Chapter 559: Battle of Tongzhou

The senior leaders of the British and French coalition forces were furious when they learned that the Qing Dynasty not only executed the Parkesli mission, but was also gathering troops to prepare for war.

Under the instruction of the special envoys of Britain and France, Grant, the commander of the British Army, and Montauban, the commander of the French Army, raised their troops to invade Tongzhou.

The command and dispatch of the Qing army highlighted chaos, disorder and inefficiency.

It was not until the main force of the British and French forces arrived near Tongzhou that the Qing army barely completed its assembly.

What is rare is that the morale of the Qing army was high this time, unlike before.

After all, this is the most elite military force of the Qing Dynasty and its last fig leaf.

The main forces of both sides met near Tongzhou.

"The terrain here is open and suitable for my cavalry charge! God helps me! God helps me!"

In Tongzhou City, facing the open plain terrain and the 40,000 elite troops with high morale, Seng Gelinqin was full of confidence.

In his view, the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty had never really competed head-on with the foreigners. Failure to compete meant that they had not lost.

What kind of wars did the Qing Dynasty and foreigners fight before?

These are all naval battles and landing battles that the Qing Dynasty was not good at! The foreigners won the war by using their strengths to overcome the Qing's weaknesses!

Now in the flat Tongzhou Plain, he wants foreigners to experience the true strength of the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners that swept the world!

"King Monk, the enemy is attacking and we are defending, and the foreigners have sharp guns and cannons and a large number of elite soldiers, so we cannot waste the battle. We should take advantage of our military strength to hold on to the fortified city! Wait for work and kill and injure the enemy as much as possible!" Liang Shaoqiong suggested.

"When the enemy soldiers are trapped and exhausted, it will not be too late for Monk King to lead the Eight Banners force to pursue the remaining enemy soldiers and defeated generals!"

Before the war began, the two commanders-in-chief of the Qing army had serious differences in tactics.

Seng Gelinqin advocated taking the initiative to take advantage of the field combat advantages of the powerful cavalry of the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, defeating the British and French coalition forces in one fell swoop, and deciding the outcome in one battle.

Liang Shaoqiong advocated rejecting the city and sticking to it, preserving his strength and choosing the right opportunity to attack at the right time.

The final result is self-evident. Seng Gelinqin is the commander-in-chief, and the command power lies in Seng Gelinqin's hands. Liang Shaoqiong can only obey Seng Gelinqin's orders, lead his army to take the initiative to attack, and fight the British and French allied forces.

However, Liang Shaoqiong also kept an eye on it. Except for half of the artillery battalion that had to be taken out of the city, Liang Shaoqiong only took the new Yue Yong battalion out of the city for field battles. The most elite old Yue Yong battalion still stayed in Tongzhou City in case of emergencies.

Soon, Seng Gelinqin, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army, made arrangements.

He personally commanded 17,000 horses and infantry (including 7,000 Mongolian cavalry, 3,000 Sauron elite cavalry from Duolong Abe, and 7,000 infantry), stationed on the line from Zhangjiawan to Baliqiao, facing the British and French coalition forces, and guarding Tongzhou to Guangzhou, the capital. The main road of Qumen.

Liang Shaoqiong commanded 3,000 Yue Yong, 4,000 Zhili Green Camp troops, and more than 1,000 Sauron cavalry to coordinate with Seng Gelinqin's main force.

Deputy Governor Yildong'a led 4,000 Mongolian cavalry to defend Bali Bridge. Another 1,000 Chahar Mongolian cavalry, led by the general manager Namashan, stationed at Maju Bridge to prevent the British and French forces from advancing westward from the direction of Maju Bridge and making a detour to invade. Capital city.

The deputy capital commander led the green camp to win with 4,000 soldiers, and joined the Yue Yong old camp to defend Tongzhou.

Cheng Bao, the governor of Zhili, led the 5,000-strong Beijing Battalion to garrison the area east of Qihua Gate to Dingfuzhuang. They were responsible for guarding the capital and acting as reserve troops.

Liang Shaoqiong believed that there were too few reserve teams and suggested that Seng Gelinqin keep more reserve teams.

Deputy Commander Shengbao and others also sided with Liang Shaoqiong and suggested that the monk Gelinqin keep more reserves.

Seng Gelinqin was so annoyed that in order to stop the two people from making noise, he left 2,000 more people in Tongzhou City as a reserve team.

Early morning on June 15, 1858.

The British and French forces approached Zhangjiawan from Hexi and launched artillery attacks on the Qing army's garrison near Zhangjiawan.

Half of Yue Yong's artillery battalion fired back with Sacramento artillery. However, the British and French allied forces had an absolute advantage in the number of artillery. Yue Yong's half of the artillery battalion failed to suppress the artillery fire of the British and French allied forces, and suffered heavy losses.

The casualties were heavy, but the Guangdong artillery still persisted in shelling the British and French forces, providing fire cover for the charge of the large forces.

The powerful Mongolian cavalry under Senggelinqin had already been prepared, and under the cover of artillery, they shouted and launched a massive charge towards the British and French allied forces. Trying to break up the British and French allied forces and decide the outcome in one battle.

Seeing that thousands of Mongolian cavalry were getting closer and closer to their own military formation, while increasing their gunfire output, the British and French forces showed off their Congreve rockets.

Suddenly, hundreds of Congreve rockets fired in salvo, and the rockets broke through the sky like a flock of burning birds, with flames and thick smoke ejected from their tails, and pierced the blue sky with a sharp and ear-piercing whistling sound.

Hundreds of rockets were arranged in a spectacular formation in the air, like a gorgeous fireworks feast, splashing on the densely packed Mongolian cavalry.

The accuracy of early rockets was not high, and there were not many casualties caused by rockets directly hitting the Mongolian cavalry. However, the momentum of the rocket salvo was a huge blow to the morale of the Qing army.

Even if the riders of the Mongolian cavalry and the Sauron cavalry can suppress the fear in their hearts and continue to charge, their mounts may not be able to obey their orders.

The sharp and ear-piercing sound of the rockets frightened the war horses, causing them to run wild without control and almost unable to form an army.

The frightened horses directly broke up the infantry phalanx in the rear, causing the infantry to fall into chaos.

Fortunately, the infantry phalanx was personally commanded by Liang Shaoqiong, and with Guangdong Yong as the core, the infantry phalanx could barely be stabilized without collapse.

Even though the situation was so chaotic, there were still a few Mongolian cavalry and Solon cavalry who seized the opportunity to rush to the front of the British and French coalition forces under the cover of the increasingly sparse artillery fire of the Guangdong Yong.

However, the final outcome of these Mongolian riders and Solon cavalry was that they were shot and killed by the British and French coalition forces. The Mongolian cavalry's proud horse archery caused very limited casualties to the British and French coalition forces.

Traditional cavalry could not adapt to modern warfare. On the battlefield of Crimea, the Cossack cavalry had proved it with their blood.

The British and French coalition forces using rifled guns defeated the once invincible Russian Cossack cavalry with only a thin row of line soldiers.

"How could it be?"

Looking at the Mongolian riders who fell in groups under the guns of the British and French coalition forces, Senggelinqin was horrified.

But he did not intend to stop there. He believed that as long as he continued to launch a charge, he would sooner or later be able to break through the British and French coalition forces. The firearms used by the British and French coalition forces will overheat and explode!

Senggelinqin's understanding of firearms still remained at the level of the Qing army's homemade guns and cannons.

Little did he know that the matchlock gun had long been thrown into the garbage dump of history in Europe.

Senggelinqin was like a gambler who had lost his money. He kept feeding the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry into the guns and cannons of the British and French coalition forces in order to defeat the British and French coalition forces head-on.

At the same time, Senggelinqin sent out two other cavalry teams, one of which was responsible for flanking and plundering the rear of the British and French coalition forces.

The other team used the cover of the bushes and reeds near the Tongzhou River to pounce on the British and French coalition artillery positions and destroy the enemy artillery.

Grant and Mentoban, the commanders of the British and French coalition forces, were shocked by Senggelinqin's style of fighting regardless of losses, and could no longer tell whether these Qing cavalry were brave or stupid.

Seeing that the Qing cavalry's charge was getting more and more fierce, a large number of dense Qing cavalry teams pounced on the British artillery positions under the cover of the bushes and reeds by the river.

Grant dispatched the Sikh Cavalry Regiment to intercept these Mongolian cavalry to cover their own artillery.

The Sikh cavalry soon entangled with the Mongolian cavalry. As more and more Mongolian cavalry joined the battlefield, the Sikh cavalry gradually fell into a disadvantage. Several Sikh cavalry were shot off their horses by Mongolian cavalry using bows and arrows.

Seeing that the Sikh cavalry failed to complete the task, Grant made up his mind to dispatch the most elite Royal Dragoon Regiment in the coalition forces, defeated the Mongolian cavalry that raided from the flank, and rescued the Sikh Cavalry Regiment.

The fierce battle lasted from 7 am to 14 pm.

After seven hours of high-intensity combat, the Qing army suffered heavy casualties and was exhausted. Finally, it was unable to organize an effective group charge.

The Qing army, which was still in high spirits and full of fighting spirit in the early morning, had no fighting spirit at this time after half a day of fierce fighting and defeat, and showed signs of defeat.

The British and French coalition forces took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack.

The arrogant British and French coalition forces even sent two artillery companies to the front to bombard the remaining infantry phalanx of the Qing army.

"Damn it! Too damn arrogant!"

Liang Shaoqiong, who saw this scene through the smoke and dust, was extremely indignant and ordered the remaining artillery to open fire and hit the two British artillery companies in the front row to suppress the arrogance of the British army.

The remaining 13 Sacramento guns and field guns of the Guangdong Yong then poured shrapnel shells on the two artillery companies in front of the British and French coalition army.

After several rounds of rain of bullets, the two British artillery companies in the front suffered heavy losses, and a British artillery company commander died on the spot. The British artillery company had to stop following the main force.

Soon, the remnants of the Guangdong Yong artillery battalion, which had exposed their positions by firing, were discovered by the French artillery observers and received special attention from the British and French coalition artillery.

Before their field artillery could be moved, the solid bullets and explosive bombs of the British and French coalition forces poured down on the heads of these Guangdong artillerymen like a dense rainstorm.

As the offensive launched by the British and French coalition forces became more and more fierce, the Qing army gradually collapsed.

The Royal Dragoon Regiment drove away the stragglers of the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry like hunting, and even Senggelinqin himself could not retreat in time and was captured by the British cavalry.

The commander was captured, and the morale of the Qing army was unstable and they had no intention of fighting again.

Seeing that the situation was over, Liang Shaoqiong could only reluctantly leave a battalion behind to delay the British and French coalition forces and buy time for him to gather the main force and withdraw to Tongzhou.

The battalion of Guangdong braves left behind caused considerable trouble to the British and French coalition forces.

The British and French coalition forces did not expect that among the defeated soldiers, there were still troops that could carry out organized resistance.

After spending an hour, suffering the casualties of one and a half companies, and consuming a lot of ammunition, the British and French forces completely wiped out the Guangdong Yong Battalion that blocked them, and continued to march towards Tongzhou City on their corpses.

In this battle, the British and French forces defeated the most elite troops of the Qing Dynasty at the cost of less than 380 casualties. Among them, the largest casualties of the British and French forces were caused by the Guangdong Yong who were left behind and the artillery of the Guangdong Yong artillery.

The casualties caused by the charge of the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry to the British and French forces were extremely limited.

It seemed that the road to the capital city had been opened for them.

Without rest, the British and French forces planned to take Tongzhou in one go.

After gathering outside the city, the British and French forces launched a fierce attack on Tongzhou City.

Fortunately, Liang Shaoqiong had been prepared and reserved enough manpower in the city, preserving some artillery and artillery of the artillery battalion.

What is rare is that Deputy Commander Shengbao cooperated with Liang Shaoqiong's defense deployment very well, and personally went to the city wall to supervise the army and fought hard. He was hit by two stray bullets but still did not leave the front line, which greatly boosted the morale of the defenders.

The Manchu, Mongolian and Han armies worked together and were brave and determined to barely block the strong attack of the British and French coalition forces.

After three consecutive attacks on Tongzhou City failed, the British and French coalition forces finally temporarily stopped the offensive after leaving 370 bodies under Tongzhou City.

After defending Tongzhou City, Liang Shaoqiong breathed a sigh of relief and immediately sent someone to send a letter to the capital city to inform them of the current war situation. Let Emperor Xianfeng rest assured that he will definitely defend Tongzhou City.

At the same time, Liang Shaoqiong wrote a letter privately to Pan Shicheng in the capital city.

Tell Pan Shicheng that if the emperor can stay in the capital city, there will be three old Yueyong battalions left in the capital city: Qiongzi camp, Chengzi camp, and cavalry camp. The emperor must be protected.

If the emperor wants to go hunting, whether he is hunting in the west or in the north, he will also accompany him. He must express the determination of the two of them and King Yongqin of Guangdong to the Aisin Gioro royal family.

In short, no matter what happens, the three old battalions of Yue Yong must follow the emperor, and he will be responsible for any big things outside.

"Shilang Liang, you still understand foreigners. It's a pity that there are tens of thousands of Mongolian knights. If we had followed Shilang Liang's plan and relied on the strong defense of the city to resist the foreigners, we would never have been defeated so miserably. The Monk King would not have been captured by the foreigners! "

At the top of Tongzhou City, Shengbao paused after treating his wounds.

The Manchu and Mongolian cavalry that Seng Gelinqin buried were the last cavalry available to the Qing Dynasty.

"Why did Commander-in-Chief Shengdu say this? Tongzhou has not been lost, so why say defeat? You and I will definitely be able to defend Tongzhou if we work together!" Liang Shaoqiong consoled him.

What Liang Shaoqiong hates are banner men who only know how to eat, drink and have fun. He still respects real men like Shengbao who dare to go to battle in person and stay in the line of fire even after being wounded.

Seng Gelinqin's capture was actually a good thing for Liang Shaoqiong.

Regardless of whether other Manchu and Mongolian generals were convinced or not, he was the highest commander of this army before the new imperial edict was issued.

Liang Shaoqiong counted the remaining troops of the Qing army.

There are still more than 5,000 Guangdong warriors, more than 6,000 green battalion soldiers from the Zhili area, more than 1,000 Mongolian cavalry, and more than 1,000 Solon cavalry in Tongzhou City. A total of 13,000 to 4,000 soldiers and horses can be directly commanded and dispatched.

Bali Bridge is also defended by the 4,000-man Mongolian cavalry led by Vice-Capital Iledonga, and Maju Bridge is also defended by the 1,000-man Chahar Mongolian cavalry led by Ma Shantong.

Although these 5,000 cavalry are difficult to mobilize directly due to the current situation, they have not been defeated by the British and French forces after all, and they can be regarded as two combat forces on paper.

The only thing that made Liang Shaoqiong upset was that all the 5,000 Beijing battalions stationed east of Qihua Gate to Dingfuzhuang and responsible for defending the capital were gone.

The troops in the front were not completely defeated, but the Manchu soldiers in the rear ran faster than rabbits.

"Yes, the enemy is facing a formidable enemy, and the three armies cannot be without their commanders. Only Commander Liang can deal with the current crisis, and Sheng Baoyuan is at Commander Liang's command!"

The battle outside Tongzhou City was witnessed by Bao with his own eyes. Without the artillerymen of Guangdong Yong who fought against the British and French forces regardless of casualties, the main force of Senggelinqin's Mongolian cavalry would have suffered a worse defeat.

After the army was defeated, Liang Shaoqiong did not leave a battalion of Guangdong Yong to break off the rear and gathered the remaining soldiers into Tongzhou City to assist in the defense.

Whether Tongzhou City can be defended now or whether he can survive is a matter of doubt.

Although there are more green soldiers in Tongzhou City than Yueyong, Shengbao still knows the virtues of the green soldiers in the Zhili area.

If you want to hold Tongzhou now, you will never be able to hold it with the green battalion soldiers. You still have to rely on Yue Yong, and you must rely on Yue Yong, the coach who understands foreigners and soldiers better.

As long as Guangdong Yong does not collapse, the morale of the people in Tongzhou City can be stabilized, and Tongzhou City has hope of holding on.

Covered in blood and bandaged, Shengbao's sharp eyes glanced at the displeased Manchu generals beside him, making these Manmon generals feel numb.

"I am willing to listen to Liang Shuai's orders!"

Under the pressure of Shengbao, these Manchu and Mongolian generals expressed their stance one after another.

"How does this make"

After some hypocritical pretense, Liang Shaoqiong decisively took over the command of the Qing army.

After taking over the command, Liang Shaoqiong helped Shengbao return home to recuperate.

Shengbao couldn't help but asked curiously: "Liang Shuai, is it true that this foreigner can't kneel down?"

Liang Shaoqiong smiled helplessly and said seriously: "Foreigners are just like us. They are human beings. They can sing and dance, cry and laugh, crawl and run. They are also made of flesh and blood. They can bleed, get injured, and die."

"As long as they are human beings, as long as they are not monsters and monsters, there is hope to defend Tongzhou City. Behind Tongzhou City is the Capital City." Shengbao said, covering the aching wound on his shoulder.

Early the next morning, the British and French forces did not attack Tongzhou City.

The soldiers and civilians in Tongzhou City got a brief respite.

In the afternoon, Liang Shaoqiong received bad news.

The British and French forces began to storm Bali Bridge and Maju Bridge this morning.

The 5,000 Mongolian cavalry in Baliqiao and Majuqiao failed to withstand the fierce attack of the British and French forces and collapsed one after another.

It only took half a day for the British and French forces to capture the two important locations of Bali Bridge and Maju Bridge.

At this point, Liang Shaoqiong only had an isolated city in Tongzhou left with 13,000 to 4,000 remaining soldiers.

The Qing army's absolute strength advantage over the British and French forces before the war had been lost.

In the evening, worse news came from the capital city.

Emperor Xianfeng of the Forbidden City was horrified when he learned that Seng Gelinqin had been defeated and captured. With the support of powerful ministers Sushun and others, he decided to flee to the Chengde Summer Resort with his queen, concubine and others in the name of hunting in the north.

Before leaving, Sushun did not forget to suppress his political opponents and played a small trick. He suggested that Xianfeng appoint Prince Gong Yi as the plenipotentiary imperial envoy and stay in the capital city to be responsible for negotiating with the British and French forces to clean up the mess. He wanted Yi to bear the infamy and be ruined.

In order to escape as soon as possible, Emperor Xianfeng agreed and ordered Prince Gong Yi to stay in the capital to preside over the peace.

When Yi learned about this, he asked all of Su Shun's family members, but he had no choice but to stay in the capital. However, Yi made a request, asking Emperor Xianfeng to support Liang Shaoqiong, so that Liang Shaoqiong could legitimately lead the troops to fight against the enemy.

Liang Shaoqiong's Yueyong faction was Yi's, so Su Shun was naturally unwilling to let Liang Shaoqiong take charge of the troops to fight against the enemy, and obstructed him on the grounds that there were no Han officials in this dynasty to take charge of such heavy troops.

Yi asked Su Shun in return, Liang Shaoqiong was a Han official, so were Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi and others not Han officials? Otherwise, you let Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi fly over from Jiangxi to take charge of the troops to fight against the enemy.

Pan Shicheng also stood up and said that in the current situation, among the civil and military officials in Beijing, only Liang Shaoqiong was capable of cleaning up the mess.

The reason why Su Shun opposed Liang Shaoqiong taking charge of the troops to fight against the enemy was certainly not as simple as the superficial defense between Manchus and Hans. The root cause was that Liang Shaoqiong was not a Han minister of his line, but a Han minister of Yi's line, and was his political enemy.

If Zeng Lin and other Han ministers of the Hunan Army were allowed to take charge of the troops to defend the king, Sushun would be more than happy.

But what annoyed Sushun was that the Hunan Army, which he had always relied on, did not come to defend the king.

Emperor Xianfeng saw that Pan Shicheng, who had always been taciturn, had spoken up, and Prince Gong Yi's request was reasonable, and he still had to rely on the three battalions of elite soldiers of the Guangdong Braves to escort him to Chengde, so he promoted Liang Shaoqiong to the Minister of War and put him in charge of the troops to defend the king.

Afterwards, the fleeing team of Xianfeng, Sushun and others fled north in a hurry with their families, escorted by the Beijing Battalion and the three battalions of Guangdong Braves.

Before Tongzhou was lost, the rulers of the capital city had already abandoned their capital.

The war between the British and French coalition forces and the Qing army was in full swing, and Liang Yao, who was watching the battle and eating melons on the sidelines, was not idle either.

In the field battle outside Tongzhou City, the British and French coalition forces captured a large number of prisoners.

These prisoners included Mongolian cavalry, Solon cavalry, and Green Camp soldiers.

Because there were too many prisoners, the British and French coalition forces had to spare some troops to guard the prisoners and provide them with food.

The British and French coalition leaders even had the idea of ​​executing these prisoners on the spot.

At this time, Liang Yao stood up considerately and expressed his willingness to share the worries of the British and French coalition forces and accommodate these prisoners of war.

The British and French coalition forces were eager to do so, and immediately screened the prisoners on hand, leaving behind the senior officers they thought were valuable, and the remaining soldiers and junior officers were all thrown to Liang Yao.

This move was exactly what Liang Yao wanted. He didn't want the senior officers, he just wanted these cavalry.

In order to encourage the British and French coalition forces to capture more prisoners for him, Liang Yao offered a generous price of $20 per person for the Mongolian cavalry and $30 per person for the Solon cavalry, and purchased the prisoners of war in cash.

As for the Green Camp captives, Liang Yao was too lazy to even look at them, let alone collect them.

What he lacked was high-quality cavalry, not infantry.

Hearing that the Americans were willing to buy prisoners with real money, the British and French forces on the front line became more active in capturing prisoners, specifically targeting the Qing cavalry.

The British and French forces, which originally enjoyed shooting the remnants of the Qing army, now prefer to capture live people and exchange them for dollars with Americans.

In the battle of Tongzhou, the British and French forces used field artillery, rockets, and rifles to fire at full power. Senggelinqin used his cavalry flesh and blood to face the British and French guns and bullets head-on. The loss was very frustrating, but not unfair.

Senggelinqin's tactics were courting death in front of rifled guns and cannons.

Senggelinqin's Mongolian cavalry was completely defeated by the guns and cannons of the British and French forces, which only shows that the classical cavalry equipped with traditional close combat and long-range weapons such as spears, swords, bows and arrows, and shields can no longer adapt to the war environment of the industrial age. This does not mean that cavalry is useless.

It is still very cost-effective to transform the classical knights of the Mongolian and Solon tribes who are skilled in riding into modern cavalry, and use the high mobility and flexibility of cavalry to assist infantry and artillery in performing mobile combat tasks such as reconnaissance, harassment, rapid mobile support, pursuit, and interception of local communications.