There was a light rain in the gloomy sky, and the Russian minister Ignatiev and the American minister Warrenhan sat in the same carriage, since the war in Guangzhou last year, the two of them had become the busiest people in the city, and the British and French lost their troops and fought to the death to get more than the two of them by relying on lip service and empty mediation.

How can this make the British and French reconciled? The British and French troops who hit the wall in Guangzhou came straight to the important place of the Beijing division this time, and the Russian minister Ignatiev and the American minister Hua Ruohan originally wanted to take this opportunity to use their strength to get a vote, but to their great surprise was that the central team of the entire Qing Empire left the Beijing division early, and the entire Beijing division could not find a person who had the final say?

However, the wanderings in the past few days have not been completely fruitless, for example, the Russian minister Ignatiev actually inquired about the deployment of the Qing [***] team, and Ignatiev sent this extremely important information to the coalition side at the same time, he also sent someone to remind the monk Grinqin.

For the foreigners' reminder Monk Greenqin did not take it to heart at all, it can be said that since he was named the prince, Monk Greenqin made the old mistake of being stubborn and self-serving, he thought that the enemy army was not good at land warfare, and the Dagu Pass had been lost, so it had lost its meaning in defending Beitang, so the whole army abandoned the defense of Beitang and gave the British and French forces an opportunity.

Ignatiev provided Britain and France with information about the unfortified Beitang, which made Ergin, Shabali, Gro and others ecstatic, while Princeton, as the commander of the allied army. Admiral Arthur never left his flagship Warrior, so the actual commander of the coalition army was Gro, and Lieutenant General Margaisian, who had actual experience in commanding tens of thousands of troops, was hospitalized at St. Tzu Chi Hospital in Hong Kong the day before his departure.

The abandonment of Beitang allowed the British and French to land calmly, otherwise they would have landed on the mudflats at the mouth of Dagu, and within a few weeks, the British and French forces would not have thought of transporting 220 field guns ashore from the ship.

As soon as the Russian minister Ignatiev returned to the legation, he learned that the Siberian governor Muravyov had forced the Qing court's Heilongjiang general Yishan to sign the Sino-Russian "Aihui Treaty" by force when the Anglo-French army was at war with the Qing Empire. According to this treaty, the Qing Empire would cede more than 600,000 square kilometers of land north of the Heilongjiang River and south of the Outer Khing'an Mountains to Russia, and about 400,000 square kilometers of Qing Empire territory east of the Ussuri River would be placed under the condominium of Qing and Russia.

Such an uplifting news made Ignatiev not feel a trace of fatigue for a moment, and he immediately sent all his connections, closely watching the movements of the coalition forces and the movement of the Qing [***] team.

In the more than a week that the British and French forces had unloaded troops, artillery, and supplies, the First Fleet of the Empire under the command of Lin Haijiang had completed the renovation, and for the sake of combat convenience, the nine warships had already hoisted the triangular yellow regimental dragon flag, and the two sides of the bow were also painted with the symbol of the double dragon playing with pearls.

Lin Haijiang has always been very concerned about the process and changes of history, in the history of the Bali Bridge battle shortly after the battle, Xianfeng with the crown prince, the queen of the two palaces, Su Shun and other ministers from the Old Summer Palace Qiluan to Rehe for the "Mulan Autumn Hunt", handed over a mess to his sixth brother Prince Gong Yixun, the French coalition army invaded Yanjing, burned the Old Summer Palace.

But now Prince Gong Yixun ran to Xi'an, farther than Xianfeng, who was still in Chengde, and the only prince in Yanjing City was the monk Lingqin, who had just been canonized before the war, the prince of the monk!

In order to show that he did not hesitate to be a high-ranking official, Xianfeng added a "hereditary replacement" to the back of the prince of Seng Greenqin!

In addition to rewarding another yellow coat, wearing a head, and the crown prince's young protection, Lin Haijiang also had the title of earl, but Lin Haijiang was able to achieve honor and disgrace for Xianfeng's repeats.

Lin Haijiang is most worried about Zhang Zheng's 3,000 lone army at the moment, what he has to do now is to quickly attack and surprise the British and French fleet outside the mouth of Dagu before the British learn that the local reinforcements have been defeated.

On April 25, 1857, in the early morning, Monk Greenqin put on his helmet and armor, and the general was transferred to the army.

Inside the big tent, there was silence, and a murderous aura was slowly flowing.

Monk Lingqin looked around at the generals and said in a sonorous voice: "This king has decided to personally command 17,000 horses and infantry, stationed on the line from Zhangjiawan to Bali Bridge, and guard the road from Tongzhou to Jingshi Guangqumen. ”

"Where is the deputy governor of Ildon, Adu?"

Ildon Adu hurriedly stepped out of the column and said on one knee: "Humble duty! ”

Monk Lingqin nodded and said: "I order you to lead the Mongolian horse team of 4,000 people to defend the Bali Bridge, and another 1,000 Chahar horse team will be led by the governor Nama Shantong to coordinate the defense of the southeast of the Pony Bridge, so as to prevent the enemy from advancing westward from the horse head and making a detour to attack the Beijing Division. ”

Ildon Ado arched his hand and roared: "I swear to fight to the death with the foreign hair, and no bird can fly unless I step over my corpse." ”

Seeing that the morale could be used, Monk Greenqin threw out a few arrows one after another and said: "Admiral Cheng Bao of Zhili led 4,000 green battalion soldiers to defend Tongzhou. Shengbao, the deputy capital commander, led 5,000 people from the Beijing battalion to garrison the area east of Qihuamen to Dingfuzhuang, as a reserve force to support the soldiers and horses of all walks of life to protect the Beijing division. ”

"The people will listen to the command! This battle can only be won, not defeated, this king should be with the handsome banner, cheering for you and so on, in order to repay the grace of the saint! Monk Greenqin arched his hand, and all the officials knelt down and said in unison: "Expelle Yangyi and serve the court!" ”

After the leading troops of the various departments left, Seng Lingqin calculated that the total number of troops he could command reached more than 30,000 people, including nearly 10,000 Mongolian horse troops.

It can be said that these 30,000 people are the last division that can be occupied by the Beijing camp, and Seng Lingqin still regrets that he did not withdraw the more than 10,000 defenders of Dagukou in time at that time, otherwise the troops in his hands can still be more abundant.

What gave Monk Greenqin a headache was that the muskets of the British and French forces were very sharp, and carried a large number of artillery, and he sent rangers several times, but he was shot before he could get close to the other party, and the sharpness of the foreigners' firearms made Monk Greenqin more and more worried about Lin Haijiang's marines, it is said that they have arrived near Tianjin, but they have not yet made contact with themselves.

In the barren meadows of Xiaoliuhai in Tianjin, a team of several thousand people was hiding, and a haggard Zhang Zheng was holding a map that basically did not match the terrain to discuss with several battalion commanders the specific implementation of tactics.

For the new title, Zhang Zheng also adapted to the establishment of several days, squads, platoons, companies, and battalions, which were used by Prussian instructors, and it is said that in order to better cooperate with foreign guns and new tactics, compared with the previous battalion of 500 people, Zhang Zheng preferred the establishment of 12 people per class, every five squads for a platoon, every five platoons for a company, and every four to five companies for a battalion.

However, Zhang Zheng's relationship at the moment is not a matter of establishment, but how he will complete the order, Lin Haijiang's order to him before setting off is to do everything possible to prevent the British and French troops from entering Yanjing, and cooperate with Seng Lingqin to complete the containment task.

According to Zhang Zheng's own understanding, preventing the British and French forces from entering Yanjing and cooperating with Seng Lingqin to contain the enemy army is actually a task, but at present, the periphery of Tianjin is full of convoys hired by the British and French forces to transport supplies and ammunition.

What shocked Zhang Zheng was that the transport team turned out to be all elated ordinary people? The scout who went to reconnoiter came back and reacted very depressedly: "That's what happens to the people in Beijing and Tianjin, they don't care who beats whom, and they don't care who they help, they just work as coolies and run goods, and whoever gives money they will do it, and it is natural to make money and eat." ”

Zhang Zheng was surprised: "Don't they know that foreigners are here to invade us?" ”

The scout said helplessly: "The common people don't care who comes there!" They only care about their stomachs. ”

Zhang Zheng hesitated for a moment, and decided to send a platoon of scouts, all carrying double short guns and gunpowder surnamed Lie, to find a way to blend in with the coolies, and first reimburse him for the supplies and ammunition of the British and French forces.

In the city of Tianjin, Shabal, who did not follow the action of the brigade, was touting each other with Ergin, and originally Ge Luo practiced the practice of capturing laborers to act as porters and coolies, transporting supplies and ammunition for the coalition army, but he did not expect that the people were difficult to catch, and often had to break out resistance.

Later, Ergin suggested not to use coercive means, but to use the mode of cash employment, in the face of the white flowers, a large number of people were quickly recruited, the cooperation of the Chinese people made Ergin overjoyed, the coalition forces were able to complete the unloading and transportation at such a speed, Ergin can be said to have contributed a lot.

Because this time, after all, it was not as easy as the French army to land lightly in Daya Bay, and in order to support such a large corps operation, all kinds of materials consumed needed to be coordinated in advance, and food, mules and horses also needed to be raised on the spot.

On 27 April, the vanguard of the British and French forces attacked north from Tianjin, and at noon, approached the vicinity of Zhangjiawan from Hexi, and launched artillery attacks on the Qing army garrison in Zhangjiawan.

The defenders of Seng Lingqin's department had already been in strict formation, and fired frequently at the British and French troops with the foreign guns they had purchased at Lin Haijiang, and the British and French troops who were caught off guard left more than 200 corpses and immediately retreated.

Thinking that the Anglo-French coalition was wavering, Monk Greenqin regarded the whole coalition army as a precursor to retreat, so he immediately ordered a counterattack.

After a low sound of bull's horns, the sound of horses' hooves shook the earth like thunder, and as the dust and smoke flew, the hurried Mongolian horse team pierced the Anglo-French army like sharp arrows.

In order to resist the fierce Mongolian horse team, the British and French allied forces fired a salvo of hundreds of Conglev rockets at the Mongolian warriors who were not afraid of death, and in the continuous dense explosions, the horses of the Mongolian cavalry ran back in horror and mixed into the infantry team behind the horse team, resulting in a chaotic offensive formation, and the infantry team could not break through the British and French army's section-style rifle shooting, and a large number of soldiers were shot and fell to the ground, but the troops behind were already shouting one after another, and the fierce battle lasted for about a stick of incense, and the infantry team that had suffered huge casualties saw that there was no hope of breaking through, so they retreated one after another.

In the situation of the failure of the attack, Seng Greenqin decided to immediately lead his troops to retreat to the Bali Bridge to choke the road to Beijing, and the British and French troops immediately launched an attack on the cavalry position of Yiledong Adu on the south side of Zhangjiawan, and Seng Greenqin dispatched Ma Shan's horse team to prepare to attack the flank of the British and French forces.

However, after Ma Shan's horse team encountered the intensive continuous bombardment of the British and French artillery scattered bombs on the flank, the war horses also lost control and turned back to gallop, and the horse infantry was in a mess.

At the beginning of the battle, it developed in an unfavorable direction, and after Seng Lingqin had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to Bali Bridge, he urgently ordered the green battalion soldiers stationed in Tongzhou to follow and retreat. Bali Bridge is located more than 20 miles east of Yanjing City, which is the throat of Tongzhou into Beijing, and Monk Greenqin knows very well what the defense of Bali Bridge means to Beijing! He's really reached the point where there's no going back.

That night, after the monk Lingqin led his troops to retreat to the Bali Bridge, because he saw the sharp foreign guns and artillery fire of the British and French forces, he used the bushes and jungles around the Bali Bridge to temporarily build a trench and earthen ramparts to hide the infantry camp.

Seng Lingqin decided to attack the horse team first, and then the Shengbao Department met the South Road Coalition Army, and the Ruilin Department met the East Road Coalition Army, he led his headquarters to meet the West Road Coalition Army, all the infantry battalions were hidden in the bushes and trenches, waiting to break the enemy, and the horse team carried out a counter-charge to the wide front of the coalition army.

Monk Greenqin, who had completed the deployment, inspected the various departments of the Eight Banners and the green battalion of the Han army that had retreated to the Bali Bridge overnight, and all the units that attacked before the battle suffered great losses, and the grain, grass, weapons, and medicines were all insufficient.

However, there is also good news among the many bad news, the news came from Tanma that it had made contact with the vanguard company of the Nanyang Marine Division thirty miles southwest, and the main force of the Marine Corps of the Nanyang Water Division was able to reach the Bali Bridge in the early morning.

For this reinforcement that he has been looking forward to, Monk Greenqin is not so excited at the moment, because the direction of the reinforcements is the direction of attack of the British and French forces, all the way after a hard battle, Monk Greenqin is a battle-hardened general, and it is difficult to say how much combat strength this support army can have.

However, in the face of Lin Haijiang, Monk Greenqin also cheered up to greet this tired division in person!

In the middle of the night, after several waves of probes, a long line of four columns slowly emerged from the night, the sound of neat footsteps mixed with short and hurried commands.

Monk Greenqin rode on his horse and watched the marines of the Nanyang Navy Division under the light of the torches, although everyone looked extremely tired, but the equipment on their bodies and the rifles on their shoulders were still there, Monk Greenqin finally breathed a long sigh of relief, this support army has not collapsed, at least the morale is usable.

After meeting Zhang Zheng, Monk Greenqin learned that they had come lightly, and that the ammunition was only a small part of the ammunition they carried, and the artillery unit and baggage were far behind, and now they were afraid that they would not be able to cross the defense line of the British and French forces.

Monk Greenqin thought about it for a while, and organized the headquarters of Zhang Zheng's Marine Corps into the infantry battalion to rest and stand by to consolidate the main position of the defense of Bali Bridge.

On the way back to the troops, Zhang Zheng found that the Mongolian cavalry under the division of Seng Lingqin were all wearing armor, silently sorting out their horses and weapons, and the big battle was imminent, and no one wanted to talk too much.

For these cavalrymen, who only had a few short guns and mostly relied on bows, arrows, knives and guns, to carry out a counterattack against the British and French forces in the front, Zhang Zheng's head suddenly became bigger, and in his opinion, this was simply suicide.

After the Anglo-French army occupied Zhangjiawan and Tongzhou City in one fell swoop, Gro took Erjin to inspect it, and soon, the local church clergy and parishioners sent them the information they urgently needed. Among them, the main force of nearly one Manchu and Mengma troops was deployed in the area of Bali Bridge to defend. Bali Bridge is eight miles away from Tongzhou in the east, thirty miles away from the capital in the west, and it is the throat road from Tongzhou to Yanjing City.

The Qing [***] team also prepared to use the bushes and jungles around the Bali Bridge to build earthen ramparts and trenches, and prepared to fight to the death with the coalition forces here.

Gro was very happy with the decisive intention of the Qing [***] team, because of the huge pressure of logistical baggage, what the coalition needed was a quick victory.

What puzzled Gro was why the Qing [***] team didn't retreat into their capital for an effective defense? But they chose a field battle that was very unfavorable to them?

Ergin's explanation for this is that the thinking of the Orientals is not quite the same as ours, and their generals cannot completely command the troops at the front, and they have to obey the orders of the whipping emperor!

Gro was suddenly surprised: "But their emperor has long left their capital, and he is not on the front line but he commands the army to fight?" ”

Ergin smiled slightly: "So the surnames of Oriental people are full of mystery and contradictions!" ”

At 4 o'clock in the morning of April 28, the main force of the British and French forces slowly advanced in the direction of Bali Bridge by the dragoons of the British Sixth Cavalry Regiment.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, amid the rumbling of artillery, the British and French forces launched an attack on the Qing army's position at Baliqiao in the east, west, and south. The 1st Brigade of the French Army under the command of Yaman on the east road and the British army under the direct command of Grant on the west road. The South Road was responsible for the main attack on the Bali Bridge, and was the 2nd Brigade of the French Army commanded by Corinneau.

After the battle of Bali Bridge began, the Qing army's horse team immediately rushed forward from the front according to the original deployment, and the Mongolian horse team of Seng Lingqin was worthy of being a brave division, and the generals of the whole army galloped on all sides of the horse, covering the sky with flags, shouting to kill and shake the mountains, because of the limited equipment of foreign guns, most of the officers and soldiers were armed with spears and bows and arrows, and met the enemy with enthusiasm, trying to disrupt and cut off the enemy's battle formation, and create conditions for the follow-up infantry to attack.

(To be continued)