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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 630: Tianjin Defense

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    The British General Sutton led more than 2,000 British troops to guard the city of Tianjin, including the 1st Battalion of the British Barfors Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment, and the 15th Indian Army.  Punjab Regiment.  ¡é¡ê

    When the coalition forces captured the city of Tianjin, they relied on the advantage of the rebels within the Qing army who defected in front of the formation. They bombarded the Qing army's forts and positions outside Tianjin with a large number of artillery, and finally defeated the Qing army.  After the coalition forces occupied this place, apart from simple reinforcement and repair of a few peripheral forts, the rest of the fortifications did not undergo much repair.

    This is not to blame General Sutton for being lazy. In addition to the defense of Tianjin City, the two thousand British troops are also responsible for maintaining the security of Tianjin City and the trivial matters of military supplies. There is really no manpower available, and the Nanyang coolies and  The civilian men recruited locally could not be effectively organized. In General Sutton's words, it was a miracle that he could mobilize these spiritless coolies to maintain various military supplies in Tongzhou.  Several forts used by the Qing army beside the canal outside the city were repaired by General Sutton, who asked the British soldiers to drive the coolies away with whips and other punishments. Otherwise, the several Indian regiment companies sent out to garrison would have to be stationed in  Among the rubble.

    At the same time, there was not a single coalition artillery unit left in Tianjin. General Sutton only received more than a hundred old artillery pieces left by the Qing army.  General Sutton did not have high hopes for these artillery pieces. After receiving the artillery pieces, General Sutton organized several exercises to test-fire these Qing army artillery pieces. It was found that their accuracy was very poor and their propellants had serious defects.  As a result, it cannot hit very far.  The British army then switched to using propellant formulas from its own army.  As a result, after several test shots, three of the five guns had their barrels exploded or their barrels cracked.  at last.  Even the most courageous Indian soldiers of the Punjab regiment refused to use this Qing artillery.  General Sutton had no choice but to order more than a hundred artillery pieces to be placed on several forts and the walls of Tianjin City.  But soldiers don't have to use them, and they look more like intimidating decorations.

    Although the defense of Tianjin City was not satisfactory, General Sutton did not think there was anything wrong. In front of him was the main force of the coalition forces in Tongzhou, and behind him in the Tanggu area were the British and French troops led by Major General Napier.  There are more than 2,000 troops. Even if the Qing army sends troops to attack Tianjin City, General Sutton still feels that he can rely on the support of several forts and walls in Tianjin City to rescue the reinforcements.  Perhaps there was no need for reinforcements at all. General Sutton even believed that his British young men could defeat the Qing army with low equipment and low combat effectiveness in the field.  Of course, all of General Sutton's imaginary enemies were the Qing army.  The Taiping Army was not considered.

    But just over ten days ago, news came from Tongzhou that a unit of the Taiping Army appeared on the outskirts of the capital like a magical force descending from heaven. The Tongzhou Allied Forces Headquarters reported military intelligence to General Sutton. General Grant only reported military intelligence.  At the end, he briefly explained a few words, reminding General Sutton to strengthen the defense of Tianjin City, because Tianjin's location is very important. She is the transfer station for the entire Tongzhou coalition's logistics supplies.

    After General Sutton received the news, he did not take it too seriously.  Grant did not specifically instruct or even directly issue military orders. At that time, the coalition forces believed that the Taiping Army would not risk starting a war, and the initiative to start the war rested with the coalition forces. Therefore, General Sutton only dispatched a small reconnaissance force.  Conduct reconnaissance around Tianjin.

    The British reconnaissance team mission in Tianjin was a good job for the British soldiers in Tianjin. They could temporarily leave Tianjin, a populous and dirty Qing city, and go to the countryside to appreciate the beautiful Chinese rural scenery.  By the way, there can also be a wealth of robbery activities.  Therefore, the British army's reconnaissance team action received a response from the majority of officers and soldiers.  The soldiers who were sent to the reconnaissance team were happy, while the soldiers who stayed behind were disappointed.  The reconnaissance operation lasted for a week.  Faced with complaints from several battalion officers, General Sutton had to change the reconnaissance team's operations to a rotation system to ensure that each company could get the opportunity to go out for reconnaissance.

    Since the Taiping Army sent representatives to conduct paralyzing negotiations in Tongzhou, the British army's reconnaissance operations in Tianjin have focused more on the harvest of robbery rather than on discovering the enemy in advance.  The French army chaplain, the Protestant Father Juya, angrily denounced the British army's behavior as making a joke on the entire coalition supply line. At the same time, he accused the British Indian soldiers of causing a large number of casualties to ordinary Qing people during the reconnaissance operation. This was a sign of bandits and  The behavior of a murderer!  But the priest's accusation did not give the stubborn General Sutton a clear understanding. General Sutton believed that this was a common way of accusation by the French. They only expressed their criticism and complaints against the French army through the accusations and complaints of military doctors, priests and even military reporters.  Just dissatisfaction with insufficient rationing.

    That afternoon, the British team that went to Shuangtang Village in the south for reconnaissance came back. They brought back rich trophies. The Punjabi Indian officer leading the team claimed that they killed five Qing team spies and did not find any Qing troops or  Shadows of other armies.  Because an Indian soldier wasDuring the arrest operation, he was attacked by local residents. As punishment, the Indian officer ordered a detailed search of the entire village and confiscated some property as compensation.

    After listening to the report, General Sutton knew that this was a commonly used excuse and did not go into details. Instead, he went to the Indian military camp to visit the unfortunate man who was heroically injured.  After the Great Indian Uprising was suppressed, the British army began to pay attention to the treatment of Indian officers and soldiers. Although it was still different from the British soldiers, at least they received enough attention in the superficial effort of officers' condolences.

    In the military camp, General Sutton saw this Indian soldier. His thick blue headband had been removed, and there was a large black bruise on his forehead and a large swelling.  General Sutton briefly comforted him and asked about the injury. The soldier said excitedly: "I was the first to rush into the Qing Dynasty's house. There was a heavy bolt behind the door, which hit it hard.  On my head"

    General Sutton interrupted the soldier with some embarrassment. After a few words of comfort, the soldier said that the injury was completely worth it. Several of their soldiers snatched several handicrafts (a few beautiful porcelain tea cups) and several pieces from this resident's home.  A heavy silver ingot (which the resident hid in a water jar but was discovered anyway), of which the wounded soldier received the largest share.

    In the end, General Sutton gave the Indian officer a lecture outside the military camp and asked him to control the soldiers' mouths. However, after seeing several exquisite gifts sent by the Indian officer, General Sutton still praised him a few times.  , and promised to apply for a low-level medal for the Indian soldier.

    After returning to his office in the Chief Envoy¡¯s Yamen, General Sutton met Second Lieutenant Schmidt who had come from Tongzhou to deliver a message.  From the second lieutenant's livid face, General Sutton noticed a hint of uneasiness.

    After reading General Grant's handwritten letter, General Sutton's face turned green. He roared irritably, cursing those despicable Taiping rebels, claiming that they were not people who believed in God, but the devil.  Satan¡¯s clowns in the world, they can almost be compared to Judas who betrayed Jesus.

    After General Sutton calmed down slightly, Lieutenant Schmidt reminded: "General, according to General Grant's order, the troops led by Generals Michel and Colino will return to Tianjin at noon tomorrow at the latest. Please be ready.  Answer."

    General Sutton asked the attendant to bring a cup of hot coffee to Second Lieutenant Schmidt and said: "This is no problem at all, but I need manpower to strengthen the defenses here. Although the Taiping Army is unlikely to launch any effective offensive against Tianjin, we  Preparations still need to be made.¡±

    Second Lieutenant Schmidt said: "Major General Michel brought back a thousand Nanyang coolies with the army. General, you can consider recruiting local residents to work. General Grant is more concerned about whether there are any Taiping activities around Tianjin during this period.  Signs?"

    General Sutton shook his head and said: "We have conducted reconnaissance on hundreds of villages and towns around Tianjin in more than ten days, and found nothing. You can go back and tell General Grant that we can wait until Major General Michel's death."  Reinforcements, and then strengthened the defenses, we are no longer afraid of the Taiping Army. I don¡¯t believe that the Taiping Army will attack us in Tianjin tonight, but the navy that is still leisurely roaming in Dagukou should be careful of the troops coming from the sea.  Although the Taiping fleet is very weak, they still have some combat-effective ships."

    Second Lieutenant Schmidt drank the coffee in one gulp, stood up and saluted, then said: "General, I agree with your opinion, so I will go to Tanggu to convey the order to General Napier, and finally convey the news to the Navy."  After finishing Lieutenant Schmidt, he hurriedly left Tianjin with a few followers.

    Second Lieutenant Schmidt and four cavalrymen rushed to Tianjin on horseback. After crossing the Tianjin Canal, they did not go by boat because it was getting dark. There were very few coalition ships on the canal at night. Compared with the ships  However, at close range, Lieutenant Schmidt still felt that riding a horse would help him reach Dagukou faster.

    After two kilometers away from Tianjin, Second Lieutenant Schmidt and his party came to a village east of Tianjin. Second Lieutenant Schmidt didn¡¯t know where it was, but it was already dark, so they decided to eat some dry food before leaving.

    Not far outside the village, there was a beautiful Chinese-style pavilion with a thatched roof. Schmidt and his four soldiers ate some dry food in the pavilion. In the distance, several Qing farmers hurriedly ran home. In the village  There was a lot of chattering, but no one dared to come out and look around.  Schmidt had no time to care about this. He just wanted to finish eating as soon as possible and continue on his way.

    His men lit the embers in the fire pit in the pavilion and built a bonfire, illuminating everything around him. Looking at the bonfire, Lieutenant Schmidt began to feel homesick. He especially missed his wife who was thousands of miles away. God knows what.  Only then can I go back.

    Suddenly, a crisp gunshot sounded, and SchmidtThe head of a soldier next to Lieutenant was split open, and blood and brain matter splashed all over Lieutenant Schmidt. While Lieutenant Schmidt was still stunned, another soldier was hit, and the remaining two and Shi  Mitt immediately fell to the ground.  Then there was a burst of rapid footsteps, and several shining bayonets appeared in front of Second Lieutenant Schmidt (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!
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