Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

Sheng Bao, standing by, was shocked and said, "Liu Ye, the Anglo-French coalition has no fewer than 20,000 troops. Even if we win two battles in a row, they still have over 20,000 troops. How dare you guarantee that you can defeat the Anglo-French coalition with only 3,000 people? What a joke!"

Liu Ye replied: "Of course, with only 3,000 people, we cannot defeat the enemy's 20,000 people. Even if the enemy has 5,000 people, we are not their opponent in a direct decisive battle. However, first, the Anglo-French coalition will not attack with 20,000 people at a time. They will leave a certain number of troops in Tianjin to occupy Tianjin as a seaport. Second, they will not concentrate all their forces together to advance. They must advance in separate forces. Based on the battles of the previous two days, we can already estimate their strength. The two brigades of the French army, plus two cavalry regiments, have a strength of no more than 10,000 people. After our heavy blow, I am afraid that their army has only about 6,000 to 7,000 people. If we retreat, they will inevitably advance in separate forces, threatening the east all the way, approaching Dongzhimen, and then turning south all the way, approaching Chongwenmen. As long as we ambush him and attack him alone, we still have a certain degree of confidence. As long as we seize the opportunity, we can definitely win the battle!"

Liu Ye looked at Senggelinqin and continued, "Your Highness, we'll fight our first battle near Shuangqiao, about ten miles from Baliqiao. There are corn and sorghum fields everywhere. We can just scatter our cavalry among them, and when the British and French forces get close, we'll suddenly charge out. We'll use cavalry against infantry at point-blank range. Their rifles are nothing but broken sticks. Can't two or three thousand cavalrymen defeat their four or five thousand infantry?"

Senggelinqin was shocked. The corn was now more than a man tall, lush green. Even if someone was hiding a few meters away, they would never be discovered from the main road! As for the sorghum field, it was even taller. Even a man on a warhorse wouldn't be able to see the top of his head! Using the sorghum and corn as cover to launch a surprise attack on the foreigners was definitely a brilliant plan to conceal the truth. Liu Ye's tactics were truly imaginative!

"Liu Ye, how many troops do you plan to deploy?"

Senggelinqin asked in a deep voice.

Liu Ye pointed his finger fiercely in the direction of Shuangqiao Town and replied, "Right here, this area. When I was training the Firearms Battalion, I conducted a detailed inspection of this area. It's full of corn and sorghum, which is a perfect place to deploy our army. Order the Baoding Town Cavalry to the north, and your personal cavalry's supervisory standard to the south. When the foreigners are marching through, suddenly charge out from among them with lightning speed. They won't have time to fire, let alone cannons, or even guns! All that awaits them is our shining sabers!"

Senggelinqin slapped his thigh and laughed, "Good, good! Excellent! Liu Ye, this move is absolutely brilliant. Let's follow your plan and block it here!"

Senggelinqin led the main force to retreat first and stationed the army in the Yangzha area, while Liu Ye led more than 2,000 carefully selected elite main forces and set up a dragnet near Shuangqiao, waiting for the British and French forces to come up.

The British and French coalition forces are now in a state of anxiety. Meng Daban is seriously injured and it may take two or three months before he can be cured. Now he can't even get out of bed. How can he command the war?

Moreover, the Battle of Baliqiao fell short at the last moment. The promising situation was ruined by that brave and combative cavalry. Not only did they fail to capture Baliqiao, but they also suffered casualties of 3,000 French infantry and over 1,000 British cavalry. Weapons and ammunition were also consumed greatly. This was an unprecedented loss! Although the losses of the Anglo-French coalition were only a small fraction compared to the Qing army, the Qing army had suffered more than 15,000 casualties. However, the Qing army had more troops. The capital area had gathered about 50,000 troops. In Tongzhou alone, there were more than 30,000 troops. With more than 10,000 casualties, they still had 20,000 troops. However, the Anglo-French coalition did not have such confidence. They only had 26,000 to 27,000 people in total!

Grant and Yaman were only deputies. With the commander-in-chief down and morale low, how could the war continue? Desperate, they had no choice but to send a message back to Tianjin on horseback, firstly to expedite the delivery of ammunition and other supplies, and secondly, to ask Commander-in-Chief Saxton for instructions on the next steps.

After receiving the report, Saxton was nearly pissed off by Mundaban. "What a loser! You lead tens of thousands of men, with rifles and cannons, and I even gave you two of our Royal Dragoon Cavalry Regiments, and you're beaten like this! You almost lost your own life, and they've killed nearly two thousand of your cavalry, and your infantry division has suffered over three thousand casualties. Are you still fighting the Qing army? Even in Crimea, when we fought the Russians, we never suffered such a disastrous defeat!"

However, now that things have come to this, there is no point in Saxton being angry. The most important thing now is how to save the situation and take over Beijing as soon as possible!

"Orders: The 1st and 2nd Regiments of the Royal Infantry are to prepare immediately and rush to Tongzhou to assist in the battle tomorrow morning. I will personally supervise the battle! Colonel Blair will be in charge of Tianjin Prefecture! Also, immediately prepare 3,000 artillery shells and 2,000 boxes of ammunition, as well as sufficient food, and then depart to transport it to Tongzhou!"

Saxton suppressed his anger and gave the order.

The next day, Saxton led two infantry regiments to advance rapidly towards Tongzhou and rushed to the front line of the battlefield.

Immediately afterwards, that afternoon, two companies of troops, escorting a large amount of military supplies, began to move rapidly towards Tongzhou!

It took only three days for Saxton's two infantry regiments to reach Tongzhou, where they joined forces with the remaining troops led by Grant and Yaman. They began to fully reorganize their armaments and prepare to launch another attack on Beijing.

As for the logistics baggage team of the battalion behind, they were slowly approaching Tongzhou. After all, the baggage team could not be compared with the infantry regiment. Even if it was faster, it could only travel 60 miles a day. In that era, there were no cars or trains, and they could only rely on human and animal power to move forward.

However, Saxton was only thinking about reaching Tongzhou as soon as possible, but he forgot about the baggage train behind him. In his opinion, two companies of troops were enough to ensure the safety of weapons and supplies. No Qing army could defeat his infantry battalion in a short time!

However, a big problem occurred precisely where he thought there would be no problem. It was simply a dream for two small infantry companies, which were second-line logistics troops, to want to resist the nearly 1,000 cavalry led by He Qimou!