In the morning, Li Hongzhang packed his bags and was about to return to Tianjin, when suddenly the sound of horses' hooves came from outside. Li Hongzhang was surprised, and a subordinate hurriedly entered. "It's not good for adults, Fuzhou has changed greatly!" The panicked subordinate handed the telegram to Li Hongzhang. After reading the telegram, Li Hongzhang was taken aback, and immediately took the telegram and went straight to Daqingmen.

Soon, the foreman, the Minister of Military Aircraft, and the Prime Minister Yamen gathered in the court. After listening to Li Hongzhang's report, everyone was stunned. After a long time, the Empress Dowager Cixi said behind the curtain: "The South China Sea Navy Master is so bold and reckless that he actually launched an attack on the French warship without authorization, which is really unbelievable. The slave family thinks that it is difficult for General Mu Tushan to do anything, do you have a good plan? Yi stepped forward and said: "The Queen Mother, Your Majesty thinks that Liu Yongfu will be crowned with a flower feather and given a second-grade official." And let the Black Flag Army quickly enter the territory and move to the coastal zone. The first can strangle the rebels, and the second can prevent the French army from landing on our coast. ”

When the ministers heard this, they praised each other, and Cixi asked, "Lord Li, do you agree?" Li Hongzhang pondered and said: "The prince's suggestion is feasible, at present, the Huai army is guarding the northern coast, the main force of the Hunan army is in the west, and the Jiangnan army is empty, so it is necessary to transfer the Black Flag Army to strengthen the southeast coast." However, we should now make every effort to reconcile with the French, and the only way out is to make concessions at Annam. ”

The ministers agreed that it was feasible, and Cixi set a plan for the ministers to come up with a complete strategy. At this moment, Prime Minister Yamen came to report that the French minister was roaring and called the ministers of various countries to protest together. When the ministers heard this, they were stunned and did not know what to do. Cixi said: "Master Li, this matter is entrusted to you, if you should back down, you must calm the anger of the foreigners." ”

Li Hongzhang quickly rushed to the premier's yamen, and at this time, the ministers of France, Britain, the United States, the Netherlands, and Russia gathered in the lobby of the premier's yamen. When they heard that the 5,000 French troops were annihilated by the Black Flag Army in the north of Annam, they were not only shocked, but they felt that the rising Qing Kingdom had a terrible sign. There was no need to communicate beforehand, and the ministers of Western countries naturally united for their own safety.

As soon as Li Hongzhang entered the room, the French minister roared: "Lord Li, your country has sent a powerful army in Annam, and it has used undeclared war and despicable means to launch a surprise attack on our army, resulting in the annihilation of our 5,000 French troops, and France has suffered a great humiliation. However, the Qing Nanyang Fleet suddenly attacked our Far East Fleet, causing damage to our warships and the death of our sailors. On behalf of France, I strongly condemn the despicable acts of the Great Qing State, and if there is no satisfactory result, France will declare war on the Great Qing State. ”

Subsequently, the British and Russian ministers were the first to stand in solidarity with France, and other countries also chimed in. Li Hongzhang's head immediately grew after listening to the translation, and he straightened out his mind a little and said: "Honorable French minister, first of all, I declare that there is no army in the Great Qing Kingdom of Annam, and the official army is only defending on the border line from Liangshan to Zhennanguan, and as far as I know, Feng Zicai, the governor of Guangxi, did not fight with the French army. As for the Black Flag Army being a rebel who wandered abroad, the Battle of Annam was entirely the work of the Black Flag Army, and the Black Flag Army was currently under the control of King Annam. ”

The French minister reasoned and said: "Then what is the explanation for the attack of the Nanyang Navy on our Far East Fleet?" Li Hongzhang replied: "It has been confirmed that the attack on your country's Far East Fleet was a mutiny of the sailors of the Nanyang Naval Division, not the intention of the imperial court, and our army is currently suppressing the mutinous sailors." In order to quell the rebellion in Annam, the next step for the imperial court was to persuade the Black Flag Army to withdraw to the territory and release all prisoners of war. Li Hongzhang's meaning is very clear, that is, to give up Annan to the French.

The anger of the French minister subsided a lot, in fact, he received accurate information that the battle of Annam was indeed committed by the Black Flag Army. As for the Battle of Majiang, he knew it very well in his heart. Immediately, the French minister proposed to temporarily lease the port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan and use it as a base for the Far East Fleet. How could Li Hongzhang agree to such an unreasonable request, and besides, he couldn't be the master. In the face of the aggressiveness of the foreigners, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to perfunctory and said that the two sides would try their best to negotiate a settlement.

Negotiations between the two sides officially began, and the Qing court decided to persuade the Black Flag Army to withdraw to the territory in Annam and unconditionally release the French prisoners of war. The French also backed down and decided that the southwest coast could be temporarily closed. On behalf of the Qing court, Li Hongzhang decided to compensate the French Far East Fleet for the loss of 1 million taels of silver. However, Li Hongzhang could not agree to the lease of Taiwan's Kaohsiung Port by the French Far East Fleet, and if he did, Taiwan would be lost in the next step, and Li Hongzhang, a sinner through the ages, would not dare to bear it.

In fact, Ben An, commander of the Far East Fleet, had already led warships to capture the port of Kaohsiung, blockading the Taiwan Strait, and cutting off Taiwan's connection with the mainland. And Li Hongzhang, including the Qing court, knew nothing about all this, but when Li Hongzhang negotiated with the French on behalf of the Qing court, there were amazing changes in Shanghai, which everyone did not expect, including Deng Zixuan himself, did not expect the outbreak of the Majiang naval battle, which then affected the changes in Shanghai.

On this morning, Chen Jintang accompanied Wan'er at the dock to greet the students of the Deng family class who had returned from studying in the UK. Wan'er was informed by Mr. Charlie, the manager of Jardine Matheson, that she learned that the 10 disciples of the Deng family class had arrived home on the exact date. Soon a huge freighter appeared on the sea, and the freighter gradually approached the dock. The blue-eyed blonde foreigner got off the boat first, and then the zigzag gangway appeared on the figure of the children of the Deng family.

6 years have passed, and there are still teenagers there, and what appeared in front of Wan'er Chen Jintang was a group of tall young people. The young men had black beards on their lips, and some of them wore eyes. Deng Yun saw Wan'er kneeling on the ground, and the young people behind him were also kneeling on the ground, "The master mother is above, please accept the disciple's worship!" "Everyone is fortunate, you came back safely, if Mr. knows how happy you are, then you have grown up." Wan'er helped the disciples up one by one and asked for warmth, and the disciples wept silently with tears in their eyes. Later, they saluted Chen Jintang.

The group left the wharf and left the British and French concessions and went to Deng Zixuan's mansion in Shanghai New Town. However, Chen Jintang did not know that in the current afternoon, the wounded French battleship Triumph and two other sail warships and gunboats were docked at the same pier, and they did not expect that the French sailors staged a brutal tragedy of burning, killing, and looting in the concession that night, which then caused Chen Jintang to have to act in advance.

In the Deng Mansion, Wan'er roughly inquired about the situation of the disciples in the UK, and Deng Yun, who led the team, briefly reported on their study in the five fields of medicine, machinery, bridges, natural sciences, and chemistry. What they felt most deeply was that the country was not strong, and what was the situation of the people of the Qing Dynasty on foreign land. Zuihou Deng Yun said: "Master, Mr. looks forward to our return as soon as possible, I don't know what arrangements Mr. will make for us?" Wan'er said with a smile: "Your husband went to Guangzhou and will not come back in the short term, before leaving, he asked me to tell you that after I come back, I will go to Tongren Academy and be a teacher." And teach what you have learned to more students. Mr. left you a word: the youth is strong, the country is strong, and the peach and plum are all over the world! ”

A subordinate of this kung fu hurriedly came in, and whispered a few words in Chen Jintang's ear, and Wan'er hurriedly ordered the disciples to go down and rest when she saw this. "Master, news came from Fuzhou, Shang Hu and Fan Tao were attacked by the French fleet and forced to return fire, which then caused a shocking change, and now they have controlled Fuzhou, Mawei Military Port, shipyards, steam locomotive factories, etc., it is estimated that the imperial court already knows." Wan'er said calmly: "Brother Chen, you are in charge of major matters!" Chen Jintang immediately ordered a telegram to be sent to Guangzhou to quickly convey the news to Annan.

After his subordinates were ordered to leave, Chen Jintang ordered Wan Chuan to be called. After Wan Chuan arrived, Chen Jintang briefly described the situation in Fuzhou and asked: "How is the work related to the protection of family members?" Wan Chuan glanced at Wan'er and said, "The eldest sister and brother-in-law of the main mother are estimated to arrive in Shanghai at midnight." Hu Xueyan and Sheng Huaixuan closely monitor their movements and take immediate action whenever they find any suspicious signs. In addition, Sheng Huaixuan's family members planned carefully and immediately mobilized Xiangshang Sea for transshipment once there was a change. ”

In a French military club, one of the busiest streets of the British and French Concessions, French sailors drank wine to vent their fright, depression, and anger. The sailors were shouting loudly, as if no one was in a no-man's land. In the Battle of Majiang, although the French battleships suffered small losses, their proud ironclad battleships were greatly humiliated, resulting in a large number of casualties. The most unbearable thing for them was that they were humiliated by the despised fortress artillery of the Great Qing Kingdom, so the mentality of the French sailors became distorted and crazy.

After dark, a group of soldiers came out of the military club drunk, shouting and cursing. Pedestrians on the road fled when they saw this group of drunk sailors. At this time, a young woman hurried along with a package and was found by a drunken sailor. Two tall French sailors pounced on them like hungry wolves, and the young woman collapsed to the ground screaming in fright, and the French sailors dragged the young woman into a corner and began to commit violence. The sailor standing next to him smiled lewdly and seemed to wake up and began to look for his target, and then chaos began to erupt.

The French sailors began to enter the shops along the street to loot, and some of the soldiers who took the lead and came out behind were stimulated to join in the robbery. This bustling street is full of shops and is not closed at this time. Hundreds of French sailors seemed to be red-eyed, and this collective action stimulated their bestiality even more. They entered the shop first to look for the woman, and then looted the belongings after being satisfied with the beastly nature, and a riot was staged in an instant.

The original Deng Mansion was located on this bustling street. With the help of Zixuan, his brother Deng Zide became the largest tea merchant on the street. The façade of the original house has been transformed into a magnificent gate, and the house has doubled in size. In the past few years, Deng Zide married another aunt and gave birth to a son and a daughter. The wife of the former room gave birth to two sons to him, and now he has two wives, three sons and one daughter, and his life is full of flavor and prosperity.

Brother Zixuan is rich and rich, and it can be said that he is very famous in the concession and even in Shanghai City, and Zide naturally borrows light. Even the foreigners in the concession were impressed by him, so Zide not only bought and sold more and more, but also greatly satisfied his vanity. Although the brother does not have the glory of his ancestors, he is rich enough to deter one party, and he is proud to be the eldest son of the elder brother. In the evening of this day, Zide sat on a chair and closed his eyes to recuperate, and the two maids knelt on both sides and beat their legs. Suddenly, there was a sound of slamming the door in the direction of the door, and Zide opened his eyes.

"Go and see who has the audacity to harass?" Zide was a little impatient. The two housekeepers who were waiting outside hurriedly ran out, and the slamming of the door became louder and louder, and the two ladies were frightened and hurried from the backyard to the front hall. "Sir, what's going on?" Mrs. Aunt asked in surprise. Zide said impatiently: "It's okay, you go back to the backyard!" There was a running sound, and a group of blond, blue-eyed foreign soldiers suddenly rushed into the house. After hearing only a few strange screams, the French GIs pounced on the two aunts and maids, and with frightened screams, the hall was in chaos.

Zide was suddenly frightened, and instinctively stepped forward to protect the two wives, and a tall French sailor flew up and kicked Zide in the chin. I saw Zide's body flying, his head hitting the corner of the Eight Immortals Table heavily, and his body twitched a few times and didn't move. The two wives shouted and pounced on Zide, but they were quickly dragged by the French soldiers, and then began to commit violence in the lobby. The maids in the house were not spared, and the family members were so frightened that they all fled.

The French GIs began to loot after a prowd attack, and Zuihou set a fire. A third of the shops on this busy street were spared that night, and the riots continued until midnight. What is infuriating is that the British and French authorities did not send troops to stop it, but blocked the concession. At about 10 o'clock, Chen Jinyu received news of a riot in the concession at Rose Manor. Hearing that the French sailors were burning, killing, looting, and women in the concession, Chen Jin's anger was like thunder, and he almost did not hesitate to immediately order the troops on Jinshan Island to move in Haicheng.

At about 0:00, Chen Jinyu and Wu Bao appeared in front of Wan'er. After listening to Chen Jin's report, Wan'er said with a pale face: "I don't know how the eldest brother's family is?" Wan Chuan was relieved: "I have already sent people into the concession, and now that the concession is under martial law, there is no way to send more people in." Mother, the people who go in will protect the eldest brother's family. Chen Jinyu said angrily: "The French sailors suffered a loss in Majiang and actually took revenge on the innocent people in the concession, it seems that we have to take action in advance." "Wan'er said: You can't let foreigners do whatever they want, and blood debts must be paid with blood!"

Wan'er was clear and fully agreed to take action in advance. Chen Jinzhou said: "The first regiment is advancing lightly, and it is estimated that it will be able to reach the concession at dawn." Wu Bao, how many people can your escort team gather now? "About 500 people?" Wu Bao replied. "You immediately gather the escort team and pull it to Songjiang Mansion to monitor the Qing army's green camp. Before coming from the manor, I had ordered the cadets to serve as the guardians, so you should start moving right away. Wu Bao turned and left.

"Wan Chuan!" "Here!" Chen Jinyu continued: "Before dawn, you have to put Sheng Huaixuan's family and Hu Xueyan's family under house arrest in Sheng Huaiyin's Songjiang Mansion. In addition, before dawn, I need the situation of the fortress batteries of the Qing army. "Yes! Subordinate Order! ”