On August 3, Cameron couldn't help but look proud when he took a stack of papers and handed them to Elgin, the British plenipotentiary in China. "Mr. Ergin, this is the response of the Governor's Mansion for the Restoration of the Metropolitan Government."

Cameron thought that the Governorate would refuse to sign an agreement with the British, but he did not expect that the Governorate would come up with a set of ideas on the basis of the Treaty of Tianjin. On the whole, in terms of opening up to the outside world, currency settlement, and the finalization of the value of the currencies of various countries, the British made great efforts to force the Manchus to accept, and the restoration of the Governorate was quite consistent with the British demands.

Of course, in terms of the legalization of the tobacco trade, extraterritoriality, the power of foreign ** troops in China, and the power of foreign missionaries, the Guangfu Governor's Office unceremoniously refused.

On the whole, Cameron's delegates' hearts were full of joy, and they had to use military force to force the Manchu government to accept the conditions, and only negotiate to get the Governorate to accept them, which was also a great diplomatic success. Unexpectedly, Plenipotentiary Ergin was unhappy after reading the treaty proposed by the Governor's Office, which puzzled Cameron, who was ready to accept the praise.

"Is this the content of the treaty accepted by the Governor's Office?" Ergin asked Cameron.

"Yes." Cameron replied.

"Then you'll go down first, right?" Ergin said.

After going down, Cameron couldn't help but find his friend Humphrey, who was in charge of Hong Kong's foreign trade affairs and was considered a promising star, to discuss the matter. Cameron's ship is an official ship and does not need to be inspected when entering the Hong Kong terminal. So he took out the Yujia women's brand rum he bought in Foshan, as well as some canned dried fish and Sichuan kimchi.

He put the boneless green pepper and chewed it in his mouth, and the salty aroma with a refreshing and spicy taste made Humphrey nod his head repeatedly. He originally didn't understand why Chinese like to nibble on thin chicken feet, but now he felt that he understood the deliciousness of chicken feet. And the chicken feet brought by Cameron are still boneless, and it is not a hassle to eat at all.

Taking a sip of rum, Humphrey let out an "oh". The taste of this Chinese fisherman's rum is very different from Cuban rum, but the refreshing feeling of the pure taste of distilled soju is the same.

Cameron had wanted to secretly enjoy the treats himself, especially the bottle of rum. However, in order to get the guidance of his friends, Cameron could only take out these foods from the dark cuisine of Far England in a heavy hemorrhage. If it weren't for the look of satisfaction on Humphrey's face, he would have only been in a worse mood.

After eating and drinking for a while, Humphrey finally got down to business. Listening to Cameron's introduction to the content of the agreement with the Governor's Office, Humphrey smiled, "We want to re-sign the treaty with China in order to get out of the trade situation. The agreement reached between the Governor and you is nothing more than to determine the current status of our trade with Guangdong in the form of a treaty. When we are uncertain, we suffer, and after we are sure, we will suffer, do you think Mr. Ergin will agree? ”

Humphrey's words made Cameron completely sober, no matter how similar the agreement signed with the Governor's Office of the Liberation of the Governor was to the Treaty of Tientsin, as long as such a treaty did not make Britain money, Britain would not accept such an agreement.

"Then is it the only way to fight?" Cameron asked Humphrey.

Humphrey touched his chin, then picked up his glass and drank the remaining half of the rum, "That's it for now, only to fight." ”

Ergin can only fight now, and what Britain needs now is to completely reverse the situation of trade with China, so the British side has also decided to adopt an extremely tough attitude and means. This time, he brought the fleets of the four countries to Guangdong together, and Ergin naturally did not let France, the United States, and Russia travel.

Although Britain has Hong Kong, it can freely mobilize its navy. However, the location of Guangdong is too annoying, not only can the 6th Army pose a huge threat to Hong Kong, but the Governor's Office with its steamships is obviously trying to build a navy. The reason why Britain dared to beat the Manchus so happily was because the Manchus did not have a navy. No matter how weak the navy of the Governor's Mansion is, it is also a navy. Ergin was well aware that China was only the object that Britain was now preparing to rob, not the object that Britain had decided to exterminate at all costs. If the Governorate were to be allowed to unfold in this way, Britain would inevitably face a very formidable opponent in the Far East.

There is another important reason that prompted Ergin's decision next time, that is, the matter of rebuilding the Humen Fort in the Governor's Mansion. The Liberation Army began to rebuild the Humen Fort on a large scale in January 58. Although Ergin had already planned to attack the Liberation Army, it can be seen that he was accustomed to the slow-changing actions of the enemies of the barbarian country, and thought that this was not a big deal.

When he returned to Guangdong with the Four-Nation Alliance, he learned that the Liberation Army had not stopped at all in the past few months, and the news was tightly blocked under the Humen Fort under construction. If the Humen Fort could really become a difficult fortress to overcome, it would be able to effectively blockade the Pearl River and prevent the British fleet from directly threatening Guangzhou. This fort was like a choke in Ergin's throat, and finally Ergin decided to destroy the Governor's power before it could be suppressed.

After dealing with the Manchus, Ergin was completely sure that the Governorate was a government that was no different from that of European countries. Having seen the problems brought to Britain by the industrial countries of Europe, and the revolt against Britain after the industrialization of the American colonies, Elgin felt that he could not wait any longer.

War requires preparation, war needs an excuse. Trying to negotiate was insulted by the Chinese, Ergin felt that this was a good excuse, but before using this excuse to start a war, Britain had to figure out the reality of the Chinese Humen Battery. The American and Russian fleets were all here to play soy sauce, and Ergin did not expect them to be of much use. The French were very interested in Indochina, and the Gallic chickens, who felt that they had been regained after the Crimean War, were interested in acquiring more colonies with the British.

On August 6, a fleet of small British and French ships went to the vicinity of the Humen fortress to explore the reality. The small Chinese fleet, consisting of two steamships of less than 5o tons, had gradually become accustomed to the British, and this small fleet was not afraid in the face of a fleet of twelve British and French ships, but bravely met it and tried to intercept it.

Without waiting for the British to open fire, the French ** ship had already opened fire, and the shells did not hit the Chinese steamship, but fell into the water 4o yards away from the Chinese steamship. The Chinese ships were quite courageous when they met them, and as soon as the British and French fleets opened fire, they immediately turned around like frightened rabbits and headed for the Pearl River. During the retreat, fireworks of red and green were also released from the steamboat.

Seeing the fireworks in the sky quickly extinguished, the French fleet took the lead and went straight to the direction of the Dajiaoshan Fort in the Humen Fortress.

When he was still two kilometers away from the Fort, he saw a sudden puff of smoke rise from a place on the mountain, and then there was a unique whistling sound of cannonballs piercing the air. The shell passed over the first two warships led by France, but hit the right paddle wheel of the British ** ship in third place. The sound of the paddlewheel's cover being shattered, the sound of the ship's hull being interrupted, and the sound peculiar to the steel parts being bent and bent all together sounded. The British steamship shook violently, and the degree was greatly reduced, because the other paddle steamer did not stop, and the steamship began to spin on its own.

Suddenly attacked by Chinese shore artillery with such accuracy, the entire British and French fleet was immediately dumbfounded. The people on the British and French fleets were still laughing at the people on the Chinese steamers for being as cowardly as rats, and they did not dare to fight the British and French fleets head-on. Now there were quite a few crew members on every ship in the British and French fleet, and the thought of retreating could not help but arise in their hearts.

On the Dajiao Fort, Major He Yongan, who was in charge of coastal defense, shouted to his subordinates: "Zhu Hong, you are really accurate!" ”

The shout caused a burst of laughter from the surroundings. After the news of the enemy's approach came out from the two steam ships of the Pearl River Fleet, the coastal defense troops, which had been prepared for a long time, immediately entered a combat state. It is indeed a good thing to hit, but Second Lieutenant Zhu Hong, who was in charge of firing the guns, received an order to fire at the outer ** ship that ran in front. The shell deflected by more than 100 meters and hit the third warship. Such an "accurate" shooting gave the officers and men who were nervously facing the battle feel a certain relief.

Zhu Hong didn't laugh, let alone show any embarrassment. He just instructed his subordinates to continue to reload ammunition and adjust the shooting of Zhu Yuan. He was at the control of one of the three main guns on the Bighorn Battery.

The artillery left by the Manchus in the Dajiao Fort was basically between 8oo and 12oo catties. The Guangfu Army transported these artillery pieces to Foshan for recuperation, and the current artillery is a 24oo pound cannon. The artillery adopts the central cooling technology of casting molds, and when making tsuò casting molds, there is an iron pipe with cold water in the center of the casting mold, and when pouring it, it is cooled from the center by means of guò circulation. In order to prevent the bore from exploding, the tail of the poured gun was also covered with a huge cast-iron sleeve.

The firing range of this huge cannon can reach about 3 kilometers, and during the First Great Smoke War, the distance between the Dajiao Fort, which was the first line of defense of the Humen Fort, was more than 36oo meters, and the cross-coordination of firepower could not be effectively carried out. Of course, at the level of artillery bombardment of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the accuracy of these artillery pieces was also very limited. There will be no such problem with the current shelling, and the fire of the two batteries can be very effective in supporting each other. Complete blockade of the Pearl River estuary.

With a "boom", the cannon sounded again, and another shell whistled out. This shelling was not as lucky as last time, and the shells entered the water at a distance of more than 1oo meters from the British and French fleets, causing no damage to the enemy at all. Since the commander had not ordered a stop, Zhu Hong had no intention of stopping. Command his subordinates to clean the chamber of the gun, lower the temperature of the gun, and prepare for the next shot. He did his job in an orderly manner in accordance with the artillery regulations.

At this time, the other two of the three main guns of the fortress also joined the shelling, the batteries were filled with smoke, and the British and French fleets on the sea were also moving forward lively. The battle finally began to heat up.

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