Chapter 55 Section fifty-fifth

Before the third imperial meeting was convened, there was a very unfortunate news that Dagukou had fallen. Dagukou was captured by the coalition forces at dawn on May 21.The coalition forces had sent a note to the guard Luo Rongguang the afternoon before, with a deadline of 2 o'clock in the morning to withdraw from the Dagukou Fort.Luo Rongguang immediately forwarded the original document to Yulu. At midnight, he did not receive instructions. In order to pre-emptively strike, Luo Rongguang fired bombardment and sank two coalition boats.At that time, a small part of the coalition forces had landed. At dawn, land and water attacked and easily occupied the two forts.Yulu got the report, but he didn't dare to report the truth immediately, he only said that in the midst of brave resistance, Fang Shifei lost his defense after a day.

"The foreigners are coming in! The emperor is still hesitating, is it peace or war? Tell me!" "Under today, I am invincible, and I am invincible!" Zaiyi continued the words of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and said loudly: "We have not declared war at this time, do we really want to wait for foreigners to come to Beijing?" "The hearts of the people are available!" Gang Yi immediately agreed: "And the hearts of the people are trustworthy. This is a good opportunity to take revenge. If you hesitate and lose the hearts of the people, then it will really be over!"

With these two vanguards in the main battle, the first to speak, and the people who echoed one after another, all seemed impassioned.Old and prudent people, seeing this scene, are silent like cicadas, only Lianyuan can play different tunes alone. "That's not what you said!" There were beads of soybean-sized sweat on his forehead, and his expression became more and more anxious, "There are as many as eleven countries in China today, and one country is hostile to eleven countries. The number of victories and defeats is uncertain. You know, you must not be reckless!" "What is recklessness?" Empress Dowager Cixi was furious.

"Lian Yuan is a traitor!" Zai Yi sternly scolded: "The empress dowager, please issue an order to take Lian Yuan to execute the law immediately. The country's affairs are ruined because there are too many traitors. If you don't kill them, no one will listen to what the empress dowager says!" Seeing that the Empress Dowager Cixi was quite murderous in her anger, Zhuang Wang Zaixun had to bite the bullet and plead for Lianyuan!Because Lianyuan is the "coating" of Zhuang Wang's subordinates.In such a situation, as long as someone slows down in time, it can naturally be saved. Lianyuan's life was saved, but what he said was useless.

Seeing this situation, no one dared to speak anymore, only Wang Wenshao was hard of hearing. I don't know why Lianyuan angered the Empress Dowager Cixi?But judging from the look on his face, the rain was over and the sky was clear, and the big view eased. I had a few words, and after thinking about it, I felt that it was time to say it. "Ministers are in charge of expenditures, and they are responsible for raising salaries." He said slowly: "Since the First Sino-Japanese War, China has been unable to make ends meet, and its military strength is also very lonely. To continue? We have to plan in advance. Please think twice, the Empress Dowager!"

Before he finished speaking, the Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't listen anymore, she slapped the table and scolded: "I'm tired of hearing your words! What time is it now, the foreign soldiers are about to enter the capital! You go, you stop it!" Foreign soldiers are not allowed to enter Beijing. If you dare not go, I want your head!" Although the voice was high, Wang Wenshao still didn't know much about it, but it could be seen that he had hit a big nail, so naturally he was too frightened to say anything. "Yesterday we sent Xu Yongyi, Lishan, and Lianyuan to various embassies to negotiate. The envoys from various countries were all empty words, but to no avail. I think they were procrastinating. When the foreign soldiers entered Beijing, their attitudes changed. Now, you don’t need to be polite, the Prime Minister’s Office will immediately notify the embassies and ask them to fly back to China tomorrow.”

"Yes!" King Qing replied, "I will ask someone to do it right away." After saying that, he kowtowed, retreated alone, rushed to the prime minister's office, completed the note, and immediately dispatched special messengers to the ministers of various countries.