But either way, the battery and the fire of the 6 steam gunboats would not waste a great opportunity to attack.

Seymour did not hesitate too much, he immediately chose the latter option, and asked the flagship to order the two groups of warships in front of the attack, regardless of the steam gunboats, to press on the attack battery.

He didn't really have any other choice. If it is the former, if you go to pursue the steam gunboats, you may not have sunk the enemy, and the first batch of warships is estimated to have already sunk most of the enemy. Steam gunboats are not like turrets, they can move, and from the opponent's obscene tactics, Seymour can already see that the enemy commander in command of this battle is very smart.

Fortunately, Seymour did not choose the first option, and if the British warships pursued the six gunboats, they would have to advance another kilometer to the northeast, so that not only would they have to suffer several rounds of shelling from the gunboats and the Shajiao Battery, but also enter the attack range of the two batteries on the west bank of the Pearl River and the Taiping Waterway, and the two batteries next to the Dajiaoshan Fort and the Weiyuan Fort Group, which cooperate with the Shajiao Battery. Moreover, the steam gunboats will not attack it at all, and will retreat. Therefore, Seymour made the wisest choice.

With Seymour's order, two groups of warships launched an attack on the Sand Point Battery.

The first batch of cruisers that were completely out of control "Browny" began to burn violently, and one badly damaged gunboat withdrew from the battlefield, and the remaining 14 warships continued to march towards the battery under fire, until it slowly stopped at 2.7 kilometers, and began to adjust the hull angle and prepare to attack the battery. But at this time, another frigate was fatally shot and began to sink into the water, leaving only 13 warships of the 16 warships in the first sortie.

The second group of warships, led by the battleship "Captain of the Centurian" and the cruiser "Yuriales", also successfully rushed into the place less than 3 kilometers from the Sand Point Battery, because the first batch of warships attracted firepower.

In the sound of shells fired at the Shajiao Fort, the first batch of warships "Willisley" took the lead in roaring, and then more than 10 warships roared several times, and the guns of each gun compartment burst out with fire, and one shell after another swept over the river and smashed into the fort, some of which missed and fell into the woods on the bank of the river, and more directly hit the front side of the cement fort and on the table.

Immediately afterward, the second batch of artillery also came into range and began to roar louder. The fire of these twenty British warships was more dense and powerful, and hundreds of shells were tilted on the Sand Point battery.

The Shajiao Fort is actually composed of a number of small forts distributed under the Shajiao Mountain, with a total of more than ten cannon holes. Numerous British artillery fell on the top of the fort platform and exploded, blowing up the cement foundation on the top of the platform into potholes, but fortunately, because the cement was poured very strong, two rounds of artillery down, although many small stones fell from the top of the fort, but barely withstood the artillery fire. However, the five blast holes were damaged, because it was necessary to facilitate the rotation of the guns, and the openings were large, and five of the blast holes were hit by the shells, and the flowering shells exploded violently, bursting and splashing the masonry and earth in the holes of the small forts, and several gunners in the guns were either killed or injured at once.

The rest of the small batteries of the Shajiao Fort were even more focused on firing, but compared with more than 30 British warships, the firepower became weaker, and the gunners began to panic, there was no doubt that the fate of the battery would be lost made them feel a little burdened in their hearts, even if the British fleet was closer to the battery, the hit rate should have been improved, but because of the angle problem, although it hit a few warships, it has not been given heavy damage.

At the same time, the six gunboats at the mouth of the Taiping Channel also began to return fire fiercely. But after all, there were only 6 gunboats, and there were only 8 guns in total, and in one round, not too many British warships were hit, but only one of the reconnaissance ships and the other gunboat were slightly damaged, and the British soldiers endured it alive and opened fire more violently.

At this time, the Big Cape Hill Fort on the opposite bank of the river also showed its fangs, and it turned out that the three warships on the northwest side of the second batch of British warships were already under its firing range, so the two heavy guns with the longest range began to bombard fiercely.

This round of bombardment between the two sides lasted for more than ten minutes, and the Shajiao Fort was already blown up and crumbling. The British warship sank another frigate, and another cruiser and gunboat also suffered greater damage.

The astonishing military literacy of the British fleet showed an effect, and as the British ships fired a new round of artillery, nearly 100 shells exploded at the Shajiao battery. The huge explosion knocked the soldiers in the fort to the ground, and the huge force made the already potholed platform on the fort shake for a while, and then collapsed, and the cement stone wall between the gun holes could no longer withstand the continuous bombardment, and the top of the fort broke and collapsed one after another.

Of the more than 40 gunners on the Shajiao Fort, only a dozen or so escaped in time, and all the rest were pressed into the gun holes by the top of the collapsed fort, suffering heavy casualties.

Suddenly, the Shajiao Battery, which had still been roaring in several artillery holes just now, stopped at once, and only the shells fired by the British warships were still ravaging the ruins of the battery.

This also means that the Shajiao Fort has been breached.

Seymour, who was watching the battlefield through the telescope, breathed a sigh of relief and captured the fort, but he was not surprised, on the contrary, there was a trace of horror and anger.

It is no wonder that such a battery was enough for the British Empire's expeditionary fleet to sink 2 warships, burn 1 cruiser, and the other 2 ships suffered heavy losses and completely lost their combat capability. It's just a fort!

Seymour had already heard through spies how many forts there were along the Pearl River Estuary to Guangzhou City, at least there were more than 30 forts of all sizes, not including some forts that had not been discovered. According to such a ratio, isn't it that the nearly 100 warships of the expeditionary fleet led by himself are not enough to consume these batteries!

What's more, this is only the first battery, even if there are more artillery and more powerful, but in the same way, the water surface is open, so that he can send 36 warships to attack together, if after entering the inland river, the river will be narrowed, and at that time, I am afraid that the number of warships that can attack the battery at the same time will become smaller, and there is also the enemy's fleet escort battery, I am afraid that my own losses will be even greater.

After a little thought, Seymour abandoned the method of attacking only with warships. It seems that it is necessary to attack with warships on the surface and send the army to land behind the bypass battery to attack on both sides!

Seymour no longer fantasizes about capturing the city of Canton in a few days, but is prepared for ten days and a half months.

Seeing that the Shajiao Fort had been captured, the six steam gunboats at the mouth of the Taiping Waterway immediately retreated, detoured to the Taiping Waterway and headed towards the upper reaches of the Pearl River. A group of warships hiding at the Weiyuan Fort wanted to approach the Shajiao Fort to participate in the battle, but when they saw that the Fort had fallen, they slowly retreated and hid in the rear of Shangheng Island again.

Seymour was an experienced admiral, and after capturing the Shajiao Fort east of Humen, he was not in a hurry to attack, but ordered the warships to retreat, retreat beyond the range of the Weiyuan Fort and the Lower Rung Battery, and then move closer to the center of the river, and then pounce on the Dajiaoshan Fort.

The Big Cape Hill Fort had only a few guns, so it was naturally invincible, and before it could damage a single warship, it fell. Immediately afterward, Ross ordered three infantry battalions to escort an artillery battalion to land from the flank of the Big Cape Hill battery.

This is the west bank of the Pearl River estuary, probably because the Dajiaoshan Fort only has a few guns, knowing that it will fall soon, so the Chinese Empire did not arrange many defenders, just a battalion of infantry and more than 20 gunners retreating from the Dajiaoshan Battery, guarding the Dajiaoshan Battery.

After a fierce gun battle between the two sides, although the Chinese captives had a longer range, the British infantry battalion was like a tiger, not afraid of life and death to rush up the mountain, and there were many trees and shrubs on the mountain, firing at a distance could not play a role, and after the more than 300 captives were killed and wounded, they fought to blow up the two cannons on the fort, and then quickly withdrew from Big Horn Mountain and retreated to the fortified fort at the northern end.

After the capture of the Fort, Ross sent troop transports to land continuously, and sent nearly 2,000 British troops and hundreds of field gunners along the river bank all the way to the north, and at 1 kilometer before the fort was consolidated, there was another fierce exchange of fire with the infantry of the two battalions of the Chinese Empire stationed there.

The captive army relied on the terrain to resist desperately, after killing more than 200 people, the rest of the army had no combat strength, the main general cried and retreated, and the remaining 400 people were less than the soldiers of the captive army in desperation, retreating to the Jiaomen fortress.

Ross was overjoyed, and after consulting with Seymour, it was decided to organize a large-scale warship to attack the second line of defense of Humen the next day, the Weiyuan Fort Group and the upper and lower rungway batteries and Yongan Fort in the middle of the river.

British Marines and infantry helped the artillerymen overnight to carry the cannons captured from the Mount Grand Cape and Fortified Batteries, and the next morning they were set up on the Fortified Batteries, which opened fire on the three batteries on the Upper and Lower Rungs.

The key to consolidating the loss of the fort and causing great losses to the captives was not to consolidate the 8 cannons on the fort, but to give the British an opportunity to directly hide in the battery and shell the upper and lower rungs and the Yongan battery in the river.

The three forts in the river are all facing the river downstream, and there are no special defensive facilities for consolidating the forts, and it is extremely difficult to even turn the muzzles, resulting in a situation of passive attack. After half a day of shelling, except for the upper rungbox battery, which only lost two gun holes on the east side of the island, the lower rungbox battery, which had seven guns, and the Yongan battery, which had six guns, all fell, and most of the more than 200 soldiers on the island were killed or wounded.

By noon, seeing that the three batteries had basically been captured and suppressed, the British expeditionary fleet had left a small number of warships to guard the troop carriers and supply ships, and its main fleet and the Ottoman and Dutch fleets poured out together. Under the personal command of Seymour and Uncle Ho, the fleet was divided into three groups, totaling nearly 60 or 70 warships, which filled almost the entire surface of the Tiger Gate of the Pearl River and launched an attack on the three batteries on the upper and lower rungs and the Weiyuan battery group on the east coast.

However, Army Commander Ross continued to organize troop carriers to try to land on the upper and lower rungs island, preparing to take the form of occupying the fort and then using the fort to attack the Weiyuan fort on the east coast. However, this time, the captives learned a lesson and immediately dispatched more than 20 warships to shoot desperately at the rear of Dahushan Island and the northern exit of the Taiping Waterway, sinking one of the five troop transports that tried to land and damaging one, while the remaining three troop transports hurriedly fled behind the British warships in the rear.

At this time, on the water in front of Weiyuan Fort, the fierce battle had just begun.