Seeing the coalition forces slowly retreating, Xiao Yungui did not order the pursuit, after the elite infantry of the coalition army retreated to a safe position under the cover of the cavalry just now, they had already completed the regrouping, they were still in two rows of horizontal formations, and then slowly alternately covered the retreat. In the face of this defensive posture of the coalition forces, it was not a wise choice to send cavalry to pursue, and the infantry had been exhausted after forcibly crossing the canal since the early hours of the morning, and had fought two battles in succession, so Xiao Yungui ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot, clean the battlefield, and rescue the wounded.

Taking advantage of this gap, Xiao Yungui got the news from Bali Bridge that the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Division led by Zhang Wenxiang had attacked Bali Bridge and successfully destroyed the position on the east bank of the Bali Bridge of the coalition army, and the coalition army retreated to the position on the west bank, further compressing the retreat route of the coalition army to Tianjin. Xiao Yungui was very satisfied with this, which meant that the coalition forces had to find another road to the north and make a detour to Tianjin. So Xiao Yungui ordered the officers and men of the Third Division to rest as much as possible, and after lunch, continue to pursue to the northeast.

After Grant and Montauban retreated to Tongzhou, the morale of the coalition army was depressed because of the defeat, in addition to the loss of cavalry, the infantry loss also exceeded 1,000 men, which was more than the total losses of all the battles since the start of the war with the Manchus, and the coalition army paid personnel losses but failed to reverse the passive situation, so many people were disappointed.

After returning to the Tongzhou camp, the allied army command issued an order to retreat as much as possible, but soon the problem arose again, it was impossible for the Taiping army to retreat comfortably, and there must be an army left to block the footsteps of the Taiping army. However, judging from the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army on the actual battlefield today, none of the coalition generals present were sure that they would be able to stop the footsteps of the Taiping Army.

Judging by the intensity of today's attack on the coalition forces, the Taiping army has at least more than 10,000 troops. A coalition force of equal numbers may be able to fight to a close with them, but if only a small number of troops are left to hold back. That's an impossible task. It was at this time that a man appeared in front of them......

On the first day, the Taiping army declared war on the British and French forces. The Manchu envoys returned to the capital and temporarily cut off diplomatic negotiations, and the coalition forces sent Pa Xia Li and Gong Cheng to the capital to take the initiative to negotiate with the Manchus.

The Manchu rebels stationed north of Tongzhou did not know whether to cry or laugh after receiving the news.

After listening to the news brought by Rong Lu, Hengfu's old man's face suddenly changed greatly, and he said in a trembling voice: "Old prince, the foreigner took the initiative to negotiate this time. In order to join forces with the Queen Mother of the West to deal with Long Hair, they will betray us alive. ”

Everyone understands this truth, Mianyu and their rebel army played the banner of the Qing monarch's side, intending to use the hands of foreigners to bring down the Empress Dowager Xi and Prince Gong's party, but they didn't expect that when the coalition army was about to come to the city, the Taiping army came out of nowhere to block the front of the coalition army, which made the situation even more complicated. Because the coalition forces failed to reach the capital, Mianyu's rebellious party in the capital was also wiped out after martial law by the Empress Dowager of the West, and the situation in the capital was temporarily stable. Many of the original wall-riding factions defected one after another, and the Empress Dowager Dong was almost under house arrest after the chaos, and there was no news of it, so Mianyu and their good shape shì turned sharply. They have become poor creatures who may be abandoned by foreigners at any time, and they have tens of thousands of horses, but their morale is low. He didn't dare to send troops to attack the capital by himself, let alone leave the protection of foreigners.

Fortunately, Sir Elgin was still very trustworthy. In negotiations with the Manchus, he insisted on not agreeing to betray the rebel army. But now that the Taiping army and the foreigners have turned their faces, and the foreigners are eager to solve the dilemma, they will definitely reach a peace agreement with the Manchus at any cost, and Mianyu and Ronglu are more likely to be abandoned. The people in the tent are not stupid, everyone understands Hengfu's worries, but Rong Lu is the only one who is leisurely sipping tea without worrying at all.

Seeing that Rong Lu was so relaxed, Mianyu asked suspiciously: "Zhonghua, the knife has already reached the neck, aren't you worried at all?" ”

Rong Lu smiled slightly and said: "In today's troubled times, there are soldiers and food in your hands, why are you so flustered? Even if foreigners betray us, can't we avoid other places? Besides, is it only allowed for foreigners to negotiate with the one on the west side, and we are not allowed to negotiate with the imperial court? Another point, the long-haired king of the West is a ruthless person, he raised troops from afar to deliberately destroy the foreigners to occupy the capital, that is, he was worried that once the foreigners captured the capital, the imperial court in order to appease the foreigners, it was bound to reach a peace agreement with the foreigners, and once the two sides reached a peace agreement, the court was bound to join forces with the foreigners to deal with them. So when necessary, Long Hair will definitely turn his face with the foreigners, and the king of the West is the master who plans and then moves, as long as he starts a war with the foreigners, it must be a fierce offensive, and when the time comes, the foreigners will definitely lose the battle first. After the foreigners suffered defeat, they would definitely ask for us, and the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in our hands at that time would be useful, so why should we panic? ”

After listening to Rong Lu's words, Mianyu and the others were also relieved, Rong Lu got up and walked to the map and continued: "Princes, please see, the foreigners are in the area of Tongzhou and Bali Bridge, and we are in the area of Xu Xinzhuang in the north of the Tongzhou Canal. If the foreigners suffered a defeat, or if the retreat routes to the south and east were blocked, the most likely retreat route for the foreigners was to cross the canal and make a detour north to retreat to Tianjin. At that time, if foreigners want to get through to our side, don't they have to ask us? ”

Mianyu and the others suddenly came to their senses, but Hengfu said with some hesitation: "General Rong, the foreigners are strong in armor, can Long Hair defeat them?" ”

Rong Lu smiled bitterly and said slowly: "The long-haired West King is personally in charge, and I heard that it is the first army known as the first strong army of the long hair, I have been fighting with the West King for many years, and I know his ability to use soldiers, and the long-haired foreign guns and foreign cannons are almost equal to the foreigners, and the West King is prepared, and the foreigners will be defeated." ”

Rong Lu's analysis was very accurate, the next morning, there was a rumbling cannon sound on the side of the Bali Bridge, Mianyu and others hurriedly sent a sentry to investigate, and half an hour later, the horse returned, and the foreigner and Changmao really started the battle on the Bali Bridge first.

Hearing this news, Mianyu and the others smiled, and cursed one by one, "Dead foreign devils and dead long-haired dogs bite dogs are the best." "yes, it's better to fight and lose."

Rong Lu frowned, and called a team of guards, ordering them to pretend to be people to detour south to find out the movement of the south, Mianyu and the others were puzzled, Rong Lu said: "The king of the long-haired West is unpredictable with soldiers, since he will definitely not fight only a little, I also want to confirm whether there is a war in the south." ”

Sure enough, in the afternoon, the spies reported that near the Maju Bridge in the southwest of Tongzhou, the foreigners and Changmao fought again, and the foreigners were really defeated and retreated, and Changmao did not chase after them, and both sides seemed to have suffered heavy casualties.

After hearing the news, Mianyu and the others were even more joyful, Rong Lu immediately pulled Mianyu to the side and whispered: "The foreigners are newly defeated, and they must be eager to find another way to retreat, and at the same time, in order to avoid being entangled by the long hair, the foreigner will definitely want to find a soldier and horse to intercept the long hair." ”

Mianyu's face changed slightly: "Zhonghua, you don't want us to take the initiative to resist the long hair for foreigners." ”

Rong Lu smiled gloomily and said: "Old Prince, although we have more than 50,000 soldiers and horses in our hands now, but the soldiers and horses of the Ruijian Battalion you brought are all Qiu Ba who can't fight, instead of staying and wasting food, it is better to send them out and make good foreigners, and the new army of the main force of our brigade and the Chahar soldiers and foreigners are withdrawn to Tianjin together, isn't it better?" ”

Mianyu was quite moved when he heard this, the Ruijian battalion soldiers and horses he brought were not as good as the elite of the new army that rebelled in the military grain city under Rong Lu, nor as good as the elite of the Chahar soldiers who rebelled in Tianjin, most of these Qiu Ba's family members are in the capital, since the flag rebellion, these guys have always been demoralized, if the foreigners and rebels follow the lì counterattack to take the capital, it is fine, but now it has become a dilemma, these people are even more scattered, maybe as Rong Lu said, it is better to use it as an outcast It is more cost-effective.

But Mianyu was also a little hesitant, after all, there were still nearly 20,000 horses, and it was still somewhat painful to give up all of a sudden, and in the troubled times, there were soldiers in their hands who were not panicked, after all, these people were still their own soldiers and horses, if they didn't have these soldiers, they would not be hard to speak.

Rong Lu saw that Mianyu was a little moved, but he was a little hesitant, so he knew what he was worried about, and then said: "The old prince is relieved, those soldiers and horses in the hands of the younger generation can be handed over to the old prince's cronies and generals to command, and the Chahar soldiers are mostly at the command of the old prince, why is the prince worried that there are no soldiers in his hands?" It's better to give up in Ruijianying, otherwise we will suddenly turn against us in the future, and then we will be passive. Moreover, the Ruijian battalion stays to intercept the long hair, and we can also ask the foreigners to exchange them with a batch of foreign guns and cannons, so that our remaining elite soldiers and horses will be like tigers. ”

After saying many benefits, Mianyu reluctantly agreed, but he only agreed to leave more than 15,000 people to help the foreigners intercept the Taiping army, and the elite 5,000 people selected from the Ruijian camp remained under his command and withdrew to Tianjin together. After getting Mianyu's approval, Rong Lu took his escort to Tongzhou to meet the commander of the coalition army.

Grant and Montauban were worried about how to retreat safely, just when Rong Lu arrived to ask for a meeting, the two looked at each other and thought in unison: "Yes, we still have tens of thousands of friendly troops stationed in the north of Tongzhou." ”

So the two hurriedly let Rong Lu in, Rong Lu didn't talk nonsense after entering the house, and asked straight to the point about the battle situation, Grant and Montauban didn't hide anything, and put forward the hope that Rong Lu could send soldiers and horses to the palace with General Ran Man to intercept the Taiping army.

Rong Lu likes the straightforwardness of foreigners very much, there are not so many twists and turns, and he also hopes that the coalition forces can provide a batch of arms to arm their army. After some bargaining between the two sides, an agreement was soon reached, and the coalition army provided 10,000 muskets and 20 artillery pieces, as well as 80 captured Qing cannons and some gunpowder to Rong Lu, who promised to send more than 15,000 people to Tongzhou to join General Ran Man to intercept the Taiping army. (To be continued......)