Baodi County is located in the northern part of the North China Plain, and the nearby villages are still located on a plain. The word "坻" in Baodi District was originally only read as "chí", which means highland in the water. It is rumored that Qianlong traveled to this place and blurted out the words "dǐ" of Chengbaodi, which has since become the words of Chrysostom. Baodi, also known as Quyang, is second only to Yuyang (Jixian) and Yongyang (Wuqing), and has been a commercial place since ancient times. In the 20s of the 10th century, the monopoly salt yard was set up because of the "high Fu Pingkuo", which was called "Xincang" and became the salt storage base of the feudal court. After two and a half centuries, due to the prosperity of the population and trade, it was changed to a county. At that time, the income of salt production here accounted for 1/10 of the national salt profit, and the Chinese people regarded salt as a national treasure, so "rich businessmen and giants, and the goods were multiplied".

Most of the wealthy households in Baodi were Changlu salt merchants, and the most prosperous in Baodi was Zhang Jinwen, the most famous salt merchant in the last generation of Changlu salt merchants. Zhang Jinwen is originally from Jinghai, ranking first among the eight wealthy businessmen in Tianjin, and is nicknamed "Hai Zhang Wu", and the business name is "Yizhaolin".

When Monk Greenqin fought viciously with foreigners in Tanggu, together with Hengfu, the governor of Zhili, he Zhang Jinwen donated food and wages to Dagu, when Monk Greenqin was defeated and retreated, he Zhang Jinwen donated to Monk Greenqin, and when Tianjin fell, he was forced to flee with his family. In troubled times, rich businessmen can't guarantee the safety of their property, let alone other ordinary people?

In front of the menacing soldiers, Zhang Jinwen fled to Baodi with his family and business men early to escape the war, where he gathered 2,000 salt dings to protect himself, to more than the Manchu army in Baodi County. At this moment, there were actually not many Manchu soldiers in Baodi County, Tianjin fell, and Hengfu and others took refuge in the British and French forces. The county magistrate of Baodi County also fled early, and Baodi County was actually maintained by Zhang Jinwen.

Two thousand salt dings guarded Baodi. A small group of Anglo-French troops would not come to harass them, and they would be enough to maintain local security. But Zhang Jinwen was afraid that one day the Fan Soldiers would attack, and his two thousand salt would not be able to resist it. But fortunately, after hearing that the soldiers occupied Tianjin, they all went to the capital in one go, and they didn't seem interested in coming to the small place of Baodi, but they could also keep peace for a while.

But yesterday evening, Yanding, who went out to sentry, reported that a large group of people came to Baodi, and Zhang Jinwen was very frightened. Hurriedly sent people to find out what kind of army was coming.

At night, a few hunters, who were agile and agile, found out that they had come to report, and there were two soldiers and horses, one was a soldier, with tens of thousands of people, and the other was the Taiping army under the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which also had tens of thousands of horses.

Zhang Jinwen collapsed to the ground all of a sudden, the soldiers looted but there was no grass, and those Taiping army chiefs listened to the propaganda of the government. It is also aimed at the rich, and the two soldiers and horses that come are not good at stubble, is the foundation of the Zhang family ruined?

Just when Zhang Jinwen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, one of Zhang Jinwen's staff members, Mr. Wen, said: "The owner." I heard that the long-haired man has a good relationship with foreigners in the south, and he also protects private property and encourages industry and commerce, so it is better to contact the long-haired army first. He is always a Chinese person, and he should be able to speak. If you can ask for their refuge with some money and food, you may not be afraid of the nuisance of the soldiers. "Mr. Wen has traveled extensively. He also has some insight, and he also knows that the Taiping Army has a good relationship with foreigners in Jiangnan, but he doesn't know that the Taiping Army has turned against foreigners at this time, and he also said that as long as he can open the joints of long hair, he doesn't have to be afraid of the soldiers.

Zhang Jinwen has no idea, he has heard some rumors before, and he has talked about all kinds of deeds of Changmao in Jiangnan, but before he thought that it was a rumor from the small people in the market and could not be trusted, but at the moment, he could only choose to believe it. At that moment, Zhang Jinwen ordered Mr. Wen to bring more than 100 salt dings, 50 carts of grain, dozens of pigs and sheep, and 100 jars of good wine, and went to contact Changmao.

The long-haired came very quickly, and the Yanding of the Zhang family at the southern gate of Baodi County was still holding a fire to prepare for the greeting gift, and the long-haired striker had already arrived in the city. Mr. Wen climbed the small rammed earth city wall of Baodi County and looked up, only to see that the sparks on the plain were like stars in the sky, and it seemed that the soldiers and horses of the Taiping army were all near and far, and he was also frightened that his legs were weak, but thinking of the instructions of the owner, he had to take several followers out of the city to contact the Taiping army.

Came to the front of the Taiping army with a white flag, only to see that the Taiping army arrived outside Baodi City and was not in a hurry to attack the city, but collectively dug a trench on the ground. Mr. Wen trembled and said his intentions, and the sentry led by the Taiping Army led Mr. Wen to the battle.

Along the way, I saw that these Taiping soldiers were all strong and strong, all of them had muskets, you must know that the muskets are expensive, how much money the owner spent, and the two thousand salt Ding was only equipped with fifty muskets. It's just that their clothes look too strange, they are all colorful clothes, at first glance they look quite like flowers, and they are not very heroic, but this dress is a general.

Mr. Wen secretly slandered himself and was taken to a slightly higher mound, only to see that it was surrounded by soldiers and horses, and the torches were densely illuminated as if it were day, and among them was a general, who was dressed in a big red uniform, with a face like a crown of jade, but had the demeanor of a Confucian general. Mr. Wen stepped forward and knelt down and said, "The little people below, Wen Qianhe, has seen the general. ”

This Taiping army general is Li Xiucheng, he personally led the soldiers and horses to Baodi, just for a big gamble, fortunately, halfway to the road, he had already reconnoitred and learned that the coalition brigade was also coming towards Baodi, Li Xiucheng got the news and then relieved. After arriving at Baodi, he concentrated on the soldiers building fortified positions, just waiting for the British and French troops to come and fight.

Originally, after the Taiping army landed from Shanhaiguan, although there were a lot of Manchu counties under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty along the way, but because of the urgency of the war, the Taiping army did not pay too much attention to the local rich gentry, after the capture of Tianjin, the rich households in the city fled again, died, and there was no contact, I did not expect that there would be local rich families here in Baodi to donate money and grain to labor the army, it was really a little unexpected.

At that moment, Li Xiucheng was very amiable and helped Mr. Wen up and said: "This gentleman looks like a scholar, sir, please get up, our Taiping Army is not happy to bow down." Wen Qianhe got up after thanking him a few words, Li Xiucheng asked about his intention and said with a smile: "Mr. Wen, please go back and tell the shopkeeper, our Taiping army came to Baodi to annihilate the foreign soldiers and horses, and will not disturb the place, please close the city gate, guard the county seat of Baodi, don't let a foreign soldier in, our Taiping army can destroy the enemy outside the city." ”

Wen Qianhe was taken aback, didn't the Taiping Army make friends with foreigners? How did you turn your face and start fighting? I couldn't figure it out for a while, but after listening to Li Xiucheng's words, I put my mind at ease and swore that I would never let a foreign soldier go over.

Li Xiucheng said again: "We don't want grain, cattle, sheep, wine and other things, there are medicinal materials in the city, and there is a shortage of Chinese medicinal materials in the army, can you get more over, and our Taiping Army will pay according to the price." There is also a fight in the morning, can the city send more people to take care of our wounded soldiers, we have a military doctor, thinking of opening a temporary ambulance in the city, I don't know how? ”

Mr. Wen didn't expect that the Taiping army didn't want money and food, and the army didn't enter the city, but just proposed to let the wounded soldiers enter the city, of course, he didn't have a wordy agreement, of course, he didn't dare to ask for the money for those medicinal materials anyway, but Li Xiucheng asked the quartermaster to follow Mr. Wen into the city to purchase, and he had to give money anyway, and in the end Mr. Wen had to follow him.

After returning to the city to report, Zhang Jinwen was still uneasy in his heart, but seeing that the quartermaster who followed him into the city was very polite, his heart was a little relieved, and then he saw that the quartermaster was also paying according to the price when purchasing medicinal materials in the city, and secretly thought that this group of soldiers actually paid according to the price, which is a rare news in a hundred years, so he was even more relieved of the Taiping Army, so he set up a temporary ambulance next to the south gate, and called some Lang Zhong and helpers in the city to standby.

After a busy night, Zhang Jinwen lay down and slept for a while, when the sky was bright, Zhang Jinwen was woken up by the rumbling cannon outside the city, he was so frightened that he hid under the bed all of a sudden, but after listening to the cannon sound for a long time, it was always outside the city. At this time, the door opened, and Mr. Wen came into the house and said happily: "The owner, sure enough, as the Taiping Army General Li said, they fought with the foreigners' soldiers and horses outside the city. ”

Zhang Jinwen completely put his mind at ease, it would be best if the two sides couldn't fight with him, but he vaguely hoped that the Taiping Army could win, although they were still rebelling against the imperial court, but they were still their own countrymen, they could win the foreign devils, and their own countrymen also felt glorious on their faces.

After Zhang Jinwen changed his clothes and left the house, he comforted the panicked family members a few words, and then took Mr. Wen and others to the city to watch how the two sides were fighting. The Taiping army concentrated in the southwest of the South Gate to fight with the foreigners, and the city around the South Gate was already crowded with people who came to see the excitement. After Zhang Jinwen came to Baodi, he set up Yanding to protect the territory and the people, but he also won the support of the people in the city.

Zhang Jinwen climbed to the top of the city to take a look, only to see more than two miles outside the city, the banner of the Taiping Army was erected there, the soldiers of the Taiping Army were hiding in the trenches, and the soldiers of the British and French troops in the distance were dressed in angry horses, lined up in a compact formation, and pressed over to the Taiping Army position neatly in the sound of drums.

There are 10,000 people in the boundless, and the British and French troops have dispatched thousands of people, and the horizontal formations are densely layered, which makes people feel very imposing when they look at it, while the Taiping army has been curled up in the trench, with their clothes called flowers, it looks very ugly.

"Oh, what can I do, it looks like the long-haired soldiers don't dare to come forward to fight, and why are they dressed so shabby, Mr. Wen, if you told me earlier, I will ask the housekeeper to take out those salt and Ding clothes in the warehouse." Zhang Jinwen saw that the Taiping army was inferior to the coalition army in momentum, so he rubbed his hands in a hurry.

Mr. Wen said in a low voice: "The owner, it's the Taiping Army, not the long hair. As for the clothes, I heard the Taiping soldiers themselves say that they were camouflage uniforms, you see, those Taiping soldiers are lying in the trenches and grasses wearing this clothes, you really can't find them if you don't look closely, and it is difficult to be hit by muskets if you don't see them. ”

"It turns out that there is a clever use, these long, oh is the Taiping army is really smart, okay, I am in this city today to watch how they defeat the foreign soldiers......" (to be continued......)