In a simple and spacious tent, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili met his brother-in-law, Colonel Dupan, a French officer, but he looked a little bitter, his forehead was black, and his French uniform was dirty.

"God, you're here too?" Colonel Du Pan was a little surprised, like Wu Shili's surprised expression, and then both of them understood, both reconnaissance teams became prisoners of the Taiping army, and they both fell into the trap carefully designed by the Taiping army, but the French fought with the Taiping army, five French soldiers were killed, six were wounded, and the rest were finally forced to lay down their arms.

After hearing what happened to the French, Wu Shili expressed sympathy and indignation, believing that the Taiping army was an act of war. Colonel Du Pan thought that the Taiping army might have been preparing for war a long time ago, and he came to the conclusion from the Taiping army movements he saw in the barracks that the negotiations in Tongzhou were just smoke for the Taiping army!

Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili agreed with Colonel Du Pan and condemned the despicable and shameless behavior of the Taipings, but Colonel Du Pan thought that they should find a way to get out of here now and inform Generals Grant and Montauban of what they knew, otherwise the Taiping surprise attack would be a catastrophe for the unprepared coalition forces.

While the two were discussing how to get out of the predicament, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and the King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom walked in stride, dressed in military uniform, followed by several advisors and retinue.

King Xi glanced at the two of them, just nodded politely, then motioned for the two to sit down and talk, and sat down on the main seat, Wu Shili immediately opened his mouth to protest loudly against the Taiping army's attack on the British and French reconnaissance team. It means that the Taiping Army is an act of war!

King Xi touched his beard, smiled and said, "Mr. two officers." Three days ago, the day after your capture, we made the most solemn protest to the British and French plenipotentiaries at our negotiators in Tongzhou. In the course of the negotiations, the British and French troops ignored the positions of both sides at the time of the negotiations and sent small units to infiltrate and sneak attack the forward front of our barracks, causing an exchange of fire between the two sides. ”

Colonel Dupan was a little speechless, it is true that these two reconnaissance teams have infiltrated the front line of the Taiping army, and for any army, having troops with weapons crossing their positions can be regarded as a threat, and in the eyes of the French army it is indeed possible to fire first. But Wu Shili quibbled: "Your Excellency the King of the West." Your army has made a military move that is unfavorable to the coalition forces, which is why we are conducting this reconnaissance operation, and it is you who are at fault! ”

In the face of Wu Shili's pale rebuttal, King Xi didn't seem to bother to say anything, he lowered his face and said: "Since you think it is an act of war, it is an act of war, but first of all, your British and French troops will attack our position to cause war, and today this king will order the termination of negotiations and issue a declaration of war note!" ”

Wu Shili's face turned a little pale. Du Pan's face was pale, the Taiping army was not only prepared, but even dug a pit for the black cauldron to open the battle end for them to jump down, but Wu Shili still asked with some reluctance: "Your Excellency the King of the West." Please think about it carefully, the relationship between Britain and France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has always been very good, why did it come to this point? ”

King Xi smiled dumbly. Finally, he said meaningfully: "From the day your British and French expeditionary forces reach the Far East, war will be inevitable. Since from the very beginning you intended to abandon your position of neutrality and intervene in our civil war by force. Then you should understand that sooner or later there will be a war between the two sides. ”

Wu Shili sat back in a daze, while Colonel Du Pan was much calmer, and he continued: "Your Excellency King Xi, have you already considered the consequences of going to war with the two most powerful countries in the world? ”

King Xi's smile was put away, his face gradually became calm and solemn, and finally he slowly stood up and said, "When the Queen of England challenged the Spanish Armada and the French Emperor Napoleon challenged the whole of Europe, would they consider the consequences?" All I think about is how to make the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom stronger! ”

Many years later, Colonel Dupin wrote in his "Memoirs of the War in the Far East": "When I and British Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili learned of the Taiping Army's clear war intentions that day, I was extremely shocked, and in the face of the man who claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ, his will and self-confidence were so firm, and his answer represented the determination of a nation to rise, just as Britain and France had taken many years ago to challenge the hegemony in order to seek the status of great powers, full of the spirit of adventure and gambling, and I felt pressure and fear at that moment." ……”

Wu Shili also seemed to know that it was useless to say anything, and finally asked, "Your Excellency King Xi, since our two sides are about to start a war, what are you going to do with us?" ”

King Xi's smile returned to his face, and he still smiled so kindly: "The two important witnesses who provoked the war naturally stayed with us, and I guarantee that you can enjoy high-level prisoner treatment until the end of the war......"

At the same time, more than ten miles away in the city of Tongzhou, Sir Erjin received the declaration of war note from Qian Jiang, the special envoy of the Taiping Army, with a shocked and stunned face, his hands trembling with anger, at this moment he really felt the humiliation of being fooled and played!

Three days ago, the military did not inform Ergin of the reconnaissance operation of the coalition forces in advance, and the next day after no one from the reconnaissance team returned, Grant and Montauban found Ergin and reported the matter, Grant and Montauban planned to send an army to investigate, and they must find the reconnaissance team sent out.

While Sir Elgin was conferring with them, Qian Jiang came and brought a protest note with strong wording to protest the despicable act of the coalition forces in sending small forces to attack the forward positions of the Taiping army last night.

Ergin was taken aback, and Grant and Montauban did not expect that a reconnaissance operation would turn into a firefight, and this exchange of fire was different from the previous conflict caused by a misunderstanding between the two sides during the retreat of the Qing army, the Taiping army believed that the coalition forces were engaged in a hostile and targeted military operation, when in fact Grant and Montauban's original intention was only to find out the movements of the Taiping army.

However, things turned out to be like this, which was unexpected by the British and French ministers, but Ergin and Gro still put on a tougher posture, indicating that this operation was a normal reconnaissance operation of the coalition forces, and that the Taiping army deliberately attacked the coalition forces. Qian Jiang naturally refused to admit this, so the two sides started a lawsuit again. The British and French insisted that the Taipings release them and compensate for the losses caused by the dead and wounded, while the Taipings demanded an apology from the British and French and compensated the Taiping for their losses.

The two sides quarreled for three days, and finally each issued an ultimatum to the other, and Sir Elgin was optimistic that the Taiping army did not dare to go to war at this time, once the war began, Britain and France would unite the Manchu Qing to flank the Taiping army, then the Taiping army near the capital was bound to be in a desperate situation.

But early this morning, things took a 180-degree turn, and Prince Gong of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who had been negotiating with Britain and France the day before, suddenly sent someone to terminate the negotiations, and the Manchus said that because the conditions of Britain and France were too harsh, they would temporarily suspend the negotiations and resume negotiations after reaching an agreement within the Manchu court.

Then Qianjiang arrived with a declaration of war note, and it seemed that the Manchus and the Taiping army had negotiated it, and at this moment Sir Ergin understood that Britain and France were played by the Manchus and the Taiping army.

After handing over the note declaring war, Qian Jiang did not say anything, but reminded him kindly: "Your Excellency, in view of the fact that our two sides are in a state of war from today onwards, the personnel of the British and French embassies, consulates and other diplomatic embassies in the Jiangnan region have been evacuated as much as possible, and the concession of the five treaty ports will also become the target of our army's attack, please be prepared." As for some of the joint development projects and factories that have been signed between the two parties before, we will temporarily terminate the cooperation in accordance with international practice. The British and French civilians and merchants in Jiangnan ask you to do your best to organize the evacuation. After finishing speaking, Qian Jiang bowed slightly, then turned around and strode away under the angry gazes of Erjin and Gro.

Soon after Qian Jiang left, Erjin and the others recovered from their anger, the other side had decided to go to war, and there were too many, too many things for them to deal with. However, the efficiency of the British and French high command was not bad, and soon the high-ranking people and officers of the coalition forces were summoned, and they needed to negotiate a plan of response, otherwise the losses suffered by the British and French would be very great if they were caught off guard.

In the Tongzhou County Palace, the high-ranking people and officers of the British and French forces were also shocked and angry when they heard the news, and all kinds of curses and curses filled the room, and finally Sir Ergin had to remind everyone loudly that the useless invective was useless now, and that how to deal with it should be discussed.

At present, diplomacy cannot solve the problem, so military action can only be considered, and the officers of the coalition army began to express their opinions, and Montauban felt that he should launch a tentative attack on the Tongzhou camp in front of the Taiping army today, and he built the artillery unit of the French army to first shell some military targets in the Taiping army camp.

Grant, on the other hand, was much more sober, and after the French officer finished speaking, Grant slowly stood up and said: "Gentlemen, we should consider retreating rather than attacking, and the Manchu Qing proposed this morning to temporarily suspend the negotiations can be seen that they and the Taiping Army have reached some kind of agreement in private, against our coalition forces. We don't know the enemy's plans and deployments now, but as far as I know about the Taiping army, they must have an even more terrible trap waiting for us, so we should immediately retreat to Tianjin, and let some of the soldiers take the warships back to the south to defend the concession, otherwise it will be a disaster that awaits us! (To be continued......)