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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 598: Surrender Agreement

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    The coalition forces strengthened their guard that night, although Montauban believed that unless the Qing general opposite was a lunatic, he would not order his soldiers to walk through several trenches and muddy roads to attack the fort that the coalition forces had just captured at such a dark night.  , but in private Montauban still asked his soldiers to strengthen their vigilance and defense.

    In the middle of the night, the Qing army really launched a tentative night attack, but it was repelled by the French army. After General Montauban was awakened from his dream, he cursed the Qing army general for being a lunatic!  Fortunately, the Qing army saw that the enemy was prepared and quickly retreated.

    After the truce ended in the afternoon, Montauban was ready to continue the attack, but Grant suggested taking a night's rest. In the end, the French commander accepted this suggestion unhappily.  The coalition doctors treated the wounds of some wounded prisoners, but these unfortunate people had their bandages removed immediately after receiving preliminary treatment.

    The coalition generals had a hard time dealing with these prisoners. Finally, they decided to hand over the prisoners to Ronglu's Qing allies. Later, the coalition learned that these prisoners had been brutally chopped off by their Qing allies.  His head was then hung on the top of the military food city!  Afterwards, the allied army doctor Scatano and all medical staff protested against this atrocity, but it did not help. The Qing allies claimed that they were enforcing the laws of their country, nothing more!

    At six o'clock in the morning the next day, the coalition forces began to prepare to attack the main fort.  However, as the coalition forces approached, the main battery was silent.  General Grant sent Parkes to carry a white flag to shout for the enemy to surrender.

    But he only received a curse from an honest official: "Only three forts have fallen, and two are still impregnable. We will defend this place as resolutely as the forts in front!"

    Grant and Colino discuss an attack plan.  However, when Grant mobilized the British artillery, the French army could not wait.  There was no preparation for artillery fire, so they rushed towards the river and rushed towards the fort.

    Delors described the situation of the storm: "The French army took a race-like pace, rushing towards the forts that could send out shrapnel at any time to knock them down. The Marine Corps took the lead in rushing through the first trench, attacking the crawling infantry.  Crossing the ladder across the trench, they crossed the second trench. They rushed to the third and final trench. As they crossed, the stormtroopers saw the bayonets of the Marines between the walls. It turned out that  They had already rushed in from the entrance of the fort facing the White River. They tried to lower the suspension bridge. But the gate could not be opened. With the thick rope handed to them by their comrades, they quickly climbed up the fort, and saw 4,000 Qing soldiers kneeling behind the wall begging for mercy."

    In fact, the defenders of the main fort did not offer any resistance.  All dropped their guns on the ground or set them up.  They gathered in a corner of the fort.  They waited silently, some sat on the ground motionless, and some seemed to be begging.

    This was the unexpected scene that General Colino and the Marine Corps saw. The British army was stunned.  Then, the two commanders, Montauban and Grant, entered the fort and asked the Qing soldiers where their leader was.  The prisoners replied "I don't know."  But three Qing soldiers with no obvious characteristics stepped forward and explained that their commander was Leshan, the governor of Zhili.  He had been killed in the battle at the previous fort, so his men lost their fighting spirit.  We can't fight anymore.

    After receiving the order from Senggelinqin, the generals guarding the main fort took the initiative to lead the main force to retreat, leaving them behind to prepare for resistance.  But they had no fighting spirit and refused to carry out the orders of the officers who stayed to guard. In the end, they chose to wait to be captured.

    The three people also said that the three forts had fallen and any resistance was futile. Everyone knew this. The newly arrived General Peng Yulin suggested that King Monk retreat, so last night they sent a small number of troops to harass the coalition forces, and then took the initiative.  Withdrew.  They begged for a way out so they could return home and work in the fields.

    Grant breathed a sigh of relief, while Montauban blushed. General Montauban believed that the British were conservative and let the enemy go, while the British were thankful that the enemy retreated, and the coalition forces took over the nightmare fortress without any effort.  .

    There are actually more than 4,000 prisoners, what should we do?  To the great surprise of the prisoners, they were allowed to leave unhurriedly.  Colonel Dupin once criticized this lenient approach and considered it a "mistake". He was worried that these people would return to the Senggelinqin Army and encounter them in future battles.  General Blondell affirmed this approach in his official report on the "expedition" against China.  He pointed out: "Such measures taken out of humanity do have a drawback, that is, they will be used again by the enemy to fight against us. This is indeed the case. However, due to severe lack of food, these captives who have lost the ability to resist  There is no other choice, either let them go or kill them."

    In the end, these prisoners were not freed. At Ronglu's strong request, they were handed over to the Qing allies in Junliang City by the coalition forces. Then Ronglu ordered the officers among them to be killed, and ordinary soldiers were forced to join his army.  , so the coalition forces were pleased to find that the army of their Qing allies reached more than 9,000 people.

    ? ??In the fort, the British soldiers found some large-caliber cannons with the English words "Moore-Woolwich" engraved on them.  It turned out that these cannons were abandoned when the British Navy was defeated last year. These cannons were later incorporated into the British artillery.

    Parkes and Henry Law followed the orders of the British commander and immediately went to the last fort to negotiate with white flags.  Three French officers: Major Compnon, General Collinot's adjutant, Andecourt, and Coles, requested to accompany him.  Upon arriving on the right bank, the coalition representatives first met a Chinese interpreter named Wang.  This young official speaks fluent English. He was trained at the U.S. Mission in Shanghai and later traveled to the United Kingdom and the United States.  During the peace talks in 1856, he was one of the Chinese translators who assisted Wade.

    Parkes knew him, but treated him rudely and aggressively, claiming that it would be better for the other party to order the surrender of the Qing army in the last fort, along with the artillery and arsenal, without any conditions, but in a command-line manner.  Tone.

    But the young official was not moved at all. He repeatedly made demands such as the need for the coalition forces to protect the lives of the soldiers and to allow the soldiers to withdraw from their positions peacefully. The long-winded talks or secret talks took a lot of time, about 4 hours.

    Both sides insisted on their own opinions. Parkes insisted on unconditional surrender. The Chinese only wanted to give up their positions, but nothing came of it.  Despite the disastrous defeat in the morning, the Chinese generals who stayed at the last fort still refused to give in.  He knew very well that handing over the fort would mean losing his official position and even risking death.

    When Parkes bid farewell to the general, he showed his negotiating skills.  Parkesli asked the general with the rank of general if all the people in the city had evacuated Dagu and Tanggu towns.

    "No, why would they do that?" The general was a little worried.

    "Oh my God!" Parkes said in surprise, "Tell them to run for their lives quickly, without losing a moment. The shrapnel from the artillery fire will fall on that place like a storm, and no one can get out alive. We don't want to hurt the innocent residents,  Women and children, the elderly or disabled. It is your duty to urge them to flee as quickly as possible. We only target the military and officials, we want to eliminate them."

    Unexpectedly, a few words can have a big effect.  The general's face changed drastically when he heard this, and he looked very nervous.  Then, he made up his mind and said to Parkes: "Okay, then please dismount! Let's discuss this."

    In this way, when it was dark, the last fort on the south bank and Tanggu Town reached an agreement to surrender.  The condition is that the people of the city are respected and their property is protected.  The general was also allowed to send people to recover the bodies of Qing soldiers killed in battle.  The general's actions saved the lives of most people, but failed to save his own life. After he saw Ronglu, the general righteously and loudly scolded Ronglu as a traitor, and was finally killed by Ronglu.  Lu ordered his execution.

    Parkes was furious about this, because the general's life was also included in the agreement and was protected by the agreement. By doing this, Ronglu blatantly placed him in a position of no credibility. The British, who always valued credibility, were very dissatisfied.  Finally, through mediation, Ronglu issued a public apology, but that was all.

    The military operation had just ended when a terrible rainstorm fell on the battlefield and flooded the plains.  The officers and soldiers braved the pouring rain and retreated with difficulty, walking with heavy steps on the 8-kilometer muddy road between Tanggu Camp and Xinhe Camp.  They returned to their camp, which was all submerged in water, making it impossible to light a fire.  The soldiers had nothing to eat during the whole day and could only chew some biscuits and the like A miserable night awaited them.  The British artillerymen tried their best but failed to pull the two siege heavy artillery pieces that were deeply stuck in the mud back to the base. They had to give up and lie helplessly next to the cannons for the night.

    For several days, the plains were submerged in water and turned into swamps everywhere.  Only a few hours were left before erratic weather would alter the course of this fateful day.  Dupin believed: "If the heavy rain had come a few hours earlier, it would have been difficult for our artillery to move, and it would have been impossible to capture the Dagu Fort." Ellison also pointed out: "On that day, if there had been heavy rain a few hours earlier, the expedition to China would have been a complete failure.  ."The British and French forces are so lucky!

    But Grant and Montauban didn¡¯t think so. They lost the opportunity to pursue the main force of the Qing army. The Qing army retreated intentionally to abandon the Dagukou fort, and the subsequent heavy rain covered their traces. Where would they retreat to?  How will Seng Gelinqin and Peng Yulin arrange the following actions?  The reconnaissance team sent by the coalition forces found nothing. Even the two remaining Qing army camps outside Junliang City were abandoned, and there was no news about the Qing army.

    Ronglu had nothing to do about this. For several days, there was no news from either Hengfu or his informants in the court. There was no news from Seng Gelinqin, and there was no news from the Military Aircraft Department. Ronglu had no way to judge clearly.  military movements.  Ronglu was even more worried that the lack of news might mean that something big had happened in the capital, or that Cixi had noticed and made the final decision to start a purge?

    A few days later, Ronglu received news from Hengfu.??, he sent someone to bring a very bad news. After hearing this, Rong Lu's face became even more gloomy. The news was very simple, that is, the capital was under martial law (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel is better and more updated.  quick!
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