Zuo Zongtang personally took the map, the map of Guangzhou Mansion, and slowly spread it in front of Feng Yunshan.

Feng Yunshan fixed his eyes and saw that this map, in addition to being much simpler than that of later generations, the names of towns and places, mountains and rivers were almost the same as those of later generations, and it was one of the military coastal defense maps that the General Staff Headquarters had made great efforts to formulate.

"Excellent! The British army has entered the waters of Lion Ocean, although there are some changes in the Humen Fort, but on the whole it is basically the same as planned! Feng Yunshan pointed to Changzhou Island on the map and admonished: "Changzhou Island here is very important, in addition to the first military academy of the empire - Whampoa Military Academy, there is also the original Changzhou Shipyard - now the Guangzhou Shipbuilding Bureau. In addition, the base of the Nanyang Fleet is also on the south side of Cheung Chau Island, so my request is that Cheung Chau Island cannot be lost. ”

Hearing Feng Yunshan say this, Fan Ruzeng immediately added: "Yes, I don't know if we estimate the strength of the British army too much, or if we look at the strength of the empire too cautiously. No one expected that the Weiyuan Fort and Nanshan Fort in Humen would be able to hold tenaciously. Well done! ”

Zuo Zongtang blushed slightly.

Today, the Imperial Capture Army is nominally completely subordinate to Feng Yunshan, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, and the actual assignment and dispatch are actually completed by the General Staff. Therefore, this time to resist the British army, although the final plan and general order were all Emperor Feng Yunshan, but the real implementation was made by the General Staff to formulate a secret detailed plan and arrange a special army to carry it out, Zuo Zongtang also guaranteed to complete the task without a fork, but the Humen Fort was still a little unexpected.

Originally, in the operational design of dealing with the British fleet, although the Weiyuan Fort Group in Humen was the focus of defense, the General Staff was not optimistic that it could withstand the large-scale attack of the British army, and only asked the defenders of Humen to fight with all their strength and destroy the British army as much as possible. In fact, it is equivalent to hinting that the defenders can abandon Humen and let the British enter the inland river after resisting for a while, and there will be means to deal with them later, and there is no need to fight to the death with Humen at the front.

But I didn't expect that the defenders of the Weiyuan Fort Group and the Nanshan Fort in Humen were so brave that they directly killed the British army to the point that they lost their temper, and they chose to enter the inland river by forcibly avoiding it.

Fortunately, the British probably thought it would be easier for them to occupy the city of Canton directly, and eventually entered the river. Otherwise, because the Humen Fort blocked it outside, and even forced it to retreat from attacking Guangzhou, and instead went north to attack Fuzhou, Xiamen or other ports such as Shanghai, it would be very passive.

You must know that the empire believed that once the Western European powers attacked, they would first attack the city of Guangzhou, after all, the volume of foreign trade business in the city of Guangzhou has always been the largest in the entire Chinese empire, and even Shanghai is not as good, therefore, in the eyes of foreigners, Guangzhou is full of wealth, and naturally becomes the first target. As a result, the empire placed almost four-fifths of the country's coastal defense forces along the Pearl River, from Humen to Canton. It would be difficult to build so many Western cylindrical cement batteries, and to collect steel-cast giants and heavy naval defense cannons while the warships were not yet fully equipped with Krupp cannons, even for an empire that was now becoming more and more powerful. The accumulated time is not enough.

Moreover, since Zuo Zongtang knew about the emperor's plan, he was amazed and made every effort to make it happen. He had been planning for half a month, and all parties were planning, but he only patted his chest and promised to introduce the British expeditionary fleet into the narrow section of the river in the inland river. Unexpectedly, the chief general of the Humen defenders couldn't understand what he meant, and he couldn't let himself understand the order to let them be deserters, right? Moreover, in order to prevent the news from being revealed, only a few high-ranking generals knew the inside story, and it was impossible for them to tell the ins and outs of the matter and let the defenders cooperate in the performance. In this way, I almost messed things up because of the Humen defenders, thinking of this, I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat with fear. It's still not thoughtful for myself.

Zuo Zongtang hurriedly replied to Feng Yunshan's question, in fact, he also understood that it was more of the emperor's instructions to him, "Your Majesty, it has been arranged." You can't go wrong this time! ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the course of the Pearl River on the map, from south to north, and said: "After the British expeditionary fleet went north from Dahu Mountain, it passed through the Shiziyang River for nearly 70 miles, because the water surface is vast and turbulent, it is impossible to set up barrage chains, bury wooden piles and other facilities to block enemy ships like the rungs of Humen, so there are few batteries since ancient times, let alone a large battery like the Weiyuan Fort Group, so the British expeditionary fleet must pass through the Shiziyang unimpeded. The only thing to worry about is that those heroes are cunning and greedy, put down the landers halfway through the Lion Ocean, attack the surrounding villages and towns, and loot their property. ”

"Eliminate all possibilities! Before the British army landed, all the people in the villages within five miles of both sides of the Lion Ocean were mobilized to hide elsewhere, telling them that the foreigners were coming to avoid the military disaster, and all the losses would be borne by me! ”

"Your Majesty is wise! Even so, the only hidden danger over there is gone. Even if the British army landed halfway, they would not find anything in a short time, and perhaps they would continue to take ships and follow the main force of the fleet to attack the city of Guangzhou in the north. Zuo Zongtang then pointed to the strength of Shiziyang, which was the eastern end of Cheung Chau Island, and said, "No major accident, the British fleet will arrive here in two days." The provincial river goes up from here to Guangzhou City, and is divided into two roads, north and south, and Changzhou Island is the intersection of north and south roads. His Majesty told him to keep the Whampoa Military Academy, the Guangzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, and the Nanyang Fleet Base, and Weichen dared to guarantee it with his head. Your Majesty, please see, the Cheung Chau battery group at the eastern end of Cheung Chau Island has a total of 5 guns and 15 guns of various types, and a total of 75 Krupp rifled guns, all of which are giant and heavy guns, which can firmly block the southern waterway of the provincial river. Wechen was thinking that it was a good thing that the British expeditionary fleet suffered a big loss in Humen, and now although the Changzhou Fort Group does not have as many artillery as the Weiyuan Fort Group in Humen, the fortity of the fort is much more than that of the Weiyuan Fort, and there is also the strong defense of the Dahuangjiao Fort, the Xinzao Fort and the Suishi Fort behind the Nanhe Road. ”

Weichen deliberately arranged and deliberately abandoned the two forts at the easternmost tip of Cheung Chau Island, so that the provincial Hebei Road waterway would be lost, so that the attacking fleet could enter the provincial Hebei Road waterway from the Jiancao Wai on the east side of Changzhou Island. In order to ensure that nothing went wrong, Wechen let the three steam fast frigates of the South Sea Fleet appear on the northern waterway when the enemy fleet came to attack, and the British fleet would inevitably pursue the attack, and even enter the northern waterway. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded, and pointed to the center of the map, which was the north of Changzhou Island, Guanzhou Island, and said, "What if the British fleet enters the Guanzhou Waterway between the north and the south?" ”

"Your Majesty, the Guanzhou Waterway and Weichen are also properly arranged, but the price is a bit big!" Zuo Zongtang said: "At the throat of the waterway leading to the Guanzhou waterway on Hebei Road in the province, Weichen has asked the Guangzhou Shipbuilding Bureau in advance to sink the three large warships they had just launched here to block the waterway, and at the same time blocked the waterway with five rows of wooden rows and three iron chains, and ambushed several small red single troop carriers at the Huangpu Chong behind Xinzhou. In addition, there is a blockade in front, even if the British army breaks the chain blockade and breaks into the Guanzhou waterway, it will be hit by the sunken ship into the bottom cabin, and it will never enter, but directly attack the city of Guangzhou from the northern waterway. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded: "In this way, I can rest assured!" This time the cost is huge, and it is my idea again, I can't rest assured! The selected section of the North Road Waterway is really fine, right? ”

Before Zuo Zongtang could speak, Deputy Chief of General Staff Mauser said categorically: "Your Majesty, rest assured, Weichen and Chief of Staff Zuo have personally calculated carefully, and only this section of the river is the most suitable for Your Majesty's thunderous blow!" The section of Pazhou we planned to go all the way to Ersha Island in the waters of the provincial Hebei Road, the river surface looked wide, the current was not too fast and not too gentle, and the British would not be afraid that the fleet would have too many warships to turn around and not dare to come in. What's more, this stretch of water is perfect for His Majesty's plans. ”8)