It is very necessary to intersperse political negotiations between military operations or during military preparations. The conflicts of interests between Britain and France and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have not reached an irreconcilable level. Necessary negotiations can ease the contradictions, and at the same time make the clamor of the British and French parliaments even more uncertain...

Beyond diplomacy and politics is the military preparations of the Taiping Army. Before Xiao Yungui brought troops north, he had made detailed arrangements. The members of the General Staff Headquarters and the Western King Advisory Group repeatedly deduced. The worst plans were estimated. Now that the entire British and French landing troops were wiped out, it was just a matter of leaving the British and French navies. This was the best situation.

According to the deduction at that time, Xiao Yungui would then ask Li Xiucheng to lead half of the Taiping Army in Jintang area to go south, while Lin Fengxiang on the Huai River would launch the northward battle, and open up the road to the northward. Xiao Yungui and Chen Alin would lead the remaining half of the troops to guard Tianjin and the three camps outside the capital to continue to siege the capital. As long as the Taiping Army stayed under the city of Beijing, it would be able to restrain more than half of the Qing army in the north, just like the Qing army in history that surrounded the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom capital Tianjin and Jiangbei camps, and were always lingering.

Lin Fengxiang's Northern Advance Corps was composed of the newly formed Sixth Army and Seventh Army. Lin Fengxiang had already started the Battle of Xuzhou at the same time as Xiao Yungui set out north. Fortunately, the Yellow River did not change its route as in history. There was no large-scale yellow areas in the boundaries of Shandong north of Xuzhou and the surrounding areas around the canal. Therefore, the strategic plan of the Taiping Army to deduce is to go north along the canal, open up the connection with the northward army, and then expand to both sides, and gradually annex Shandong and Henan provinces.

Xiao Yungui, the Shi Dakai tribe stationed in Wuhan, also issued an order to ask Shi Dakai to send troops to Jingxiang area to restrain the Qing army of Hubei Guanwen, and the Jingxiang area could take the best. If you can't take it, you can restrain the Guanwen tribe. Chen Yucheng's troops were waiting to pacify Sichuan, divided into two groups, one way north to Shaanxi and Gansu, and the other way out of the Yangtze River to Sichuan and meet with Shi Dakai tribe to attack Hubei.

As for the Qing army trapped in Hunan, Zeng Guofan was actually semi-independent. The cunning Zeng Guofan naturally would not send troops to attack the Taiping Army. His Hunan was already attacked from all sides, and his son-in-law Ronglu raised his flag to rebel against the court. In addition, the Taiping Army cut off Hunan's trade from all sides, Zeng Guofan lacked firearms and ammunition. He did not dare to launch a major battle easily. Moreover, Lin Qirong, who guarded Jiangxi, Lu Xianba, who guarded Guangdong and Guangxi, Du Wenxiu, who guarded Yunnan and Guizhou, etc.

Zeng Guofan naturally dared not provoke him. So the recent banner that Zeng Guofan has put in Hunan is to protect the country and the people, intending to conserve Hunan Province, and wait for the world to become clear. He held the military and civilians of a province to wait for the price. Therefore, the Hunan army in Hunan does not need to think too much about it for the time being. Xiao Yungui scoffed at Zeng Guofan's wishful thinking and waited until the whole country was unified. How to knead him is not an easy task?

As for Shaanxi and Gansu, the Qing army in Shanxi has been recruiting many troops to enter Beijing to serve the king, so Chen Yucheng could easily go north even if he only raised one army's troops. At this point, the general trend of the world gradually became clear. In the further distance, Xinjiang, Tibet, Mongolia, and other places outside the pass needed to wait until the Central Plains were established before making plans.

Therefore, after Xiao Yungui was about to accept the captives, the troops would rest for three days, and then they would join Li Xiu to join forces. The main battlefield was in Shandong. Once the road to the south was opened, the soldiers, food and ammunition could come to the capital continuously, and by that time the Qing Dynasty rule in the north would completely end.

But Xiao Yungui was also the British and French Navy Expeditionary Fleet that went south. These people must first protect their concessions, and the ports also have the destination of Hong Kong. Then they will definitely send a fleet to attack Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and other port cities, and even break into the Yangtze River, attack Zhenjiang, or even Tianjing.

However, what Xiao Yungui could breathe a sigh of relief was that he sent people to Shanhaiguan to inform the naval warships a little more than ten days before the declaration of war. Luo Dagang would definitely pass the news back to the Jiangnan region as soon as possible. The Jiangnan Taiping Army had more time to prepare than the British and French troops there.

At the same time, since the Western King took office in Tianjing, various places have established complete local rural military systems and coastal defense systems, built forts at coastal ports, formed coast guards, and local anti-smuggling fleets and anti-smuggling troops. Local troops, plus the two field troops left behind in Jiangnan, should be able to defend the ports. However, sea transportation and some inland shipping may be attacked by the British and French coalition forces, which will have a certain impact on the commercial trade and freight transportation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Therefore, Xiao Yungui wanted to meet the US ambassador Levitra first, hoping that the United States could mediate from it so that some neutral countries could still trade freely, and his bargaining chips were the British and French concessions in the five ports and the British and French people in the concessions. Although Britain and France may not agree to this negotiation, they could still talk about it. If they don’t talk, there would be hope for a turnaround.

After the British and French soldiers of the brigade passed, Xiao Yungui saw officers and generals of the British and French Allied Forces and a group of diplomats coming over. Grant and Montauban and other soldiers still looked well-equipped, but their weapons were gone. Grant and Montauban's swords and swords were handed over to Li Xiucheng at the Huogezhuang surrender ceremony. They came here empty-handedly. Xiao Yungui did not attend the surrender ceremony. He did not care about the surrender ceremony of this battle, nor did he need to attend it in person. He hoped that he would receive a peace review from Britain and France in the future.

When he saw the Western King, Grant, Montubang and others, they were all mixed. Although this Western King was tough, he always maintained a gentlemanly demeanor and was very proficient in Western etiquette. It can be said that he was the closest ruler in the Far East to the West. But his sudden declaration of war this time was indeed too despicable. He was like a Gemini star with both good and evil, which was unpredictable.

Still with that gentle smile and courteous greeting, the King of the West took the initiative to shake hands with Grant, Montauban, Erkin, Gro and others to express his greetings. Grant said bitterly: "His Royal Highness, congratulations on becoming the temporary winner, but I believe that next you will welcome crazy revenge from Britain and France."

The strong threat means that no matter how you say it, you will be defeated by the surrender. After jumping a few feet away, you will yell at the other side to wait for such words to regain your face. But Xiao Yungui knew that what Grant said was not a threat, and Britain and France would really retaliate, but he was ready, so he smiled and said, "General Grant, there will be revenge from Britain and France. I believe this, but it cannot be crazy, because the interests of the Far East are not enough to make Britain and France completely crazy. Your strategic focus is still in Europe, right?"

Before Grant refuted, Xiao Yungui continued: "Gentlemen, although you have become prisoners, please rest assured that you have been old friends of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. You and your soldiers will receive the treatment they deserve. But before the end of the war, you can only stay in a few prisoner-of-war camps built outside Tianjin until the end of the war."

Montubang nodded, and he said unwillingly: "Your Highness the King of the West, this time we will defeat you in a sneak attack, and next time we will have a decisive battle."

Xiao Yungui smiled and said, "General Montauban, war is a trick, and sneak attacks are incorrect. The military operations we launched were initiated after the declaration of war was issued to you. As for a fair showdown, I don't think there is this opportunity. You can only wait until the war is over before you can go back."

After saying that, Xiao Yungui looked at Erkin and Gross, but said, "As for the two ministers and other consuls, I plan to let you go back first. The military and civilians of Britain and France in the south also need politicians to stabilize the hearts of the people."

After the landing troops of the British and French Allied Forces Expeditionary Forces were destroyed, the envoys, journalists, missionaries, military priests, medical staff, and translators who went to the expedition with the army were basically captured or surrendered. Many of them failed to retreat to Huogezhuang with the large army, but fell behind during the pursuit of the Taiping Army, and then were captured by the Taiping Army one after another. A small number of people followed the large army to Huogezhuang and then surrendered with the brigade. Some of them were separated or fell behind and were caught by the people. Among them, they were lucky and sent to the Taiping Army by the people, and some were beaten to death on the spot. Therefore, most of the fallen troops of the British and French Allied Forces were willing to surrender to the Taiping Army in the end to avoid being beaten to the people.

After hearing Xiao Yungui's words, Erjin and Ge Luo were both surprised and happy, while Xiao Yungui made a wishful thinking. It was harmless to release civilian politicians such as Erjin back. These people could affect the subsequent diplomatic negotiations because they already knew the military strength of the Taiping Army, and they had been cooperating with the Taiping Army in the Far East. It was better to be familiar with it than to be a good person. If Britain and France sent other people to the Far East, it was hard to guarantee that there would be no one who was wrong. It was Erjin, Ge Luo, and Weituma who had contacted them smoothly.

At the same time, having these politicians return can calm the naval generals. After all, politicians will also consider issues from the perspective of interests, rather than just looking at issues from the perspective of military perspective like soldiers.

"However, before letting you go back, I need to meet with the US Minister Mr. Levitra. Mr. Erkin and Mr. Grolo can participate on behalf of Britain and France and continue to exercise your diplomatic responsibilities." Xiao Yungui added with a smile: "But I will not let any military personnel go."

So, after a brief meeting, the British and French coalition surrendered and captured people were escorted by the Taiping Army and were divided into several groups to Tianjin. The soldiers and officers were separated, and military personnel were separated, and journalists, missionaries, and medical staff were concentrated to take care of them. Of course, Xiao Yungui would not raise them in vain. Soldiers and other personnel were concentrated to participate in labor, first burying the bodies of the battlefield, and then building houses, bridges, and farmland for the villages that were harmed by the coalition Army. In short, there would be no food to eat if they didn't work. As for missionaries and reporters, they were concentrated to translate some foreign works or helping the Taiping Army handle some paperwork, and medical staff directly participated in medical work. Therefore, the Taiping Army had more logistics support labor in the Jintang area.

After arranging these affairs, Xiao Yungui took Erjin and others to Tianjin to meet Levi Lian, while Li Xiucheng rushed south three days later... (To be continued, please search Piaotianwen, the novel is better and faster!
Chapter completed!