Ten days later, in the middle of the ocean outside the mouth of the Pearl River.

On the deck of the Duke of Wellington, the flagship of the British Expeditionary Fleet, the Naval Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Seymour, the Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Ross, the Deputy Commander of the Navy, the Commander of the Dutch Expeditionary Force, John, and the Commander of the Ottoman Expeditionary Force, Awuzheoğlu, were all gathered in a circle, sitting on the bow of the ship, looking at the blue sky and sea in the distance, not so much discussing the upcoming big war, but discussing how to distribute the loot that was about to be obtained.

The whole battle, except for Penang and Singapore, which were attacking the three places in the strait, the rest of the battles were surprisingly smooth. He Bo, who was still a little wary and jealous of the newly rising Chinese Imperial Navy, also began to selectively forget some of the difficulties at the beginning and looked forward to the upcoming victory.

Eight days earlier, the main force of the British Empire's expeditionary force, which had successfully captured the city of Batavia, had met the fleet of Hober and the two fleets of the Chinese Empire, which were at war with it, in the waters near the Tammillan Islands. The two fleets of the Chinese Empire did not have the slightest resistance, so they immediately fled, so the two fleets of the British Empire joined together and launched a pursuit of the enemy warships.

At this time, the combined fleets of the three allied countries, the Netherlands, Portugal and the Ottoman Empire, had just left the Strait of Malacca and entered the waters of the East Indies.

Six days earlier, the British expeditionary fleet had finally caught up with the two fleets of the Chinese Empire at Saigon in Indochina, using sophisticated seafaring techniques. The Imperial Chinese Navy was forced to engage in battle, because of the hurry, the two sides fought in a hurry, after more than two hours of fighting, the Chinese Empire suffered considerable losses, 4 warships, including a main cruiser, were sunk, 3 gunboats were captured because of their slow speed, if it weren't for the fact that it was just dark, the wind direction suddenly changed so that the sails on many warships in the British fleet did not have time to adjust the direction, and the warships of the Chinese Empire have been steam engines and sails for the joint power, less affected by the wind direction, Let the main fleet of the Chinese Empire escape in time, otherwise, I am afraid that the Chinese Imperial Navy will lose far more than these 7 warships. The British expeditionary fleet only lost 1 small frigate and 1 fast sailing ship reconnaissance ship, and 2 cruisers were slightly damaged, which was almost negligible, which undoubtedly made the morale of the entire expeditionary force of the British Empire high, and the generals of the expeditionary force, who were extremely confident of victory, were even more confident, and only hated those enemies for fleeing too quickly, if they could be trapped in a narrow sea or harbor, and they would be annihilated.

Immediately afterwards, Seymour led an expeditionary fleet to capture the port city of Da Nang, a port city in Indochina, without much effort. In this port city, there was only one regiment of soldiers of the Chinese Empire, and they did not dare to engage in battle at all, so they led the people to flee from the city and hide in the countryside, so that the soldiers of the British Empire's expeditionary force could reap the spoils of war!

Don't look at the city of Da Nang is not big, but surprisingly rich, countless rice, silk and agricultural products have been seized, and there are many rare things, calligraphy and painting antiques, fine porcelain and handicrafts, and even gold and silver, so that a group of marines in the most advanced city have made a lot of money, naturally, those soldiers are also interested, in order to lead the city next time, the officers handed over to the expeditionary force are naturally a lot of filial piety, Seymour himself got 5 kilograms of gold and two exquisite coral ornaments, naturally very satisfied, in a good mood.

If it weren't for the fact that he was going to pursue the enemy fleet and capture Hong Kong as a war base earlier, he really wanted to follow the advice of his guide and capture the Imperial City of Hue, the capital of the Vietnamese Dynasty that originally ruled Indochina, not far away.

However, in the next two days, the Eastern Fleet fled without a trace, and Seymour had no choice but to take Hong Kong and Macau at once without consulting Ross and Hober.

Three days earlier, the British Expeditionary Fleet had arrived off the coast of the Pearl River estuary. Seymour was going to send Ho Bo to lead the detachment to capture Macao, and he led the expeditionary fleet to attack Hong Kong, but Ho Bo seemed reluctant and insisted on attacking Hong Kong together, and the army commander Ross also colluded with Ho Bo, Seymour was very angry and just wanted to get angry, the lookout of the reconnaissance ship came to report, and the combined expeditionary fleet of the three allies of the Netherlands, Portugal and Ottomans also arrived in the nearby seas and prepared to rendezvous with the British Navy.

At this point, Seymour immediately put the interests of the British Empire first. He immediately ordered that the more than 20 warships of the combined fleet of the three countries be notified and asked them to attack Macao. He led the entire British Expeditionary Fleet, including Hob's fleet, to attack Hong Kong. After all, everyone knows that the size and wealth of Hong Kong are far from being comparable to that of small Macau, where there is a lot of wealth, and if the combined fleet of the three countries is allowed to participate in the capture of Hong Kong, according to the agreement between the British Empire London and them, half of the seized property should be given to them, which is undoubtedly unacceptable to Seymour.

Seymour originally thought that there would be a fierce battle in Hong Kong, but he did not expect that he led a huge fleet of more than 60 ships to Hong Kong outside Victoria Harbor, and the whole Hong Kong seemed to be calm, and the imaginary scene of soldiers and civilians on the island fleeing in all directions did not appear.

On the dock entering the port, several stonemasons, carpenters, and hardware shops were lined up one after another, but there was no trace of anyone quietly, and even the gun emplacements that could be seen in the telescope seemed to have been unloaded.

Seymour was undecided, and sent a team of Marines to land and investigate. Soon, the soldiers reported that the entire island of Hong Kong was almost a dead island, completely empty.

Seymour and the others couldn't help but be surprised. Only then did they realize that the waters around Hong Kong Island, which used to be the busiest waters, were now hardly noticeable to see any boats, except for the occasional two small fishing boats. Presumably, the Chinese Empire had already prepared and arranged, and merchant ships were forbidden to haunt the entire sea area.

Seymour and others could not help but admire the ruthlessness and determination of the Orientals, and at the same time were proud of the might of the British Empire, which frightened the enemy into fleeing without a fight! If it weren't for Ho Bo's dissuasion, and Ross also used the excuse that the soldiers wanted to rest for a day, Seymour would have wanted to directly lead the expeditionary fleet to attack the mouth of the Pearl River and occupy Guangzhou, a major city of trade and wealth in the east.

However, the only thing that made everyone a little depressed was that the hateful Orientals seemed to have planned to clean up the entire island of Hong Kong, leaving not even half a tael of silver and a trace of food, only some houses and shops, empty factories and workshops were still there, but some daily necessities for food and clothing were all transported away or burned, so that the entire British Expeditionary Force did not catch any loot, and they all held their breath of evil.

He Bo was worried that the enemy was secretly ambushing somewhere on Hong Kong Island to carry out a night attack, so he arranged for people to patrol carefully that night, but he did not expect to encounter an enemy attack. In the early hours of the morning, a large number of warships of the Chinese Empire suddenly attacked Victoria Bay, but their luck was not good, and the two reconnaissance ships arranged by Hober had already discovered the traces of the enemy ships and immediately warned them, and Seymour immediately ordered a fierce attack.

At this time, the combined fleet of the three countries that conquered Macao also happened to sail from the bay of the outlying islands to meet the British expeditionary fleet, so the British fleet and the combined fleet of the three countries together flanked the combined fleet of the Chinese Empire, and after two hours of fierce fighting, they sank two warships of the other side.

Seeing that the Chinese Imperial Fleet could not take advantage, it was flanked by the British fleet and the combined fleet of the three countries from the southeast and southwest respectively, and hurriedly fled to the upper reaches of the Pearl River estuary in the north.

However, Seymour was so angry by the enemy's provocation that he immediately ordered the entire British expeditionary fleet to pursue him. Because of the urgency of the matter, He Bo did not object, and Ross had to quickly mobilize army soldiers to take warships and troop transports to follow the fleet to the mouth of the Pearl River.

Since the Chinese Empire had completely given up resistance, it must have known that it could not resist the attack of its own British Empire expeditionary force. In that case, what is there to worry about. Moreover, it was not easy to find the trace of this Eastern Fleet, but the other party still fled in the direction of Guangzhou, so what is there to hesitate about? The desire for victory, especially after the capture of Canton, and the anticipation of the looms to be captured there, put all the officers and men of the British Expeditionary Force in a state of extreme euphoria.

Ross left only 2,000 army soldiers to stay on Hong Kong Island, although Hong Kong Island was abandoned by the Chinese Empire, and there were not many supplies, but after all, the houses and docks were still there, and it was located on the sea of the Pearl River estuary, so it was the best as a forward base for the expeditionary force, and it must be well occupied.

Seymour also left only two gunboats and one frigate to guard the docks of Victoria Harbour slightly, while all the remaining warships were sent in pursuit of the enemy. The opportunity is rare, as long as the enemy's two fleets are destroyed, the entire East will have no sea power to stop the British Expeditionary Force, and at that time, the entire coastal ports of the Far East will be a blessed land for their own military achievements. What's more, although the other side's naval soldiers cannot be compared with the warriors of the British Empire, they also have a good appearance, and since the other party wants to hide in the inland river, he must want to use the firepower of the batteries on both sides of the estuary, Seymour has done his homework in advance, knowing that in the Sino-British War 18 years ago, the British Fleet encountered a lot of resistance in several batteries at the mouth of the Pearl River, although it did not pose a big threat to the British Navy fleet at that time, but now so many years have passed, according to the news, It seems that the Chinese Empire has strengthened the construction of batteries and the construction of firepower along the coast, although Seymour is confident, but he is not blind, he still has to hit the troops, with enough warships and firepower, to capture the batteries as soon as possible and crush the opponent's fleet.

Rose, on the other hand, was thinking about something else. He was a little annoyed, knowing that the Chinese Empire was such a soft egg, he should not have advised London to pay the price to persuade the Dutch and Portuguese and Ottoman Turkey to send troops. Now in this scene, it is obviously easy to capture the city of Guangzhou, this is a world-renowned commercial port, countless wealth can not be transferred away at once like a small pier like Hong Kong Island, this huge wealth has to be shared by the soldiers of the other three countries, Ross felt a pain in his heart.

Only He Bo looked thoughtfully through the telescope at the Eastern Fleet a few nautical miles away in the distance.

A variety of warships and troop transports from the four countries gathered together to cover the sky and cover the sea for several kilometers.

After a little discussion, Seymour and Ross invited the commanders of the Dutch, Portuguese, and Ottoman expeditionary forces to their flagship, the Duke of Wellington, under the pretext of discussing the current war, but in fact, they wanted to change the principle of distributing the spoils of the combined fleet of the four countries before the battle.