General Sutton led more than 2,000 British troops to defend the city of Tianjin, including the 1st Battalion of the British Barphoss Corps, the 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the East Surrey Corps, and the 15th Punjab Regiment composed of Indian soldiers.

When the coalition forces captured Tianjin, they relied on the advantage of the rebels within the Qing army to defect in front of the formation, and bombarded the Qing army's batteries and positions outside Tianjin with a large number of artillery, and finally defeated the Qing army. After the coalition occupied the area, apart from a few simple reinforcements and repairs to the outer batteries, the rest of the fortifications did not do much rest.

This is not to blame General Sutton for being lazy, in addition to the defense of Tianjin City, the two thousand British troops are also responsible for maintaining the law and order of Tianjin City and military supply trivialities, which are really unable to spare manpower, and the Nanyang coolies and local recruits cannot be effectively organized, in the words of General Sutton, it is a miracle that he can mobilize these spiritless coolies to maintain various military supplies in Tongzhou. The forts used by the Qing army by the canal outside the city were built by General Sutton who asked the British soldiers to drive the coolies with leather whips and other punishments, otherwise the few Indian corps companies sent out to garrison would have to be stationed in a rubble.

At the same time, there was not a single Allied artillery unit left in Tianjin, and General Sutton was only given more than 100 old artillery pieces left by the Qing army. General Sutton did not have much hope for these artillery, and after receiving the artillery, General Sutton organized several exercises to test-fire these Qing artillery, but it was found that their accuracy was very poor, and the firing charge was defective, and the guide could not hit far. Subsequently, the British army switched to the propellant ratio of their own army. As a result, after several shots were tested, three of the five guns were blown up or cracked. At last. Even the most daring Indian soldiers of the Punjabi regiment refused to use this Qing artillery. In desperation, General Sutton had no choice but to order more than 100 artillery pieces to be placed on several batteries and the walls of Tianjin. But the soldiers can do without them, and they look more like decorations that serve as a threat.

Although the defense of Tianjin City was not satisfactory, General Sutton did not feel that there was anything wrong, there was the main force of the coalition army in Tongzhou in front of him, and there were more than 2,000 British and French troops led by Major General Napier in the Tanggu area behind him. Perhaps there was no need for reinforcements at all, and General Sutton even believed that his British boys would be able to crush the poorly equipped and combat-ready Qing army in the field. Of course, General Sutton's imaginary enemy was the Qing army. And the Taiping army was not considered.

But just more than ten days ago, news came from Tongzhou, a corps of the Taiping Army appeared on the periphery of the capital like a divine soldier, and the Tongzhou Allied Army Command gave General Sutton a military briefing, and General Grant only briefly explained a few words at the end of the military intelligence briefing, reminding General Sutton to strengthen the defense of Tianjin City, because the location of Tianjin is very important, and she is the transfer station of logistics materials for the entire Tongzhou Allied Army.

When General Sutton got the news, he didn't pay much attention to it. Grant did not specifically advise or even give direct military orders, the situation at that time was that the coalition forces were thinking that the Taiping army would not risk going to war, and the initiative to start the war was in the hands of the coalition forces, so General Sutton only sent a small team of reconnaissance troops. Reconnaissance around Tianjin.

The mission of the British reconnaissance team in Tianjin was a beautiful difference for the British soldiers in Tianjin, who could temporarily leave Tianjin, a populous and dirty Qing city, and go to the countryside to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Chinese countryside. By the way, there can also be a wealth of robbery activities to carry out. Therefore, the actions of the British reconnaissance team were echoed by the vast number of officers and men. The soldiers who were sent to the reconnaissance team were overjoyed, and the soldiers who stayed behind were disappointed. The reconnaissance operation lasted a week later. Faced with the complaints of several battalion officers, General Sutton had to change the reconnaissance team to a rotational system to ensure that each company could get the opportunity to go out to reconnoitre.

Since the Taiping sent representatives to conduct paralyzing negotiations in Tongzhou, the reconnaissance operations of the British army in Tianjin focused more on the amount of looting than on the early detection of the enemy. The French military chaplain, Protestant Father Juya, angrily denounced the British army's behavior as a joke about the supply lines of the entire coalition army, and at the same time he accused the British Indian soldiers of causing a large number of casualties among the ordinary people of the Qing country during the reconnaissance operation, which was the behavior of robbers and murderers! However, the priest's accusation did not give a clear understanding to the stubborn General Sutton, who thought that this was the usual way of accusation by the French, who merely expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of ration of the French army through the accusations and complaints of the military doctors, priests, and even military reporters.

In the afternoon, the British squad that had gone south to reconnoiter the village of Shuangtang returned, bringing back abundant booty, and the Punjabi Indian officers who led the team claimed that they had killed five Qing spies and found no trace of the Qing army or any other army. As punishment for an Indian soldier who was attacked by local residents during the capture operation, the Indian officer ordered a detailed search of the entire village and confiscated some belongings as compensation.

After listening to the report, General Sutton knew that this was the usual excuse used by everyone, and did not delve into it, but went to the Indian military camp to visit the unlucky ghost who was heroically wounded. After the Indian uprising was suppressed, the British army began to pay attention to the treatment of Indian officers and soldiers, although it was still different from the British soldiers, but at least in the superficial work of officers' condolences, they received enough attention.

In the barracks, General Sutton saw the Indian soldier, his thick blue wrap had been removed, and his forehead was a large black bruise, a large lump. General Sutton briefly comforted me and asked about the injury, and the soldier said excitedly: "I was the first to rush into the house of the Qing people, and there was a heavy deadbolt behind the door, which hit me heavily on the head......

General Sutton interrupted the soldier with some embarrassment, and after a few words of comfort, the soldier said that the wounded were well worth it, and that the soldiers had snatched a few crafts (a few beautiful porcelain teacups) and a few heavy silver ingots (the resident had hidden them in a water tank, but they were still found), and the soldier had received the lion's share of the wounded.

In the end, General Sutton lectured the Indian officer outside the barracks and told him to keep the soldier's mouth in check, but later he saw that in the few beautiful gifts sent by the Indian officer, General Sutton still praised him and promised to apply for a low-ranking medal for the Indian soldier.

After returning to his office in the Yamen, General Sutton met Second Lieutenant Schmidt, who had arrived from Tongzhou to deliver the letter. From the face of the second lieutenant, General Sutton sensed a hint of unease.

After reading General Grant's handwritten letters, General Sutton's face turned green, and he roared in a frustration, cursing the vile and shameless Taiping soldiers, claiming that they were not God's people, but the devil's Satan's clowns on earth, who could almost be compared to Judas, who betrayed Jesus.

After General Sutton's feelings had calmed down a little, Second Lieutenant Schmidt reminded: "General, according to General Grant's order, the army led by Michael and General Collino will return to Tientsin at noon at the latest, please be ready to receive it." ”

General Sutton asked his attendant to serve Ensign Schmidt a cup of hot coffee and said, "This is no problem at all, but I need manpower to strengthen the fortifications here, and although it is unlikely that the Taiping army will launch any effective offensive against Tianjin, we still need to prepare." ”

Second Lieutenant Schmidt said: "Major General Michel has brought back a thousand Nanyang coolies with the army, and you can consider recruiting local residents to work, General. General Grant was more concerned about whether there were any signs of Taiping army activity found around Tianjin during this time? ”

General Sutton shook his head and said: "We have conducted reconnaissance of hundreds of villages and towns around Tianjin in ten days, and have not found anything, you can go back and tell General Sù Grant, we can wait for the reinforcements of Major General Michel, and then strengthen the fortifications, we will not be afraid of the Taiping army." I don't believe that the Taiping army will attack us here in Tianjin tonight, but the navy that is still roaming in Dagu should beware of a surprise attack from the sea, although the Taiping army's fleet is very weak, they still have some ships with combat effectiveness. ”

Second Lieutenant Schmidt took a sip of coffee, got up and saluted, and said, "General, I agree with you, so I will go to Tanggu to convey the order to General Napier, and finally convey the news to the navy." After saying that, Second Lieutenant Schmidt left Tianjin City in a hurry with a few entourage.

Second Lieutenant Schmidt and the four cavalrymen all arrived in Tianjin on horseback, and after crossing the Tianjin Canal, they did not go by boat, because it was getting dark, and the allied ships on the canal were rarely dispatched at night, and compared with the ships, at close range, Second Lieutenant Schmidt still felt that he could reach the mouth of Dagu faster by choosing the way of horseback.

Two kilometers after leaving Tianjin, Ensign Schmidt and his party came to a village east of Tianjin, Ensign Schmidt did not know where it was, but it was already dark, and they decided to eat a little dry food before leaving.

Not far from this village, there is a beautiful thatched-roof Chinese pavilion, Schmidt and his four soldiers ate some dry food in the pavilion, and several Qing farmers in the distance hurried home, and the village was full of chickens and dogs, and no one dared to come out to look. Schmidt didn't have time to pay attention to this, he just wanted to finish his meal and continue on his way.

His subordinates lit the embers in the fire pit in the pavilion, and lit a bonfire, illuminating the surroundings, and Ensign Schmidt began to feel a little homesick when he looked at the bonfire, he especially missed his wife who was thousands of miles away, and God knows when he would be able to go back.

Suddenly, a crisp gunshot rang out, and the head of a soldier next to Ensign Schmidt blossomed, and blood and brains splashed Ensign Schmidt's head and face, and while Ensign Schmidt was still stunned, another soldier was hit, and the other two and Schmidt immediately lay on the ground. Then there was a rush of footsteps, and several bright bayonets appeared in front of Ensign Schmidt...... (To be continued......)