The north gate of Xianghe City, the headquarters of the coalition forces, the backyard.

Montauban paced back and forth in the courtyard alone with his pipe in his mouth, and when he heard that the 6,000 forwards had been annihilated in Zhangjiawan, he decisively ordered the troops to be reduced, and he set up a position at Xianghe, waiting for the follow-up troops.

Yuan Qi's new army was able to completely annihilate his four regiments in just two hours, one of which was still a cavalry regiment, which showed that the opponent not only had far more combat power than he imagined, but also had a huge cavalry force, which made him have to be cautious and gather troops, otherwise, there was a danger of being broken by each one.

The subsequent intelligence also confirmed this, the other party had at least six or seven thousand cavalry, and after the battle of Zhangjiawan, it actually quickly advanced towards Xianghe, what was the intention of the other party? Forcing them to retreat? Or do you want to wipe out their lone force?

At this time, he deeply felt that it was really not a good idea to cross Tianjin to fight Beijing, once the attack was frustrated, they would fall into a very dangerous situation, even if they wanted to hold on and wait for help, if the other party was sincere in wanting to eat them, they would not give them any chance at all!

Now, they are in a dilemma, the other side has a large number of cavalry, has a strong combat power, continue to attack Beijing, it is obviously impossible, will inevitably be surrounded and intercepted by the other side, even if they can finally hit the city of Beijing, 50,000 troops are afraid that there is not much left.

retreating backwards, they are also facing the situation of being surrounded and blocked, and the other party will not be able to let them go easily. What about sticking to the Xianghe? With a huge number of troops, even if Xianghe is not in danger to defend, they can hold out for a long time, but in the absence of rescue, even if it is a month or two months, it is meaningless!

After wandering around for a long time, Montauban couldn't help but sigh secretly, now he can only concentrate his forces first, stick to Xianghe, and figure out the other party's intentions, he is not worried about the other party's strong attack, although Xianghe is not a strong city, but this place is suitable for building a position!

The next morning, the army arrived outside Xianghe City, and saw the position built by the coalition army from the telescope, Yan Yangtian did not say anything for a long time, Feng Renxuan was also silent, the cavalry is not good at attacking the city and is most afraid of this kind of defensive position, besides, the range of the Mini gun has greatly suppressed the combat effectiveness of the cavalry.

"The other side is stepping up to build positions ......." Monk Lingqin said slowly: "Wait another day or two, I'm afraid it will be more difficult to fight." ”

Slowly sweeping the artillery position behind the trenches, Yan Yangtian said slowly: "Even if you attack now, you will pay great casualties. ”

Monk Greenqin sneered, and didn't answer this, although he brought four brigades, but three of them were recruits, two of which were not even equipped with guns, purely to make a strong reputation, to grab the spoils of war, of course, he could also train by the way, so that those recruits could see for a long time, if he really caused a big casualty, he couldn't deal with it.

After a slight mutter, he said: "Now that the offensive and defensive situation has changed, there is no need to launch a strong attack, the casualties are too great, and the gains outweigh the losses." ”

Yan Yangtian didn't expect the Eight Banners New Army to play much of a role at all, and immediately ordered in a deep voice, "Set up camp on the spot, collect intelligence, and look for fighters." After saying that, he flicked the horse's head, clamped his legs, and whipped away.

Military Grain City, Headquarters.

"Underestimate the enemy! This is a serious underestimation! Erjin looked annoyed, "Knowing that the 20,000 yuan Qixin army went to Tongzhou to intercept it, he even attacked Tongzhou with 6,000 troops as the vanguard!" ”

Gro said nothing with a gloomy face, Montauban is a major general of the French army, and most of the 6,000 people who were annihilated in Zhangjiawan were French troops, this guy behaved like this, nothing more than shirking responsibility, and pushed the responsibility for this defeat to Montauban, however, he agreed to divide the troops to attack Beijing, and also suggested that the troops be increased to attack Beijing, but it is not easy to accuse the other party, someone must be responsible for this defeat.

"The report ——, Liaohe call ......."

"Reading ——。" Ergin said in a deep voice.

"In the first battle of Zhangjiawan, the French army only launched a wave of attacks, which took less than 20 minutes, and was defeated, with more than half of the casualties, and encountered 6,000 cavalry to cut off the retreat. Putiyatin. ”

Hearing this telegram from Putiyatin, Ergin and Gro stared at each other, unable to speak for a long time, both of them had a creepy feeling, twenty minutes, a wave of attack, more than half of the six thousand people were killed and wounded, what is this concept? How powerful are the rear-loading guns of the Yuanqi New Army?

After a long time, Erjin reacted, and said with a frightened face: "Are the Qing Navy warships also equipped with breech-loading guns?" ”

Hearing this, Ge Luo's face turned pale, if the Qing Navy warships were really equipped with rear-loading guns, what would happen to the combined fleet heading to Bohai Haikou? If the Qing Navy really blockaded the Bohai Sea, what would be the result? More than 100,000 people of the Four-Nation Alliance, the navy and the army will face the danger of annihilation!

When he came back to his senses, he hurriedly said: "Is it to inform Montauban, stick to the Xianghe, and try to avoid the battle to avoid unnecessary casualties!" ”

Erjin knew what he meant, if the Qing navy warships were equipped with a large number of rear-loading guns and had enough strength to blockade the Bohai Sea, they would lose this battle completely, and there was no need to increase casualties.

He took out his pipe and lit a pot of cigarettes, and smoked silently for a long time before he spoke: "I agree with your opinion, quickly inform Montauban, stick to the Xianghe, and try to avoid casualties." ”

Seeing that he agreed, Gro hurriedly got up and ordered, "Someone ...... come." ”

Ergin then instructed: "Call back to the Russian embassy, we hope to arrange a meeting with the Qing court officials for peace talks as soon as possible." ”

After hesitating, Gro said, "It's just a guess ...... at the moment." ”

Erjin signed the telegram, and then said slowly: "The efficiency of the Qing court is amazingly slow, and it doesn't hurt to arrange it in advance. "That's what he said, in fact, he was very sure in his heart that the Qing Navy warships must be equipped with rear-loading guns, otherwise, it would have openly appeared at the mouth of Bohai Sea?

After a pause, he said softly, "What if..... What should we do if the Navy is defeated .....? ”

If the navy is defeated and the Bohai Sea is blocked, their fleet will be blocked in the Bohai Bay, waiting for what will be the result for them, defeat and surrender! What else can I do? Gro glanced at him and said, "Negotiate an end to the war?" ”

"That would be an unacceptable, humiliating treaty for us." Erjin said in a deep voice: "However, we should still have a chance to turn the tables." ”

"Still have a chance to turn the tables?" Gro asked subconsciously, his face full of suspicion.

"Attack Beijing with all your strength!" Erjin said in a deep voice: "I know that this is very risky, and it may cause huge casualties, but I think we should give it a try, and the Qing Emperor should also be afraid that Yuan Qi's new army will ....... the city." ”

This is undoubtedly a very crazy decision, Gro was stunned for a long time and was speechless, Erjin wanted to take advantage of the contradiction between the Qing court and Yuan Qi, but this was tantamount to playing with fire, in case something went wrong, they would pay huge and even unimaginable casualties.

After a while, he sighed lightly and said, "Let's discuss this matter after the situation is clear." ”

Bohai Sea, the west end of the old Tieshan Waterway.

Dense battleships lined up on the sea, on the deck of the flagship "Ostrich", Rear Admiral Chanet stood on the side of the ship, gently and rhythmically beating the side of the ship, the weather was very good, the sky was clear, and there was no wind, it was very suitable for the weather of naval warfare, but this place was the most unsuitable for naval warfare, especially large-scale naval battles.

This waterway is full of rapid currents, the situation is complicated, not only long but also wide, more than 20 nautical miles wide, but the width suitable for navigation is only 5.5 nautical miles, and the others are dangerous waters, which have always been areas where shipwrecks occur frequently, and are famous dangerous sea areas.

Captain Laseon came over slowly and reported: "General, in half an hour, the tide will begin to ebb." ”

Shanai glanced at the other side of the waterway, nodded slightly, and ordered, "All squads prepare for battle. ”

At the east end of the old Tieshan Waterway, in the bay on the south side of Beichenghuang Island, in the official hall of the flagship 'Zhenjiang', Chen Hongming raised his wrist and glanced at his watch, slowly paced to the deck, and looked at the opposite side.

On the sea surface of Lushunkou, a large number of warships were quietly moored on the sea, and in the official hall of the flagship of the East China Sea Fleet, Xiao Mingliang glanced at the captains of each ship, and said loudly: "This battle gives me bright spots, our East China Sea Fleet wants to change guns for guns, just look at this battle!" Do you understand? ”

"Understood!" The captains replied with a bang.

Xiao Mingliang nodded his head and said, "Okay, the tide is about to reced, so we all rush to the designated sea area." ”

After the captains left, Zhao Changzhu, the captain of the 'Shanghai', came up and said, "Commander, it's not that our Yuanqi can't build a third-class battleship, why .......?" ”

"Why?" Xiao Mingliang said with a smile: "Because it's not worth it, the big shopkeeper said that the sail battleship is already a eliminated cargo, and there is no need to build it on a large scale, and the reason why one or two ships are built is to accumulate experience in building big ships and cultivate their own shipbuilding technicians." ”

Zhao Changzhu's eyes lit up when he heard this, "We're also building a large ironclad ship?" ”

"Military secrets, don't ask around." Xiao Mingliang reprimanded with a straight face, but sighed secretly in his heart, not to mention the large ironclad ship, even the steam ironclad gunship has not seen a single yet.

Finally the tide began to recede, and the wind and waves on the sea began to increase, and the various squads of the Nanyang Fleet entered the waters designated before the war and waited quietly.

The pre-war wait was the most difficult, Chen Hongming lit a cigarette, he knew very well that the time was still early, the old Tieshan waterway was long, although the sea water flow was fast, but it would take at least more than an hour to pass through the waterway, and the other party might not enter the waterway as soon as the tide receded.

"Bang!" A dull sound of artillery came into his ears, Chen Hongming was stunned, the sea was empty, there was no enemy situation at all, this was pre-war tension, and he went off?

"Report——, North City God's Island Fort alarm."

North City God's Island Fort? Chen Hongming turned around, didn't the other party take the old iron mountain waterway? Soon, the communications officer stepped forward to report, "The North City God's Island Fort has sent a flag, and the enemy's main fleet is rushing south!" ”

Rushing south? Miaodao Strait? Chen Hongming was stunned, did the other party plan to rush out of the Miaodao Strait? The Miaodao Strait is about four nautical miles wide, and it is not deep, the water depth in the shallow part is only ten meters, which does not affect the navigation of sail warships, the question is that this width, the width of less than four nautical miles, hundreds of warships are navigable, how long will it take? As long as the other party's head is not kicked by a donkey, it is absolutely impossible to choose to pass through the Miaodao Strait!

After a little consideration, Chen Hongming concluded that the other party should be attacking the east and west, and wanted him to mobilize the fleet to go to the Miaodao Strait to block, so as to disrupt his layout, after all, the flow speed of the Lao Tieshan Waterway is fast, and it is easy for the other party to turn around, but he also has to guard against the other party really controlling the Miaodao Strait, and after a little weighing, he ordered to dispatch two teams to intercept it.

However, contrary to his expectations, the enemy's main fleet did not turn back, and went straight to the south, heading towards the Miaodao Strait.

On the deck of the coalition flagship "Ostrich", Shanei looked triumphantly at the eastern sea, the Qing Navy should be in chaos at this time, right? He didn't plan to rush out of the Lao Tieshan Waterway at all, and without knowing the opponent's combat power, the main fleet rushed out directly from the Lao Tieshan Waterway, which was completely irresponsible!

In fact, in this battle, they were very passive, the west corner of Lao Tieshan and Beichenghuang Island were occupied by the other side and built forts and defensive positions, because the sea current situation was complicated, the fleet could not land and capture, they could not know the deployment of the enemy's fleet, like a blind man, in this case, how could he start a war at will?

What's more, the Qing Navy fleet took the initiative to send it to the door and put on a posture of blockading the mouth of Bohai Sea, which was already strange, so he couldn't be careless!

The fleet stopped at the western end of the Miaodao Strait, and Shanai carefully observed several warships blocking the opposite side of the strait from the telescope, one third-class ship, three fourth-class ships, and five other auxiliary ships, and it seemed that the other party really did not react.

Several clippers who had arrived first and had reconnoitred along both sides of the strait quickly issued flags, "Report——, There are no batteries on both sides of the strait, and about forty enemy ships are approaching here. ”

Shanai put down the binoculars and ordered in a deep voice, "The two teams of Zero Three and Zero Five are going to test it!" ”

He didn't plan to rush out of the Miaodao Strait, he just planned to scout today, whether the Qing naval fleet really planned to blockade the Bohai Sea, whether it had the ability to block the Bohai Sea, and what gaps were there? Without figuring out the situation, he didn't want or dared to rush out recklessly.

Seeing that the two squads broke away from the formation and sailed towards the other side of the strait, Shanai pointed to the island on the left and said, "Send people to land, observe the situation of the enemy fleet in detail, and by the way, catch some fishermen and villagers on the island and come back for interrogation." ”