The scorching summer sun is unbearable, at this time in previous years, the masters in the Forbidden City of Beijing may have gone to the Chengde Summer Resort early, but unfortunately this year is different, the army of Changmao, Mianyu, Ronglu rebels, and foreigners is coming to the city, and the royal family in Sijiu City has not gone to the summer resort.

The whole city of Beijing is now like a large military camp, with a total of 80,000 regular troops stationed in the capital, including the Eight Banners Forward Army, 12 battalions of the Beijing Protector Army, 15 battalions of the Shenji Battalion, 25 battalions of the Shaanxi and Gansu reinforcements, and 20 battalions of the Qing Army that shrank near Gyeonggi. In the following days, the remnants of the Seng Lingqin Department fled back to the capital one after another, but many of these soldiers and horses failed to enter the capital, and most of them fled to the Qing army garrison in the three mountains and five gardens outside the city.

Li Hongzhang stood under the porch of the Qianqing Palace, his face seemed to be an ancient well, but his heart was actually worried, outside the city, Changmao set up three large battalions to besiege and threaten the Beijing Division, the British and French coalition forces and the rebels of Mianyu and Ronglu were still eyeing Tongzhou, although there were more than 100,000 soldiers and horses stationed in the capital, but it was as dangerous as an egg.

In addition to the fifteen battalions of the new army's Shenji Battalion, the rest of the eight banners are embroidered pillows, which are useless. Although the 25 battalions of the Green Battalion in Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi are stronger than those of the Eight Banners in the capital, they lack weapons and their morale is even more worrisome. Most of the remaining 20 battalions in the prefectures and counties near Gyeonggi are also green battalions, and the situation is similar to that of the green battalions in Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi. Although the Huaiyong he brought was brave, after the Tongzhou blockade, there were only more than 3,000 people left, and when he retreated, he was surrounded and intercepted by the Taiping army, and lost hundreds of people, and all the weapons and materials were lost. The situation is precarious. Can such more than 100,000 people withstand the attacks of the Taiping Army and the Anglo-French coalition army?

"Anhui Governor Li Hongzhang is here!" Li Lianying's duck-like voice interrupted Li Hongzhang's thoughts. He straightened his official uniform and followed Li Hongzhang into the Qianqing Palace.

In the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace. Prince Gong? , Guiliang, the secretary of the military department, Prince Yiyi and other important ministers of the clan are there, as well as Peng Yulin and Monk Greenqin, who were sent back to the capital by Li Hongzhang early in the morning. Peng Yulin was injured in the battle, and Monk Greenqin was exhausted and caused by old diseases, they returned to Beijing a few days earlier, and after the treatment of the imperial doctors in the capital, although they have not yet recovered, they seem to be sitting on the soft couch in good spirits.

Li Hongzhang looked behind the screen of the East Warm Pavilion, followed by a dozen horseshoe sleeves and made a big salute, Xingzhen's crisp and pleasant voice came from behind the screen; "Aiqing is exempt. Little plum, give sitting. ”

Li Hongzhang sat down next to the pestle, and Xingzhen behind the screen said: "Can the soldiers and horses who broke through be properly placed?" What about the losses? ”

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he hurriedly knelt down and pleaded for his guilt: "The Queen Mother forgives her sins, and the ministers only brought back more than 35,000 people, and the food and guns were all damaged......

Xingzhen interrupted: "Don't blame yourself, it's really not easy to block the foreign soldiers in Tongzhou for a few days, and then break through from the pursuit and encirclement of the long-haired and foreign soldiers." It's good to be back, we haven't lost all yet. ”

Li Hongzhang thanked him before getting up. Prince Gong? Sighed and said, "How is the morale of the soldiers?" ”

Li Hongzhang replied: "The soldiers and generals are stationed in Xiangshan, Yuanmingyuan and other places, and they are temporarily led by the three major people of Yuan Jia, and they have received some food supplements, and their morale is acceptable. ”

Abundant? frowned. He knows Li Hongzhang's temper, Shang Ke is Shang Ke, and he will not exaggerate or conceal it. This army has been fighting from Dagukou to the present, and it is already the most elite soldiers and horses in the Qing army. Their morale is only acceptable, which shows that the situation of the rest of the troops is not optimistic.

Xingzhen then asked, "What does Aiqing think about the current situation?" Can the capital be kept? ”

Li Hongzhang gritted his teeth. Said boldly: "Queen Mother, although the capital now seems to have more than 100,000 soldiers and horses stationed, but in the opinion of the ministers, if there is no foreign aid to the arrival of soldiers and horses, it will be difficult to hold it." ”

Speaking of this, Li Hongzhang stopped, and Xingzhen hummed and said, "Aiqing, but it doesn't hurt to say it." Li Hongzhang continued: "More than 100,000 soldiers and horses are stationed in the capital, lacking money, food, and firearms, and the east, south, and north are blocked by the long-haired battalion. If no reinforcements arrive, the capital will be destroyed without a fight. ”

Xingzhen hummed softly, unable to hear whether she was happy or unhappy, and then asked, "In Aiqing's opinion, is there still strong reinforcement available?" ”

Li Hongzhang looked at Prince Gong. sighed and said, "Shaoquan but it doesn't hurt to talk about it." Li Hongzhang coughed lightly and said: "If you go back to the Queen Mother, there is no strong reinforcement in the left near." Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu and other places have already transferred 25 battalions of soldiers and horses into Beijing, and now the Shaanxi-Gansu rebellion is intensifying, and the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Shen Zhaolin, can no longer draw troops and horses. The soldiers and horses of Henan, Shandong, and the land of Lianghuai did not dare to move lightly, this time the minister and Yuan Jiasan Yuan went north, and the five thousand Huaiyong under the command were also pieced together, and they were really worried that if the troops in the south were too small, they would be calculated by the long-haired Lin Fengxiang Department of Jianghuai. As for the horse team outside the gate, they have to deal with the Rakshasa people and the long hair outside the gate, and it is difficult to draw troops and horses to help......"

Xingzhen snorted, and interrupted again: "These palaces know this, this palace wants to ask Aiqing, if there is enough food and firearms, Aiqing thinks we can reinvigorate the army's spirit and defend the capital?" ”

Li Hongzhang didn't know why, looked at Peng Yulin and Seng Lingqin, and saw that both of them were slightly bowed, and immediately said: "If there is enough food and firearms, it can still be a battle, and the walls of the capital are strong and should be able to hold it." ”

Xingzhen pondered for a moment, and then said slowly: "Let the big guy come here today to discuss one thing, yesterday someone sent a note from the British and French forces, only saying that they are willing to provide food and firearms to us......"

Speaking of this, all the ministers in the house were taken aback, and Yi Yi was the most breathless, and couldn't help but say: "What kind of medicine is this selling by foreign devils?" If they hadn't called, would we have ended up like this? Now they say they want to give food and guns, what do they want to do? ”

Peng Yulin's injuries are not yet healed, several fractures on his body are still wrapped in herbs, and after a little thought on the soft chair, he said: "Queen Mother, this is Yangyi's plan to drive away the wolf and devour the tiger, and now the three camps of Changmao are besieging the capital, and the road to Beijing is blocked by Changmao, it must be that they don't want Changmao to occupy the capital, and provide us with food and firearms, just hope that we can hold the capital." ”

Monk Lingqin shook his head and said: "If you really don't want Changmao to capture the capital, they will directly start a war with Changmao, why bother sending us food and firearms so much?" ”

Li Hongzhang also figured it out at this time, and then said: "Monk King, Yangyi must think that his current strength is not enough to defeat Changmao, so he has this plan, he just wants us to fight with Changmao, and then they can mobilize troops and horses from time to time, and when Changmao and we are exhausted, they will clean up the mess." ”

Abundant? slapped his thigh and said: "That's right, Yangyi really didn't have a good heart." Gui Liang said: "But aren't we just short of food and firearms now?" Can we not want the meat that comes to our mouths? ”

Xingzhen suddenly chuckled a few times and said: "The foreign devils are really calculating, but it's a pity, this food and ammunition are not given to them, after we get the food and ammunition, we don't fight with Long Hair, but we are in us!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the people in the house were shocked again, and Li Hongzhang said in a daze: "Queen Mother, won't we go to war with Changmao after we get Yangyi grain firearms?" Even if we don't fight Long Hair, Long Hair will attack the capital. ”

Xingzhen smiled and said: "You don't have to worry about Changmao, let's talk to Yangyi first, if there can be food and firearms, why don't we?" After finishing speaking, Xingzhen ordered Li Hongzhang to serve as the plenipotentiary minister to negotiate with the foreigners, and took out the charter to see how to obtain the food and materials of the foreigners.

After the arrangement, the ministers retired one after another, and only Xingzhen and Prince Gong were left in the house. Slowly walked behind the screen, frowned and looked at Xingzhen and said, "Imperial sister-in-law, what kind of medicine are you selling in your gourd?" Listen to your tone, won't Long Hair attack the capital? ”

Xingzhen took a sip of tea and said: "The long-haired pseudo-king of the West is not a fool, as long as he finds out that Yangyi provides us with food and materials, he will understand Yangyi's plan to drive away the wolf, and his troops are not too much, the capital is so big, he can't eat a bite now, you can rest assured." ”

Abundant? looked at Xingzhen with burning eyes, and said in a deep voice: "Imperial sister-in-law, since the long-haired soldiers came to the city, you have been so unhurried, not panicked or afraid, sometimes I really doubt that you have any agreement with the long-haired soldiers." ”

Xingzhen leaned on the soft couch, looking at Yi with a pair of beautiful eyes, and said with a smile: "Where did the sixth uncle come from?" What will I do with Longhair? They came into the city to take our lives, what agreement can I have with them? With whom do you agree? That False King of the West? ”

Abundant? was electrified by Xingzhen's charming state, put away her eyes and looked away, thinking to herself, Xingzhen and the pseudo-king of the West can't fight together, who can she have an agreement with the long-haired person? At the moment, he said: "It's just that the long-haired and brainless asked Peng Yulin and Li Mengqun to bring the letter, so I have some suspicions, and the imperial sister-in-law is not strange." ”

Xingzhen got up and walked forward, her delicate body exuding a faint fragrance, leaning on Yi? Eat and smile and said: "The sixth uncle made a mistake again, I said it was a long-haired strategy before, do you still believe it?" ”

Abundant? was leaned by Xingzhen, took a few steps back like an electric shock, bowed his head and said, "Sister-in-law, it's me who is different." Imperial sister-in-law, please respect yourself. ”

Xingzhen leaned in again and chuckled: "This screen is only for you to come in, will you have to be self-respecting again now?" ”

Abundant? was choked, but seeing Xingzhen's charming and silky appearance, he almost couldn't help but hug her, but in the end, Lingtai was a little clear, pinched himself hard, took a deep breath and quickly exited the screen, bowed down and said: "Imperial sister-in-law, my brother still has important things to do, and I have retired here." With that, he hurried away without looking back.

Xingzhen smiled faintly and looked at Yi? The back of the desert and fled said: "You still don't have the courage to fall into my imperial sister-in-law......" followed Xingzhen to straighten her clothes and decorations, and said outside: "Little Lizi, drive the Zhongcui Palace!" (To be continued......)