In the town of Shitan, north of Dongguan, this humble town is now overcrowded, and the main forces of the two infantry divisions of the Taiping Army's Fifth Army are stationed here. In a dilapidated ancestral hall in the town, Lin Qirong, commander of the Southwest Military Region of the Taiping Army, looked at the combat map hanging on the wall.

"Report, the vanguard of the Anglo-French army has reached Xiancun Town." After the intelligence staff officer reported the latest enemy movements, Lin Qirong asked with a slight bow: "Where are the Fifth Army Cavalry Division and the Third Infantry Division?" "It has arrived at Gaoqi Town, on the outskirts of Dongguan County, and the avant-garde troops have exchanged fire with the Anglo-French guards."

Lin Qirong nodded and said: "Order the troops to march to Xiancun Town immediately, we will go there to fight a decisive battle with the coalition forces, and at the same time order the cavalry division and the third infantry division to attack Dongguan immediately, and Dongguan County must be taken before dark." ”

After Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng, Tan Shaoguang and others fought in northern Xinjiang, and after Lin Qirong forced the Qing army forces such as Hu Linyi and Zeng Guofan in Hubei and Hunan, Xiao Yungui appointed Lin Qirong as the military commander of the Southwest Military Region, and the main task was to prepare for the upcoming second expedition of the British and French forces.

The Taiping Army concentrated a total of the 5th and 6th elite field armies in the Guangzhou area, in addition to the Hunan Army, the 19th Army reorganized from the Qing Army of the Hulin Wing, as well as local township soldiers and coastal defense troops, with a total strength of 210,000. This number of troops seems to be a lot, but the coastline of Guangdong is also relatively long, and if the troops are stationed in various divisions, these troops are simply not enough. Therefore, Lin Qirong did not disperse his forces when formulating the overall strategy, and he divided the entire coastal area into several defense areas, such as Kowloon, the forts along the Pearl River and some nearby counties. He divided the 19th Army into battalion units. The 19th Army was dispersed and stationed at these points, and was responsible for defending it together with the coastal defense forces of the Taiping Army. The township troops were responsible for the vigilance of some remote towns and villages, and their main task was not to fight, but to provide intelligence to the main force and harass the enemy. Then the Sixth Army mainly defended Canton, while the Fifth Army was a mobile force, going back and forth between various points, and if there was an enemy situation, he personally commanded the Fifth Army to go forward to support the operation.

More than 10 days ago, Lin Qirong received the news of the enemy's landing in Jinzhou, and at first he did not dare to confirm whether the enemy who landed was his main force. So he stayed still, but the Fifth Army was already preparing to move from Huizhou. A few days later, the news of the fall of Dongguan came, and judging from the continuous intelligence from the township troops, Lin Qirong concluded that the main force of the Anglo-French army had gone ashore, and thought of the battle report received from the 19th Army earlier, all 2,500 officers and men of the Shajiao and Dajiao forts were killed, but they also inflicted heavy casualties on the Anglo-French forces, sinking five of the opponent's main warships and seriously wounding 12. The landing coalition suffered more than 4,000 casualties, and counting the casualties of the enemy's naval soldiers, it is estimated that the enemy cost more than 5,000 casualties in capturing two batteries. Lin Qirong guessed that the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces must have given up the strategy of advancing all the way from the mouth of the Pearl River and pulling out the nails one by one, but instead changed the army to break inland after landing from the weak point of the Taiping army's defense.

After the fall of Dongguan, Lin Qirong immediately judged that the enemy's target was still Guangzhou. However, they wanted to launch an attack on Canton by land from the east of Canton, so he ordered the Fifth Army to move through the night, and the whole army moved towards Zengcheng in concealment. The common people in Guangdong gave the greatest support to the Taiping Army's war against the British and French forces. The Taiping army was good at mobilizing the masses, so the British and French troops collected intelligence on every move after the landing. The Anglo-French army, on the other hand, was blind. The Anglo-French forces did not try to bribe the local population to provide intelligence for themselves, but the effect was very poor. Some scum who are willing to provide information usually disappear after one or two messages, and after a few days the coalition forces will find their bodies hanging from the places where the coalition troops have passed, with the words "Traitors will die!" "It was evident that the local village soldiers were merciless in punishing traitors, and gradually no one dared to provide information to the coalition forces.

In order to obtain information, the coalition forces had to send more reconnaissance teams, and then these reconnaissance teams were often attacked by the township soldiers, and the source of intelligence was quite narrow, so when Lin Qirong's Fifth Army went to Zengcheng to hide and wait for a few days, the coalition forces did not get any news.

At the same time, Lin Qirong ordered the Sixth Army stationed in Guangzhou to send 5,000 troops to defend Xintang Town, first blocking the way of the coalition army, and then attracting the attention of the coalition army, while he saw the opportunity and prepared to raid Dongguan County, the supply and transfer point of the coalition army. Once Dongguan County is recovered, the Taiping army can calmly surround and divide the coalition army on the shore, and after annihilating the enemy's huge number of land forces, the enemy's navy can only look at the land and sigh, so that the initiative of the entire war will return to the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

When the cavalry division and the third infantry division of the Fifth Army had just crossed the Zengjiang River from Shitan Town to Dongguan, the reconnaissance team of the coalition army discovered them, and the enemy's reaction was also very fast, and they immediately returned to the division to seize Xiancun Town, intending to keep a few pontoon bridges downstream of Xiancun Town, and then immediately send troops across the Dongjiang River to reinforce Dongguan. And Lin Qirong also reacted immediately, he led the two infantry divisions to quickly stick up, and he must hold off the enemy, so that the cavalry division and the third infantry division can successfully take Dongguan.

In Xiancun Town, Sir Sidon and the French Field Marshal Duke Malakov reached an agreement, and the French army of 20,000 troops crossed the river to reinforce Dongguan first, and the remaining British and French troops of more than 35,000 people were deployed in Xiancun Town, preparing to defend the flank of the river crossing force. Sir Sidon judged that the enemy's attack on Dongguan was not an isolated operation, and that their main goal must have been to strike at the main forces of the coalition forces in the movement.

The Anglo-French position in Xiancun was carefully chosen, and it stretched along a gentle ridge about 4,000 yards long on the only hill on the right flank outside Xiancun Town, through which the only official road from Xiancun Town to Xintang Town passed through it. Six hundred yards to the right, there is a village, surrounded by a rectangular lychee orchard and a bamboo fence. Three hundred yards directly in front of the center of the position was the only market in Xiancun Town, and all the buildings inside and outside Xiancun Town had been hastily fortified as a position for the coalition forces.

The high ground on the right flank, which was of great importance, was given to two regiments of the British army, the strength of which consisted of six infantry battalions of the British Guards. The cavalry brigades were deployed as central reserves between the front line and the hills and heights on the right flank, while two British cavalry brigades formed the top of the left flank, where the terrain was relatively flat. Most of the twenty-four mounted artillery and field artillery batteries occupied positions on the line west of the official road in Xiancun Town. From here, you can strafe the plains ahead. According to Sir Sidon's instructions, in the event of a battle, the artillery would ignore the enemy artillery and concentrate its artillery fire on the enemy's infantry and cavalry at close range.

When the coalition forces were still consolidating their positions, the Taiping army led by Lin Qirong had already appeared in the east of Xiancun Town, and the Taiping army deployed its troops on the mound of Lanshan Village in the east, facing the position of the British and French forces.

French Army Admiral Patrice, Duke of Maguenta? McMahon's First French Army stretched about 2,000 yards south from the official road in Xiancun Town, while the British Army Lieutenant General George Bushen, Earl of Lucan, was on the left side of the road. Bingham's British army also captured a similar front, and the British cavalry lieutenant general, Earl James of Cardigan. Thomas. Brudenel's Queen's Guards Cavalry Corps was behind Daerlon, while the French Army's Chryman's Chasseur Cavalry Corps was ordered to support McMahon, and the French Guards served as a central reserve near the headquarters.

Seeing the deployment of the coalition army, Lin Qirong hesitated a little, he looked at his pocket watch, and before leaving, he sent a herald and carrier pigeon to Hu Linyi, the commander of the Sixth Army stationed in Guangzhou, to send an order, ordering him to lead two infantry divisions and a cavalry division of the Sixth Army to reinforce the battlefield from behind, if Hu Linyi's troops can appear on the battlefield in time and attack the coalition forces from the flank, then Lin Qirong will be able to completely defeat the British and French forces in this battle.

After the two infantry divisions of the Taiping Army were deployed, Lin Qirong received the news brought by the carrier pigeon that Hu Linyi had begun to lead the Sixth Army in Guangzhou out of the city, and there was a road of more than 60 miles from Guangzhou to Xiancun Town, and it was estimated that the rapid march would be able to arrive in one or two hours. So Lin Qirong decided to start attacking the coalition forces first, and when the battle was at a fever pitch, Hu Linyi's troops just appeared on the battlefield, and that was the time to win.

After viewing the positions of the coalition forces, Lin Qirong judged that the weakness of the coalition forces was in the center, so he decided to feint and attack the hills and heights of the coalition army's right flank, focusing on the central attack. Lin Qirong hoped that the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces would divide his forces to rescue the right flank in order to facilitate his attack from the center.

At 1:30 p.m., the curtain of this decisive battle opened, and the Taiping army prepared for artillery fire with eighty twelve-pounder guns, and the rest of the artillery was not launched for the time being, and they and the rocket artillery units with strong firepower were waiting for an opportunity.

The power of the Taiping army's artillery preparation was not as terrifying as Lin Qirong expected. Sir Sidon continued to keep the infantry hiding behind the hill as he had done, and a barrage of flowering shells from the Taiping damaged some of the buildings, injuring some of the coalition soldiers hiding in the buildings.

After the artillery fire was prepared, Lin Qirong ordered the two infantry regiments to rush to the gentle slope in a skirmish formation, facing the rain of bullets and bullets to attack the British infantry position. The war has developed to the present form, and accurate rifled guns can give the enemy accurate shots at long distances, so the Taiping army has long abandoned the original situation of charging in a row of guns, and they have adopted a scattered and flexible tactical movement of the leaping forward, skirmish charging line.

After the formation is dispersed, the stormtroopers are divided into several sections, the front troops charge for a distance and then stop, the soldiers are either half-crouched or prostrate on the ground to shoot at the enemy in front of them, and the soldiers behind quickly rush up, and then stop and cover the troops behind again.

Although the guns of the British army were fierce, to Baron Sidon's surprise, there were far fewer enemies to fall, which was different from what he imagined, according to Baron Sidon's imagination, the enemy would line up in a dense charging formation and storm violently, just like the Russians usually used to attack, this way of attack of the Taiping army gave a refreshing feeling.

Baron Sidon's artillery failed to inflict heavy casualties on the charging Taipings, and although they also inflicted casualties on the Taipings, they fell far short of their expectations and, more importantly, exposed their position. Soon, the other artillery on the Taiping position began to suppress them. (To be continued......)