Although the battle was limited to the front of the Qing army, Cixi did not see it at all. She only vaguely heard a few gunshots, but after hearing Song Qing's reward, Cixi was still scared and hurriedly sent someone to set off immediately and chased Zhengding Prefecture, because Cixi felt that it would be safer to hide in the city.

So the Qing court's team stepped up the march, and Cixi ordered Song Qing to divide some of the troops to protect the baggage, and the rest to protect himself, Guangxu and the princes and ministers, and rushed to Zhengding Prefecture. At the same time, he ordered the welcome ceremony of Zhengding Prefecture to be simple. This was not because the Lord Buddha changed his nature, learned the lessons of the past, or was sympathetic to the local people, but after this disaster, Lord Buddha had become a frightened bird. What if an assassin mingled among the people who were welcomed by the saint?

As a result, Cixi and her group hurriedly walked for a day and a night. Cixi and Guangxu had to take a nap in the car and rest. Fortunately, there was no attack on the road and they arrived in Zhengding City safely. After entering the city, Cixi immediately ordered the whole city to be martial law and sent heavy troops to protect the Zhengding Prefecture. At the same time, they sent people to immediately chase Baoding Prefecture and asked Yuan Shikai to lead troops to protect the carriage.

Xu Chang, Zhao Pinghe, Mingxiu and others were overjoyed, because the longer the court stayed in Zhengding Prefecture, the more convenient their activities were, and they might even alarm the affairs of overseas Chinese. If Lord Wu dismissed Wang Sheng's official position at the order, then this time of complaining about the imperial court would be a complete success.

So several people immediately split up their activities, find ways to build relationships. Although Zhao Pinghe and Zhao Shuqiao are of the same clan, they used to send thousands of taels of silver to Zhao Shuqiao every year, they actually only met Zhao Shuqiao twice, and they were still at the big banquet, just nodding and greetings. Because Zhao Shuqiao had more than a dozen of the same clans like Zhao Pinghe, they could meet one by one. Therefore, the person who contacted Zhao Pinghe was directly contacted by Zhao Shuqiao. However, because the Gengzi Kingdom changed, the manager was missing and the whereabouts of the manager, Zhao Pinghe had gone out, which meant that he had lost contact with the organization.

Fortunately, Zhao Pinghe was willing to spend money and handle some things. Finally, he found another way to Zhao Shuqiao and expressed his intentions. Of course, he immediately gave 5,000 taels of silver in exchange for a chance to meet Zhao Shuqiao in person. On the other side, Mingxiu and Ronglu also got on the line.

Zhao Pinghe and Zhao Shuqiao had a status as the same clan, while Mingxiu and Ronglu had no relationship at all before. The only bond was that both were bannermen. When the Qing court entered the pass, the bannermen had only more than 100,000. After more than 200 years of development, the bannermen had expanded by more than one million. If Han flags and Meng flags were added, it would reach more than 1.5 million. However, due to the strict Manchu-Han division of the Qing court, most bannermen could only intermarry and form complex relationships of kinship. In most cases, even if two bannermen who were not familiar with each other were considered within three generations, most of them could get close to relatives.

Mingxiu was so chaotic and had some kinship with Ronglu. Of course, in order to get to this little relative, he also gave him 10,000 taels of silver and got a chance to meet Ronglu. However, they brought the silver to spend it just to spend it, so they naturally would not be afraid of spending it, but they would not be afraid of spending it with the silver. And getting the opportunity to meet means that the silver was not unfair.

Zhao Pinghe first visited Zhao Shuqiao and handed over the letter jointly issued by Jinan gentry. Zhao Shuqiao finished reading this letter very seriously, and then told Zhao Pinghe that he had accepted the letter himself. However, the court has just experienced the change of the Gengzi country, and the empress dowager and the emperor have not returned to Beijing. After all, overseas Chinese have made great contributions to the court, so they should not cause any trouble at this time. Therefore, even if they want to win the King of Hai, they should not act hastily. They need to wait for some time before talking.

In fact, Zhao Shuqiao knew very well that at least in the past three or five years, the imperial court had no choice but to deal with overseas Chinese. Moreover, the four words "overseas Chinese" are taboos in front of Lord Lafayette. So at this time, wouldn't it be unhappy for yourself to mention overseas Chinese?

However, Zhao Shuqiao didn't want to let Zhao Pinghe give up immediately, because after the Gengzi Kingdom, his savings for many years of official positions must have been lost, and these dependencies were also broken. Finally, one of them could be given up. After all, this relationship was established again, and it was only a few thousand taels of silver in a year. This was not only a 5,000 taels of money tree could be easily let go, so I agreed to it vaguely.

Of course, Zhao Shuqiao also thought about it. After a while, the storm of storm was gone. He just said in front of Cixi that it would not be difficult to sue overseas Chinese as soon as it was reported. It would be possible to find a magistrate. Zhao Shuqiao didn't have to come forward in person. However, whether it could be accomplished would not be Zhao Shuqiao's business. Anyway, I would push it to the empress dowager at that time, and I would just say that the empress dowager should protect overseas Chinese, and what would he do?

Although Zhao Pinghe is about the same age as Zhao Shuqiao and has experienced many human accidents, he is still much younger than an old official driver like Zhao Shuqiao, and Zhao Shuqiao said it is not unreasonable. Now that the court has not returned to Beijing, it is of course impossible to deal with the affairs of overseas Chinese. Since Zhao Shuqiao has made a promise, there is great hope. So Zhao Pinghe took his leave and immediately sent someone to send Zhao Shuqiao 5,000 taels of silver.

No matter what, Zhao Pinghe finally got a cake painted by Zhao Shuqiao, and there was also psychological comfort. After Mingxiu went to meet Ronglu and proposed to sue overseas Chinese, he was scolded by Ronglu. He asked Mingxiu to go back to Shandong as soon as possible and stay at home honestly, and not to mess around with unreliable people. Overseas Chinese are not something he can afford.

Since Mingxiu was young, Ronglu had the title of an elder after recognizing his relatives, he was not very polite. Moreover, Ronglu was the minister whom Cixi trusted the most. Every gift from local officials was indispensable. Ronglu had saved a lot of money and did not value the silver given by Mingxiu. In addition, Ronglu was actually for the sake of Mingxiu's goodness. He would definitely not have a good ending against overseas Chinese. After all, as a bannerman, Ronglu couldn't bear to see Mingxiu being unlucky. He could only help but pull him. However, Mingxiu Ming didn't understand his painstaking efforts, so he couldn't control it.

I was disappointed in front of Ronglu. Although Mingxiu did not understand Ronglu's painstaking efforts, she also knew that she would definitely lose face after returning. After all, Zhao Pinghe had already received Zhao Shuqiao's promise. However, Mingxiu was still a little clever. After returning to her residence, she made up a set of lies, saying that Ronglu's attitude was similar to Zhao Shuqiao, and she was willing to play overseas Chinese, but she could not. She had to wait until the court returned to Beijing before she could talk about it.

Xu Chang and Zhao Pinghe did not doubt this. They spent more than 50,000 taels of silver this time, but finally got a short promise. After returning, they also gave an explanation. As for the remaining 130,000 taels of silver, they would use it when the overseas Chinese officially started to use it. So the three of them immediately packed up and returned to Shandong.

At this moment, Yuan Shikai led 1,000 Beiyang New Army and joined forces with the Beiyang New Army withdrawn from Shandong. A total of about 7,000 people rushed to Zhengding Prefecture to meet Cixi.

With more than 7,000 troops added at once, Cixi's heart also felt much more at ease. In Cixi's heart, Yuan Shikai was a trustworthy minister, so Cixi immediately recruited Yuan Shikai with Guangxu.

In short, this was Yuan Shikai's second time to receive Cixi. The last time was three years ago, when Yuan Shikai reported to Ronglu, betrayed the reformists who made the 1898 Reform Movement, and thus gained the trust of Cixi and laid the foundation for his rise.

To be honest, Yuan Shikai was shocked when he learned that someone had attacked the court. He should have known about the Jingtingbin uprising and captured the county town. Of course, Yuan Shikai did not take this group of thieves seriously. It was just because he had to welcome the court and his party, so he had no time to pay attention to them. Otherwise, it would be easy for his new Beiyang army to quell the rebellion of this group of thieves as soon as his Beiyang New Army arrived.

However, Yuan Shikai did not expect that this group of thieves was really timid. They dared to pluck hairs on the tiger's head, and attacked the imperial convoy. Fortunately, it was the empress dowager and the emperor did not hurt him, otherwise he would have a great responsibility at the time, because although the governor of Zhili around Yuan Shikai had just taken office, it was something that happened in Zhili, and he could not escape. Therefore, after seeing Cixi and Guangxu, Yuan Shikai looked panic and knelt down to apologize.

However, Cixi's attitude was very kind and said, "Yuan Shikai, you get up first. This is not in Beijing, so these etiquettes are simpler."

Yuan Shikai hurriedly accused him of crime and stood up. Cixi said again: "For more than a year, state affairs have been difficult and the court has been displaced. It is not easy for you local officials to maintain stability in the local area."

After hearing this, Yuan Shikai felt very at ease. Cixi's words actually contained a lot of information, and at the same time completely dispelled Yuan Shikai's biggest concerns.

After the Wuxu Coup, Yuan Shikai firmly stood on Cixi's side, and with the support of Cixi, he became the governor of Shandong and officially squeezed into the ranks of the chief officials of the border. However, at the beginning of the Gengzi Rebellion, the Qing court declared war on various countries and issued an edict to lead troops north to work hard. However, after thinking about it, Yuan Shikai joined Southeast Mutual Protection and did not send troops north.

However, Yuan Shikai also understood that although doing so could protect himself, it was undoubtedly a crime against the court. Because of the offending Cixi, if the court returned to Beijing and took power in the future, he might be liquidated. Yuan Shikai also did a lot of remedial work. When Cixi was still in Taiyuan, Yuan Shikai prepared 100,000 silver for Cixi to send, and also prepared another 25,000 silver for the officials and eunuchs whom Cixi accompanied him, asking them to give him more good words. Later, he gave money and goods several times.
Chapter completed!