"Which way?" Ge Mengjin hesitated for a moment, but still said: "As long as you are willing to follow us, Master Zhao, you will definitely know which way this is!" It's really inconvenient now, this way is in the seven inches of the red thief, and once something happens, it will definitely make Liu Jiehu tremble

"Really?" Zhao Qi immediately asked: "Is that the four-way uprising?" ”

"There are more than four roads, if our four roads move at the same time, then how can the Qing soldiers in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian not move, and then the seven roads and eight roads will be launched together!"

Zhao Qi immediately replied to him: "This matter is too important, let me think about it for two days before replying to you!" But where is the gift that Bu Xingyou brought you? ”

Regardless of whether he wants to cause trouble or not, this batch of foreign guns and cannons can greatly enhance his strength.

As the supreme commander of the entire Rainbow Army, based on the command of military command, Liu Chang set up a simple headquarters a few kilometers outside the city of Ningbo, which was between the telegraph lines between Ningbo and Shaoxing, so he could flexibly dispatch the Rainbow Army of Ningbo Prefecture.

But the information of the Taizhou Mansion can only be transmitted through traditional methods, fast horses, cargo ships and carrier pigeons are the most common methods, and Liu Chang is now reading a report from Gao Liangcai, the prefect of Taizhou: "There are bandits ranging from 20 to 30 people in Taizhou Mansion? Strange! ”

According to this report, there have been many small-scale bandit groups ranging from 20 to 30 people in Taizhou recently, and residents have repeatedly reported such situations to Xiangzheng and Zhixian, and Gao Liangcai also ordered the Hongjun troops to carry out a sweep as soon as possible, but they have gained very little, and the specific purpose of these bandits is not yet clear.

Taizhou Mansion can be said to be the place where the Rainbow Army first established political power, where Liu Chang spent a lot of effort to establish rule, and now has built an order from Taizhou Mansion to the county and township, before the Rainbow Army set out to Ningbo Mansion, according to the report of Gao Liangcai and Xian Na, the security situation of the entire Taizhou Mansion can be described as "very good".

This definition of "very good" is based on the fact that there are no bandits of more than ten people in Taizhou, this data seems relatively simple, but in fact it is not simple, which means that the ruling order of the entire Taizhou government has been established, and there is no strong resistance to be found in the territory, or the remnants of the defeated army, the Hong army wants to capture a big man, and there is no need to use a knife at all, but to send a member of the township to the past to let the other party be captured.

But with the arrival of the autumn harvest, the idlers have a livelihood, and now the appearance of this symptom seems to represent something: "Strange, there must be something wrong with this!" Tinglan, how many troops do we still have in Taizhou Mansion? ”

"Two battalions!" Shi Tinglan quickly gave the answer: "In order to support the Ningshao Campaign, our army in Taizhou Prefecture drew out two infantry battalions, and then in order to support the reorganization of the Red Turban Army in Wenzhou, two and a half battalions were transferred to Wenzhou, so now the main force of our army in the entire Taizhou Mansion is only two and a half battalions!" In addition, the township soldiers and the basic militia also transferred a considerable part of them to support these two battles! ”

Liu Chang already understood a little: "It seems that although Su Jingrong is dead, there are still many little Su Jingrong in Taizhou Mansion who want to jump out, this is the precursor of their rebellion!" ”

Shi Tinglan glanced at Gao Liangcai's report a few times: "Now even Xian Naxian is staying in Wenzhou Mansion, so naturally there are some clowns in Taizhou Mansion who want to jump out and let Xian stay behind?" ”

"Let him go back!" Liu Chang has already made up his mind: "Ask if there is a clipper ship going to Wenzhou, let them bring a letter ordering Xian to stay behind and immediately return to Taizhou to take care of the aftermath, and let him bring at least one and a half infantry battalions back!" ”

…,

Liu Chang smiled again: "I don't know what skills these little Su Jingrong will have!" At the beginning, I wasn't even afraid of Su Jingrong, so why should I be afraid of you little Su Jingrong! ”

"It's time to start landing!"

With Zhang Sigui's order, several sampans were put down, carrying sailors with Minnie rifles, and they were temporarily organized into two sailor companies, with a total of 180 sailors.

Although they were not professionally trained as infantry, the sailors landed in good shape, and the batteries on the shore fell silent for a moment, as if the initial shelling had consumed all their strength.

"Miss Ning? How do you feel? Zhang Sigui was concerned about Ye Bingning: "Are you okay?" ”

"Much better!" Ye Bingning looked at the sailors who had already landed: "Is the landing force a little less?" ”

"I've got all the extra sailors on hand, and there's only so man! In the battle just now, there were also a lot of casualties on our side! ”

Compared with the losses of at least eight or nine hundred or even thousands of sailors of the Qing army, the losses on the side of the Rainbow Army Sailors were not large, a total of seven people were killed in the glorious naval battle just now, seventeen were seriously wounded, and thirty-four were lightly wounded, but considering the factors of taking care of the light and seriously wounded, this reduced the landing sailors by at least one sailor company, Ye Ningbing looked at the small number of landing sailors, and could only say: "I hope they can fight very smoothly!" ”

In fact, even Zhang Sigui himself did not know how much role these two temporary sailor companies could play, but as long as they went ashore, these two sailor companies, almost all of whom were armed with Minnie rifles, would definitely be able to play an amazing role.

A few minutes later, the sailors who landed behind the side of the Qing battery had already declared their first victory, and a dense burst of gunfire rang out from one of the batteries, and then a few minutes later, a red flag was raised on the top of the battery.

From the Opium War to the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing army's fort defense tactics were always only aimed at frontal attacks, and there was almost no defense behind the flanks, so as long as the foreign invading army launched an outflanking attack, it often collapsed on the whole front, which was the case in the Opium War, and it was still the case in the First Sino-Japanese War, and even the later Kuomintang army retained this tradition.

And now the Rainbow Army launched an attack on the flank and back of the fort, which had hundreds of defenders, collapsed in a matter of minutes, throwing down a large number of bronze cannons, iron cannons, and green flags and running wildly.

And this was only the beginning of the landing of the Rainbow Army's sailors, and then, the Rainbow Army sailors of the two companies actually captured two batteries, and the guns and bullets on both sides were like rolling clouds, swirling above the battlefield.

However, in the face of two sailor companies equipped with Mini rifles, the Qing army's thousands of troops were tight and urgent everywhere, and the arrival of the Baoshun wheel and Ziwei Star increased the defense burden of the Qing army.

But the two sailor companies had only 180 troops, so that was only that, and soon the commander of the landing force told Zhang Sigui that they had nearly 20 casualties, and considering the absolute superiority of the Qing army, they could only hold their positions.

However, they also pointed out that a large amount of trophies were captured in the fort, although those inferior artillery could only be discarded, but there were many bronze cannons that could be recycled and recast into rifled guns, but Zhang Sigui thought more far-reaching: "It's a pity, if the army can have a main infantry battalion to land this time, I am confident that Fuzhou will be brought!" ”

This is indeed a huge regret, Zhang Sigui even thinks that he does not need an infantry battalion, only two infantry companies plus an artillery company, that is, half a battalion of troops, he dares to go deep into the Minjiang River to fight, but unfortunately, he now only has 160 sailors equipped with Mini rifles. …,

The recovery of the cannons and trophies was slow, and occasionally the Bowsun began to bombard once or twice with the twelve-pounder Cullen, but now was not the time to contest the rate of fire, but to be patient.

Today's day's battle was very fruitful, but the stock of coal and ammunition on the Baoshun wheel was running out, and it was necessary to return to Wenzhou for a replenishment before it could participate in the battle again, especially the shells of the sixty-pound rifled gun, which now had only more than 20 rounds left.

More than 20 rifled guns can't last long, so when Zhang Sigui and Ye Ningbing both felt that this naval battle was coming to an end, an accident appeared.

A small dhow came from the upper reaches of the Min River, although I don't know who was on board, but from the style of this sailboat, it can be seen that this is a standard Western sailing ship, and there is a white flag on it.

Zhang Sigui is proficient in foreign affairs and knows the meaning of this white flag in the West, so he immediately said to Ye Ningbing: "This is here to surrender or negotiate!" Command the entire fleet, pay attention to the demeanor! ”

Sure enough, it was two Englishmen who came, who were British representatives in the treaty port of Fuzhou, and as soon as they met, they unceremoniously accused: "You, gentlemen, you have seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of England in the port of Fuzhou, and I hope you will leave immediately and compensate us for our losses." ”

Zhang Sigui didn't think so, he was well aware of the plight of the British in Fuzhou, a treaty port: "No! Our naval battle has resulted in a great victory that you have not achieved in the past ten years, hasn't it? ”

Speaking of the port of Fuzhou, which is a port that all British diplomats in China have a great headache for, the officials here are like kraft candy, which makes people very unhappy.

Although the Treaty of Nanking had stipulated that Fuzhou had become one of the five treaty ports in China, the port of Fuzhou was the least open of the five ports, and its officials invariably used one excuse or another to delay the presence of British diplomats and merchants, while keeping trade to a minimum, so that only single-digit foreign cargo ships came here each year to trade.

Attempts by diplomats to open a gap with the Fujian officials have failed again and again, and they have not even entered the gates of Fuzhou until now, but can only stay outside the city, so Zhang Sigui is not right at all, it is by virtue of this naval battle that the British have won a perfect diplomatic victory.