After the first exploratory attack, it was already 5:14 p.m., and Major General Michel looked at the sun that was gradually turning west, and knew that it was impossible to attack again, so when discussing with General Colino, the two decided to reinforce the field camp of the coalition forces, rest for one night, report the war back to Tongzhou, and then continue the attack tomorrow.

Fearing that the Taiping army would attack at night, Michel and Colino were very cautious, arranging one-third of their troops to be on duty, and then taking turns to rest in three shifts, while Michel and Colino divided the work, one for the first half of the night and the other for the second half of the night.

Fortunately, the first half of the night was spent in peace, and at twelve o'clock General Collino came to the headquarters camp to prepare to replace Major General Michel and give him a good rest for a few hours.

Just after the two of them had spoken a few words, the messenger who had rushed back from Tongzhou arrived and sent an urgent military situation, and the two hurriedly opened the letter under the candle and read it. At first glance, both of them gasped, it turned out that this morning, not long after Major General Michel and Colino led more than 8,000 people to leave, at 10:45 in the morning, the Taiping army opposite Tongzhou began to attack the Tongzhou coalition army......

Back in the morning, under the blazing morning sun, Montauban and Grant held a military meeting as soon as they saw the troops of Michelle and Colino away. At the meeting, General Grant said very sternly: "Gentlemen, we are now very dangerous, the enemy has launched a long-planned attack on us, the strength of the Taiping army is more than double ours, and according to the information we have received, the enemy has divided the strength of one division into several detours to raid Tianjin. And the remaining forces are still confronting us opposite us, and I believe it will not be long after. They will launch attacks on Tongzhou, Baliqiao and other places that we occupy. ”

General Montauban agreed: "The enemy is expected to have forty or fifty thousand men, as well as elite cavalry units. Since our forces were scattered at various key points along the road from Tanggu to Tongzhou for more than 100 kilometers, the commander of the Taiping Army must have seen the weakness of our one-word front, so they launched a targeted attack on this key point in Tianjin. ”

Grant continued, "So, we have to clench our outstretched fingers and make a fist so that we can turn the tide." Michel and Colino have already led a group of officers and soldiers to set out, and then we must leave Tongzhou as much as possible, but if all our troops in Tongzhou are withdrawn, the Taiping army on the opposite side will be pursued unscrupulously. Therefore, we need a rear army to hold the Bali Bridge and hold Tongzhou, so as to cover the retreat of the large army to Tianjin. ”

At this time, the coalition army still has more than 10,000 troops in Tongzhou, and the strength of the troops left behind the palace cannot be too much, and only about 3,000 people can be left if they die, while the Taiping army on the opposite side has at least more than 20,000 people, or even 30,000 people, to block nearly ten times the enemy with weak troops, and no coalition general dares to undertake this heavy task. For a moment, the conference room was silent.

After a while, the French General Ranman stood up calmly and said majestically and solemnly: "Gentlemen, I am willing to lead the young men of the First Brigade of the French Army to stay. "The 1st Brigade of the French Army consisted of four infantry battalions of the 101st Infantry Regiment (including two battalions of light infantry), two engineer companies of 320 men and one engineering platoon. The total strength is close to three thousand people.

Montauban looked at Grant with a tense face, and the meaning was clear, the British could not have watched the French army stay alone to stop the enemy. Grant hesitated. Fortunately, at this time, someone rose up to relieve him. Brigadier General Croton of the British Army slowly stood up and said, "I am willing to lead the artillery squadron to stay behind to support General Ranman." "Croton commanded three artillery squadrons of the British army, two of which were field artillery and one siege artillery squadron. They are all equipped with the latest Armstrong cannons.

Grant breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately said: "The three artillery squadrons divided half of the artillery and forces to follow the main force back to the division. Leave half of the artillery and troops to guard here. Montauban also nodded in agreement, he still hoped that part of the elite artillery of the British army would follow the main force, and the main force also needed the cover of artillery.

Therefore, the meeting decided that General Ran Man and Brigadier General Croton would stay behind to block the Taiping army on the front line of Bali Bridge and Tongzhou, and cover the retreat of the main force. At the end of the meeting at 9:42 a.m., the allied forces immediately began preparations for retreat, they had too much booty and baggage to pack and take back, while the troops of General Ran Man and Brigadier General Croton began to take over the defensive positions on the first line of the Bali Bridge.

The organizational efficiency of the coalition forces was evident at this time, and each soldier was carrying out the tasks and orders assigned to him, but the time was still very short, and the time passed quickly, and soon it was 10:45.

For more than an hour of preparation, only the second battalion of the Royal Scots Corps of the British Army was ready to go, and while Major Romke, who commanded the battalion, was still waiting for the order to leave, a dense burst of artillery fire came from the forward position of the Bali Bridge a few miles away. Watching the smoke from the explosion rising into the sky from a distance, Major Romke looked at it dumbfounded and said: "God, they have started to attack, I wonder if General Ranman has changed their guard and entered the position?" ”

General Ranman's troops did not fully enter the position, the two light infantry battalions of the 101st Regiment took over the central position of the Bali Bridge first, and the British 70th Bengali Corps at the forefront had not yet changed guards with the French army, the position was full of chaos, the Bengali soldiers were ready to withdraw from the position with their baggage, and the French army was ready to go to the position, at this time, the Taiping artillery fire fell.

"Anti-artillery! Enemy artillery fire! "The French soldiers and the Bengal soldiers began to hide in confusion, and the Taiping concentrated almost all their artillery to pour shells on them, and the improvised fortifications of the allied forces were quickly blown to pieces, and the soldiers suffered heavy losses in the shelling.

When General Ran Man rode across the Bali Bridge and rushed to the position, he saw that his eyes were full of devastation, and the herald hurried over and said loudly: "General, Brigadier General Croton's artillery position has been constructed, and he is ready to fire back!" Before the words fell, the British artillery positions in the rear began to fire shells at the front, and the shells whizzed over General Ranman's head.

"Let the British give up the suppression of the enemy's artillery, and their infantry will come up soon!" General Ran Man's judgment was extremely accurate, and after the Taiping artillery fire destroyed the simple fortifications of the first-line positions of the coalition army, the group charge of the infantry immediately began amid the sound of the loud military trumpet.

After the herald departed quickly, General Ran Man shouted to his adjutant: "Give the order to the 1st and 2nd battalions and the remaining engineering troops, let them build positions along the south side of the Bali Bridge Canal, that side will soon be unable to hold it, and we need a bridgehead to cover the withdrawal of the troops in front!" ”

The position opposite the Bali Bridge was indeed undefensible, and General Ran Man judged from the enemy's artillery fire that they wanted to crush the front-line defenders of the coalition army in one go, and at this time General Ran Man began to regret it, the coalition army was delayed in Tongzhou for more than ten days, why did he not take advantage of this time to strengthen their position? In fact, the reason is that General Ran Man also knows that the coalition forces have always put on an offensive posture, and defensive warfare seems to them to be completely unnecessary to consider.

French light infantry has always been an exemplary example of the French infantry, especially the chasseurs in the light infantry, as early as the Napoleonic period, in order to fight against the whole of Europe, the French army had to arm a large number of ordinary people for combat, and these simply armed and trained infantry is an important part of the French light infantry, although they are enthusiastic, but lack the discipline and will of the elite infantry, but their skirmishment tactics still have a very successful and unique side. In 1854, the number of 25 light infantry regiments was cancelled and replaced by a streamlined base unit, and the remaining French light infantry basically belonged to the category of elite chasseurs.

After the two French light infantry battalions were hit by the Taiping artillery fire, they quickly dispersed to avoid the artillery fire, and then they dispersed and hid behind the bombed improvised fortifications, preparing to rely on these rudimentary fortifications to block the attack. Compared to the composure and discipline of the French light infantry battalion, the soldiers of the Bengal regiment were somewhat helpless, some prepared to stay and fight alongside the French, while others prepared to flee the canal, disoriented by previous orders and artillery fire.

Fortunately, General Ranman's order soon arrived, and he ordered the Bengal Corps to withdraw across the canal as much as possible and join the construction of positions on the banks of the canal, while the two light infantry battalions of the French army remained in place to resist. The order was correct, let the panicked Bengali soldiers withdraw to regroup, and the French infantry, with the support of the British artillery, they should be able to withstand for a while.

When the Taiping infantry began to charge the French army in a straggler formation that was different from the French skirmish offensive tactics, the French light infantry began to return fire, and the British artillery, after receiving the order of General Ran Man, began to abandon the suppression of the Taiping artillery fire, and they concentrated on bombarding the Taiping army's skirmish charging line.

The straggler charge line of the Taiping Army was in groups of 5 to 6 people, each forming a straight line, the distance between the soldiers was about five paces, the interval between the groups was about five steps, and the maximum was ten steps, and the sergeant was located 10 steps behind the squad; Each officer was followed by four non-commissioned men and one division commander, and was located 20 to 30 paces behind the skirmishing line. If only a part of the company's strength is deployed, the position of the company commander is between the skirmish line and the support unit.

Such a skirmish line minimizes the impact surface of the soldiers from shells and bullets, and can form an endless line of charge, maintaining the pressure on the width of the enemy's inferior forces. In the process of charging, the soldiers can also use a variety of evasive tactical actions, coupled with the use of camouflage uniforms, this former British and French troops seemed to be called the Flower Child's troops, no sense of military honor, lack of aesthetic sense of the unit after the charge was launched, brought great pressure and shock to the French army.

The French light infantry battalion's standard round military cap, dark blue shirt, and red trousers look so eye-catching at any time, the French army chose the latter between the soldier's life and beauty, while the Taiping army chose the soldier's life very pragmatically, so the French light infantry kept screaming and falling down in the blockade, and the goal was very obvious to the Taiping army...... (To be continued......)