After entering the city, Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao of course rushed directly to Su Shun to ask for a meeting, but unfortunately, although Su Fu Menzi heard that Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao's envoys, they didn't even dare to accept Menjing and invited Huang and Guo into the gatehouse to wait, but Su Shun, who was busy with government affairs, did not return home until it was dark. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Hearing that the powerful thug Wu Chaoyue sent an envoy to ask for a meeting, Su Shun was also very face-saving, regardless of being tired and hungry, he immediately ordered a summons while eating, Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao, who had been waiting impatiently, hurriedly entered and kowtowed, and respectfully presented Wu Chaoyue's letter to Su Shun, Su Shun read the letter while eating, and saw that the letter was only to introduce the identities of Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao in addition to greeting and asking for peace, and there was nothing important, so he couldn't help but be a little strange, and asked Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao: "The little rabbit cub sent you all the way to the capital, Just to send such an inconsequential letter? ”

"Little bunny?"

Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao glanced at each other in surprise, and only then did they know that the notoriously arrogant and domineering Su Shun's attitude towards Wu Chaoyue had reached this point. Then Guo Songtao hurriedly replied: "Yusu Zhongtang, Lord Futai sent the little ones here, mainly to let the little ones be a staff officer for you and help you take care of things about foreigners." ”

After that, Guo Songtao pointed to Huang Sheng and said: "Su Zhongtang, this Huang Sheng and Huang Pingfu are our fellow villagers of Wu Futai, and also one of the first three international students in my Qing Dynasty to study abroad. Wu Futai believed that his visit to Beijing would definitely be of great help to Su Zhongtang. ”

"As for Xiaguan, although Xiaguan did not stay in school, he often dealt with foreigners when he was in Hankou, learned some foreigners' words, and was more proficient than Huang Pingfu in Qing Dynasty articles, poems, books and officialdom decrees, so Wu Futai wanted to go down to the official to be a helper for Huang Pingfu, and you would work a little for Su Zhongtang." Guo Songtao introduced himself by the way.

"It's rare that the little rabbit cub still has a little conscience, and he hasn't forgotten Lao Tzu's support for him." Su Shun scolded with a smile, and then said: "Get up, you and the little rabbit cub's kindness is understood in the hall, but unfortunately, you are late, the emperor has already decided to fight to the death with the foreigners, and no longer intends to continue to appease the foreigners, so I am afraid that this time you will run for nothing, and there is no chance to make meritorious contributions." ”

In fact, when they heard the officials talking about current affairs in the concierge, Guo Songtao and Huang Sheng already knew that they were late, but Huang Sheng didn't care about this, and just asked anxiously: "Su Zhongtang, why did the imperial court arrest the foreign minister?" Isn't there anyone in the court who knows what public international law is? Is it a taboo in the West? ”

"What is public international law?" Su Shun asked in surprise.

He had long guessed that Su Shun would definitely not understand public international law, so Huang Sheng could only give Su Shun a general introduction to the diplomatic agreements of the West, and then pointed out: "Su Zhongtang, according to the rules of Western countries, whether before or during the war, they must not harm or detain diplomatic envoys to each other, and at most they can only expel them, and they must also protect the personal safety of diplomatic personnel." If you hurt or kill the envoys of any country, it will be a great shame for that country, and you will have to take revenge to the end no matter what! ”

Su Shun was silent, and only replied after a while: "This is not what I meant, this is the emperor's direct decree." I also knew that the two countries were fighting each other to enforce the rules, but I was no longer present at the time, and I couldn't stop the emperor. ”

"Then maybe it's still too late." Huang Sheng hurriedly said: "Please Su Zhongtang, you immediately play the public international law of foreigners to the emperor, and ask the emperor to immediately release all the arrested foreigner diplomats, explain the reason, and then apologize in person, so that it may be possible for the foreigners to stop further retaliation." ”

Su Shun glanced at Huang Sheng, and said with some anger: "Boy, if it weren't for Wu Chaoyue's face as that little rabbit cub, just by virtue of what you just said, Ben Zhongtang would have to slaughter you!" Long live my emperor, who is it, how can he apologize to a few foreign devils? ”

Huang Sheng was taken aback, and then remembered that this was the most conservative and ignorant capital in the entire Manchu Qing Dynasty, not Wu Chaoyue's Hubei Governor Yamen or treaty port, so he quickly knelt down and pleaded guilty, but fortunately, Su Shun Aiwu and Wu were too lazy to worry about Huang Sheng, waved his hand and said: "Get up, be careful when you talk in the capital, don't make trouble for that little rabbit cub." ”

Huang Sheng thanked him, and said cautiously: "Su Zhongtang, since the arrest of the foreign minister is a holy decree issued by the emperor himself, the lower officials dare not disobey it, but the lower officials still implore Su Zhongtang for you to give an order, not to insult, abuse and hurt those foreign diplomats, to leave a little affection for the foreigners, and also to leave a little hope for peace for the Qing Dynasty." ”

Su Shun calculated, knowing that Emperor Xianfeng was already determined to fight with the British and French alliances, and it was almost impossible to negotiate with the foreigners, but Su Shun was also somewhat worried about the monk's ability to fight - contrary to Emperor Xianfeng's opinion, in Su Zhongtang's eyes, the monk's ability to fight was not worthy of Wu Chaoyue's shoes. So after thinking about it for a while, the monk nodded reluctantly and said, "Okay, I will say hello to the Criminal Department and the Old Summer Palace, and tell them not to go too far, and leave those foreigners' dogs alive for the time being?" ”

"Old Summer Palace?" Guo Songtao asked suspiciously: "Su Zhongtang, how can foreigners have anything to do with the Old Summer Palace?" ”

"The emperor didn't want the foreigners to spoil the feng shui in the capital, so he ordered the foreigners to be imprisoned in the Old Summer Palace." Su Shun explained casually, and said: "In this way, you stay in my house for the time being, and if you are really needed, I will send someone to send you to see you." ”

Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao hurriedly thanked them, and then went to the guest room to check in under the guidance of the people of Sufu, during which Huang Guo and the others also remembered Wu Chaoyue's instructions, and did not immediately suggest that Su Shun Song ask Emperor Xianfeng to set up the Manchu Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hubei, so as not to let Emperor Xianfeng take the opportunity to kick the traitorous black pot to Wu Chaoyue, and prepare to wait patiently for negotiations to start again.

Huang Sheng and Guo Songtao also had to wait, because the British and French forces still did not know that their negotiating team had been arrested by the Qing army, or after receiving the news brought back by the negotiating team for a long time, Ergin and Gro, who were confused, sent envoys north again to contact the Qing army to learn about the latest situation of the negotiations. In the end, the answer to the British and French forces was that the envoy was beheaded by the Qing army in front of the camp.

Hearing that the envoy had been killed, and never received any news from Pashali and Bourblon and others, the Anglo-French coalition army, which knew that something was wrong, hurriedly continued to go north, and the forward more than 8,000 people first arrived at the Bali Bridge, which was heavily fortified by the Qing army, and the monk and prince, who had been impatient for a long time, went out to personally lead 30,000 Qing troops out of the camp to meet the battle, and first opened artillery to bombard the British cavalry company that was in the forefront, taking the lead in sending a clear signal of war.

Seeing that the Qing army fired first, the former commander of the Anglo-French coalition army, Meng Toban, did not hesitate, and immediately lined up in a formation south of the Bali Bridge to prepare for battle, and arranged the first brigade of the French army on the left flank of the east, the commander was Yaman, the right flank was the British army, the commander was Grant, and the second brigade of the French army under the command of Corinneau was responsible for the front.

Even so, Meng Toban was very cautious and explained to several commanders: "Gentlemen, according to the information we have, the enemy commander opposite us is a very famous and noble military general of the Qing State, I heard that he fought very bravely in suppressing the peasant uprising of the Qing State, and won countless medals and awards, and may be a difficult enemy to deal with, so we must not be careless, we must let the young men cheer up to face the battle, and we must not underestimate the enemy on the opposite side." ”

Several of the British and French commanders nodded in understanding, and then Montoban said, "Alright, the ball begins, go back to your posts, I notice that our enemy is already crossing the bridge." ”

Meng Toban, who has been fighting for decades, is still cautious and cautious when he has an absolute advantage in weapons and equipment, but what Meng Toban probably never dreamed of was that his opponent this time, the monk Wangye, was laughing contemptuously at this moment, pointing to the strict lineup of the British and French army phalanx and laughing wildly: "Sure enough, it is the turtle formation that surpasses the little demon's favorite, and this turtle formation may have some effect on the infantry charge, but when it encounters my Daqing Eight Banners Iron Cavalry, the turtle shell can't hold up a few times!" ”

After laughing wildly, the monk did not hesitate to send tens of thousands of cavalry under his command across the Bali Bridge to the front, determined to use the cavalry to attack the enemy formation, and ordered Shengbao to lead the infantry to guard the Bali Bridge, as a cavalry response, and ordered the artillery along the river to continue to bombard, intending to use artillery fire to disrupt the British and French phalanx first, and then let the cavalry launch a bombardment.

After the Qing artillery began to bombard collectively, the artillery of the British and French coalition troops also immediately fired back, and the result was that the monk and the prince were extremely annoyed that although the Qing army had an absolute advantage in the number of artillery, it was at an absolute disadvantage in the artillery fire, and the artillery of the British and French coalition forces not only hit more accurately, but also exploded like the annoying Wu army artillery after landing, and it didn't take much time to dumben the Qing army's artillery a lot. The monk and the prince were so furious that he could only order the deputy commander Ildong Adu to lead 4,000 cavalry to take the lead in the charge.

No matter how fierce the artillery bullets of the British and French coalition are, the Eight Banners Iron Cavalry with thousands of cavalry as a unit still took turns to shoot less than 50 meters away from the foreign position, which seems to have killed and injured a lot of foreign soldiers.

While the monk was very proud, the French commander Corinneau, who was on the front of the bar, was confused, and did not understand why the enemy would take the initiative to give up the inertial advantage of the war horse when charging, and did not rush up to break through his phalanx? I don't understand why the enemy on the opposite side only dares to shoot at a distance of forty or fifty meters, and immediately retreats to reload after firing a shot, and shoots at the arquebus, which is surprisingly slow, and the high-precision Mini gun equipped by the self-army? Give yourself a chance to brush your head in vain?

Corinneau, who was on the front line, was confused, and the Mentoban who was commanding in the back was even more inexplicable, and he couldn't understand why the cavalry of the monk and the prince was interspersed with attacks in the gap between the British and French positions? At one time, there were some suspicions that the phalanx of that army was too dispersed, revealing flaws, and the enemy wanted to take advantage of the situation?

What surprised Meng Toban the most was still behind, twenty or thirty monks and princes' cavalry continued to intersperse along the gap between the phalanx of the British and French forces, and even rushed to his headquarters and opened fire? - And then, of course, it was quickly swept away by the French army's barrage of bullets!

"My God, the commander opposite me, is he still from the sixteenth century?"

After muttering about the evaluation of the monk and the prince, and seeing the opportunity for the main force of the monk's cavalry to press forward into the firing range, Meng Toban immediately ordered the launch of the already hungry Congreve rocket, more than 300 rockets roared into the air, and with the help of the tail wing, they rotated and shot at the main cavalry of the monk and the prince, and then, something happened that made Meng Toban and other coalition generals dumbfounded......

"What's that weird thing? Come on! Come on! ”

In the continuous explosion of the rocket landing, the monk cavalry that was still showing off its might just now suddenly collapsed, screaming and running around, and countless war horses were frightened, and fled directly to the way they came, directly rushing to the Qing army's Shengbao Department that was tightly defended on the Bali Bridge. Then, the screams of the Qing infantry who were trampled to death and injured by the horses' hooves immediately echoed on the Bali Bridge, and in order to escape and avoid the horses, the Shengbao army, which had been in a strict formation before, also quickly dispersed, and there were countless people who fell into the water while fleeing for their lives.

"Is this going to collapse? God, how much time has it been? Surprised, Mentoban picked up his pocket watch to watch the time, only to see that the battle had lasted less than an hour.

Finally saw through the true face of the paper tiger of the monk and the prince, Meng Toban was no longer polite, and immediately ordered the British army on the right flank to attack, attack the horse horse bridge next to the Bali Bridge to seize the bridge and cross the river, and make a detour to attack the flank of the Chinese army position of the monk and the prince. However, Corinno, who was carrying the front, could not wait to send someone to make a request, asking to launch an attack on the Bali Bridge head-on, and Mentoban shrugged his shoulders and said, "Go ahead, end this ridiculous battle." ”

It is indeed very palatable, the British army on the right flank has just launched an attack, and the first charge of more than 500 British cavalry has just raised their sabers and spears to urge the horses to accelerate, and before they have time to raise the speed, the monk cavalry three miles away has already broken and fled on their own, rushing across the horse foal bridge and fleeing to the north.

There is also the front, the French army marching in a dense horizontal line did not encounter any resistance on the way forward, whether it was the cavalry or infantry under the command of the monk king, the front was holding their heads and fleeing directly to the north, all kinds of military flags and weapons were thrown all over the mountains, and the British and French armies crossed the Bali Bridge and the Maju Bridge without much effort, and directly killed the headquarters in Dingfuzhuang. But even so, the commanders of the British and French armies, Corinnow and Grant, did not take it lightly, and were all ready for a bitter battle with bayonets.

"My God! Is this a joke? ”

The resolute Corinneau and Grant suddenly screamed together, because before their army could approach the position of the monk prince, the main force of the monk prince's central army had already fled north together, and the noble banner of the monk prince was still rushing to the front of the fleeing army.

After the war, when the corpses were counted, the British and French troops found that the casualties of the Qing army were actually not large, and the 30,000 troops only killed more than 1,200 people, many of whom were trampled to death by the Qing army's own war horses. And the losses of the Anglo-French troops were even more jaw-dropping to the Anglo-French forces led by Montoban - a total of twelve people were killed!

Touching his chest helplessly, Meng Tuoban said even more helplessly: "It seems that after returning to China, I can definitely hang an extra medal here, but how do I think this medal is too ridiculous?" ”

Unfortunately, when he returned to Paris, France, the triumphant French emperor Napoleon III, in order to show off his martial arts, gave him the title of Count of Baliqiao, and decided to make him a senator and enjoy an annuity of 50,000 francs, but the members of the French parliament collectively objected and asked Napoleon III: "Your Majesty, do you think that battle is too ridiculous?" During the entire campaign, we were victorious with only twelve men killed, is Mr. Montoban worthy of such a reward? ”

Hearing the dissenting voice of the councillor, the Count of Montoban was not angry, but blushed a little, and muttered in a low voice: "Monk, you damn fellow, you have brought me to shame and turned me into a joke of the French soldiers. Your stupidity and incompetence are the greatest harm to me and the French soldiers. (To be continued.) )