With little effort, Tongzhou, the eastern gate of Beijing, was conquered by the coalition forces, and this satellite city, which flourished because of the canal, became the assembly place and starting point for the coalition forces to attack Beijing.

Tongzhou fell into the hands of the enemy. The dignitaries and nobles in Beijing and the ordinary people in Beijing have understood a fact, Beijing is really facing war, how far is Tongzhou from the capital? Forty miles!

Cixi, who had been immersed in the happiness of Li Bingheng's victory, finally woke up, and the real situation finally came, Yulu committed suicide in defeat, Li Bingheng committed suicide in defeat, the whole line of Tianjin collapsed, the defenders of Tongzhou were Ma Yukun's department, and they had fled to the Nanyuan area, and there was no longer any organized resistance on the periphery of the Beijing Division.

Those intoxicating rumors have been proven to be dazzling soap bubbles.

After the initial panic passed, Cixi finally showed the most basic qualities of the supreme ruler, and ordered Song Qing to enter Beijing immediately to discuss the affairs of the city guard; sent a message to Ma Yukun, who hid in Nanyuan to observe the scenery, saying that he was a "loyal, brave and reliable" person, and that "he should continue to lead the soldiers and make meritorious contributions" and asked Ma Yukun to quickly lead the troops into Beijing. At the same time, he ordered Rong Lu and Zai Yi to discuss defensive measures.

However, what is puzzling is that Cixi reversed her previous momentum of holding successive imperial councils before declaring war on all nations, and did not even hold a special meeting to study the matter of city defense. The ministers of military aircraft are also sitting together for a show, and no one can come up with a comprehensive plan. There is only one rule, since Lafayette wants to defend the city, then let in the troops outside the city who are muttering about entering the city, defend the city, of course, the more troops, the better.

As a result, countless routs from outside the city poured into Beijing from various city gates.

If you take stock of the Qing army gathered in the capital at this moment. In fact, it is quite considerable: there are three battalions of the Wuwei Central Army under the direct jurisdiction of Ronglu and 25 battalions of Dong Fuxiang's Wuwei Rear Army, about 10,000 people in Song Qing and Ma Yukun's troops, 25 battalions of the Shenji Battalion and 14 battalions of the Tiger God Battalion of the Beijing Division's guard troops, as well as no less than 20,000 people in the guard battalion and the forward battalion. The total number of troops exceeded 100,000. And the coalition forces ready to storm the city are less than 20,000 people! As for the weapons, throwing away those useless cold weapons, the guns are more than twice as large as the coalition forces.

If the capital had a strong leadership core, even if the series of battles in Tianjin in the early stage were extremely bad, the Qing army could have won the defensive battle of the capital. Of course, the correct deployment cannot put all the troops into the city, and the main force holds the city. A powerful part is placed outside the city. Wait for an opportunity to cut off the enemy's logistics line. As for the most common siege strategy used by the coalition forces to keep Beijing out of a lack of food, this does not need to be considered at all. Even if the strength of the coalition army doubled, it would not be able to trap the huge Beijing. If you don't believe me, just look at the walls and gates of Beijing.

Within the boundaries of the world. Beijing is a huge fortress. Several huge thick walls envelop the huge city. The passage can only rely on the gates one by one. The number of gates in Beijing is also unique in the world. This large, almost rectangular city has extremely thick walls, with four floors. The outermost part is the outer city. Westerners called it Chinatown because the Manchu government stipulated that all Han Chinese lived in the outer city. There are seven city gates: counting from the east: Dongbianmen, Guangqumen, Zuo'anmen, Yongdingmen, You'anmen, Xibianmen, and Guang'anmen. The inner city is the place where the Manchu people live, the west is called the city of Mancheng or Tatar City, nine city gates: Dongzhi Gate, Chaoyang Gate, Chongwen Gate, Zhengyang Gate, Xuanwu Gate, Xizhi Gate, Fucheng Gate, Anding Gate and Desheng Gate. The imperial city wrapped in the third city wall, known to Westerners as the city of the red forbidden zone, has six gates: Daqing Gate, Chang'an Left Gate, Chang'an Right Gate, Dong'an Gate, Di'an Gate and Xi'an Gate. The innermost part is the Forbidden City, with four city gates: Wumen, Shenwumen, Donghua and Xihuamen.

Even if the outer city is lost, the defenders can retreat to the inner city and the imperial city to continue to resist.

The general law of war is that the side fighting on the inner line is good for lasting, and the side fighting on the outer line is good for a quick decision. The supply of water, soil, climate, diet, ammunition and medicine is the shortcoming of the coalition army, as long as the coalition army is blocked outside the city and cannot be attacked for a long time, it is not impossible to reverse the situation.

But in Beijing in 1900, the Manchu court in power could not use the fortified city, and the empty 100,000 armor soldiers could not use it.

Rong Lu reported to Cixi on August 12 about the defensive deployment, and the task of more than 100,000 troops was assigned, and the Ma Yukun troops who remained in Nanyuan, including Dong Fuxiang's troops who went out of the city to defend against the enemy at Cixi's behest, withdrew to the capital. The main force was deployed to the southeast, where it was handed over to Dong Fuxiang's Wuwei rear army. Rong Lu also knows that what god machine battalion, tiger god battalion, and guard battalion are all old soldiers who can't go into battle, let them walk birds, brag, listen to dramas and visit kilns, all of them are good hands, let them fight, don't think about it. Therefore, Rong Lu was thoughtful and looked solemn, "Queen Mother Mingjian, although there are many defenders, let's talk about the soldiers who can fight." At present, he can only rely on Dong Fuxiang's Gan army. It is the Wuwei Chinese army led by the slaves, and there are many deserters, and it is really unbearable to fight__I heard that the foreign soldiers have gone out of Tongzhou, and the meaning of the slaves is to make plans in advance__"

Cixi understood what Rong Lu meant, although she had lived in the deep palace for a long time, she was not ignorant of the situation of the Beijing garrison, the Beijing soldiers were basically untrained, and the proportion of empty salaries was not less than thirty percent, and even sold the weapons issued to them for money__rely on these uncles to defend the city?

But even if you abandon the city and leave, where do you go? How to get there is not a simple matter.

Cixi was silent for a long time, and suddenly mentioned the Shandong soldiers who had inflicted heavy losses on the outskirts of Tianjin, "Where are they?" Got into town? ”

"Back to the Queen Mother's words. After the Shandong soldiers annihilated the Seymour coalition army, they fought fiercely with the Anglo-Japanese coalition army north of Xigu for several days, killing and wounding a large number of enemies, ensuring the safety of the flank of the Beicang line, which Ma Yukun saw with his own eyes. But then there was no news of the ministry, and the ministry did not follow the order. The day before yesterday, the slave had sent someone to Nanyuan for inquiry, and Ma Yukun said that he didn't know that there were only more than 1,000 soldiers in Shandong, and the slave estimated that he was afraid that he would be annihilated in the chaos. ”

"It's a pity. Who is the general of the Shandong Army? Got it figured? ”

The minion checked carefully, and Yuan Shikai also replied. They were originally Mengshan robbers, but they were recruited by Yuan Shikai and incorporated into the right army of Wuwei. Its leader was given the position of standard. The surname is Long, and the name is Qian. This person grew up in the United States. admired his homeland and returned to China alone, but he was coerced by Mengshan Kou. It is estimated that the surrender of Yuan Shikai has a lot to do with this Long Qian's nostalgia for his homeland__"

"Well, if you don't say I'll forget. Cui Yugui once replied. If there are a few more Long Qian, the situation will not come to this. Cixi finally remembered the echo of her henchmen and eunuchs, it was not that the Shandong soldiers did not obey the order, but that the fighting was fierce and there was no way to retreat.

Rong Lu is only the only one. This sentence swept away a large area, clearly accusing everyone of incompetence. Naturally, Rong Lu is also included.

Cixi did not end the topic. "Standard?" Yuan Shikai's position to Long Qian was unfamiliar to Cixi.

"Yuan Shikai once played a proposal for the reform of the military system. The Ministry of War also studied it, but it did not implement it. At present, the Wuwei Right Army has not set up a standard-level establishment. The standard system should belong to the first-level establishment of the association, which is one level higher than that of the battalion. Rong Lu explained.

The old system of green camp, the province is the town. The governor of the town is the chief soldier. The town sub-association. The commander of the association is the deputy general, and the battalion under the association is the basic tactical unit of the green battalion. The commanders are generals, guerrillas, capital divisions, and garrisons. The battalion is under the jurisdiction of the flood, and the chief is the general manager of Qian, and the general is the general.

The Armed Guards have taken a step further, especially the Yuan Shikai Division, which is keen on the reform of the military system, and has abolished the establishment of Xiehe and Xun and replaced them with wings and teams, but the establishment of the battalion remains the same. But Wuwei did not set a standard for the right army, so the standard he gave to Long Qian was a perfunctory.

"Give Long Qian the post of deputy general. The achievements of the Shandong soldiers in Tianjin were passed on to all armies. I'm curious, the foreigners that the Shandong soldiers can fight are falling into the water, why can't other armies? A person who has returned to the country still knows how to serve the imperial court, leading the army to fight to the death, and those admirals and soldiers who eat the imperial court will be crushed at the touch of anything, and they will lie about the military situation! Yulu should be killed! Li Bingheng should be killed! Cixi became angry as she spoke.

Rong Lu hurriedly knelt down, "Slave should be damned__"

"Get up," Cixi changed her tone, "Zhonghua, you have to really control the army, don't live up to high hopes!" ”

"The slave dares not to exhaust himself, and then die__" Rong Lu kowtowed and retreated.

Mastering the army? At the moment, of course, the most reliable is the Eight Banners, and even the Mongolian Eight Banners are much more reliable than the Han Chinese. It's okay for your own armed guards to act as a guard, but they can't sit down if they charge into battle. Rong Lu suddenly remembered Nayantu, the son-in-law of Prince Qing Yixuan, the prince of Khalkha, and the minister of the guard, and hurriedly sent someone to find this Mongol.

Long Qian, who was remembered by Cixi, is now in the city of Beijing.

On August 11, Long Qian and Ning Shijun entered Beijing from Guangqumen with two companies of troops, surrounded by the chaos of the Wuwei rear army, and were barely interrogated. Long Qian caught up with the right time, the rear army of Wuwei was ordered by Cixi to go out of the city to defend against the enemy, and the troops of more than 10,000 people went out of the city in a mess, and before they saw any foreign soldiers, they received Cixi's new order - to return to the city to defend. This kind of contradictory command is especially common in this hot summer, and this absurd command is only one of the less serious ones.

Gan Jun found an army that was moving towards Guangqumen, the number of people was more than 100, and there was no doubt that they were their own people in their clothing. The Dusi from Wuwei, Gansu, did not suspect it at all, but sympathized with the friendly army, and without saying anything, let them mix in his own ranks and enter the city gate, and then the army separated from them.

Long Qian didn't want to expose his troops to enter Beijing, but he still brought the Holy Decree and the order of the Ministry of War just in case. Now everything is going well and he is happy. As far as the eye can see, the streets are full of chaotic soldiers, and the weapons are also disorderly, some carrying foreign guns, and many carrying large knives and spears.

Long Qian thought that Ning Shijun, who had been to the capital, would find a way, but in fact, the chief of staff who was dizzy from Beijing was also blinded and couldn't find the way at all. Long Qian was afraid that the Jingshi had already imposed a curfew, so he had to find a foothold before dark, so after entering the city to gather and count the team, according to his memory, he led the team to copy the alley, and walked in the northwest direction, and finally met Zhang Xiaoding of the Intelligence Department near the East Fourth Archway.

In fact, it was Zhang Xiaoding who saw Long Qian first, "Commander, Commander, it's really you!" Zhang Xiaoding ran over and was about to cry excitedly.

"Xiao Ding? Haluha, we're meeting here. What about Jiang Yun? Long Qian hugged Zhang Xiaoding, and Ha Lu Ha Da smiled.

"But I'm looking forward to you. Camp Chief Wang and Section Chief Jiang are in a hurry, Section Chief Jiang and Tian Shubang went out of the city today to look for you separately, and a few of us are wandering around the main street, hoping to meet you. Don't worry about Section Chief Jiang, he is very familiar with the road. Will definitely be back in the evening. Zhang Xiaoding's heart was overjoyed, and he saw the team behind Long Qian in a blink of an eye, "Hey, why is this person?" ”

"Lushan led people outside the city. Let's go, first to your home. By the way, Wang Mingyuan and them, it's going well, right? ”

"Well, they've been here for more than ten days." Zhang Xiaoding couldn't suppress his excitement.

Jiang Yun bought a two-entry courtyard near Deshengmen and rented a three-entry courtyard, all of which were in a good location. Secluded. Spacious. Long Qian was led into the courtyard by the guards who were squatting in the alley in disguise, and the officers and soldiers of Mengshan who were resting and talking in the front yard immediately let out an earth-shattering cheer. Long Qian made a silent gesture, and everyone suppressed the cheers and gathered around to greet each other.

"Everybody is nice. I am fine too. Isn't this meeting again? Or in the capital? Long Qian's mood was also very good. The repression caused by the heavy casualties of the Battle of Xigu seems to have disappeared. He held the hand of Hu Zongyu, the commander of the sixth company. "Zong Yu, how does it feel to be in the capital? Have you ever visited Tiananmen Square? ”

"Tiananmen? I don't know where the road is. I haven't been here since I entered the city. Jiang Yun's kid set a lot of rules. The battalion commander was in charge of the matter, and except for the people of the intelligence department, the rest were not allowed to step out of the courtyard. ”

"Okay, that's right. It's a very vulgar situation. Long Qian said with a smile, and saw Wang Mingyuan at a glance.

"Commander, you're here." Wang Mingyuan came out of the north house when he heard the news and hugged Long Qian tightly, "I'm worried about death these days, and I don't have any news from you at all." ”

Due to the rapid deterioration of the situation, Wang Mingyuan, who had entered the city in advance, was eagerly looking forward to Long Qian's arrival, and at the same time, the war outside the city also made him deeply worried. Seeing Long Qian now, all the anxiety suddenly disappeared.

"Well, first settle the brethren to rest. Everyone was starving. Let's go in and talk slowly. Long Qian called Ning Shijun and came to the north house together.

"Okay, okay, old Hu, hurry up and cook for the brothers." Wang Mingyuan smiled.

"Just this one yard?" Long Qian stood at the door of the north house and asked Wang Mingyuan.

"There is also a courtyard, a little to the north, across an alley, which is rented, and Jiang Yun usually lives over there, which is bigger than this. The third entry, the guard company, and the fifth company all live there. This building was bought, and it cost four hundred and fifty taels of silver, and the owner hid out of the city and sold it to us at a discount. ”

"Well, good. I'll check it out later. Where is the second tiger? ”

"Yes. When Jiang Yun was not there, Erhu was in charge of that side. ”

"Well, well done. The mission is accomplished, and the brothers of the intelligence department must be rewarded heavily. Long Qian picked up the teacup on the table and drank half a cup of herbal tea, "It's not a bad day." Good tea. ”

"It's all Jiang Yun's deal, that kid has a lot of fame." Wang Mingyuan was in a happy mood, with a smile on his face, "Commander, what about the other brothers?" What about Lu Shan and Feng Lun? ”

"I didn't bring in all my troops, they had another mission." Long Qian sat down, "So many of you live here, you don't arouse the suspicion of your neighbors, right?" Is there a government yamen around? Is there a royal palace? ”

"There shouldn't be," Wang Mingyuan's expression became serious when it came to military affairs, "Many people have fled from the capital in the past few days, and there are almost no people around." A few streets away, there is a palace, what is it called? I don't remember. These days are quiet, Jiang Yun has hoarded a lot of food in advance, and the troops are never allowed to go out of the courtyard, but everyone is suffocated. They all said that the commander still didn't care about us here, haluha. Eventually, he laughed again.

"What about that. There is immediate action. Long Qian sank his face, "This time we are going to take advantage of the chaos to rob a few big households." The cellar is dug? ”

"I dug it almost before I came, and there was one under the wing. I came and dug a big one, just under the flower pond in the backyard, and the passage stretched diagonally into it, so that six people could be hidden__"

"Yes, good job. Do you know these cellars? ”

"No, not all of them know the way. All they know is this," Wang Mingyuan pointed to the flower pond in the courtyard.

"Well, what about the vehicle? How many are you looking for? Just now, Long Qian noticed that there were four mule carts parked in the front yard, and a few animals tied to the sea under the grass hut at the bottom of the south wall.

"I bought eleven cars in total. The rest are over there. ”

"Some are missing__"

"It's not a good car. The government requisitioned, there were many people who fled, and the prices were outrageously high__" These were all made by Jiang Yun's people, and Wang Mingyuan didn't know very well.

"Well, that's it."

The rice has been served, steamed steamed buns, and soup.

"Eat, eat." Long Qian greeted Ning Shijun.

After the meal, Long Qian changed into civilian clothes, and looked like a commoner—if you didn't pay attention to his braids. Together with Ning Shijun, Zhang Xiaoding took him to another courtyard - the courtyard where Cheng Erhu was stationed, and visited the guard company and the fifth company, a total of one hundred and twenty-two people, there were no injuries or illnesses, and the people and horses looked very energetic, and they were raised with rice and white flour for more than ten days, as well as enough sleep, so that the spirit of the troops was very good.

After waiting for a while, Wang Mingyuan also came over.

Several people held a short meeting, and a total of 353 members of the Mengshan Army troops assembled in Beijing, including nine people from the intelligence section who had entered Beijing in advance.

"In the past few days, we are going to rob almost the palace separately, as well as the ticket number. The goal is gold, silver, jewelry, and everything of value. The specific goals are set by Jiang Yun. The operation is based on the company, and discipline should be emphasized before the operation, and it is strictly forbidden to divulge this operation__" Long Qian finally said his goal.

Ning Shijun already knew this goal. And Wang Mingyuan already knew the general goal from Jiang Yun's mouth. So there was no surprise at all.

"We traveled thousands of miles from Shandong to Beijing, but we didn't work for the Manchu court. Everyone has also seen that the war has been lost, and the coalition forces have already entered Tongzhou, and will soon launch an attack on Beijing. It's not that the soldiers can't fight, but the generals are a herd of pigs, a pig, and how many soldiers they lead is also the life of slaughter! Long Qian had to make a mobilization, because such an action violated the principles he had always flaunted, "Think about it, when this battle is over, the situation will change dramatically." The prestige of the imperial court was discredited, the revolutionary party in the south would take advantage of the situation, and the rule of the Manchus was already shaky! Our Mengshan Army is going to do something, and I am ready to make you famous in history! Rather than let the coalition take away the money they have embezzled and hoarded, it is better to leave it to us! Heaven and not take it, but suffer the blame, this is the case! Besides, we have killed and injured so many good brothers, that one was not born by my parents? That doesn't need to be settled? Even you, in case we are unfavorable, relying on this money and operating properly, we can also ensure that everyone is a rich man! Of course, this situation is best not to occur, as long as our Mengshan Army takes advantage of this national disaster to develop and grow, what can't we get? Therefore, everyone must understand the significance of this operation, and second, they must keep it a secret. No one is obligated to advertise to others unless I make a new decision. Can it be done? ”

"Yes." Several officers stood up and replied loudly.

"Good. Sit down, sit down. Long Qian smiled and beckoned.

"We know exactly who the commander is. What the commander wants to do, give the order. Wang Mingyuan said loudly.

"Naturally, I can trust you, you are all our old brothers in Mengshan. If you don't trust you, I will hand over to you this great event that is destined to shock the world? Ha Lu Ha. When Jiang Yun comes back, let's discuss the action plan in detail. (To be continued......)

PS: Book friends with monthly passes, do you give some encouragement? Aaron never spoke.