Although the sky gradually brightened and a new day was coming, there was a hellish despair in the Tianjin Concession.

It turned out that after Colonel Ball led his army out of the concession, the residents in the concession were slightly calmer, but the sound of gunfire continued to spread to the concession, and no one could sleep, so they could only wait for the outcome of the war with fear. There were still many people wandering at the intersection of the concession, as if they could get more news here.

At about 5 and a half in the morning, Colonel Ball returned to the concession with his army. He was less than half of the time he left, and he was dejected and indifferent, and many people were injured. Of course, there was no need to ask, and he must have returned from a great defeat.

The news of Colonel Ball's defeat soon spread throughout the concession, which immediately triggered panic in the concession. At this time, the gunfire outside also stopped, but the people in the concession were even more panicked. Many people guessed that at this time, Tianjin City had been broken by the enemy, and Tianjin City was broken, so the next target was naturally the concession.

In line with the old Chinese saying, blessings come unparalleled, and misfortunes never come alone. At this moment, a Japanese army also came to the concession, which was the Japanese army defeated at Dagukou. It turned out that after being defeated by the time-traveling army, Fukushima An was leading a Japanese army to withdraw from Gegu, and collected some Japanese soldiers along the way, pieced together three or four hundred people before returning to Tianjin.

But when we were about to arrive in Tianjin, we heard dense gunfire and the Japanese army did not dare to advance. Fukushima An Zheng sent someone to inquire and found out that Tianjin City had been lost and the battle just now was a reinforcements blocking the concession.

After learning about the loss of Tianjin, An Zheng was shocked and could not speak for a long time. Only then did he realize that he had greatly underestimated the strength of this group of overseas Chinese. Not only did they have a strong fleet, but the strength of the army was not to be seen. He could even attack him while sending an army to attack Tianjin City. Such strength may not even be able to win. If this group of overseas Chinese cooperated with the Qing Dynasty, the Eight-Nation Alliance would probably have to be buried in China's land. Therefore, the most urgent task now is to notify Beijing immediately and stop the march to Tianjin immediately. At least after the German fleet arrived, the two sides would have a chance of winning. So An Zheng immediately ordered to advance to the concession, because in the concession, the current situation could be reported to Beijing.

However, after Fukushima Yasushima led the Japanese army to the concession, he also gave the residents of the concession a heavy blow. After Ball was defeated and returned to the concession, some people thought that the Japanese army stationed in Tianjin was attacking Dagukou, not far from the concession, so they could ask for help from the Japanese army or still be able to keep the concession, but now there is no last straw.

The consuls of various countries were also extremely frightened. At present, four people were led by the British Consul General in Tianjin, Jin Zhang (formerly known as Lionel Charles Hobkins Lionel Charleshopkins), French Consul General in Tianjin, Chayland, German Consul General in Tianjin, Qin Moman (dr.a.zimmer-mann), and Japanese Consul General in Tianjin, Yoshiki Yoshiki, who recruited consulates, representatives from various countries, as well as Ball and Anzheng Fukushima, to hold a meeting to discuss countermeasures at the Tianjin British Concession Bureau Building.

The Tianjin Concession began after the Second Opium War. On October 4, 1860, the Qing government was forced to sign the Beijing Treaty with Britain and France. The Tianjin Treaty opened Tianjin as a trading port and allowed businessmen and civilians from both countries to live and trade in Tianjin. Although the treaty did not stipulate the establishment of a concession, it became the basis for Britain and France to force the concession in Tianjin in the future.

On January 4, 1860, British Minister to China Bruce submitted a note to Prince Gong Yixin, demanding the British Concession to be drawn out in Tianjin. On January 17, the Qing government allowed British Concession to establish British Concession, and the British Concession in Tianjin was opened. The boundary sites were delineated: facing the right bank of Haihe River (west bank) in the east, Bomuli Road (now Zhangde Road), west to Hai Avenue (now Dagu Road), and north to Baoshitu Road (now Yingkou Road). In 1897, the British arbitrarily expanded the concession from Hai Avenue to Qianzi River (now Nanjing Road); a total area of ​​880 acres.

At the same time, the Tianjin British Concession also designed the political system of the Tianjin British Concession in accordance with the British system, and established the Tianjin British Concession Board in 186. The executive body under the board of directors was the Tianjin British Concession Bureau, which managed the administrative affairs of the concession. In 1890, Gordon Hall was built as the office building of the Tianjin British Concession Bureau.

At that time, among the concessions of various countries, the trade in Tianjin and British Concessions was developed, the economy was prosperous, and the administrative system and municipal management were also advanced than other concessions. Because the establishment of the Tianjin British Concession earlier, the United Kingdom had strong national strength and was able to invest and build the concession. In addition, Britain had rich colonial experience, the development of the Tianjin British Concession was very considerable at this time. Dozens of transportation roads were built in the concession, a large number of new terminals were built along the coastal rivers, and various port facilities were installed. There were many tall buildings in Western style, and tap water began to be supplied in 1898.

At this time, the industries such as industry, finance, and trade in the British Concession in Tianjin were very developed. Not only did they attract a large number of factories, companies, commercial banks, and banks, but a considerable number of Chinese national capitalists opened factories and stores in the British Concession in Tianjin. Even Prussia, Denmark, Portugal and other countries also set up their Tianjin consulates in the British Concession.

In the year after the establishment of the British Concession in Tianjin, the French court also proposed the establishment of the French Concession in Tianjin. On June of the same year, the Qing court's Minister of Trade, Chonghou, and French Counselor Ge Shiqi, signed the "Tianjin Purple Bamboo Forest French Land Rental Clause". The boundary site is: along the Baotutu Road (now Yingkou Road) in the south, adjacent to the British Concession, the west near the sea Avenue, and the east and north sides beside the Haihe River, with an area of ​​49 acres.

However, due to France's later failure in the French-Prussian War and its national strength was weak, the French Concession in Tianjin still did not improve for nearly 20 years. It was not until the 1880s that it began to carry out municipal construction, but it was far behind the construction of the British Concession in Tianjin.

Later, in order to show that it does not discriminate against the United States, the Qing government also intended that the United States establish a dedicated concession in Tianjin. The boundary was: facing the right bank of the Haihe River (west bank) in the east, Kailuan Hutong (now Kaifeng Road), the west to Haidao (now Dagu Road), and the north to Bomuli Road (now Zhangde Road) and the area was adjacent to the British Concession. It covers an area of ​​more than 11 acres. However, the US Minister to China at that time, Pu Anchen, strongly opposed the concession system. Because the United States had limited national strength at that time, there were only a handful of American businessmen coming to China. It was just as the Civil War was going on in the country and had no time to develop the concession and had not managed the concession administratively. In 1880 and 1896, the United States proposed to the Qing government twice to return the US Concession in Tianjin, but the Qing government did not accept it, and it was eventually managed by Tianjin Customs.

Of course, the United States does not pay attention to international morality when returning the Tianjin Concession, but because it is thought that the concession is too much and the value of development is not great. Moreover, the US government's policy in China is "open doors and equal interests", that is, the interests of all the great powers in China need to be shared with other countries, so there is no big impact on whether there is a concession or not.

The German Concession in Tianjin was established after the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. In 1895, German Minister-General to China, Ke, submitted a note to the Qing court. He asked the Qing government to enjoy the same treatment as Britain, France and the United States to establish a concession in Tianjin. On October 0, Sheng Xuanhuai, Tianjin Customs Road Sheng Xuanhuai, Tianjin Road Li Minchen signed the "Tianjin Treaty Port Concession Agreement" with German Consul General Si Gende, allowing Germany to establish a concession in Tianjin. The boundary site is: facing the Haihe River in the east, the original US Concession in the north, the east of Dagu Road in the west, and the Liuzhuang in the south, with an area of ​​104 acres. However, the German Concession was established late and has not yet begun large-scale construction.

The establishment of the Japanese Concession in Tianjin was also after the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. On July 1, 1896, the Qing Dynasty and Japan signed the Sino-Japanese Shipping Treaty. On August 9, 1898, according to the provisions of the Sino-Japanese Shipping Treaty, the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese government signed the Tianjin Japanese Concession Agreement and Subsidiary Protocol, demarcating the Japanese Concession, with the boundary address: facing the French Concession in the south and facing the old Tianjin City in the northwest. However, no development was carried out. Only a consulate was set up in a building diagonally opposite the Lishunde Hotel at the intersection of Tai'an Road and Jiefang North Road.

At this time, the five concessions in Tianjin had a total of 58 acres, with more than 000 foreign residents living in the concession, and about 4,000 Chinese settled in the concession. After the Boxer Rebellion spread to Tianjin, a large number of foreigners fled into the concession to hide. After the Eight-Nation Alliance landed, it also stationed in the concession for a period of time, establishing military camps, warehouses, etc. in the concession. Now the total number of people in the concession is about 12,000.

The consuls were in urgent consultation, but the residents in the concession were extremely panicked, and all kinds of rumors spread in the concession, and the Boxers came back. Moreover, the Boxers who came this time were all Boxers with real magical skills. They were really invulnerable to swords and guns, and they could not kill foreign guns and cannons. Hearing that there were hundreds of Japanese troops surrounding dozens of Boxers, firing and firing, but they did not have any trouble. When the Japanese army was almost done, these dozens of Boxers opened their hands and thunder, and they killed all the Japanese troops in one go. This time, they not only recaptured Tianjin, but also had to batter the concession bloodied. There were also the governors and ministers from the south of the Qing court all led their troops north to serve the king. The army had hundreds of thousands, and they had already recovered Beijing. The Eight-Nation Alliance completely failed. The Chinese not only wanted to kill all the foreigners, but also reclaimed all the concessions and forced foreigners to pay compensation.

These rumors are mostly circulated among the Chinese in the concession, and among the foreigners, there are also constant rumors. Consuls from various countries are negotiating and preparing to lead the army to escape from the concession, regardless of the others in the concession. After some consuls, they decided to prevent women and children from falling into the hands of the Chinese when the concession was lost, the officials of the ** will take action to kill their women and children when the concession is lost. Even every officer has received a list of women and children responsible for shooting at the last moment.

At this time, some people regretted that after the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Tianjin and lifted the danger of the concession, why did they not leave China and remain in this dangerous place; some were cleaning up their property and preparing to escape from the concession; while the docks in the concession were crowded with people and were looking for ships to leave; because it was dark at this time, and the ships did not set sail, some people took out a lot of money and asked to drive the ship immediately; of course, at this time, many people were crowded in the church and prayed to the Lord, hoping that God could bless them and turn the danger into safety again, just like last time.
Chapter completed!