On 16 March, when the weather was fine, Lord Ergin came from Xinhezhuang to the city of military rations, where he came to visit the two generals, Montauban and Grant, and briefed the Allies on the note they had recently received from the governor of Zhili. At the same time, General Grant also informed Sir Elgin of some of the contents of the documents found on the Qing Dynasty officials who had killed themselves outside the military ration city. Among them was an encyclical stamped with the emperor's imperial seal, which commanded all subjects, regardless of the Manchu or Han dynasties, to "exterminate the Yikou" by all means, such as killing wild beasts.

The encyclical pointed out that the thief first captured the king, and Ergin, as the "culprit", offered a reward of 1,500 piastes (about 12,000 francs, piaste is a kind of currency unit, which is called a kind of silver coin in China and foreign circulation), and the two commanders of the coalition army, Montauban and Grant, were each worth 1,000 piastes (about 8,000 francs).

Ergin wondered what was the point of this, and whether wars between states had turned into private vendettas. But Rong Lu explained that this was the usual practice in China, and he pointed out that the encyclical showed the determination of the Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong to resist to the end. Ergin agreed, arguing that leaders like Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong who were "extremely xenophobic" were not worthy of allegiance. At the same time, Erjin became more enthusiastic about helping Rong Lu and other Manchurian nobles to set things up anyway, and it was indeed not a pleasant thing to be rewarded with a head.

In the note of Hengfu, the governor of Zhili, it was still a cliché, and he had always warned the coalition army that expanding the war would mean that the Qing army would fight to the end. But this time, there was an extra person's name at the end of the note, Peng Yulin!

The coalition forces are not familiar with this Peng Yulin. However, Rong Lu knew his name, and he warned the coalition generals that this was a dangerous person. He had a wealth of combat experience, especially in the Taiping Army, which was very similar to the weapons, tactics and coalition forces.

Montauban and Grant were not very concerned about this, they believed that the strength of the coalition army had been deployed and had been well supplied, and the Qing army's equipment and combat methods were backward, and a Peng Yulin could not do anything in a short period of time. But soon, they suffered.

March 18th. The Anglo-French forces, especially the French army, were preparing to actively intensify the erection of pontoon bridges 5 kilometers from the Tanggu fortress in the upper reaches of the Baihe River. In fact. General Montauban was determined to launch a military operation on the right bank of the river, and he hoped to control the White River and force the Qing army to a decisive battle as soon as possible.

He sent Colonel Levi with a company of engineers to reconnoiter there with the task of capturing a village across the New River. To control both sides of the White River. They were confronted by a Qing army. The battle was fierce, and the Qing army took advantage of the terrain to launch a counterattack, and soon the French reconnaissance team called for support. French Artillery Lieutenant Colonel Fourlon. Granchamp commanded the mountain artillery bombardment, and as soon as the cannon sounded, the Qing soldiers in front of him took the initiative to retreat. General Ran Man personally led a strong army and set up camp on the right bank of the White River.

That night, the French army on the right bank of the White River was attacked by thousands of Qing troops who were not afraid of death, and the French army did not set up too many obstacles outside the barracks. The mines were also very few, and the Qing army used more than 100 cattle to open the way. This was followed by a large number of cavalry and infantry storming the French camp. After a night of scuffle, General Ranman had to lead the rest of the men to retreat to the left bank, artillery lieutenant colonel Fulon. The mountain artillery company commanded by Grand lost twelve guns on the right bank, and the troops crossing the White River lost more than 500 men.

General Montauban, who came to inquire about it, was very angry, and General Ran Man was very ashamed, they did not expect that the Qing army would launch a large-scale night attack, using the night to offset the advantage of the coalition army's firearms, and this hand Peng Yulin and other Qing generals who fought with the Taiping army in Jiangnan were all customary, but for the Taiping army, this tactic had little effect in the back, because every time the Taiping army arrived in the future, it must first take down the hard village, and the Qing army could not attack at night at all, but the British and French coalition forces were not prepared in this regard. Or rather, they were carried away by a string of victories.

General Montauban's actions were criticized, the Tanggu fortress was not taken, and it can be said that it was useless to forcibly set up a support point on the other side of the White River. Wu Shili believed that it was a wrong idea to occupy the right bank of the White River, although this statement would displease the French.

On March 19 and 20, the two commanders of the coalition forces met, and the important generals of the two sides jointly agreed on the next step, and Rong Lu also attended as a special adviser. Due to the appearance of Peng Yulin, Seng Lingqin did not send a large number of soldiers and horses to recapture the military grain city, on the contrary, they continued to strengthen the Tanggu fortress, and the coalition forces needed to capture the Tanggu fortress before they could capture the Dagu fortress. This meeting was crucial to the overall situation, because the longer the coalition forces were delayed here, the more time the Qing army had to adjust and concentrate its forces, but it was a pity that Montauban and Grant could not agree on the route of the march, and they faced risks in a joint campaign.

Montauban always advocated that, with the support of gunboats, the main battery of Dagu on the right bank of the Baihe River should be captured first. Dunn and other Britons who love to speak ill of others say that General Meng wants to fight for great merit and personal merit. In Montauban's view, once the main battery fell, it would make it impossible for the other batteries on the left bank to be breached. Therefore, in addition to the military significance itself, there was also a psychological factor in attacking the main fort: twice in a row, the British and French troops suffered a great defeat in front of the Dagu main fort. Now to show the Chinese that the time for revenge has come!

Grant categorically opposed the French plan, believing it to be too risky. He pointed out that in order to reach those forts, it was necessary to cross the river first, which would bring many difficulties, and crossing the river would have the disadvantage of extending the communication line of Beitang. Secondly, it was necessary to venture through a flooded section where the right flank of the army was exposed to enemy cavalry blows. In addition, he explained that even if the main fort of Dagu was lost, the strength of the other forts and the defensive strength of Tanggu Town would still be there.

Grant tried to persuade his French colleagues to change the direction of the battle according to Ronglu's construction, first pull out the Qing army camp on the periphery of the military grain city, and then make a large-scale detour to the flank of Tanggu and Dagu forts to cut off the supply line of the Qing army, and then wait for the Qing army to collapse without occupying itself. In Grant's opinion, things are very simple, and his own plan is easy to implement. However, this plan will take time, and now the coalition forces are running out of time......

General Collino also agreed with the military deployment in accordance with the advice of the British commander-in-chief, and Commander Montauban remained in his personal position. He even stressed that the strength of the coalition forces could not completely cut off the supply lines of the Qing army, and that the plans of Grant and Ronglu were completely useless in his opinion. However, Montauban said that he would fight alongside Grant if he was determined to carry out his plan, but he felt compelled to file a written protest!

Sure enough, the next day Grant receives a long letter from Montauban stating his personal reasons. In his letter, Montauban explained that the British proposed a plan of battle that was contrary to his position in terms of how to act; However, in order to express his desire to participate in joint operations, he would still send French troops to "act in concert with friendly forces." At the end of the letter, Montauban added that his observations were aimed at exonerating his government of military responsibility! The British military despised this attitude, and some British historians did not think so.

Grant replied the same day, questioning Montauban's arguments. Gerch only stressed that his only concern was how to take the Dagu fort in a short period of time, and at the same time keep the casualties to a minimum.

Is there really the best of both worlds? Just when the two British and French commanders were fighting, an incident affected the final decision of the coalition forces.

On this day, Rong Lu was very excited to rush into Grant's military tent, which was very rude, but soon Grant forgave him, because Rong Lu brought good news, a Qing army guard of the Dagu Artillery Taipei Fort was ready to take refuge in Rong Lu!

This Qing army general is a local general in Tianjin, a member of a faction in Hengfu, since the arrival of Seng Greenqin, he has been ostracized, and later because the generals under Seng Greenqin have died a lot, he was able to take up the important position of guarding the North Fort. After Hengfu fell to Ronglu, the people of his faction naturally slowly defected under Hengfu's persuasion.

The two sides have agreed on the time of surrender, since the North Fort can be easily taken, Grant came up with a more daring plan, taking advantage of the loss of the North Fort, the coalition fleet cooperates, and the coalition forces will storm the main fort of Dagu, as long as the main fort of Dagu is taken, the rest of the forts will not be attacked, and after taking the fort group, Tanggu Town will be a dead place!

The British commander really made a big bet! He was not unaware that if he suffered another defeat in front of the Dagu fortress, his military career would be over, and it would also ring the death knell of the Anglo-French alliance. Worse still, it would lead to the fall of the London government. He knew as well as Elgin that in fact, this war against China was very unpopular in Britain.

On the night of the 20th, the Colino column and the 102nd Infantry Assault Regiment drove to camp under the North Battery, so that they could start their actions in the early morning of the next day.

The British sappers, on the other hand, built bridges or aisles over the canals crisscrossing the plains overnight, preparing to pave the way for the subsequent storming of other batteries. Taking advantage of the fire from the Chinese side of the North Fort, the bridge erectors and tunnel soldiers accelerated the construction progress, and General Napier, who had been an engineer officer, was responsible for supervising the completion of the bridge erection project.

At about 4 o'clock in the morning, the artillery was in front, and the large force left Xinhe. Due to the terrain conditions, it was not suitable to deploy large forces, so the British army mobilized 2,500 officers and soldiers, and the French army dispatched more than 1,000 men and 2 artillery companies. Accompanied by The Times' reporter Bobbay, Ergin climbed to the roof of a temple and watched the battle nearby.

The weather was dreary and silent, and Erjin looked at the Dagu main fort from afar, and his heart was still up and down. The main fort was recently fortified by Monk Greenqin, surrounded by three water-filled trenches, connected by obstacles and a net of traps and rows of crossed wooden piles buried deep underground.

The fort wall is 5 meters high, and many cannons are erected in the window openings of the chest wall of each pheasant. In the center of the fort was an inner bunker that served to extend the range of sight and fire, and six heavy guns were placed on it, usually firing into the river, which by this time had been pointed to land. The batteries on the right bank have a range of shells near the batteries on the opposite bank, and can provide fire support to them in battle, while the advantage obtained by the coalition forces is only the support of the batteries on the north bank.

Will the coalition's assault be able to take the nightmare fortress? Elgin plucked a handful of sweat in his palms, but he remained calm in front of reporters, and the Times reporter Sir Boubai wrote of this: During this military operation, Sir Ergin has been standing there, like a statue, firm and unyielding...... (To be continued......)