The fighting over the past few days has given Grant and Montauban a headache, no matter in any era of weapons, the battle is always very difficult to fight, and the Qing army on the opposite side will not retreat, and it will fight with the coalition army with huge casualties.

For several days in a row, the allied forces concentrated all kinds of artillery bombardment, including naval mortars and other heavy artillery, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the sky over Tianjin, and the smell of sulfur in the air was so strong that it was suffocating, but until April 2, there was no sign of the Qing army on the opposite side of loosening.

Since the first day of the attack on the casualties of more than 1,000 people, the coalition forces have not sent a large force to attack the fortification, and the local short assault is just a show, they are waiting for an opportunity, Rong Lu happily told them that in a few days the Qing army will have civil strife.

In the early morning of April 5, the long-promised signal was found in the forward positions of the coalition forces, and several artillery batteries in front of them invariably unanimately unanimous a huge white flag, accompanied by a huge square yellow flag, embroidered with several square characters. Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili was proficient in Chinese, and after reading it, he read it in half-baked Chinese: "Yasukuni is difficult, Qingjun is on the side, the traitorous party is punished, and the two palaces are restored." ”

Wu Shili did not understand the thinking of the Chinese, they were obviously against the Empress Dowager Cixi, so why did they still play the banner of returning the government to the two palaces? In this regard, Rong Lu explained that it was a matter of royal decency, as long as the Empress Dowager Cixi's henchmen in the court and King Gong's party were cut off, then she would have no real power.

Wu Shili was deeply convinced by Rong Lu's explanation, the Chinese have excellent face, and this banner and slogan at least retain everyone's face.

Several batteries stopped resisting, and the Qing army from Chahar defected. The entire Tianjin perimeter defense system completely collapsed in a very short time. Grant and Montauban breathed a sigh of relief, the soldiers of the coalition army were relieved, and even Rong Lu breathed a sigh of relief. Grant and Montauban stopped the assault because they obeyed Rong Lu's words. Now he finally got a satisfactory result and breathed a sigh of relief, while Rong Lu was glad that his plan with Hengfu and Mianyu was not noticed by Peng Yulin.

Since Peng Yulin came to the Jintang area, Rong Lu has a feeling of thorns in his back, and it is always exciting to duel with famous historical generals and calculate each other, but Rong Lu feels that he has always been at a disadvantage, which is because his growth experience is not enough, and he does not have Xiao Yungui's experience of growing up from the war. also lacks the help of capable strategists, Xiao Yungui has a large number of capable strategists such as Zuo Zongtang around him to help him, and Rong Lu is just alone.

The fall of the outer forts left the city of Tianjin directly exposed to artillery fire. The Qing army in the city began a chaotic retreat, but there were still thousands of Qing troops on the city wall desperately resisted, and they bought half a day for the main force of the Qing army to retreat, and finally all died at the head of the city. The highest commander among them was Su Kejin, a fierce general under Seng Lingqin. So far, the four great generals under Seng Lingqin, Su Kejin, Shi Rongchun, He Jianao, and Le Shan have all been killed. It is gratifying that he died in the glorious war of resistance to aggression abroad, but not in the civil war against the Taiping Army.

The retreat of the monk was panicked, it seemed that they were not aware of Hengfu and Mianyu's plan at all, the monk lost a large number of baggage and weapons, and even when Sergeant David rushed into the city with his soldiers to occupy the monk's headquarters, they also saw the monk's hot tea boiling in the yamen of Tianjin's political envoy.

About 8,000 Qing infantry failed to withdraw from Tianjin in time. They were surrounded by their compatriots, the people of the Xishan Ruijian camp, in the large camp in the city. As a result, after more than a dozen generals killed themselves, these Qing troops chose to surrender under the persuasion of Prince Hui Mianyu.

Tianjin, which had held back the coalition forces for nearly ten days in a row, was thus occupied, and the coalition forces had almost no effort. Later, British and French troops were stationed outside the city, and two forts were camped in the middle of the salt storehouse, with the British on the left bank and the French on the right bank.

However, the French commander was very dissatisfied, and Pashali and Grence reached Tientsin by water as soon as possible, and carried out the procurement of munitions very conveniently, and the British army concluded a contract with the main suppliers in the city, who had originally provided supplies for the Chinese army, to ensure the supply of food for the British army, which was praised by General Grant. As a result, when the French army arrived, they could not find any food, and their supplies were very poor, for which Montauban was furious.

According to the regulations, the two armies should share all the food and goods provided in various places along the way. He threatened that in order to feed his subordinates, he had to go to the people's homes to grab food. The British had to back down and apologize. The two armies shared supplies, but fortunately, the Chinese traders and the monks and Gelin had hoarded military supplies, and everything was available.

Tianjin was a large city, an industrial city (there were many handicraft workshops, and it was indeed an industrial town compared to other cities under the Qing army), densely populated, and surrounded by walls. Whether there are 300,000 or 600,000 citizens is not clear, maybe there is a war in the Jintang area, and many people have fled to Tianjin to escape the war.

Montauban's first impression was still the same, the city was "terrible dirty", compared to the clean cities under the Taiping army, the city under the Qing army was simply a region. Bordered by the Baihe River in the east and the Grand Canal connecting Tianjin and Beijing in the north, Tianjin is not only a good port, but also a supply center for the capital, especially rice, sorghum, millet and other grains and other types of food. It was also a city of warehousing, especially for the sale of mountains of salt, as well as skins and products imported from Russia, in the large covered shops, which were full of goods and dazzling goods, so the coalition made its first windfall.

Dr. Armand praised the abundance of supplies in Tianjin: "All the soldiers who have gone out on the expedition have never seen such abundant food. "There are agricultural and sideline products that can win the first prize at the French Agricultural Promotion Association. There are fresh vegetables picked by vegetable farmers - lettuce, onions, carrots, turnips, bamboo shoots, etc.; There are chicken, duck, meat, eggs and game, as well as a variety of aquatic seafood; There are also sugars and shochu and seasonings. Moreover, there is a white grape in the fruit, which is almost the same as that produced in the Fontainebleau region. It can be said that everyone is satisfied, and they are really like the huge Guai in "The Legend of the Giant".

Some of the residents of the city, for fear of being robbed, have fled, and they have fled to the capital, but most of them chose to believe that Seng Lingqin could hold Tianjin and stayed, and as a result, they became people from the occupied area. Tianjin Daotai once threatened: Westerners are all brutal bandits, destroying and looting everywhere. Therefore, the coalition soldiers received orders to be disciplined, and they did not have the right to enter the city. Officers were an exception, so they rushed to tour the city, study the terrain, learn about the products, and prepare for the replenishment of military supplies.

In the city, the British and French envoys and Grant lived in a large and comfortable house, while Montauban preferred to live in the "yamen" at the confluence of the White River and the Grand Canal. The city was not damaged by the shelling, and despite the fierce fighting on the periphery, the coalition forces controlled the coverage of the artillery fire, so now they have comfortable homes instead of rubble.

At the place where they stayed, the British and French ministers, Grant and Rong Lu, met with Hengfu and Mianyu, and after expressing the misfortune suffered by the royal families of the two countries to the Qing royal family, the conversation between the two sides turned to military and political affairs.

Hengfu's words unraveled the doubts in Rong Lu's heart, it turned out that in the shelling on the third day, Peng Yulin came to the front line in person, but was injured, a cannonball exploded not far from him, and he fell off his horse, broke his leg, and suffered internal injuries at the same time, and was bedridden for several days to recuperate, so he was not able to detect Hengfu and Mianyu's plan.

Seng Lingqin was deceived by Mianyu and Hengfu, and Qingjun, a Mongolian compatriot from Chahar, also betrayed him, so Seng Greenqin had to choose to retreat in a hurry, and a small group of guards escorted him to go first, and then his own guards carried Peng Yulin's stretcher and left Tianjin, and then thousands of infantry troops followed and fled Tianjin. Fortunately, the cavalry corps of Seng Lingqin was not in the city, and they were stationed a little farther outside the city, mainly to guard against the detour of the coalition forces and cut off the passage from Tianjin to the capital, so they escaped.

Governor Hengfu demanded the protection of the lives of the inhabitants of Zhili and promised to treat the coalition forces as honored guests. Sir Elgin, however, was not ashamed to claim that he was the master of the place. Therefore, he ordered the occupation of the nearest city gate of Tianjin, which was actually only a symbolic occupation. The citizens present watched the actions of the coalition soldiers with curiosity and were not hostile. Soon the ministers of the two countries invited Hengfu and Mianyu to participate in the flag-raising ceremony, and the English and French flags fluttered on the tower of the East Gate. In front of Chinese, the British army presented itself as the only victor with such bravado......

Mianyu and Hengfu were somewhat embarrassed, while Rong Lu looked as usual, and Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili had privately discussed that this Qing nobleman seemed to want to become British citizen after the war, and Wu Shili didn't know how to answer this bold idea.

After showing the proper demeanor, the talks between the two sides entered a substantive stage, Mianyu showed the edict of the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty in public, and hoped that the coalition forces could join him in the letter he sent and issue a joint letter together.

Sir Ergin understood the meaning of the text, and he was happy to accept the terms of the joint declaration, and the French Minister Gro agreed, and they all wanted to put on a more legitimate cloak for this military operation.

At the same time, this declaration was exchanged for the promise of a free supply of all supplies in Tientsin, which made the French even more happy, and the British to some chagrin, because they had signed some supply agreements in advance, which meant that they still had to pay the Chinese merchants. Upon hearing of the British plight, the Governor of Hengfu, Dadu, publicly relieved the British of their obligations under the agreement on behalf of the Chinese merchants, claiming that supplies were also provided to the British free of charge. The British did not know how the Governor could represent the Chinese merchants, but since there were free things, they naturally laughed at it. Afterwards, Pashali learned that under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, officials could represent the interests of the people, which was really an incredible thing.

The next day, the British and French ministers Sir Ergin and Sir Gro jointly signed and stamped the joint document, and finally spread it to the world, calling on all the soldiers and civilians of the Qing Kingdom to rise up to crusade against the traitorous party in the court, and Prince Gong was portrayed as the biggest traitor after the regent Dorgon! The history is called "Lianyang Jingdifficult"! (To be continued......)