Wen Xiang and Kuang Yuan entered the palace before dawn to report the military situation, Xianfeng, who finally fell asleep, was awakened from his dream, looking at the two reports collected by the military aircraft department at night, Xianfeng's eyes were dark, and he almost fainted.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, at this time of embarrassment, Your Majesty, you must take care of your dragon body!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Xianfeng sat down with the support of the little eunuch, and under the lamp that had just been lit, he read the report of "Patrol Luck Mulan" on Seng Lingqin, and hesitated for a while before looking up and saying: "The minister of the king, the minister of the imperial front, and the minister of the guard are in the meeting." ”

"Hey, the minion is going to pass it on." Wen Xiang hurriedly got up and cautiously exited the main hall.

"Kuang Aiqing, the proposed purpose, the Military Aircraft Department presented a letter from Monk Greenqin and Shengbao, I knew that the battle ahead was lost, the battalion retreated to the Bali Bridge, Shengbao has been seriously injured, and it is difficult to heal the situation. Zaiyuan, Mu Yin, and poor management, removed the ministers of the Qin Mission, and Gong Prince Yi? For the minister, act cheaply, and go to supervise the peace bureau with full powers. As soon as the Ming issued an edict, the monks Glinqin and Shengbao immediately announced that they would stop their troops and wait for peace. ”

Without waiting for Kuang Yuan to receive the order, Xianfeng thought about it and said a little unwillingly: "Prince Gong has not met with the Yi people, and he will send someone to discuss the appeasement, or Hengqi, or Lan Weiwen, and wait until Beijing to negotiate." Monk Greenqin, Shengbao, etc., should still be on standby to block their northern attacks, and must stop the fierce front to take care of the overall situation! ”

Since you can't suppress it, you can only caress it.

All this was already expected by Kuang Yuan, but thinking that the foreigners would not be so obedient, they would not "stop the army and wait for care", and then thought of the foreigner envoys who were arrested before, and couldn't help but remind: "Your Majesty, yesterday, several royal ministers, the former ministers of the Imperial Palace, and Jiao Youying, the young secretary of Guanglu Temple, etc., also asked for the death of the Yi chief Pa Xia Li......

Xianfeng suddenly remembered that there was such a thing, and suddenly remembered that he had ordered Pa Xia Li and others to be handed over to the Criminal Department, and hurriedly said: "Pa Xia Li's crime is extremely evil, and it should not be punished. But now the situation has not been completed, and he is temporarily detained, thinking that he has turned around. ”

"The minister obeys the order, and the minister will go to the will."

"Wait!"

A few days ago, Zai Heng, Mu Yin and others said that Pasha Li was the mastermind of Xiyi and was good at using soldiers. Seng Gelinqin and Shengbao took the opportunity to intercept head-on, and Hengfu will join Jiao Youying and others, take advantage of this prestige, inspire the group to be brave, intercept its back road, front and back, rush forward, and painstakingly, it is expected to wipe out the Xiyi who has repeatedly violated Shun with one drum.

Although Monk Greenqin has retreated from Zhangjiawan to the Tongzhou area in the past few days, he has not been defeated and retreated, but "killed many thieves" and "killed many thieves". Katsuho also vowed in the compromises that he would hold the road to the capital.

Yesterday afternoon, when Han Si led more than 600 troops to Tongzhou, he was worried that the people in Beijing would be uncertain, so he also issued 200,000 taels of internal money to reward the patrol soldiers who were blocking inside and outside. I didn't think that it was only one night, and the battle situation took a sharp turn, nearly 10,000 Eight Banners and Mongolian horse teams, and tens of thousands of infantry teams, not only failed to block Xiyi, but were defeated.

The more Xianfeng thought about it, the more unwilling he became, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Secret message to Jiao Youying, Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple, etc., please put Paxia Li to death with a fold, which is extreme, but it can still be delayed for a few days." Thou shalt handle it in a timely manner, but only to motivate the hearts of the people to contain it. Now there is only one end of the war, and there is no way to still protect it. If there is a military camp or other place to know, there is no scruples. The business is bound to be completed, and when it is expected to turn around in the future, it has its own Zhu pen to revise the edict as a basis, in order to wait for your ambition to be strong! ”

This side just ordered Prince Gong to handle the situation for the minister, and before the edict was prepared, he secretly told Jiao Mazi to "inspire the hearts of the people and contain the Yi", and even ordered Jiao Mazi not to care about whether the capital is a war or peace, and no matter what will be given to the army or other ministers next, as long as the militia can succeed, they can let go of their hands and feet to attack boldly.

If Jiao Mazi's future actions are inconsistent with the will of the imperial court, he can even hesitate to the sacredness of "Chrysostom and Jade Words", and then he can correct or even retract the previous decree!

It's right to fight the people, but it's too child's play to do this, not to mention that so many horse infantry can't beat the foreigners, relying on the little people recruited by Jiao Mazi and Zhang Zhiwan and others, who have just gone to Tianjin, can they pass the foreigners, and can they accept the miraculous effect of the foreigners not caring for each other?

Kuang Yuan thought he had heard it wrong, and he couldn't believe that it was true, but it could be seen that the emperor's face was so ugly, so he could only stubbornly say: "The minister obeys the order, and the minister will go to the draft." ”

……

As soon as Kuang Yuan left with his front foot, the big head guarding outside the hall heard a bang inside, and he didn't know what was dropped by the emperor who was angry.

Immediately afterwards, the emperor angrily scolded the monk Greenqin, scolded the monk Greenqin for being incompetent, and after scolding the monk Greenqin, he began to scold Gui Liang again, scolding Guiliang for being mad and making promises without authorization, not only disobeying the will. It is to lift the country and give it to it. He even wants to punish Gui Liangming canonically, in order to enforce discipline, and then drive his own expedition and fight to the death with Xiyi!

The big head was startled, and hurriedly mustered up the courage to probe and said: "Your Majesty, before my fourth brother left, it is not a trivial matter to say that the imperial driving is not a trivial matter, even if the emperor plans to drive the imperial expedition, you have to wait for him to come back." ”

"What do I want to do, it's his turn? I drove the expedition in person, and I still use his approval? ”

"Your Majesty, don't get me wrong, my fourth brother is worried about your safety in the emperor, you are driving in person, and he has to escort him! If you can trust me, give me a few hundred soldiers, and I will be the striker for the emperor! ”

When it came to escorting, Xianfeng quickly calmed down, and while motioning for him to enter the hall, he stared at him and asked, "Where has your fourth brother been here, he has been walking all night, is there a letter?" ”

"He didn't send someone to send a letter back, I guess I should go to Tongzhou at this time." The big head scratched his head, and said cautiously: "Tongzhou is not far away, I have been there several times, if you ride a fast horse, you can run two times a day." ”

"Tell him to come back quickly."

"I'm going to look for him and get him back."

"Whoever let you go, I let you pass the message."

"Then I'll go find Jixiang and let Jixiang call him back."

……

Just when Xianfeng made up his mind to "patrol Mulan" and waited for Han Xiufeng to lead his troops back to the Old Summer Palace to escort him, Han Xiufeng had led more than 600 soldiers to quietly touch a piece of farmland four or five miles away from Bali Bridge.

It was already dark, and through clairvoyance, you could clearly see the tents of the French army by the river. Yesterday's battle was fierce, and all the people in the vicinity could run, and the bushes that had been ignited by artillery fire in many places were still filled with light smoke, and even the smell of gunpowder filled the air.

"Fourth master, it should be the camp of the British army over there." Rong Lu said in a low voice.

Han Xiufeng followed the direction of his finger, adjusted the focus, searched for a while, and finally saw the banner of the British army, and could even vaguely see someone washing horses by the river.

Thinking about how long the British and French armies had just experienced a big battle, how long would they have to rest here before marching to the capital, Wang Hedong, who also had clairvoyance, said in a low voice: "Fourth master, this battle is not easy to fight, Yingyi has a horse team, and Fayi also has a horse team, let's quietly touch it, it is easy to kill them by surprise, but it is difficult to retreat with all their bodies, how can two legs not run four legs, and it will be outflanked by their horse team." ”

Rong Lu adjusted the focus, looked at the rows of cannons of foreigners through clairvoyance, and said solemnly: "Foreigners have cannons, but we don't have cannons." Even if the foreigners don't send a horse team to outflank us, we won't be able to get a good end. ”

"yes, it's not going to be easy." Han Xiufeng put down his clairvoyance and asked in a low voice, "Yongxiang, have you found any news about Seng Lingqin and Shengbao?" ”

"Fourth Master, I asked a few defeated soldiers, and they said that Shengbao seemed to have gone to Dingfuzhuang, and the news of Monk Greenqin was not found. Although they were defeated, they didn't dare to run too far, after all, there was the capital behind them, and if they ran too far, they would cower and lose their heads. ”

"Fourth Master, do you want to send a few scouts to investigate?" Rong Lu proposed.

"Forget it, let's just order people, we can't divide the troops anymore." Han Xiufeng weighed it for a while, and then said: "Yongxiang, you go to the back and let the brothers hide well, especially those brothers who have horses, you must explain to them clearly, and we must not expose our whereabouts." ”

"Huh!"

"Hedong, pick a few bold and careful scouts, go ahead and stare at the point, and see what the foreigners do next."

"Yes."

As soon as Yongxiang and Wang Hedong took the order, Rong Lu couldn't help but ask: "Fourth Master, can we wait here?" ”

"Fighting a war is like fishing, you can't be in a hurry. Let's wait here for a long time to see if there are any fighters, and if there are fighters, we will fight them, and if we don't find any fighters by noon, we will withdraw. ”

"Just going back?"

Han Xiufeng raised his clairvoyance again, and while observing the movements of the foreigners, he said helplessly: "If it's just a war, we don't need to hide here and wait for the fighters, we can go around behind them." We can't deal with their brigade, attack and harass their back road, and we are still somewhat sure of dealing with their baggage team, but we can't just patronize the war, but we have to think about the emperor's safety. ”

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

……

They waited in ambush in the field for nearly an hour.

It can be seen that the military discipline of the French army is much worse than that of the British army, and after they have breakfast, they actually sent a dozen small teams of men and horses, and let the people they hire to drive the cart to lead the way, and began to search the villages near the camp, and began to loot the property of the nearby people.

Seeing a group of French troops going to a village in the northwest, Han Xiufeng didn't want to wait any longer, and immediately turned around and said: "Hedong, let's fight this way, let Hedong take a hundred brothers to quickly go around and set up an ambush." ”

"Only a hundred brothers?"

"There are only a dozen foreign soldiers, and sending a hundred soldiers is enough." Han Xiufeng weighed it, took out the hand-drawn map in the morning, pointed to the map and explained: "Hedong, look carefully, Zhong Hua and I will lead the brigade to retreat westward, and when we withdraw here, Yongxiang and I will lead two hundred brothers to fortify on the spot, and you can't delay for a moment after you get it, hurry up and bring the brothers here to join us." ”

Yongxiang reacted and couldn't help asking: "If the foreigners hear the movement and send troops to chase them, we will catch them off guard here!" ”

"It's just a blockade here, and you must not fall in love with the war, and the foreigners' pursuers will be stunned and immediately retreat."

Thinking that there were still two hundred brothers who had no errands, Rong Lu pointed to the map and asked, "I will lead the remaining two hundred brothers to the west and conceal and fortify in this area?" ”

"That's what I mean, the two places are separated by five or six miles, and they will fight and retreat, if we are lucky enough to retreat, we will make a detour back to the Old Summer Palace from the west."

"Shengbao should be in the area of Dingfuzhuang, he should have a lot of soldiers under him, fourth master, why are we willing to go far?" Wang Hedong couldn't help but ask.

"They have already been defeated once, and at this time they must be panicked and all the grass and trees are soldiers, if they really retreat to the Dingfuzhuang area, not to mention whether they can retreat with their whole body, I am afraid that the situation will become even more out of control. At this time, none of us can count on ourselves, we can count on ourselves. ”

"What the fourth master said is that now you can only rely on yourself, everyone, the soldiers are fast, let's act separately!"

……

In order to ambush more than a dozen foreign soldiers, more than 600 soldiers who had been waiting for a long time suddenly took action.

Wang Hedong selected a hundred soldiers to quietly touch the village, Han Xiufeng and Rong Lu led a large group of men and horses to march westward, not daring to delay for a moment, but they didn't expect to run out of three or four miles, and vaguely heard gunshots behind them.

Han Xiufeng didn't dare to act according to the previous plan, so he quickly turned over and dismounted: "Zhonghua, you guys hurry up and go to the west to fortify." Yongxiang, let's wait here for Hedong! ”

"Huh!"

With Han Xiufeng's order, more than 200 brothers hurriedly looked for favorable terrain to ambush, and just set up their positions and filled the gunpowder and lead, the gunfire in the east suddenly stopped.

It was very close to the barracks of the British and French armies, less than three miles.

Thinking that there was no movement after only half a burn of incense was fought over there, and he didn't hear the sound of cannons, Han Xiufeng plucked the cold in his heart, and directly thought that Wang Hedong and the others not only succeeded, but were probably defeated by more than a dozen foreign soldiers.

While they were anxiously waiting, there was a sound of horses' hooves in the east, and a brother from the river camp came galloping on a fast horse.

Yongxiang got up, greeted him and asked eagerly: "What's the matter, have you succeeded, what about your Wang Dusi?" ”

"Master Yu Yongxiang, Master Wang and the brothers are behind, Master Wang is fine, the brothers are fine, only one brother was slightly injured."

"That's right?"

"I ran five, knocked down six on the spot, one didn't die, Master Wang didn't dare to fight, no matter whether he was alive or dead, he brought it all back, let the little one come to report first."

Yongxiang felt a little incredible, and asked suspiciously: "The foreigners didn't send reinforcements, didn't send troops to chase?" ”

Without waiting for the soldiers who rushed to report the news first, Han Xiufeng got up and walked over with a smile: "The foreign soldiers in the big battalion only heard the sound of gunshots, and nine times out of ten they thought that their people had put the guns, so they didn't send troops." ”

"Fourth Master, Master Wang also estimated so."

"I didn't send reinforcements just now, I didn't promise that I wouldn't send them later, and when those fish that slipped through the net ran back, the foreigners' horse team should be dispatched. Brothers, hurry up and prepare, and as soon as Wang Dusi and the brothers who won the first battle arrive, we will withdraw! ”

"Do you hear it, cheer up the master, if the foreigner's horse team really chases after him, aim for the master, and fight to the death!"