On the twentieth day of construction, the forts had a general appearance, and when Zhu Jinglun inspected the forts, Charlie explained some professional issues to him in detail. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the past, the foundation of the fort built by the Ming Dynasty was quite good, because a large number of traditional Chinese three-clay technology was adopted, and the solidity of this three-clay was comparable to that of high-standard cement.

The foundation is strong enough, they laid a thick layer of granite gun foundation on the foundation, and then they will drill holes in the stone to install tracks, the track is used to rotate the battery, the traditional Chinese battery does not have this design, as a result, the cannon can not be turned, can only be designed along a straight line, the firing range is very narrow, and the new European battery will have a ring track, so that the cannon can rotate 360 degrees, without any dead angles.

A circular fortress was also added to the fort, with only a fan-shaped open gun window exposed in front of the battery, which was designed to protect the artillery from enemy artillery as much as possible. In addition to the main battery mounts, there were a large number of small gun emplacements, ranging from 24 to 18 pounder guns, which were used to attack approaching enemy ships.

After the inspection, they were basically satisfied with the construction situation, as for the quality, not to mention, the Swedes are a quality-oriented nation, and the Chinese of this era have not lost their basic morality, and they are also real in doing things. As for the reason why future generations will become immoral bottom line, it is only because traditional morality has been discarded, and new business ethics have not yet been formed. Japan and Germany, which are countries that are known for their high quality, are because they have never broken the old traditions, and combined with the culture of the industrial age, they have formed a new business spirit. The fact that Russian and Chinese products are not as good as they could have been is because both countries have undergone radical and devastating revolutions.

It's just that Zhu Jinglun has always had a worry, just building a fort under the noses of the British, and he is always worried about the British interfering.

Sure enough, 25 days after the construction, some small warships flying British flags began to appear on the river outside the fort, and the British began to pay attention to this place.

On the 30th day, the main body of the fort was basically completed, but there were no fewer people on the construction site, and they were still busy with construction.

Hurd told Chu that the British government in Hong Kong was very concerned about the intention of Guangdong to build the fort at this time.

Zhu Jinglun told him that since the opening of the port for trade, smuggling has been serious, and there are still smuggling ships that have clashed with Xin'an's anti-smuggling team, the construction of the fort is to prevent smuggling.

This reason is very far-fetched, and it is obvious that there is no sincerity, but the British questioning is not sincere, and it is impossible for them not to know that Zhu Jinglun built the fort against them, and knowingly asking is just beating Zhu Jinglun and telling Zhu Jinglun that they did not ignore it.

However, Zhu Jinglun also assured Hurd that there was absolutely no ill will towards the British government and that trade would not be interrupted. As for the current war, he had not received clear instructions from the imperial court, and he had sworn that he would not close the trade regardless of the attitude of the imperial court, and this he could vouch for with his personality.

With this guarantee, the British will not be in action, Zhu Jinglun also breathed a sigh of relief, knowing in his heart that the biggest concern of the British about these batteries is only afraid of blocking trade, as for the threat of the batteries to them, they are afraid that they have not yet felt it, because of several wars, these batteries basically have no effect, and the soldiers guarding the batteries flee without a fight every time, with such an army, what kind of fortifications are useless, how can the British army be worried?

Another point is that the current situation dictates that the British army has fought a defeated battle in Tianjue, and there are no troops to deal with it at present.

So for a while, Guangdong became calm, but Zhu Jinglun felt more and more that this was a precursor to the arrival of a storm.

Fortunately, it seems that the British really do not intend to interfere with Zhu Jinglun's action to build forts, you must know that in name, the cannons on these forts are still purchased with the help of Jardine Matheson, and the British Armstrong Company produces them, and the British probably still think that they have the initiative, as long as there is no permission from them, these batteries will be built, and there will be no cannons available.

Soon after the British questioned him, he immediately sent people to Hong Kong to urge Jardine Matheson to deliver the goods as soon as possible, and Jardine Matheson said that the contract was signed for delivery within one year, and the time had not yet come, and they promised that they would definitely send the cannons that Zhu Jinglun wanted before the end of the year.

Zhu Jinglun knew that this batch of artillery could not be delivered, so the reason why he urged him was to give Jardine Matheson a preventive shot, so that they could understand that once they could not deliver the goods at the end of the year, it would be their breach of contract, and the second was to make a show to the Hong Kong British government, so that the Hong Kong and British governments would continue to have an illusion that they controlled the overall situation.

In the current situation, Zhu Jinglun also knows very well that the British and French coalition forces will not give up, but the specific next move, I am afraid that it has not yet been decided, here in Hong Kong, no one can make this decision, everything has to wait for the decision in Britain, but for a while, Britain's decision has not been transmitted, and it is even very likely that the situation in China has not been transmitted back to Britain.

So it's a delicate time, and everyone is secretly preparing for the final decision of the British Parliament.

As for the decision of the British Parliament, Pruce may not be clear, but Zhu Jinglun is clear that the British chose to continue the war and declare war on the Qing government again.

Although they know the general trend of history, they have not stopped collecting intelligence, and those children of the Chen family who used to buy vegetables in Xin'an City have now gone to Hong Kong to buy vegetables, and they will send fresh fruits and vegetables to Hong Kong every day, and then bring back information about where they are in Hong Kong, but after all, they are very unprofessional, and most of the information they can get is hearsay.

Therefore, Zhu Jinglun only knows some inaccurate information, but compared with his memory, he can still get the correct answer from these messy information.

The detailed course of the Battle of Dagukou of the British and French forces is also clear.

After the British and French representatives arrived at Shanghi on June 6 and 7, they soon heard that the Russians had exchanged contracts in Beijing, and that the "Sino-Russian Aihui Treaty" and the "Sino-Russian Tianjue Treaty" had been renewed, so the British and French representatives immediately refused to continue to argue with Gui Liang and other Qincha, and went north with their warships.

As for why the Russians were able to exchange treaties in Beijing, while the British, French, and American ministers could not enter Beijing, there were historical reasons. In fact, Russia had representatives stationed in Beijing as early as the Kangxi era, and whenever there was a major event between China and Russia, it would also send envoys to make a pilgrimage to the Qing emperor.