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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 667: Red Cross

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    Xujiahui Catholic Church in Shanghai. This newly built cathedral took two years to build and covers an area of ??more than 2,000 square meters. The building is in a typical Gothic style. In 1856, under the auspices of President Nanglo of the Society of Jesus, businessmen from various countries raised funds.  It was built in which the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom invested 100,000 new Taiping Heavenly Kingdom silver coins in his own name.  ¡Í

    After the church was completed, it became the largest Catholic church in the Far East and the seat of the Catholic Diocese of China.  The entire building is five stories high, with brick and wood structure in French medieval style. The top of the lobby is flanked by spire Gothic bell towers, 50 meters high.  In the lobby, the statue of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus stands on top of the altar, overlooking the entire church, and is the center of the entire church.  Western-style architecture represented by this church became popular in Shanghai, and for a time this church became a landmark building in Shanghai.

    On the left side of the church is the Xuhui Middle School founded by Nan Gelu. This middle school was first named St. Ignatius Public School. Later, it was renamed Xuhui Middle School due to the financial investment from the Education Department of the Taiping Rebellion Ministry of Rites.  On the other side of the church was Shanghai's first girls' school, Morrison Memorial Girls' School, which was a traditional church school. Because of the status of girls at this time, the Taiping Rebellion Education Department did not directly inject funds or provide government recognition.  The name of the school commemorates Morrison, one of the first foreigners to come to China to open a missionary school.

    This girls¡¯ school now enrolls mostly girls from wealthy families, and of course some orphan girls who lost their families in the war. However, most girls still don¡¯t have the opportunity to go out of their homes and enter the school.

    There are only a few one-story buildings in the school, which looks much shabby compared to Xuhui Middle School on the left.  In a bright classroom, a Chinese woman is teaching the female students in the room to recite English poetry.

    This woman is wearing Western clothing.  The beautiful woman is Li Xuanji, the wife of Clifford, the youngest heir of the Rothschild family in the Far East.  Her teeth were slightly open, and elegant English was spoken aloud from her mouth.  But it is extremely soft.

    But at this moment, there was a noise outside the house, and several British soldiers with live ammunition rushed in. The leading non-commissioned officer nodded slightly to Li Xuanji and said in an unquestionable tone: "Madam, please come with us immediately, we and  The Taiping War has broken out! It will be very unsafe here!"

    Li Xuanji was originally unhappy that a few rude soldiers broke into the classroom, but after listening to the sergeant's words, the English book in her hand fell from her hand, and what she was worried about finally happened.  It was inevitable that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would break out into war with Britain, and she had been worried about it before that.

    After marrying Clifford in England, she had been depressed and often defended the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in public, which made Clifford very angry in his heart.  This time back in China, Clifford's behavior became more and more erratic, and he began to hate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This change was unexpected by Li Xuanji.  No matter how she tried to persuade him, Clifford ignored him. The more Li Xuanji tried to persuade him, the more Clifford became disgusted with everything about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

    Judging from Clifford¡¯s words and deeds.  He was instigating some things in the Far East to cause trouble for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He kept saying that it was to protect the interests of the Rothschild family in the Far East, but Li Xuanji knew.  Her husband was jealous. He had always been worried that Li Xuanji had another person in his heart.  That aloof Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

    The arrival of the British and French expeditionary forces made Li Xuanji even more uneasy. Clifford took her to various occasions.  Some British and French officers were talking about the war. Although on the surface they were here to fight the Manchu army, the coalition officers could not help but talk about their ultimate imaginary enemy - the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the largest military force in the Far East. They even talked about it privately.  Li clamored to let the Taiping Army taste their power, and Clifford played the role of a disgraceful instigator.

    Before that, Li Xuanji had imagined that war would not come so soon, at least not until the expeditionary force defeated the Manchus and returned to Shanghai. She had even been lobbying some British and French missionaries to work for peace, perhaps after the expeditionary forces and the Manchus were at war.  After the war ended, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was able to negotiate peace with Britain and France.

    "I didn't expect the war to come so quickly and suddenly. Li Xuanji felt deeply guilty. Facing two powerful countries in the world, where should the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom go?  At this time, Li Xuanji believed that everything was caused by herself and that she was an ominous person. She made Clifford so jealous that he lost his nature and led to the outbreak of this war. Everything was her sin.

    Poor Li Xuanji didn't know that the war between countries will never change its original trajectory because of individuals. The Trojan War was because of a beautiful woman Helen. It was a beautiful Greek mythology story. Wu Sangui fought for the championship for Chen Yuanyuan.  Anger, that is a traitor looking for a bright coat for his surrender.  The current war between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Britain and France is not because of Li Xuanji. If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants to rise strongly in the Far East, it must face the increasing hegemony of Britain and France in the Far East, so war is inevitable.

      Holding on to the corner of the table, Li Xuanji tried her best to calm herself down, then raised her head and said calmly: "This is a church school. The church and school are protected. You go back, I won't go anywhere."

    The British sergeant said in a very embarrassed tone: "But Mr. Clifford asked us to take you back to the concession."

    Li Xuanji shook her head and smiled bitterly: "I won't go back. Please bring a letter back for me." After saying that, Li Xuanji returned to the desk and wrote a letter in pen before handing it to the sergeant.

    Seeing that Li Xuanji was unwilling to leave, and Clifford had not ordered to take her away by force, the British sergeant had no choice but to take the letter and leave to call on other British people who were still here to leave.

    Very few people left with the British army. Most of the British missionaries, teachers, translators and servants chose to stay, including the British and French in the church hospital not far from the church. They all chose to stay.  Not returning to the concession included Nightingale, the goddess of the lamp in the eyes of the British.

    The British army did not use force. In their eyes, the Taiping Army was still an army that abided by some war rules. They were different from the Manchu Army. Most of them were people who believed in Christianity and would put their lives first. Churches other than the military  , schools, hospitals and other targets believe that they will not use force to persecute here.

    Sure enough, on the second day after the British troops withdrew from the concession, Taiping Army troops began to appear outside the church. They passed by and headed towards the concession without entering the church.  Churches, schools and hospitals were open as usual, and no soldiers came to visit.

    But on the third day, due to the war propaganda in the Taiping Rebellion newspaper, some radical Chinese started spontaneous marches and rallies. They came outside churches and girls' schools, and aggressively wanted all the foreigners inside to get out of China.  , the scene was extremely scary and chaotic.

    Fortunately, the men in the church and girls' school blocked the doors, and the Taiping Army soldiers and local police who maintained order came to support them. They blocked the demonstrators outside, but the actions of these radical groups frightened some people.  , some British and French missionaries, doctors and nurses returned to the concession that night.

    In the next few days, crowds came to demonstrate. Li Xuanji seemed to understand something through the window lattice across the courtyard wall. This was the inevitable result of the conflict between Chinese and Western cultures. People's dissatisfaction had been imprinted in their hearts for too long.  , Western culture is changing them, making them confused and painful. This time is just an opportunity to vent.

    Every day, the army and police come to maintain order, but they have no intention of dispersing the crowd. As long as the crowd does not harm others or damage public property, they will stay put.  Li Xuanji also understood that they were trying to make public opinion work towards defeating the enemy. Radicals had always been the catalyst for war. Without them, the Taiping Army would hardly have the confidence to fight the enemy.

    One morning a few days later, shocking news came. The allied naval fleet was defeated by the Taiping Army on the Huangpu River outside the concession. People in the church gathered together to pray. They hoped that their compatriots could  Survive more and pray that your relatives and friends can survive this war.

    After the day's prayer, Li Xuanji saw Nightingale. The two walked together. Nightingale told Li Xuanji that today she saw many injuries caused by the coalition naval bombardment yesterday, as well as those in the concession.  Many civilians lacked medical care and medicine. She decided to set up a public welfare organization to help these people who were injured in the war.

    Li Xuanji immediately expressed her interest and she would give her full support. The two discussed many principles of the organization. First of all, its rescue targets are regardless of nationality. As long as they are victims of war, they are the targets of their rescue. Secondly,  Independence, this organization does not belong to any country or government. In the end, the ultimate purpose of this organization is humanity.

    So the two women began to run for this organization. The people who participated were all volunteers. They also specially designed the flag of the organization. It was a white flag with a red cross surrounded by olive green leaves.

    Their actions were supported by the church, but they did not know that the organization they founded would later evolve into an international organization, which would later be the International Red Cross officially established in Geneva, Switzerland.

    The outbreak of the war changed the fate of many people and promoted the development of some things. The defeat at Wusongkou taught the British and French navies a lesson. If they wanted to conquer a huge country, they had to open a few ships at the door of the country more than 20 years ago.  The days when warships and a few cannons could make them surrender were over. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's ability to mobilize civilian forces was hundreds of times that of the Manchus. At this time, Elgin and others realized that they were really fighting a country now.  Instead of fighting a separate court before.

      After the defeated French warship carried General Napier and others back to the place where the allied fleet was parked at the mouth of the Yangtze River, a fierce debate began (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster  !
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