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In the city of Tianjin, the 5th Infantry Corps of the Qing Army stationed in Tianjin was already in chaos, and a group of soldiers ran out of the barracks under the leadership of the officer, entered the position of the front line, and prepared to resist the attack of the Imperial * army. The 5th Infantry Corps of the Qing Army was composed of soldiers who had originally retreated from the Shandong battlefield, and they were also chased like rabbits by the Imperial Army on the Shandong battlefield. Many people stayed in the army because of the high salaries offered by the Manchu government, and it was unlikely that they would fight with the Imperial Army.

"Dog's day, those rebels actually killed in Tianjin, what can I do. If you really can't do it, you can only run away again. A tall low-ranking officer of the Qing army muttered in the direction of the Dagu Fort.

This is definitely not his idea alone, in fact, many officers and soldiers of the 5th Army of the Qing Army, except for those bannermen and senior officers, probably have the same idea. If they continue to fight, their only consequence will be to be eaten by the Imperial Army in one bite. If you can escape, there may be a way to survive. Even if the Manchu Dynasty perished, they would still be able to be a submissive citizen!

In the Governor's Palace, the Governor of Zhili, Nerjing, was pacing back and forth, although he had long expected that Tianjin would be attacked by the Chinese Empire, but the suddenness of the war still caught him a little off guard.

"Lord Junmen, how is the front line? Will we be able to hold it? Governor Nar asked. In front of him was Lieutenant General Toamin, the commander of the 5th Infantry Corps of the Qing Army.

"Your Excellency. I can't tell you what I wanted. However, the Dagu Fort was built at a cost of tens of millions of taels of silver, and we had tens of thousands of troops there. The chief soldier Cheng Yu is also a rare general, and it is not so easy for those rebels to capture the Dagu Fort. Lieutenant General Toamin said.

The Governor of Nar nodded, and he agreed with Lieutenant General Toamin's words. In order to defend against the enemy from the sea, Gong Wei Jing Division. Over the years, the imperial court has spent a lot of money on the Dagu Fort. So many large-caliber coastal defense guns purchased from the British are not ornaments. Plus tens of thousands of well-trained troops. No matter how strong the bandit is, it is impossible to conquer it in a while!

In fact, the Dagu Fort, on which the Governor of Nar and Lieutenant General Toamin had placed high hopes. It was crippled in less than two hours after the start of the battle. Almost all of the shore defense guns purchased with a lot of money were destroyed by the naval guns of the Imperial Navy from the sea, and the casualties were even heavier. After the fort was blown up, all the Qing artillerymen who were hiding did not end well. Under such a blow. Tens of thousands of garrisons of Dagu Fort led by Cheng Yu, the chief soldier of Tianjin Town. The losses were heavy, more than half of the men were killed or wounded on the batteries, and only two or three thousand people were able to continue the battle.

After destroying the Dagu Fort, more than 10,000 officers and men of the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Imperial Marine Corps began landing operations. One after another, the landing craft were densely lined up on the sea, heading towards the coast at high speed, and it was impossible to count how many there were. It makes the scalp tingle. Seeing such a situation, the Qing troops stationed at the Dagu Fort did not even have the courage to resist.

"Lord Commander. What are we going to do? There are so many rebels, how can we beat them! A junior officer said to Cheng Yu in despair. It was clear that the rapid destruction of the Dagu Battery, coupled with the massive landing of the Imperial Marines, had already made them lose confidence.

"The Dagu Fort can't be defended, withdraw to Tianjin! There are still 50,000 troops there, and they may be able to stop the rebels. Cheng Yu said. Now, he can only pin his hopes on the 5th Infantry Corps in Tianjin. If the attacking Chinese Empire* army was small, they might still be able to hold out. However, this time the Empire's army attacking Tianjin was more than 80,000 people. It was absolutely impossible for a poorly equipped and demoralized 5th Infantry Corps to hold back the advance of the Imperial Army.

The fall of the Dagu fort in less than two hours shocked the Governor of Zhili, Nar Jing'e, and the commander of the 5th Infantry Corps, Lieutenant General Toamin, and at the same time, they were even more worried about the heavy artillery fire of the Imperial Navy.

The landing of the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Imperial Marines did not meet any decent resistance at all, and the Dagu battery and docks were captured lightly. The Qing army did not have time to blow up the dock, which became the most wrong part of their battle. If they blow up the docks, it will not be so easy for the heavy equipment of the Imperial* army, especially the heavy artillery of the heavy artillery brigade, to be loaded and unloaded to the shore. As a result, the mistakes of the Qing army undoubtedly accelerated the defeat of the Qing army.

The 1st Infantry Corps of the Imperial Army began to land, and the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Marine Corps began to bypass the city of Tianjin, preparing to block the retreat of the Qing army in the city. Conquering Tianjin City is not a victory. To annihilate the tens of thousands of Qing troops in Tianjin at once, this is the victory!

On March 16, the Imperial* army did not launch an attack on the city of Tianjin, but was preparing for battle. The 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Marine Corps successfully detoured to the west and south of Tianjin, blocking the retreat of the Qing army in Tianjin. The 1st Army and the 3rd Heavy Artillery Brigade of the Imperial Army also disembarked, leaving only the 10th Infantry Corps still on board. Although the army has not yet all disembarked from the ship, there should not be much problem if you want to take Tianjin with the current strength. After all, whether in terms of equipment or the morale of the troops, the Empire* army was more powerful than the Qing army.

On the morning of 17 March, the artillery of the 3rd Brigade of the Imperial Army's Heavy Artillery and the 1st Brigade of the Imperial Army, concentrating more than 150 105-mm light howitzers and 120 75-mm field guns, began to launch a fierce artillery bombardment of Tianjin. Although the 5th Infantry Corps of the Qing Army stationed in Tianjin had more than 50,000 people, they were equipped with few cannons. At the time of the decisive battle in the Central Plains, many of the heavy weapons of the Qing army fell into the hands of the imperial army because they were too late to withdraw. As a result, the reorganized troops of the Qing army generally lacked artillery, and the 5th Infantry Corps of the Qing army was equipped with less than twenty cannons in total. After encountering the heavy artillery bombardment of the Imperial Army, the artillery of the Qing army immediately launched a counterattack, but in less than ten minutes, the artillery of the Qing army was completely suppressed.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Dense shells exploded within the walls and inside the city of Tianjin, smoke rose inside the city, and buildings were destroyed in the shelling. There were very few civilians in the city, so when the artillery of the Imperial Army opened fire, it could also avoid causing too many casualties to innocent civilians.

The Qing officers and soldiers stationed on the city wall of Tianjin suffered heavy losses under the heavy shelling of the artillery of the imperial army. Many of the recruits were even more frightened by the overwhelming shells. They threw away their weapons and fled off the wall, and no matter how much the officers tried to drive them away, they could not drive them to the top of the wall. This made the defense of Tianjin City continue to decline.

At 9:14 a.m. on March 17, the engineers of the 1st Army of the Imperial Army blew up a city wall in the east of Tianjin, after which the officers and soldiers of the 1st Army of the Imperial Army attacked the city of Tianjin and engaged in street fighting with the Qing army.

It stands to reason that street battles are usually very tragic, and in street battles, the Empire* army, which is not familiar with the terrain, may have to pay a lot of casualties if they want to win. But in fact, this was not the case, the Qing army in Tianjin did not resist actively, and once they were caught up by the Empire* army, they quickly threw away their weapons and surrendered on their knees. Under such circumstances, if the Qing army wanted to hold Tianjin, it would be impossible at all.

Only half a day later, the 1st Army of the Imperial Army had captured half of the city of Tianjin.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the governor of Zhili, Nerjing, and the commander of the 5th Infantry Corps of the Qing Army, Lieutenant General Toamin, saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly led the remnants of more than 20,000 defeated generals to break through from the west of Tianjin. However, they were intercepted by the 1st Brigade of the Imperial Marine Corps, which had been waiting here for a long time. Although the 1st Brigade of the Imperial Marine Corps had only more than 6,000 men, its strength was less than one-third of that of the Qing army that broke through. However, in front of the blockade line composed of field artillery, mortars, and heavy machine guns, the Qing army had to retreat back into Tianjin after hitting its head and bleeding and leaving behind corpses in the ground.

By the afternoon, the attack of the 1st Army of the Imperial Army had become more intense. There was no hope of breaking through, which made the morale of the Qing army even more sluggish, and there was even a case of an entire row and company of Qing troops surrendering to the Empire* army.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the 1st Army of the Imperial Army captured the Naoli Governor's Palace, and the 300-strong Zhili Governor's Palace Guards were all wiped out in the stubborn resistance. The governor of Zhili, Nerjing, was also killed in battle. Lieutenant General Toamin, Admiral of Zhili and commander of the 5th Infantry Corps of the Qing Army, surrendered to the Empire. In addition, Cheng Yu, the chief soldier of Tianjin Town and the commander of the Dagu Fort, finally chose to commit suicide and martyrdom.

Tianjin, which was garrisoned by more than 50,000 people, was conquered by the Empire* army in two days. Except for less than half of these Qing troops, the rest chose to surrender to the empire. It can be seen that these Qing troops have completely lost their fighting spirit, and in a desperate situation, they simply do not have the courage to continue fighting.

After taking Tianjin, the 10th Army of the Imperial Army, which did not participate in the battle, took the lead in advancing to Beijing, and then the 1st Army also advanced to Beijing the next day. The 1st and 2nd Marines were responsible for guarding Tianjin and securing logistical supply lines.

Three days later, on the morning of March 20, the forward troops of the Imperial* army had already appeared on the periphery of the Beijing Division. (To be continued......)