Master Yuan, start!

Therefore, after the capital was blocked, disasters occurred one after another. Not only were there spontaneous incidents of looting and smashing, but there were also spies lurking in the city who took the initiative to set fires and cause trouble.

Dozens of well-trained soldiers from the Red Confucian Society tried to create riots, and with the help of the ruffians, people were robbed and stolen almost every minute in the capital after the city was sealed off.

How could the several thousand people in the Infantry Yamen Patrol Battalion handle the workload? They were exhausted in just a few days.

So soon Cixi was forced to open three gates in total: Yongdingmen in the south of the capital and Chaoyang and Fucheng on the east and west sides.

"But is the secret letter from the emperor that you mentioned true?" the subordinate asked tentatively.

"It couldn't be more true!" Wang Wu took out a piece of yellow cloth from his arms, which was covered with words.

The men had never seen an imperial edict before, so they came forward, but they looked at it from all angles and from top to bottom and still couldn't make any sense of it.

They are illiterate.

Wang Wu saw that his escorts were bewildered, so he read aloud:

"The Yehenara clan has abused their power, undermined the government, ceded territory and paid indemnities, without my control. I worry day and night, fearing the impending doom of the empire. You, the most loyal minister in the land, should consider the dangers of our nation's downfall. Rally loyal and righteous men, destroy the treacherous clique, and restore peace to our country! Do not betray my wishes. December of the fifteenth year of the Guangxu reign."

"It's truly written by the Emperor himself!" The escorts' eyes lit up. "So, the Emperor is neither sick nor crazy?"

"Of course, these are all tricks used by that old witch Cixi." Wang Wu cursed angrily, and then told everyone the whole story of what Yuan Xiangcheng had said to him.

The plans of sleuthing out a fake emperor, administering a powerful knockout drug, establishing a crown prince, and deposing the emperor stunned this group of knowledgeable and well-traveled escorts.

"Master Yuan! So, Master Yuan is not a traitor anymore?" All the escorts admired Yuan Xiangcheng, and they couldn't believe it when the court announced that Yuan Xiangcheng was a traitor.

But now it is clear that Cixi is the traitor.

"Of course not, Lord Yuan is actually a loyal minister!"

"But with just a few dozen of us, can we do it?" Some people still felt unsure.

"More than that!" Wang Wu clapped his hands, and more than twenty tall men walked out from the backyard, each holding a musket in his hand.

"This!" The escorts were shocked to see so many people. When did so many people hide in the escort agency, and there were dozens of muskets!

"This is a skilled man sent by Lord Yuan Xiangcheng to help us break out of prison!" Wang Wu explained.

Thanks to Empress Dowager Cixi opening the city gates, more than a hundred Jiashen Right Army soldiers slipped into the Forbidden City one after another. Although they could not bring weapons in, they could still arm a hot weapons unit of more than a hundred people with the weapons prepared in the city.

"Okay, let's do it!" Everyone rubbed their hands and took up their own weapons.

That night, in front of the Ministry of Justice prison.

"Damn it, what time is it? Why hasn't dinner been served yet?"

"Maybe he was delayed on the road by the patrol."

"This bunch of idiots from the Dutong Yamen can't even find a single person, and all they do is block the streets and interrogate people. They're completely useless."

"Everyone has run away. Do you think the emperor can still catch them?"

"Hush! Be careful with your words! Your Majesty, how can you use the word 'catch'? You have to use 'invite'!"

"Yes, yes, but when can we invite the emperor back? I heard someone said on the notice..."

"Stop, the world is not peaceful right now. Don't talk too much, or you'll get into trouble. Who knows what will happen when the emperor returns? Let's just stay in the cell."

"Yes, no matter whether it is the Emperor or the Empress Dowager, as long as they don't lack our salary, it's fine."

Several jailers were chatting idly in front of the door, although they were eating the emperor's food, they did not care about the dispute between the emperor and the empress like the scholars. Most of them only cared about their monthly money and food, and only a few worried about state affairs.

But after a while of silence, seeing that the food had not been delivered yet, they started chatting again.

"So what do you think? Is Lord Yuan really a traitor?" asked one of the younger ones.

The oldest jailer among them scratched his ear and sighed, "Hey, you still don't know whether Lord Yuan is a traitor or not, thank goodness you usually listen to operas so often. If you can defeat France and take over Korea, I think the more traitors like this, the better!"

"Then isn't the Empress Dowager persecuting loyal and good people?" another young man asked.

"What do you know? When it comes to the throne, regardless of whether they are loyal or treacherous, the only thing we care about is whether they are our own people!"

The older jailer turned his head and thought for a moment before adding, "You all know Yu Qian of the former Ming Dynasty. He was very similar to Lord Yuan. They both fought off the Mongols on the outskirts of the capital and even brought the old emperor back. But in the end, they were still beheaded in the struggle for the throne."

"It's true. Lord Yuan and Yu Shaobao have similar experiences. Doesn't that mean Lord Yuan will suffer the same fate?" the young jailer said with some regret.

The older jailer slapped him on the head and scolded him with a smile: "Just take it easy and don't get involved. Being a soldier in a war means deaths. It would be nice if we could just live peacefully in the capital for a few days." Having said that, the older jailer looked at the cart in the distance, stopped chatting, and hurried forward to take over.

"You're here now, what time is it?"

The old man delivering the food quickly apologized: "Sir, please calm down. Please calm down. On the way here, I was stopped and checked by the Infantry Yamen, which delayed me for quite a while."

As he spoke, he lifted the cloth covering the car.

"How did it all become like this?" the old jailer cursed, looking at the mess of vegetable jars. "Those bastards from the Governor's Office, forget it. Leave one cart and send the rest inside."

"Hey, sir, take your time eating. I'll bring the food in right away."

The old man pushed another smaller cart and took a few people with him to enter the prison.

"Wait a minute, these few people are too slow. It's already late today. Add a few more people to deliver the food and finish it as soon as possible."

"Oh, yes!" The old man thanked him quickly and called a few people from behind.

Wang Wu and his group entered the prison very smoothly. Since it was lunchtime, almost all the jailers had gone out to eat, so there were only prisoners inside.

Wang Wu sighed, "I didn't expect it to be so smooth. These guys are really good-for-nothings!"

Guan Xiangming, acting head of the Red Search Section's Beijing station, who had joined Wei Tui in the prison break, immediately began making arrangements: "Brother Wang Wu, you guys go rescue them. We'll keep watch at the door. When the time comes, we'll charge out!"

"Okay!" Wang Wu pulled out a big knife from the mezzanine of the cart and ran to the prison with several bodyguards.

The jailer outside the prison squatted on the ground and ate his meal, not caring about his image at all.

After showing off for a few minutes, the six old jailers wiped their mouths and put their bowls back in the car.

At this moment, Jiu suddenly discovered that there seemed to be something wrapped with black cloth on the handle of the cart, which was exposed.

1 He reached out to touch it, and unexpectedly, in addition to wood, he also touched a cold piece of iron.

"Why do you have to look at things you shouldn't be looking at?" A low voice came from behind. Before the old jailer turned around, he felt a heavy blow on the head and lost consciousness.

"boom!"

A gunshot woke up the jailers who were eating. Seeing the prison boss lying on the ground, they all picked up the big knives at hand and were about to rush forward.

"boom!"

Gunshots rang out one after another. In the face of hot weapons, swords and spears were almost useless. Dozens of shots ended the lives of these prison guards.

"The gun is a foreign gun that is only available in the Infantry Office!" Someone recognized it and ran away.

The prison breakers were busy dealing with the target in front of them, but he ran further and further away and escaped from the alley.

At the same time, Wang Wu also successfully found Tan Sitong and brought him out!

However, before everyone in the prison could evacuate, the sound of horse hooves and sparse gunfire were heard in the distance.

"It's someone from the Infantry Yamen!" Wang Wu exclaimed in surprise, "How come they came so quickly?"

"Fight while retreating!" Guan Xiangming was calm and had a plan in mind.

The group retreated towards the end of the street

Tonight, the riots occurred far beyond the Ministry of Justice Prison.

Fires broke out in the Lu Mi Cang and Zhao Zhong Shrine in the east, and explosions were heard in the Hanlin Academy in the west.

Even the foreign Catholic church was attacked, and the priest ran naked into the street.

...

Listening to the riots that lasted all night in the capital, British Minister Ogener frowned.

At that time, Dongjiaominxiang had not yet become an embassy area within a country, but more than ten countries including Britain, France and Germany had established embassies there.

After learning that Cixi had blockaded the capital, diplomats from various countries stationed there began to take action, ordering security personnel to set up sandbags and block the alley entrances to prevent the riots from escalating, for fear of affecting the safety of the diplomats.

The sound from the telegraph room inside the embassy was ticking non-stop, transmitting information from inside the capital to the outside world.

Beijing is the political center of China. Any riot here will affect the economic interests of the British Empire throughout China.

But when he held the handwritten letter written to him by the Inspector General of Customs, Robert Hart, a few days ago, he chose to remain in place for the time being.

Seeing Ogene's prolonged silence, the military attaché at the embassy asked, "Your Excellency, are you sure you don't want to inform the navy of the riots in the Chinese capital? The navy will be able to reach Tianjin Port in two days at most, making both rescue and evacuation much easier."

"I heard that the riots were caused by Governor Yuan?" asked Ogene.

"It's not clear yet, but since Yuan Shikai and the Qing Emperor disappeared, Beijing has never been at peace," the military attaché replied.

"Then we can just watch quietly, just like the Chinese say, 'sitting on a mountain and watching tigers fight.' No matter who wins in the end, the Qing Dynasty will be greatly weakened, and the British Empire will gain more benefits."

Eugen decided to follow Hurd's advice and not easily express the British Empire's attitude in the early stages of the incident, but to wait for the weaker party to ask for help. Only in this way could the British Empire gain more benefits.

...

Yuan Shikai's troops were divided into several groups to create chaos in the capital in order to give him the opportunity to break out from the city gate.

However, just when Ronglu, who was in charge of the military affairs of the capital, sent people to provide support everywhere, Yiliao Chunxi Mi and Ronglu were very happy.

"Master Rong, something strange happened tonight."

"I wonder what advice Prince Qing has for you?"

"After the city gates were opened, the unrest should have subsided, but why is it breaking out again tonight?"

After all, Yixuan was the one who planned the rebellion. He knew the truth about Guangxu's coma, so he was afraid to let Guangxu out of the city, which would put the situation in a passive position.

"What does Prince Qing mean?"

"It would be best to deploy more troops to guard the city gates, especially the Chaoyang Gate in the east. There are many fires in the east courtyards tonight. If a lot of men are pulled from the Chaoyang Gate to put out the fires, the thieves might take advantage."

"Okay, then we'll dispatch Gong Baotun, who is currently guarding the Meridian Gate, to guard it."

"Where is this person?"

"He was fighting a fire at the Zhaozhong Temple. Once the fire was out, he was ordered to leave."

...

Yuan Xiangcheng had been lurking near Chaoyang Gate early in the morning. As he watched fewer and fewer people gather near the gate, he became more and more nervous.

As long as he could escape from the Forbidden City, he would be able to fly as high as the sky and swim as wide as the sea.

When I returned to my residence to pack my luggage, I heard voices outside the yard. Wang Wu and Guan Xiangming walked in together. However, the latter seemed to be injured in his left foot, but he still tried his best to pass on the information.