When the soldiers saw the raging fire in the general's mansion and rushed to rescue from all directions, the door of the general's mansion was still closed, as if everything was from the crackling sound of flames burning wood, the only sound that indicated the fierce battle inside was a sharp knife that pierced through the door panel, revealing half of its bright blade.
"Commander, shall we go in?" asked a soldier.
"Nonsense! Of course I'm going in! When will you idiots learn that it's better to be late than never?"
The commander took a deep breath, raised his legs, placed his hands on the knife at his waist, and held his breath.
After a pause, he took another step back and said to a soldier, "Come here!"
The soldier only felt his scalp tingling, but the knife in the commander's hand was no joke, so he could only rub his hands, take two steps back, bend down and kneel to prepare for a sprint.
"and many more!"
The commander held out his hand to signal him not to move, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Your subordinates are too late to rescue you! How dare the thieves hurt me!"
The soldier also became heroic upon hearing this and kicked the wooden door.
At this moment, the door was suddenly opened from the inside.
The soldier used too much force and stepped on empty air. He tripped on the doorstep, fell to the ground and tumbled several times, and finally stopped after he was completely dizzy.
"Fuck..."
He looked up and saw that the person standing in front of him was Ye Tianpei, the general of the capital. He swallowed the rest of the sentence and quickly stood up.
"My Lord! I am late in coming to your rescue. I deserve death!"
The commander burst into tears and fell at Ye Tianpei's feet, grabbing his robe and crying bitterly.
"You deserve to die? Then go and die now."
Ye Tianpei kicked him away.
The commander did not find this funny. After being embarrassed for a while, he finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ye Tianpei really did not seem to intend to make a fuss with him.
"Sir, the troops are ready. We are just waiting for your order and then we will leave."
"Leave, leave where?" Ye Tianpei asked him back.
The commander hesitated and said, "I thought we were leaving Tianjin now."
"Leaving Tianjin? Are you tampering with military orders? Do you know that this is a capital crime and you will be punished by military law?"
"Subordinates deserve to die!"
Ye Tianpei sneered, "You really deserve to die."
The commander never expected that Ye Tianpei's expression would change faster than turning the pages of a book. He immediately banged his head on the ground, not daring to raise it again. He was just wondering why he said he wanted to leave last night, but changed his mind in the morning.
So he could only apologize repeatedly and ask Ye Tianpei to let him go.
Fortunately, Ye Tianpei was too lazy to argue with him, and just issued an order: "Pass the order down, the whole army is ready to fight against the Eight-Nation Alliance tomorrow."
When this shout was heard, all the soldiers present were stunned.
The commander knelt on the ground, wondering if Ye Tianpei had taken the wrong medicine and why he changed his orders every day. He was thinking about reminding him if he had given the wrong order.
However, when he took a peek, he saw that behind Ye Tianpei, the two deputy generals and a marching inspector, the three people who were second only to the general of the capital in the army, did not show anything unusual. He immediately understood that Ye Tianpei had not given the wrong order.
The military order to stay and resist the foreigners was issued after the four of them knew about it and discussed it.
As for why the original retreat turned into a battle, he didn't figure it out, and it wasn't something that someone of his level could think about.
There was only one thing he could do right now.
The commander immediately jumped up from the ground like a spring and shouted, "Did you hear everything? The general's order is to defend Tianjin to the death and fight the foreigners to the end!"
He raised his fist again and said, "Fight to the end! Fight to the end!"
“Fight till the bitter end!”
“Fight till the bitter end!”
The soldiers couldn't help but be aroused and their blood boiled. When everyone was excited, only Ye Tianpei and the three lieutenants behind him looked calm, as if what was happening in front of them had nothing to do with them.
Deaths in the army were common. When the general's mansion was burned down and all the officers inside died, it wasn't a big deal. They could just move the office to another place and recruit a new group of officers.
Everything is going on in an orderly manner, and everyone is waiting for the arrival of war.
Even the Eight-Nation Alliance was able to enjoy a rare moment of peace at this time.
Jackson, the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance, stood in front of the table, drawing circles on the blueprint with a pen. Each time he drew a circle, it represented that they had captured an outpost for attacking Tianjin.
Adjutant Vincent stood aside and informed Jackson of the progress of the past few days.
"They did abandon the outer areas, or they were afraid to fight. In any case, apart from the losses in the first two days, our vanguard troops only had some sporadic battles with the enemy's scouts and did not encounter any organized resistance at all.
This shows that they don’t dare to leave the city and fight us in the wild.”
"It's better to say that they don't dare to fight at all." Another officer laughed.
"It doesn't matter whether they dare to fight or not, or how they want to fight."
Jackson didn't care. "Our plan won't change anyway. Nothing can stop us from taking Tianjin."
As he said this, he took out another pocket watch and rubbed it in his hand.
"Last time, my teacher led only a few thousand men and defeated this empire so badly that it could not even raise its head.
Now that I have brought tens of thousands of people here, shouldn't I achieve greater merits? Just like the navigators who discovered the New World and the adventurers who entered the ancient empire in the rain forest, I will also find my own mountain of gold."
"General, this is the honor you deserve," someone said.
"I know."
Jackson said firmly: "This is also your honor. At the end of this journey, we will leave behind a legend that will be passed down for thousands of years."
The officers nodded, and they all felt that they had entered the Forbidden Palace of Yujing, drinking and resting beside the golden throne.
……
After a sleepless night, it finally passed.
In the early morning, urged by the sound of drums and bugles, the grassroots officers either walked quickly or rode on horseback in the camp to gather and reorganize their troops.
Suddenly, the camp was filled with languages of various countries.
This journey took a full half hour before the company-based soldiers were neatly lined up into long marching columns.
It is less than twenty miles from here to Tianjin, and there is an outpost camp for support every five miles. It is so relaxing that it feels like going on an outing or a picnic.
Jackson rode up to the high ground and inspected the troops under the escort of a group of guards. With a wave of his hand, uniform slogans spread from the center of the army to the front and back.
"March!"
"March!"
“March!!”
The troops marched forward in unison. One cavalry team after another began to search ahead and then dispersed. The Eight-Nation Alliance began this journey that was destined to leave behind legendary deeds.
……
On the other side, Liu Banxian and Ren Qi were walking together. Rather than reviewing the team, it would be more accurate to say that they were just taking a walk to relieve their nervousness.
"Brother Master, I feel my palms are sweating."
Ren Qi didn't take it seriously, "Sweating is normal. It happens when it's hot."
"But my palms don't sweat no matter how hot it is." "It's just too hot here."
Ren Qi glanced at him and said, "According to the plan, you don't have to go to the front line, right?"
"That's what I said."
Liu Banxian sighed, "But as long as we are in Tianjin, everywhere is the front line. What difference does it make if we are a little ahead or a little behind?"
"How about I send a boat to take you to another place for shelter? There's still time."
"Who do you think I am?"
Liu Banxian said angrily: "I am also the descendant of the Wolong Liu family, a family of Feng Shui, and you want me to escape from the battlefield?
Killing foreigners, that is what I have always dreamed of!"
"Then don't stay behind."
Ren Qi gestured, "Can I lend you a sword?"
Liu Banxian shook his head. "If you don't mind, I think I prefer using a gun."
"up to you."
Ren Qi added: "Anyway, I don't have the energy to protect you right now, so just take care of yourself."
"When I was traveling around the world, you and Brother Yin were nowhere to be found!"
As he said this, he suddenly remembered that Yin Xiu had not appeared yet.
"By the way, where's Brother Yin? Why can't he be seen?"
Ren Qi just said coldly: "I'm not afraid of these people from Jiuzhou Society, so are you afraid that he will run away?"
"Why do you say I'm afraid he'll run away?"
Liu Banxian muttered, "Even if he wants to run away, he should take Miss Ma with him. If Miss Ma didn't run away, why should I run away?"
"That's okay."
Ren Qi looked at the tower and said, "Anyway, he will appear when he is supposed to. Just take care of yourself and don't die here. The world needs you."
"The world needs you, too, Master Brother."
"Are you kidding?"
Ren Qi glanced at him and said, "No matter what others think, I am just the one who caused the trouble. If there is one less person like me, the world will be a better place."
"That's someone else."
Liu Banxian opened his fan with a snap. "In our eyes, Brother Master, you are truly a very reliable person. We can trust and rely on you."
"You think I'm a babysitter?"
Ren Qi snorted coldly, "I'm not that powerful. Don't expect me to be able to go in and out of the chaos to save you."
Liu Banxian was very serious, "I will take good care of myself, but I hope you can also cherish your life."
"understood."
Ren Qi waved his hands, obviously unable to accept Liu Banxian's kindness.
At this moment, the sound of rapid gongs was heard from the city wall, conveying a sense of tension and urgency.
Then several cavalrymen rushed into the city, heading towards the general's residence, shouting, "The foreigners are coming, the foreigners are coming, five miles outside the city!"
Ren Qi immediately looked towards the tower and asked loudly, "Did you see their movements?"
The soldiers on the tower pressed their bodies against the wall, stuck their heads out of the parapet, stretched their necks, and squinted to look out.
After staring hard for a while, they saw a wisp of smoke appearing on the other side of the horizon.
First it was a smear, and then it was like a yellow carpet was spreading here, rolling up yellow sand.
"There's a cavalry unit coming this way!"
The soldier took another look and added, "There are about 400 cavalrymen heading here."
"more than."
Ren Qi shook his head and said, "It's more than that. Let's see."
"Yes!"
So the soldiers leaned out more and finally saw the soldiers following the cavalry, who had begun to slowly change from marching formation to combat formation.
The officers rode their horses and patrolled between the columns, controlling their speed and direction with commands and footsteps, coordinating the lines and actions of these tens of thousands of troops.
The soldiers reported the situation to the people below the city wall.
So someone asked Ren Qi, "Master Qi, are we really going to give the city tower to the foreigners? You know, without the city tower to block them, those cavalrymen will pose a great threat to us."
Ren Qi sensed the uneasiness and restlessness coming from the crowd, and he just said coldly: "Just follow the plan. Since we have decided to let them in, we can just use the original tactics. Changing tactics at the last minute is a taboo in military strategy."
He looked again at the tower in front of him that seemed insurmountable. Even if they held on to the ancient city wall, could they really rely on it to stop the Eight-Nation Alliance?
Soon, thunder was heard in the distance, answering Ren Qi's question.
It was like a meteor streaking across the sky, as one shell after another hit the city wall. Before anyone could order people to retreat, the soldiers who were in charge of looking out on the city wall were shattered one by one along with the city wall.
Some more shells fell into the city, and for a moment there was vibration, fire and smoke everywhere.
Many people have panicked and don't know what to do.
Ren Qi called over several backbone members of the Jiuzhou Association and signaled them to take the people away and proceed according to the plan.
Then he looked at Liu Banxian again, "It's almost done, you can go to the back."
"Ah."
Liu Banxian nodded heavily, "Brother Master, I have read your fortune. You don't look like you will have a short life. You won't die here. Be careful!"
Ren Qi smiled and said, "But I heard from Yin Xiu that your fortune-telling is never accurate."
"Don't say things like that at a time like this!"
Liu Banxian ran away angrily, "Brother Yin never forgets to say bad things about me, your uncle!"
Ren Qi ignored the increasingly fierce artillery fire around him, turned his back to the city gate, and watched Liu Banxian leave.
The originally solid and thick city wall and its gate tower had been completely destroyed, and there was a big hole in the city gate. Even the huge stone walls that were left over from an unknown era had cracks and seemed to be about to collapse at any time.
"Seventh Master! We have to retreat!" someone shouted.
"Well, I see."
Ren Qi looked over there again, and after confirming that Liu Banxian had completely disappeared from his sight, he calmly led his men away.
At this moment, a desperate cry came from the crowd that had been moving backwards.
I saw a cannonball bounce several times on the ground, and with fire, it hit Ren Qi and his group at an extremely fast speed.
Everyone had foreseen the brutal sight of Ren Qi and his companions having their flesh and bones smashed to pieces, and they all cried out involuntarily.
Ren Qi also heard the roar of the god of death, but still did not turn back.
"You said I would live a hundred years? Is it true that good people don't live long, but evil people live for a thousand years?"
He turned around and drew his sword, and the cannonball was cut into two neat pieces in mid-air and fell to the ground. (End of this chapter)
