Shuangtang Village, Jinghai County, Tianjin Prefecture, was early in the morning, the sky was just bright, and the old man in the village was grinding and grinding under the kang head, and looked at the scene of the four walls of the house, without mourning. Qi Xiaoshan, the son of Qi Laohan, fell asleep at the other end of the kang, Qi Laohan rubbed his cloudy eyes and called: "Xiaoshan, get up and go down to the field." ”

Qi Xiaoshan on the kang said angrily: "Don't go, the food you have worked so hard to grow has been snatched away by the god-killing dog foreigners, no matter how hard you work, it will be in vain!" ”

Qi Laohan said angrily: "The hardest winter has survived, in this time of chaos, it is good to be able to save your life, what do you expect?" ”

Qi Xiaoshan was also afraid that his father would be angry, so he had to get off the kang and muttered: "Dad, when the official army passed a few days ago, they robbed it first, and a few days ago, these foreign devils came again, and even the grain we managed to hide was robbed, and there was no way to live this day." These days to kill the officers and soldiers and foreign devils, we might as well go to the south and cast long-haired to kill these dog officials and foreign devils! ”

Qi Laohan was startled, and a big-eared scraper hit him, and scolded: "What is not productive, can long hair follow casually?" Follow and be careful that the Bodhisattva blames you after death, and you will go to the eighteen layers of hell. Don't talk about it, hurry up, you go to the field now, I'll go to Mrs. Liu's house to see if I can borrow some food. ”

Qi Xiaoshan was very unwilling to stroke his face, tied straw sandals, drank a bowl of cold water from the wooden barrel in the corner, the hunger in his stomach dropped slightly, he yawned long, pushed the door out, and only when he went out was tripped by something, he fell to the ground. Qi Xiaoshan turned up angrily and scolded: "What kind of dog thing to mess with your grandfather......" He opened his eyes wide and saw that it was a soldier wearing a colorful clothes and a steel helmet who tripped over him. The next man swallowed back the word raw, only to see that the soldier was sleeping at the door of his house. And he was surrounded by soldiers who were sleeping in all the colorful military uniforms, looking around. I saw that the entire village was full of people sleeping at the crossings and roads.

Where had Qi Xiaoshan seen so many soldiers, and he actually slept at the door of his house, but he thought that if what he said just now was heard, it was terrible, and the crotch of his pants was hot, and a soak of urine was spilled in his pants. I saw that the soldier was mixed by him, and he also woke up, and saw Qi Xiaoshan sitting on the ground with a big fork, disgraced. The crotch of his pants was wet, and he couldn't help laughing: "Little brother, are you okay?" His Jiangnan accent made Qi Xiaoshan breathe a sigh of relief, fortunately, he was a Chinese, not a foreign devil. I saw that the soldier slowly stood up, put away the blanket covering his body, picked up the long musket beside him, and walked over. The head of the gun also contained a shiny bayonet.

Qi Xiaoshan was so frightened that he wailed and shouted: "The official spares his life, the official spares his life, the little one didn't trip you on purpose, the official spares his life..." I just said a little that this grain is ours, and I was scraped by those officers and soldiers. Now that he actually tripped an officer and soldier, he still has to be beaten up?

Qi Laohan could hear the movement. When he came out of the house, he saw soldiers sleeping on the village road outside the house, full of colorful clothes. Seeing his son begging and sitting on the ground, a soldier took a musket and was walking over, and his heart to protect the calf was great, and he had the courage to rush over and hug his son, with his back to the outside, and begged: "The official spares his life, the child is not sensible, and he collided with the official, and the official's subordinates are merciful..."

The big-headed soldier was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "Boss, I didn't say I wanted your life, come, get up and talk, I asked if this little brother had a fall injury, I slept at the door of your house, and tripped the little brother, but I'm really sorry." ”

Qi Xiaoshan and Qi Laohan glanced at each other, as if they had heard some strange talk, and the soldier said to his grandfather that he couldn't help it? Where did these people come from? Qi Laohan hurriedly pulled his son up and said to the soldier: "Official, this can kill the old man, the child has rough skin and thick meat, and it's okay to fall a few times." Can we go, sir? The soldier smiled and said, "You two can do it yourself, it's okay." ”

While talking, I only heard the loud sound of the military horn in the distance, low but crisp, and it was strange to say that the soldiers in green shirts who were sleeping on the road heard this military horn, and they all turned over together and hurriedly began to pack their bags.

The soldier also turned back and began to pack his bags. Qi Laohan, father and son, were so frightened that they hurriedly ran back to the house and closed the door. Qi Xiaoshan leaned against the door, gasped and said: "I'm scared to death, I'm scared to death, there are so many officers and soldiers sleeping outside the silent house, Dad, how do you say these officers and soldiers are different from our officers and soldiers in the Qing Dynasty?" If it were really the officers and soldiers of the imperial court, they would have to go into the house and drive us out, and they would have slept in the house by themselves. ”

Qi Laohan wiped the sweat from his forehead, leaned over the crack of the door and said, "I don't know, but these officers and soldiers look much stronger than those rabbit soldiers a few days ago." Speaking of this, Qi Laohan suddenly lost his voice and exclaimed: "Xiaoshan, don't they all have braids?!" ”

When Qi Xiaoshan heard this, he turned his head to the crack in the door and took a closer look, and sure enough, those soldiers in green shirts didn't have braids behind their backs, "Dad, they, they should be the long hair in the south!" Qi Xiaoshan trembled a little when he spoke, for fear that the long hair outside the door would hear it and come into the house and kill the two.

Fortunately, those soldiers had no intention of entering the house at all, only for a while, the soldiers in green shirts outside the house packed their bags, stood in a line with muskets on their backs, and shouted out what a little rest, standing upright, and the soldiers in green shirts lined up neatly, no one laughed, no one staggered, and no one spoke, they all stood straight, and they looked really mighty and majestic. Qi Xiaoshan's heart swelled with enthusiasm, and he praised it in a low voice.

A horse came at a gallop, speeding along the village road, and kept shouting all the way: "The officers and soldiers of the first division, one regiment, and three battalions!" Meet at the threshing floor! Meet at the threshing floor! Don't disturb the people! Don't disturb the people! ”

The green-shirted soldiers who heard the order along the way, under the order of the commander outside the queue, turned around together and marched towards the threshing floor at the east entrance of the village. Qi Xiaoshan's father and son saw that this group of green-shirted soldiers seemed to have no malicious intent, so they became bold and opened the door and stood at the door to watch.

I saw that the neighbors around me also opened the door one after another, and many peasant men gave a thumbs up and praised: "What a mighty general." "I think it's better than the officers and soldiers of the past few days!" "It's much more powerful than those foreign devil soldiers yesterday." "Where did they come from?" "They're not officers and soldiers, don't you see that they don't all have braids? It's the long-haired ...... of the south."

The soldiers in the green shirts walked in a procession, without squinting, and without disturbing the people, and the last group of officers and soldiers who walked by, pushing several large carts of grain, distributed some grain to every villager along the way. When he sent to the door of Qi Laohan, Qi Laohan choked up with tears in his eyes and said: "Official, how can this be made, these are all military rations, and it is already wrong for small households to not offer some food and salary, how dare you ask for the official's food?" I can't do it, I can't do it. ”

The soldier who distributed the food said with a smile: "Yesterday, I heard that the village was harassed by the Qing demon army and foreign devils, we are the heavenly soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, that is, our own Han army, and we will give you some food." Our Taiping Army is supported by our hometown fathers and elders in the land of China, and we are all from poor backgrounds, and we all know all kinds of hardships. After that, he took a bag of grain and sent it to Qi Laohan's arms.

Qi Laohan took it, gratefully pulled Qi Xiaoshan to kneel down, and said, "It's still the benevolence and righteousness of the Taiping Army, the old man thanked him." The soldier hurriedly helped the two of them up and said, "The old man doesn't have to be like this. Qi Laohan said: "No merit is not lost, what is the military master's send, just say, this old man is very familiar with it, and he is willing to lead the way for the army." ”

The soldier smiled and said: "No need to be old, there is already a guide in the army, I just hope that my boss will remember our Taiping Army, and in a few days our Taiping Army will go on a large-scale northern expedition, and everyone's hard days will come to an end." With that, he beckoned his companion and went up and down the house.

In the north of Shuangtang Village, in the main camp of the First Division of the First Army of the Taiping Army, in the big tent, Li Xiucheng watched the officers above the regimental level under his command arrive, stood up and said: "This Jinghai County is very close to Tianjin, and this Shuangtang Village was just looted by the foreigners' reconnaissance team yesterday, so we were temporarily stationed here after we arrived yesterday, and I believe that the foreigners' reconnaissance team will not come again for the time being." According to intelligence, most of the coalition forces in Tianjin, except for the reconnaissance team, have been stationed in Tianjin, and only a small number of troops have been stationed at some intersections and dangers outside the city. Today should be the day when the King of the West declares war on the Anglo-French forces, and we will be the first to attack the city of Tientsin by the afternoon. ”

All the generals shouted together: "Understood! ”

Chen Alin, the commander of the First Division beside Li Xiucheng, coughed, and also stood up and said: "The First and Second Infantry Regiments of our First Division serve as the main attack, the Artillery Regiment of the First Division serves as artillery support, and the two regiments of the Second Division are waiting in concealment in the area of Gujiazhuang in the west of Jinghai County, and they will serve as the flank cover task of our main attack force. Then they took a boat south and returned to Shanghai and other places to consolidate their concession in the south. Therefore, in the battle of Tianjin, we must be fast and ruthless, and the second division will block the enemy from Tongzhou, and once we conquer Tianjin, we will immediately withdraw and go back to join the second division to annihilate the British and French forces that come to help! The generals shouted together: "Understood! ”

Zhang Mingjing, the instructor of the first division, continued: "Along the way, if there are villages that have been sacked by the Qing army and the British and French forces, we must be given rice and grain, and we have a weak public base in the north, so this move can dispel the doubts of the people in the north about us, and declare that our Taiping Army is a division of benevolence and righteousness, and it is absolutely forbidden to disturb the people!" Violators will be dealt with by military law! The generals shouted together: "Understood! ”

Li Xiucheng snorted, nodded calmly, and said: "The British and French forces want to help the Manchus to deal with us, we can only fight back and defeat them first!" If the Kingdom of Heaven is to truly unify the whole country, it must remove a single obstacle! The first shot was fired at the British and French by our 1st Division! Everyone has their own mission orders in hand, and they will follow the orders! Go ahead! All the generals saluted together, Li Xiucheng, Chen Alin and others returned to the military salute, watching the generals and officers come out in a row, and walked away quickly with firm steps. (To be continued......)