Master Yuan, start!

He Cheng was not to be outdone. He tied his braid around his neck and shouted with his revolver in hand: "Fuck them! The French are not superhuman. How can one man kill thousands of them with one shot?"

"Hit me hard!"

However, without the support of artillery, the Qing soldiers were suppressed by the enemy's artillery shells as soon as they rushed out of the trench and dared not move forward.

They reluctantly lined up and began to retreat while shooting, but suffered heavy losses because they formed an overly dense formation.

At this time in Europe, due to the improvement of weapon firing rate and the further upgrade of artillery power, the infantry battlefield had long gotten rid of the form of dense column charge.

In the era of breech-loading rifles, European infantry entered the rhythm of skirmish line warfare.

That is, first, launch an artillery raid, then let the infantry deploy a skirmish line under the cover of artillery fire, second, use the terrain to advance forward, call companions when encountering a place, form a local multiple-on-one situation, and eliminate the enemy with fierce attacks.

This tactic requires that soldiers should not stand too densely. If they are too densely packed, they will be hit by artillery shells or grenadiers, and a large number of them will die.

But they cannot be too dispersed. If they are too dispersed, their companions' fire support will not be timely, and it will easily lead to a local one-on-one situation.

However, the Qing soldiers, who had not fought large-scale battles for thirty or forty years, were still using defensive tactics that were outdated.

Their first step in battle was the same as that of the French army, which was to attack the enemy with heavy artillery fire.

But in the second step, the Qing soldiers who were still immersed in the period of bandit suppression would often choose to concentrate one or several battalions of their core troops, and continuously concentrate their superior forces in one direction to attack and open a gap.

The Qing army's first step of artillery coverage was not as good as the French army's, and the second step of concentrated breakthrough caused a large number of their own people to gather, making them sitting ducks in the eyes of the French.

The firing rate of the breech-loading rifle was far from comparable to that of the flintlock rifle used during the period of line-up executions. Amid the gunshots coming from all directions and the French firing rate of more than 20 rounds a minute, a large number of Qing soldiers who had just charged fell down in an instant.

"Bayonet! Hand-to-hand combat!"

Unable to bear it any longer, the former officer of the Jia Jiushen Army inserted a brand new bayonet, jumped out of the trench and rushed towards the French army.

The Qing soldiers around them followed suit and, in order to avoid the French artillery attack, rushed out of the fortifications and rushed towards the French formation.

Suddenly the battlefield became quiet, and the French artillery stopped firing for fear of accidentally injuring the right army.

French soldiers in blue uniforms fought with Qing soldiers who were also wearing blue jackets, with Japanese soldiers in blue uniforms mixed in between.

The Qing army intended to fight to the death with bayonets and win by numbers, but the French army fought and retreated, relying on their skilled skills of raising guns, changing bullets, aiming and shooting to defeat the Qing army. At the same time, the Japanese on the flanks often avoided the bayonet charge by relying on their short stature.

The Qing army grew in number, and the French army retreated further and further.

When Liu Shengxiu realized something was wrong and ordered the trumpet to be blown to turn back, groups of French troops rushed out from both wings in a skirmish formation.

The Qing army was instantly defeated. The courage brought by the surge of adrenaline had long disappeared. Seeing the broken limbs, bloody flesh and red intestines around them, some Qing soldiers continued to charge, some turned back and tried to escape, and some even knelt down to surrender.

When Liu Shengxiu saw this scene, he knew it was all over and had no choice but to order a withdrawal.

Several layers of defense were broken down one by one by the French, and even relying on numbers to fight with bayonets was no match. After these rounds of sieges, not many French soldiers were killed, but their own side suffered thousands of casualties.

How could they defend like this? Why were the French artillery fire so powerful and accurate?

Seeing the Qing troops retreat, the French did not stop there, but instead took advantage of the situation to pursue them.

Since Courbet landed in Qing Dynasty, he has been the winner in every battle.

The previous victories were just victories, and Courbet had no other thoughts, but now his goal was to attack Beijing, so he naturally could not let the fleeing Qing soldiers go.

Now, seeing that the Qing army was no match for Courbet, he was overjoyed and immediately ordered the entire army to attack, attempting a battle of encirclement and annihilation.

The French army followed the two armies in front and behind Jiashen for more than ten miles in one breath, not only injuring and killing thousands of Qing soldiers, but also seizing more than 20 remaining cannons.

During the retreat, He Cheng, the commander of the Jiashen rear army, was killed by the French army while covering the retreat.

Liu Shengxiu ran all the way and the French chased him all the way. In the end, even the French retreated, and it was the Japanese who kept chasing him.

The Japanese did not stop pursuing them until they crossed the Xiang River.

6 Liu Shengxiu finally had time to gather the defeated soldiers and count the losses.

This inventory almost made Liu Shengxiu faint. The front and rear armies of Jiashen had a total of more than 1 people.

Only two or three thousand people were killed on the spot, most of them died on the front line of defense. The rest were injured, ran away, or scattered. Most of them were killed on the way, and only more than half of them were left after fleeing for their lives.

When Han Bei was halfway there, he suddenly found more and more defeated soldiers. It was not until he met Liu Shengxiu that he learned about the great defeat of the Jiashen Front and Rear Armies on the Haihe River.

After the two waves of troops joined together, Han Bei saw that defeat was inevitable, so he suggested to Liu Shengxiu to go find Yuan Xiangcheng.

In order to avoid being punished by the court, the desperate Liu Shengxiu had no choice but to agree, looking forward to making plans after joining forces with Yuan Xiangcheng.

Courbet took advantage of the situation and pursued the enemy, advancing rapidly all the way and occupying the almost undefended city of Tianjin, where he joined forces with the French consul Dusseldorf in the French Concession in Tianjin.

From Dusseldorf, Courbet learned that many officials within the government initially disagreed with his plan to go north to attack the Qing capital. The plan to go north was only implemented with the strong support of the Chinese ambassador Badno and some military representatives and the tacit approval of the former Prime Minister Jules Ferry.

However, his achievements along the way seem to prove the correctness of the implementation of this plan.

Therefore, Dusseldorf told Courbet that opponents within the Paris government would definitely change their minds after seeing the current situation.

It was also said that Minister Badno admired the powerful suppressive force demonstrated by Courbet in this military operation and pulled a batch of ammunition from the British to replenish it for him.

After receiving Du Shilan's response, Courbet became more confident. After resting for only one night in Tianjin, he rushed to Langfang.

Courbet's decision to some extent prevented the city of Tianjin from being destroyed and preserved many buildings.

However, the rebel soldiers still looted Tianjin City, tortured merchants, and committed other atrocities. The Japanese soldiers were the worst offenders. After breaking into the Tianjin government office, they slaughtered the constables and yamen runners inside.

They killed and hacked their way all the way from the Wei River to the South Grand Canal, committing rape, looting and all kinds of atrocities. Soon the river was full of floating corpses, and the people of Tianjin City fled when they saw this.

"Quick, run!"

"The French Tartars are coming! Don't pack your bags! Your life is at stake!"

Every household was woken up by the noise, and before they could understand the situation, their doors were broken into.

Those who were lucky paid money to save their lives, while those who were unlucky had their men killed and their women humiliated.

Jiao Liu 8+60730?4佴

"Go to Langfang! Go to the capital, the imperial army is there!"

The refugees were forced to flee to Langfang and Beijing. Fortunately, it was summer, otherwise who knows how many naked people would have frozen to death that night.

Langfang was the stationed place of the Jiashen Left Army. It was not until the next day that Song Qing, the commander of the Jiashen Left Army, and Ronglu, who was in charge of all the Jiashen armies, received the battle report from the Tianjin front.

"Master Rong, a report from Tianjin!"

"read!"

"The front and rear armies were defeated in the Jiashen Campaign. The Franco-Japanese coalition has entered Tianjin. Tianjin has fallen!"

Two days, just two days. Ronglu would never have thought that Tianjin, which was jointly defended by the front and rear armies in Jiashen, would fall in less than two days.

Thinking of the boasts he had made in front of Empress Dowager Cixi and the Grand Councilor, Ronglu touched his neck and felt a little cold in this midsummer season.

But he still pretended to be calm and asked, "What's the situation in Tianjin now?"

"After the French entered the city, they showed no signs of attacking. Lord Liu and Lord He decided to fight while retreating, but Lord He was unfortunately shot and killed during the retreat. Lord Liu had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat towards Tongzhou. The brothers suffered heavy casualties!"

After hearing this, Song Qing's heart suddenly twisted. He raised his head and looked at Ronglu in front of him with a guilty look.

"Lord Rong won't ask me to stop the French, will he?"

Ronglu didn't have this idea. What he was thinking about now was how to keep his official hat without suffering heavy losses.

"Song Qing, let me ask you, if you were to lead the troops to defend Langfang, could you hold it?"

"Lord Rong, we can't hold it. Liu Shengxiu and He Chengdu can't hold it either."

Ronglu reached out to stop Song Qing from continuing. Instead, he took off his hat and placed it on the table beside him.

"The French army is well-positioned, but we can't let them take Langfang so easily. Leave some men behind to defend Langfang, and slowly withdraw the rest back to the vicinity of Tongzhou. The French army must have exhausted their energy after such a long expedition. We should lure the enemy deeper into our territory and use Langfang to confuse the French."

"When we see the French, we'll set fire to the city. The French won't be able to figure out their true strength and will definitely stop to investigate. I'll return to the capital to gather the troops who will support the king. By the time the French rush to the capital, they'll be scattered and their condition will be degraded. We'll fight a blocking battle right at the gates of the capital!"

"Yes, Lord Rong!"

The route from Beijing to Tianjin was entirely plains that were easy to attack but difficult to defend, and Ronglu had no intention of defending them at all. He could only delay the French.

He returned to Beijing not to fight a battle to block the capital, but to mobilize court ministers to flee Beijing.

Yes, escape from Beijing.

It was obvious that the city of Beijing could not be defended, and the French artillery was not ineffective. The right thing to do was to take advantage of the remaining troops and quickly escort the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to escape to Shanxi.

With the grace of protecting the emperor, perhaps the charge of boasting that the Jiajiao-Ryut and Shenwu armies were capable of defeating the French army could be forgiven.

However, Ronglu knew that he could not just lead his troops back, otherwise he would definitely be treated as deserting the battlefield. He also had to be careful about how he returned to Beijing. Gathering the defeated soldiers and the royal support group and preparing for a blocking battle was the best excuse.

Since the decision was made, Ronglu was determined to do it. He left Song Qing and a small group of troops in Langfang, and he led the Jiashen Left Army to the capital in a hurry.

...

The Forbidden City is brightly lit late at night.

The ministers in the hall were like ants on a hot pan, moving around everywhere, unable to come to a conclusion.

Everyone knows that the moment that determines the fate of the Qing Dynasty has come again. Whether to defend or escape is related to the face of the central government and the court.

Cixi was still the same, sitting behind the dragon throne with a gauze curtain drawn, but her moans could be heard from time to time.

The young Emperor Guangxu's tense face was full of tension. After being emperor for ten years, this was the first time he felt what it meant to be in imminent danger.

All the ministers in the hall were sighing. He looked over and saw that his uncle Shiduo was holding a memorial in his hand. His veins were exposed from squeezing it, but he could not speak and could only pace back and forth.

His biological father Yi X wiped away tears from time to time, and no one knew who he was worried about.

Soon, the Grand Councilor Zhang Zhiwan took off his headdress and placed it on the ground. He spoke with difficulty, "With the country in such a state, how can this old minister have the dignity to see the late emperor again? I hope the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty take care of yourselves. I will take my servants to Tongzhou to fight the enemy!"

"Oh, Mr. Zhang, please don't make things worse. Shiduo is already upset, and hearing that Zhang Zhiwan is quitting is giving him a headache."

At night, Ronglu came on a fast horse to report that Tianjin had fallen, and the lives of Liu and He were unknown. The Tianjin defense line that they had painstakingly built was like a piece of paper.

The enemy's forces were heading straight for Langfang. The Qing Dynasty now had only more than 5000 Jiashen Left Army soldiers brought by Ronglu, more than 5000 Jiashen Central Army soldiers stationed in Nanyuan, and more than 3000 soldiers of Song Qing's army in Langfang in the Beijing-Tianjin area.

With more than 10,000 people, not to mention whether they can stop the French, even if they give up fighting in the field and stick to defending Beijing, can they hold it?

Thinking about these things made his head swell. Shi Duo clenched the information in his hand and asked Ronglu, "Ronglu, Yuan Xiangcheng called a few days ago and said he was about to leave and board the ship. Where is he now?"

"Prince Li, I don't know, but Yuan Shikai should have landed by now. He might even be heading to Tianjin!"

Shiduo glared at Ronglu and said, "What's the point of rushing to Tianjin? Tianjin has already been lost!"

At this time, Cixi said sadly from behind the gauze curtain: "I have such a miserable life. I lost the pillar of my family and country when I was middle-aged. I have single-handedly supported the Qing Dynasty for decades. Now in my old age, am I going to experience the loss of my country?"

: Shrinking group 9+6791zero*2

"Your Majesty, it would be better to take Your Majesty on a hunt in the west. We should try our best to stop the enemy. Only when the Empress Dowager and the Emperor are here, there is hope for the country." Yilao thought of the story of his brother, Emperor Xianfeng, and asked Cixi to leave Beijing and hide.

"No, those who want to escape before the enemy enters the capital are not good rulers. We should distribute guns and unite the people of the city to resist the enemy. There are only tens of thousands of foreigners, while the people of the capital are millions. With a hundred against one, how can we not win?" Yan Jingming has always been known as a loyal minister, and at this moment he refuted Yi Lian's words without hesitation.