At noon the next day, Li Xiucheng, the advisory group, and the general staff had jointly put the prepared battle plan on Xiao Yungui's desk, and then the messenger sent back to Shanhaiguan also set off, and Liu Xin, as a messenger, brought detailed instructions from the king of the West to Zuo Zongtang and others in the south of the Yangtze River.

In addition to tactics and tactics, the factors of victory or defeat also depend on striking a correct target at the right time, the capital defended by the Manchu Qing Dynasty seems to be weak, but its threat is far less than that of the Anglo-French coalition army, and the Taiping army and the Anglo-French coalition army will have a battle sooner or later, the fundamental reason is that the Taiping army and the Anglo-French alliance army began the game of fighting for the hegemony of the Far East early.

Although the Taiping Army and the Anglo-French Allied Forces still had a lot of economic cooperation in Jiangnan, the political differences between the two sides were inevitable. In the face of the increasingly powerful Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and its hard-line foreign policy, in order to continue to expand its influence in the Far East and ensure the interests of the Far East for a long time, restricting and hindering the development and growth of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom became the primary political goal of the two countries.

Historically, the Anglo-French alliance was the second Opium War that completely confirmed their hegemony in the Far East, but the so-called Opium War was just a meaningless title for later historians, and Britain and France wanted more than just the opium trade. The First Opium War only knocked on the door of the country at that time, but it was the Second Opium War that completely defeated the spirit of the Manchu Dynasty for more than 200 years! Britain and France then began to intervene in China's civil war, and eventually allied with the Manchus to suppress the Taiping Rebellion.

Similarly, in this time and space, Britain and France also launched the Second Opium War, Xiao Yungui was keenly aware. With a change in British and French policy towards China, they will no longer remain neutral. Just as Britain and France intervened in the American Revolutionary War, wherever there were interests, there would definitely be imperialism such as Britain and France. From the moment the Anglo-French expeditionary force sailed to the Far East. The seeds of a rupture between the two sides had already been planted, and it was only a matter of time before war broke out.

The Taiping Army's adventure to the north cannot be said to be a mistake in the decision of the Western King, on the contrary, it is precisely because the Taiping Army appeared in the capital like a surprise army, completely disrupting the deployment of Britain and France, and the complication of the shape shì made the British and French, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty all fall into a strange situation, and the truth that the enemy's enemy is a friend seems to be invalid here, and the three parties all have the selective proposition of who should strike first, and the one who chooses the right one to strike first will undoubtedly occupy a very big advantage.

Xiao Yungui once again came to the front line in person, since the battles of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. He hadn't been to the front line in person for a long time, and the first thing Li Xiucheng had in his battle plan was to return to Shanhaiguan with the messenger, and then take a boat back to the south from Shanhaiguan. But Xiao Yungui refused, the war that was about to break out with Britain and France in the Gyeonggi region will completely affect the future national fortunes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and it is also a war that will determine the future fate of the sons and daughters of China. So he rejected Li Xiucheng's Jianyì, and instead sat in the Nanyuan camp, where he would witness the victory of the Taiping army!

From the day the Taiping Army was founded, the war never stopped. The long years of war made people grow up quickly, and a series of military reforms in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also transformed the Taiping Army from a feudal peasant rebel army into a modern hot-weapon army, the most obvious place is the formulation of detailed battle plans.

Li Xiucheng's battle plan is very detailed. This is a concentrated expression of collective wisdom, and at the same time, the detailed topographical and geomorphological data of the Gyeonggi region is the result of many years of reconnaissance by intelligence agencies such as Tongguò Baektaetang and the Intelligence Department. Thereupon. The Taiping army had more detailed military maps than the Anglo-French army, and would not make the mistake of getting lost during the march of the Anglo-French army.

In the afternoon of the same day. King Xi approved the battle plan, but this battle plan except for the senior generals above the division level, the rest of the soldiers are not clear, the slogan is still to actively attack the demon cave of the Qing Demon, and in order to confuse the British and French and gain time, the West King once again sent a negotiating envoy to the British and French coalition forces.

Qian Jiang as a negotiator led people to the British and French camp in Tongzhou, at first Qian Jiang was instructed to delay the British and French as much as possible to let them relax their guard, but when Qian Jiang arrived at the coalition camp, he unexpectedly met another group of people.

Qian Jiang met Prince Gong of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the headquarters of the Anglo-French forces in Tongzhou? A group of people, it turned out that they also came to negotiate with Britain and France.

The appearance of the Taiping envoys such as Qianjiang in front of the Manchu envoys seemed to be deliberately arranged by Britain and France, and after the two sides met, the atmosphere suddenly became tense, and it seemed that the Manchus and Britain and France were not very pleasant to talk about. With a tense face, under the eyes of the Taiping army, he led the Manchu people to leave the field directly, and the two sides did not have any communication.

Sir Ergin was very happy today, as he expected, the situation changed again, the previous tough Manchu and Taiping troops suddenly sent envoys to negotiate, which showed that Britain and France have taken the initiative in the decisive battle between the two sides, Britain and France, as the decisive force, whether it is to join the Taiping army to attack the capital or to unite the Manchus to attack the Taiping army before and after, it is a very good choice. Sir Ergin was very proud at this time, after the last time the talks with the Taiping army collapsed, he did not declare war with the Taiping army under impulse, and continued to maintain that kind of pseudo-neutrality so that the coalition army once again benefited, and both sides could not wait to come to negotiate with Britain and France.

As for why the Taiping army suddenly changed its attitude, Sir Ergin was a little confused, could it be that the Taiping army saw that the Manchu capital was well defended, and was afraid that it would not be able to attack for a long time and be attacked from behind by the coalition army? Or did the intimidation of the coalition force work, and the stubborn King of the West figured it out? But in any case, it would be good if the Taiping army was still willing to negotiate, so Sir Ergin met with Qianjiang and his party after finishing the negotiations with the Manchus.

Qian Jiang, who is also an old fox, has been speculating about what they came to talk about with foreigners since he saw Prince Gong and his party from the Manchu Dynasty? Talking about joining forces with foreigners and attacking the Taiping Army before and after? If that's the case, the Taiping army will be in danger.

Qianjiang spent the whole negotiation process thinking and guessing what the Manchus had negotiated with Britain and France, so he was a little absent-minded, so the first negotiations between the Taiping Army and Britain and France did not make much progress. Qian Jiang only conveyed the negotiation request of the king of the west, and the Taiping army made certain concessions, agreeing to hand over the Manchu royal family to the British and French forces after conquering the capital, but in exchange, the British and French had to hand over the occupied Tongzhou and Jintang areas.

Sir Ergin naturally denied it, and he did not agree to hand over the Jintang area, arguing that it was the city and territory that the British and French forces had taken from the Manchus, and that they could only be returned to the Manchus, and that the Taiping army would then take them from the Manchus.

The negotiations between the two sides also seemed to have reached an impasse, and Qian Jiang did not get too entangled because he did not find out what the Manchus had talked about with Britain and France, and when the two sides could not continue to talk, Qian Jiang took the initiative to adjourn the meeting for half a day and resume negotiations the next day. That night, the envoys of the Manchu Qing and Taiping armies all lived in Tongzhou, but they were far away, and the British and French forces were worried that something would go wrong on both sides, so they specially sent additional soldiers to guard them.

That night, Qian Jiangtong guò bribed a lot of money and obtained some news about the negotiations between the Manchus and Britain and France from a Chinese interpreter of the Anglo-French coalition army. It turned out that since the British and French coalition forces failed to negotiate with the Taiping Army, they took the initiative to contact the Manchu Qing and intended to negotiate with the Manchus. Come and talk to you in person.

Abundant? Although he came to the camp of the British and French coalition forces, the negotiation conditions given to him by the Empress Dowager Xi were also very tough, the British and French coalition forces could provide weapons and ammunition, but they had to hand over the rebel leaders such as Mianyu and Ronglu first, and their soldiers must be commanded by the generals appointed by Man Xin.

Naturally, Ergin could not agree to such a request, and his reason was simple: the rebels numbered in the tens of thousands, and they were not under the control of the Anglo-French forces, so they could not return the army to the Manchus, let alone the leaders of the rebels. Although the rebels led by Mianyu and Rong Lu and others play a small role at this stage, Erjin is still unwilling to give up on them like this, they are also a card in Ergin's hand, and they can still take it out and play a dozen when necessary. So, the two sides didn't talk very pleasantly at the beginning. Seeing the arrival of the Taiping Army's envoys, he was naturally even more unhappy, so he left the scene angrily.

Qian Jiang, who got the news, breathed a sigh of relief, it seems that the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Britain and France had a great deal of resentment in the previous Battle of Jintang, and it is unlikely that the two sides will lose their faces and make peace as soon as they come up, and then join forces to flank the Taiping army before and after. And the appearance of the Taiping envoys also made the Manchus feel pressure. Naturally, like himself, he would guess the purpose of the Taiping Army's negotiations, and since this was the case, Qian Jiang felt that he was sure that the negotiations between the two sides would be disrupted, and he would delay the time.

So, starting from the next day, Qian Jiang began his plan to stir up the situation, while continuing to negotiate with Britain and France, from time to time let his subordinates pretend to be careless or bribed, and sent some news of the negotiations to Yi after exaggerating or misinterpreting them. Know.

And the Manchu here? After seeing Qian Jiang and others, they really felt that it was very tricky, and they were also worried that the Taiping Army would shamelessly attack Beijing City with Britain and France. He also inquired about the purpose of the Taiping Army's negotiations through various means.

In the next ten days, the envoys of the Manchu Qing and Taiping armies staged scenes of open and secret battles in the small city of Tongzhou. The negotiators on both sides came up with their own clever tactics, watching, bribing, and listening to all kinds of means, and at the negotiation table, the two sides constantly changed the content of the negotiations according to the information they received about the other side's negotiations.

Sir Ergin originally wanted to negotiate with the two sides, so that the British and French forces could get the maximum benefit, but the changing content of the negotiations between the two sides made the British and French envoys also feel troubled, but fortunately, both sides are constantly lowering their tough stance, in short, things are developing in a direction that is beneficial to Britain and France, so Sir Ergin is also happy.

As a result, time was lost in repeated quarrels and secret battles, and the members of the British and French envoys, such as Erjin and Gro, were blinded by the excellent situation in front of them, and did not notice that the Taiping army had been moving its troops under the day and night march from the next day...... (To be continued......)