On the city wall, Rear Admiral Chanet looked at the opposite bank with a gloomy face, and he walked down the city wall without saying a word, he walked down the city wall quickly, he had to stop this crazy move, once these navies had an accident, it would be completely finished!

In the headquarters, Erjin was gloomy and kept silent with a pipe in his mouth, the Qing court refused to form an alliance, and the Tianjin negotiations broke down, which was tantamount to forcing the Four-Nation Alliance Army into a desperate situation, and the more than 10,000 troops stationed in the Majiakou area to contain the new army of Tianjin Yuanqi were now in extremely dangerous situations, and he must send troops to meet them and let them withdraw.

"The report ——, call from Tianjin, and the new army of Yuanqi has launched an attack on our army's position."

"Order Grant to hold on and wait for reinforcements, and tell him that 20,000 reinforcements are on the way and will arrive tomorrow morning." Ergin said in a deep voice, the negotiations broke down, and the new army of Yuanqi launched an attack, which he had expected for a long time, but he believed that even if he was besieged by the Yuanqi army, the Grant Department would be able to rely on the fortifications for two or three days, and the arrival of reinforcements would definitely be able to get them out of trouble.

"Your Excellency, you can't take such a risk." Shanai strode in and said without any scruples: "We don't know the combat power of the Yuanqi New Army at all, 20,000 navies went to the rescue, if anything goes wrong, the fleet will lose even the ability to protect itself!" ”

"You think the fleet now has the ability to protect itself?" Erjin said coldly: "If you can't break through the blockade of the Bohai Sea, the fleet staying in the Bohai Sea is also a dead end!" After a pause, he said in a deep voice: "The more than 10,000 troops in Tianjin must be saved, otherwise Yuan Qi will not even give us the opportunity to negotiate!" As he spoke, he waved his hand, "Hurry up and give orders!" Order all departments to arrive at Majiakou early tomorrow morning! ”

Tianjin, Haiphong Office, Headquarters.

Cao Gensheng reported loudly: "Majiakou called, the attack was smooth, and it has broken through to the outer positions. Wu Yundong. ”

Raised his wrist and looked at his watch, seeing that it had only been more than forty minutes since the war began, Yi Zhizhi nodded with satisfaction, "Call back, all annihilated!" Don't take prisoners! ”

"Yes!" Cao Gensheng agreed loudly, but he was a little suspicious in his heart, so he hurriedly wrote down the telegram and handed it over.

Do not take prisoners, it is not allowed to surrender the British army! Zhao Wenlie hesitated, and finally couldn't help but say: "The trapped beast is still fighting, it must be tragic, and the big shopkeeper ......." ”

Yi Zhizhi said disapprovingly: "The situation was unclear before, and it was necessary to prevent the imperial court from colluding with Britain and France, so I tried my best to avoid casualties, and now there is no need to scruple, and besides, the total annihilation of the Grant Department is enough to deter the Montauban Department of Xianghe, and it can also completely shatter the illusions of Ergin and others, which is conducive to ending this war as soon as possible!" ”

The position of the British army in Majiakou.

The sound of guns and explosions rang out, and Grant observed the battlefield situation with a desperate face, the firepower of the Qing army was too fierce, and the layers were clear, long-range land artillery, medium-range mortars, melee still had grenades, and the fire density of rifles was several times that of them, and what made him even more chilling was that he didn't even have a chance to fight bayonets, and the lethality of grenades in the trenches was too great.

"General, it's time to make up your mind!" Charlotte said in a deep voice.

Grant glanced back at the south and retreated, he never thought that the Qing army would launch such a fierce attack, not just to repel them, the Tianjin negotiations broke down, and the other party clearly wanted to give the coalition forces a dismount, which would make them retreat easily.

It's only been more than an hour, and the outer positions have all been lost, and at this speed, it won't be able to hold it at all! With a long sigh, he said helplessly: "Surrender, raise the white flag and surrender!" ”

Seeing the white flag raised on the British position, a thunderous cheer broke out when the position was boarded, but Wu Yundong's face was a little ugly, and the telegram that was easy to know was to annihilate completely, don't take prisoners! But listening to the thunderous cheers on the battlefield, looking at the battle flags waving back and forth on the position, and the joyful officers and soldiers, he really couldn't bear it.

"Tell all the ministries to stand by in place!" Wu Yundong ordered expressionlessly.

Listening to this order, Xiong Changsheng was shocked, "Is it possible for the military gate to resist the order?" ”

Wu Yundong ignored him and said in a deep voice: "The telegram ——, the British army surrendered, and the officers and soldiers of all departments rejoiced, please instruct." ”

Hearing this, Xiong Changsheng sighed secretly and added: "One more thing, the casualties of our department are not large. He knew very well that although this was a request for instructions, it was suspected of resisting the order, and Wu Yundong dared, and all the senior generals of the Yuanqi New Army were afraid that no one would dare to do so, after all, what the Yuanqi New Army has always implemented is to obey orders and obey commands.

But at tea time, Yi Zhi's return call was sent, "Execute the previous order!" ”

Wu Yundong seemed to see Yi Zhi's cold expression and sharp gaze from these four words, where did he dare to hesitate, and immediately said in a deep voice: "Order all departments, do not accept surrender, continue to attack, and completely annihilate the enemy!" ”

The sound of gunfire continued until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the corpses of the entire Majiakou position were strewn all over the field, and the smell of blood was thick, and many recruits and medical soldiers who came to clean the battlefield vomited when they saw this situation.

"In the first battle of Majiakou, 12,368 people, including Major General Grant of the British Army, were killed, and all of them were annihilated on the spot, and none of them escaped the net. There were 3,246 casualties, of which 820 were killed, 768 were seriously wounded, and the rest were slightly wounded. ”

"Minor and serious wounded should be actively rescued, properly rescued, killed officers and soldiers, detailed registration and compilation, cremation on the spot, and preservation of ashes." Yi Zhi's tone was a little heavy, and this casualty figure was still a bit unexpected for him, which showed that this battle was fought extremely fiercely in the end.

After a pause, he continued: "Send a telegram to the military grain city Erjin and Gro, garrison the Grant Department in Majiakou, Tianjin, and the whole army was killed, and all the officers and soldiers of Yuanqi would like to pay high tribute to General Grant who swore to die and fought to the last breath. ”

The cable telegram in Junliangcheng was restored when Gro came to Tianjin to negotiate, and Yi Zhizhi simply did not let people cut it off, because there was no need to cut it off, Cao Gensheng quickly wrote the telegram, but he was a little inexplicable in his heart, what does this telegram mean?

Cao Gensheng left, and Zhao Wenlie couldn't help but say: "The students don't understand, why does the big shopkeeper not allow the British army to surrender?" Just for deterrence? ”

"Yes, it's just for deterrence!" Yi Zhizhi said: "I can completely annihilate the Grant Department, and I can also completely annihilate the Montauban Department, I believe that Ergin can make the right choice, I don't look down on the army equipment, but the coalition fleet is exactly what we urgently need at the moment."

The construction of ironclad ships is not something that can be drummed up in three or five years, and naval training requires a large number of sail warships, but I don't want to waste manpower, material and financial resources to build sail warships .......that are already facing obsolescence, and I don't want the scene of the Malacca East India Fleet collectively sinking itself again. ”

Military Grain City, Headquarters.

Looking at the telegram in his hand, Erjin had a feeling of horror, more than 10,000 people in the Grant Department had been wiped out? How long has it been, and more than 10,000 people have disappeared after most of the day's work?

Gro said with a suspicious face: "This is not a field battle, the Grant Department has built a complete fortification, even if the new army of Yuanqi in Tianjin City pours out, it is impossible to completely annihilate the Grant Department in half a day!" Besides, with an army of more than 10,000, it is impossible to ....... ”

Speaking of this, he was shocked, the last message arrived in the morning, and now a few hours have passed, and there is no news, which is extremely abnormal in itself.

Erjin had already noticed this, otherwise he would not have been frightened, and after reacting, he hurriedly said: "Order, fast horse order, all the troops reinforcing Majiakou will all retreat and withdraw to the military grain city overnight!" ”

Report ——。 A communications officer walked quickly to the door and reported loudly: "General Kolinno urgently reported that he was blocked by about 10,000 Qing troops near Shuanggang, and the Qing army's firepower was fierce and could not advance!" ”

"Withdraw! Let them retreat! Overnight retreat! Ergin didn't dare to hesitate at all, he knew very well that no matter whether the Grant Department had been completely wiped out or not, it was no longer possible to rescue, after all, the navy was not good at land warfare, and if the navy was put in again, there would really be no chance at all!

The atmosphere in the room was depressing and dreary, no one spoke, Ergin walked to the window with a pipe in his mouth, his face was gloomy and almost dripping water, since he was sure that the Qing naval fleet had the ability to blockade the mouth of Bohaikou, he realized that attacking Jinjing was a huge mistake, Yuan Qi had already dug a huge trap for them here, the purpose was to wipe out their hundreds of thousands of four-nation alliance troops!

After being silent for a long time, Gro spoke: "What does it mean to be content to send this telegram?" ”

"Threat!" Erjin slowly turned around, "The new army of Yuanqi has the strength to completely annihilate the Grant Department, and it also has the strength to completely annihilate the Montauban Department of Xianghe!" ”

Gro nodded slowly, and eliminated the Grant Department, Yuan Qi's forces in Tianjin are no longer contained, and he can go straight to Xianghe, even if Montauban has 40,000 troops, I am afraid that it will not be able to escape the fate of destruction! After a slight groan, he said, "Yuan Qi is forcing us to surrender?" ”

"Yuan Qi's conditions, we can't accept them!" Ergin said in a deep voice, he was a little disheartened, and in this situation, they were already in a desperate situation.

Gro sighed lightly and said, "Next, is Yuan Qi going to fight Xianghe?" ”

"I don't know what Yuanqi's casualties are?" Erjin said softly: "If the Yuanqi New Army has suffered heavy casualties, they may not dare to attack Xianghe. ”

When it was nearly dusk, two telegrams were sent to the headquarters in succession, one was sent by Prince Yi Zaiyuan, the minister of the Qing Dynasty, and the other was sent by the Russian envoy Puti Yatin, Zaiyuan's telegram confirmed that the British army in Majiakou was completely annihilated, and Pu Ti Yatin's telegram was more detailed, bluntly saying that Grant raised the white flag and surrendered, but the Qing army did not allow it, and was directly annihilated, for which the Qing army paid more than 3,000 casualties.

Erjin and Gro couldn't help but look at each other, their hearts were cold, it was obvious that Putiatin's information should be true, knowing that he could not hold out until dark, Grant would definitely raise the white flag and surrender, and give up useless resistance, this is reasonable, how ruthless the new army of Yuanqi must be, and he will not even allow the white flag to surrender!

What made the two even more chilling was that as the side of the attack, the casualties of the Yuanqi New Army were only more than 3,000, and this combat power was really terrifying!

"So far, we have lost more than 20,000 troops, and we do not see any hope of victory......" Gro let out a long sigh, "It's time for this battle to end. ”

Erjin didn't say anything, picked up the cup and took a sip of bitter coffee, the first battle of Zhangjiawan, 6,000 forwards were completely annihilated, the first battle of Majiakou, more than 12,000 people in the Grant Department were wiped out, fortunately, the casualties in the first battle of Shuanggang were not large, only 4,000 people were lost, and finally the main force was able to withdraw by night, a total of more than 22,000 people have been lost, but the main force of the coalition army is still there, so he surrendered, he was really unwilling.

But if they don't surrender, the more than 40,000 troops of Xianghe are also in danger of being wiped out, and the fleet doesn't know how much it will cost to break through from the Bohai Sea, even if it is only half of the casualties, this price is not something they can afford!

After a while, he spoke: "The Montauban Department of Xianghe can surrender, but the fleet can't!" ”

Gro glanced at him and said, "Your Excellency thinks that Yuan Qi will treat the navy and army separately?" If the fleet does not surrender, they will definitely annihilate the Montauban Department of Xianghe. ”

"Surrender all, and our two countries will be at the mercy of Yuan Qi!" Ergin said in a deep voice: "The interests of our two countries in the Far East will also come to naught!" ”

"Your Excellency still has illusions about the Far East?" Gro sneered: "Once the Qing navy is equipped with new breech-loading rifled guns, no matter how huge the fleet is, it will not be able to cross the Strait of Malacca!" Besides, if the fleet does not surrender, how many warships can break through from the Bohai Sea? Thirty or forty percent? Is it worth it? ”

"It's worth it!" Erjin said: "At least it can severely damage the Qing naval fleet, if it surrenders, the Qing naval strength will increase significantly!" It's undoubtedly worth it in the long run! ”

Lunatic! Gro scolded secretly and said, "I think we still implore Yuanqi to open a cable telegraph ...... with Europe." ”

"Nice idea!" Ergin nodded slightly in agreement, once the cable telegraph with Europe was opened, they would not have to have a headache, "However, Yuanqi will agree to this request?" ”

Gro glanced at him, "How do you know if you don't try?" ”

Tianjin, Haiphong Office.

"Please, open a cable telegraph with Europe?" Yi Zhicontent touched the beard with the hard stubble on his chin, wondering if it was necessary.

"Big shopkeeper," Zhao Wenlie said slowly: "Erjin and Ge Luo are obviously hesitating to surrender, because the matter is too big to make decisions on their own, so they will implore to open a cable telegram with Europe to ask for instructions from the country, and the students secretly think that since they have already wavered, there is no need to take this risk." ”

Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Huifu is worried that they can't afford to lose, so they will be angry and continue the war?" ”

"After all, the military strength of Britain and France is not something we can compete with now." Zhao Wenlie pondered and said: "Force them to surrender first, and it's not too late to open it when the negotiation is due." ”

"They are not hesitant, they should have disagreements." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "Britain has vested interests in Asia, and we have territorial conflicts of interest in Malacca, Burma, and Bangladesh, but France does not, we can easily break up the alliance between Britain and France, there is no need to worry, agree to their request, and open a cable telegraph with Europe." ”