On February 2, General Montauban, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French forces, boarded the French flagship "Forban" and sailed from Shanghai to Zhifu in Zhili Bay. Zhifu is located in the area of Yantai in the later generations, facing Dalian Bay across the sea, and is an excellent station.

There were 6,000 French troops (including 5,000 infantry and more than 1,000 artillery) who had gone north in advance. On the 6th, the wind and the sun were fine, and as soon as Montauban arrived, he was attracted by the appearance of the anchorage, and the French military camp presented in front of him was secured. All infantry and artillery units were camped almost exclusively on the plains; The battalions of light infantry were placed in the hilly area that formed the peninsula (later named Mona Hill); The headquarters was located in a temple located on the commanding heights of the coast, and the entire camp was in full view. Logistics warehouses and offices are located near the beach to facilitate the loading and unloading of military supplies.

All the facilities are mostly made of stone, and Montauban is also happy with it. Seeing the high morale of the troops, he congratulated the other two generals of the French army, Ranman and Collino. He also visited the field hospital, where only about 60 patients were treated, 28 of whom contracted willow disease.

Montauban also didn't miss the tempting place to visit the Qing bazaar near the French camp, which was well-stocked and crowded with customers, open from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, and was supervised by the French military police day and night. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but sigh: "It can be seen that the soldiers still like the enthusiasm of the Qing people, and they don't eat stewed chicken every day in Shanghai, and the things sold by the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are extremely expensive." ”

On 10 February, under the arrangement of Colonel Foley, the British liaison officer next to the commander of the French army. The commander of the British forces, General Grant, accompanied by the chief of staff, came to Zhifu to visit General Montauban in the name of a close alliance between Britain and France. The former camp of the British was set up in Weihaiwei. It was not too far from the French camp.

The British, with curiosity, were eager to see what was the state of the French officers and soldiers who had come from the Cape of Good Hope in a large circle, since most of the British troops had come to the Far East by ship directly from India, and the distance was more than half that of the French army. When they heard about the wild horses that the French army had brought from Japan, they were also wondering what kind of animals they resembled them.

General Grant was received with the utmost hospitality. They had a two-hour meeting first, and after luncheon. The British commander asked to visit the French camp. The military band played "Ode to the Queen", which was greatly appreciated by the British guests. Grant watched with interest the 80-meter-long Bilargo bridge built by the bridge-builders. Grant also had to look at the artillery, and attended the rifled mountain artillery firing exercise with a range of 2 kilometers. See how well those Japanese horses are trained. He was amazed: "How! These are those Japanese horses? It's incredible! ”

Montauban was so encouraged that he immediately ordered 11 cannon shots to be fired at the horse, and after receiving the baptism of fire, not a single horse of the French cavalry had stumbled! When Grant leaves. I was overjoyed by what I saw. Immediately, he invited his colleagues from the French army to visit Weihaiwei in the south the day after tomorrow. In Montauban's view, the day was indeed beautiful. The next day, he was amazed that he had dared to give the order to open fire on these untrained horses. "I don't know if the horses were so calm because they were naturally composed, or because they were scared," he said. ”

For the facilities of the French army's Zhifu camp, the British Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili, who accompanied the visit to Wèn, was full of praise. In fact, the British army did not do badly, after the unpleasant logistics experience of the Crimean War, and after learning strict logistics support from the Taiping army. The logistical support of the British and French armies for this expedition was perfect, and the French army's war horses were even purchased from Japan.

British troops arrived in Weihaiwei as early as January 26. The British landed there without difficulty, and only a Qing garrison company with swords, guns and spears was stationed there, and the British battleships wasted only a few shells to completely defeat them.

After occupying Weihaiwei, the British army was stationed in the adjacent three harbors, most of the British soldiers came from India, and they were transferred after the suppression of the Indian uprising, the British army was more numerous than the French army, horses were not counted, and the British army also had more assets, and the mutual market with the Qing people here was better than that of the French.

When he arrived at Weihaiwei, General Montauban was also curious about the strength of the British Allied forces with whom he was about to fight, and he gave a detailed account of his visit to the British camp, which was sometimes a little critical, but did not prevent him from making a strong impression on the British formation.

Accompanied by General Chanet, he boarded the British flagship and was received with the utmost hospitality by Admiral Hubber and General Grant. After being wounded in the last Battle of Dagukou, Admiral He Bo recuperated in Shanghai for half a year, and this time it was also a battle of revenge for him. At the same time, Montauban also met Sir Elgin, who decided to accompany him on the tour, and the group took a small steamboat to the other side of the harbor to see the cavalry camp.

Montauban's ability to mount an Arabian horse without being invited by a cavalry officer brought back memories of his 27 years in Algeria. The British cavalry in front of him was very beautiful, perfectly dressed, well-equipped, superior in mounts, and appeared to be disciplined and heroic.

As an expert, Montauban praised the queen's dragoons for their dignified red uniforms, even though he later wrote in his memoirs that he felt that the dragoons were a bit rigid, which is why they later lost to the Taiping cavalry. But at least for now, he still thinks that the British queen dragoons and the French cuirassiers are the real cavalry, and that the Manchu Tatar cavalry is just obsolete, and the Taiping cavalry seems to have been selectively forgotten by Montauban.

As General Montauban and Mitresi had noted, the cavalry led by Vanner and Major Probin had little effect by reinforcing the practice already practiced in Hong Kong and intensifying stake-pulling training. At the same time, they also practiced what Ergin called the strength work, and Pegasus swung his knife to chop citrus.

The French commander wanted to see a live demonstration of the new Armstrong cannon, which the British were proud of, and the young artillery captain Brabazon (who died two months later) demonstrated on the spot, but the accuracy of the cannon did not convince General Montauban. He believed that the French army's small rifled mountain guns had a range of 2,000 meters, which was far superior to the British army's new artillery. Finally, he visited the horse-carrying ships and stables, and was so impressed by the facilities of these ships that he reminded: "I finally understood how the troops brought from such a distant land could have the same appearance as they had been at the parade in Hyde Park." ”

He found that the British had a good way of renting such an expensive means of transport, and they were not so careful in this regard. In fact, the British Navy felt that the transportation of troops and horses was the responsibility of the Army, and that it would be detrimental to its reputation. And the French navy will not be unwilling to bear the drudgery of transporting the army...... Most of the British troops were drawn from India, the rest from the mainland, and three large special ships were enough to transport them.

The day of visiting the British barracks ends aboard the Granada, an 800-tonnage steamer rented by the Queen Government for the Commander and Staff of the Expeditionary Force. General Grant hosted a dinner in a friendly atmosphere. General Montauban returned to Zhifu and was deeply impressed by his trip to Weihaiwei; What brings back is not jealousy of careful eyes, but competitiveness compared to high and low.

During Montauban's visit to Weihaiwei, an incident occurred when the British seized about 30 wooden boats that were used by the Qing people to transport firewood, rice, oil and salt. Montauban asked, "We have confiscated a fleet of small sailing ships belonging to innocent unarmed traders, and only because our army needs these ships to transport military supplies." We are certainly no better than others. We claim not to fight the Chinese people, only their government. It sounds good in words, but in reality it is a different story. ”

Reny, the French physician who accompanied the army, also severely condemned the British occupation of civilian ships, and pointed out that the French army was also doing the same at Zhifu, which greatly embarrassed General Montauban.

During the exchange of courtesy visits between the commanders of the British and French forces, the unresolved question of the landing place of the French army was not mentioned, and the date of the landing operation was also not mentioned, because the British army did not wait for the information of the Qing theater of operations!

The French accused the British of being slow in intelligence investigation, and were dissatisfied with the British army's restrictive failure to disclose all that they knew about the Qing informants, and argued that the British were still waiting for the so-called allies inside the Qing Dynasty, which was unreliable......

General Grant also took note of this, and on 18 January at the last all-coalition military meeting in Shanghai, it was decided that, if intelligence was not followed up in time, the British would conduct a new reconnaissance of the southern part of Baihe and Zhili Bay in order to finalize the landing sites of the allied forces.

General Montauban raised some doubts on the basis of Brigadier General Brodt's report, and he was keen to determine where to land after his own reconnaissance, rather than relying on the intelligence of informants within the Qing state, as Colonel Dupan astutely analyzed, "The British, fighting with superior forces on the best side of the river, naturally hoped for their own landing, and at the same time watched the joke of the defeat of our army on the other bank." ”

As the director of the French Army's Topographic Survey Department, Dupin was one of the protagonists of the French Army's reconnaissance unit, and the heads of the French Army's reconnaissance unit included Colonel Bouz and Lieutenant Colonel Schmitz.

After experiencing the delay of the British, Bu and Shi led a small group of soldiers and sailors, first on the "Saigon", and then on three small boats, sailed ashore in the starry night. As a result, they sank into a large and thicker sludge and moved very slowly. "The moon shines in the sky, illuminating their adventures, while they make their way through muddy pools with difficulty; The vast puddles left behind by the low tide of the sea are like illusory ponds sleeping in front of you......", the romantic Frenchman Du Pans poetically described, but this is not the time for lyricism!

The reconnaissance team carefully inspected the terrain, and as a last resort, if the conditions were favorable, the soldiers might be able to get through the area, but the horses, carrying their suits and war supplies, would probably not work, and the artillery would be even more difficult!

When the reconnaissance team was preparing to evacuate, it was attacked by more than 40 Qing cavalry, and a French corporal was shot in the neck with a bow and arrow and died on the spot, and the French reconnaissance team returned fire and caused the Qing army to lose about 20 riders, and finally the French army chose to retreat with difficulty in the mud.

After an unsuccessful reconnaissance attempt, the French were left in a quiet wait, and they could only wait for good news from the British side soon. (To be continued......)