The Anglo-French coalition had decided to retreat, and Zhang Shusheng couldn't stop it if he wanted to, so he could only send the battle situation to Li Hongzhang's hands quickly.

At this time, Li Hongzhang had already received the news that the prince Li Shixian had transferred his troops to the west, and he was leading a large army to arrive.

When he received Zhang Shusheng's battle report, he had just arrived in Jiading City. Li Hongzhang was a little helpless, the strength of the British and French forces was indeed strong, but their strength was based on advanced weapons and equipment, and their own tactical use was really bad. The Taiping army of the loyal king looted a lot of weapons and ammunition in Shanghai, narrowing the equipment gap with the Westerners, coupled with the elusive way of fighting, which made people unguardable ambush operations, and the defeat of the British and French forces did not seem to be so difficult to accept.

Li Hongzhang ordered the army to be stationed in Jiading City, and there was no big city in front of Suzhou until then, so there was no need to guard against the Taiping army in the field. At the same time, he himself immediately wrote a war report and ordered the horses to be sent to Beijing as fast as possible for 800 miles.

Half a day later, the coalition army came to Jiading City, and Li Hongzhang personally went out of the city to greet him. However, seeing the British and French coalition forces with a declining momentum and many wounded, Li Hongzhang's heart was complicated and difficult to understand. was originally an enemy of life and death, but now he is a comrade-in-arms, which is really a relationship that makes him entangled.

"General, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, please don't mind the general!" Li Hongzhang said to General Stevili, who was full of gloom.

General Steveri looked at him and didn't speak! To put it simply, the British Empire is not the Qing Dynasty, and the successive defeats have made the empress and imperial officials very dissatisfied, and his withdrawal is likely to bear the fate of dismissal. Fortunately, in the past few years in China, he has reaped enough benefits to live a luxurious life in his old age even if he is removed from his post and returns to China.

"Lord Li, let's guard Jiading City! The Taiping Army may not be able to counterattack! ”

Li Hongzhang touched his nose and scolded these foreigners in his heart for not knowing what to do. Originally, he wanted to let Stevili rest in Jiading City, but now he naturally doesn't have the same mind.

The British allied forces borrowed the road from Jiading City and headed towards Shanghai City. Li Hongzhang immediately ordered people to build the city wall of Jiading City, and at the same time increased the training of the Huai army. Now that the foreign devils have been driven away by the Taiping army, the rest can only rely on themselves.

Shanghai City! The battle reports from the front were sent to Shanghai as soon as possible, and the British and French officials in Shanghai were shocked and immediately asked people to send the battle reports from the front to the capital as soon as possible and hand them over to the British and French envoys in China.

When the allied army returned to Shanghai, it no longer had the flaunting force when it set out, and a large number of wounded soldiers made the morale of the entire Anglo-French allied army languid to the extreme.

But soon, a group of people appeared in the streets, singing and dancing, and raising banners to welcome the return of the Anglo-French army.

General Steveri and Baron Gro had gloomy faces. Where is this welcome, it is obviously humiliation. Humiliation of the British Empire and the French Empire.

"Disperse these people and arrest the masterminds behind the scenes." General Steveri commanded angrily.

Seeing the British and French troops coming to arrest people with great momentum, the welcome team panicked and dispersed in an instant. Although the British and French forces arrested many people, these people were all unemployed Chinese who were hired, and they had no idea who was behind them. In the end, this matter had to be settled.

Beijing!

Li Hongzhang's war report shook this ancient capital.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty convened a court meeting for this purpose, and all the Manchu civil and military ministers arrived to discuss the current erosive war situation.

"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, this defeat is mainly due to the Anglo-French coalition army, our Qing Dynasty's Huai army suffered little losses, and even comprehensively suppressed the rebel Li Shixian's troops in the battle, so even if the Anglo-French coalition army withdraws from the battlefield, the Huai army has a great possibility to save the current situation." Regent Wang Yi? Speak.

In his heart, he recognized Li Hongzhang's ability even more. He originally had the idea of preserving his strength. It's just that the combat effectiveness of the Taiping army was really beyond his expectations, and even the well-equipped British and French coalition forces were defeated, which was something that the Qing Dynasty failed to do with all its strength.

"Regent, the foreign devils have all been defeated, can you rely on one Li Hongzhang?" Empress Dowager Ci'an opened her mouth with a pale face. When he learned that the British and French forces were defeated by Li Xiucheng, the whole person was in a deep panic.

"The Empress Dowager, the Taiping army captured Shanghai, obtained a large number of Western weapons, and the scale of equipment increased significantly, so that the British and French forces were defeated. But after all, these weapons are not produced by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom itself, they belong to the rootless Ping, Li Hongzhang's battle report also said that the enemy's firepower has been greatly inferior to before, and now compared with weapons and equipment, the Huai army still has an advantage. Prince Gong said. He spoke of the superiority of the Huai army, but did not mention the staggering amount of IOUs that Li Hongzhang sent along with the war report.

To Prince Gong? As long as the Taiping army can be defeated, no amount of silver investment is worth it.

"Then add Li Hongzhang as the governor of Jiangnan, control the soldiers and horses of the five provinces in Jiangnan, and be sure not to let the Taiping army attack and disturb the Quartet again." The Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly spoke, which made the Manchu Dynasty stunned for a moment.

You must know that although the empress dowager of the two palaces stood side by side to listen to the government, the empress dowager Cixi mostly made suggestions, and it was really unexpected to make such a decisive decision.

The courtiers were silent!

"So be it! I hope this Li Hongzhang will not live up to the expectations of the mourning family! Empress Dowager Ci'an sighed. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had been restricted before, and the situation had improved, but I didn't expect the participation of the British and French forces to make the situation in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom even more erosive.

At the same time, the British and French ministers jointly came to Prince Gong's palace and asked Prince Gong why the British and French forces suffered heavy losses, while the Huai army was damaged.

Prince Gong was furious and slapped Li Hongzhang's battle report on the faces of the two ministers in China and let them read it for themselves. It was not that Li Hongzhang did not take the initiative to kill the enemy, but that the British and French forces did not look down on the combat effectiveness of the Huai army and let them be responsible for the logistics and baggage. It can be said that although Li Hongzhang was in charge of logistics, he blocked Li Shixian's harassment and ensured the logistics support of the British and French forces. The defeat was due to the ineffectiveness of the Anglo-French forces themselves, which led to heavy losses.

The strength of the Qing Dynasty is not as good as that of Britain and France, but the Qing Dynasty is an independent country after all, and Prince Gong has a strong personality and is not a weak Emperor Xianfeng. Naturally, they are not afraid of the blackmail of Britain and France.

The ministers of the two countries returned in a huff.

Later, the British Minister Sir Bruce sent a letter to the British Governor-General in India, requesting that 20,000 troops be sent from India to China. On the other hand, Sir Bruce secretly sent Raul, an official of the British legation, to Tianjing City. This coincided with the idea of the French minister, who originally acted as a one-country operation, but now it has become a joint British and French visit.

Just like with the Qing Dynasty, what Britain and France could not get on the battlefield could often be obtained at the negotiating table, and this time they will use this method against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.