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Volume One: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 617: Strong Support from Outside

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    The summer sun is unbearably hot. At this time in previous years, the masters in the Forbidden City in Beijing might have gone to the Chengde Summer Resort early. Unfortunately, this year is different. The Changmao, Mianyu, Ronglu rebels, and foreign troops have arrived at the city.  None of the royal family in Sijiu City went to the summer resort.

    The entire city of Beijing is now like a large military camp. There are 12 battalions of the Eight Banners Forward Army, the Beijing Guards, 15 battalions of the Shenji Battalion, 25 battalions of the Shaanxi-Gansu reinforcements, and 20 battalions of the shrinking Qing army near the capital, a total of 8 regular troops.  Thousands of people were stationed in the capital.  In the following days, remnants of the Senggelinqin tribe fled back to the capital one after another. However, many of these soldiers failed to enter the capital. Most of them fled to the Qing army's garrison in the three mountains and five gardens outside the city.

    Li Hongzhang stood under the porch of the Qianqing Palace. He looked calm on the outside, but he was actually worried in his heart. Outside the city, three large camps were set up to surround and threaten the capital. The British and French allied forces and the rebels of Mianyu and Ronglu were still watching Tongzhou.  , although there are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses garrisoned in the capital, it is in danger.

    Except for the fifteen battalions of the Shenji Battalion of the New Army, which are worthy of a battle, the soldiers and horses of the Eight Banners are all embroidered pillows, which are of no use.  Although the 25 green battalions in Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi are stronger than the Eight Banners in the capital, they lack weapons and their morale is even more worrying.  Most of the 20 battalions gathered in other prefectures and counties near Gyeonggi are also green battalions. The situation is similar to the green battalions in Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi.  Although the Huai Yongs he brought were brave, after the blocking battle in Tongzhou, only more than 3,000 men were left. When they retreated, they were pursued and intercepted by the Taiping Army, losing hundreds more men and all military supplies.  The situation is dire.  Can such more than 100,000 people withstand the attacks of the Taiping Army and the British and French Allied Forces?

    "Meet Li Hongzhang, the governor of Anhui!" Li Lianying's duck-like voice interrupted Li Hongzhang's thoughts.  He straightened his official uniform and followed Li Hongzhang into the Qianqing Palace.

    Inside the Dongnuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace.  Prince Gong Yi?, Minister of War Guiliang, Prince Chun Yiyi and other important officials of the clan were all there, as well as Peng Yulin and Seng Gelinqin who had been sent back to the capital Yanyi by Li Hongzhang early in the morning.  Peng Yulin was injured in the battle, while Seng Gelinqin suffered from an old illness caused by mental and physical exhaustion. They returned to the capital a few days ago and were treated by the imperial doctors in the capital. Although they were not fully recovered, they seemed to be in good spirits sitting on the soft couch.

    Li Hongzhang looked behind the screen of Dongnuang Pavilion, followed by a dozen horseshoe sleeves and bowed. Xingzhen's clear and sweet voice came from behind the screen: "I love you, no courtesy. Little plum, please sit down."

    Li Hongzhang sat down next to Taozi. Xingzhen behind the screen said: "Have the troops and horses that broke through the encirclement been properly placed? What are the losses?"

    Hearing this, Li Hongzhang hurriedly knelt down and apologized: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, but I only brought back more than 35,000 people, and all the food and guns were lost"

    Xingzhen snorted and interrupted: "Don't blame yourself. It's really not easy to be able to hold off the foreign soldiers in Tongzhou for several days, and then to break out from the pursuit and siege of Changmao and the foreign soldiers. I'm back.  That¡¯s good, we haven¡¯t lost everything yet.¡±

    Li Hongzhang thanked him once and then stood up.  Prince Gong Yi? sighed and said: "How is the morale of the soldiers and generals?"

    Li Hongzhang replied: "The soldiers are stationed in Xiangshan, Old Summer Palace and other places. They are temporarily led by Yuan Jia. They have received some food supplements and their morale is still good."

    Yi? frowned.  He knew that Li Hongzhang's temper was acceptable and he would neither exaggerate nor conceal it.  This soldier has been fighting from Dagukou to now, and is considered the most elite soldier in the Qing army.  Their morale is only acceptable, which shows that the situation of the other troops and horses is not optimistic.

    Xingzhen then asked: "How does Ai Qing view the current situation? Can the capital be defended?"

    Li Hongzhang gritted his teeth.  He boldly said: "Your Majesty, although the capital seems to be garrisoned by more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, in my opinion, it will be difficult to defend it without the arrival of foreign reinforcements."

    At this point, Li Hongzhang stopped.  Blocked, it is difficult to transport food from place to place, the soldiers lack firearms, and the cannons also lack ammunition. If no strong reinforcements arrive, the capital will collapse without a fight in less than ten months."

    Xingzhen hummed softly, unable to tell whether she was happy or unhappy, and then asked: "In my opinion, is there any strong support available?"

    Li Hongzhang looked at Prince Gong Yi?, who sighed and said: "It's okay to talk, Mr. Quan." Li Hongzhang coughed lightly and said: "If we go back to the Queen Mother, there is no strong support nearby. Shanxi, Shaanxi-Gansu and other places have already deployed troops  The soldiers and horses of the 25th Battalion entered Beijing. Now the rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu is intensifying. Shen Zhaolin, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, can no longer send out troops. Moreover, Chen Yucheng's troops are in an hurry to invade Sichuan, and Shaanxi and Gansu also need to prepare in advance. Henan and Shandong  , the soldiers and horses in the two Huaihe areas did not dare to move lightly. This time I and Yuan Jia and Master Yuan went north, and the five thousand Huaiyong under their command also gathered here and there. I was really worried that if there were too few troops in the south, they would be defeated by Jianghuai.  long??Lin Fengxiang's plan.  As for the cavalry outside the pass, they have to deal with the Rakshasa and the Changmao outside the pass, and it is difficult to send troops and horses to support"

    ??

    Li Hongzhang didn't know why. He looked at Peng Yulin and Seng Gelinqin and saw that both of them nodded slightly. He immediately said: "If we have enough food and firearms, we can still fight. The walls of the capital are strong and we should be able to defend them."

    After Xingzhen pondered for a moment, she slowly said: "We asked you all to come here today to discuss one thing. Yesterday, someone sent a note from the British and French allied forces, saying that they were willing to provide us with food and firearms"

    At this point, all the ministers in the room were startled. Young Yiyi was the most frustrated and couldn't help but said: "What kind of medicine are the foreign devils selling? If they hadn't come here, would we be in this situation?"  ? Now they say they want to provide food and guns, what do they want to do?"

    Peng Yulin's injury has not healed yet, and several fractures on his body are still wrapped with herbs. After thinking for a while on the soft chair, he said: "Queen Mother, this is a plan by foreign barbarians to drive away wolves and swallow tigers. Now Changmao has three large camps to besiege the capital.  The way for foreigners to come to Beijing was blocked by Changmao. They must not have wanted Changmao to occupy the capital, so they provided us with food and firearms in the hope that we could defend the capital."

    Seng Gelinqin shook his head and said: "If you really don't want Changmao to capture the capital, they can just start a war with Changmao. Why bother sending us food and firearms?"

    Li Hongzhang also figured it out at this time, and then said: "King Monk, the foreign barbarians must think that their current military strength is not enough to defeat Changmao, so they have this plan. They just want us to fight Changmao, and then they can have  Time to mobilize troops and horses, and when Changmao and we are exhausted, we will come back to clean up the mess."

    Yi? Patted his thigh and said: "That's right, Yang Yi still has bad intentions." Guiliang said: "But now we are short of food and firearms, aren't we? Can we not want the meat that is brought to our mouths?"

    Xingzhen suddenly chuckled a few times and said: "The foreign devils are really good at calculating. It's a pity that it's up to them whether to give them food and ammunition. After we get the food and ammunition, it's up to us whether we can fight with Changmao or not!"

    As soon as these words came out, everyone in the room was shocked again. Li Hongzhang said in a daze: "Queen Mother, after we get the foreign food and firearms, why don't we go to war with Changmao? Even if we don't fight Changmao, Changmao will attack the capital."  .¡±

    Xingzhen smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about Changmao. Let's talk to the foreigners first. Why don't we want food and firearms if we can have them?"  Come up with regulations to see how we can obtain food and supplies from foreigners.

    After making arrangements, all the ministers left one after another, and only Xingzhen and Prince Gong Yi? were left in the room. Yi? walked slowly behind the screen, frowned at Xingzhen and said: "Sister-in-law, what kind of medicine are you selling in your gourd? Listen to you.  Tone, won't Changmao attack the capital?"

    Xingzhen slowly took a sip of tea and said, "Long Mao, the fake King of the West, is not a fool. As long as he finds out that Yang Yi provides us with food and supplies, he will understand Yang Yi's strategy of driving away wolves and devouring tigers.  There aren¡¯t too many troops, and the capital is so big that he can¡¯t even eat a bite right now, so don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Yi? looked at Xingzhen with burning eyes and said in a deep voice: "Sister-in-law, ever since Changmao's troops arrived at the city, you have been so unhurried, neither panicked nor afraid. Sometimes I really doubt you and Changmao."  Is there any agreement?"

    Xingzhen leaned on the soft couch, her beautiful eyes looking at Yi? with a charming smile, and said with a charming smile: "Where did Uncle Liu come from? What agreement will Changmao and I have? They are coming to break into the city.  I just want the lives of our two mothers, so what agreement can I make with them? Who can I make an agreement with? That fake King of the West?"

    Yi? was shocked by Xingzhen's charming look, and looked away, thinking to herself, Xingzhen and the fake King of the West couldn't get along with each other. Who could she have an agreement with with long hair?  ?  Then he said: "It's just that Changmao had no idea before and asked Peng Yulin and Li Mengqun to bring letters, so I had doubts. Don't blame the emperor's sister-in-law."

    Xingzhen stood up and walked forward, her delicate body exuding a delicate fragrance, leaning against Yi? She chuckled and said, "Uncle Liu is being stupid again. I told you before that it was Changmao's plan. Do you still believe it?"

    ????

    Xingzhen leaned forward again and chuckled: "Only you can enter this screen. Do you have to respect yourself now?"

    Yi? was choked, but when he saw Xingzhen's charming eyes, he almost couldn't help hugging her, but in the end, the spiritual platform was still clear, he pinched himself hard, took a deep breath and quickly exited the screen  , bowed and said: "Emperor's sister-in-law, I still have important matters to attend to."?, I resigned here.  "After that, he hurried away without looking back.

    Xingzhen smiled faintly, looked at Yi?'s fleeing back and said, "You still don't have the guts to fall in love with me, the royal sister-in-law" Following Xingzhen, she straightened her clothes and said to the outside: "Xiao Lizi, swing the clock.  Cuigong!" (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!
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