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Duncan expressed a little anger at Zhu Jiumei's rejection of his suggestion, but he immediately asked the question he wanted to ask: "What kind of brilliant suggestion?" ”

Zhu Jiumei immediately replied: "According to your suggestion, it is better to buy than to build, and it is better to rent than to buy, I roughly agree, but renting is not enough, I think it is better to save the rent, but to pay the bounty directly, if there is a war, there will be a bounty, and if there is no war, there will be no bounty......"

"This doesn't work, this doesn't work!"

Duncan's mood became depressed, and he continued to sell his proposal: "It's better to build my way, it's better to buy it, it's better to rent it than to buy it, it's not enough to give a bounty......"

"But as long as you sink a French steamship, I can suggest 300,000 ...... to His Royal Highness King Yan."

Duncan was still discussing the details, but the next moment he was frightened by this number: "Three hundred thousand? One? It can't be a copper coin, right? ”

But reason told him that it could never be 300,000 copper coins, and that the reward for sinking a French steam warship would be only three hundred taels of silver, which was too low.

If it weren't for copper coins, the figure of 300,000 would be staggering, whether it was Spanish silver dollars, silver taels, British pounds or francs, it would be an incredible number.

He was almost on his knees for this number, according to the calculation of the Spanish silver dollar, which was the most commonly used by the Hong Army, that was a huge amount of money that he could retire immediately, that was 300,000 silver yuan, which was converted into more than 200,000 taels of silver.

300,000! That's 300,000, and now Duncan already feels his blood boiling.

"That's right! That's 300,000 silver dollars. Zhu Jiumei replied very calmly: "As long as you sink a French steam warship and finally confirm it, I can suggest that His Royal Highness King Yan give your mercenaries a bounty of 300,000 silver yuan." ”

She continued to give her own suggestions: "As for how to calculate the bounty for the results below the sinking of the steam battleship, we can list a detailed number, such as sinking a Qing army's red single ship, or assisting the army unit in a cannonball, Mr. Duncan, are you listening to my advice......"

Of course, Duncan was listening to Zhu Jiumei's explanation. He quickly asked, "Do our warships also enjoy such benefits?" What if you sink a French steamer? ”

"It's different, it's an incentive for European mercenaries, who bring their own salaries, thermal coal, and weapons and can only fight on our bounties. Mr. Duncan, my suggestion is reasonable. ”

Zhu Jiumei had a smug smile on her face, and Duncan thought for a long time before saying, "This should be a very reasonable suggestion, by the way, if our fleet can sink a French steamship, it should be able to get a lot of bounty, even if not as much as it is for mercenaries?" ”

"There should be 60,000 silver yuan, right?" Zhu Jiumei replied: "Could it be that Mr. Duncan is also moved." Ready to return to the Mariner as a captain? ”

"We have calculated that a French steam warship is at least equivalent to our two steam paddle ships, and the cost of a steam paddle ship is at least 30,000 silver yuan, so as long as we sink one enemy steam warship, it is equivalent to us increasing the strength of two steam ships, so at least this number will be given."

Duncan's mind was already alive: "I really should give this number, and even more bounty, I think my friends in Shanghai will accept my suggestion." However, if they want to drive the boat to Huzhou, it is estimated that they will need an activity fund, which ......."

..., "No problem. Although I don't have the authority to do that. Zhu Jiumei replied: "We can make reasonable suggestions to His Excellency Feng Sixian, but I hope that this group of mercenaries can be in place as soon as possible." ”

As long as there was such a working steamship, she felt that the price of 300,000 silver yuan was worth it.

……

The tricolor flag is still flying in the sky over Fengjing Town, although the bullets and shrapnel have pierced countless bullet holes in this tricolor, but this tricolor flag is still proudly fluttering in the wind.

"What a good opponent!" Shi Jiwei stared at the tricolor flag that was always fluttering in the telescope: "I don't think we made any mistakes, but we didn't take it down." ”

Fu Wendao also felt the same way, the Yi soldiers in front of him were indeed inferior to those Qing troops who had fought in the past, even if the Qing army in the past had a strong cannon, but as long as the Hong army was willing to make up its mind, it would not make mistakes. That's going to take it.

However, these blonde and blue-haired foreign soldiers were completely different, although they had made mistakes, and even had a company eaten by Shi Huiji's Marine Regiment in the previous battle, but when he retreated to Fengjing Town, he became an invincible superhuman warrior.

The siege of Fengjing Town has lasted for three days, and during these three days, the Hong army can be said to have exhausted all means. The Jiaxing detachment, the Marine Corps, and the newly arrived units continued to attack, breaking into the town several times, and finally being expelled by the French with bayonets, during which the Marine Regiment suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat as a reserve.

"I have a feeling...... "I don't have a good feeling." ”

"What does it feel like?"

"We should be inferior to the French, right?" Fu Wendao glanced at Fengjing Town, which had been washed by the rain of bullets, and then said, "At least one-on-one, we are not opponents of the French." ”

"I admit it." Shi Huiji admits this fact: "One-on-one, we are not even the opponent of the Russians with those mercenaries. ”

Fu Wendao continued: "But, from another aspect, our platoon beats the French and an infantry squad, which can be said to be a relatively easy thing? ”

"That's right!" Shi Jihui agreed with this judgment: "If we attack with a reinforced platoon, we can definitely annihilate a platoon of the French in one go, let alone the Russians." ”

"So how about an infantry platoon with an infantry company?"

Shi Huiji hesitated: "It's a little difficult, but as long as you seize the opportunity and make up your mind, it's absolutely no problem to fight the Russians." ”

He said that it was no problem to fight the Russians, but the meaning in his words was naturally that there were some problems in fighting the French, and Fu Wendao's next question: "How about an infantry battalion of ours fighting an infantry company?" ”

"No, no!" Shi Huiji had already shook his head: "There is still a chance to fight the Russians, speaking of which, we picked up a big bargain before." ”

What he said was the example of Fu Wendao first attacking a Russian company with an infantry battalion, and then the entire Marine Regiment was thrown into action, basically annihilating a company of the Russian Army, which can be said to be the most glorious page in the history of the Marine Corps.

But that kind of example can no longer be replicated, all because of Major Raymond's command error, coupled with the fact that the Russian company was deployed too far ahead and was isolated.

"So, if we concentrate the strength of a regiment, we basically can't attack a barracks, right?" Fu Wendao continued to put forward his thoughts: "At present, there is only one battalion of Yi soldiers in Fengjing Town, but we have concentrated the strength of two infantry regiments and attacked repeatedly, but we have never achieved a decisive victory. ”

Shi Huiji had already understood: "What do you mean? Is it an overall advantage? ”…,

"That's right." Fu Wendao keenly said: "We should treat the opponent below the battalion is the right choice, in the field, there is no problem for an infantry regiment of our to annihilate an infantry company of the Yi soldiers, and at any time we can be equal to an infantry battalion of the Yi soldiers. ”

Shi Huiji agreed with this judgment, and now it was the coalition forces that used the terrain of Fengjing Town to hold on, and although the Hong army had a great advantage in strength and high morale, the problem was that it was never able to achieve a decisive victory.

But he still had his own thoughts: "If this army is settled, the French will not dare to go to war with us again, and this time, they will not have any reason at all." ”

Fu Wendao nodded: "But this is the way of the world...... Well? ”

He was already yelling over there, "What's going on?" ”

"The Yi Soldier Brigade is here! The Warrior Brigade is here! ”

"What?" Shi Huiji and Fu Wendao were taken aback, they didn't expect the French army and the Russian army of the Suzhou army to come so quickly, you must know that the Hong army besieged Fengjing Town for only three days, and the Yi army had already marched south to rescue at such a rapid speed.

"It seems to be different from the Qing Demon!" Shi Huiji has already said: "Qing demons are often defeated and cannot be saved, how can they use their lives like Yi soldiers, how many Yi soldiers have come?" ”

"It is rumored that there are seven battalions of Yi soldiers, with thousands of Qing demons, and there are many troops, stretching for dozens of miles."

Sure enough, it was a large force, and Fu Wendao over there had already made a suggestion: "It's time to use our regiment." ”

The 11th Marine Regiment suffered a lot of casualties in the previous attack on Fengjing Town, and in addition it had suffered heavy losses in the previous field battles, so when the main force of the reserve brigade arrived, the main force of the reserve brigade and an infantry battalion of the 7th Brigade were used as the main force to attack Fengjing Town, and the Marine Regiment and the Jiaxing detachment were transferred to the reserve.

And now is the time for the Marine Corps to return to the battlefield, Shi Jiwei nodded: "Although our regiment has been in the limelight in this battle, it will be equally brilliant in the back, Lao Fu, do you have any suggestions?" ”

Fu Wendao thought for a while, and had already put forward a suggestion: "With the current situation of our Marine Corps, I think it would be better to form a combat battalion to participate in the battle!" ”

The Marine Corps originally had three infantry battalions of 1,700 people, but for various reasons, the actual strength of the troops participating in the battle was only 1,200, and nearly 400 people had been killed and wounded in the early battle, and one-third of the casualties did not seem large, but the actual strength of many infantry companies was only one-third or even less of the number of establishments, so Fu Wendao pressed his tone: "We should take a reinforced battalion with combat effectiveness out and make a big move!" ”