Fighting a war is sometimes really a matter of luck!

I don't know if the foreign soldiers who fled back exaggerated the strength of the Chinese army, or whether the French generals heard from the dense gunfire before that this Chinese army was not the same as the previous encounter, and was worried that they would rashly send cavalry out of the battle to ambush the meeting, so they actually summoned more than 1,000 infantry to cover the artillery and slowly approached, and as soon as they entered the firing range, they ordered the artillery to take a stand and bombard the empty village. Only then did the infantry send a frontal assault and the cavalry to outflank them.

Just when they occupied the village with great fanfare, Han Xiufeng, together with Wang Hedong and other soldiers who had just caught up with the brigade, took the corpses of five French soldiers, and escorted a French soldier who had been shot in the leg a few times, and withdrew to a small river more than ten miles away from the battlefield.

Six hundred people fought a French squad of more than a dozen people, not only did the family escape several times, but even ran so embarrassed as if they had lost the battle, but everyone was still very happy and excited. After all, this is similar to pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth, not to mention that he injured a brother on his side.

Han Xiufeng knew that if he angered the foreigners, the foreigners would definitely retaliate, and he might even mention attacking the capital. Thinking of the emperor's situation, he didn't dare to delay for a moment, and after meeting with Rong Lu, he rushed to the Old Summer Palace non-stop.

When I returned to the Old Summer Palace in a big circle, the sun had set, and I saw that the palace gate was full of carts, and the eunuchs of the inner court and the coats of the Internal Affairs Office were under the command of Bao Jun and Wen Feng, the ministers of the Internal Affairs Bureau, and others to move the emperor's patrol from the Old Summer Palace to the car.

Han Xiufeng was exhausted, and as soon as he turned over and dismounted, Bao Jun came up and said: "My brother Han, you are finally back, in order to summon you back to escort you, the old man has sent several groups of people to Tongzhou!" ”

"The next official is late, please forgive me!"

"It's good if you can rush back, hurry up and let the brothers prepare, the car is all ready, the emperor, the queen, the concubine and the little prince will come out immediately."

"The emperor plans to visit Mulan?"

Mentioning this, Baojun hurriedly pulled Han Xiufeng aside and said with a bitter face: "Because of this incident, there has been a whole day of trouble in the court. Zhou Zupei and others said that the emperor wanted to command the six divisions to crusade against the British and French, which shows that the emperor Shengming has the intention of appeasing the world, but now Tongzhou is not the former Northern Song Dynasty, and the imperial court does not have a virtuous appearance like Kou Zhun. ”

"The Imperial Driver?" Han Xiufeng asked subconsciously.

Bao Jun looked back behind him, and then leaned into his ear and said: "That's what I said, and I can only say that this is the case, the emperor asked them to circulate the excerpt of the monk Lingqin to ask for 'Patrol Mulan 'Lucky Mulan', but they blew up the pot, and they wept bitterly one by one, and asked the emperor not to go out on patrol." ”

"But you can't ignore the emperor's safety!"

"They have their reasoning, saying that the city walls of the capital are tall and strong, there is a moat outside, and there are elite soldiers inside, if the capital is not enough to resist the two British and Buddha, then the Pingchuan and the wilderness around the Rehe River are even more defenseless. It is also said that since Xiyi can fight Tianjin from the sea and force the Beijing division from Tianjin, it is not difficult to further pursue Rehe. Baojun paused, and said with a bitter face: "It is also said that once the emperor leaves Beijing, people's hearts will be scattered." ”

Han Xiufeng asked, "What did the princes say?" ”

"Not only Zhou Zupei, Pan Zuyin, Wen Xiang, Xu Qiguang and others begged the emperor not to go on patrol, but even asked the emperor disrespectfully, if he abandoned Beijing and ran away, how could he show his ancestors and his subordinates. Even the princes such as Wang Yixun of Alcohol County, Prince Yi of Xuan, and Prince Gong Yi Xun all hugged the emperor's leg and wept bitterly, and persuaded hard. ”

"What did the emperor say?"

"The emperor naturally doesn't want to go on patrol, but what better way can there be if he doesn't patrol now? So he asked the prince of Shidu, if he didn't take the Rehe River, if the Yi people entered Beijing, what should they do. The prince also had no good plan, and even said that if something happened, he would die. Baojun looked around, and whispered in his ear: "I heard that Concubine Yi also advised the emperor not to avoid Rehe, but was reprimanded by the emperor. ”

"So the emperor has made up his mind to go on patrol?"

"I made up my mind, not only ordered us to prepare quickly, but also ordered the soldiers of Jilin and Heilongjiang who had been transferred before, if they had entered Shanhaiguan, that is, to be the commander of Rehe, and quickly informed the officers with them, and ordered them to go to Rehe to escort them, and did not need to go to Tongzhou again. As for the Rehe Palace and all the supplies, the Rehe Metropolitan Chunyou is the head of the palace and the magistrate, and they are properly prepared. ”

"What about Kyosato?"

"Order Prince Gong and Wen Xiang and others to stay behind, and order them to act cheaply and handle the situation with full authority."

As he spoke, a hundred and ten guards poured out of the palace gate.

Han Xiufeng realized that the emperor had come out, and hurriedly followed Baojun and Wenfeng to meet him.

As a result, the emperor did not come out, but sat on a dozen eunuchs carrying the steps, Prince Zheng Duanhua, Prince Yi Zaiyuan, Hubu Shangshu Sushun and other ministers of the guard and several imperial ministers escorted on both sides of the step.

Han Xiufeng hurriedly said: "Han Xiufeng, the minister and servant of the temple, respectfully invite Sheng'an!" ”

As a last resort, Xianfeng will never abandon the country and the society to avoid the hot river, and he is in a trance for being ashamed of his ancestors and ancestors, and when he saw Han Xiufeng kneeling by the palace gate, he thought he had seen it wrong, and he leaned over for a while before leaning over and asked, "Aiqing is back?" ”

"The minister's escort is late, and the minister's crime deserves death!"

"All back?"

"Your Majesty, the six hundred and thirty-two people of Heying and Nanyuan Majiamen are all back."

Xianfeng relieved himself, looked up at the river battalion soldiers guarding in the distance, and asked, "Aiqing met the Yi people and started a war with the Yi people?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the ministers rushed to the Bali Bridge five or six miles, did not see the monk and the Shengbao lord, only encountered a large number of scattered routs, saw that the brigade of soldiers was attacking the Beijing division, did not dare to let it go straight to the capital, so they immediately decided to open the formation to intercept. After nearly two hours of fierce fighting, seventy or eighty soldiers were killed and wounded, and one soldier was captured! ”

Finally hearing a good news, Xianfeng couldn't help asking: "Where are the captured soldiers?" ”

Han Xiufeng knew that even if he avoided Rehe, he needed morale, so he immediately got up and turned around: "Ronglu, Yongxiang, and Wang Hedong obeyed the order, escorted the captured Yi soldiers over, and brought over the corpses of the captured Yi soldiers!" ”

"Slaves obey!"

With Han Xiufeng's order, Rong Lu led people to escort the living Yi soldiers over, and the corpses of the dead Yi soldiers were also carried over, and there were only six foreign guns seized, but they were spread out, and there were more than 40 foreign guns neatly arranged. Anyway, they are all foreign guns, and no one can tell which ones were captured and which ones belonged to the officers and men of the river battalion.

I didn't feel like I didn't show these gains, but this light, including Su Shun and the others, was suddenly taken aback. After all, all I saw before was a report, and I only knew that "many people were killed and injured", "many people were killed and injured again", how could I be shocked by what I saw with my own eyes.

It is said that if you live, you must see people, and when you die, you must see corpses.

Several corpses of Yi soldiers were placed in front of him, and Xianfeng's extremely aggrieved mood suddenly improved a lot, and he choked up with tears and said, "Okay, this battle is good!" Reward Han Xiufeng, the second rank of the Taifu Temple, and add the rank of squire of the military department! One should kill the thief and have a meritorious soldier, and he will be able to play a fold! ”

"Thank you for the emperor's favor!" As soon as Han Xiufeng's words fell, he was about to kneel down to thank him, when he saw Prince Gong walk out, and pointed at him and asked, "Lord Han, since you are waiting for the flag to win, why don't you take advantage of the victory to pursue and repel Xiyi in one go?" ”

Han Xiufeng secretly wondered if you were stupid, there were only 600 soldiers under the labor and management forces, and the Xiyi army was tens of thousands, not only with artillery but also with a horse team, even if the labor and management fought all the soldiers, they would not be able to repel the British and French armies, not to mention that they had to rush back to escort the car, and they didn't know how to justify, so Su Shun came out and bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Han Xiufeng came back just in time, and the servants asked Han Xiufeng to lead the Heying and Nanyuan soldiers to accompany him." ”

"That's right."

To the surprise of Xianfeng and Su Shun, Han Xiufeng actually bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has the courage to ask the Nanyuan Majiamen army led by Dao Ronglu, the alternate of Zhili, to escort him, and the soldiers of the river battalion will rest here for half a day first, and then set off after the holy car is fifty or sixty miles out of Beijing." ”

Xianfeng was stunned, thinking that Baojun had said before that Han Si planned to lead the troops to the palace, and then thinking that the soldiers of Heying had not only fought with foreigners, but also traveled hundreds of miles back and forth in a day and a night, and indeed needed to rest before he could fight again, so he agreed: "Quasi-play." ”

Thinking that Han Si had just said that the foreigners were attacking the capital, Su Shun was worried that the night would be long and dreamy, so he hurriedly bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, it's not early, it's time to drive." ”

"Get up," Xianfeng nodded slightly, thought about it and explained: "Baojun, take another 10,000 taels from the inner money, and hand it over to the Taifu Siqing to reward the meritorious soldiers." ”

"Slaves obey!"

……

The emperor said to leave, and under the escort of Su Shun and others, he left with hundreds of carts.

Prince Gong? The princes and ministers who were ordered to stay in the capital to handle the Fu Bureau, such as Wang Yiyun of the alcohol county, Prince Yi and Wen Xiang, were in tears, like mourning, and wanted to keep but didn't dare to keep it, and wanted to follow but didn't dare to go like this.

Han Xiufeng could understand their feelings at this moment, and even sympathized with their situation, after all, no one knew what the foreigners would do to them next, until he saw the last big car left, he took a deep breath and walked in front of everyone, bowed first, and then said respectfully: "Lord Wang, the emperor's order is here, Xiufeng has to lead the troops to set off early in the morning at the latest." ”

"Let's go, let's go if you can and want to go, this king is the prince of the Qing Dynasty, even if he dies, he will die in the capital!"

The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he became, and he couldn't help scolding: "The surname Han, don't pretend to be a good person, and don't think about my sixth brother to pull out the silver, the emperor will take away everything he can take, what do we want!" ”

"The prince misunderstood, the lower official didn't care that the sixth master wanted to open the silver, but wanted to recommend someone to the sixth master."

"Who?" Prince Gong asked subconsciously.

"English missionary Baoer," Han Xiufeng glanced at Wen Xiang who was standing behind them, and said meaningfully: "The prince has full authority to handle the situation, and there can't be no one around him who can talk to the Yi chief, Bao Er not only can talk to the Yi chiefs of the two countries, but also knows Lord Wen, and the lower officials think he is the most suitable person." ”

Prince Gong was most worried that he couldn't talk to the foreigners, so he couldn't help asking, "Where is that Xiyi missionary?" ”

"Lord Wang, the lower official has ordered Nanyuan Langzhong Wang Qianli to send Bao Er to the Chongqing Guild Hall."

"It's rare that Lord Han can think of this, this favor has been recorded by the king."

"The prince is serious, this is a matter of the lower officials. Xiaguan Ming'er had to lead the troops to set off early in the morning, but the soldiers were sleepy after a day of running, so Xiaguan took them to rest first. ”

"Let's get busy."

"The lower officials retire, take care of the prince, take care of your lords." Han Xiufeng really sympathized with their situation, and gave them a salute again in his official uniform.