There is a very distinctive feature in the concession area in the old China, which is to be arranged along the river as much as possible. The Shanghai concession is arranged along the Huangpu River, the Hankou concession is arranged along the Yangtze River, and the Tianjin concession is arranged along the Haihe River. This is mainly to consider the transportation of materials, because road construction and railway construction are not only slow to achieve, but also have a large investment, and it will also involve the trouble of occupying land. It is better to get close to the river to borrow water transportation. At most, only the construction of a dock is used, and the investment is also much greater.

Compared with the Huangpu River, the Yangtze River and the Haihe River can only be regarded as a river, with the width being only 200 meters and the depth is only 3 or 5 meters. However, it is better to have a river than not. Moreover, the Haihe River directly connects to the Bohai Sea, which is more advantageous than the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River.

After the establishment of the concessions in Tianjin, all countries have been continuously building and renovating docks. Although the concessions in various countries have expanded many times, the location of the concessions occupied the river bank has not changed. Because the Tianjin unit in the UK was established the highest and the construction was the earliest, so by this time, among the concessions in various countries, the facilities and design of the British docks were the most complete. Not only was the dock donation office and responsible for the management of the docks, but there were also multiple mechanical rooms, fire water tanks, public toilets and shore wall cranes, realizing the complete dock function.

The British Concession Wharf (now Yingkou Road to Kaifeng Road section) is about 100 meters long. The most powerful industrial and commercial enterprises and agencies in China and the UK were gathered along the coast, including HSBC Bank, British Consulate, Jardinet Foreign Company, Pacific Foreign Company, Customs Office, China Merchants South Bank, Yonggu Engineering Company, Dagu Barge Company, British Club, Jardinet South Bank, etc., and all built their own docks along the coast. Usually, there are busy scenes on the docks, with ships entering and leaving, and sharp whistles; the sound of cargo vehicles coming and going, and the docks are loading workers, sailors, and tax police almost crowded the river bank.

However, when Fukushima Anmao arrived at the British Concession Pier, the busy and lively scenes of the past were completely gone. Although there were still many ships docked on the shore, they were deserted and empty. Instead, the dense gunshots and explosions could be heard in the concession area behind him.

It turned out that this morning, in order to stabilize the hearts of the people, the concession authorities ordered that anyone should be banned from leaving by boat, and sent troops to block the dock, rushing all the sailors and crew on the boat to ashore to completely dispel the idea of ​​someone's desire to escape by boat. But later, in order to resist the attack of the crossing army, most of the troops blocking the dock were transferred away, leaving only a dozen people to guard the ships on the shore.

But now these dozen soldiers guarding the dock have corpses on the dock. In the river, there is a steamer with thick black smoke coming out of the smoke tower. The mast is hung with plaster flags. The bow of the ship has three words "Hongjinmaru" written in Japanese. Several Japanese soldiers holding rifles waved to Fukushima Akamasa on the side of the ship and said, "General Fukushima, here, here."

Fukushima Akamaru stepped up his pace, took a few steps, and boarded the steamer, while the soldiers immediately put away the springboard, untied the cable, and shouted: "Drive the boat, drive the boat, drive the boat quickly."

The steamer had already started to fire, so he immediately started to move slowly away from the dock, and headed upstream along the Haihe River, heading northwest. Fukushima An was standing at the stern of the boat, looking at the dock gradually moving away, and gunshots from the concession gradually drifted. At this moment, a few overseas Chinese soldiers walked across the street and came to the dock, and looked at the far away Dongjinmaruma. A soldier raised his rifle in his hand. Although he gestured for a moment, he did not shoot, and obviously he did not intend to stop them.

Only then did Fukushima Anmasa turned around and came to the cabin.

The Dongjin Maru is an iron-strangered wooden boat with a displacement of 60 tons and a draught rice. It can drive along the coastal river to Beijing. However, the Dongjin Maru's hull is not large and the cabin is very narrow, only seven or eight square meters. At this time, Japanese Consul in Tianjin, Hikoki Iji Insen was sitting in the cabin. After hearing the movement, he opened his eyes and said, "Kun Fukushima, please sit."

Fukushima An sat down opposite Hitoki Ijiyuan. Hitoki Ijiyuan said, "We can escape from the concession safely this time, thanks to Fukushima's arrangement. Now other consuls have probably become the prisoners of this group of overseas Chinese."

Fukushima Anmasato: "Ijiyuan, we gave up the empire's concession in Japan for the sake of the future of the empire, causing the empire's interests to be damaged. Therefore, escaping from the concession is not a glorious thing."

Yoshiki Ijiyuan laughed and said, "Kun Fukushima, to be honest, our concession in Tianjin is just a swamp area, and the value of development is not great. Therefore, giving up the concession in Tianjin will not cause much loss to the empire, and our evacuation from Tianjin is also temporary. Just like Kun Fukushima, after the German fleet arrives, this group of overseas Chinese is doomed to fail. We can fight back and maybe get a better place."

Fukushima Anmasa was silent for a while before saying, "Iji Eun-jun, have you ever thought about it? If the German fleet arrived and still could not defeat this group of overseas Chinese, but was defeated by this group of overseas Chinese, what should we do?"

Ijiyuan Hikoki laughed and said, "How is this possible? How could this group of overseas Chinese be the opponent of the German fleet and the Eight-Nation Alliance? Fukushima-kun, are you kidding?"

Fukushima Anmasato: "Ijiyuanjun, I was not kidding. When this group of overseas Chinese captured Dagukou, we did not take it seriously. We thought that as long as we sent troops, we could recover Dagukou, but what happened? Not only did we not recover Dagukou, but even Tianjin was lost. Who would be sure that the German fleet would be able to defeat them as soon as I came into contact with them? And according to my impression, this group of overseas Chinese was not as stupid as the Qing Dynasty. If they were not sure, would they easily start a war against the Eight-Nation Alliance?"

In fact, Anmasa Fukushima was originally full of confidence in defeating this group of overseas Chinese after the German fleet arrived, but after seeing the crossing army easily breaking through the defense line of the concession, Anmasa Fukushima's confidence began to shake, and he vaguely felt that this group of overseas Chinese might not be so easy to defeat.

At this time, Ijiyuan Hiroki also realized that Fukushima Anmasa was not joking, and his face became solemn, saying, "Fukushima, what should you do? Should you send additional troops from the empire? Or let the joint fleet attack?"

Fukushima Anmasa shook his head and said, "That's not enough. After all, as Ijiyuan just said, the Empire's interests in Tianjin are not great. On the contrary, Britain, France and other countries have a lot of interests in Tianjin. Therefore, it is the United Kingdom, France and other countries that are anxious. Britain, France and other countries are too far away from the Qing Dynasty, so it is too late to send troops from the country. We can only ask the Empire to send more troops, so we can give them conditions. Now we should just wait and see. From this perspective, it's better to let this group of overseas Chinese make a fuss. It's still the same thing. Only by muddling the water can we catch fish."

Ijiyuan Hiroki said, "It's better for Fukushima to think carefully. Well, after we arrive in Beijing, let's wait and see what's going on."

Fukushima Anmashi took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Hikoshi Ijiyuan, and said, "Ijiyuanjun, after you arrive in Beijing, you will hand this letter to General Yamaguchi, and then tell him what we said just now, General Yamaguchi knows what to do."

Yijiyuan Hiroki was stunned and said, "Kun Fukushima, are you not going to Beijing?"

Fukushima An Masato said: "It doesn't make much sense to go to Beijing now. I plan to go to Shanghai to find out the news."

Yijiyuan Yoshiki said: "What news should I go to Shanghai to find out?"

Fukushima Anmasa smiled and said, "Ijiyuanjun, although this war was held in the north, Shanghai is actually the Guanjian land that determines the direction of the war. The Qing Dynasty's southern governor signed the [Southeast Mutual Protection Charter] with various countries in Shanghai. Moreover, Li Hongzhang had arrived in Shanghai and was negotiating and discussing matters with consulars of various countries. Once the peace talks were officially started, the land might be in Shanghai. In addition, no matter whether this group of overseas Chinese had any relationship with the Qing Dynasty's southern governor, if they were smart people, they should know that the current Eight-Nation Alliance is not a normal manifestation of the strength of the Eight-Nation Alliance at all. Therefore, even if they defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance, the German fleet would be useless. No matter how strong their strength was, they would never be the opponent of the Eight-Nation Alliance. In the end, they would still return to the negotiating table. Sooner or later they would go to Shanghai."

Yijiyuan Yoshiki suddenly realized, "That's why they are more tolerant of the concession, and they are preparing for negotiations."

Fukushima Anmasato: "Yes, I just figured out this truth. Now this group of overseas Chinese have occupied Tianjin and Dagukou. This has the capital to negotiate with various countries and control the consulates and residents of various countries in the concession. It is equivalent to having a large number of hostages. In the negotiations with various countries, there is undoubtedly a large amount of bargaining chips. As long as they defeat the German fleet, this negotiation will obviously be very beneficial to the Qing Dynasty."

Ijiyuan Hiroki said, "Fukushima, you have to be right. Do you think this so-called overseas Chinese can really defeat the German fleet?"

Fukushima Anmasa smiled bitterly. Although he is the rank of major general in the army, he has always been in intelligence work, and his military experience is his greatest weakness. Therefore, he really doesn't know which side can win. Therefore, he said: "I don't know either, but no matter which side wins, the next center will definitely be transferred to Shanghai, so I have to rush to Shanghai to prepare immediately."

Ijiyuan Hikoki said: "Well, then Fukushima-kun is going to get off the boat there."

Fukushima An was just thinking about it and said, "Let's get off the boat at the mouth of the North Canal. You go from the North Canal to Beijing, and I'll go to Shanghai."
Chapter completed!