Master Yuan, start!

In addition, missionaries also intervened in disputes between officials and the people, took over a large number of lawsuits, and became the actual judges. Local officials did not dare to offend foreign missionaries and often made judgments in favor of believers. This led to some people joining the church in order to win the lawsuit. In some areas, there was even a folk proverb that "no lawsuit, no church."

But whether in the north or the south, the gentry and scholars in the countryside were undoubtedly the ones who hated missionaries the most, because the missionaries encroached on the power that originally belonged to them, the lower-level power holders of the Qing Dynasty.

Most of the people would go to the missionaries to seek justice, and some would go to the home of the scholar Lao Lu in the countryside to explain the provisions and write lawsuits. These three things were originally the privileges of the most basic power holders in the Qing Dynasty, but now this privilege has been gradually snatched away by foreigners.

In addition, the religious rules that traditional scholars considered to be unorthodox included prohibiting ancestor worship and worshipping Confucius. Therefore, as their economic and political privileges were doubly damaged, the rural literati and gentry naturally hated missionaries to the core.

But the reason why Catholicism can still be passed down is because it can bring benefits to some people. When ordinary people who were originally from the same class enjoy preferential treatment from different classes because of their religious beliefs, naturally some people will find ways to exploit this loophole.

Ruffians and evildoers joined the church one after another and, relying on the protection of Catholicism, committed crimes among the people. In order to protect their own missionary "achievements" in China, missionaries were often more tolerant of these bad guys.

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This resulted in the originally simple civil conflict between good and evil being disguised as a church conflict, turning it into a conflict between the people and Catholicism.

The Tianjin Incident, the trigger that led to Zeng Guofan's removal from the position of Governor-General of Zhili, is a classic example of northern missionaries encroaching on the interests of the people.

In 1870, due to the plague, a large number of babies in the orphanage under the jurisdiction of the Tianjin Bishop were infected and died, and their bodies were buried in the cemetery behind the church.

However, because the bodies were buried shallowly, they attracted many wild dogs to dig for food. The sight of beasts eating people frightened the local people, so rumors spread that "the foreigners cut out the hearts and eyes, used them to make medicine, and dumped the bodies in the wilderness."

At that time, Zhang Guangzao, the prefect of Tianjin, adhered to the belief that "all evil will be brought to justice" and arrested two people from Zhili who abducted and abused children.

After the charges were read out, the two were executed.

It is not known whether Zhang Guangzao thought the case was clear and was unwilling to explain, or whether he did not dare to explain because foreigners were involved.

In short, he did not explain whether the foreigners had anything to do with this incident, nor did he say whether the children abducted and sold by these two people were actually sold to the church. Therefore, the anger of the people did not die down, but instead continued to accumulate.

It was not until later that a human trafficker was caught, who claimed that he bought the drugs from foreigners.

This immediately ignited the anger of the people. The local landlords and gentry led a group of scholars who had returned home to gather at the Confucius Temple, cursing the foreigners and foreign religions for their many evil deeds and the harm they had done to people, attracting tens of thousands of people to show their support on the spot.

As the number of people increased, some people could no longer suppress their excitement and ran to the homes of religious believers around the church to clash with them. This incident quickly aroused the dissatisfaction of the local French Bishop, Fonteyne.

At that time, the Qing Dynasty's Westernization Movement had not yet seen results, and the French had just taught the Qing Dynasty a lesson in the Second Opium War. So Feng Daye, a Frenchman, led his men to storm the Beiyang Minister's office, pointing his finger at Chong Hou, the then Beiyang Minister, and scolding him, and demanding that he dispatch troops to suppress the "mob".

Chonghou was the person who ceded a large area of ​​land in Ili after being blackmailed by the Russians during the war to recover Xinjiang.

Chonghou, who has never been very tough, knows that he cannot afford to offend the angry people, but he also cannot afford to offend the foreigners who are wearing masks. In short, he dares neither to provoke a civil uprising nor to offend the foreigners.

All they could do was keep saying, "Please calm down, foreign sir, calm down. Just wait for the people to calm down, and then they will disperse on their own."

But Feng Daye didn't care about all these. He shouted at Chonghou, "The rioters want my life, I want you to die in front of me." Then he fired several shots at random, injuring Chonghou's entourage. Then he left the yamen angrily and went back to the church to deal with the riot on his own.

On the way back, Feng Daye was discovered by angry people. Feng Daye was not to be outdone. He cursed at the people and argued passionately with them. However, because the officials blocked the way, the people did not act too radically.

The insults hit a sore spot, so Feng Daye took out his pistol and fired eight shots, wounding the county yamen runners who came to maintain public order, and immediately ignited the anger of the people who were already full of anger.

Feng Daye and more than 20 of his followers, priests, nuns, and merchants were beaten to death and their bodies were dumped in the Haihe River. The church, orphanage, and nearby consulate were also burned down by angry people.

As the situation continued to develop, it eventually attracted diplomatic notes from seven countries, including Germany, France, Britain, the United States, and Russia, and warships were sent to the coast of Tianjin.

By this time, the situation was clear.

The diehard opposition faction within the Qing court was willing to deal with the foreigners, but they only talked and did not act; although the Westernization faction was in power, they were afraid of damaging relations with the foreigners.

In the end, the Qing court could only issue an imperial decree stating that "the people of Tianjin had gathered to cause trouble, and no measures were taken to prevent it. The bandits took advantage of the situation to burn and kill many people, and the criminals were not quickly apprehended. This is a serious offense."

In the end, the Qing court exiled the Tianjin prefect and Jinghai county magistrate, who had been diligently investigating the case, to Heilongjiang. Coincidentally, news of the Ma assassination case in the south came that Ma Xinyi, the governor-general of Liangjiang and a close confidant of Cixi, was stabbed to death.

Zeng Guofan, who was caught in a dilemma in this matter, was also called a "traitor" and a "thief of orthodoxy" by the Qing gentry. So the Qing court took the opportunity to remove Zeng Guofan's title of Governor of Zhili and sent him to Liangjiang to appease the Hunan Army generals.

The Qing government could have used the "Tianjin Incident" to win the hearts of the people, but it made the wrong choice.

After all, the people at that time rarely agreed with the position of most Qing officials. They all wanted to punish foreigners. However, the Qing court did not win over public opinion, but only wanted to keep the peace, thus losing a great opportunity to win back public opinion.

Of course, if the Qing government sided with the people, it would not necessarily have a good result. It might even trigger the "Seven-Nation Alliance Invasion of China" in advance.

But in the final analysis, the people were once again disappointed with the Qing government in this incident.

The foreigners were so arrogant to begin with, and they became even more aggressive after the Sino-French War. When Germany, the Netherlands and France occupied the land and the Qing court dared not breathe, the missionaries became even more rampant.

Not only did they seize economic benefits, they also expanded their political intervention in China. Local bishops even demanded the same travel ceremony as a provincial governor on the grounds that they were "religious rulers of the entire province."

The conflicts between the believers under the protection of the church and the ordinary people became increasingly serious. Coincidentally, the rise of the Guandong movement and the development of industry and commerce in Korea caused some people to move to the Northeast and Korea with their families.

The people who stayed in the countryside joined various secret societies, among which the White Tiger Group of the "White-Haired King" was the most powerful.

The White Tigers developed in southern Zhili. Members helped each other, provided relief to each other in times of disaster, and handled disputes among gang members fairly.

At the same time, because the White Tiger Group was respectful to the government, and because the White Tiger Group reduced the workload of local governments to a certain extent, a considerable number of local officials chose to turn a blind eye.

A major characteristic of the White Tigers, which were prevalent in the southern part of Zhili, was "helping the people resist foreigners." When religious believers bullied ordinary people, the White Tigers would go to their aid. The White Tigers had "Eighteen Tiger Guards" in their branches across the country, and they also had foreign guns, so they often had the upper hand in disputes.

Therefore, within just a few years, the White Tiger Regiment developed rapidly in southern Zhili and showed a tendency to spread to Tianjin and other places.

"Chief Instructor, Bai Dingshan sent a letter saying that his White Tiger Regiment has aroused the vigilance of the government in southern Zhili. I'm afraid that if the situation continues to develop, they will be regarded as a rebel group and wiped out!" Ming Ye said.

Bai Dingshan was Bai Liu, who had spread rumors about Cixi in the capital. After escaping from the capital, he followed Yuan Shikai's instructions and went to southern Zhili to develop a civilian force to resist foreigners.

Now, with the support of the Red Confucian Society's continuous dispatch of personnel and weapons and equipment, it has developed to a considerable scale.

"Haha, have the Qing officials finally stopped turning a blind eye? I thought they would keep pretending." Yuan Xiangcheng laughed.

"After all, it's a fight with foreigners for profit. Although the local government doesn't care, the local bishop will definitely report it to the foreigners in the capital, and it will inevitably reach the ears of the Qing court at this time." Xu Shichang analyzed on the side.

"Tell Bai Dingshan to temporarily halt his expansion south of Zhili and develop northward. Besides his White Tiger Regiment, there are various gangs emerging in Zhili. Let them spread their influence as well."

After discussing the domestic layout, everyone returned to the discussion of the situation in North Korea.

"Comrades, North Korea has now become a holy land for new scholars, attracting patriotic students from all over the world. We must seize this opportunity. As long as we can perform well in dealing with the Russians, we can win more people's hearts."

"Chief Instructor, although 20,000 troops of the Jiashen Right Army have been transferred to the west bank of the Tumen River, do we really have to fight the Russians?" Ma Xiangbo knew the status of the Russians in the world, so he asked with some concern.

"What's the big deal about a fight? The Russians only have a few thousand troops in the Vladivostok area. If a fight breaks out, we can directly recapture Vladivostok. I'm not afraid of fighting, but the fight must be meaningful.

Fighting a war is easy, but after the war, the Russians can gather together in the Far East and mobilize 20,000 troops, which will make things difficult.

We don't have the resources to sustain a war with the Russians right now, and the Qing government won't support us in a war with Russia. Relying solely on the British, even if they talk big, is easy. If a real fight breaks out, the British won't disembark and fire. At most, they'll offer some diplomatic support."

Yuan Shikai saw clearly that before the railway was built, he could have conflicts with the Russians, but he could not fight a big battle. Moreover, he had not yet won the right to rule the Northeast.

Yuan Xiangcheng was just using this incident to make his presence felt in front of the world. Although he really wanted to take back Vladivostok and Outer Manchuria at this time, he knew that the time was not yet ripe.

Chapter 100 Strong

In early 1888, the attention of East Asia was focused on Korea, and some of them were waiting for the Russians to give the Qing people a heavy blow.

Some people hope that Yuan Shikai can speak up for China and regain the face of a great power.

The negotiators from China, Russia and Britain soon sat together again. The American Minister to China had completed his mission in North Korea, so he left a clerk and returned to Beijing early in the morning.

"Gentlemen, I'm glad that we can sit together again and resolve this dispute in a civilized manner." Zhu Erdian spoke first, wanting to set the tone for the talks.

"I know that Russia and China have had some minor misunderstandings over North Korea, but since both sides believe that it was an unintentional mistake, why not resolve it at the negotiation table?

If this drags on for too long, the person in the Winter Palace will inevitably do something shocking upon hearing the news, and the local residents of Vladivostok will also need sufficient food to survive the winter."

Yuan Xiangcheng knew that this was Jordan's way of giving himself a way out, but he did not choose to completely agree with him and said: "If it can be resolved peacefully, that would be great. We Chinese are a peace-loving nation.

On the contrary, some countries, as aggressors, still want to demand compensation that is only due to victims.”

Alexei wanted to use war to blackmail, but when he looked at Julian in front of him and remembered the telegram sent by the Governor of Amur, he gave up on showing off his power verbally.

The reason why the government of Russia's Far East has not yet seized upon this incident to make a big fuss is because something happened to the Tsar.

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To this end, the group of students hollowed out the middles of more than a dozen books and stuffed them with explosives. However, this was unsuccessful. The secret police successfully solved the case and hanged five students.

One of the students was named Alexander Ulyanov. After receiving the news that his brother had been arrested and killed, his younger brother Ilyich Ulyanov took his family to Kazan, close to Asia, to avoid the limelight. It was here that he formally came into contact with Marxist theory.

Back to the Tsar, he was naturally furious when he learned the news of his assassination and ordered the mass arrest of members of the Narodnaya Volya.

At this time, under the leadership of German Chancellor Bismarck, Germany proposed to conclude a treaty with Russia to guarantee peace in the Balkans. Therefore, Tsar Alexander III naturally had no time to care about the situation in the Far East and focused on Europe.

Finally, at the end of 1887, Russia and Germany signed a reinsurance treaty in Russian Poland. This treaty stipulated that if one of the contracting parties were at war with a third country (France or Austria-Hungary), the other would remain neutral. Germany recognized the legitimacy of Russia's dominance in Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. Both sides agreed to maintain the status quo in the Balkans.

This was a treaty that clearly isolated France. In 1879, the German-Austrian alliance had guaranteed Austria's neutrality in the Franco-German war, and this treaty also guaranteed Russia's neutrality, giving Germany double insurance.

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But just as Alexander III was singing and gloating on his way back to St. Petersburg on the train, the Narodnaya Volya infiltrated a station along the line and deliberately derailed the train the Tsar was on.

The derailment caused 23 deaths and 19 injuries, and Tsar Alexander III also suffered damage to the left half of his body, becoming unable to move and causing a drastic change in his temperament.

After hearing that he returned to St. Petersburg, he locked himself in the palace and only issued two orders every day.

One is: "Bring me some wine!"

Another one was: "Kill another wave of the People's Party!"

The Tsar naturally had as much wine as he wanted, but the Narodnaya Volya only had so much. However, the Tsar seemed to hate the Narodnaya Volya to the core, and if he didn't see a new execution list for the Narodnaya Volya every day, he would dismiss a group of officials.

Therefore, in order to satisfy the Tsar's wishes, the number of people in St. Petersburg prisons became smaller and smaller. First, they were real members of the Narodnaya Volya, then they became death row prisoners, and later they were exiles. When there was really no one left to catch, they would go to the places where students were causing trouble every day and catch some people to make up the numbers.

St. Petersburg was shrouded in a terrifying atmosphere of the Tsar drinking and killing people, so no one dared to touch Alexander III now.

If the Tsar knew that the Governor-General of Amur could not even handle a small Qing Dynasty and had to ask the central government for grain, his tenure as Governor-General would probably be over.

He might be labeled a "Narodnaya Volya member" and thrown into a prison in St. Petersburg.

Therefore, his advice to the special negotiating envoy Alexi was to not make a big deal out of the matter, and to use intimidation if possible. If intimidation failed, then just restore normal business trade.

Alexei knew that Russia's expansion in the Far East had reached a limit in a short period of time. There was more and more land, but the per capita land density was decreasing. If the expansion continued, the Russians would probably become a minority in the local area.

Originally, he wanted to use this Russia-China conflict to force China to surrender, re-establish Russia's position as the number one power in the Far East, and gain dominance in Northeast Asia.

Korea belongs to China, China defeated Japan, and Russia made China surrender.

The equation is valid, and Russia is the strongest in the Far East.

However, the news from Europe made his plan go awry. If he could not get help from the domestic side, Russia might not be able to completely subdue China, especially with the British watching closely.

Therefore, Alexei was ready to "give in". However, the Russians, who were used to taking advantage of the Qing court, would not easily give in during negotiations. His so-called concession was just to ask the Qing Dynasty to pay less compensation.

"Russian soldiers were detained for ridiculous reasons. This is a great insult to our country, and this cannot be erased. The Russian Empire has every reason to declare war on the Qing Dynasty, but this incident was caused by a lack of communication between the two sides.

Therefore, on behalf of the Russian government, I hereby propose to the Chinese government that each detained soldier be compensated with 1000 taels of silver, and that the Yongxing Bay port be opened to Russia for fresh water supply, and that trade between North Korea and Russia be restored!

"Russia has gone too far. If your government truly wants to resolve the Sea of ​​Japan crisis fairly, it should not propose ridiculous compensation theories. Instead, it should compensate the Chinese soldiers who were killed and injured!"

Now, 20,000 troops are at the Tumen River border. If your country refuses justice, then Chinese soldiers will fight all the way to Vladivostok to seek justice for their comrades!

Hearing that a large army had gathered along the Tumen River, Alexei's face changed slightly, but he still said with all his strength: "General Yuan, can I understand this as a declaration of war against the Russian Empire?"