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"Give me back my child! Punish the murderer severely!"

The shouts of slogans grew louder as they approached. Tianjin Consul Feng Daye frowned, looking in that direction, and asked, "What's going on?"

"They seem to be Chinese!"

At that moment, a soldier replied.

Upon hearing this, Feng Daye frowned and angrily asked, "What do these unruly commoners want to do?"

But no matter what Feng Daye thought, a group of people had already arrived in front of the church, and then they heard a group of people shouting: "Give me back my child! Punish the murderer severely!"

A huge crowd, numbering five or six hundred, quickly surrounded the church, and the number of people kept growing.

Feng Daye panicked and looked at Andrei beside him, saying, "They're demanding their children back, and you took their children?"

"How could that be? I am a member of the Andre family, a student of Darwin Academy, and a baron of the Empire. I swear on the honor of my family that I would never have captured these yellow-skinned monkeys' children."

Upon hearing this, Feng Daye glanced at Andrei, then raised his hand and said, "Soldiers, listen to my command, form ranks."

Upon hearing this, the French soldiers immediately formed ranks, pointing their rifles at the civilians outside. The civilians, led by more than thirty parents who had all lost their children, were the most vehemently protesting.

"Foreign devils, release our children! Release our children!"

Upon hearing this, the people pressed forward frantically. Seeing this, Feng Daye raised his gun and fired two shots into the air.

The gunfire indeed drowned out the commotion of the crowd. At this moment, Feng Daye roared, "You mob! You rioters! Do you know where you are? This is the French concession! This is a church! This is God's territory! What are you doing here? Rebellion?!"

Upon hearing this, someone in the crowd shouted, "You've taken our children into the church! Give our children back!"

"Nonsense! This is a church, the place where the Lord resides. Why would we arrest your children here? Your children aren't here. If you're looking for your children, go to your county government office. What are you doing here? You've come to the wrong place."

"No, someone saw it. Our child is in the church. You have to let us into the church to see."

"No, this is God's place. How can we let a bunch of yellow-skinned monkeys in?"

Upon hearing this, Andrei immediately objected vehemently. Feng Daye glanced at Andrei and then chimed in, "This is the concession, not your Chinese territory. Get out of here right now, or we'll shoot!"

"Their refusal to move aside means they're guilty; they're guilty towards them!"

Someone in the crowd shouted, and the next moment the people began to push forward anxiously, and it looked like they were about to start a fight.

Just then, a shout rang out: "Make way! Make way! The magistrate is here!"

Upon hearing this, everyone saw a county magistrate dressed in the official robes of a seventh-rank official of the imperial court rushing over. It was none other than Liu Jie, the newly appointed county magistrate of Nanjinmen.

Liu Jie was very young, only in his twenties. He was a newly appointed Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) and a member of the Baoguo Society, a reformist faction within the court. He was also a friend of Song Jin'ao.

Upon seeing Liu Jie, Feng Daye immediately said, "Magistrate Liu, you've come at the right time. You Chinese are causing trouble in our French Concession. According to international law, I can hold your court accountable. Now that you've driven them all away, I can pretend nothing happened."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jie looked at Feng Daye and said, "Consul Feng, I received a report that your Catholic church has abducted dozens of our children. This is against international law!"

"Slander! This is slander! Without any evidence, how dare you spout such nonsense?"

Feng Daye looked at Liu Jie and said, "You are an official of your court, and you must be responsible for your words."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jie looked at Feng Daye and said, "I'll take responsibility, but what if you really kidnapped our child? What will you do then?"

"Impossible! What would our noble France do with children from your inferior race? Magistrate Liu, are you implying doubt about France?"

Liu Jie said, "It's not a doubt; I want to take some people to your church to have a look."

Feng Daye said, "Impossible. This is a matter of diplomatic dignity for France."

……

The people outside started making a commotion. Song Jin'ao looked at Zheng Xuan and said, "You had Chunping do this? How did you know there were these children here?"

Zheng Xuan chuckled and said, "I don't know. I was actually gambling. If they didn't have it, we would let them create chaos and take advantage of the confusion. Now that they do, we can turn the tables on these foreigners."

Thinking of this, Zheng Xuan said to the children, "Children, your parents are outside. Go open the door, walk out, and you will be able to go home!"

Hearing this, the children exchanged glances, and then, led by the bolder child, they ran towards the gate.

"We want to go home!"

Just then, Magistrate Liu and Feng Daye were arguing heatedly outside when suddenly the church doors opened and more than thirty children rushed out.

Upon seeing these children, the children's parents and the general public outside were all thrown into chaos.

"Father, Mother~"

"Son, daughter"

……

Shouts rose from all sides, showing that human kindness still exists. At this moment, Feng Daye's face turned ashen as he looked at Andrei with disbelief. Meanwhile, Liu Jie, seeing this scene, said to Feng Daye, "Consul Feng, is this the place you were talking about where the Lord resides?"

"I will definitely report you to the imperial court."

As Magistrate Liu spoke, he immediately added, "I need to search the church now, please make way."

Upon hearing this, Feng Daye panicked. At this moment, Andrei leaned close to Feng Daye's ear and said, "We can't let them in. Just say these children are praying in the church. If they go in, it will be a big problem, and it will become a diplomatic incident."

Feng Daye looked at Andrei, who said, "Stay calm, it's not a big problem."

Feng Daye gritted his teeth and ordered his men to forcibly block the gate, preventing Liu Jie and his men from entering. Liu Jie was also extremely anxious at this time. The hundred-strong French army in front of him was heavily armed, and if these civilians tried to break through, they would likely suffer heavy casualties. But if he didn't go in, how could he rescue Song Jin'ao?

Liu Jie was caught in a dilemma. If he rushed into a mass incident, the consequences would be disastrous, and their Baoguo Society's arrangements in Tianjin would be completely ruined.

If we don't charge, we'll lose a great general like Song Jin'ao. We're truly in a dilemma.

Andrei then said to Feng Daye, "Let's stall for a bit. I'll take some men in and kill those two guys first."

As he spoke, he turned around and led twenty soldiers into the church. Now that Song Jin'ao was seriously injured and Li Jitong was unconscious, Zheng Xuan was facing twenty men alone, and they were probably going to be riddled with bullets.

Seeing this, Zheng Xuan gritted his teeth and said, "Uncle-Master Song, we can't stay here like this. Let's go down into the sewers."

Upon hearing this, Song Jin'ao could only nod, and then the two headed straight for the sewers!