"Curfew, curfew, curfew will be restored from today... No one is allowed to leave home when the city gate is closed at night, everyone is resting at home..."
"All shops can only operate for three hours during the day, and not for more than one moment!"
"If you have nothing to do, go home immediately. The Police Headquarters will implement the neighborhood system today, and police officers will be on duty in every alley..."
"Go home after watching the fun... You must get a good citizen certificate within three days! After three days, anyone without a good citizen certificate will not be allowed to walk on the street!"
"Look... the announcement, there is a notice from the imperial court on the street..."
The capital has been completely in chaos. Ever since the news of the army's defeat leaked in the morning, a large number of fleeing people have begun to appear in various city gates. These wealthy people who can still seek relatives and friends in other places are trying their best to escape from the capital!
The helpless people outside the city had nowhere to go. These victims began to crowd crazily into the city, and the scene was extremely chaotic!
All kinds of unfavorable rumors were spreading rapidly, and some people even rumored that the imperial army had been wiped out, and that there were corpses lying in the field outside Zhuozhou City. The imperial army had been severely weakened.
The atmosphere of panic is getting thicker and thicker. Prices in the capital are no longer rising, but no one is selling. All grain stores have closed their doors. At this time, let alone price increases, they simply imposed a ban. You can buy me with gold. I won’t even sell it to you!
The situation became increasingly chaotic. The official warehouse of the Tongzhou imperial court was suddenly set on fire by bandits in the early morning. The cotton and linen cloth in three warehouses were burned by the fire.
Kerosene was also thrown into the court barracks outside Guangqumen. If the soldiers had not been clever and timely to put out the fire, the warehouse outside Guangqumen would have been burned to the ground.
Even in the Jingshi Industrial Zone along the Qinghe River, there are faintly restless faces. Fortunately, Xin Jian's worker organizations that help each other are protecting the factory, otherwise the precious equipment may have been damaged!
The chaos continued, but what surprised these foreign devils was that by the afternoon of that day, order in the capital was restored at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After Weituma and others left the Forbidden City, they did not return to the embassy immediately. Instead, they secretly observed the various happenings in the capital in the streets and alleys.
When Waituma saw the parade in the streets, the order in the capital had actually passed its darkest and most chaotic moment. Waituma was very confused, because judging from his experience, such a large-scale war defeat was not as good as the Manchu Qing's. It is impossible for organizational capabilities to restore order so effectively.
Soon new news arrived. Delaney, the embassy attaché, found the ambassador's carriage on horseback and reported in a low voice, "We have withdrawn the guards of Ronglu's family and let the news out through connections..."
"Just now, the Capital Police Headquarters sent people to raid the warehouse. Ronglu's nephew and four domestic slaves were arrested... Sir, are you really okay with this? We promised to provide protection to these officials!"
Witoma shook his head, "At this moment, Emperor Tongzhi threatened me just now. His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty even said that he would write a letter to Her Majesty the Queen..."
"We can't get things done!"
"Ah? Then... where are Prince Qing and Prince Chun?" Delaney asked.
"Don't let these two distinguished guests go yet. If we let them all go, where will the reputation of our British Empire be? What's more, I can understand the subtext of the little emperor. He doesn't want to take over these two hot potatoes yet!"
"Think about it, if Prince Baqing and Prince Chun were to be given to the young emperor now, would he kill him, imprison him, or release him? It's not easy to deal with. He can only make a judgment after the situation becomes clear..."
Witoma talked secretly with his men for a while. At this time, the parade of motorcades also left. Groups of police appeared on the street and began to disperse the people and posted notices on the walls.
The printing press was not so efficient. Notices at the moment were all handwritten, and various temporary curfew policies were announced.
Weituma asked about the curfew system one by one and couldn't help but said, "It was really unexpected. I didn't expect that the Qing Dynasty could gradually restore order so quickly..."
"Sir, my intelligence shows that Master Fu Qing has activated a person named Li Tuo. This person is also in our intelligence network, but he is a very marginal character. We have never paid attention to it..."
"I heard that he arranged all the curfew systems. I just asked our informant about it. This person has many weird talents..."
After listening to Military Attaché Delaney's detailed introduction, Weitoma realized that this newly promoted official really had two skills!
The first thing Li Tuo did was to start setting up the Yongding River defense line. He began to hire civilian laborers among the victims outside the city without paying them, only giving them food. In this special period, if you have food, you will have everything.
In just one morning, three thousand victims were organized. They did not have to do too complicated work, which was to transport supplies from warehouses across the capital and send them in the direction of the Yongding River.
The large-scale industrial zone in the north of the city stores a lot of modern building materials, such as cement, I-beams, steel bars... These are all imported from the Chinese, and a small number of Jingshi Steel Plants can also produce them themselves!
Small trains, mules and horses, and even people pushing and carrying them on their shoulders, these materials for building military fortifications are constantly being sent towards the Yongding River!
After the three Zeppelins put pressure outside the Meridian Gate, they went directly to patrol the front line. They looked for every opportunity to attack the enemy from the air and delay the advance of the rebel vanguard!
The main event was in the city. The Qing Times newspaper office had become the general headquarters of the court's public opinion war. Li Tuo began to recruit unsuccessful scholars in the city, and even storytellers, opera singers, and crosstalk talkers from Tianqiao were gathered together.
The printing press roared and began to print slogans and notices. These scholars began to write various notices and slogans to stabilize people's hearts. After writing a batch, they distributed a batch!
Those Tianqiao storytellers are being trained. They have only one task, which is to whitewash the failure of the imperial court and vilify the image of Guiziliu. These folk artists can make up stories to their heart's content!
Especially the story of the Japanese stealing women six times and the illegitimate child of Nastu must be written down in a big book!
In conjunction with the public opinion war, Li Tuo also used the most unique trick, which is the neighborhood system and good citizen certificate!
The layout of the capital is dominated by alleys. An alley is a small social circle, so a neighborhood system is established based on alleys!
For each alley, a lane chief or street chief is selected, and then more than ten young men are selected based on the population to maintain order in the alley!
The Capital Police Headquarters assigns police officers to take charge of every alley. These street chiefs and young men all serve as deputies for this police officer!
The printing press of the Qing Times is working at full capacity to print a batch of good citizen certificates. Within three days, every resident in every alley must have a good citizen certificate!
This is to catch all the spies in one go! It is completely a thorough census of the capital!
As long as this census is completed and the street guard system is organized, the capital will not be able to cause chaos even if it wants to!
After hearing this detailed curfew system, Weitoma could not help but secretly praise, "Master... this is a master!"
