The Eight-Nation Coalition has set up a special commander-in-chief to direct the operations of the entire coalition forces.

However, the military strength of the coalition countries was uneven, so they had to take turns in power.

These people all follow the natural law of the strong and the strong, so no one listens to the weak when they speak.

As a result, only a few powerful army commanders can actually assume the position of commander-in-chief.

There is another argument here, in terms of the number of people and the number of ships, no one is as many as the Dongying Island country, and it should also be one of the candidates for commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.

However, their country itself has been destroyed by the Heavenly Army, so no matter how many people there are, they are only stragglers, so they are excluded from the selection of the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.

In fact, it is not a few people who choose one, but several people with similar strength take turns to govern, which is also because no one has an absolute advantage.

These are Germany, the United States, Russia, and England, and the other four are on the sidelines.

Whenever they are on duty, in addition to continuing to be in charge of their own national coalition forces, they also serve as the commanders of the eight-nation coalition forces, responsible for coordinating the affairs of the entire coalition forces and coordinating everyone's actions.

Their mission was to rescue the Manchu emperors, and of course they would not stay at Dongting Lake for long.

According to their intelligence, they already knew that the emperor was besieged in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, and they had to wait for the next news, and then they would break the blockade of the heavenly army and kill there to save people.

Therefore, they were stranded in Dongting Lake, ostensibly because of the blockage of Peter's fleet, but the real reason was that they were not really big.

They will not pay attention to the fleets that have been crippled by them along the way, and Peter's fleet, although slightly stronger in combat, cannot stop them from saving people.

In the current situation, although both sides are fighting with a lot of artillery, they are actually not going all out.

are waiting for the opportunity, the time to fight, before they really move, to give the other party a fatal blow.

At this moment, Gu Duta, the commander-in-chief of the German fleet on duty as the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance, received a secret letter, saying that today was a good opportunity for them to go to Changsha and pick up Emperor Xianfeng.

At the same time, Peter also received a notice from McCor to let those fleets enter the Xiangjiang River, from where they could sail directly to Changsha City.

Mai Ke gave him a series of instructions, including letting them into the Xiangjiang River and returning to Dongting Lake after picking them up.

The intermediate process can be intercepted and interfered with, but it is necessary to ensure that they are released and let them succeed!

But once they return to Dongting Lake, it will be their place of death, and they will not be allowed to escape by one person or one boat!

In other words, Peter's task is to make all preparations in Dongting Lake during the process of picking up people from the Eight-Nation Alliance, and once they have rescued people, send them to the grave!

After receiving the secret letter, Gudu Tower immediately called several commanders-in-chief of the coalition forces who were not on duty today to discuss how to arrange the troops.

In fact, they had already said this, because the purpose of their coming was to save the Manchu Emperor, and then divide up half of China according to the agreement, no matter whether there was a risk or not, and no matter how big the risk was, they must go to complete the task.

After a few words, they agreed to agree, and then called over the rest of the leaders who were not members of the Commander-in-Chief of the coalition forces.

After a little explanation to everyone, Gudu Tower ordered: "The three fleets of the United States, England, and Russia, follow me to Changsha to rescue the Manchu Emperor! Yamamoto Thirty-six Monarchs of Dongying Island Country, you lead your subordinates, as well as the fleets of Italy and Austria-Hungary, to reopen the entrance to the Xiangjiang River, and when our rescue fleet passes, we will firmly guard the entrance and not let the ships of the Heavenly Army enter! Then keep it and wait for us to come back, and there will be no loss!"

Yamamoto Thirty-six was not convinced, the commander-in-chief on duty could not take his turn, and he was not given this good thing that he could get more rewards for rescuing the emperor, but he did the work of opening the road and guarding the exit of the Xiangjiang River, which must have suffered heavy casualties!

He wanted to refuse angrily, but when he saw the commander-in-chief on duty looking at him like a wolf, he didn't dare to squeak!

He is already homeless, and if he makes enemies with these allies again, where will he go?

He also hoped to get his share of the land that the Manchu emperor had promised, and then establish a base area.

So, he didn't say anything, just "Hai" and accepted the assigned task.

Gudu Tower shouted: "All of them! Act now!"

Yamamoto Thirty-six led his pirate team, about 200 or so ships of various types, rushed to the Xiangjiang River's waterway to Changsha.

It was originally a key defense area for the Celestial Fleet, and the Wenfu Fleet was in charge of it, but after receiving Mai Ke's order today, it immediately made adjustments, and got two of the previously damaged ships to block them, and the other capital ships were placed away from the mouth of the river.

As a matter of fact, the ships of the Eight-Nation Coalition have not been fighting in a real way for some time, and they have deliberately hidden their strength, but today they are firing at full power.

With little effort, the two dilapidated ships were bruised by concentrated artillery fire, then exploded and soon sank without a trace.

When the other ships saw that they were defeated, they fled one after another, giving way to the Jiangkou Fortress.

Yamamoto Thirty-six was in high spirits, opened and closed widely, commanded his fleet, and quickly occupied both sides of the Xiangjiang estuary, firmly rooted there, and escorted those fleets that saved people.

Seeing that the waterway was wide open, the ancient capital tower shouted and ordered: "Enter the Xiangjiang River and move forward at full speed!"

About 200 state-of-the-art warships drove into the Xiangjiang River together, and then it was high-speed driving.

It has to be said that such an arrangement of the Gudu Tower is the most reasonable, because these warships are equipped with the latest steam boilers, and they burn the highest quality coal, and the speed is up to three stone knots per hour, that is, about fifty kilometers.

This speed is exactly the distance from Dongting Lake to Changsha!

If it goes well, it will only take two hours to go back and forth, which is in line with their combat policy of quick battles and quick solutions, so as to avoid delays on the road and long nights and dreams.

And if the backward ships of the Dongying Island country are allowed to go, the speed is only half of that of these advanced ships, not to mention the great delay, and it is very likely to delay things.

Not to mention, if a war is fought in an inland river like the Xiangjiang River, the slow speed will greatly reduce their mobility, and once the fight starts, it is likely to block the route of those speedboats.

At this time, the people in Changsha had already been prepared.

Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan, Liuye and Mai Ke met, put forward their arrangements, and asked Mai Ke to let him go and cooperate.

McCor was also surprised when he heard this, and tried to dissuade them from going to such extremes, and promised that if they surrendered, he promised them that they could live out their old age in peace.

However, the three of them had made up their minds and would never change, so McKe had no choice but to agree.