The rolling hills spread out in the sky, and in this beautiful scenery, the Coalition troops marched extremely comfortably, especially after the torrential rain and the settlement of logistical supply problems. In Hexiwu, a beautiful village halfway from Jinjing, the French column, the British column, and the vanguard of the Qing Allied Army joined forces. The next day, the second column of the British army also arrived and stationed, followed by the main force of the second column of the French army.

In this way, several forces of the coalition army from Tianjin were brought together, and the army was unprecedentedly strong, because with the addition of the Qing allied forces, both Grant and Montauban forgot about the request for reinforcements. After a few pesky spring rains, the breath of spring arrives, the climate is very pleasant, and the supply is no problem. The local area is rich in vegetables, yams, and sweet potatoes, as well as fine grapes, which greatly satisfies Wu Shili and others. The whole march did not exceed the original expectations, but the muddy road caused some trouble for the artillerymen, and it was expected to take 6 to 7 days to gradually advance to Tongzhou, and the coalition forces were also ready to accept the continuous attacks of the Qing army horses along the way, but after four days of operation, they basically reached Tongzhou, and it seems that Seng Lingqin was still busy integrating the team, and did not send any troops to disturb the actions of the coalition forces.

The next day, the Anglo-French and Qing allied forces marched together and advanced to 5 kilometers south of Tongzhou, where they set up camp near the town of Zhangjiawan on the banks of the Baihe River. Tongzhou is an important city of 400,000 people, surrounded by walls, located at the intersection of the impassable section of the White River and the aqueduct that supplies water to the capital's moat. From afar, you can see the thirteen-story pagoda overlooking the city.

At noon, a British reconnaissance force passed through a field of corn and millet to the east. Another 2 kilometers towards Matou Village. The attitude of the common people along the way has changed significantly, and the villages that pass through. The inhabitants had long since fled, and the makeshift bazaars formed by the troops had disappeared, and no one came to trade or trade with them. Matou Village was also evacuated, and there were still traces of the campsite of the Qing army's horse team, which showed that the enemy army was not far away.

At about 5 o'clock in the morning of the next day, the British reconnaissance team of more than 100 people left the campsite in Matou Village and continued to reconnoiter near Zhangjiawan. During the march, he encountered a small group of Qing army horses. This group of Qing soldiers was stationed in a large farm, and fled when they heard the news. A little farther away, a reinforced battalion of cavalry could be seen. Hold high the battle flags of all colors. Out of prudence, Captain Sanouan, the British officer who led the team, ordered to hold on to the spot, and more than 100 British troops gathered on the farm where the Qing troops had withdrawn, and then he sent two soldiers back to report the news. Captain Sanouan didn't expect that. This encounter between him and the Qing cavalry became the beginning of the great war.

At this time. The coalition brigade is marching towards Zhangjiawan. When General Grant received the news that the reconnaissance team had returned, he knew that the Qing monk Greenqin must be in Zhangjiawan, so he ordered a cavalry to go to the rescue of the reconnaissance team, and then he walked in front of the team. After another kilometer, they spotted more and more enemy scouts, and Grant sent someone to inform the French commander and ask the French to be on higher alert. At the same time, the British and French commanders made the necessary arrangements to prepare for field battles, just in case.

As more and more reconnaissance intelligence returned to Grant. The deployment of the Qing army in Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou, was already obvious, and the atmosphere of slaughter in front was great. War horses galloped, dust fell, and large areas of enemy camps and positions, as well as temporary field deployments of troops and horses, appeared in front of them.

The French commander Montauban advocated an immediate attack, while Grant hoped that the Qing allies would attack first as a test, and the three parties later agreed that the French on the right side would bypass the enemy position from the left side of the Qing army, and the British would provide support from the Sikh cavalry. When the French army was ready to stop, the British army sent artillery and infantry on the plain to meet the Qing army head-on; And the cavalry will outflank the enemy's rear from the right side. The Qing allied forces were responsible for guarding the rear road, ensuring logistics and defending the artillery of the coalition army. Montauban believed that the Qing soldiers were not good at attacking fortifications, and if they were allowed to take the lead and defeat would be demoralized, so the Qing allied troops became the rear guard and reserve.

The artillery and infantry were still preparing, and an hour later the besieged reconnaissance party returned to the middle of the large force under the leadership of Captain Sanouan, who were very wolf-like. Then Basda, Meliton, Ottoman, and Lieutenant Thermo returned to the coalition front with great difficulty.

Shanouan reported to General Grant that on the way back, his troops had to pass through a large Qing army, and with the help of cavalry, they finally broke through the Qing encirclement, and five men were wounded. Grant comforted the valiant captain and ordered them to rest for orders.

At about 8 a.m., the Qing troops continued to move from the right flank to the French side, but it seemed that the engagement with them would not begin immediately. Lieutenant Heating also reported that their reconnaissance team had seen the enemy's approximately 15,000 cavalry massing with their own eyes. Grant interrupted him and asked if he knew what 15,000 cavalry was! Heating was not nervous, and replied that he had been an accountant for a long time in the barracks of Lunneville and was accustomed to estimating the number of cavalry, so he would certainly not be mistaken!

Large-scale cavalry appeared, and there were even more cavalry, according to the intelligence of Rong Lu and Mianyu, there were at least 30,000 elite Tatar cavalry in Monk Lingqin, and Lieutenant Heating saw only half of them. The atmosphere suddenly became tense, the Tatar cavalry swept across the Eurasian continent and brought people a very deep memory, Grant and Montauban felt the pressure, their cavalry was not much, I hope that the Tatar cavalry will not be higher than the Russian Cossack cavalry!

The coalition forces were nervously arranged, reinforcing their flanks, and the hollow phalanx and the artillery squads in the formation were a good combination, and at nearly 10 o'clock, suddenly three cannon shots and a burst of musket fire came from the enemy position. I saw Colonel Walker galloping towards the British camp, followed by the cavalry who were guarding, almost all of them wounded. What happened? It turned out that Colonel Walker with a group of cavalry intended to cross the French position to the British position, but was attacked by the Qing army.

At this time, the offensive formation of the coalition forces has been set, and the time has finally come to attack. The Anglo-French forces attacked only 4,000 men and horses in the avant-garde, and they formed three hollow phalanxes, and they had to fight against the Qing army of 25,000 or more Qing troops in front of them. The infantry of Commander Monk Greenqin had an advantage in the number of fronts, forming a large arc-shaped encirclement of several kilometers. If he wanted to surround the Anglo-French legions and make them captured, the monk king at least hoped so.

The first to attack was the Qing army. The first hollow phalanx on the left flank led by Major General Michel resisted the main horse team of the Qing army from the left side. The coalition army boldly put out this kind of phalanx, and the tactics were not outdated, because the Qing army lacked muskets, and the main force of the Qing army was the horse team, so the hollow phalanx was very targeted.

Rows of guns and artillery in the phalanx intertwined a net of death, and hundreds of Qing cavalry fell from their horses, but the follow-up cavalry still charged fearlessly. For a time, Major General Michel felt the pressure.

The battle on the left flank was very fierce, and the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and the Qing cavalry divided into a force and wiped over the left side of Major General Michel's phalanx. They went around in a circle and plunged straight into the French artillery positions under the command of Colonel Benzmann, who provided cover for the whole army behind the left flank!

In the face of the fierce Qing cavalry, the Qing allied forces that served as the cover of the artillery positions broke down very quickly, under the impact of their compatriots. These Qing allies did not even put up even the slightest resistance. Immediately fled backwards, not caring at all about the feelings of the French artillerymen.

The French artillery under the command of Colonel Benzmann was immediately in danger, but fortunately, the British Fanner cavalry was cruising behind the left flank position, and they immediately raised a red flag and immediately went to the rescue. The two cavalry collided fiercely, the queen dragoons were a warrior who could crush the Cossack cavalry, and a single look at them caused the Qing cavalry to pay heavy losses.

Through the telescope, both Grant and Montauban saw the scene, and the latter cursed the unreliability of the Qing allies. At the same time, he immediately protested to Mianyu and Ronglu, and Grant breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that the Tatar cavalry was only a light cavalry, and their sabers and bows were of limited lethality, while the dragoons were faster than their horses, while the slender lances and sabers were more deadly.

The central air phalanx, led by General Ran Man, broke through the Qing army's position in one fell swoop, and the Anglo-French forces successfully cut off the Qing army's defense line and split it in two. British Armstrong heavy artillery and French-made rifled mountain guns fired in unison, bombarding the enemy's formation, and Probin and Vanna led the Indian cavalry to attack, invincible. Soon the Qing army played the banner of retreat, and the cavalry of the Qing army retreated like a wind, and there was absolutely no love of war, which made the coalition troops who were not prepared to pursue stunned, originally they thought that the Qing army had put on such a formation to carry out a decisive battle!

The Qing army quickly retreated, and the coalition forces occupied a large battalion that was well equipped, with cotton tents and full cooking utensils. At the same time, more than 80 cannons were captured, a large amount of gunpowder was burned, and the dead bodies on the battlefield were counted, in this anticlimactic battle, a total of 1,500 Qing cavalry were killed, and the losses of the coalition army were not large, more than 100 casualties, and the great irony is that the casualties of the Qing allied army were twice that of the coalition army, and more than 200 casualties were on the way to escape, and they trampled on each other to guide so many casualties.

It was already two o'clock in the afternoon, and Ensign Boisie described the situation like a reporter who had not been able to make it to the battle: "We got up at half-past four, and we had been on the battlefield for about 10 hours, and we had nothing in our stomachs except the little coffee we had drunk when we set off. Besides, the weather was very hot, and everyone was carrying six days' worth of dry food. "Perhaps never before has a weakly numbered and exhausted army have been able to speak so quietly and fully of the two qualities of our soldiers: obedience to command and bravery." The evaluation of the Qing allies is one-sided accusations and abuse, and nothing else.

Colino pointed out that the coalition forces finally won a complete victory, which was another victory after the capture of the Dagu fortress, and of course, in terms of the battle, the day was not decisive. Monk Greenqin didn't seem to plan to fight a decisive battle just like this, Grant began to understand Monk Greenqin's strategy, the soldiers and horses he held were the last barrier in the capital, and he couldn't just explain the whole army here!

The French were in mourning, grieving the death of Count Damas, a lieutenant of the North African light cavalry. This is a handsome and chivalrous officer, the son of a foreign minister during the Restoration. When the North African cavalry charged, he was shot through the abdomen by an enemy soldier, and General Montauban was deeply saddened by the loss of this young and promising officer. He had already met Damas in Africa, and he was also acquainted with his father, and "this old man who had brought glory to his country" personally entrusted his son to him before leaving. Damas was the highest-ranking officer killed by the coalition that day...... (To be continued......)