almost as soon as he arrived in the capital, he ordered to stop the shelling and bombardment of the capital, in the past few days, the commander of the Lin division mobilized all the 132 cannons, and fired more than 50,000 shells into the capital, perhaps for him, the most glorious is to capture the capital.

"The kindness of a woman!"

muttered in his heart, but his face didn't show much emotion, Lin Yuqing just turned his eyes to the 240mm cannon that was being assembled, if he didn't come, as soon as this cannon was assembled, he would definitely bombard the palace.

At noon, the plane that took off from the Xishan School Yard flew into the sky over the capital again and dropped a letter of persuasion written by Cai Jie, who had just taken office as commander-in-chief of the Northern Theater, which ordered the city to give a reply before noon on the fourth day of the first month of June, and if it did not answer, it would immediately begin to attack the city.

"I can't bear to destroy the buildings of the two dynasties in the capital, and I will persuade you with reason!"

At noon, the Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly realized that the gunfire that had been ringing for ten days had disappeared! Pale golden sunlight shining obliquely down from the palace wall! The Empress Dowager Cixi listened to the disappearance of the gunshots, but she was thinking there, could it be the army of King Qin, or the help of various countries, "Lafayette, Lafayette!" ”

Suddenly, there was a frightened shout, which broke her imagination, and the Empress Dowager Cixi looked out of the window, only to see Yixuan rushing in with bold steps, and Li Lianying had already greeted her. There was no need to wait for Li Lianying to come in and make a report, and the Empress Dowager Cixi stepped out of the room with the curtain open.

"Galeries Lafayette!" His expression changed drastically, and his head was covered with sweat.

"Hurry, hurry, it's too late if you don't leave!"

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who was still fantasizing about a glimmer of hope just now, was taken aback and asked anxiously.

"This ...... What's going on? ”

"The people who stayed in the legation told me that the rebel army had gotten more than a dozen cannons from the Beiyang warehouse in Tianjin, and pressed them outside the city, and they were about to blast open the city wall.

Yi Liang replied.

"Isn't it just a cannon? These days, this cannon is not less! ”

"Lafayette, you have to go!"

Yi Xuan said angrily.

"And it's going to have to be fast."

This rebel army is still outside the city, separated by an outer city, an inner city, and the last Forbidden City, there is no need to panic too much, why did these few cannons scare him, the rebel army failed to blast open the city wall for ten days, what is there to fear.

"Galeries Lafayette, you don't know, what ...... The cannon was dismantled from the Dagu Fort, and in the past, it was used to fight warships, and warships could be sunk, which ...... Isn't this city wall just like paper paste, Guangzhou...... Guangzhou was hit with one shot! ”

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who was taken aback, asked urgently.

"Now that it's over, I'm afraid I'm really leaving! Can you protect it? ”

"The minion can't afford to carry this thousand pound of burden!"

Yi Liang replied.

"The minions don't have soldiers in their hands, let alone soldiers, and they may not be able to get out of the city."

"That,"

The Empress Dowager Cixi groaned slightly and said hurriedly.

"Hurry up and find military planes to get out!"

The Minister of Military Aircraft did not summon himself, but only two came, one was Qu Hongzhen and the other was Rongqing. They also came to warn that they could see the coastal defense cannons outside the city from the city walls with binoculars, but they were vague when asked how many there were.

"The minister asks the holy driver to go out on patrol immediately, otherwise the disaster will be unimaginable, and the slave really can't bear to talk about it."

Qu Hongzhen knelt on the ground and pleaded.

"Let's go! I also knew I should go. However, at this time, how to move? Where to go? Have you thought about it? ”

Qu Hongzhen and Yixuan were speechless for a moment, only sighing, there is indeed no possibility of escaping when this city is surrounded, even if they escape, but they flee there? Thinking about her own life, the Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but shed tears, and there were countless grudges in her heart.

"The slave asks the Queen Mother to stay in the palace!"

This Rongqing, who was ridiculed as a "pure minister" because of his refusal to accept bribes, suddenly knelt down and said.

Qu Hongzhen and Yixuan stared at Rong Qing who was kneeling on the ground, and suddenly became angry.

"You...... You...... Rong Laosi, what are you doing! ”

Yixuan jumped up and pointed at Rong Qing and scolded.

"The slave asks the queen mother and the emperor to stay in the palace, if the city is broken, they should be martyred!"

Rong Qing, who was kneeling down, said again that he did not go to invite the emperor who was "pro-government again", but ran here to invite the queen mother, just because he knew that the emperor's pro-government was just a show, and it was the queen mother who was really in charge.

"You...... You ......"

The iron-faced Cixi pointed at Rongqing, half of the salary was speechless, she didn't expect this Rongqing, who she had pulled up with one hand, to say these words at this time, although she wanted to let herself be martyred, Gengzi Nian himself was not martyred...... "The slave asked the Queen Mother to make a decree, encourage the officials and the people to coexist with the Beijing Division, if the city is broken, the Queen Mother, the emperor will report to the society......"

At this time, two more people came, one was Wang Wenshao and Lu Chuanlin, the two had just arrived at the Minister of Military Aircraft Zhilu, and when they heard that the Empress Dowager Cixi had summoned them, they immediately rushed to wait for the decree.

"When I came, General Liang from the city wall sent a military report."

Wang Wenshao, who knelt down, hurriedly reported.

"The artillery of the rebel army has been set up, and it can be fired at the capital at any time."

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who originally scolded the fourth elder of Rong accurately, was immediately confused when she heard this, and she only looked at the ministers in a daze, and only said something for a long time.

"So, what then?"

Who shall answer this? The ministers of military aircraft have arrived, and naturally the foreman of the military aircraft should answer, but he has no idea at all, and his only idea is to escape.

"Qing Wang Ye must have a way!"

Seeing that King Qing was reluctant to speak, Lu Chuanlin pushed the words to King Qing.

"Please ask the Queen Mother to ask King Qing."

"There's no other way."

Yi Xuan said stubbornly.

"The only way to escape is to the legation."

"Would the legation take us in?"

Empress Dowager Cixi asked.

"Yes! Although the legation was withdrawn, the counselor was still here, and he said that he was willing to take in the emperor and the queen mother. ”

"Yueben, I didn't expect that in the end, our mother and mother would flee to Yueben like Kang Liang and the rebel party!"

Thinking that the Empress Dowager Cixi finally choked up.

Seeing this scene, the ministers met together to blame themselves, but the Empress Dowager Cixi wiped her tears and asked by name.

"Lu Chuanlin, what do you think should be done?"

"There is another way, you can give it a try, hurry up to Yuan Shikai in Tianjin, and Zhang Zhidong in Nanjing, they are all favored by the Queen Mother, although they are from Chen Wei, but there are still some old feelings, and Chen Wei negotiated peace, as long as they can keep the dignity of the royal family, any conditions can be agreed, as long as Chen Wei agrees, and then there are ministers of various countries as guarantees, whether Chen Wei is the president or the emperor in the future, he will not dare to leave the royal family."

Lu Chuanlin paused for a moment and said:

"It's better to do this than to flee to the legation to avoid outsiders, and it will look better on your face."

"And Duanfang, he is also in an important position in Nanjing now, and he has to send him a telegram!"

Wang Wenshao added, this is kung fu, and everyone who can think of it has to think about it.

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who had no idea, nodded again and again.

"That's the only way to do it, that's the only way to do it! The sooner the better! ”

She added in a trembling voice.

"The surnames of our mother and son are all on this."

As soon as she said this, Rong Qing, who had been kneeling on the ground, suddenly burst out laughing, with a tragic smile in his laughter, he looked at the room of people.

"Okay!"

With a long word, Rong Qing stood up, he looked at the Queen Mother, and his eyes were fixed on the ministers of military aircraft.

"In the year of Jiashen, Li Thief broke the city, Emperor Chongzhen hanged the coal mountain, and martyred the country, the sea of martyrdom of the royal princes and noble relatives in the imperial city went, but what about this one? It's been two hundred and sixty years, and the backbone of this banner man and the integrity of a scribe have all been fucking lost! ”

Mourning is greater than heart death, this will Rongqing still take into account what kind of dignity and inferiority as before, some are just seeing the sadness of the heart death of this ugly scene, he didn't expect that at the moment of the death of the country, from the queen mother to the ministers of the military aircraft, all they thought in their minds was either fleeing or surrendering.

"You...... Celebrate the big boss of the company! ”

Rong Qing pointed to Yixuan.

"When the nine gates were closed, they began to transport their belongings to the legation, and more than one million taels of silver were deposited in foreign banks in Tianjin, you ...... You...... And you...... You all want to escape, want to save your life, and want to keep your belongings, but a few of you think about the Qing Kingdom! ”

A question only made everyone lower their heads, unwilling to look at the crazy Rong Laosi, and Rong Qing, who had no scruples, pointed his hand at Cixi again.

"Lafayette, the Queen Mother, your old man is thinking of escaping, but also falling, in the year of Gengzi, you escaped, do your best to make China, the heart of friends, can the hearts of the people in the world not disperse? Can the common people not rebel? This time, your old man is going to descend against the party, this dynasty and ......"

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who has never been scolded like this since she became the queen mother, couldn't help but change her expression when she heard his words, the corners of her mouth and right eye moved, the green tendons of her temples protruded, and her angry face that rushed upwards with her heart, Li Lianying, who had seen her more than once, still felt very terrible.

"Daring, drag this damn bastard minion out and kill me with a rod!"

(To be continued)