Three days later. Hong kong island.

The British Expeditionary Force is stationed in the barracks of the Hong Kong base.

Captain Wu Shili was chatting with a group of soldiers, as an army captain officer, he could not follow General Ross to the Pearl River inland river to attack the city of Guangzhou, he was very sorry, he was very envious of the group of colleagues who could follow General Ross to capture this eastern country. Unfortunately, because he had a bad stomach a while ago, and his uncle Colonel Wu Lisi became the commander of the Hong Kong base garrison of the expeditionary force, he had no choice but to stay on Hong Kong Island.

Some time ago, several damaged warships returned from the Pearl River inland river to Victoria Harbour on Hong Kong Island, bringing back the news of the expeditionary force's victory all the way: The expeditionary force went all the way north against the Pearl River, successively captured dozens of artillery batteries of the Chinese Empire, damaged and sank several enemy warships, and the battle went smoothly. Although several warships were wounded and returned to Victoria Harbour for repairs, the expeditionary fleet on the front line, under the leadership of General Seymour, was already in full swing and should be in Guangzhou in less than two days. And General Ross led thousands of infantry to follow, attacking all the way to a no-man's land.

Hearing this news, Wu Shili, like the British soldiers in the barracks, felt really uncomfortable.

Staying on Hong Kong Island, guarding an expeditionary force base, every day is either training or chatting. If he followed General Ross north on the spot, and the expeditionary force went so smoothly, I am afraid that it would not be long before he could make some military achievements and be promoted to the rank of major. Even if he didn't make military merits, the siege of the city along the way, especially the capture of Guangzhou, the capital of wealth like a paradise, with Wu Shili's understanding of General Rus, he would definitely make everyone a lot of money. I just hate myself for missing that good opportunity to get rich!

Wu Shili had quietly made up his mind that after the expeditionary force occupied the city of Guangzhou, he would send troops to attack other cities in the eastern country, especially Shanghai and Nanjing, the capital of the Chinese Empire, and he must beg his uncle to transfer him to General Rus's men, and he would not miss it again!

Wu Shili was thinking nonsense as he chatted with a few soldiers.

However, the words of a British soldier caught his attention: "Mr. Captain, your uncle is the commander stationed on Hong Kong Island, I wonder if you have received the latest news of the war of the forward expeditionary force?" ”

He really heard his uncle mention it yesterday that he hadn't heard from the front-line expeditionary force for three or four days. Since the expeditionary fleet crossed the Lion Ocean and penetrated deep into the inland rivers of the Pearl River, no news has come out. So, he shook his head.

The British soldier said with a mysterious face: "It seems that the expeditionary fleet has an accident!" In the past few days, I have always been restless, so I quietly calculated a hexagram and found out that I was the life of a prisoner. ”

"Nonsense!" Wu Shili only thought that the British soldier was joking nonsense. However, the British soldier was a gypsy, and he always carried a mysterious crystal ball in his arms to tell fortunes, and occasionally on time.

"Really! I have three hexagrams in a row, all of them are this kind of hexagrams! I've never encountered anything so supernatural. The British soldier said: "Besides, in the past, there was always news of the expeditionary force fighting on the front line every day or every other day, but it has been a few days, three or four days, and there has been no news at all, which is unimaginable for the always strict General Seymour and General Ross." I'm sure something really happened. My captain, you'd better ask your uncle the commander. If something really happens, rule me and let me be prepared. ”

"Crazy! You gypsy must be insane! Wu Shili's face changed, and he still refused to believe it, but he also beat a drum in his heart: "My British Expeditionary Force is so powerful, even if it is an eastern country, even if it has a large population, how can it be the opponent of the British Empire?" ”

Having said that, however, Wu Shili stood up, ended today's small talk, and left the barracks restlessly and entered the former Hong Kong Governor's Office converted into the Hong Kong base of the British Expeditionary Force in Central.

Enter the base and everything is business as usual. Strangely, his uncle, who was the commander of the garrison at the base, was not in the office, so he had to go back to the barracks.

At about 9 o'clock in the evening, when he was about to go to bed, his uncle's assistant, Major Davis, came to him in a hurry.

"Shili, something happened, you hurry up and pack your things now, and in three minutes, quietly go to the docks with me to meet the colonel!" Major Davis pulled Wu Shili up.

"What the hell is going on?" Wu Shili was shocked and hurriedly asked.

"It's too late to explain to you!" Davis said directly and rudely: "Hurry up and follow me!" Except for pounds and gold, don't bring anything else. The colonel is afraid that he has already arrived at the dock, and if he doesn't leave, it will be too late! ”

"It's not! Major Davis, okay, how do you want to go? What the hell is going on, where are we going? ”

"Don't ask so much! It's too late! The British Expeditionary Fleet was defeated and almost completely annihilated, and the Eastern Demons immediately slaughtered it! ”

"What?" Wu Shili was dumbfounded, he suspected that either there was something wrong with his ears, or Davis was crazy! The British Empire Expeditionary Fleet, as well as the fleets of the other three countries, a total of nearly a hundred warships, more than the total tonnage and number of warships of all the countries in the entire Eastern world, plus the well-trained British Royal Navy, and the army led by General Ross, how could it be defeated? It's insane.

However, for some reason, Wu Shili suddenly remembered what the gypsy had said about divination during the afternoon chatting in the barracks, and suddenly shuddered. Could it be that what the gypsy said was a prophecy?

Wu Shili hurriedly packed up the more than thirty pounds of property he had hidden, and followed Davis into the night, and went straight to the docks.

Along the way, many British soldiers ran to the dock, although they couldn't see the specific appearance, they were all in a hurry, and most of them were pulled by people, even disheveled, as if they had just been pulled up from bed.

Wu Shili realized that his throat was tight: it was still true.

Soon they arrived at the wharf, and although it was dark, Wu Shili could see at a glance several warships and several troop transports docked in the port. The largest of them is the main cruiser "Talisha", which was damaged from the frontline battlefield a few days ago and sent to Hong Kong's Victoria Pier for overhaul, with a displacement of nearly 2,900 tons.

Because of his uncle's relationship, Wu Shili knew that the cruiser "Talisha" had suffered heavy damage and needed a month and a half of overhaul before it could return to service.

It's really getting to the worst!

Davis led Wu Shili onto a frigate moored at the stern of the dock, and his uncle, Colonel Wu Lisi, the commander of the Hong Kong base garrison, was anxiously walking around the deck, and when he saw the two of them on board, he didn't have time to say hello, so he hurriedly ordered: "Set sail immediately!" Turn east, bypass Hong Kong Island and turn southwest, don't stop all the way, and go straight to Singapore. We must immediately bring the news of the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force back to London, so that the British Empire can prepare early! ”

Wu Shilirao was prepared in his heart, but he was still stunned by this shocking news. His uncle's words told him unmistakably that the British Empire's Eastern Expeditionary Force had really been completely defeated! What a crazy result!

"Uncle, what the hell is going on?" Wu Shili couldn't hold back the shock in his heart anymore and asked directly.

Colonel Woollis did not answer him, but ordered his assistant, Major Davis, again: "Order that all warships and troop carriers do not start their steam engines, and that all sails are used as the power of sails to leave the docks." Otherwise, wake up the gang in the barracks, attract them, and no one will want to leave! By tomorrow morning at the latest, perhaps this evening, the enemy's fleet will blockade the entire Hong Kong dock and even Victoria Harbour, and then we will all be captured by the Chinese. ”

Davis hurriedly responded, and hurriedly sent someone to deliver the order.

Colonel Wu Lisi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the frigate was moving, and set his eyes on the barracks behind the dock where the outline was not clear for a long time, and sighed heavily: "Shili, my nephew, uncle has told you a crazy bad news, the British Empire Expeditionary Fleet was completely burned by that demonic Oriental, and almost all the troops were wiped out!" Just this evening, several Dutch sailors who had escaped from the front line fled to Victoria Harbour in a shallow water steam gunboat and told me the news. Moreover, there are many details of the battle, and we were defeated. Also, the fleet of the Orientals has split up, and one of them is approaching Hong Kong, so we cannot sit idly by, and must leave at once! ”

Wu Shili grew his mouth and gasped: Could it be that the Orientals are all evil mages, and they burned down the entire expeditionary fleet of the British Empire with one fire? How big of a fire is this? He only felt that his brain was not enough, as if he had stepped into an inconceivable world of absurd mythology.

Wu Lisi seemed to know Wu Shili's surprise, and continued to tell this nephew to himself: "It's fire oil! Listening to the incoherent descriptions of the frightened Dutch, the Oriental country had made a great deal of oil, so much oil that it was incalculable, and the whole river was covered with oil, and it could float on the water and burn, and the fire that erupted like a volcano burned the whole fleet. Twenty or thirty thousand British soldiers died in the fire. ”

Wu Shili could no longer describe how he felt, and from his uncle's description, it was as if he saw a large area of hellfire engulfing the entire fleet.

"I heard that even the two battleships of the largest displacement stationed in Lion Ocean were captured by the enemy, and the fleet of the expeditionary force was completely destroyed. And as soon as the expeditionary fleet is finished, the entire expeditionary force will be completely finished! Wu Lisi seemed to be speaking to Wu Shili, and as if he was muttering to himself, "Without the escort of the expeditionary fleet, the thousands of infantry led by General Ross, as well as the scattered British Empire defenders who occupied the forts in various places, without water support, must have been surrounded and annihilated or surrendered and captured." Now that the naval fleet of the Chinese Empire has rushed to Hong Kong Island, presumably the troop transports on which the troops led by General Ross are on have been routed, and those landers may have been finished. The 2,000 infantry on our Hong Kong Island was even more difficult to resist. Therefore, they will be evacuated overnight. ”

"But uncle, why don't you call all the soldiers on the island and evacuate them?" Wu Shili thought of the gypsy soldier and asked puzzled.

"Although there are 7 warships and 2 troop carriers in this Victoria Wharf, only the two gunboats and one frigate left by General Seymour are intact, and the remaining 4 warships and 2 troop transports, although they are large, are all seriously damaged on the battlefield some time ago, and they are left at the dock to be repaired, and they cannot be effectively loaded, and can only carry 1,200 soldiers to leave Hong Kong Island at most. Moreover, it would be good to leave some soldiers to guard Hong Kong Island, confuse the enemy army, and drag the other side for a day and a half, so that we have time to evacuate. ”

Hearing this, Wu Shili understood why most of the officers and English soldiers on the warship were seen. But he can't say anything about his uncle, in an emergency, his life is the most important, and there is no morality to talk about.