Tongzhou, Zhangjiawan.

Zhangjiawan is only more than ten miles away from Tongzhou, is an ancient town with a thousand-year history, and is also a famous commercial transport and passenger terminal along the canal, it has been extremely prosperous since the Ming Dynasty, but now it is people who go to the town empty, not only Zhangjiawan, but also Tongzhou is almost an empty city.

The sound of dense horses' hooves sounded in the empty town, and the cavalry of the brigade swept through the empty stone streets in a whirlwind, passing through the town, and suddenly opened up, Yan Yangtian pulled the reins, slowed down and then slowly stopped, and the accompanying brigade commander Hong Xingzhou followed, saying: "Military gate, this place is open, suitable for building positions." ”

"The troops were stationed in the town, and the position was two miles from the town." Yan Yangtian said and turned over and dismounted, "Map." ”

"Subordinates obey." Hong Xingzhou replied loudly.

After looking at the map for a while, Yan Yangtian turned over and galloped forward again, he has now developed a habit of taking time to survey the site before the war, and knows the surrounding terrain well, even if the Eight Banners New Army has drawn a detailed military map of this area, but if he doesn't see it with his own eyes, he is not at ease.

It was almost dusk, Yan Yang returned to Zhangjiawan and entered the temporary headquarters set up in a big mansion in the southeast of the town, as soon as he entered the courtyard, he raised his eyes and saw Feng Renxuan looking at him with a smile, he couldn't help but be quite surprised, "Brother Ji Rong marched so fast?" ”

Feng Renxuan said with a smile: "The troops haven't arrived at Bali Bridge yet, I'll come over and have a look first." ”

Is there something to talk about? Yan Yangtian hurriedly stretched out his hand to give way, and the two entered the room, Feng Renxuan didn't go around in circles, and said straightforwardly: "What is Brother Zhigao's plan for this battle?" ”

Hearing this, Yan Yangtian took out a box of cigarettes, took out one and lit it, and spit out a long puff of smoke before he said: "Brother Ji Rong doesn't need to hide it, just say what you think." ”

After a slight groan, Feng Renxuan said, "Brother Zhigao won't be defeated, right?" ”

Fraud? Yan Yangtian was like a mirror in his heart, what was the other party worried about when he asked like this? is worried that he will deliberately lose this battle and lure the imperial court to collude with the Four-Nation Alliance, so as to force Yi Zhicontent to raise troops to rebel! He didn't answer and asked, "Brother Ji Rong is worried that Yuan Qi will openly raise troops to rebel?" ”

Feng Renxuan didn't expect him to ask so directly, and hesitated for a moment before he nodded and said, "I think that even if you want to raise troops, you can't choose this time, once the imperial court and Western countries join forces to fight against Yuanqi, the variables are too big ......." ”

Yan Yangtian continued: "Brother Ji Rong, what rumors have you heard? ”

"Brother Zhigao, is it difficult to achieve it, haven't you heard these rumors?" Feng Renxuan looked at him with clear eyes and said, "Whether it is in Yili, Taiyuan, or Tianjin, I have heard that many officers have encouraged Yuan Qi to raise troops to rebel, because Yuan Qi now has this strength. ”

"There is indeed a lot of discussion in this regard, and this time tens of thousands of troops are stationed in Tianjin, and many officers think it is a rare opportunity." Yan Yangtian said bluntly.

Hearing this, Feng Renxuan sighed secretly, "Brother Zhigao won't stage a Chenqiao mutiny?" ”

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin is a general, launched a mutiny in Chen Qiaoyi, and the yellow robe was added, although Yan Yangtian was born in Yuan Qiyixue, he has also read a lot of books over the years, this allusion is naturally known, when he smiled and said: "Brother Ji Rong is too worried, if the big shopkeeper wants the yellow robe to add to his body, why wait until now?"

It is true that there is a lot of discussion in the army, and it has been for a long time, and the chief treasurer has repeatedly convened meetings of senior officers, clearly pointing out that the army cannot interfere in politics, and requires all officers to be pure soldiers, and not to be soldiers who do not ask about politics. These discussions are basically unheard in ordinary times, but this time it is because the army is stationed in Tianjin, which is too close to Beijing, so it pops up again. ”

Speaking of this, he paused, "Before going on the expedition, the big shopkeeper repeatedly emphasized that obeying orders and obeying commands is not beating Brother Ji Rong, but beating me!" The reason why the two brigades of the Northwest Army were transferred to participate in the blockade was not only that the Northwest Army was good at cavalry warfare, but also that there were considerations in this regard, or in other words, out of balance considerations. ”

Listening to these words, Feng Renxuan breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly laughed at his heart, although Yi Zhixin attached great importance to him, but because he was not from Yuan Qiyi's academic background, and most of his subordinates were born as scholars, the more troops he controlled, the more he walked on thin ice, this time Tongzhou blocked, and the two brigades of the Northwest Army participated, and Yi Zhixiang said those words again before leaving, he was really a little apprehensive in his heart, but he didn't expect this reason.

Seeing his expression, Yan Yangtian then explained: "As the saying goes, you can't have the heart to hurt people, and you can't have the heart to defend people.

Our four brigades not only have to fight against the 50,000 enemy troops in front, but also guard against the New Army of the Eight Banners in the back, and arrange for two regiments of your 302nd Brigade to be stationed on the line from Majiapu to Tongzhou, in order to maintain our logistical supplies. ”

Feng Renxuan nodded, Yi Zhixiang was talking before leaving, the meaning of the words was beyond the words, and there was also the intention of asking them to beware of the Eight Banners New Army, the two brigades of the Northwest Army were cavalry, so arranged, he naturally would not have any objections, and when he saw the other party explain like this, he was a little embarrassed, and the conversation changed, "This battle, how is Brother Zhigao going to fight?" ”

"According to intelligence, the forward of the coalition forces is four regiments, six thousand troops, one regiment of cavalry, three regiments of infantry, and the main forces are a day's journey from them." Yan Yangtian pondered and said: "How can the 301st Brigade be in place in time, I plan to completely annihilate this forward." ”

"This is our first battle, and we really should fight a beautiful war of annihilation." Feng Renxuan said with a smile: "The 301st Brigade will be able to arrive in Zhangjiawan tonight. ”

"Good!" Yan Yangtian said loudly: "Let's eat his forward with twice the strength and frustrate their spirit." ”

The next morning, before eight o'clock, a small group of allied cavalry sentry scouts appeared outside Zhangjiawan, and saw a large number of soldiers outside the town hurrying to build a position.

Soon, the commander of the advancing coalition forces, Kolino, received a report that the Qing army had set up a position in the area around Zhangjiawan, and preliminary observation showed that about 2,000 people were seizing the time to build a position.

Two former troops? Colino pondered for a while before he said, "Is it the Yuanqi New Army or the Eight Banners New Army?" ”

"No braids, it's Yuanqi's new army!"

"Pick up the pace and keep going!" Colino ordered in a deep voice, two thousand troops, whether it was the Yuanqi New Army or the Eight Banners New Army, he didn't pay attention to it, although the British army repeatedly emphasized that the combat strength of the Yuanqi New Army was not weak and could not be underestimated, but he did not have three times more troops on the other side, what was there to worry about, the only thing he was worried about was the other party's increase in troops!

At eleven o'clock, the advance of the coalition army arrived outside Zhangjiawan, and after carefully observing it through the binoculars, Kolinno could not judge whether the other side had increased his troops, and after an hour of repair, he ordered an attack.

Four or five miles downstream of Zhangjiawan, Feng Renxuan got out of the woods on the other side of the canal, swept it with a telescope, and found that the cavalry sentry on the other side had left, and immediately ordered, "Build a bridge!" ”

The coalition forces were not imprudent, and sent cavalry sentries to search all the way, and when they found nothing unusual by the canal, they evacuated, but they never dreamed that there would be a large group of cavalry ambushed in the low-lying woods on the other side of the river.

With an order, the scattered boats moored along the river immediately gathered, and simple pontoon bridges were soon erected along the canal.

On the Zhangjiawan position, the coalition forces fired two rounds of Congreve rockets at the position, and after several rounds of continuous shelling, Kolyneau immediately ordered, "Advance!" ”

At the sound of the order, the cavalry ranks in front of the formation immediately split into two teams and outflanked the two flanks of the position, while the army advanced forward in a neat three-column formation!

At the head of the headquarters wall, Yan Yangtian saw the neat queue of the coalition forces with a telescope, and couldn't help but shake his head, "It's all replaced by Minny guns, and it's still this kind of dense queue ......." "Don't look at it, he also knows that this battle is purely another massacre, and the other side is lagging behind not only weapons, but also tactics.

The cavalry who had entered the range of the rifles fell to the ground like dumplings in the dense gunfire, and the people who were killed in an instant turned on their horses, and the sound of the guns and the neighing of the horses were intertwined.

The best combination of the rear-loading gun and the metal bullet increased the rate of fire of the musket by three or four times, and the sound of the gunfire sounded messy, but it was continuous, and the coalition cavalry that went forward and followed was killed one by one before they could get close to the position a hundred meters in the dense barrage, and the cavalry behind them scattered and fled, and the formation was chaotic in an instant.

Listening to the continuous sound of gunfire, Colinno's face became solemn, how many Qing troops were in this small position in front of him? Didn't the previous shelling and rockets have a little lethality? There are quirks!

Just when he realized that there was something strange, it was too late, and the frontal charging team was already approaching the position, and the sound of artillery and gunfire rang out almost simultaneously, and the orderly line of charging troops fell in rows as if they were cutting wheat.

Kolino's expression was like a ghost, how could there be so many artillery pieces in the position? How could the rate of fire of the opposing musket be so fast? Without his order, the storming procession, which had been hit by the storm of shells and bullets, collapsed in an instant, and both soldiers and officers either lay down on the spot or turned and fled.

The artillery of the "bang bang bang" position began to extend the shelling, and the shells seemed to have eyes, chasing the crowd as if they had eyes, and they exploded into one piece, and in the dense explosion, those who were lucky enough to survive subconsciously lay on the ground.

Looking at this scene in front of him, Corinno's face was unusually pale, his lips trembled and he couldn't speak, by this time, he had fully reacted, the Qing army must have used a new type of firearms, otherwise it would be impossible to have such a dense and fast firing rate, and the rear-loading guns! Definitely rear-loading guns, he was sure!

"Withdraw! Retreat now! Throw away the artillery and all the baggage, and retreat lightly! Corinneau shouted hoarsely, he didn't care about the wounded soldiers on the battlefield, he didn't care about the officers and soldiers who had not yet been evacuated from the battlefield, he had a thought, he must withdraw from the battle as soon as possible, and send this information to General Montauban, otherwise, the entire army would face heavy casualties!

An endless stream of cavalry led the war horses to cross the river from the pontoon bridge, and after assembling on the bank, they each entered the designated position, Feng Renxuan was deploying on horseback, but the sound of guns and cannons was sparse, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, this first round of charging was over so quickly? I wonder if there will be a second round of charge? It's better not to, or they'll really have to drink soup!

He raised his voice and said, "Pass the order, not a single enemy will be allowed to slip through the net!" ”

Colino, who led hundreds of cavalry and more than a regiment, never dreamed that there was such a large number of cavalry waiting for them on the way back, looking at the large number of cavalry in front of him, he was speechless to the extreme, such a huge cavalry force, the reconnaissance post actually did not find it, did this come out of the ground?

"Cavalry charge! Be sure to rush over! Colinno ordered with a blank face, he knew very well how much the cost of this charge was, but even if one horse rushed out, it could send the information out.

"Your Excellency, we refuse to sacrifice without need." Major Thomson, the first king dragoon regiment of the British Guards, simply refused, "The opponent's strength is ten times ours, the rate of fire of the muskets is very fast, and the horsepower is not damaged, so we have no chance to rush out." ”

"The army attracts firepower and covers the cavalry to break through!" Corinno said coldly: "We must send out the information that the Qing army is equipped with rear-loading rifled guns as soon as possible, otherwise, we will face the danger of annihilation!" ”

At Corinno's insistence, a multi-regiment of infantry lined up again and began to launch a fearless charge, fighting for a chance for the cavalry to break through, looking at the neat queue that slowly pressed up, Feng Renxuan nodded slightly, "Courage is commendable, dare to launch a decisive charge, worthy of being a strong army in Europe." After saying that, he directly ordered, "Artillery preparation, kilometer distance, free shelling." ”

Because it was cavalry and had to cross the river, the 301st Brigade carried light mortars that horses could carry, and the enemy was approaching about 1,000 meters in a neat formation, and a "bang bang" shelling sound sounded behind the cavalry.

A series of explosions completely destroyed the morale of the coalition army, even if Corinno did not give up, he knew in his heart that there was no possibility of breaking through, he was curious about what kind of artillery the Qing army used? With this rich experience in artillery, he concluded that this could not be a land artillery or a mountain howitzer, but a new type of artillery, and the sound of the shelling was too quiet.

Holding out until the second round of shelling, Corino couldn't wait to give a loud order, "Order, surrender!" Surrender! ”

The shelling speed of this damn artillery of the Qing army was too fast, it was much faster than the shooting speed of the Minnie gun, he didn't dare to hesitate any longer, and he thought that if he hesitated for a minute longer, he thought that it would be a huge casualty!

After giving the order, Colino looked depressed, turned over and dismounted weakly, and came all the way from Tianjin, like a bamboo, without encountering the slightest resistance, Zhangjiawan is the first battle in the real sense, and I don't want to end up with a total annihilation!