In a simple and generous camp, Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili met his brother-in-law, Colonel Dupan, the official of the law, but he seemed to suffer a little, and his forehead was full of black green, and his body was also dirty. ≤

"God, are you here too?" Colonel Dupan was a little surprised, with a surprised expression like Wu Shili. Then both of them understood. Both reconnaissance teams became prisoners of the Taiping Army. They both fell into the trap carefully designed by the Taiping Army. However, the French fought with the Taiping Army. Five French troops were killed, six were injured, and the rest had to put down their weapons in the end.

After hearing the French's experience, Wu Shili expressed sympathy and indignation, believing that the Taiping Army was an act of war. Colonel Dupan believed that the Taiping Army might have been ready for war long ago. He came to this conclusion from the Taiping Army mobilization seen in the barracks that the negotiations in Tongzhou were just smoke from the Taiping Army!

Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili also agreed with Colonel Dupan and condemned the despicable and shameless behavior of the Taiping Army. However, Colonel Dupan believed that they should find a way to leave here and inform Grant and General Montauban as soon as possible, otherwise the Taiping Army's raid would be a major disaster for the unprepared coalition.

While the two were discussing how to get out of trouble, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and the Western King of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom walked in in a military uniform, and followed him with several consultants and entourages.

The King of Westerners glanced at the two of them, nodded politely, and signaled them to sit down and talk. He sat in the main seat. Wu Shili immediately spoke loudly for the Taiping Army's attack on the British and French Allied Forces reconnaissance team. He said that the Taiping Army was an act of war!

The King of Westerners touched his beard and smiled and said, "Two officers, Mr. Mr. Zheng. Three days ago, the day after you were captured, we filed the most solemn protest against the plenipotentiary of Britain and France through the negotiator in Tongzhou. During the negotiations, the two teams of Britain and France ignored the positions of both sides during the negotiations and sent small groups of troops to sneak in and attacked the frontlines of our military camp, causing the two sides to exchange fire. This is your fault first."

Colonel Dupan was speechless. Indeed, their two reconnaissance teams had sneaked into the reconnaissance and crossed the frontier of the Taiping Army. For any army, having troops crossed their positions with weapons would be considered a threat. In the eyes of the French army, it was indeed possible to open fire first. But Wu Shili argued: "Your Excellency Xiwang. Your army has taken military mobilization that is unfavorable to the coalition forces, so we will carry out this reconnaissance operation. It is you who are wrong!"

Faced with Wu Shili's pale rebuttal, the Western King seemed too lazy to say anything. He lowered his face and said, "Since you think it is an act of war, it is an act of war, but first of all, your British and French troops attack our positions will trigger the war. Today, I will order the negotiations to be terminated and a notice of declaration of war will be issued!"

Wu Shili's face turned pale. Du Pan's face turned pale. Not only did the Taiping Army be prepared, but even dug a pit to start the war and let them jump down. However, Wu Shili still asked unwillingly: "His Prince of Westernness. Please consider carefully. The relationship between Britain and France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has always been very good. Why did it come to this point?"

The Western King burst into laughter. Finally, he said meaningfully: "From the day when your British and French expeditionary forces reach the Far East, war is actually inevitable. Since you have planned to give up your neutral position from the very beginning and intervene in our country's civil war with force. Then you should understand that sooner or later we will go to war."

Wu Shili sat back in a daze, while Colonel Dupan was much calmer. He continued, "His Excellency Xiwang, have you considered to bear the consequences of going to war with the two most powerful countries in the world?"

The King of Western smiled and his face gradually became calm and solemn. Finally, he slowly stood up and said, "When the Queen of England challenged the Spanish Invincible Armada and when the French Emperor Napoleon challenged the whole of Europe, would they consider the consequences? The consequences I considered were only how to make the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom stronger!"

Many years later, Colonel Dupan wrote in "Memoirs of the Far East War": "When Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili and I learned of the Taiping Army's clear intention to war that day, I was extremely shocked. In the face of the man who claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ, his will and confidence were so firm. His answer represented the determination to rise a country and nation, just like the actions taken by Britain and France to challenge the overlords in order to seek a great power many years ago, full of adventure and gambling spirit. At that moment, I felt pressure and fear..."

Wu Shili seemed to know that it would be useless to say anything else, and finally asked: "His Excellency Xiwang, since we both will start a war, what are you going to deal with us?"

The King of Western smile returned to his face, and he smiled so warmly: "The two important witnesses who provoked the war are naturally staying with us. I promise you can enjoy high-level prisoner treatment until the end of the war..."

At the same time, in Tongzhou City more than ten miles away, Sir Erjin took the declaration of war submitted by the Taiping Army's special envoy Qian Jiang with shock and shock. His hands were trembling because of anger. At this moment, he really felt the humiliation of being fooled and played with!

Three days ago, the military did not notify Erkin in advance. After no one from the reconnaissance team came back the next day, Grant and Montauban found Erkin and informed the matter. Grant and Montauban planned to send an army to inquire and must find the reconnaissance team sent out.

Just as Sir Erkin was discussing with them, Qian Jiang visited and brought a protest note, which was a tough wording protesting against the despicable acts of the coalition forces dispatched a small group of troops to attack the frontier positions of the Taiping Army last night.

Erkin was shocked. Grant and Montauban did not expect that a reconnaissance operation would turn into a firefighting incident. This firefighting was different from the conflict caused by misunderstandings between the two sides during the Qing army's retreat. The Taiping Army believed that the coalition was a targeted military operation with hostility. In fact, the original intention of Grant and Montauban was only to find out the movements of the Taiping Army.

But things evolved like this, beyond the expectations of the British and French ministers. Erkin and Grolo still took a tougher attitude, indicating that this operation was a normal reconnaissance operation of the coalition forces, and the Taiping Army deliberately attacked the coalition forces. Qian Jiang naturally refused to admit this, so both sides started a lawsuit again. The British and French side insisted on the Taiping Army to release people and compensate for the losses caused by the casualties, while the Taiping Army demanded that the British and French apologize and compensate for the losses of the Taiping Army.

The two sides argued for three days, and finally issued an ultimatum to each other. Sir Erkin was optimistic that the Taiping Army would not dare to start a war at this time. Once the war started, Britain and France would join forces with the Qing Dynasty to attack the Taiping Army, and then the Taiping Army near the capital would inevitably be in a desperate situation.

But the incident happened 180 degrees early this morning. Prince Gong, the Qing Dynasty, who was still negotiating with Britain and France the day before, suddenly sent someone to terminate the negotiations. The Qing Dynasty said that because the conditions between Britain and France were too harsh, they would temporarily suspend the negotiations and restart the negotiations after reaching an agreement within the Qing court.

Qian Jiang then came with a declaration of war. Everything seemed to be discussed by the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Army. At this moment, Sir Erjin realized that Britain and France were fooled by the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Army.

After submitting the notice of declaration of war, Qian Jiang did not say much, but just kindly reminded: "Mr. Minister, since we both have been in a state of war from today, the embassies, consulates and other diplomatic embassies in the Jiangnan region recommend that you evacuate as soon as possible. The concessions at the Five Trade Ports will also become the target of our army's attack. Please be prepared. As for some cooperative development projects and factories that the two sides have signed before, we will temporarily terminate the cooperation in accordance with international practice. The civilians and merchants in the Jiangnan region of Britain and France, please organize the evacuation as soon as possible." After saying that, Qian Jiang nodded slightly and turned around and left with great strides in the angry eyes of Erkin and Gro.

Shortly after Qian Jiang left, Erjin and others came back from their anger. The other party had decided to go to war. There were too many things they needed to deal with. But the efficiency of the British and French command was not bad. Soon the senior officials and officers of the coalition forces were summoned. They needed to discuss a plan for response as soon as possible. Otherwise, the losses suffered by Britain and France would be huge if caught off guard.

In Tongzhou County, senior officials and officers of the British and French coalition forces were both shocked and angry after learning the news. Various curses and swear words filled the house. Finally, Sir Erkin had to yell loudly to remind everyone that the useless abuse now has no effect and should discuss how to deal with it.

At present, diplomacy cannot solve the problem, so we can only consider military operations. The officers of the coalition forces began to express their opinions. Montauban felt that he should launch a tentative attack on the Tongzhou camp in front of the Taiping Army today. He suggested that the French artillery troops first launch a shelling of some military targets of the Taiping Army camp.

Grant was much more awake. After the French officers finished their opinions, Grant slowly stood up and said, "Gentlemen, we should consider retreat rather than attack. The temporary suspension of negotiations proposed by the Qing Dynasty this morning shows that they and the Taiping Army had reached a certain agreement in private, targeting our coalition forces. We do not know the enemy's plans and deployments now, but based on my understanding of the Taiping Army, they must have a more terrible trap waiting for us, so we should retreat to Tianjin immediately and let some soldiers return to the south to defend the concession first, otherwise what awaits us will be a disaster!" (To be continued, please search for astronomy, novels are better, updated and faster!
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