Chapter 30 Five Fires Burning Wanghailou Church

In the ninth year of Tongzhi, Tianjin government encountered a severe drought that had not been seen in many years.After the Chinese New Year, there hasn't been a single drop of rain or snow, and the crops, melons and vegetables in the fields have been dried up.The farmers are exhausted, carrying water to fight the drought. The places near the river can still get 40% to 50% of the harvest, while the places where water is short of water can only collect 10% to 20%. Many villages have almost no harvest.The people who were already poor and difficult encountered such a situation, and their lives were even more miserable.Thousands of people left their homes and went out to beg for food, and many people flocked into Tianjin City.Drought caused prices to rise, rice beads to pay for osmanthus, coupled with the swarm of hungry people, the city became more and more popular, and there were riots everywhere, robbery, riots, fights and deaths occurred every day.Since the beginning of summer, it has been extremely hot.An ancient city of Tianjin seems to have become a powder magazine ready to explode.

On the north bank of the Haihe River, from Weiyuan Wharf to Rouyao Wharf, many strange houses have been erected in recent years. They are all built by foreigners here, including Russian, American, British, and Belgian ones, especially French ones in Lion City. The Catholic Church built next to the forest bridge is even more eye-catching.This church was built last year. The French call it the Church of Our Lady of Victory, while the local people call it the Church of Wanghailou.The church has three floors, blue brick and wood structure, with three towers in the front, which are in the shape of a pen holder, and there are two rows of courtyard columns inside.In the entire city of Tianjin, there is no second such gorgeous building.Next to it is the nursery hall run by the church, which specially adopts orphans who have no father or mother.Not far from the church is the French consulate.Throughout the year, the doors of French churches and nursery halls are tightly closed, and the few people who come in and out occasionally rush through the small doors, looking mysterious and ghostly.Except for the singing and prayers that can be heard from inside on Sundays, it is usually surprisingly quiet.The people of Tianjin fear and loathe this gloomy church.In the past, people just waited and watched from afar with complicated moods, not daring to approach.Since the beginning of summer, the number of refugees in Tianjin has increased sharply, and there are people who are bored everywhere.Hearing that foreigners are rich and love to give alms, many people flock to this place where foreigners live, hoping to get some unexpected benefits.

In the middle of the night, Feng Laizi, a Jinghai farmer who was sleeping on the embankment of Weiyuan Wharf, was woken up by mosquito bites, and he was hungry, so he couldn't sleep anymore.He took out the tobacco rod attached to his belt, stuffed some old tobacco leaves into the pipe, and took out two pieces of flint to strike, and smoked a stuffy cigarette.He was in his early thirties this year. He was sick and had no money for medical treatment when he was young, and he limped one leg.His physical strength was poor and he couldn't do farm work, so he learned a craft of hooping and repairing barrels to make ends meet.The family is poor and cannot afford a wife, so he is still single.There was a drought in his hometown, and no one asked him to do crafts, so he came to Tianjin City.Feng Laizi is an upright man, he doesn't want to get any favors from foreigners, he has an instinctive hatred for foreigners for no name.He came here because he was dragged by his cousin Tian Laoer.Tian Laoer also lives on the north bank of the Haihe River. Although he is a farmer, he does not do business. He makes a living by cheating and stealing all year round. He is in his twenties this year and has no wife.

Tian Lao Er dragged his cousin to the side of the church to open his eyes, but he had a small plan: maybe by chance, he could get some extra money from foreigners.Tian Laoer has a friend, surnamed Wang, who has no name and no parents. He is eighteen or nineteen years old, but he looks like a child. He hangs around with others all day long.For more than a month, he has been hanging around with Tian Lao Er, and he will do whatever Tian Lao Er tells him to do.Tian Laoer gets some benefits, and he also shares some.At this moment, the two of them were sleeping next to Cripple Feng, snoring loudly.

Suddenly, Feng Laizi discovered that the gate of the Yuyingtang was open, and there were hundreds of small white candles burning inside.By candlelight, three rows of objects wrapped in white cloth could be seen neatly arranged on the ground.The objects were of different lengths and lengths, all between three and four feet wide, and about one foot wide. There were about a dozen pieces in each row.A foreign priest walked around in front of these white cloth objects, with his right hand crossing his chest.After a while, three people came out, each with a white object on their backs, walked out of the gate, and threw the white objects one by one onto the carriage parked in Pingli.Feng Laizi was startled suddenly: the children living in the nursery hall, is this white cloth wrapped in a child's body?He hurriedly woke up Tian Erer and the little gangster, they sat up, rubbed their sleepy eyes, and stared blankly for a long time.

"That's right, the white cloth is for children." Tian Laoer said with certainty. "Where are the foreigners going to transport the corpses of these children?" the little gangster asked. "Isn't it transported to the cemetery?" Tian Laoer replied lazily, and lay down again. Feng Laizi smoked a cigarette and said angrily: "I have heard people say that foreigners tricked our Chinese children into the nursery hall, and then killed them alive, gouged out their eyes, cut their chests open, and took them out. The viscera were used as medicine primers, these children must have been killed by these dogs and robbers. Damn, these devils who eat human flesh!"

Feng Laizi slammed the smoke pot on the stone.The little gangster said: "Brother Feng is right, foreigners transport corpses in the middle of the night, there must be ghosts in there!" "Forget it, it's none of your business, go to sleep!" Tian Er Er yawned, turned around, and fell asleep again. The little gangster looked at it for a while, then lay down and fell asleep.Feng Laizi stared straight ahead.Half an hour later, all the white cloth packages were transported to the carriage, the gate was closed again, the carriage left, and everything returned to its original silence.He silently remembered that there were thirty-five white cloth bags in total.

Feng Laizi can no longer sleep peacefully, his heart is full of burning hatred for foreigners.How can they be allowed to slaughter the Chinese like this?How can they be allowed to act so recklessly on Chinese soil?He thought that he must go to the prefectural government office to file a complaint tomorrow morning. In a blink of an eye, I thought again: officials are afraid of foreigners, and they don't care about the lives of the people, so it's useless to sue.He thought of his friend Shorty Liu whom he had met two days earlier, who was said to be a member of the fire and water society.

There will be hundreds of people in the fire and water, who are dedicated to fighting injustice and eliminating harm for the people. Why don't you tell Shorty Liu tomorrow! The next day, Feng Laizi revealed the secret of Yuyingtang to Liu Aizi.Shorty Liu was so angry that he yelled, "These bastard foreign devils, I want to level the church and kill them all! Let's go, let's go see Brother Xu first." Brother Xu is Xu Hanlong, the leader of the Water and Fire Society.Xu Hanlong's ancestral home is Tianjin. He has been a blacksmith by the Haihe River for three generations.After his father died, he succeeded his father as the leader of the Water and Fire Society.The Water and Fire Association is a non-governmental association with poor craftsmen and porters along the Haihe River as its main members. Its purpose is to help each other and help the poor.What the poor need most is help, and Xu Hanlong is generous and righteous, so the Water and Fire Society is very popular in Tianjin. In addition to porters and craftsmen, many rickshaw drivers, small vendors, and young men living in Tianjin also joined the Water and Fire Society.This year, there have been rumors in the society that the French Church has kidnapped children, gouged out their eyes and dissected their hearts. Xu Hanlong and the members of the Water and Fire Society were very angry when they heard this, and threatened that if the government did not ignore it, the Water and Fire Society would avenge the people.

In recent days, women have been crying and coming to Brother Xu, saying that their children were lost, and most likely they were abducted by the church. They kowtowed to Brother Xu, begging him to try to find the child.Yesterday, some common people sent a person named Wu Lanzhen to the Water and Fire Meeting. Xu Hanlong was about to interrogate himself when Liu Aozi came in with Feng Laizi. After hearing Feng Laizi's accusation, Xu Hanlong, a bloody man, couldn't hold back any longer, and shouted loudly: "We usually suffer from no evidence of crime, and what happened last night is the best evidence of crime. After I interrogate Wu Lanzhen, we will go to see Zhang Zhifu together. "

Wu Lanzhen was escorted up.This person was about forty years old, tall and thin, very much like a bean. "Wu Lanzhen, I'm asking you, you have to confess truthfully!" Xu Hanlong slammed his thick palm on the table and yelled at Wu Lanzhen.Wu Lanzhen trembled with fright. "Wu Lanzhen, where are you from?" "I'm from Tianjin, and I live in Yangliuqing." Wu Lanzhen's face turned pale. "How many years have you lived in the city, and what have you been doing?" "I only came to the city in the early spring of this year. There was no harvest in the field due to drought, so I had to come to the city to make a living. I had nothing else to do. I boiled some sweet potato candy for sale." "Wu Lanzhen!" Xu Hanlong raised his voice again, "Why did you put ecstasy in the sweet potato candy to harm the children?" Wu Lanzhen's legs trembled, her face turned pale and blue, and her already ugly facial features looked even uglier.He stayed there and didn't speak for a while. Suddenly, he knelt down on his knees and wailed loudly: "Da Longtou, I didn't put ecstasy. I confess the truth, some of my sugar sweet potatoes are rotten and moldy. Children eat it, dizziness and diarrhea. But I didn't put the ecstasy. Where did I get the ecstasy!" Xu Hanlong looked at him angrily, and cursed: "You traitor who should be fried and burnt, it is said that you were bribed by foreigners to put ecstasy in sugar and entrap children. Do you still want to cover up your crimes for foreigners? Lao Tzu I warn you, if you confess honestly, I will save you from death; if you continue like this, I will immediately beat you to death with a stick and feed the dogs!" Outside the door, there were already three floors full of people, shouting chaotically: "Kill this bastard!" Wu Lanzhen was so frightened that she collapsed on the ground, kowtowed indiscriminately to Xu Hanlong and to the crowd outside the door, and shouted: "Da Longtou, three elders and four young men, brothers and sisters, please forgive me, please forgive me, my family is still blind I am an eighty-year-old woman with a lot of wives and children, please spare my life!" After kowtowing for a while, she cried again, "I confess, I confess the truth, it is the people in the Catholic Church who want me to confess. Put the drug in the candy, and if the children eat it, they will be automatically sent to the nursery." The people outside the door yelled together, shouting: "The foreign devil is hateful, let's kill him!" Xu Hanlong asked again: "Wu Lanzhen, which one from the Catholic Church gave you the medicine?" Wu Lanzhen touched her head, thought for a long time, and said, "Wang San." "Where did Wang San give it to you?" "Give it to me in front of the iron gate on the left side of the church." Someone outside the door shouted again: "Catch that bastard Wang San and peel him off!" "Wu Lanzhen, you and I will go to see Master Zhang, the magistrate, and tell Master Zhang again." "Da Longtou, I won't go." Wu Lanzhen felt guilty. "Why don't you go?" Xu Hanlong raised his eyes and looked at him. "I'm afraid to see the magistrate." "You useless mangy dog!" Xu Hanlong kicked Wu Lanzhen and shouted, "Get up and follow me. With me here, you are afraid of being a dick!" "Brother Xu, don't go see Zhang, he wears the same trousers as a foreign devil." Shorty Liu came over, grabbed Xu Hanlong, and said, "The gatekeeper of the magistrate's yamen is the Jiaomin. The last time when a churchman quarreled with the people, the concierge said to the surname Zhang that the people were rude.What does such a magistrate want him to do! " Xu Hanlong said: "No matter what, he is always the parent officer here. Tell him first, and he ignores it. It's not too late for us to act, so as not to let him take advantage of loopholes in the future." "Brother Xu, I'll go with you to meet Zhang Zhifu." A hunchbacked young man walked out of the onlookers outside the door.His surname is Luo, and everyone calls him Luo Tuozi.Luo Tuozi walked up to Xu Hanlong and said, "I passed the cemetery yesterday afternoon and saw a group of dogs surrounding it. I picked up a stick and drove the dogs away, and saw the corpses of three children lying there with their chests all open." , the heart, liver, stomach and lungs are gone. Where did it go, it must have been dug up by the foreign devils! I will go with you to see the prefect Zhang to testify." "Okay! You saw it with your own eyes, and the evidence is as solid as a mountain." Followed by hundreds of people outside the gate, Xu Hanlong, Liu Aizi, Feng Laizi, Luo Tuozi, and Wu Lanzhen all came to the prefect's yamen in Tianjin. Recently, the rumors about the French Catholic church abducting children, gouging out their eyes and dissecting their hearts have become more and more serious and bizarre.Some said that there were several large vats of eyeballs in the church, all of which were used to melt silver, and some said that foreigners used children's hearts and livers to steam chicken for immortality and so on.The magistrate Zhang Guangzao knew about it a long time ago, and his subordinates also persuaded him to ask, but he pretended to be deaf and dumb and ignored it. Zhang Guangzao has his reasons.For more than ten years, there have been many religious cases all over the country, and they have started to make a big noise. Missionaries and believers who have committed many crimes have been punished, and some churches have been smashed.As a result, there is nowhere that does not end in the failure of the Chinese.Foreigners used force to threaten China. The imperial court was afraid that things would get bigger and suffer even bigger losses. They always favored foreigners, apologized and paid money, killed their own compatriots, and dealt with their own officials in exchange for the forgiveness of foreigners.A few years ago, there was a conflict between the people of Guizhou and the French Missionary Society. The governor and the admiral participated in the incident. As a result, the governor and the Ministry of Communications severely discussed it, and the admiral was dismissed and sent to Xinjiang.Under the threat of the French, the imperial court couldn't keep such a big official, let alone a mere fifth-rank magistrate?Zhang Guangzao was nearly sixty years old. He started as a yamen official and spent thirty-eight years in the officialdom. He spent a lot of effort and care before he was promoted to his current position.As long as there is no accident, I can return to my hometown in two years, spend my old age peacefully, and live my life well.Is it worth it if you lose your official position for offending foreigners?Of course, another attitude can be adopted, that is, to vent out one's nostrils with foreigners and to work in collusion with foreigners.Zhang Guangzao was also unwilling to do so.First, he was reviled by others, and second, as a Chinese, he was more or less dissatisfied with the actions of foreigners, and he refused to do things that were too ignorant of conscience.Therefore, he intentionally hired a parishioner as a concierge, and used the parishioner to build relationships with foreigners. He generally ignored the things that the parishioners scolded the church and hated foreigners.He pedaled on both sides of the boat, just hoping that there would be no troubles, and he would be able to retire safely. The yamen servant came in and reported that someone had come to sue the church.Zhang Guangzao hurriedly waved his hands to say no, but later he heard that Xu Hanlong, the leader of the Water and Fire Society, was here, and he was a little scared.The Water and Fire Society is very powerful, and Xu Hanlong is even more of a hero. It would be difficult to offend them, so he reluctantly came out to meet them.After listening to the reports of Feng Zizi and Luo Tuozi and Wu Lanzhen's confession, Zhang Guangzao thought to himself: Feng Zizi saw the white cloth bag from a distance at night, even if it was a real child's corpse, he didn't see whether those corpses had eyes or hearts.As for the viscera-free corpses of the children in the cemetery, it is also possible that the dogs ate them.On the contrary, what Wu Lanzhen said about the fact that the disciple Wang Sanqin gave him medicine can be corroborated.Thousands of people have gathered outside the yamen. If they don't show up again this time, it will cause public outrage. Why don't they go to the church with them, which can also prevaricate people.Just about to get up, I thought, even though I am the magistrate, there are Taoists above, if I take Zhou Daotai with me, no matter what happens in the future, my responsibility will be much smaller. The magistrate Zhang has made up his mind, and said to Xu Hanlong and others: "Tianjin scholars and people have reported that children are abducted by French churches. The government has always kept this in mind, and has sent many people to investigate. Now Wu Lanzhen confessed to Wang San, a teacher of the Department of Drugs, and arrested them. After living in Wang San, the matter can be cleared up. But it involves France, which is no small matter. If you are not careful, there will be big trouble. The people in Youyang, Sichuan, clashed with the French missionaries, and more than 140 people died More than 700 people were injured, and the case has not yet been closed, so it can be used as a lesson for the past. Now the government will go with you to see Lord Daotai Zhou, and ask him to let us go to the church with us to testify." Xu Hanlong felt that Zhang Guangzao's words were also reasonable, so he, Feng Laizi and others followed the magistrate's blue sedan chair to Tianjin Dao Yamen.Zhang Guangzao ordered Xu Hanlong and others to wait in the gatehouse, and went in alone to meet Zhou Daotai. After listening to Zhang Guangzao's statement, Zhou Jiaxun, a Taoist priest in Tianjin, rubbed his chin and pondered for a long time, and said, "Mr. Zhang, this matter is too important. If it doesn't work out, you and I can't afford it. Now there are three ministers of trade, Chong Shilang, here." , he is full and has been dealing with foreigners for many years, why don't we ask him to come forward?" "Your Excellency is brilliant!" Zhang Guangzao admired Zhou Jiaxun's maturity and prudence from the bottom of his heart, "Then let's invite Minister Chong now." "Slow!" Zhou Jiaxun said, "People are raging outside the yamen right now, and accidents are the most likely to happen. How can you invite Chong Shilang to the church? You want Xu Hanlong and others to go back, and leave Wu Lanzhen alone. Tonight, the two of us will go to see Chong Shilang, Take Wu Lanzhen to the church tomorrow to testify. In addition, you tell the people to play their part, the government is investigating, and don't spread rumors." After all, it is a Daotai with Jinshi background, and it needs to be thoughtful and prudent when considering and dealing with things. Zhang Guangzao fully agrees with Zhou Jiaxun's arrangement. Chonghou, the third minister of trade and commerce, was a man with a prosperous official career. He took up this position as the left servant of the Ministry of War at the age of thirty-five, and sat on this throne for ten years.He has a very deep relationship with foreigners, and he has always stood on the side of foreigners in disputes and conflicts between Chinese and foreigners.He absolutely did not believe that the French church had eyes gouged out, and he was willing to watch the confrontation between Wu Lanzhen and Wang San with his own eyes. After Xu Hanlong returned, he immediately informed the members of the Water and Fire Association that they would all go to the church tomorrow. If the foreigners did not plead guilty, they would show them some color.The members of the Water and Fire Society had long held back their anger, and upon hearing this, everyone was overjoyed.Feng Laizi also told Tian Laoer about it.Tian Laoer was secretly happy: tomorrow we can take advantage of the fire to loot.He also informed a group of his friends, the gangsters, Xiang Wu, Zhang Guoshun, and Duan Qifa overnight, to get them all ready. The next day, three large sedan chairs were carried to Daping of the Catholic Church, followed by several soldiers, who escorted Wu Lanzhen.The pastor of the church, Xia Fufu, opened the door to welcome him.Xia Fufu said with a smile on his face, "What's your business here, gentlemen?" Zhang Guangzao explained his purpose. The blue-eyed and blond-haired Xia Fufu laughed and said in fluent Chinese: "This brother Wu must have made a mistake. There is no believer named Wang San in our church. There are four French missionaries in the church, thirteen The Chinese priests, and three other Chinese laborers, including me, there are a total of 20 people. Now you can all be called together, this brother Wu, come face to face and see which one is Wang San who gave you the ecstasy." Zhang Guangzao was secretly surprised by Xia Fufu's calm demeanor.He glanced at Wu Lanzhen, and saw that guy blushed and turned pale, extremely nervous.After a while, all twenty people in the church were present.Xia Fufu still smiled and said: "Brother Wu, come and admit it!" Wu Lanzhen tremblingly walked over, seeing the last one from the first one, and the first one from the last one.Finally, he shook his head dejectedly. Xia Fufu said with a smile again: "My lords, our missionaries from the French Empire came to your country to spread the gospel of God and save the souls of the world. They built nurseries, hospitals, and lecture halls in your country. The people of our country do good deeds. The Lord told us that people all over the world, regardless of country, nationality, high or low, male or female, are brothers and sisters, and should love each other. We are the ones who spread the gospel and benefit your country. People, how can they do such unreasonable things? The sage Confucius in your country said it well: "Do not do to others what you don't want yourself to do to yourself." We don't want our eyes to be gouged, and our chest How could they goug out other people’s eyes and dissect their chests? What Brother Wu said about the iron gate on the left side of the church is also wrong. There is no door at all on the left side of the church, and the small door on the right side is also made of wood.The church has no iron gates. This brother Wu may be under the evil spirit of a demon. "Xia Fufu said, walked up to the terrified Wu Lanzhen, and muttered: "O Lord Almighty, eliminate the evil in his heart and save his soul!"O Lord, Amen! " Xia Fufu's words stunned the adults and masters, and they couldn't say a word anymore.Chonghou was so angry that he jumped up, pointed at Wu Lanzhen's forehead, and cursed: "You son of a bitch, I'll settle the score with you when I get back!" Turning to face Xia Fufu and cupping his hands, "I'm sorry to bother you." After all, it was different from Zhou Jiaxun. Zhang Guangzao said hello, then walked out of the church angrily and got into the sedan chair.Zhou Jiaxun and Zhang Guangzao had no choice but to say goodbye. At this time, tens of thousands of people were watching outside the church, shouting, shouting, and cursing.Xu Hanlong rushed out from the crowd, grabbed Zhang Guangzao's chair pole and asked, "Prefect Zhang, have the foreigners pleaded guilty?" Zhang Guangzao smiled wryly and said, "Everyone should disperse and go back. Wu Lanzhen has identified the wrong person. There is no Wang San in the church." As he talked, he got into the sedan chair and ordered to go back to the Yamen as soon as possible.Xu Hanlong cursed angrily: "This group of useless bastards, stupid officials!" At this time, a Chinese Christian came out of the church, put his hands on his hips, and shouted to the crowd: "Wu Lanzhen framed a good person, ruined the reputation of the church, and died a bad death. What are you still doing here?" Xu Hanlong rushed over, stretched out his hand and slapped him, and cursed: "You pug of a foreigner, you put on a Chinese skin for nothing!" The man covered his face and shouted, "You hit someone!" "So what if I beat you? You are a scum of the descendants of Yan and Huang, I will kill you!" Xu Hanlong stood majesticly in front of the parishioner, like a judge with justice in his hands. Liu Aozi led the members of the Water and Fire Society and shouted: "Vicious dog!" "Slave!" "Kill this traitor!" The parishioner fled into the church in fright and closed the door tightly.Onlookers threw stones and rubbish at the church and the nursery.There are more and more people watching the excitement, and their interest is also growing. People hope to make things big.Most of the people wanted to take this opportunity to dispel the arrogance of the foreign devils and express the grievances that had been accumulated in their chests for many years. There are also many people who are bored and want to find some excitement and add some color to their lives.There are also some green-skinned rogues, what they fear most is that the world will not be chaotic, so they have to behave themselves, and what they hope most is that the society will be in chaos, so that they can benefit from the chaos. The noise of the crowd outside the church had already alarmed the French Consulate not far away. Consul Feng Daye was roaring and furious in the hall like a wounded beast.This French diplomat, who worshiped Napoleon, thought he was a high-ranking citizen of God. With the powerful military force behind him, he was confident on the land of China. In his eyes, China was poor and backward, and the Chinese were ignorant and barbaric. He hated the people's struggle against the French Church everywhere, and always advocated bloody suppression to maintain the majesty of the French Empire and ensure the unimpeded spread of Catholicism in China.At this moment, he saw that there were more and more people outside the church, the noise was getting louder, and he was very angry. "Where are the local officials in Tianjin? Where are they hiding?" He pointed to the secretary Simon beside him.That look, as if he is the governor of Zhili who controls the Tianjin Taoist government. "I just received a report that Zhang Guangzao, the magistrate, and Liu Jie, the county magistrate, have sent troops to suppress them." Simon, who was wearing a neat suit, replied. "How many soldiers were sent?" "Over one hundred." "Pigs!" Feng Daye cursed rudely, "Tianjin prefectures and counties are full of pigs. There are tens of thousands of people rioting outside the church, what role do more than a hundred soldiers play!What's more, Chinese soldiers are all incompetent cowards. " "Yes." Simon replied, "However, they are not timid in front of their own people." "Why doesn't Chonghou, a cunning man, show up? Why doesn't his foreign spear team come out?" "Chong Hou has been to the church first, and now he has gone back to the office." "Prepare the car!" Feng Daye ordered, "You and I will go to the Sankou Commercial Yamen to see Chonghou immediately!" Chong Hou was wearing a moon-white gauze dress, holding an exquisite Xiangfei fan, and was admiring his favorite Western clocks in his treasure room.Chonghou's collection room is almost like a watch shop, with all kinds of Western clocks filling the room, dazzling and dazzling.Whenever Chonghou was free, he would come to this room, look at this clock, touch that watch, and feel happy.When he saw something he was proud of, he would hum a few lines of Peking Opera to the clock.At this moment, Chonghou was completely immersed in joy.Last month, a Belgian businessman gifted him a special chime clock.This clock is half a person's height, decorated with enamel, and inlaid with gold and jade, it looks very jeweled.This is still the second.The most wonderful thing is that there are four naked blonde Western girls in the lower part. Those girls are so charmingly shaped, just like a few shrunken real people.Every hour, when the bell rang, the four girls danced on the spot, making Chong Hou's heart tickle with joy, wishing to embrace all these foreign Bodhisattvas in their arms.Chonghou did not treat the merchant badly, and gave him the most favorable treatment: no inspection of his ships when they entered Tianjin Port.Chonghou placed the clock in the middle of the collection room.When the hour came, he threw away his official business and hurried into the collection room, watching the foreign girls dance with great interest. Chonghou was watching in a daze when a family member in delicious clothes came to his side: "My lord, French Consul Feng Daye and Secretary Simon have come to visit, and they have entered the living room." Chonghou was startled, the paper fan in his hand fell to the ground, and secretly cried out: Trouble is coming!He hastily changed into a long robe and jacket and went out to meet him. "Mr. Consul, Mr. Secretary, what kind of good wind brought you here?" Chonghou bowed to Feng Daye and Simon with a smile on his face. Feng Daye looked down on this pleasure-seeking, tactful and mediocre bureaucrat of the Qing Dynasty from the bottom of his heart, he did not follow Chonghou's tricks, put on a straight face, and asked straight to the point: "Mr. Minister, the Catholic Church was besieged for no reason, do you know about this? " "I know, I know!" Chonghou peeled a Nanfeng tribute orange and handed it to Feng Daye, and said with a smile: "Prefect Zhang and County Magistrate Liu have already sent troops to suppress it, don't worry, Mr. Consul, the matter will subside soon. " "I can't rest assured, Mr. Minister." Feng Daye didn't accept the tribute orange that Chonghou handed over, with a frosty face, "The riot of tens of thousands of people will be quelled by a hundred soldiers? Where's your foreign gun team? Transfer your foreign gun team!" Feng Daye ordered him so directly, and Chong Hou, the Minister of War and the Minister of Commerce of the Three Ports, felt ashamed.He suppressed the unhappiness in his heart, and still said with a smile: "Mr. Consul, it may not be appropriate to send a foreign gun team out to suppress the people." "What are you talking about!" Feng Daye stood up eagerly, "Mr. Minister, you have to understand that your foreign gun team was built for you by the Great French Empire and the British Empire, and it is its due duty to protect the churches in Great France. You must dispatch it immediately!" Feng Daye was so arrogant and unreasonable, Chonghou became annoyed for a while, but he didn't dare to get angry, he just replied a little coldly: "The foreign gun team can't be transferred." "Are you really out of tune?" Feng Daye was so angry that he pulled out a shiny black pistol from his waist and shot Chonghou's chest twice. "Ba Ba", the big Ming Xuande ruby ​​red vase that was more than a person tall behind Chonghou was smashed to pieces.In fact, Feng Daye was just scaring Chonghou, when he fired the gun, he moved his hand two inches away.The two gunshots terrified Chonghou, he hurriedly escaped from the living room and hid in the inner room.The officials and soldiers in the yamen did not know what had happened, so they all surrounded him. Simon dragged Feng Daye past him and said, "Let's go!" Feng Daye shouted to the inner room: "Chonghou, I am telling you, if you do not quickly quell the riot, you will be responsible for all the consequences arising from it!" After finishing speaking, he swaggered out of the Sankou Tongshang Yamen, ran back to the east of the river angrily, and unexpectedly met Liu Jie, the magistrate, on the Shizilin floating bridge.Liu Jie has been around the church for more than two hours with dozens of soldiers.He ran from east to west, from south to north, shouting so hard that his tongue was dry and his mouth was hoarse, trying to persuade the people to disperse, but it didn't work at all.The wife was afraid that something would happen to him, so she sent her family member Liu Qilai to tell him to go back, and lied that his single seedling suddenly fell ill.Liu Jie is over forty years old, but this five-year-old only son usually values ​​his life more than his own.He said hello to the general manager who led the team, and hurriedly took Liu Qi back to the Yamen. "Stop!" Feng Daye ordered impolitely, "Magistrate Liu, where are you going?" "I'll go back to the Yamen for a while." Liu Jie replied very unhappy. "Magistrate Liu, as the parent officer of Tianjin, can you leave the church at this time?" Feng Daye was angry again, and severely reprimanded the magistrate of Tianjin. It was inconvenient for Liu Jie to talk about going back to the yamen to see his son's illness, but he was so anxious that he couldn't find any other excuses, so he was tongue-tied and at a loss. "You pig!" Feng Daye yelled, "Your Qing officials are all pigs!" "You dare to curse?" Liu Jie was more bloody than Chonghou after all, he couldn't accept a foreigner insulting him in front of the common people, so he blurted out angrily, "You uneducated foreign devil!" "You?" Feng Daye didn't expect that Liu Jie would dare to scold him back, so he immediately pulled out his pistol.Liu Qi, Liu Jie's family member, was his distant nephew, who had always been loyal to his cousin. Seeing that the momentum was wrong, he hurriedly stepped forward to block Liu Jie with his body.At this moment, the gun in Feng Daye's hand rang, and a bullet hit Liu Qi's left chest, bleeding profusely. Seeing this, the people at the head of the floating bridge became furious. Shorty Liu yelled, "The foreign devils shot and killed people!" This cry was like throwing a ball of torches into a storeroom filled with tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder, and the angry flames burned into the sky; it was also like a shell breaking through the gate on the Haihe River, and the raging waves accumulated here from thousands of miles away surged.Tianjin Wei is furious!People are outraged!Before Liu Aizi finished chanting "Kill the foreign devils of Gou Ri", hundreds of people rushed onto the pontoon bridge.Seeing that the situation was not good, Feng Daye and Simon quickly turned back and ran towards the west of the bridge.Where can I get off!Dozens of big men also came up from the west of the bridge to cut off the circuit.Shorty Liu ran over and kicked Feng Daye down on the bridge. There was a burst of iron fists like raindrops, and within three to five seconds, both Feng Daye and Simon were reduced to meat paste. At this time, a senior military officer came out from an officer's cabin by the pontoon bridge, and the man shouted to the bridge: "Good fight!" Shorty Liu looked towards the shouting reputation, oh, isn't this the general soldier Chen Guorui?Last year, also at the mouth of the Haihe River, Shorty Liu carried rations for Chen Bu on board, and he once met this "Marshal" Chen Guorui.At this time, seeing Chen Guorui's support, he became even more emotional, and shouted at the crowd: "Folks, Marshal Chen said we fought well, let's rush to the church, and simply kill those foreign priests!" "Yes, let's go to church and settle the accounts!" The people on the pontoon bridge shouted and rushed towards the crowded church. Beside the church, Xu Hanlong jumped onto a mound and shouted to the surrounding people: "Fathers and folks, foreign devils and religious believers bullied us and killed our children, and now they shot and killed County Magistrate Liu's family. Can we be willing to be slaughtered by them?" "No!" Hundreds of brothers from the Water and Fire Society shouted together. "Let's take revenge!" After Xu Hanlong finished speaking, he jumped off the mound and took the lead to rush to the church. Tens of thousands of people moved together, the door of the church was rushed open, and Xia Fufu was arrested.Xu Hanlong said: "Put him under arrest." Immediately there were strong objections. "Kill him!" More than a dozen people shouted, and Xia Fufu's life went to heaven instantly.None of the other three French missionaries escaped, and all died in the fists.Five or six Chinese Christians were also caught and beaten to death. The others hurriedly tore off the cross on their chests, took off their black religious robes, and changed into their usual home clothes, and managed to escape among the crowd.Someone brought a bucket of oil from the kitchen and poured it on the statue of Jesus, and immediately someone lit a fire, and the statue of the crucified Jesus was quickly reduced to ashes in the fire.The fire burned more and more vigorously, from the first floor to the second floor, from the second floor to the third floor, and from the third floor to the tower.In a blink of an eye, a majestic and magnificent Wanghailou church was engulfed by raging fire. This is an unjust anger, a fire of vengeance, and a spontaneous wildfire! The fire burned from the church to the nursery, and more than a hundred Chinese children ran out in panic, and seven or eight seriously ill babies were left unattended, choked to death by the smoke and scorched by the fire.Three French nuns were dragged out.They were stupefied by this angry scene, chattering in their mouths, no one understood what they said.An old man with gray hair came over and said to the person pulling them: "This is a nun, just like our Chinese nuns, they are also poor people, let them go!" A middle-aged man with a fleshy face yelled at his gray hair: "What poor people, they are all witches, let them go to be your wife?" The old man made fun of it, and squeezed out of the crowd with his head down.Someone shouted: "They are the ones who gouged eyes and dissected their hearts. Burn these witches to death!" A boy with a rag around his waist suddenly clasped his fists, cupped his hands around, and said, "Uncles and brothers, none of our brothers have wives, please do me a favor and give these witches to our brothers. Let us torture and vent our anger for everyone!" "Bah, bastard! Go away, don't embarrass us Chinese here!" Feng Lizi rushed over, waved his hand, knocked down the boy in rags, and shouted to the crowd: "Who has someone kidnapped?" Children, come and take revenge!" Immediately, twenty or thirty women with their hair disheveled squeezed out of the crowd.These women cried and called their children's names, while biting the nun with their teeth.For a moment, the three nuns were all bloody and inhuman. Someone in the crowd shouted again: "The root of the disaster is the French consulate!" "Destroy it!" Immediately, thousands of people echoed.So people flocked to the consulate.The people in the consulate had already fled.They tore the French flag over the gate and smashed the contents inside.The mansion next to the consulate, foreign firms, and several lecture halls in the United States and the United Kingdom were all smashed to pieces.People still didn't understand their hatred, they were still discussing there emotionally, laughing and cursing, congratulating each other on their victories.Everyone thinks that today is the only day in this life to live happily! In the Guandi Temple three miles away from the Catholic Church, Tian Laoer and a group of Qingpi brothers squatting here with the gangsters, they have other plans.Just when everyone was tearing up the French flag, three sedan chairs came from afar.Tian Laoer said happily: "It's finally here!" He rushed out of Guandi Temple as he said, and the gangsters followed closely. "Stop, stop!" Tian Laoer raised the watermelon-cutting knife in his hand and shook it at the faces of the bearers. The bearers were so frightened that they stopped immediately.Tian Er Er raised the curtain of the sedan chair, and a foreign woman with fair skin, yellow hair, and blue eyes sat inside.Tian Laoer saw a string of glowing gold necklaces around her neck and a gemstone ring on each of her hands, and was secretly happy.He reached into the sedan chair with one hand, dragged the foreign woman out of the sedan chair, and cursed: "You witch, you are here for revenge!" After finishing speaking, he chopped the woman's head with the watermelon knife go.The woman screamed and fell to the ground. At this moment, a foreigner man ran out from the second sedan chair, just in time to catch up with Xiang Wu, and without saying a word, he swung his spear and poked at his leg.Zhang Guoshun and Duan Qifa ran over and beat the foreigner to death with knives and sticks.The three of them fumbled around the foreigner, but found nothing of value. "The one behind has run away!" The little gangster had sharp eyes, and saw a six-foot-tall foreign man running out of the third sedan chair, the little gangster was no taller than his shoulders.He didn't know where he got the courage to catch up with, and punched the man in the waist. The big foreign man fell to the ground and couldn't get up.He seemed to feel that he was Wu Song, the tiger-fighting hero on Jingyang Ridge, who was showing off in front of the crowd, and kept cursing: "Kill you foreign devil! Who told you to bully our buddies." Tian Laoer quickly tore off the gold necklace from the foreign woman's neck, and took off a sapphire ring from her left finger, but Xiang Wu took off the ruby ​​ring on her right finger.Duan Qifa didn't get anything, he was not convinced, he fumbled around her, and accidentally found a gold watch in his pocket.Seeing that the little gangster was beating up another foreigner, everyone rushed to help, hacked down the foreigner a few times, and the foreigner stopped moving.Duan Qifa learned from the lesson just now and struck first, and he took off the gold ring on the foreigner's left hand with all his might.Zhang Guoshun took out several colorful bills from his coat pocket.Touch again, no more.Xiang Wu didn't catch the oil and water, so he clenched his cheeks in anger, turned the dead foreigner over with all his strength, and reached out to take out the small pocket on his ass.The pocket is empty.Xiang Wu was so angry that he spit out a mouthful of phlegm, and cursed: "This poor man! He's not much better than our buddies!" The bearer was so frightened that he disappeared, and there were hundreds of people around the sedan chair. Tian Laoer and the others were about to leave when someone in the crowd said, "You boys killed a foreigner, stole things, and left the body here. No matter, wouldn’t it be hard for the people living here!” The little gangster heard this, and said to Tian Laoer: "Second brother, throw these foreign devils into the river!" Tian Lao Er nodded.So the five of them worked together and threw the three foreign corpses of two men and one woman into the Haihe River.In the end, even the watermelon knife and spear were thrown into the river.Tian Laoer and the other four all got benefits, but the little gangster didn't get anything.He has no regrets, he is very happy.Tian Laoer and the others had gold chains and watches hidden on them, fearing that they would be robbed, so they hurried back home.The little gangster had no scruples. Hearing the loud roar from the consulate, he ran over again and squeezed into the crowd to watch the excitement. The fire in the Wanghailou church burned until late at night and gradually extinguished. The crowd who had been making noise and watching all day, although extremely excited and cheerful, were too tired after all, and gradually dispersed before dawn. When the news reached the capital, the Prime Minister's State Affairs Office was shocked, and the minister in charge, the thirty-eight-year-old Emperor Gong Wang Yixin, was terrified.In his own words, Yixin has been doing foreign affairs in recent years, like a busker walking on a rope in the rivers and lakes, he must be extra cautious in every step, even so, there are often troubles, which arouses opposition from many people in the government and the opposition. In the process of dealing with foreigners, Yixin knew well that the goal of foreigners was not in China's country, but in grabbing China's wealth.As the most important member of the royal family, Yixin felt at ease with foreigners. As for money, it was easy to discuss. Based on this, the attitude of Yishen in handling foreign affairs is "caress" to put it nicely, or "fairy" to put it bluntly.He maintained a close relationship with foreigners, abided by the various treaties with foreigners, and often made some concessions to satisfy their greedy demands, in order to maintain a peaceful situation.At the same time, Yixin also pays attention to learning the strengths of foreigners, trying to apply it to China, so that China can strengthen itself.His views on this aspect are completely consistent with Zeng Guofan's. There are many supporters in the court and in various provinces, such as Wen Xiang, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Guo Songtao, Shen Baozhen, Ding Richang, etc., are all his followers.But Yixin's hard work cannot be forgiven by the world. First of all, Woren, a university scholar, can't get used to it.This master of Neo Confucianism is dedicated to maintaining the purity and supreme dominance of traditional Chinese ethics, and he finds it very displeasing to Yixin's tussling with foreigners.In the fifth year of Tongzhi, when Yixin proposed to select Kejia officials to study astronomy and mathematics in Tongwenguan, Woren firmly opposed it.He rebutted Yixin's point of view: "The way to build a country is to respect propriety and righteousness rather than strategy. The fundamental plan lies in people's hearts rather than skills. Throughout the ages, it has never been heard that there is a person who can revive the weak by relying on magic." Wo Ren said so As soon as it took the lead, a group of so-called loyal people enthusiastically echoed, claiming that if this continues, the Qing Dynasty must perish.Later, with the support of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the matter finally went on, but the whole country was already in turmoil.That's all, the most troublesome thing for Yixin is the teaching plan spread all over the country, which made him feel overwhelmed and bewildered.Among these teaching plans, the conflict with French Catholicism is the greatest.Yixin remembers that the Nanchang teaching case in the 10th year of Xianfeng, the Hengyang Xiangtan teaching case in the first year of Tongzhi, and the Youyang teaching case in the fourth and seventh year of Tongzhi, etc., were all bloody conflicts with the French Catholic Church.The Youyang missionary case caused the church to retaliate by beating a French missionary to death, and actually killed 145 Chinese people.This tragedy has not yet come to an end, and now France has suffered greater losses than ever before, so how could they let it go!How did this mess end?Yixin couldn't imagine.He had no choice but to immediately give orders to Chonghou, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, asking him to quickly find out the cause and consequences of the incident, and apologize to the affected foreign consulates. The news even shocked France and several other western countries that have their own personnel stationed in Tianjin, and they sent their personnel to Tianjin one after another. Chonghou was ordered to find out that in this incident, including Feng Daye, a total of nine Frenchmen, three Russians, two Belgians, one British and American were killed, and ten unidentified corpses were burned. One church, one French consulate, one nursery hall, one foreign firm, four British lecture halls, and two American lecture halls were destroyed.Luo Shuya, Minister of the French Legation in Beijing, felt that he had suffered an unprecedented humiliation. He united with Britain, the United States, Russia, Belgium and other six countries to lodge a serious protest to the Qing court.The three warships of the French government moored in the Far East also gathered in Tianjin and Yantai, threatening to turn Tianjin into scorched earth.Tianjin Shimin, who had just let out a sigh of grievance, was bearing a heavy war cloud above his head. This dark cloud of war especially frightens Cixi and Yixin.In Chonghou's memorial to "foolish people are ignorant, scoundrels take advantage of the situation to cause chaos, and local officials are dereliction of duty", Cixi ordered the culprits to be severely punished, and the local officials in Tianjin should be handed over to the Ministry for discussion first, and Chonghou will be sent to France to make amends Apologize.The Zongli Yamen issued a note to the embassies of various countries in Beijing, reiterating the observance of various treaties, protecting the interests of all countries in China, severely punishing the perpetrators, and handling the Tianjin incident fairly. However, the ministers of various countries, especially the French ministers, expressed doubts about the sincerity of the attitude of the Qing court. Luo Shuya warned Yixin: the fleet of the French Empire is ready to go, and it can cross the ocean and enter Tianjin at any time.When Yixin reported the foreigner's attitude to Cixi, the young Empress Dowager was silent for a long time, and then slowly said: "We must send an important minister who can hold the table and take care of the overall situation to Tianjin to deal with it quickly, so as to deal with it quickly. Broaden the hearts of foreigners." "The empress dowager's decision is wise." Yixin was expecting this decision. He had already thought about the candidate in his heart, but the empress dowager didn't ask, so he was inconvenient to raise it first.Since resigning from the title of "king of politics", he has been more cautious in dealing with things. "Sixth Lord." Cixi called Yixin politely, "Who do you think should be sent?" "I think it would be more appropriate for Zeng Guofan to go." Yizhen pretended to think about it before replying, "However, Zeng Guofan is currently on sick leave." "There is no other way to do this, so I have to trouble him, and it won't help anyone else. Besides, he is the direct governor, and it is also his duty. "Cixi said. Yixin's performance coincided with her thoughts. "Yes. I also believe that Zeng Guofan has always been unafraid of difficulties and put state affairs first, so he will not refuse." The stone in Yixin's heart fell to the ground, as if once Zeng Guofan left, the cloud of war would be dispelled immediately. "Sixth Master, you go and ask the cabinet to draft an order." Cixi also felt relieved, she raised her right hand, admiring the gold finger cot on her ring finger with great interest.This finger cot was just put on yesterday, it was shiny golden, and it was three and a half inches long, she was very satisfied. "yes." Just as Yixin was about to kneel down, the Empress Dowager Xi added in a melodious voice: "I want the cabinet to clarify the imperial court's will more clearly and to speak more resolutely, so that after Zeng Guofan arrives in Tianjin, he will have something to rely on in doing things, and he will not be fooled by the common people." The emotions with the local officials are messed up."