General Sutton of the British army led more than 2,000 British troops to guard Tianjin City, including the 1st Battalion of the British Bafors Corps, the 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the East Surry Corps and the 15th Punjab Corps composed of Indian soldiers.￠￡

When the coalition captured Tianjin City, it relied on the advantage of the rebels in the Qing army's internal rebels to defeat the Qing army's artillery and positions with a large number of artillery bombardment and positions outside Tianjin, and finally defeated the Qing army. After the coalition occupied this place, except for the simple reinforcement and repair of several peripheral artillery, the rest of the defensive fortifications did not take much rest.

This is not a pity for General Sutton. In addition to defending Tianjin City, the two thousand British troops must also be responsible for maintaining the public order and military supplies of all sizes. They really cannot draw out people. The Nanyang coolies and local civilians cannot be effectively organized. In the words of General Sutton, it is a miracle that he can mobilize these unenergetic coolies to maintain various military supplies in Tongzhou. The artillery used by the Qing army next to the canal outside the city was still the one that General Sutton asked the British soldiers to drive the coolies to rush repair with whips and other punishments. Otherwise, the few Indian corps companies sent to garrison would have to be stationed in a piece of rubble.

At the same time, no coalition artillery unit was left in Tianjin. General Sutton only obtained more than 100 old artillery left by the Qing army. General Sutton did not have much hope for these artillery. After receiving the artillery, General Sutton organized several exercises to test the Qing army artillery, but found that their accuracy was poor and the launching medicine was seriously defective, which led to the failure to hit far. The British army then changed to the proportion of the launching medicine in their own army. As a result, after a few test shots, three of the five artillery fired a blow or cracked the cannon. In the end, even the Indian soldiers of the Punjab regiment, who were the most courageous, refused to use this Qing army artillery. General Sutton had no choice but to order more than 100 artillery to be placed on several forts and the city walls of Tianjin. But the soldiers could not use them, and they looked more like decorations that played a threat.

Although the defense of Tianjin City was not satisfactory, General Sutton did not think anything was wrong. In front of him was the main force of the Tongzhou coalition, and in the Tanggu area behind him, there were more than 2,000 British and French troops led by Major General Napier. Even if the Qing army sent troops to attack Tianjin City, General Sutton felt that he could rely on several forts and walls in Tianjin City to support reinforcements to rescue him. Perhaps reinforcements did not need to be rescued at all. General Sutton even believed that the British young men under his command could defeat the Qing army with low equipment and combat effectiveness in the field. Of course, all the imaginary enemies of General Sutton were the Qing army, and he had never considered the Taiping army.

But just over ten days ago, news came from Tongzhou that a Taiping army appeared outside the capital like a magic weapon descending from the sky. The Tongzhou Alliance Command issued a military information notice to General Sutton. General Grant just briefly explained a few words at the end of the military information notice, reminding General Sutton to strengthen the defense of Tianjin City, because Tianjin's location is very important, and she is the transfer station for the logistics supplies of the entire Tongzhou Alliance.

After receiving the news, General Sutton did not pay much attention. Grant did not give any special instructions or even issued military orders directly. At that time, the coalition forces believed that the Taiping Army would not take the risk of going to war, and the initiative to start the war was in the hands of the coalition forces. Therefore, General Sutton only sent a small team of reconnaissance troops to conduct reconnaissance around Tianjin.

The mission of the British army's reconnaissance team in Tianjin was a bad idea for the British soldiers in Tianjin. They could temporarily leave Tianjin, a large and dirty city of Qing, and go to the countryside to enjoy the beautiful scenery of China's rural areas. By the way, there were also rich robbery activities to be carried out. Therefore, the British army's reconnaissance team's operations were responded by the majority of officers. The soldiers sent to the reconnaissance team were happy, while the soldiers left behind were disappointed. The reconnaissance operations lasted for a week. Faced with the complaints of several battalions of officers, General Sutton had to change the reconnaissance team's operations to a rotation system to ensure that each company had the opportunity to go out to reconnaissance and let go.

As the Taiping Army sent representatives to conduct paralytic negotiations in Tongzhou, the British army in Tianjin focused more on the amount of robbery harvest rather than discovering the enemy in advance. The French priest and Protestant Father Zhu Ya angrily rebuked the British army's behavior as a joke on the supply line of the entire coalition. At the same time, he accused the British Indian soldiers of causing a large number of casualties in the Qing Dynasty during the reconnaissance operation, which was the act of robbers and murderers! But the priest's accusation did not give the stubborn General Sutton a clear understanding. General Sutton believed that this was the usual accusation method of French people. They only expressed their dissatisfaction with the insufficient rations of the French army through the accusations and complaints of military doctors, priests and even military reporters.

That afternoon, the British squad that went to Shuangtang Village, Nanmeng came back. They brought back a wealth of spoils. The Punjab Indian officer led the team claimed that they killed five spies from the Qing squad and did not find any shadows of the Qing army or other troops. Because an Indian soldier was attacked by local residents during the arrest operation, out of 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 common excuse for everyone. He did not go into it in depth. Instead, he went to the Indian military camp to visit the brave and injured unlucky man. After the 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 in the superficial skill of the officers' condolences, they received enough attention.

In the military camp, General Sutton saw this Indian soldier. His thick blue cloth head had been removed, and there was a large piece of black on his forehead and a huge lump. General Sutton comforted him a few words and asked about the injury. The soldier said excitedly: "I was the first to rush into the Qing people's house. There was a heavy door bolt behind the door, which hit my head heavily..."

General Sutton interrupted the soldier with embarrassment. After a few words of comfort, the soldier said that the injury was worth it. Several of their soldiers grabbed a few handicrafts (several beautiful porcelain tea cups) and a few heavy silver ingots from the resident's home (the resident hid them in the water tank, but was still found). Because the injured soldier got the largest portion.

Finally, General Sutton preached the Indian officer outside the military camp and asked him to take care of the soldier's mouth. However, afterwards, General Sutton praised the Indian officer for a few exquisite gifts and promised to apply for a low-level medal for the Indian soldier.

After returning to his office in the governor's office, General Sutton met Lieutenant Schmidt who came to deliver the letter from Tongzhou. From the Lieutenant's face, General Sutton sensed a trace of uneasiness.

After reading General Grant's handwritten letter, General Sutton's face turned green. He roared irritably and cursed the despicable and shameless Taiping Heavenly** people, claiming that they were not people who believed in God, but the clown on earth by the devil Satan, who was almost comparable to Judas who betrayed Jesus.

After General Sutton's mood calmed down slightly, Ensign Schmidt reminded: "General, according to General Grant's order, the army led by Michele and General Colino will return to Tianjin at noon tomorrow. Please prepare for the response."

General Sutton asked the attendant to serve a cup of hot coffee to Lieutenant Schmidt and said, "This is absolutely fine, but I need to strengthen the fortifications here. Although the Taiping Army is unlikely to launch a fruitful offensive against Tianjin, we still need to prepare."

Second Lieutenant Schmidt said: "My Qier will bring back a thousand Nanyang coolies with the army. General, you can consider recruiting local residents to work. General Grant cares more about whether there are any signs of Taiping Army activities around Tianjin during this period?"

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 for Major General Michele's reinforcements and strengthen the fortifications, so we are even less afraid of the Taiping Army. I don't believe that the Taiping Army will still rush to Tianjin tonight, but the leisurely navy in Dagukou should be careful of the raids from the sea. Although the Taiping Army's fleet is very weak, they still have some combat-capable ships."

After drinking the coffee in one sip, Lieutenant Schmidt stood up and saluted, and said, "General, I agree with your opinion, so I have to go to Tanggu to convey orders to General Napier, and finally convey the news to the navy." After that, Lieutenant Schmidt hurriedly left Tianjin City with several followers.

Second Lieutenant Schmidt and four cavalrymen all rode horses to Tianjin. After crossing the Tianjin Canal, they did not take a boat because it was almost dark. In the evening, the coalition forces rarely dispatched ships on the canal. Compared with the ships, Second Lieutenant Schmidt still felt that choosing the method of riding horses could reach Dagukou faster.

Two kilometers after leaving Tianjin, Lieutenant Schmidt and his party came to a village east of Tianjin. 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 is a beautiful Chinese pavilion covered with thatch. Schmidt and his four soldiers ate some dry food in the pavilion. Several Qing farmers in the distance hurried home. The village was full of chaos and no one dared to come out to look around. Schmidt had no time to pay attention to these things. He just wanted to finish eating as soon as possible and continued on the road.

His subordinates lit the embers in the fire pond in the pavilion, set up a bonfire, illuminating everything around him. Lieutenant Schmidt began to miss home as he looked at the bonfire. He missed his wife, who was thousands of miles away, and God knew when he would be able to go back.

Suddenly, a crisp gunshot sounded, and a soldier next to Lieutenant Schmidt's head was blooming, and blood and brains splattered Lieutenant Schmidt's face was on his face. While Lieutenant Schmidt was still standing there, another soldier was hit, and the other two and Schmidt immediately lay on the ground. Then a burst of rapid footsteps came, and several bright bayonets appeared in front of Lieutenant Schmidt... (To be continued, please search Piaotianwen, the novel is better and faster!
Chapter completed!