The consuls of the various countries in the Shanghai Public Concession were shaken and prepared to teach the nascent Republic of China a harsh lesson, and after this opinion was implemented, it was soon conveyed to all parts of the concession, and then the famous "merchant group" of the International Chamber of Commerce also took action.

The International Merchant Group was founded in 1853 during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the first place was the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, which was called the foreign gun team by the Qing people at that time, this paramilitarization, most of the foreign gun team members composed of retired soldiers were too complex, from many countries around the world, so it was also called the "merchant group guard" of all countries, only to protect the expatriates of various countries and exist.

After 1853, every year on April 4, it is called the "Shang Tuan" Army Day, and a military parade is held to commemorate it, and the Army Day of Britain, France, Russia and other countries is held in the territory of the Qing Dynasty, which is also a great spectacle.

In the 70th year, it was taken over by the Shanghai Ministry of Industry Bureau, that is, the multinational municipal government composed of various countries in the public concession, and became a permanent institution, and then expanded the army over the years, and the supreme command body was the General Headquarters.

There are cavalry units, field artillery units, light artillery units, engineering corps, and infantry corps, even if only some of the "merchant guards" perform the duty of garrisoning and defending in normal times, that is, the number of people with a formal establishment is not large, about 1,000 people, but many more people live in the concession as "simple expatriates".

As long as the headquarters is mobilized, it will be able to mobilize a strong army immediately, and how strong it will be depends on whether the mobilization intensity is large or small.

It is not uncommon for the headquarters to mobilize "expatriates", such as the Battle of Mud City in 54, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 60, the Tianjin Teaching Plan in 70, the Siming Gongsho Incident in 74, etc., and so on, the headquarters has repeatedly mobilized on a large scale......

In less than half a day, more than 5,000 expatriates from Britain, France, Japan, the United States, Russia, Germany and other countries became the escorts of the merchant group.

There is no need to underestimate whether the figure of more than 5,000 is too small, under the historical conditions that more than 400 casualties could defeat the 200,000 Manchu army a few decades ago, under the First Sino-Japanese War that just ended last year, no one among the merchants of all countries can afford this decadent and declining country.

Even if the former Manchu Qing Dynasty has transformed into a Republic of China, in the eyes of all countries, it is just a change of skin.

After the merchant group was mobilized, it was assembled and rectified according to the standard modern army specifications. The envoys of various countries did not sit idle, but went around to find out the news, and in their minds the arrival of the Republic of China was too abrupt, and they had not received any news before? What about the forces of various countries stationed in Beijing? What about the forces of the Tianjin Concession?

There are also large numbers of church militants all over the North......

Why did they not receive news from the north until the founding of the Republic of China, but they had to go through the newspapers to find out? In the era when telegraphs did not appear, although it was not very fast to transmit information from Beijing, Tianjin, and other places to Shanghai, the collapse of an empire and the rise to power of a regime were not trivial, right? Before today, they had not received the slightest relevant information, so it was obviously abnormal.

So all countries are mobilizing their forces to find out the news. Unfortunately, in the era of inconvenient transportation, the newspaper published on the 5th stated that they should contact the armed forces before the 6th and accept the arrangements of the Republic of China government army......

"Your Excellency Commander, what is the effect of the mobilization?" As soon as four or five thousand newly mobilized merchant group guards gathered at the target range near Hongkou Park to warm up, the board of directors of the Ministry of Industry and the directors of various countries stepped on one after another, sweeping the square team assembled in the shooting range, and looking at the current commander of the merchant group, Maurison.

"General Director Shi Gaota, Deputy General Director Mentel, and all the directors can rest assured. Even if it is a joke that the Republic of China gathered tens of thousands of troops to attack, although this mobilization was a bit sudden, but in the big war in 94, we had just mobilized and assembled on a large scale. These are all qualified soldiers, and even on the European continent they are a top second-line army!" Commander Maurison was the British consul in Dengzhou in the Great Qing Dynasty as early as 1861, the difference is that he was in the prime of his life at that time, and now he is old. However, in the eyes of this commander, the Qing army was a joke, and the regime of the Republic of China that had just come to power was only a latecomer to the Qing state. It's so stupid that there is no limit, and he has every right to despise that kind of regime.

After all, he had witnessed the incompetence of the Qing government countless times. Even if he knew that the Qing State had been greatly stimulated after the First Sino-Japanese War, had already tempered the new army in the country, and vigorously invited German instructors, so what? What was the new army, which only began to be reorganized at the end of last year? He also knew that the number of new troops was not large.

After expressing his feelings to the directors of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau, Maurrison chuckled humbly and proudly, "You directors only need to keep your eyes open and witness a brilliant victory." ”

"I have confidence in Your Excellency that the Board of Directors will be your strongest support as you lead the Merchant Guard against that stupid regime. "The general director of the board of directors, Shi Gaota, is also a British, and the multinational city government has been in the hands of the British since its establishment, and he said this sentence with confidence.

Before Shi Gaota could say anything, a figure hurriedly ran over from a distance, his face was full of nervous sweat, "Your Excellency the General Director, Your Excellency the Commander, the Republic of China army has arrived!"

"What?"

When everyone present was stunned by what he said, he said with a wry smile, "About 7,000 troops of the Republic of China have arrived at the border of Baoshan County and are waiting for them, they don't seem to have any intention of attacking directly, but they have not set up camp either, as if they are waiting for us." ”

The directors of the Ministry of Industry were all dizzy, and so was Morrison.

No one would have thought that the army of the Republic of China regime would arrive so quickly, and the morning newspaper had just published those news, announcing that the president of the Republic of China had come to power to abolish the Yiqiē Treaty and take back the Yiqiē Concession, and the army had arrived in a few hours?

Well, in fact, before the arrival of the Republic of China army, some of them did not believe that the new government of the Republic of China would dare to go to war with them.

According to common sense, a regime has just come to power, or a regime obtained through a "bloody coup", the country has not yet stabilized, as long as there is a little brain, it will not provoke too many foreign enemies, under normal circumstances, no matter who killed the Manchu Qing to power, in the internal uneasy environment, it will basically strive for a relaxed external environment, and it is not too late to be tough on the outside when the internal is filtered, otherwise it will only be difficult at home and abroad, and it will collapse immediately.

This is also the reason why so many consular ministers feel that the newly established regime is stupid without limits. However, the voices of the other side may not necessarily be true, and perhaps the new regime will publish those words in the newspapers just to gain the goodwill of the people? First, talk about the abolition of the treaty, take back all the concessions, win the favor and support of the people, and do its best to stabilize the internal situation, but do not really do it to the outside world......

So don't look at how angry the consuls were when they saw those newspapers, and then immediately mobilized and the army was assembled.

But the Republic of China army did not arrive, and they still couldn't believe that the new regime dared to be so tough.

Even if it weren't for the fact that the newspapers such as the declaration had clearly announced that before April 6, that is, before tomorrow, the expatriates in the Shanghai Concession would have put down their resistance, and if it hadn't been for such a clear time, it is estimated that the mobilization of the international business group would not have been so fast.

The result is good, the guards of the International Merchant Corps have just been assembled, and the army of the Republic of China has already arrived? Arrived at the border of Baoshan County, after the expansion of the public concession over the years, the northern part of the concession reached the border of Baoshan County, and the army walked for a maximum of one or two hours.

"Shit, then let them die, Your Excellency Commander!" After being stunned, Chief Shi Gaota's face was full of hideous scolding. (To be continued......)