"I don't think the Manchus would have reached some kind of private agreement with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!" It was the British consul Pasha Li who stood up and said loudly: "General Grant, I don't mean to offend, but just now I was bidding farewell to Prince Gong, the Minister of Manchu negotiations?" When a group of people, with Yi? After talking for a while, about the temporary suspension of negotiations by the Manchus, it seemed to be a speculative mentality on the side of the Manchus. ”

Sir Ergin was immediately interested when he heard this, and the politicians had hoped to make concessions to both the Manchus and the Taiping through diplomatic means in order to maximize the interests of Britain and France, but the sudden declaration of war by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the suspension of the Manchu negotiations had disgraced them, and the officers of the coalition army were very dissatisfied with this. At this time, he suddenly heard Pashali say that there was another hidden reason for the Manchu Qing to suspend the negotiations, and Sir Elgin felt that he suddenly had a step down the ladder, at least not all of his previous diplomatic efforts had been played.

After receiving the signal from Sir Ergin, Pasha cleared his throat and continued: "These days, the Manchu envoys and the Taiping envoys have been inquiring about each other's negotiation limits in Tongzhou City, and that Prince Gong told me before leaving, that last night he learned that the Taiping army was about to declare war on the coalition forces, and this change was beyond his expectations, so he decided to suspend the negotiations for the time being, and first returned to the capital to discuss countermeasures with his court. ”

General Grant snorted and said, "These Qing people are more cunning than the Taiping army, but according to common sense, once a war breaks out between us and the Taiping army, shouldn't they choose to join forces with us to fight the Taiping army?" Why would they choose to suspend the negotiations? Shouldn't the enemy of the enemy be a friend? ”

Pa Xia Li patiently explained: "When we negotiated with the Manchus before, they also talked about this matter many times, but before that, our coalition forces were in the Battle of Jintang. The blow to the Manchu army was very heavy, and the vigilance of our coalition army within the Manchu court was no lower than that of the Taiping army. At the same time, because of the looting behavior of some soldiers, the people in the Manchu Qing Dynasty suffered great harm. Therefore, the civilian and Manchu military still had great resistance to fully cooperating with the coalition forces. ”

Grant spread his hands and said: "Since we and the Manchus have not yet reached the point of mutual trust, it will not be possible to join forces to flank the Taiping army, so we still have to retreat first." ”

Pa Xia Li shook his head and said, "Before leaving, Prince Gong assured me that he still felt that he should cooperate with us in the fight against the Taiping army, and when he returned, he would try to persuade the imperial court to renegotiate with the coalition forces, and then reach an agreement to jointly launch a military operation against the Taiping army." But His Excellency the Prince also said that in order to reach an agreement, the least thing that can be reached is that the coalition forces can no longer cooperate with the rebel army of the Qing State, and this is the basis for reaching an understanding. ”

That's it. The officers in the tent all looked at Sir Ergin, who had been unwilling to agree to give up cooperation with the rebels of Mianyu and Ronglu, which was also the biggest obstacle to the coalition's delay in reaching peace with the Manchus, but at present, under the great changes, it is not known whether Sir Ergin will stick to his original intention.

This internal meeting of the coalition forces did not allow Mianyu, Ronglu and others to participate, and Sir Ergin pondered for a moment and then said to Pashali: "We can agree to this condition of the Manchus, but after all, we have had a cooperative relationship with this army before, and they also have tens of thousands of people, so it is impossible for the coalition army to launch military operations against them. They can only be driven away and cooperate with them terminated, after which the Manchu court can only rely on the Manchu court itself whether to surrender them or exterminate them. ”

Everyone in the tent breathed a sigh of relief, and the rebels of Mianyu and Ronglu had done nothing in the previous war. The help brought was limited, and now that this burden has been removed, everyone is relieved. That's it. The rebels formed by Mianyu, Ronglu and Hengfu were ruthlessly abandoned by the British and French, and did not get any news in the first place.

Lord Gro cheered up and said, "In that case. We should act immediately and send people to continue contact with the Manchus. It would be better to reach an agreement as far as possible, and then our army would be able to flank the Taiping forces in the capital. ”

Pa Xiali volunteered: "I am willing to go, and I also need to take Mr. Gong Cheng with me, we can disguise ourselves and make a detour to the west of Beijing to enter the city." ”

After some discussion, Sir Ergin finally agreed to Pashali's plan, and soon Pashali and Gong Cheng set off in disguise with a few Chinese entourage.

After Pashali left, General Grant continued: "Although it is possible to reach an agreement with the Manchus to flank the Taiping army, our coalition army is currently deep inland, and the deployment of troops in a straight line is not conducive to our defense, and our forces in the Jiangnan region are weak, so we must send some troops back to the south." ”

This time, General Montauban also agreed: "I agree with General Grant's statement, before we launch a counterattack against the Taiping army, we should focus on defending Tanggu and Tianjin, this is our retreat, and there must be no accidents." ”

After hearing this, Sir Elgin and other politicians also agreed with the generals' statement, after all, military is still their strong point. Therefore, after some discussion, the Allied High Command finally decided that the British Major General Michelle and the French General Collino would lead the LinkedIn Army with 3,000 people, and the French army would return to Tianjin with 5,000 French troops, and after the 8,000 allied soldiers and the 2,000 soldiers of General Sutton, who had originally stayed in Tianjin, they would leave 3,000 men to guard Tianjin, and 7,000 men would return to Tanggukou, leaving 1,000 troops there to strengthen the defense of Tanggu, and the remaining 6,000 men would be led by General Collino and Major General Michelle to board the ship and return to the south. The Allied Navy divided half of its ships and returned to the south with Collino and Michel, while the rest of the Allied fleet began to lay siege to Dalian Bay, an important northern port of the Taiping Army.

The strength of the coalition forces in Tongzhou will be reduced to less than 10,000, but Grant and Montauban are confident that the defense will not be a problem, as long as the Manchus agree to flank the Taiping army in front and rear, then the existing strength of the coalition army will be enough to launch a counteroffensive. Although the combat effectiveness of the Manchu army was not strong, they still left a deep impression on the coalition forces in the Battle of Jintang before, at least Grant and Montauban believed that the Manchu army's more than 100,000 troops would bring a lot of trouble to the Taiping army.

In the afternoon, the coalition army began to gather troops and make preparations before departure, but fortunately, although the Taiping army declared war, the Taiping army camp opposite Tongzhou did not send troops to attack the coalition army, Grant and Montauban were able to calmly mobilize their forces, and arrange the defense system inside and outside Tongzhou. Grant and Montauban believed that as long as the supplies were sufficient, the Taiping army would not be able to capture Tongzhou, which was defended by the coalition forces.

Gro and Ser Elgin awaited news from the Pasha, hoping that this time God would be on the side of the coalition instead of continuing to bless the man who claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ......

Abundant? He has been worried that the Taiping army will send cavalry troops to intercept and kill their envoy group, but fortunately he surprised everyone and left with the envoy group early in the morning, believing that even if the Taiping army received the news of Tongzhou Qianjiang, it would be too late to send someone to intercept him.

Abundant? I don't know if the news I got last night was accurate, but judging from the abnormal signs of the Taiping army, they did intend to use force against the coalition forces, because although they surrounded the capital, they had no intention of attacking the capital at all. Dangyi? When he received the news that the Taiping army was about to declare war on the coalition forces, he realized that the best opportunity for the Manchus had come, but how to maximize the benefits of this change was something he did not dare to decide. After all, fully cooperating with the foreigners will make the Manchu generals such as Seng Greenqin strongly oppose, they have formed too much hatred with the foreigners in Jintang, and there is also the rebel army of Mianyu and Ronglu, so Yi? It was decided to return to the capital first, firstly, to create a panic among the coalition forces, secondly, to go back to the capital to discuss the matter with the Empress Dowager and the ministers, and thirdly, to prevent the Taiping envoys in Tongzhou from sending back the news in time for the Taiping army to send troops to intercept and kill them.

When I returned to the Forbidden City, it was already evening, because of the detour and the avoidance of the Taiping army outpost. The group wasted a lot of time, but at least it can be seen from the fact that the Taiping army did not control the direction of the capital too strictly, and the Taiping army did not plan to use force against the capital immediately, and several city gates on the west side of the capital could still be accessed, and there were no Taiping troops on the large and small roads.

After entering the Forbidden City, Yi? Non-stop went directly to the Palace of Nourishing Heart to see the Queen Mother, in the Dongnuan Pavilion, he saw Xingzhen, these days have passed, Yi? There is still a trace of longing in my heart.

After sitting down through that screen, Yi? Gulping down a large pot of tea, the person behind the screen didn't seem surprised, she just hummed slightly, and then said to herself: "This pseudo-king of the West is really bold enough, dare to declare war first, and I don't know what excuse he is looking for." ”

Abundant? wiped his sweat and said: "Imperial sister-in-law, now you don't have to care about what excuse Changmao is looking for to start a war with the foreigners, do you see if we are joining forces with the foreigners to attack Changmao?" ”

After the beautiful woman behind the screen hummed softly again, she seemed to be thinking about something, muttering something in her mouth, and then she spoke: "This matter is very important, it is better to immediately find the Seventh Master, Seng Lingqin, Li Hongzhang, Gui Liang, and Peng Yulin, and everyone to discuss it clearly." By the way, the sixth master hasn't eaten yet, the palace asked the imperial dining room to get some food first, wait while eating, and then discuss it after the big guy arrives. ”

Abundant? After a day's journey, I only ate some dry food on the road, I was really hungry at this time, and I was grateful for her careful care, so I responded immediately, and Li Lianying sent people out to summon the ministers. For the time being, dine outside the East Warm Pavilion.

Behind the screen, Xingzhen leaned on the soft couch, rubbed her temples, and said to herself with a wry smile: "It seems that I am still jealous of the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, it turns out that what you planned to do early was to start a war with foreigners, or is the Manchu Qing no longer a threat in your eyes?" Well, I'll see if I can make one last bit of effort to help you out. (To be continued......)