On the fifth day of Emperor Xianfeng's leading the Eight Banners army to set up a large camp in this Tong County, the main force of the British and French coalition arrived late near Tong County, for no other reason, the foreigners moved down from the ship mainly guns and ammunition, and even cavalry horses. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

As for the grain and straw, the British and French troops also brought some, but it was not enough for the army to eat for three days, and for the British and French troops, grain and grass were always collected from the vicinity of the battlefield -- for the invaders, there was grain and grass where there were people in the enemy's country, and it would be better to grab some large cattle carts, anyway, in the end, the cattle could be killed, and the meat carts could be used to burn firewood, and there was no waste at all.

In the past few days, the British and French troops have been busy robbing villages and breaking the fence along the way, and have provided nearly 30,000 British and French troops with enough grain and grass for several days and a lot of goods.

During this period, many soldiers of the Anglo-French alliance saw the Qing people for the first time, and they did not understand that men wore braids - in fact, the Qing people did not understand that the British and French troops were all men wearing red clothes - wasn't that the color used by the little lady to get married, not to mention that the British soldiers and men still wore skirts.

The cavalry sentry learned of the movements of the British and French forces, and Xianfeng naturally would not guard the Tongxian camp, and there was nothing to defend here. Instead, they gathered their troops and horses and marched eastward, and the more than 200,000 troops of the Eight Banners soon surrounded the British and French coalition forces, which were close to the main force of 30,000 foreign soldiers.

The two commanders-in-chief of the British and French invaders, Gro and Ergin, were also old in battle, and they were surrounded by several times the indigenous army without fear, but commanded their foreign soldiers to set up a hollow phalanx, fighting each other.

When Emperor Xianfeng and others saw the magnificent hollow phalanx of the British and French alliance with a telescope from a high place, Emperor Xianfeng asked the ministers around him: "Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think?" ”

Monk Greenqin replied first: "Your Majesty, the enemy has just set up a phalanx, and the minions will lead the Mongolian sons and daughters to rush and kill first, break the phalanx of the foreigners, and then attack by the army." ”

Yu Deqian, who received real-time guidance from Song Haiping and Lin Haiyang on the spot, hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, no. This formation is a hollow phalanx of foreigners, with musketeers outside and bayonet formations, and cavalry artillery inside. ”

Monk Lingqin said angrily: "What are you talking about......"

Emperor Xianfeng interrupted Monk Greenqin and asked Yu Deqian: "Yu Qingjia, then you say, how can this hollow phalanx be broken?" ”

Yu Deqian said word by word according to Song Haiping and Lin Haiyang's instructions: "Your Majesty, if this formation is attacked on one side, it will be beaten on three sides. Attacking from both sides, the enemy can use cavalry artillery to rely on them separately. If you attack from three sides, you can save one of the enemy's musketeers. If you want to break this hollow phalanx, you have to attack from all sides.

Fortunately, the power and range of our Oriental muskets and artillery are all surpassing those of foreign guns and cannons. If it is attacked from eight sides, the foreign soldiers will inevitably be unable to maintain this formation, and they will inevitably choose one way to break through or attack. In my opinion, seven or eight out of ten foreign soldiers should break through head-on in order to fight a decisive battle, and it is better to leave the strongest soldiers on the front, and the other seven sides will be attacked by each department separately. ”

At this time, there was a burst of music blowing and blowing in front of the British and French forces, and Xianfengxin said: Sure enough, as the Japanese envoy said, these foreigners are all fighting with bands, but I can't let foreigners look down on them.

Xianfeng shouted first: "Tell the class leaders to play music." ”

Cheng Changgeng stepped forward and asked, "I don't know which song Long Live Lord ordered?" ”

Xianfeng didn't want to think about it and said, "Dingjun Mountain." ”

More than 100 musicians from several opera troupes invited by Sijiucheng began to perform as ordered. In the sound of passionate classical music, Emperor Xianfeng sent a decree: "Monk Greenqin, Saishan'a, you two take the Mongolian military flag to use muskets and artillery to encircle the foreign soldiers to the west, Wen Xiang, lead the Han army flag to use muskets and artillery to encircle the foreign soldiers to the south, Sushun collar inlaid with the blue flag to encircle the foreign soldiers with muskets and artillery to the north, Shu Xing'a, the blue flag to use muskets and artillery to surround the foreign soldiers to the southwest. Kuilin, you bring a white flag and use muskets and artillery to surround the northwest side of the foreign soldiers. Wen Qing, you bring a red flag and use guns to surround the southeast of the foreign soldiers......"

I brought three flags and surrounded the foreign soldiers to the east. Ji Zhichang and Du Han took the people of the capital to divide the east and west as backup, and if they couldn't support it, they would bring the people to help. If this foreign soldier does not come, this national war will inevitably advance without retreat, and I will be invincible. ”

The ministers knelt down and sang: "The ministers lead the decree, there is no advance or retreat, and I am invincible!" ”

Seeing the Qing army's change in formation, they faintly surrounded the two hollow phalanxes of foreign soldiers. The commanders-in-chief of the coalition forces, Gro and Ergin, laughed in front of their subordinates: "This group of natives, don't you know that our hollow phalanx can attack and defend. This allows them to have a good taste of the power of foreign guns and cannons. ”

The British and French forces had just begun to test the artillery and fire, and the artillery positions of the Qing troops in all directions were also set up, and they fired at the hollow phalanx of the foreign soldiers. The total number of artillery pieces transported by the British and French troops from the ships was 530, and the Qing army's eight artillery positions had a total of 1,200 guns, which was twice that of the British and French forces, and the firing range was only surpassed.

Under the cover of artillery, the Qing troops on all sides stepped forward one after another, and after entering the effective firing range of about 800 meters with their guns, they began to use tricycles as the base to bombard the hollow phalanx of foreign soldiers with oriental guns.

At this time, although the British and French forces were hot, they also changed to rear-loading rifled muskets, which could have an effective firing range of no more than 600 meters. Eight hundred meters away, don't talk about aiming, even if the bullet flies to this distance, the lethality is not enough to penetrate the thick cotton jacket worn by ordinary people.

The cannonballs could hit the musketeers of the Qing army, but it was obvious that the number of artillery of the Qing army was larger, and the shells falling from all directions smashed the hollow phalanx into bloody openings from time to time.

Ergin, the commander-in-chief of the British army in the hollow phalanx, thought to himself, I don't know where this Qing army got so many guns, it is even more sophisticated than our guns in Britain and France, and now our army and French muskets cannot be powerful, if they continue to be consumed, it will be very disadvantageous to us, and twenty or thirty thousand people will not be replaced by this natives in half a day. Now, no matter what, you have to get back to the first hand.

Ergin asked the herald to give the French commander-in-chief Gro a banner, and then the hollow phalanx of the two armies began to change, and each of them opened a large opening in the west, and a total of 3,000 cavalrymen of the British and French troops with mounted spears and waist knives rushed out of these two openings.

After the cavalry set off, the British and French forces each gathered tens of thousands of infantry, and after the cavalry, they marched in a neat formation of four groups and stepped on the drum.

Yu Deqian received instructions from Song Haiping and Lin Haiyang in the live broadcast and gave Emperor Xianfeng a message at this time: "At this time, you can let the Mongolian cavalry in the west attack the enemy formation from behind, thinking that it will be contained." ”