Under the impetus of Hong Tiangui and the continuous pressure of the cabinet, the new chapter of senior administration was quickly implemented in 5 prefectures and 60 counties, and the original sacred treasury system completely collapsed, and each village elected a person of high moral integrity as the village head. In order to prevent the landlord from becoming bigger, Hong Tiangui made it clear that a person with a family of 100 acres of land was not allowed to serve as the head of a village. Many landlords and gentry did not want to be managed by mud legs and moved to the county seat, which virtually solved some problems.

Hong Renxuan's cabinet authority is getting heavier and heavier, but the pressure on his heart is also increasing, all the five governments are controlled by the cabinet, 43 of the 60 counties have been controlled by the cabinet, and the people belonging to the six ministries have also retreated again and again, and now there are only 17 county towns left, it seems that the cabinet has the absolute upper hand, but in fact the situation is not optimistic.

The last time the prefectural governor sent by the cabinet was almost merged with the prefectural governor appointed by the six ministries. Although in the end, the cabinet faction won again, but the remaining 17 counties are all hard bones, and the people of the six departments may have unknown powers hidden in these counties. Judging from the current situation, 10 of the 17 county towns have been completely overturned by the cabinet, and no county government can issue a decree. The remaining seven county magistrates and county magistrates are also fighting endlessly, and the county officials listen to edicts but do not listen to announcements, and it is difficult to carry out government affairs.

Hong Renxuan reported this situation to Hong Tiangui, this time Hong Tiangui did not intervene, but asked the cabinet officials to find a way to solve it themselves, if even the corrupt opponent could not be defeated, then there was no need for the cabinet to exist.

In the face of Hong Tiangui's sudden change of attitude, Hong Renxuan quickly understood after being helpless. Before the cabinet was at an absolute disadvantage, Hong Tiangui naturally had to vigorously support it, but now the cabinet has gained the upper hand, if it still fails, it is the cabinet itself incompetent.

Coming out of the Heavenly King's Mansion, Hong Renxuan went to the security army, and now the 3,000 people of the security army are being reorganized and trained, and they are not stationed in various cities for the time being. After Hong Renxuan left, the security army dispatched three soldiers to accompany the cabinet officials to leave.

In addition to the Intelligence Department and the Logistics Support Department, which are subordinate to the National Defense Force, and are under the direct jurisdiction of Hong Tiangui, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Water Conservancy Engineering, and the Department of Industry and Commerce and Taxation are all under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet, which can be regarded as an expansion of the functions of the Cabinet. The powers of the six ministries have been further reduced.

At the same time, Hong Tiangui personally participated in the improvement of agricultural tools and vigorously advocated agricultural production. Shinong industry and commerce, agriculture is the foundation of the country, Hong Tiangui is proud that he has not relaxed agriculture.

When Hong Tiangui seized all possible possibilities to increase the war potential of the Heavenly Kingdom, in the city of Shanghai, a fleet flying the French flag sailed into the military port, and the French soldiers secretly came down on the warships.

It was a French reinforcement, and their colonies were far away, so they were far less swift than the British. However, France is a large land force, and its army is more powerful than that of Britain. Therefore, the British army has been cowering in Shanghai during this time, hoarding grain and grass, waiting for the arrival of the French army.

This time, 10,000 people came from France, all of whom were drawn from the colonies.

However, the arrival of France did not mean that the war was about to begin, the French set their sights on the Sino-British "Shanghai Treaty", and the French minister directly approached the Manchu court and asked France to enjoy the preferential conditions of the treaty at the same time, otherwise it would be impossible for the heroic French army to be a thug.

The British gloated over the French move, and the Manchu court was extremely big. The Empress Dowager of the two palaces also disagreed, and the Empress Dowager Ci'an disagreed, because she did not want to let the French in after the British were involved. The Anglo-French alliance was the eternal nightmare of the Qing Dynasty.

Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong thought that since the Sino-British "Treaty of Shanghai" had been signed, it would be nothing to add a France. Moreover, the French army was stronger than the British, and with them joining, it would be more secure to exterminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

After some nonsense, by the time the Manchus and France signed the same treaty, France and Britain formed the Anglo-French alliance again, a month had passed, and a month was enough time for a lot to happen.

As one side of the confrontation, King Chung is well aware of the power of foreigners' firepower. Hong Tiangui's national defense army has returned to Tianjing City, more than a month ago began the so-called intensive training, unable to send troops to support, King Zhong used this month to do his best to expand the armament war, but in the face of the British and French coalition is still bottomless.

So he contacted the squire of the south and invited him to come and fight with him against the Anglo-French forces.

After receiving the information, the squire hesitated for a few days, but finally decided to come to support. If Sufu Province is captured, the Kingdom of Heaven may be cut into two sections by the British and French forces, and if Tianjing City is lost, he will be alone. From a strategic point of view, he must also help Chung hold off the Anglo-French attack. What's more, Li Shixian's ministry was originally separated from Li Xiucheng's department, and the two are still uncles and nephews of relatives, and Li Shixian can't help but save them.

The king left half of the soldiers and horses led by Wang Haiyang to continue to confront Zuo Zongtang, and he led 30,000 elites to the north, and stationed in Qingpu in a few days, echoing the loyal king stationed in Jiading.

For a time, the dark clouds of war loomed over the entire Shanghai area.

On the sea, a large number of Western merchant ships were hired by the Qing Dynasty to transport large quantities of grain, gunpowder and other materials to Shanghai by sea.

In order to control the situation in Shanghai as much as possible, Prince Gong personally ordered a large number of conscripts from Jianghuai provinces to board ships from Lianyungang and send them to Shanghai to join the Huai army. The weapons and equipment of the Huai army were purchased locally from the city of Shanghai.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, the Huai army quickly swelled, and by the time the British and French armies began to move, the Huai army had expanded to 80 battalions and more than 40,000 people.

The Battle of Shanghai attracted not only merchants who transported supplies, but also a large number of arms dealers. Especially the old colonial powers such as Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Not only did they sell firearms, ammunition, artillery shells, but even warships. It's a pity that Spain at this time is no longer the period of the Invincible Armada, and there is still a gap between their warships and the British ** ships, and the British are in the way, their warships can't be sold at all.

In July 1962, after more than a month of retreat, the Anglo-French forces finally moved. Although the Huai army has a large number of troops, its combat effectiveness is the weakest. The cavalry of their five battalions could only act as scouts for the coalition forces, so that Li Hongzhang, who wanted to be ashamed, could not be aggrieved. However, this time, the British and French coalition forces were the main force, and he, Li Hongzhang, at the request of Prince Gong, also focused on military training, supplemented by the suppression of bandits.

I have to say that the Manchu court is absolutely wonderful, what he wants at this time is to preserve his strength, if it weren't for Li Hongzhang seeing through the dangers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and not fully following Prince Gong's instructions, the morale of the Huai army may be even lower.

The British and French troops advanced very quickly, and advanced to the city of Jiading in less than half a day. They had already heard clearly that the army of the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was stationed in Jiadingcheng.

At this time, the gate of Jiadingcheng was wide open, and there was no trace of the Taiping army on the city wall.

Pan Dingxin, who commanded the Huai army cavalry, hesitated for a while and did not dare to enter the city. When the main force of Britain and France arrived, the British and French troops entered the city without hesitation.

This made Pan Dingxin stunned, had the foreigners already received the news that the Taiping army had withdrawn from Jiading?

Not to mention that Pan Dingxin was puzzled, even Ying Li Hongzhang, who was behind him with a large army of the Huai Army, was puzzled.

But before they could figure it out, there were fierce gunshots in Jiadingcheng, and there was a huge roar at the city gate, and the high city wall collapsed with a bang, and many British and French troops at the city gate were stoned to death.

In a short period of time, the Anglo-French army that entered Jiadingcheng has exceeded 3,000 people. Hundreds of people were killed and wounded by the city gates.

The Anglo-French army suffered a great loss and immediately set up artillery to bombard the city walls.

In this month's time, Li Xiucheng frantically strengthened the city wall, and the wall of Jiading City was not as wide as that of Shanghai City, but it was not about the same, and it was not easy for the British and French forces to simply break through.

Soldiers of the Taiping army appeared above the city, and they pushed out the cannon one by one.

Boom, boom!

Although Li Xiucheng's artillery was not as long range and lethal as the artillery of the British and French armies, it had a high city wall as a bonus, and Li Xiucheng's artillery power was greatly enhanced.

The Huai army retreated from a distance, watching the British and French artillery and the Taiping army fire at each other.

"Damn, are foreigners idiots? Enter the empty city with caution! Li Hongzhang scolded angrily. I thought that the foreigners had gotten some accurate information to enter the city so rashly, but in fact, they didn't get any fart news, but they didn't take the Taiping Army in their eyes and entered the city hastily.

"Immediately transfer our artillery, and then organize a death squad to blow up the city wall with explosives packs!" Li Hongzhang ordered in a deep voice.

The Huai artillery immediately formed an artillery position from the other direction, and then organized a battalion of soldiers to charge, most of whom carried explosive packs, and tried to rush to the city to blow up the city walls.

The Taiping army in the city naturally did not let it approach easily, and muskets, oil and arrows, bows and arrows, and throwing spears were densely projected from the city wall, so that the approaching Huai soldiers were stabbed into hedgehogs.

The British and French commanders in the front were also anxious, the situation was not clear about the situation of 3,000 people lost in the city, if the rescue was not timely, and 3,000 people were really lost in the first battle, then the face of their British and French troops would be lost.

"Mobilize the heavy artillery!" General Stewi yelled. In the last war, I saw the power of heavy artillery, and this time I specially transferred 12 guns from India, and together with the original four, I formed the heavy artillery regiment of the British army. It's just that heavy artillery is bulky and slow, and it is not as good as carrying on the light artillery side.

Soon, the heavy artillery was pushed up, and in the roar, a big hole was blasted open in the wall of Jiading City, through which you could see the dense Taiping soldiers inside.

Under the bombardment of heavy artillery, the walls of Jiading City became extremely fragile. Moreover, the city wall was destroyed, which caused great panic to the Taiping army.

At this time, Li Xiucheng, who was wearing armor, climbed the city wall of Jiading, and the commotion of the crowd quickly settled down, and the dense Taiping army moved in an orderly manner, and those who tried to penetrate the city through the holes in the city wall were met with the most stubborn resistance.