Chapter 62 Section 62

"Rong Lu, look at this situation, what should we do?" Empress Dowager Cixi did not hide her state of mind: "I'm so bored!" "Lafayette, don't worry too much, the situation can still be saved." Rong Lu took out a stack of papers from the boot leaf, read it, and played back: "Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Liu Kunyi talked very well with the consuls of various countries. , the southeast half of the wall, probably there will be no chaos, and if we can keep this vitality, there is still hope in the future." "The future is the future, what should we do now?" The Empress Dowager Cixi said, "I was planning to capture the embassy, ​​which would have the upper hand and give foreigners a warning. It’s a big loss. Who knew Dong Fuxiang would be useless like this. As for the Boxers, alas!” She sighed and shook her head: “Don’t mention it!”

"The Boxers could not be relied on. Dong Fuxiang was self-willed and overconfident." Rong Lu took two steps on his knees and said, "It is still too late to send troops to protect and send back to Tianjin while we are negotiating peace with foreigners." The Empress Dowager Cixi was silent, drank tea slowly, thought for a while, and then asked: "Who will you send to make peace?" "It's the slave's idea, and the slave is obliged to do so." Rong Lu replied, "Guns are flying around Dongjiaomin Lane. If you send someone else, they may not dare to go."

This means that Rong Lu's reconciliation is also a matter of risking his life.Empress Dowager Cixi was deeply comforted and moved by her dedication to the country, so she resolutely said: "Okay! It may not be useful for others to go. You should discuss it with King Qing!" So Rong Lu avoided the Minister of Military Affairs and went directly to King Qing's Mansion to discuss the deployment. He first ordered the Gan army to cease fighting, and then at four o'clock in the afternoon, he personally took people to Beiyuhe Bridge to deal with foreigners.The two armies faced each other and were suspicious of each other. In order to let the foreigners understand his intentions, they specially made an extra-large tall wooden sign, pasted yellow paper on it, and wrote the eight characters of 栲栳大: "I respect the decree of Yi, and protect the embassy. "This wooden sign, on the north side of the Yuhe Bridge, keeps shaking, hoping that foreigners will come forward to answer.

The foreigners in the British embassy saw the words on the wooden sign through the binoculars, but they didn't know what happened for a while, so of course they had to discuss how to deal with it. Of course, the ministers of all countries welcomed the friendly decree of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and decided to use a wooden plaque and write four big characters: "Please come to discuss peace" as a reply.This is easy to do, but it takes a lot of trouble to deliver this wooden sign to the other party.Because the distance is so far, the wooden sign must be sent to the place where the other party can see, in order to be effective, and within sight, that is, within the range of foreign guns, who is willing to risk his life to deliver the wooden sign?

So they were temporarily recruited in the embassy area, and after being rewarded heavily, someone finally applied. It was a Chinese cook at the French embassy, ​​surnamed Wang.He wore a red tasseled hat, held a wooden signboard in his left hand, and a white flag in his right hand. He kept waving along the Yuhe River, passing through the ruins of the Imperial Academy, and headed north. Chef Wang was doing this "death" for the twenty taels of silver. Once on the road, he looked around the desolation and saw the red-eyed wild dogs gnawing on the corpses of Boxers. He suddenly became timid and his legs became weak. When he wanted to turn around, the foreigners lying on the north wall of the British Legation were clapping and clapping, urging him to move forward.Thinking about the situation, I had no choice but to straighten my chest, raise my head, and rush forward.

Who knows that it's okay if you don't look up, when you look up, you can see the soldiers under the palace wall, all holding their guns, as if they were pointing at him.All of a sudden, I was trembling with fright, while waving the flag vigorously, while looking around, I wanted to find a higher place, put down the wooden sign so that the other party could see it, and I would be able to do my job easily. Just after thinking about it, I found a burnt bookshelf in front of the left. Although Wujiaoba was black, the shelf was still there. I was overjoyed, and without hesitation, I went straight forward and put the wooden sign on the bookshelf, feeling relieved As if relaxed all over, he turned around and left.

However, the clamor on my own side was even louder. When I looked up, the foreigner was waving desperately on the wall. Cook Wang was puzzled. He turned around and took a look. Only after looking at it did I realize that I had made a big and very wrong thing. The wooden sign was turned upside down, with the words "Please come to discuss peace", how could the other party see it?I was thinking in my heart that I should take the initiative to correct it, but my two legs didn't listen to me. They had their own ideas, and they were only willing to go south, not north. In fact, Rong Lu never saw the words on the wooden sign, but only thought about it from the white flag. He already knew how the embassy would react.But he never sent anyone to make further contact, because at the moment Cook Wang showed up, King Qing sent someone to inform that there was a decree in the palace, so there was no need to make peace!Ask him to meet at the mansion immediately.

"What's going on?" Rong Lu asked as soon as they met, "Suddenly changed his mind again!" "Oh! Don't mention it!" King Qing shook his head: "I don't know who came up with a trick to announce the good news in front of the Empress Dowager, saying that the Boxers had won a big victory in Langfang and killed tens of thousands of foreigners. The Empress Dowager was very happy. Entering the palace, they ordered Shenjiying, Hushenying, and Boxer each to reward 100,000 taels of silver. The Gan army had rewarded 40,000 before, and another 60,000. He also said: There is no need to make peace! Foreigners have the ability to go out of Beijing by themselves Okay, Zhonghua, tell me, this is not a matter of no shadow!"

"The matter of no shadow? Langfang didn't win the battle, so of course it lost the battle?" "Well, I don't know. There's a telegram I need to show you." The telegram was from Li Hongzhang, saying, "I heard that the embassies in the capital have not yet taken action. Dong Junmen is a brave man, so don't trust him. Now there are warships from various countries in every seaport. If you attack the Chinese embassy in Beijing, the overall situation will be unimaginable. If soldiers from all countries advance together, It is not beneficial for the country to go to the disaster alone, so please make a judgment. Li Hongzhang wiped away his tears and made the statement, please act on his behalf."

"Then, my lord, have you acted?" Rong Lu asked. "I just received it. I want to discuss it with you. It seems that Li Shaoquan will never go to Beijing." "Why is he willing to jump into the fire?" Rong Lu replied, "However, we must find one or two helpers." "Look! Let's see who can do it, you and I will recommend together."