There are always rumors in the war, some of which seem to be fantastical, but there are always people who believe it, for example, the British soldiers have now heard the story that the main force of the Anglo-French army was involved in the battle against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Shanghai. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The Heavenly Kingdom of Balance has always been a mysterious existence in the British and French forces, and it can attract everyone's attention, because this Heavenly Kingdom claims to believe in God, and the military priest said that this is a cult, and their leader claims to be the second son of God, the second brother of Jesus, of course.

Even God's second son dares to say that it is not strange that something strange happens to this kind of character, and some people say that when the British and French allied forces were staying in Shanghai to recuperate, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attacked them, and hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded the allied army, and the battle is not over yet, and some people even say that the British commander Grant and the plenipotentiary minister Ergin were killed.

Although no one believed that Ergin was killed, they subconsciously believed that the Anglo-French army was indeed in trouble in Shanghai, that is, they could not expect reinforcements for the time being.

At the same time, the Chinese launched a total of five or six city gates, and the shadow of Chinese Xiangyong appeared outside the city gates, attacking the old city head-on during the day, sneaking to the south to release rockets at night, and there was no peace for a moment.

On the third day the Chinese finally entered the city, not through any well-guarded gate, but from a corner of the city wall. In the northeast corner of the city is a building, which is the Chinese tribute courtyard, from which the Chinese dug a tunnel to the city wall, buried a lot of gunpowder, blew up the city wall, and hundreds of Chinese rushed into the south city overnight.

Draw a line from the small east gate to the small south gate, and the entire northeast corner area is occupied by the Chinese. The Indian soldiers launched several counteroffensives, but after they fired a few shots, they did not kill a few Chinese hiding behind the building, and the other side retreated after a slight counterattack, and the officers could not stop it at all.

This battle can't be fought.

Not a single day failed to drive the Chinese out of the city, the British knew that the night was completely Chinese time, and the ghosts did not know where they would attack, except for the front, they would appear from any place that the British could not think of, and let go of cold guns and arrows, not at all honorable.

After so many days of fighting, they were quite tired, the Indian soldiers complained many times, the French soldiers refused to support, the coolies shouted all day long for money and smoke, the news outside the city was cut off, there was not even a shadow of a ship on the river, everything was so gloomy, the British officers' endurance had reached the limit, and they even began to believe that the main force of the coalition army was in trouble in Shanghai, otherwise why didn't they come to support, Mr. Ergin, General Grant, don't they know that the city of Guangzhou is in danger, Or have they abandoned Canton, and if this is the case, then God has abandoned them.

"Mr. Hurd, this battle can't go on."

Zhu Jinglun appeared appropriately and began to complain to Hurd.

Hurd's face has been swollen, but he has a hideous scar on his cheek, and he has a lame leg, so he will never want to win the favor of a woman in his life.

"Mr. Zhu, don't worry, our reinforcements will come back at any time."

After many blows, Hurd was still able to work calmly, and the psychological quality of this person was extraordinary.

Zhu Jinglun sighed: "But I heard that the main force of the coalition army is trapped in Shanghai, and some people say that Mr. Erjin has been trapped, well, I know this must be a rumor, but if they are entangled in Shanghai, when will they come to rescue us?" How many days, ten days, or twenty days can we hold out? ”

Hurd said: "The news of the main force of the coalition in Shanghai is also uncertain. Even so, we still have more than three months of stock, and the ammunition reserves are sufficient, and we will definitely be able to hold out until the reinforcements arrive. ”

The British army has always had abundant material reserves, so they established a supply line from India and South Africa to China, and built storage facilities along the way.

Zhu Jinglun sighed: "But they won't give us a few months." They had countless armies, tens of thousands of troops, and were not at all afraid of casualties. But we are only a thousand people, and the city is not at peace. Today I heard that a coolie killed an officer and fled, just to rob him of the money. If this continues, there is no telling how many attacks will break out in the city, after all, the people do not have three months' food in their homes. ”

The war has been fought so far, the law and order in the city has indeed collapsed, the common people are the worst, these people who have not left Guangzhou are helpless, there is nowhere to live in the people, they are all poor, usually do not have the habit and ability to store grain, after the battle started, the price of grain is getting higher and higher day by day, so the grain shop is still limited to supply every day, can not be open for sale. The coolies attacked the foreigners, and the common people also waited for the opportunity to rob, and they really couldn't survive.

These circumstances made Zhu Jinglun feel a little guilty, so he came to persuade Hurd in advance, originally according to his idea, he had to wait for the villagers to achieve a decisive victory, and then press the British army to surrender with real strength, which could boost the hearts of the people in Guangzhou to the greatest extent, but for the sake of the people's hearts, the people were lost, and the gains outweighed the losses.

So he came to persuade Hurd in advance, hoping to persuade the British army to compromise through Hurd, even in exchange for a conditional surrender, which was not unacceptable.

"Do you think we should surrender now?"

Hurd asked seriously.

Zhu Jinglun regretted: "I don't think there's any need to persevere, if the other party can treat us decently, maybe surrender is not an issue that can't be considered." ”

Hurd fell into a long silence, Zhu Jinglun saw that the British army could not hold on, how could he not know, if the Chinese continued to attack like this, they really could not hold on, the Indian soldiers' will to fight has reached the verge of collapse, this point he knows better than anyone else, coolies are now not only unreliable, but also have to use more than a hundred Indian soldiers every day to watch, to prevent them from rebelling, the five city gates they guard are full of war, the enemy has already attacked the city, how to fight this battle?

Their professional officers also expressed pessimism, believing that they would hold out for a maximum of ten days, and that they would be wiped out without reinforcements within ten days.

When there is no hope for resistance, surrender is not necessarily an option, but can the Chinese give them decency?

Hurd smiled bitterly: "What do you think the Chinese will do to us, they have repeatedly mentioned the last war, and they have never said that they will treat us like the French." ”

Zhu Jinglun sighed: "I'm just saying, maybe we can talk, it's okay to delay time." ”

Seeing Zhu Jinglun's pessimistic demeanor, Hurd was also affected, and it was really good to be able to delay time.

Suddenly Hurd showed a resolute expression: "Mr. Zhu, are you willing to negotiate with the Chinese with me, if you are a Chinese, maybe it will be easier to reach an agreement." I mean, maybe we can talk to Chinese officials privately, and we can come up with a sum of money. ”

Zhu Jinglun was stunned: "You mean to bribe them?" ”

This is so strange, what a deep impression the British were impressed by the Chinese's greedy impression, what is this trouble, is there a war, bribery can get preferential treatment? Zhu Jinglun couldn't help but be frustrated, isn't this the case, in the Tianjin Treaty signed with the French, the French even explicitly wrote down the words "must not ask for the shipowner and the agent businessman" and other words, the impression of corruption among the Chinese is really deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Zhu Jinglun sighed in his heart, and on the surface, he could only echo: "This is a good idea." ”

This night was indeed full of smoke, scattered Chinese soldiers came and went freely from unknown alleys, of course, the record was not conspicuous, only three Indian soldiers were killed in a sneak attack during the night, but the panic created made the British soldiers unable to sleep, they had been fighting for several days, they were too tired.

The next day, Hurd sent people to meet with Chinese officials under a white flag for negotiations.

The other side agreed, and the two sides temporarily ceased fire.

Mr. Hurd, the negotiator, and Mr. Zhu as the secretary, spent a day talking with a group of Chinese officials at the Baoguo Temple.

Hurd proposed that the British army could abandon the city of Guangzhou and return the defense area to the Qing army to take over the defense, but he did not admit defeat, he believed that this battle was a senseless battle, the two sides had signed a treaty, and this battle was completely meaningless, so Hurd said that the defense was changed rather than surrendered.

But this time, the Chinese officials were rarely tough, insisting that the British surrender, hand over all weapons, and wait for the Qing government to deal with it.

Hurd relented and demanded the treatment of the French, they were willing to leave Canton with their weapons and find a suitable place outside the city to camp temporarily, but the Qing officials did not agree, insisting that the British had been defeated and surrendered honestly, and they promised not to harm the lives of the British soldiers.

The two sides argued for a day without results.

At night, according to Hurd's instructions, Zhu Jinglun began to contact Qing officials privately.

Of course, Zhu Jinglun was the first to go to Bai Gui, and other officials would not pay attention to him, so he might roll his eyes and scold a traitor.

Bai Gui was restless, he was afraid that Huang Zonghan would agree to let the British leave, so that the battle would be fought in vain, and if he didn't capture a group of prisoners, how could he prove Bai Gui's role.

"Don't be impatient, the villain has a dangerous plan, I don't know if the adult dares to make a risk!"

When Zhu Jinglun's plan was finished, Bai Gui's face turned red, the danger was indeed dangerous, it was dangerous for anyone to see, but for Bai Gui, he was not too worried, and even said that it was a clever plan.

After returning to Nancheng, Zhu told Hurd about his negotiations with Chinese officials, and Hurd hesitated.

"Mr. Hurd, what you are afraid of is nothing more than that the Qing officials are not trustworthy and will harm the British soldiers. They are willing to send a senior member with us, which is actually considered a hostage, and I think that shows their sincerity. I think that's their final bottom line! What do you think? ”