After receiving the news, the two naval commanders and Admiral Napier finally breathed a sigh of relief, and after Massimogli looked at the map, he said in a deep voice to Rigo. "The plan of the main forces may not be realized, they need to pass through the whole northern part of the North China Plain, and they are very vulnerable to pursuit, and I think we should venture inland from the Ji Canal, where the channel may be deeper than the canal channel here in Tanggu," said Derenuiri and General Napier. If we can go inland through the Guò Thistle Canal, we may be able to get more information, and we may be able to get the main force in advance. ”

Rigo. De Genuiri was somewhat opposed to this risky plan: "But the order of General Grant and General Montauban is to let us go to the Shanhaiguan area to meet them, is it too risky for the navy to take the Ji Canal?" You know that the flow of water at the mouth of the Ji Canal is very complicated. ”

Massimogli said: "I know that General Grant and Montauban must also know that the current situation at the mouth of the Ji Canal is complicated, so they did not propose to let the navy go here to meet the main force, but let us go north. But now it seems that we must divide our forces into two routes, one way up to the Shanhaiguan area according to the plan, and the other way must venture into the Ji Canal, and we need to establish good contact with the main forces as much as possible, and then give them the necessary support on their way back, which is what we should do. ”

For the first time, Admiral Napierre supported the British opinion, and his reason was simple: the enemy was prepared, and he would certainly consider all kinds of situations, and the enemy was superior in strength, and the navy had to prepare for the worst, so it was very necessary to break through the Thistle Canal and try to find a way to contact the main forces.

At last. Rigo. Derenuiri also agreed to this plan, after discussion. Rigo. De Genuilli led the French warships and most of the naval ships to Shanhaiguan to meet the main force as planned. Massimogri, on the other hand, led a detachment to the mouth of the Thistle Canal, and General Napier led a marines of more than 800 men to advance by land to ensure that they could take it along the way.

Hangu is located in the lower reaches of the Ji Canal, from Hangu Liuzhuang Village to the mouth of the old Ji Canal, in the shape of a rice spoon. Liuzhuang to the east end of Yingchengzhuang is the "rice spoon handle", the east end of Yingchengzhuang to the sea is the upper mouth of the "rice spoon", and the upper mouth of the "rice spoon" to the "bottom belly" is a water-holding place, which is the "big mouth" of the Ji Canal. The Dazui River section is about 15 kilometers of dry roads and 35 kilometers of waterways. There are nine bends, each of which is full of beauty and mystery. The first bend is about five miles of water and land from Yingcheng East Zhuangtou to Chadian Xizhuangtou, and the natural scenery on both sides of the strait is beautiful; The second bend is called the iron cage, which is in the middle of the north and south forts of the old Ji Canal. The south fort is by the Nanhe River near Beitang Qianzhuang, and the north fort is next to the Hangu cadre school on the side of the camp city. This section of the water is sunk with arm-thick steel wire cables and iron rods wound into various forms of ferrules, like an iron cage. It was these rings and the complex water-patterned environment that successfully thwarted the Anglo-French army's attempt to move north along the Jishui River when the Anglo-French forces attacked the Jintang area.

But now that things were going to happen, Massimogli had to take the risk in order to get the main force as soon as possible. At least he judged that only some Qing troops were still stationed here, and they had long lost their fighting spirit, and with General Napier and his own detachment advancing by land and water, he should be able to take this place quickly. It's just that it will be a little troublesome to clear the iron cage trap that is blocked underwater. However, General Napier could organize a lot of local labor to participate, and it should be less difficult.

The next morning, Rigo. Derenuiri and British Rear Admiral Pelo led the main fleet out first. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Massimogli led the detachment to the mouth of the Ji Canal.

Dagukou is very close to the mouth of the Ji Canal, and it is more than four o'clock in the afternoon. The detachment reached the mouth of the Ji Canal, but what awaited them was the flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom flying high on the fort.

Massimogli and the other admirals were stunned and looked through the binoculars for a long time. In the end, Massimogli ordered an attempt to attack, and soon the gunboats of the detachment opened fire one after another, but because the distance was too far, the fleet ships were blocked by iron cages and could not approach, and the current changed and the hull needed to adjust its position at all times to prevent whirlpools and reefs, so the effect of the shelling was very poor.

And if the navy wants to go forward to clear those iron cages, it will inevitably fall into the range of the battery's artillery, and the position of the battery arranged by Seng Lingqin is very clever, and the artillery on it can just hit the position of the iron cage, so when Massimogli ordered several ships to get close to prepare to clear the iron cage, the Taiping army on the battery fired back, and soon the coalition ships were defeated and retreated.

"It's really not a good place to land." Massimogli shook his head and sighed, now he could only hope that the Taiping army did not have many soldiers stationed at the fort, and that General Napier's 800 marines would be able to conquer the fort from land.

The battle on land began a little later, and the Marines who crossed the Ning River were attacked by the artillery and rifle fire of the Taiping batteries, and were quickly defeated, and then they were attacked by a cavalry unit, and suffered heavy losses, and finally relied on the muddy terrain of the river harbor before General Napier and more than 500 people escaped.

Massimogli had to lead the fleet to retreat, and after re-meeting with General Napier at the mouth of Dagu, the two found that the rescue plan for breaking into the Ji Canal had also come to naught, and in the end, Massimogri's fleet could only continue to garrison Dagu, hoping to go north to Rigo. Derenuiri can hand in good luck.

At the same time, Grant and Montauban, who were far away in Hogozhuang, did not know that the navy had carried out another failed adventure to rescue them, and they did not expect that the navy would go north from the Thistle Canal to rescue them. The Allied High Command is now thinking about how to cross the Ji Canal to continue or break out, and there are a lot of problems before them, the problem of the sick and wounded, the problem of food, the problem of ammunition, and so on. But after discussion, the generals of the headquarters found that they had no possibility of breaking through, and unless there was foreign aid to meet the breakthrough, they could only hold out here until they ran out of ammunition and food and then surrendered.

When he was at a loss, Sir Ergin appeared in the headquarters, which was located in the ancestral hall of Hokagezhuang, and Sir Ergin and Sir Gro came together, they looked wolf, their belongings were abducted by the coolies, and they did not even have a change of clothes.

Sir Elgin straightened up his tuxedo and said to Grant, "Generals, are we in trouble?" ”

Grant smiled bitterly: "It's a big trouble, Your Excellency, if there are no reinforcements, maybe we won't be able to escape." And where are the reinforcements? London or Paris? ”

Sir Elgin sat down on a chair and said, "Generals, perhaps we can consider letting Ronglu's Qing rebel army come and meet us, what do you think?" ”

Montauban was very annoyed when he heard Rong Lu's name, and he scolded loudly: "Your Excellency, that credibility villain doesn't need to be mentioned again, if he hadn't sent some old and weak soldiers to make up the numbers, Tongzhou City would not have fallen so quickly, we would not have been chased so closely by the pursuers of the King of the West, and Baodi would not have retreated hastily in the first battle!" ”

Montauban's words resonated with most of the generals, and even Grant said unceremoniously to Sir Elgin, regardless of the friendship of his countrymen: "Your Excellency, it is enough to be betrayed by the same villain once, do you want to be fooled a second time?" ”

Sir Ergin's career as a politician made him thick-skinned, and he said indifferently: "Then in this case, maybe we can only wait for good news from Paxiali's side, and the Qing army can send troops to fight the Taiping army with us." ”

Grant and Montauban glanced at each other, Sir Ergin's words were right, now the coalition army is defeated, and there are at least more than 100,000 Qing troops in the capital, if they can join the battlefield, the coalition army can escape and ascend to heaven, avoiding the worst outcome of the annihilation of the entire army. And if the main forces of the coalition are destroyed, then the political arena in London and France will change dramatically.

"But now that we are surrounded, we have no news from Pashali, and we don't know what the situation is over there." Grant said with some frustration: "And we can't hold out for a few days, and the soldiers' rations are only four days left." ”

Sir Elgin put on a dirty tuxedo and said, "We can send an envoy to negotiate a cease-fire agreement with the Taiping Army, a temporary cease-fire agreement." Speaking of negotiations, Elgin's smile became a little more confident, especially the words for the time being, he bit hard, and Grant and Montauban and others immediately understood what he meant.

In the afternoon of the same day, Sir Ergin and Sir Gro personally went out, and they took only five retinues, and walked out of Huogezhuang with white flags, and walked towards the Taiping position. The soldiers on the Taiping army position intercepted a few of them, and after Sir Ergin explained his intentions, the Taiping soldiers did not dare to slack off, and introduced Ergin and several people into the big tent where the king of the Taiping army was located.

When the king of the west and Erjin met, the reactions of both sides were surprisingly consistent, and they did not hate each other because of the war, on the contrary, the king of the west and Erjin shook hands very friendly.

After the guest and host sat down, Erjin didn't talk nonsense, and directly said what he meant: "Your Excellency King Xi, the armed conflict that broke out between our British and French forces and the Taiping army recently because of the capture of the capital, I personally feel very sorry, although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom declared war on Britain and France, we have not yet received the approval of the declaration of war from China, so we are only a local armed conflict. ”

Xiao Yungui laughed at Ergin's shameful statement, but he also heard a little news, that is, Britain and France began to soften a little, at least Ergin, these people softened, they no longer have that kind of arrogant imperial arrogance, but hope that the Taiping army can maintain restraint.

Xiao Yungui shook his head and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, Your Excellency, a declaration of war is inevitable, it doesn't matter if your country declares war or not, I have ordered the troops in Jiangnan to carry out military strikes against all British and French targets in the south, including the concession and your garrison in the concession, and even Hong Kong." But rest assured, we are not targeting civilians. (To be continued......)