After receiving the order from the Military Commission, the Sixth Army immediately took action and dispatched two divisions and two regiments to attack Baoding Prefecture. Now the sixth town of Beiyang is stationed in Baoding Prefecture. The commander Wang Shizhen is known as Beiyang Longmu and is one of Yuan Shikai's most trusted subordinates. Therefore, it is necessary to concentrate heavy troops to attack Baoding Prefecture.

Since all villages in Hebei were controlled by the East China government, the People's Army marched all the way into Hebei Province, and until it approached Baoding Prefecture, the Qing army did not notice it at all. The People's Army launched an attack on Baoding Prefecture at night, and Wang Shizhen, who was stationed in Baoding Prefecture, heard the news, immediately ordered the abandonment of Baoding's military camp and retreat to Zhuzhou.

Although the East China government did not say hello to Yuan Shikai during this attack, Yuan Shikai now knows the style of the East China government and has always been talking about it after fighting, so he must use force. So Yuan Shikai had already warned Wang Shizhen. Once the People's Army attacked Baoding, he must not fight with him, and retreated and safeguarded the army. Wang Shizhen is also a smart man. Last time the Qing court attacked the river and lake bases, he dispatched three towns in Beiyang, but two of them were destroyed. Now, Tieliang, Liangbi, of the first town, was dismissed. Duan Qirui can only be an instructor in the military academy and fight with the People's Army by himself. Isn't it a way to die?

After the People's Army captured Baoding, it continued to march until Gaomidian, which was only about 10 kilometers away from Zhuozhou, and then stopped, and then captured the county towns of Zhuozhou and Hebei one by one. Since all the villages outside the city were controlled by the People's Army, the attack on the county towns of the prefectures and prefectures was also very smooth. Three days later, all the cities in Zhaozhou Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Baoding Prefecture, Jizhou Prefecture, Daming Prefecture and other places were occupied by the People's Army.

The fall of Baoding Prefecture shocked the Qing court, because before that, the envoys of the four countries had repeatedly assured the Qing court that the People's Army now had no choice but to attack Beijing, but now the People's Army's troops were approaching Zhuzhou, and after Wang Shizhen retreated to Zhuzhou, he issued 12 emergency documents in a row, claiming that the People's Army's troops were too strong and that there were few soldiers in Zhuzhou City, and that they might not be able to defeat the People's Army, so they asked the court to send troops to reinforce immediately.

At this time, the Qing court was still hesitating to deal with the surging public opinion pressure. Under the strong coercion and temptation of the envoys of the four countries and the upstarts of the Manchus, Cixi and Guangxu were also a little shaken. The goal of the East China government to destroy the Qing court is to destroy the Qing court, which is well known to everyone. Therefore, once the East China government wins this battle, the next goal will definitely be the Qing court. If we use the power of the four countries to fight, there may be a glimmer of opportunity. After all, the strength of the four countries is still quite considerable.

Although Cixi had the idea of ​​closing her eyes until she closed her eyes, regardless of her affairs, if she had the opportunity to save the Qing court, she would naturally be willing to give it a try. After all, she was still the empress dowager of the Qing court. Even if she closed her eyes, she would still have to meet the ancestors of the Qing court! Cixi was a very superstitious person and knew that what she did was really difficult to explain to her ancestors; and Guangxu's idea was even more direct. Although he was a puppet, Bi Jing was also the emperor of the Qing Dynasty and had a relatively strong emperor responsibility. Moreover, Guangxu still had a sense of luck now. Anyway, Cixi was also a 70-year-old, and she could survive for a few days. Once Cixi died, she could officially take power. It would be too late to work hard to govern the situation, so she could not watch the Qing court demise. So at this point, this couple had a very rare appearance and separation from their spirits.

Public opinion pressure was not insurmountable for the Qing court. Local officials could also ask foreign countries to help put pressure on the opinions of them. However, Cixi and Guangxu still had considerable taboos on the East China government. After all, in recent years, the East China government's foreign achievements can indeed be described as brilliant. It is indeed unknown whether the four countries can defeat the East China government, so the Qing court was unable to make a decision.

At this moment, the People's Army suddenly took action and occupied Baoding Prefecture, opening the gateway south of Beijing, and giving the Qing court a blow. In addition, Cixi was shocked, and quickly sent Yuan Shikai to find the ministers of the four countries to discuss countermeasures. Because Cixi knew that the Qing court's army could not count on at this time, and to deal with the Northeast government, it would still be necessary to find foreigners to help.

In fact, the decisive move of the East China government was indeed beyond the expectations of the ministers of the four countries. However, the East China government could not keep the war order for a long time. If the war with the Qing court was dragged out, it would only consume the power of the East China government to fight against the British and French coalition forces. Therefore, after consultation, the British Minister Zhu Erdian represented the Qing court and suggested to the Qing court that he would give up Beijing and flee to the south, and then recruit southern provinces to jointly deal with the East China government.

The idea of ​​the four ministers was that Beijing was too close to the East China government and was too susceptible to threats from the East China government, which was very unfavorable to the Qing court after joining the Four-Nation Alliance. Therefore, it is better to give up Beijing and flee to the south. This way, it is better to stay away from the East China government and throw the north to the East China government, consuming the power of the East China government. Moreover, the economy of southern China is developed and sufficient money and food is sufficient, which is also conducive to the long-term confrontation between the Qing court and the East China government, and completely tie the Qing court to the chariots of the four countries.

After hearing this suggestion, Cixi's face changed at that time. Guangxu also lowered her face, and the Manchu upstarts who shouted to join the Four-Nation Alliance were speechless. In fact, the idea of ​​the ministers of the Four-Nation was reasonable, but they focused too much on starting from a realistic perspective and ignored the particularity of the Qing court. Because the Qing court's foundation was in the north, and after the southeast mutual protection of the Gengzi Kingdom changed, local power increased greatly, and there was a slightest possibility of being disastrous. The Qing court's control over the south was quite limited, so the Qing court basically agreed to the local power of the southeast provinces, and the southeast provinces still regarded the Qing court as the formality, so that the two sides could maintain a balanced situation.

But if the Qing court moved to the south, it would undoubtedly give up its foundation. After arriving in the south, it would completely become a puppet court. Cixi was proficient in power, so she could not see this. Although Guangxu could not see this deeply, she also felt that it was inappropriate, because the dynasties in Chinese history were basically difficult to maintain for a long time. Not to mention the Qing court entered the pass and established a career. Some palaces of the Ming Dynasty fled to the south and established the Southern Ming regime. As a result, it only lasted for more than 20 years and was basically wiped out by the Qing court.

Most of the Manchu upstarts do not understand power and history, but their foundation, real estate, real estate, shops and money shops are all in the north. Once they flee to the south, they will inevitably give up these industries. How can these Manchu upstarts be willing to give up?

At this time, Cixi also regretted herself. After the change of the Gengzi Kingdom, she repeatedly warned herself that the court should cultivate and rest, and that she must not force herself, nor should she provoke the foreigners and the East China government, and survived the past few years safely. But she couldn't control herself. Last year, she was instigated by the Manchu upstarts, and she became angry and sent troops to attack the river and lake bases of the East China government. As a result, she was defeated by the East China government. The new army that had been trained for several years was beaten to one-third of the time. Fortunately, the East China government did not press too much, so she was considered to be avoiding being forced to survive. And less than a year later, why did she live again, listen to the nonsense of foreigners, and plan to join forces with the four countries to deal with the East China government. Unfortunately, the four countries are too far away, and the East China government is by my side!

There is no other way now, so I can only surrender to overseas Chinese. Therefore, Cixi ordered Yuan Shikai to negotiate with the East China government. However, Yuan Shikai was not stupid. Although negotiations were OK, he could not bear the blame. So he submitted a memorial to the Qing court that he wanted to negotiate by himself. The court always had to have an attitude first to show sincerity, otherwise he would not be able to come forward.

Cixi also understood that the Qing Dynasty could no longer find a scapegoat like Li Hongzhang, so she had to issue an order, officially announcing that the Qing court would never cooperate with Britain, France, Japan and Russia, and that the Qing court would not participate in the battle between Britain, France, Japan and Russia and the East China government and remain neutral.

After this imperial edict, the ministers of the four countries could not sit still. They once again came to the Prime Minister's Office and asked Yuan Shikai what was going on. Yuan Shikai spread his hands and said that this was the court's intention and he had no choice but to inform the court if there were any requests from each country. Yuan Shikai turned it on his behalf, and the four ministers had no choice but to leave in disappointment. So Yuan Shikai then negotiated with the East China government.

The East China government did not intend to destroy the Qing court now, but only used force to force the Qing court not to join the Four-Nation Alliance. Now the goal has been achieved, so it happened to borrow a ladder to lower the wall and sell it to Yuan Shikai for another face. Therefore, the East China government also promised not to attack Beijing, but Baoding Prefecture did not return it to the Qing court, because it was not at ease with the Qing court. Moreover, the East China government also planned to continue infiltration into the Beijing area in the villages.

The East China government insisted not to return to Baoding Prefecture, and of course the Qing court had no choice. Fortunately, the People's Army withdrew its troops from Zhuozhou. It seemed that it would not intend to attack Beijing in the short term, so Cixi was relieved. On the next day, Cixi and Guangxu moved to the Summer Palace to live, leaving only the Military Affairs Office to handle government affairs, but the court's official documents were sent to the Summer Palace for review and printing.

Although the People's Army temporarily withdrew its troops, Cixi was still unable to feel completely at ease. After all, Baoding was under the control of the People's Army and the gate was in the hands of others, so of course it could be called at any time. Therefore, Cixi believed that staying in the Forbidden City in Beijing would be uneasy. Moving to the Summer Palace to live can bring the distance from the People's Army a little further, so that it would be convenient for the People's Army to escape when the People's Army came.
Chapter completed!