At nine o'clock in the morning on May 2, the Chinese reaction was belated. From the time the telegram from the Tianjin Wei Jingwu Heroes Association was withheld last night, the Chinese forces were late for fourteen hours.
How much change can happen in fourteen hours? The Tianjin Guard was lost, Hunchun was seriously injured and his life and death unknown, the Beijing-Tianjin Railway was blown up, and the Yongding River defense line was breached!
Forty-nine cities in the capital fell, and even Emperor Zhi had escaped from the city. Everything happened in these fourteen hours!
There are no ifs in this world, but if the Chinese could have intervened immediately after Deng Shichang and others deduced the conspiracy, then the war situation would not have fallen to this point.
A long time later, Chinese military experts conducted a deduction and analysis. If the telegram from the Jingwu Heroes Sect was sent, Luo Huo would be able to receive the information and quickly dispatch troops.
In fact, to intervene in the entire Manchu Civil War, only two to three thousand railway soldiers would be enough!
It doesn't take two or three thousand more. Ronglu and Yisiha can be completely defeated. Tianjin will not be lost. Hunchun's army and the railway soldiers will enter the capital together.
People's hearts have stabilized. Even if the Yongding River defense line is lost, the city defense system of the Forty-nine Cities of the Capital will not be broken!
Once the Guanwai Army is gathered together, there is no need for the Chinese to take action. The rebels of Guiziliu will definitely lose in the end!
But unfortunately, there is no if, if it is lost for fourteen hours, it is lost, and the situation in the capital has completely collapsed!
Although Luo Huo discovered the problem in time in the middle of the night and held an emergency meeting to make amends, the fighter opportunity was fleeting and was lost.
Fourteen hours later, when the Chinese response finally arrived in the capital, everything had completely changed!
The armored train carried a regiment of railway soldiers and rushed to the capital quickly. The railway soldiers were skillfully trained in emergency railway repairs, and the bombed railway in Yangcun was quickly repaired.
It's just a matter of replacing a few rails and re-laying sleepers and stones on the foundation. These are all supplies that are always available along the railway, and there are as many as you need.
It was not easy to repair a few explosion craters. After the railway was repaired, the armored train drove quickly to the capital. By the time it arrived in the capital, it was already past eight in the morning.
At this moment, the sky was bright. Jiang Lie, Ma Hui, Pang Chaoyun, Ye Qiu... the four people led the troops and got off the train from Tongzhou Station. At this time, they saw that the entire Tongzhou was in complete chaos.
The people in the city fled one after another. In the distance, there were faint flames and black smoke rising into the sky in the direction of the capital. Outside Tongzhou City, rebel rangers could be seen arriving, and Guiziliu was fighting for administrative control of the place.
The rebel cavalry who rushed into Tongzhou shouted loudly, "Curfew... everyone go home... curfew... no escape... Your Majesty has ascended the throne and you are running away..."
"Ah... you are..." As soon as a group of rebel cavalry rushed to the street in front of the train station, they saw an armored train carrying soldiers down in darkness.
The Chinese soldiers in green military uniforms were armed with live ammunition and were full of murderous intent. When they saw these rebels, they subconsciously picked up their rifles!
"It's not good...it's not good...it's Xiao Letian's soldiers...didn't it mean that the Chinese didn't have any soldiers..."
"Fuck..." Jiang Lie was so angry when he saw these rebels with blood-stained swords on their waists that he didn't strike a single blow. "Open fire... Damn it, if anyone asks later, just say they were the ones who provoked them first!"
Bang bang bang... bullets swept past like rain. Not one of the more than 20 cavalrymen ran away, they were all killed on the spot!
There were several rebel cavalrymen in the distance who were so frightened by this posture that they turned around and galloped away, heading straight for the capital!
Ma Hui also jumped off the train and frowned and said, "You...are you too reckless? This will put pressure on Special Envoy Cai!"
"After all, Guiziliu didn't declare war on us!"
Jiang Lie snorted, "It's okay if we don't admit it! If you don't admit it, just say that these bastards shot first! If you kill them, say..."
At this time, Gordon, Deng Shichang, Yan Fu and others also jumped off the train. Seeing the scene in front of them, everyone wanted to say something but in the end they shut up.
Originally, they didn't want to bring Gordon and the others here this time, but no one could defeat these people. Gordon and Deng Shichang even went to the point of threatening death.
The Chinese look down on the corrupt and declining officials of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but they definitely do not include the elites inside, those Western talents who truly understand the truth.
The Chinese European Intelligence Network has always paid attention to these international students, and even Xiao Letian often asked about them, so everyone knew that the head of state actually wanted to recruit these people.
With this attitude from above, the people below would naturally take care of them, so at their begging, the armored train took these people together to the capital.
As soon as they arrived in the capital, they saw this hell-like scene. Everyone has been to Tongzhou and is familiar with it. After all, this is the northern terminus of the Grand Canal, the flood and drought dock!
The rich and prosperous scene of the past is gone, replaced by people fleeing everywhere, as well as the ubiquitous smoke of beacon fires and the faint sound of cannons in the distance.
The rebels of Guiziliu have already arrived in Tongzhou, which means that the outer perimeter of the forty-nine cities of the capital has been lost, and the fate of Emperor Tongzhi is worrying!
"The whole army gathered urgently... marched towards the capital... There are more than five hundred brothers in our embassy, waiting for us to unite together!"
"If we fight hard enough, Special Envoy Cai can negotiate more effectively! The whole army marches urgently!"
Railway soldiers are all special arms, and Luo Huo's subordinates are basically the enhanced version. There are 2,100 people in one regiment, and with all kinds of equipment, it is enough to fill thirteen carriages.
The station was filled with soldiers in neat military uniforms. Everyone wore helmets and their faces were covered with camouflage. They looked murderous. They also had individual bulletproof ceramic vests with bulging bags and bullets.
Each soldier is like a bear, not bloated but very powerful!
Gordon walked up to Jiang Lie and was about to speak, but Deng Shichang and the others said first, "Give Sir Gordon a horse...let him go to the capital!"
"We are asking your army to give you some war horses. We want to go north to find your Majesty!"
Gordon's face turned red immediately, "You... what are you doing..."
Deng Shichang clasped his fists and saluted coldly, "I'm sorry... His Majesty has rushed out of the capital at this moment, and we have to go find refuge with His Majesty!"
"As a British foreigner, you'd better go to your embassy! Let's go our separate ways!"
After everyone saw last night that the British brazenly participated in the war and intervened in the Qing Dynasty's civil war, Deng Shichang and the others didn't have a good look on Gordon!
Everyone thinks that Gordon is also a traitor. The British forces betrayed Emperor Tongzhi. You, Gordon, are not a good person either!
No one spoke to him anymore. Even on the train, people in the carriage deliberately distanced themselves from Gordon and alienated him into a corner.
Now it's time to part ways, but Gordon is impatient!
"No! Don't insult my chivalry! I am a noble, not a commoner!"
"I directly obey the orders of the Queen and His Majesty Emperor Tongzhi! No one else can order me! The Queen did not give me an order to betray Long Live Lord. Why should I listen to the embassy?"
"You...you wronged me!"
