General Michel did not use any deception when selecting volunteers, and he bluntly told his soldiers that he needed 3,000 volunteers for a dangerous task. This group of volunteers had to feign the main force, break through in the direction of Jinghai in the southeast, where the enemy was the most, and then make a detour back to Dagukou, where they would board ships and return to the south.

Major General Michel looked at the officers gathered around him in a circle, and said calmly: "Gentlemen, this is a very dangerous task, maybe we can break out, maybe not, but for the honor of the soldiers, we must exchange a small number of soldiers for the chance of the majority of people's lives." The people who go will not necessarily die, but if no one goes, and everyone stays and breaks through together, it will be a disaster. Everyone has half an hour to go back and choose the soldiers, it is better to have soldiers who volunteer to join, if not, you can take the lottery method and let God judge fairly. At this point Michelle paused, and finally said loudly: "I am the first volunteer, who would like to meet with me at the canal ferry in half an hour!" ”

After saying that, Major General Michel rode his horse and walked alone to the canal ferry, but his back was so lonely and tall in the light of the sun. Soon there were many enthusiastic soldiers along the way who silently followed behind him, there was no deception, no incitement, and no high reward and excitement, but only their loyalty to the country, the sense of honor of the soldiers and the sense of identity with the collective interests, which is the biggest difference between the modern army and the feudal army.

Two thousand British troops soon gathered under the flag of Major General Michel, and more than a thousand French soldiers volunteered to join them. Many times, we have been misled by the film and television works of later generations. It is believed that Western soldiers value their lives and will not risk their lives casually. That's a kind of strict misleading. In fact, if you think about it the other way around, you can understand that a group of outlaws dare to cross the ocean. Braving the danger of wind and waves, they circumvent most of the world to fight in the far east, they are very adventurous, not to mention that they will not necessarily die if they break through to the south, they may be able to break through. They are not worthless sacrifices, and if they succeed, then they will be treated like heroes, and they will save many of their comrades, so it is worth taking the risk.

So, at noon that day. Major General Michel led his volunteers to the south, and the soldiers did not bring anything but the necessary ammunition and rations. Five hundred coolies drove ox carts and horse-drawn carts with heavy artillery pieces that Major General Michel hoped might confuse the Taipings into thinking that the coalition forces were heading south.

Jinghai is more than 40 kilometers away from Hexi Wu Town, it is located in the southwest of Tianjin, after arriving here, go east to Lubeikou, Yangukou, Gegu and then you can reach Dagukou. The most dangerous distance is the distance from the direction of Hexiwu Town to Jinghai, where there are many rivers and puddles. The road was complicated and difficult to walk, which was not conducive to the deployment of large troops, and for this reason, Major General Michel believed that the Taiping army would not arrange too many troops.

After crossing the canal. Major General Michel's troops made their way south, and after traveling for miles, they were spotted by scouts from the Taiping Army. But the Taiping army obviously did not expect that there would be a large coalition army to break through to the south, and the road to the south was too difficult to walk. Therefore, the Taiping army had very few interception troops. Major General Michel did not entangle with the small forces of the Taiping army, and he sent a small number of troops to drive them away. The large army continued to march south, and a pair of eyes only stared at Jinghai to advance!

Half an hour later, the news of the coalition army's breakthrough from the south reached the desk of the Taiping Army Headquarters under the command of Tianjin, and Li Xiucheng squinted at the map of southern Tianjin and did not speak for a long time.

A staff officer who couldn't hold his breath reminded: "General, the foreigners retreated to the south, and their intention must be to pass through Guò Jinghai and then go straight east to Dagu to get on the boat and escape, we don't have many troops on the southern front, which is not enough to intercept them, so let's mobilize troops to surround them as much as possible." ”

Li Xiucheng raised his hand to stop his words, closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes and said: "The main force of the British and French alliance will not go to Jinghai, absolutely not!" The rivers and puddles over there are extremely unfavorable for the deployment of large troops, and once they are trapped there, they will die without a place to be buried, and they will definitely not go here! Let the troops near Jinghai attack them and find out the enemy's reality once again! ”

The order was quickly issued, and after the news of the two infantry battalions of the Taiping Army in the direction of Jinghai received the news, they immediately began to arrange blocking positions, and the battlefield was set at Yang Liuqing in the north of Jinghai. In order to prevent the coalition forces from breaking through to the south, the Taiping army here in Yang Liuqing began the construction of position fortifications as early as two days ago. The Taiping army built earthen city walls with board doors, rafters, grinding plates, wine jars, cabinets, window lattices, etc., and camouflaged large and small artillery emplacements with trees, wine jars, clay pots, etc., to confuse the enemy. The earth fort is piled with sandbags, and the outer is covered with loess, seven feet thick, with a total of three layers, and the construction is strong and cannot be knocked down by artillery. There are six gates around the city, and a moat with a depth and width of seven feet is dug around it using the original small river ditch. Bamboo sticks were planted along the river, and mines were laid.

At about five o'clock in the afternoon, Major General Michel finally got rid of the pesky flies along the way and came to Yangliuqing, and the harassing Taiping troops were driven away by the coalition forces, but they caused dozens of casualties to the coalition forces and dealt a certain blow to the morale of the coalition death squad.

After watching the terrain of Yang Liuqing, Major General Michel felt bitter in his mouth, at this time, the "frenzied" Taiping army had dug up the embankment of the Northwest Mustard Garden, the South Canal flooded the Jinxi Depression, and the Jinghai could only be led to Guò by a narrow path from the West Whistle Straight Pass, and the canal along the road was flooded, and there were Zeguo everywhere, only one road was slightly higher and was not submerged, and Yang Liuqing was just stuck on the road. This is an obvious place of death, and if the coalition forces do not quickly capture Yang Liuqing and pass through Guò, when the Taiping army is chasing from behind, Major General Michael's troops will be wiped out.

Without much hesitation, Major General Michel ordered the artillery to unload the artillery and start the attack, and the 36-pounder, 18-pounder and other large-caliber artillery began to fire at the temporary position of the Taiping army in Yangliuqing. Fortunately, the Taiping army had trenches in the earthen fort and anti-artillery holes, and unless they were unlucky enough to be directly hit by a shell, they could still steal their lives under artillery fire.

The officer of the Taiping Army commanding the unit saw that the coalition army actually had so many large-caliber artillery, and immediately sent a herald to bring the news back to Tianjin, and at the same time ordered the soldiers to start preparing to return fire after the artillery fire, and they would defend this place until the large army arrived.

After Li Xiucheng got the news from the direction of Jinghai, his brows were twisted into Sichuan characters, could it be that his judgment was wrong? The commander-in-chief of the coalition forces has a water in his head? Actually brought the troops to such a place of death to send them to their deaths? If he immediately mobilizes the troops around Tianjin to go south now, he will soon be able to surround the coalition forces in the narrow area of Yangliuqing, and the annihilation of the main force of the coalition forces will be just around the corner. However, if the main force of the coalition forces is not there, and the army here goes south, and the coalition forces go north to Shanhaiguan with a false shot, then it will be too late for their own troops to catch up, and they cannot block the main force of the coalition forces and release them back to the sea, then it will cause immeasurable losses to the war situation in the south of the Yangtze River.

Li Xiucheng hesitated a little for a while, and the staff officer on the side reminded: "General, it has taken a lot of time for the heralds to come and go, if it is really the main force of the coalition forces over there, the troops of the two battalions in the south will not be able to stop it no matter what, why not send a regiment to support it first." ”

Li Xiucheng shook his head slowly, he couldn't divide his troops anymore, to hold Hexi and Tianjin, his mobile forces could only be used to intercept the main force of the coalition army, and he insisted until Xiwang's brigade arrived, and if he divided his troops again, there would be leaks everywhere.

After thinking about it again, Li Xiucheng still gritted his teeth and firmly believed in his judgment, he ordered the two battalions on the southern front to hold on, and the mobile forces went directly to the north to seize Baodi County between Hexi and Yutian, and he said in a deep voice: "I just bet that the British and French forces will not go to Jinghai!" This is military common sense! This is the strategy of the Anglo-French alliance to attack the north from the south, and our ancestors used it thousands of years ago! ”

Due to Li Xiucheng's insistence, the plan of the British and French coalition forces fell through, and the goddess of luck once again favored the Taiping army, and afterwards Li Xiucheng admitted frankly that he was ready to bear the consequences of his misjudgment, and was even shot by the king of the west, because he thought that it was military common sense, and the coalition army would not risk taking the southern front.

At the same time as Yang Liuqing's side began to fight, the main force of the British and French forces began to move north, their first target was Baodi between Hexi Wuzhen and Yutian County, and Li Xiucheng's troops also began to move towards Baodi, while Xiwang's troops fell behind because of the blocking and harassment of the coalition rearguard troops. The rearguard of the coalition forces blew up bridges, destroyed roads, and tried every means to delay the pursuit of the Taiping army, causing great trouble for Xiwang's troops.

At this time, Xiao Yungui was also very anxious, he was worried that the coalition army would change its retreat route, choose to go south or north, bypass Tianjin and return to the sea, if he could not annihilate the main force of the coalition army, then he would have a lot of fun behind. Once more than 10,000 British and French troops could not escape, they could choose to land at any coastal location south of the Yangtze River, and endless harassment ensued. But if the coalition army is annihilated, and only the navy is left to harass the southern coast, at least the enemy will not be allowed to land, after all, the land occupation still needs the land to complete. China is not an island country, and it is not possible to defeat China by relying on a naval blockade alone. And the premise of this qiē is that the main force of the coalition army is surrounded and annihilated in the Jintang area!

The Anglo-French army and the Taiping army started a race, and the destination was Baodi County, although Li Xiucheng's troops were a little late, but they were all Taiping troops known as iron feet, and the marching speed was very fast.

Night fell quickly, Yang Liuqing's Major General Michel was still organizing troops to attack, and the Taiping army was still defending there, and more than a hundred miles away, the Taiping army's army rushing to Baodi had already seen the lights of Baodi County...... (To be continued......)