Both Generals Grant and Montauban had sensed something very wrong lately, and the intuition of the soldiers told them that danger seemed to be looming, because the Taiping army had not moved and had not launched an attack on the capital as they had predicted, not even a few shots. Years of experience in China have made Grant feel that the old Chinese saying is very dialectical and philosophical, that if things are impermanent, there must be demons, which means that if things do not happen according to common sense, there must be something strange.

The reconnaissance team of the coalition army frequently reconnoitred the camp of the Taiping army, but because the other side often sent cavalry to patrol around, the reconnaissance team of the coalition army could not get too close to the barracks, but according to the intelligence that the reconnaissance team had returned in the last ten days, several large camps of the Taiping army were very quiet, and the soldiers were still consolidating their positions, and there were not too many military movements. But the more this is the case, the more Grant and Montauban have no confidence in their hearts, what is the purpose of the Taiping Army to retain their combat strength?

The optimistic estimation of the envoys did not make Grant happy, and the negotiations dragged on for two weeks, and Grant could not bear it anymore, and he met with General Montauban in his camp, and then the two Supreme Commanders of the Allied Forces summoned Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili and Colonel Dupan.

General Grant voiced his concerns, and then he set up a coalition to venture out at night to reconnoitre, with the aim of using the night to get as close as possible to the Taiping camp, so that he could get closer to the Taiping army's movements.

The assignment was simple, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili led a platoon of scouts to reconnoiter the Nanyuan camp, and Colonel Dupan led the French reconnaissance team to take charge of the northern camp, in Grant's words. This reconnaissance was risky, as it was more dangerous at night. The Taiping army will definitely lay mines outside the camp, which increases the risk of the reconnaissance team hitting the mines. But Wu Shili and Du Pan accepted the task anyway. Because they also felt a strong sense of unease.

The reconnaissance team set out separately after twelve o'clock in the morning, and Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili personally led the reconnaissance team along the original daytime road, and soon they reached the closest point to the Taiping army camp during the day, and then they were advanced by experienced engineers. At this time, there were no mine detectors, and the sappers could only rely on their experience to detect mines, such as turned over dirt, such as obvious tripping lines, etc., and other than that, it was their lives.

But fortunately, after advancing 200 meters, no one touched the mine. Wu Shili breathed a sigh of relief, although he had only advanced two hundred meters, it was closer to the Taiping army's camp. Just as Wu Shili was about to order everyone to continue to advance, the vanguard made a gesture, and everyone quickly fell down on the barren grass.

Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili trotted forward, lay beside the vanguard and asked in a low voice, "Sergeant James, what's the situation?" Sergeant James pointed in the direction of the Taiping Army camp and whispered, "Lieutenant Colonel, I feel that there are people in front of me." Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili looked up, but only the wind blew through the barren meadow from time to time in the dark night. The long barren grass was blown undulating, but Wu Shili tried to keep his eyes open and couldn't see anyone.

"Sergeant, but I can't see anyone." Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili whispered, "Sergeant James is an experienced sergeant. Wu Shili still admires him more. Sergeant James frowned and said, "Lieutenant Colonel, I swear there must be someone ahead, but I just can't see it, so I stopped." I always felt that something was wrong. The two observed for a while, but still found nothing. Finally, Wu Shili said in a low voice: "Sergeant, we can't lie here until dawn." Sergeant James nodded helplessly and said, "Lieutenant Colonel." Let's move on, but let everyone be careful and walk a little lighter. ”

After gesturing, the scout team of more than 30 people divided into three parts, and advanced in a zigzag pattern, and after carefully advancing fifty meters, Sergeant James once again made a gesture to stop advancing, and he felt very bad, as if he had stripped naked and was being watched by countless pairs of eyes.

At this time, a crisp gunshot rang out, Sergeant James and the British soldiers of the reconnaissance team nervously raised their weapons in their hands, followed by a series of torches around them were lit and thrown in front of them, by the light of the fire, Sergeant James saw clearly that less than twenty meters away from the opposite side, rows of black holes of guns were aimed at them, front and back, left and right!

"Lay down your arms! You are already surrounded, don't put up a defense! The caller spoke in English and French, and although Sergeant James had immediately ordered the soldiers around him to form in battle formation, they all knew that they were surrounded by the enemy, and that none of them would survive if the fire was fired.

"Damn, we're surrounded!" "Where did they come from? What the hell! "Boss, are we going to fight back?" The soldiers pressed nervously, but Sergeant James couldn't do anything.

Fortunately, at this time, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili came out of the queue in the left rear and said to Sergeant James: "Sergeant, let them lay down their weapons, we have fallen into a damn trap, and we don't have to make unnecessary sacrifices." ”

Although the soldiers of the British Empire were elite, the Red Shirts still maintained the traditional foreign army style, and in the case of absolute disadvantage between friend and foe, few commanders would order their soldiers to make unnecessary sacrifices, and laying down their arms was the only way out.

After the British soldiers laid down their weapons, someone quickly came up and took them away, and it was only then that Sergeant James saw their attire. The men, all dressed in dark green camouflage uniforms, were covered with weeds and blackened faces, and dozens of such soldiers surrounded the British reconnaissance team, and a man who looked like an officer stepped forward.

Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili immediately stepped forward and said arrogantly to the man: "We are soldiers of the British Empire, you have no right to seize us and confiscate our weapons, this is an act of war!" ”

The officer lit a cigarette, and Wu Shili saw his rank clearly, which was the rank of second lieutenant in the Taiping Army, and the second lieutenant officer took a puff of cigarette and replied in English: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, you have intruded into our military restricted area, according to the regulations, you are prisoners, please follow me back to the barracks." ”

Wu Shili's loud protest was ineffective, and under the threat of bayonets and muskets, more than 30 British reconnaissance soldiers were taken prisoner and escorted back to the Taiping barracks. Along the way, they traveled around the curve, which shows that the Taiping army did lay quite a lot of mines on the road in the later distance.

Sure enough, after marching for a while, the second lieutenant did not hide anything at all, he pointed around and said, "Lieutenant colonel, you guys are dangerous to come out at night like this, do you know?" It's all around here with mines that we've laid. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili snorted and said, "How did you know we were coming? The second lieutenant shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know, anyway, our company has been out of the forward position for several nights in a row recently, and you have to ask our staff why they know that you are coming, anyway, I don't know." ”

Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili was shocked, if the Taiping army had arranged like this for several nights in a row, it could be seen that they had been on the embankment early in the morning to carry out the night reconnaissance operation of the coalition army, why did they do this? Could it be that they had some secret operation at night?

Walking to the gate of the camp, the defense here was still tight, after the second lieutenant and the guard exchanged passwords, the camp gate opened, and Wu Shili and his party were brought into the camp, and then he noticed that several companies next to the camp were gathering, they were carrying heavy backpacks and a qiē military supplies, it seemed that these companies had a long way to go.

The two Taiping soldiers on the side muttered quietly: "Another battalion has gone south, where are they going?" "Who knows, I heard that I am preparing to go south to open up supply lines." "Nonsense, you, from Beizhili to Huai? How far is that road? General Lin Fengxiang's nearest army is still near Xuzhou. ”

The two soldiers spoke the southern Cantonese accent, Wu Shili has been in China for many years, and is very familiar with the Cantonese accent, he can't help but be surprised after hearing it, it seems that the Taiping Army has been transferring troops to the south for a while, but even the soldiers don't know where they are going, which shows that the Taiping Army has a heavy plan, what do they want to do?

While pondering, several officers, including Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili and Sergeant James, were taken to a camp tent, where Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili met an old acquaintance, the legendary general of the Taiping Army, Li Xiucheng, who had known Li Xiucheng during the Taiping Army's Ningbo Campaign, and the Taiping Army's achievements were also widely circulated among the coalition forces.

Li Xiucheng stood up very politely and shook hands with Wu Shili, but Wu Shili protested angrily: "General Li, my people and I have been barbarically detained here by you, this is an act of war!" ”

Li Xiucheng looked at Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili indifferently, except for some grass wool on his body, the lieutenant colonel's military uniform was still very clean and complete, and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel, you and your people have broken into our military restricted area and taken hostile actions, of course we have the right to take the means of seizure." As for the word barbarism, it seems that it is not close to the side, you and your people are not injured, how can it be barbaric? ”

"Then please release us as much as you can, and return our weapons." Wu Shili replied forcefully.

Li Xiucheng shook his head and said with a smile: "This is a diplomatic incident, and it still needs to be resolved through diplomatic negotiations, so I can only ask you and your people to stay with us for a few more days, and then let you go back after negotiations." After saying that, Li Xiucheng did not give Wu Shili a chance to speak again, and ordered the soldiers to escort them down, and Wu Shili's loud protest was useless.

After being held in the Taiping army camp for three days, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili and others were not mistreated, and enjoyed the treatment of prisoners with good food and drink, but they were not allowed to leave the camp for half a step.

In the evening of that day, Wu Shili was taken out alone, and the officer who came to escort him said: "Your Excellency Lieutenant Colonel, our King of the West wants to see your ......" (to be continued......