Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Taiping blood

Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 613: Three Camps

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    Sir Elgin and Lord Geluo did not expect that they would see the Western King Xiao Yungui in the Nanyuan Camp of the Taiping Army on the outskirts of Nanjing. In a surprised and gloomy situation, the coalition's delegation of more than 20 people was greatly disturbed.  We were politely invited into Nanyuan Camp.  ,

    The follow-up troops of the Taiping Army arrived within two days after the Guards Cavalry Regiment arrived at the gates of Beijing. The Taiping Army surrounded Beijing from the east, north, and south. In these three directions, the Taiping Army established three  A big camp.  The camp to the north is the Longdao Village camp. The Second Division led by Feng Zicai of the First Army is stationed here. There are only more than 8,000 soldiers and horses in this unit. The cavalry regiment of the Second Division is transferred to the east camp for use.  There are not many Qing and coalition forces in the north, so more than 8,000 people are more than enough to guard this place.

    To the east is the camp of Gaobei Village. Gaobei Village is the last village from Tongzhou to the capital. It was called Gaomidian in the early years. It used to be the imperial grain transfer station with a wharf beside the Pingjin Gate. It is also said that it was once named Gaomidian.  According to legend, Gaomidian made a living by raising bees and making honey in the arborvitae forest of Lang's home. Many people from dozens of miles around came here to buy honey, hence the name.  And because the original bell and stele of the ancient temple in the village, Dizang Temple, all have inscriptions by believers in Gaomidian outside the "Qihua Gate" (today's Chaoyang Gate).  In the Qing Dynasty, it was under the jurisdiction of Daxing, Shuntian Prefecture. Due to the special geographical location and the commercial role of Gaobeidian Pier, merchants gathered and built houses and temples; the wharf was busy with water transportation, the Tianxian Temple Temple Fair was lively, and various folk flowers  The rise of the society has made it a lively "port" in the capital.  Therefore, Gaobeidian, which is well known to women and children, has a long history, and according to research, it has been around for thousands of years.

    After the Taiping Army arrived, they occupied this place without any ceremony and built the Gaobei Village Camp on both sides of the Tonghui River.  Because of the approaching war, the docks, teahouses, wine shops, commercial pavilions, workshops, and private houses along the coast had long been deserted, and the Taiping Army took over these buildings.  A large camp was built based on the buildings.  Here, Li Xiucheng led the First Division and Second Division Cavalry Regiment of the First Army, and a rocket launcher regiment sent by Dalian Bay, totaling more than 18,000 people, were stationed here.  They have to face the main pressure from the coalition forces, so they are equipped with the best soldiers, generals and artillery.

    The main camp in the south of the city was located in Nanyuan, and Xiao Yungui personally led the remaining nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses to garrison here.  Nanyuan in the suburbs of Beijing was a royal garden in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Because the Yongding River passed through the garden, it formed a large area of ??lakes and swamps with lush vegetation.  Animals and elk gather.  When Huang Taiji attacked Beijing and was resisted by Yuan Chonghuan, he went to Nanhaizi to put his troops on hold.  The emperors of the Qing Dynasty went to Nanyuan many times for hunting and military parades. Complete barracks facilities and buildings were built here. During the later Republic of China, it was the residence of the 29th Army of the Nationalist Army for a long time.

    After the Taiping Army troops arrived, the peripheral Qing troops abandoned the Nanyuan Camp.  Reduce troops to three mountains and five gardens.  Therefore, Xiao Yungui set up his main business here.  The southern camp is mainly to deal with the possible reinforcements from the Qing army in Hebei, Shandong, Jianghuai and other places from the south, and also to deal with the possible detour offensive of the coalition forces, so this place is also quite important.

    Judging from the layout of the entire Taiping Army, Xiao Yungui's main purpose is to cut off the coalition forces' desire to capture Beijing and completely cut off the reinforcement channel to the south of the Qing court. However, Xiao Yungui has no more troops to deploy to the west for the time being, and Chen Yucheng's troops  Troops were sent to Sichuan at the beginning of the year and are now attacking Chengdu.  The Taiping Army attacked Sichuan and Sichuan and Shaanxi were shaken.  The Qing army in the west did not dare to come to the rescue in a big way.

    The establishment of three major camps of the Taiping Army is a coincidence. Think of it in later history, the Qing army set up Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps to siege Tianjing. However, at this moment, the strength of the Taiping Army was reversed, and the Taiping Army created three major camps to siege the Qing capital.  That¡¯s all.

    There are a total of 16 high platforms of different sizes in Nanyuan Daying, among which 10 are more important. These platforms are all built of loess.  There are three platforms in the northwest corner and northeast corner of Nanyuan, respectively called Dataizi, Ertaizi and Santaizi.  The main function of these high platforms was for the emperors and concubines to climb high and look far away to watch the spectacular hunting scene when they came to Nanyuan for hunting.  Among them, the tiger-killing platform in Xihongmen and the eagle-airing platform in Nanhongmen also have the function of military parade.  During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the grand parades held in Nanyuan were usually held at the Tiger Killing Terrace and the Eagle Airing Terrace.  Now these high platforms are ready-made fort locations. After the Taiping Army entered the Nanyuan Camp, they used these high platforms as forts.

    When Elgin and Ge Luo led the envoys into the Nanyuan Camp, they saw groups of Taiping soldiers who were extremely busy. They were busy reinforcing fortifications, forts, and carrying firearms and artillery. The entire Nanyuan Camp looked like  No one is idle.  Elgin's expression was uncertain. It seemed that the Taiping Army had spent so much manpower, material resources and combat power to win Beijing. This would be an extremely difficult negotiation.

    The Western King Xiao Yungui received the envoys on a high platform. After not seeing each other for several months, Xiao Yungui was still full of energy. He shook hands with every member of the envoys with a smile, and finally walked in Er like old friends.  Jin Hegeluo introduced next to him: "This is the Eagle Airing Platform, which was built in the Yuan Dynasty. It is a rare historical monument. Most of the Qing court's military parades were held here. During the fourth and twenty-third years of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong  They all reviewed the Eight Banners formation here. Qing court paintersThe Italian Castiglione once painted a picture of Qianlong's uniform review, which was also very good.  "

    Elgin was not in the mood to listen to these historical allusions. He frowned and said: "Your Majesty the King of the West, could you first explain why our two countries invited the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to join the Northern Expedition against the Qing government last year? You refused at that time, but now you are leading troops like  Are you following us like a weasel to snatch the fruits of victory?"

    Xiao Yungui did not feel dissatisfied at all with the rigidity and frankness of the British. He was already accustomed to this mode of diplomatic conversation. He smiled lightly and said: "Your Excellency, Minister, I also hoped to send troops together with Britain and France, but there were too many difficulties at that time.  , the Taiping Army still had to digest the newly occupied territory in the south, so it was unable to join the British and French in the Northern Expedition. Now that we have overcome the difficulties and have the conditions for the Northern Expedition, we sent troops. But as for saying that we are following you, isn't it a bit inappropriate?  Is it our Taiping Army or the coalition forces that are approaching Beijing now? It seems that the coalition forces are still burning, killing and looting in Tongzhou."

    Erjin and Geluo's faces turned red. The coalition forces were indeed still doing things that would bring shame to soldiers. Moreover, the Taiping Army did detour southward through Shanhaiguan, and it was not considered to be following them.  Just listen to Xiao Yungui continue: "It is even more ridiculous to snatch the fruits of victory. Did the Qing army surrender? Did they abandon Beijing?"

    Elgin and Ge Luo looked at each other, and Elgin said angrily: "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is going back on its word. There is no credibility! If we hadn't attracted a large number of Qing troops at Dagukou, you would never have been able to enter Beijing smoothly from Shanhaiguan.  !" Xiao Yungui was not angry at all and said with a smile: "Mr. Elgin, I am also very disappointed with the coalition forces. It actually took you more than two months to fight from Dagukou to Tongzhou. Fortunately, our Taiping Army did not have any  Send troops together with you, otherwise we might still be languishing in Tongzhou with the coalition forces."

    This sentence made the allied military attach¨¦s of the Envoy Corps present furious.  Compnon, a cavalry major of the French Army Staff, and Major Probyn of the British Army Staff, stood up angrily and cursed loudly in their own languages. The Chinese personnel listened to the translation.  They also started to sneer at each other, and for a while the scene was extremely chaotic and noisy.

    On the Chinese side, Xiao Yungui brought Qian Jiang and his staff, as well as artillery and cavalry officers such as Su Ji and Song Feng as receiving military attach¨¦s.  There were more people than the coalition mission.  Therefore, the curses of the coalition forces were quickly suppressed.

    Erjin said angrily with a livid face: "Your Majesty the King of the West, have you made up your mind to go to war with Britain and France?"

    Xiao Yungui's face darkened at this time, and he said coldly: "If you invite a fight, we will accept the fight. Our Taiping Army will never be afraid of the army of any country!"

    Seeing that the situation was getting tense, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili hurriedly interrupted: "Everyone should sit down and discuss slowly. Your Excellency, King Xi, there are too many Chinese people participating in the negotiations. We should negotiate on an equal footing with the same number of people to resolve the current situation."  good."

    Erjin also found it a little unbelievable why he would unconsciously lose his mind every time he faced the King of the West.  Perhaps this is a normal reaction when a shady and dirty politician meets another politician who is even more shady and dirty than him.  At that moment, Elgin suppressed his anger and nodded and said: "The coalition forces have not yet invited the Taiping Army to fight. Today we are here to negotiate."

    Xiao Yungui said oh and raised his hand to suppress it. The noisy Taiping generals behind him calmed down a little. Xiao Yungui said: "Okay, then, cut off ten negotiators from both sides, and we will conduct the negotiation in the big tent here in half an hour."  Negotiate. The rest are waiting in the tent outside to rest and wait! Your Excellency, Minister, I am waiting for you in the big tent!" After saying that, he turned around and entered the big tent first.

    Half an hour later, after deliberation, the coalition selected ten people to participate in the negotiations. In addition to Elgin and Gro, there were also Consul Parkes, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili, Major Compnon, Major Probin and two  Translation, the remaining two people are indeed Gong Cheng and Ronglu.

    Gong Cheng and Ronglu were also among the envoys. They were wearing coalition uniforms and huddled behind. Xiao Yungui didn't notice these two people at first. In fact, he didn't remember much about Ronglu. He had seen him in the Yangtze River that year.  After the first meeting, Xiao Yungui almost forgot about Ronglu's appearance, and Ronglu's physical body was still developing, so he didn't recognize him at first after not seeing him for several years.  But when the ten members of the British-French coalition negotiation team filed in, Xiao Yungui finally saw clearly the two people at the back, Rong Lu and Gong Cheng.

    Xiao Yungui didn¡¯t know Gong Cheng, but Ronglu recognized him because Ronglu¡¯s gloomy eyes met Xiao Yungui¡¯s unexpectedly. After the two stared at each other for a moment, Xiao Yungui recognized him.

    "It's really unexpected that a Manchu minister and a loyal person would be willing to serve as a spy to lure wolves into the house?!" Xiao Yungui read the list of envoys handed over by Qian Jiang and knew Gong Cheng's identity, so he made a sarcastic comment.

    Before anyone could translate, Ronglu smiled and said: "To each other, isn't His Excellency the King of the West also in Jiang?"Has the South sold out many of its national interests to Britain and France?  "

    Xiao Yungui did not refute Ronglu's words at all. Whether he was betraying national interests or not, history will judge for himself in the future. He sneered and said, "What status do you have that allows you to sit on the seat of the British and French envoys?"

    After listening to the translation, Elgin said: "Your Majesty the King of the West, they are our allies, so they can naturally attend. Moreover, they represent some noble forces in the Qing court. The content of our discussion will involve them later. They will attend  It¡¯s also normal.¡±

    Xiao Yungui laughed loudly, and after a while he said coldly: "I will not negotiate with traitors!" After saying that, he walked away (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report