This was originally just a beautiful misunderstanding. The British reporter didn't understand that this was a coalition force mixed with Chinese and foreign forces, so he directly wrote it into the French army. However, this news report caused countless waves throughout France.

Whether it is the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe or the remote provinces, there are talks about the emergence of such a tragedy everywhere, and with the continued spread of news, some more terrifying stories spread in the taverns, and from among the taverns, they have become part of the news newspaper again: "One thousand and two hundred French troops were massacred in the Far East!"

"The terrible tragedy has used 2.3 billion gold francs of war since the war began!"

"According to letters from people around the Mento Team Command, since the expedition to China, a total of 4,700 French soldiers have died in battle..."

The public was extremely shocked by such news. The French Empire was the most powerful empire in the world. How could it suffer such failure? The bureaucrats and men have not repeatedly guaranteed that this expedition would be foolproof and that there would be no accidents. How could it evolve into what it is now?

Rumors are getting more and more powerful, and some people even rumor that the whole of France will mobilize like the Crimean War, transporting more than 100,000 troops to the Far East to conquer these rebels. These overly exaggerated news have amazing communication capabilities. The whole of Paris and even the military's gentlemen were talking about the war in private.

In the eyes of the public, this war should be similar to the last war of the British conquering China. In the last war against China, the British achieved a brilliant victory. They conquered the entire China with only 10,000 people. In addition, the total number of people died was only 10,000. The largest battle in Zhenjiang was only 30,40 British soldiers were killed gloriously.

But what happened in the mysterious Eastern Kingdoms, so that the expeditionary forces of the Mentoban paid such a heavy price. Everyone was frightened and felt that this war seemed meaningless. Some well-known French figures have proposed to organize anti-war activities and withdraw French children from the Far East.

Next came the explosive news. The Army Department knew very little about the war in the Far East. In this world where only some countries had telegraph lines laid, the Army Department did not understand the actual situation of the Mentoban Expeditionary Force at all. They even had more intelligence than journalists. Therefore, they could only say that they knew nothing about the interviews of journalists. However, the news published in the newspaper was: "The Army Department agreed that the Mentoban Expeditionary Force suffered extremely serious losses. Since the failure of His Majesty the Emperor in Waterloo, France suffered such a military defeat for the first time!"

The British, who were across the sea, quickly and happily joined the attack on the Mentorban Expeditionary Force. They felt that this was the best opportunity to humiliate the French. They published some reports of spectators from the East. These reports that once disdained the French were now at the point of expensive paper in Luoyang. Some French underground printing factories even started to print these reports overnight.

Among these news reports, the French knew for the first time that there were "General Liu", "Liu Butcher", "Liu Juehu", and "Liu Jiandian" the great commander of the Hong Army. It also knew for the first time that the Hong Army was armed with European-style equipment, and was astonishingly well-equipped. Some exaggerated reports even said that their equipment was better than the French Army. Some reports greatly exaggerated the strength of the Hong Army, claiming that the Hong Army had more than 600,000 troops in several provinces in China, and these troops were trained by European instructors.

Other reports highlighted the details of the Fengjing Town Battle. Among these reports, French citizens learned about the details of the Fengjing Town Battle for the first time. Part of the French Expeditionary Force suffered a major blow, and several infantry platoons and a Russian company were hit by annihilated blows. Even the garrison troops of Fengjing Town were almost wiped out by the rebels. The reinforcements of the Mengtuo team headquarters paid a heavy price before rescued the garrison troops of Fengjing Town.

All of this made French citizens feel a 120,000-year-old doubt: "Why do we want to go on an expedition to China?"

Although the Crimean War paid a higher price, the entire France, both the upper and lower levels, agreed with the war. The protection of the holy land cannot be in the hands of Orthodox people. Russia's expansion must be controlled, but the French citizens could not find a reasonable excuse for the war against China. In addition to promoting opium.

However, the British, who paid the most attention to trade, fought fiercely with the rebels, and only we, France, cooperated with the Russians who had just fought to the death to expedition to China. This is the deception of us French people who have fallen into the Russians.

You should know that China is thousands of kilometers away from France. The Mentorban Expeditionary Force has occupied a lot of domestic resources. Every day they fight in China, the treasury will spend an astonishing number of gold francs. This money should have been spent on ordinary French citizens. The current expeditionary war has occupied domestic education, welfare, and construction costs. As the war progresses, large-scale tax increases and paper currency issuance may occur.

At the thought of this, in a very short time, from the nobles to the priests and peasants, a loose anti-war alliance appeared, and their pressure had to force Napoleon III to come forward and promise: "The expedition in China will be controlled..."

His Majesty the Emperor also had deep dissatisfaction with the Mentoban. The Mentoban once promised him that he could conquer the entire China with a few infantry battalions. Now he already has twenty infantry battalions, and he still has no choice but to deal with the rebels, and even suffered considerable losses.

Moreover, Napoleon III had to consider the issue from an economic perspective. The Crimean War had already spent too many golden francs. Although this expeditionary war was not large in scale, the golden francs paid were no less than the Crimean War. After all, all supplies and personnel had to be transported from Europe. If the war dragged on too long, it would drag the French economy.

In the original guarantee of the Mentorban, he would set up a card to collect taxes in China, without occupying much domestic resources, and could even use spoils to repay the treasury expenditure. However, Napoleon III clearly knew that 1856 was already a year of fiscal deficit, and the amount of fiscal deficit exceeded 1855, the most intense Crimean War.

As for the coming 1857, given that the war against China cannot end in a short period of time, it is also an obvious fiscal year of deficit, His Majesty the Emperor had to issue a very strict order: "In view of the unsatisfactory progress of the war, General Mengtuban must open up the situation in 1857..."

When this order arrived in China, it was already January 2, 1857. Mentoban looked at the order sent from India with a fast sailboat, and his face was filled with helplessness: "His Majesty the Emperor asked us to speed up the movement, and he was very dissatisfied with the no progress of the expeditionary force!"

In the past month or two, the coalition and the Hongjun have been playing hide-and-seek games, but the game between the two sides seems extremely dangerous and they will pay an astonishing price if they are not careful.

Just a week ago, a second-line infantry battalion of the Hong Army was directly surrounded by the main force of the French army led by the Mengtuo squad. Although the infantry battalion commander of the Hong Army tried every means, he finally left more than 100 bodies and hundreds of prisoners to withdraw in a hurry. However, when he turned around, the Hong Army also counterattacked without hesitation. Fifty French troops, forty foreign corpses and one hundred Huai Army only escaped one-third of the personnel.

In this case, Mengtuoban knew that the country was very dissatisfied with him. Although the so-called "the entire six hundred French troops were gone" was purely rumor, he personally wrote a report on the battle, but he did not think that such a report would have any influence in the country. He had to open up the situation as soon as possible.

But opening up the situation is not as simple as most people imagine. Of course, there are no 600 French troops who have been completely wiped out. However, until the war has been going on, 800 French people have died in battle for various reasons, died of illness or disappeared. Until now, the Mentorban has not dared to announce this number that will cause countless trends in the country.

This number does not include the losses of foreign legions. If the losses of foreign legions are included, the total death count will definitely exceed 1,000. As for the Russians, they are even more miserable than the French.

Now the Mentoban team has completely sacrificed the interests of the Russians. The front-line defenses of the Soviet and Chang prefectures are borne by the Russian army, so their losses are also extremely heavy. You should know that the Russian army's strength is less than half of the French team, but their number of casualties is three-quarters of the French team--a full six hundred, including many infantry companies and infantry platoons that were completely wiped out.

Therefore, the Russians repeatedly protested strongly, but the Mentorban knew clearly that if the Russians were taken care of, the troops that were annihilated and severely damaged could only be the French army. He continued: "From the current situation, we must make the situation of the war fundamentally change at the beginning of 1857, otherwise the war would have to end in fruitlessness..."

A French colonel asked: "In terms of the current situation, we have no way to break the situation. Our most brilliant result is to annihilate a infantry battalion of the rebels. When the decisive battle comes, the rebels flee on the one hand, launching an offensive on the other hand, forcing us to return to the aid. We must take care of the emotions of our Russian friends."

"Who said we should take care of the emotions of our Russian friends?" Mengtuban expressed a different opinion: "This may be the best opportunity to change the situation of the war!"

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