The news brought back by Major Compmnon made the two commanders, Grant and Montauban, extremely angry, and Rong Lu said with a contemplative fan: "I want to come to the Taiping Army to pick up cheap peaches." ”

Tong guò Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili's translation, Grant understood the meaning of picking peaches, a very vivid and apt analogy, although when the news of the Taiping army in Dalian Bay went to Shanhaiguan to climb 6, the coalition army knew that the Taiping army went to Shanhaiguan to capture the capital before the coalition army, so as to have a peache-picking operation, but when this qiē really became a fact, it was inevitable that people would still feel angry.

General Montauban didn't complain much, he just said: "Maybe it's not difficult now to explain why the Qing army we faced a few days ago tried desperately to stop us. General Grant also realized the problem, obviously the Taiping army was obviously behind the coalition army, but it was able to rush to the outskirts of the capital before the coalition army, and the Qing army on the coalition side was desperately blocking it, it seems that the Qing court that the Queen Mother of the West played a very beautiful hand.

In the end, the two commanders agreed to immediately inform Sir Ergin and Sir Gro, who were still in Tianjin, that it was the turn of the political family to come forward, and that the Taiping army could not be solved in a simple and crude way like the Qing army, and that once Britain and France and the Taiping army really fell into a war situation, the entire Far East would break out into a major war, and the interests of Britain and France would suffer immeasurable losses.

Shortly after the departure of the messenger to Tianjin, Grant and Montauban received a note from the Taipings.

The note was served by three Taiping Army officers, one of whom Grant knew. When Grant commanded the Combined Fleet and the Taiping Army Youth Guards Regiment to conquer the Russians, this officer was a member of the Young Guards Regiment, and this officer was named Su Ji. When the fortress of Temple Street was captured. Su Ji was the commander of the first battalion of the avant-garde, and Grant was very impressed with him.

The note sent by Su Ji was very unpleasant, and the Taiping army actually bit back, claiming that yesterday's exchange of fire was a misunderstanding, and that the Taiping army was sending troops to block the Qing army that had retreated from the Bali Bridge, and they took the reconnaissance team of Major Compnon who followed them as the Qing army. At the same time, the Taiping Army officially informed the coalition forces. The Taiping Army has completed the strategic encirclement of Beijing, the center of the Qing government, and asks the coalition forces to be stationed on the spot and not to launch further military operations against Beijing. so as not to cause unnecessary friction between the two armies.

After reading the note, both Grant and Montauban were very annoyed, and in Wu Shili's words, it was like the bride being snatched away on the wedding day. Intolerable. Grant scoffed at the Taipings' so-called completion of the strategic encirclement. According to the scale of the Taiping Navy, they can transport one army, and more than 40,000 soldiers going north to the Shanhaiguan is already the limit, can more than 40,000 soldiers complete the encirclement of Beijing? This is clearly a big talk and an attempt to intimidate the coalition forces, who will not abide by this note.

Su Ji shrugged his shoulders indifferently about this, and said nothing else, he just came to deliver a note. After Grant expressed his anger, he replied on the spot with General Montauban to the Taiping army in a sternly worded note. It was declared that if the Taiping army insisted on going its own way, they would take the necessary measures to ensure the interests of Britain and France.

Su Ji did not react excessively after getting a reply, and he quickly left the coalition camp with his people. After Su Ji left, Grant frowned and said, "Could it be that the Taiping Army is so sure that it will be able to capture Beijing in a short period of time?" ”

Montauban expressed doubts about this, conservatively estimated that there were still tens of thousands of Qing troops in Beijing to defend, although the Seng Greenqin Department lost Yan zhòng, but at least there were at least 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers left, if Seng Greenqin could return to Beijing, then at least there would be no less than 100,000 Qing troops stationed in Beijing, and the 40,000 Taiping troops could take Beijing?

Grant did not understand what the Taiping Army was doing, since they could not capture Beijing in a short time, then they were only doing it to provoke Britain and France to go to war with the two most powerful countries in the world? This is not a decision that the very dark-bellied and rational King of the West can make.

In the end, Rong Lu said another possibility, "At this time, the King of the West just wants to complicate the situation, first occupy a favorable position, and then come to bargain with the coalition forces, and then grab the maximum benefits." ”

General Montauban wondered, "Why didn't the Taiping Army agree to join us in the Northern Expedition?" ”

Rong Lu said with a smile: "The joint dispatch of the Taiping army does not occupy a dominant position, on the contrary, it may become a servant, and now it is different, the Taiping army occupies an important place on the outskirts of Beijing, and the coalition army wants to unite with the Taiping army to capture the capital together, and the price that needs to be offered is naturally different." ”

According to the Western King's usual black belly and insidiousness, it is indeed very likely that Rong Lu said so, although the two commanders of the coalition army are very angry, but they can't find fault with the Taiping Army, unless Britain and France can make up their minds to start a war with the Taiping Army, otherwise the coalition army wants to march into Beijing, and there is really only the possibility of re-negotiating with the Taiping Army to jointly occupy Beijing, and then Grant can imagine that the Western King will put forward all kinds of demands in a high-spirited manner.

Sure enough, after the two envoys Erjin and Ge Luo got the news, they came to a similar conclusion to Rong Lu's, and they also agreed that the Taiping army was preparing to obtain greater benefits and took risks, in the words of the Chinese, this was a tiger skin.

However, the coalition forces had to face up to the changes brought about by the Taiping army's entry into the war, and if the coalition forces took the risk of starting a war with the Taiping army, regardless of the loss of the cooperation projects and commercial activities of the southern Britain and France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that touched the interests of many people, it was still a question mark whether the coalition forces could defeat the Taiping army.

The current strength of the coalition army is a little more than 20,000 plus the unmorale Qing rebels of Rong Lu and Mianyu, there are barely 70,000 people, Grant and Montauban do not believe that Rong Lu and Mianyu's army can play any role, and the Anglo-French coalition army of more than 20,000 people can defeat a field army of the Taiping army?

Grant made a bold assessment that the coalition forces might be able to defeat the Taiping army, but the losses would also be very large, and then the coalition forces would lose the ability to continue fighting, and they would not be able to capture Beijing, and might even be annihilated by the 100,000 Qing troops in Beijing. Montauban was a little optimistic that perhaps the Taiping army was only strong in color, and perhaps once Britain and France took a tough attitude, the Taiping army would be soft, and after partially annihilating part of their troops, the Taiping army would retreat in the face of difficulties, so that the losses of the coalition army would be less, and at the same time, it would retain the strength to capture Beijing.

Grant and Wu Shili were noncommittal about Montauban's analysis, and from what they knew about the king of the West, it was unlikely that they would have withdrawn their troops without gaining benefits, as can be seen from the fact that they had been fighting the Russians for several years.

Ergin and Gero arrived in Tongzhou two days later, and although they were sacked, the small city of Tongzhou still retained its original appearance, and Ergin and Geluo did not have the heart to appreciate this, and they held a meeting to discuss the current situation.

I have to say that the Qing court's Empress Dowager Xi's calmness and toughness, in the face of two strong enemies, she still took her courtiers to stay in Beijing, without giving in an inch, let alone choosing anything to take refuge in Rehe, can't help but make people wonder if she was waiting for the coalition army and the Taiping army to appear together in such a chaotic situation under Beijing?

Sir Ergin also began to be alert and fearful of the Manchus' firm determination to resist, after all, the Manchus were the most populous country in the world at this time, although they were completely behind Britain and France in terms of technology, army, industry, etc., but they were really not India, once their government could effectively and firmly resist, Ergin knew that this would turn into another Crimean War.

And there is also the uncertain factor of the Taiping army on the side, until now Erjin feels that Britain and France have been too indulgent to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, since the Wenhan era, they have fed a terrible wolf in the Far East, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will become the biggest obstacle for Britain and France to control the Far East, but now Britain and France are a little difficult to ride tigers, can the domestic parliament pass a motion for an all-out war against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? You must know that Grant conservatively estimated that to completely defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Britain and France would mobilize more than 200,000 troops to launch an expedition, and the distance of the expedition was twice that of the British expeditionary force when the United States became independent.

The meeting was dull and inefficient, and in the end Sir Elgin and Sir Gro decided to settle the matter by normal diplomatic means, and they needed to negotiate with the brains of the Taiping army, and it was best to reach a joint agreement with the Taiping army to divide the benefits obtained after the capture of Beijing, although the Taiping army may sit on the ground, but Britain and France can only accept this one reality.

Sir Elgin and Sir Gro then decided to lead a negotiating delegation of about 50 people to the city of Beijing to negotiate with the Taipings, while Grant and Montauban stayed behind to prepare for military operations.

The next day, the note of the coalition forces requesting negotiations reached the Taiping army, and Xiao Yungui, the king of the West who was still hiding his whereabouts, personally read the note, and he fell into a moment of contemplation, although the plan to seek skin with the tiger was successful, and the coalition forces asked for negotiations was a signal, but could he negotiate? The four words of historical responsibility are still heavy in his heart, and there is a bottom limit for seeking skin with the tiger, Xiao Yungui knows the bottom limit of the British and French alliances, but once the joint occupation of Beijing, Britain and France want to get more, and the Manchu government, which is unable to support the chaos, is bound to leave it alone, and this qiē will be borne by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and at that time the historical responsibility will all become the burden of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

To talk or not to talk? Xiao Yungui was once again caught in a dilemma...... (To be continued!)

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