However, to deal with the Qing court, the East China government has enough experience, which is to threaten with force, because it is useless to deal with the Qing court and make good use of reasoning. It is only effective to beat the Qing court first and then talk about it. Although the East China government cannot officially overthrow the Qing court now, it is still possible to beat the Qing court hard. The goal is Baoding.

Baoding Prefecture is the capital of the Qing Dynasty to Hebei and the southern gateway of Beijing. It is known as "the three gates of the north, nine provinces in the south, and the important areas of the capital, and the capital of Nanpinghan". The Qing Dynasty trained the new army, which was to set up the new army's garrison in Baoding, which was actually to strengthen Beijing's garrison. Therefore, if the People's Army captured Baoding, it would be a great threat to the Qing court, which was enough to force the Qing court to reject the invitation from the four countries.

Of course, before attacking Baoding, necessary public opinion propaganda still needs to be requested. Although the Qing court had officially recognized the independent status of the East China government, the Qing court was still a legal government recognized by the Chinese public. If the East China government wants to attack Baoding, it must be morally reasonable. If it is in normal times, the East China government can of course be without any scruples. Anyway, if the Qing court is destroyed, who dares to say anything? But at this time, it cannot be so tough. After all, the East China government now needs to concentrate its efforts to deal with the British and French coalition forces and cannot consume more energy on the Qing court.

Of course, the East China government has long been familiar with the manipulation of public opinion. During the war between the East China government, public opinion work has never stopped. It has made full use of the victory of the People's Army on the Northeast battlefield and vigorously promoted it to push the reputation of the East China government to a peak. During the Far East War, the second anti-encirclement and suppression operation in the river and lake base areas occurred, and the incident of the East China government's official independence from the Qing court, under the manipulation of the public opinion of the East China government, its reputation did not decline but increased, and public opinion almost unanimously believed that the Qing court was wrong.

In fact, in the past two years, the Qing court has also realized that public opinion is also important, so it has hired a group of literati to speak out for the Qing court. However, the propaganda method is too deficient, and it blindly emphasizes "imperial power, the three pillars and five constants" and has introduced modern ideas of "freedom and equality" into China. The effect of this condescending preaching propaganda is naturally extremely limited. Moreover, the East China government has continued to win foreign wars and provided enough hard materials for propaganda, which is precisely the shortcomings of the Qing court.

However, after Britain and France announced their participation in the war, there was a lot of trouble in China's public opinion. After all, Chinese intellectuals in this era still had some common sense in the world, knowing that Britain and France are both world powers, because Britain is still the world's largest power now, so the announcement of participation in the war between these two countries will cause great changes in the war, and many people were worried about the East China government. The literati hired by the Qing court, some conservative literati, dedicated to safeguarding the Qing court, or for various reasons, those who were hostile to the East China government seemed to have seen an opportunity, so they all spoke out, accusing the East China government of politely politely, causing external troubles, endangering the country, implicating the court, etc.

Of course, the East China government would not swallow its anger and immediately launched a counterattack. First, it refuted the criticism of the East China government one by one, and pointed out that Britain and France are supporters of Japan and Russia. Now it is just because they saw that Japan and Russia were defeated by the People's Army and ended up in person. It was not caused by the East China government. Moreover, even if Britain and France participated in the war, the East China government was not afraid and had full confidence to defeat the army of Britain and France. Then they angrily criticized the East China government, calling them cowards, corrupt, fearing foreign countries like tigers, etc.

After the East China government counterattacked, most public opinion was still on the side of the East China government. Although the Chinese knew that Britain and France were world powers, they did not have an intuitive understanding and did not know where these two countries were strong? The most important thing was the previous victory of the East China government, including the series of brilliant victories achieved after participating in the war. In addition, the East China government's strong publicity also made many Chinese people have strong confidence in the East China government. Therefore, the participation of Britain and France in the war did not have much impact on the East China government. This time, the East China government wanted to guide public opinion again.

Soon, several newspapers in Shanghai published news that the Qing court had decided to join the four-nation alliance formed by Britain, France, Japan and Russia, and was preparing to deal with the East China government at the same time. The Qing court planned to use the power of the four countries to eliminate its greatest danger. It also said that the Qing court had reached an agreement with the four countries. Once the East China government was eliminated, the Qing court was preparing to ced the three northeastern provinces to Russia, Japan, and Shandong to Britain and France to repay the four countries. At the same time, it also included some remarks from Cixi, such as "I would rather have friends than family slaves", "measure China's material resources and make the country's favor", etc.

As soon as this news was published, it immediately caused an uproar. The official newspaper of the East China government [New China News] first made a comment, severely accusing the Qing court of only caring about the private interests of the whole family, stolen the country and seeking honor, etc., and declared that the East China government would take any countermeasures.

Other newspapers have also published articles, most of which accused the Qing court. Although everyone knows that the East China government has broken away from the Qing court, it is still the same lineage of China. Therefore, most Chinese people can agree with the East China government. Moreover, the East China government sends troops to the Northeast to fight against Japan and Russia, which can also be regarded as a battle between the Chinese and foreigners. Moreover, the East China government has repeatedly defeated foreign countries, which has become the heart of many people. The contradiction between the East China government and the Qing court is only an internal contradiction between the Chinese people, while the East China government and the four countries of Britain, France, Japan and Russia are a contradiction between the Chinese nation and the foreign race. At this time, the Qing court wanted to collude with foreign countries and deal with the East China government, which naturally caused huge defamation. Although a few newspapers also spoke out and supported the Qing court's resolution, they were soon drowned in accusation voice.

Soon this public opinion spread from Shanghai to Beijing. The form was not limited to newspapers, but also to handwritten copies, brochures, announcements, etc., and it was not limited to folk scholars, gentry, governors, governors of the southeastern provinces, even officials such as governors, Taoist platforms, prefects, etc., who also wrote to the court, some asked questions, while others said they could not be alliance with the four countries of Britain, France, Japan and Russia, etc.

The Qing court did not expect that this incident would cause such great public outrage, so it had to issue an edict saying that the court was still negotiating with the four countries and had not yet concluded the matter. Then it was added fuel to the fire. After all, the Qing court admitted that it was negotiating with the four countries and confirmed that it was not a rumor. So the governors and governors of the five provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Hubei jointly wrote to the Qing court, demanding that the Qing court immediately stop negotiating with the four countries and formally summoned, saying that the court would never participate in the four countries alliance.

In fact, the governors of the five provinces were so fierce, not really out of righteous indignation. Because the Qing court and the four countries had a plan to land in Shanghai and attack Shandong during the negotiations, it was very likely that the war would be burned to the southeastern provinces, which would inevitably cause significant losses to the southeastern provinces. Of course, the governors of the five provinces could not accept. During the change of the Boxer State, the southeastern provinces organized the Southeastern mutual protection that violated the Qing court's resolution at that time. Now, they once again joined forces to oppose the court's resolutions without any psychological barriers.

However, Southeast Mutual Protection at that time was supported by various countries, which was also one of the important factors that Southeast Mutual Protection could succeed. However, this time, countries obviously would not support the actions of the governors and governors of the five provinces. The ministers of Britain, France, Japan and Russia also acted immediately. On the one hand, they put pressure on the Qing court, demanding that the Qing court control public opinion and severely punish relevant personnel to suppress the voices of the people. At the same time, they ordered consulates from Shanghai, Nanjing, Hankou and other places to meet with the governors and governors of the five provinces, demanding that they stop putting pressure on the Qing court and support the Qing court to join the anti-East China government alliance between Britain, France, Japan and Russia.

Just when the public opinion was stalemate, the East China government also began to take action and ordered the 6th Army to launch an attack on Baoding Prefecture.

The 6th Army of the People's Army is actually the volunteer army of the original river and lake base. After winning the second anti-encirclement and suppression of the river and lake base, the river and lake base occupied the entire Henan Province, as well as part of Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui and Hubei provinces. The total area exceeded 200,000 square kilometers and the population exceeded 30 million, all exceeding Shandong.

After the East China government completely separated from the Qing court, it also considered that there was no need to cover up the relationship with the river and lake bases, so it decided to formally include the river and lake bases in the East China government and established five administrative agencies, namely Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui and Hubei. Although the actual jurisdiction of the latter four administrative agencies is very small, they can be prepared for the future. In addition, if these places are incorporated into Henan Province, then the population of Henan Province will exceed that of Shandong Province, forming a strong and unspoken branch, which is obviously not good for the East China government.

As the river and lake bases were officially incorporated into the East China government, there was naturally no need to retain the number of the Volunteer Army. The Military Commission decided to formally organize the Volunteer Army into the 6th Army of the People's Army, with 4 divisions and 2 regiments. All the original officers remained and were still stationed in Henan. They also managed to defend Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, and Hubei.

After receiving the order from the Military Commission, the 6th Army immediately took action, mobilizing two divisions and one regiment to attack Baoding Prefecture.

In fact, after the victory of the second anti-encirclement and suppression, although the river and lake bases did not attack Baoding Prefecture, they secretly penetrated into Baoding Prefecture by protecting the city in rural areas. Now they have achieved considerable results. More than 70% of the villages and towns in Baoding Prefecture have been controlled by the East China government, and the jurisdiction of the Qing court can only be limited to county towns and prefectures. Once they leave the city, they will be the territory of the East China government.
Chapter completed!