Looking at the dark night, Seymour felt uneasy. He ordered several shallow-water gunboats to act as reconnaissance ships on a temporary basis, further ahead of the forward fleet, to reconnoiter the enemy. At the same time, let the ships of the expeditionary fleet anchor in the middle of the river, neither docking nor sailing, and wait and see what happens, so as not to be taken advantage of by the enemy.

Soon after, Hober arrived at the battleship Melville on the battleship "Berranhan," and after the sailors had set up their sampans, He came to the "Melville" with a worried face and said to Seymour: "General Seymour, for some reason, I have been a little uneasy in my heart, and I always feel as if something unfortunate is about to happen. For God's sake, I hope my worries are unnecessary. ”

Hearing Uncle He say this, Seymour was even more frightened in his heart, but on the surface, he didn't show it at all, just sneered and said loudly: "Why, our Royal Navy Rear Admiral Uncle Ho Bo, who crisscrossed the entire Indian Ocean, was so frightened and suspicious in an inland river in the Far East?" Don't worry, the 70 warships of our British Expeditionary Fleet are here, stretching the entire river for no less than several kilometers, and I am afraid that which hidden batteries on both sides of the river bank will suddenly attack? Or were they worried that the two fleets of the Chinese Empire, hiding somewhere in the upper reaches of the river, would not be able to attack at night? If that's the case, it's a good thing, because we won't have to hunt our expeditionary fleet around and wipe them out in one fell swoop! Ha ha. ”

Seymour said this, and before he knew it, he was no longer worried. yes, it's ridiculous. The British Expeditionary Fleet, in addition to some troop carriers and a few warships damaged by the war some time ago, as well as the "Duke Wellington" and other two battleships with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons did not enter the Pearl River, and the rest of the warships, a total of nearly 70 or so The main force of the expeditionary fleet, almost all of them are here, filling the entire Pearl River for about three or four kilometers. Not to mention that this is in the far east.

After listening to Seymour's words, He Bo also felt that he was a little too worried about it, and his face began to calm down, and he said, "What the general said is also true! But this sixth sense on the battlefield is a revelation from God, and it cannot be completely ignored. Try to be careful tonight! For some reason, I always feel a little uneasy in my heart, as if something is wrong. ”

Seymour said: "Since General He Bo is so worried, someone is coming, send an order, and send 4 gunboats to cruise on the river in front of him, and report the news immediately if there is an enemy situation!" ”

Counting up, there are already 10 reconnaissance ships and alert ships sent by Seymour, which cannot be said to be unimportant. He Bo breathed a heavy sigh of relief, with such strict precautions, even if the enemy army had any sneak attacks or other actions, they would be detected early, and it would be difficult to succeed.

He Bo relieved himself, and then discussed with Seymour to divide his troops tomorrow morning, preparing to shell the forts outside Guangzhou City with warships from the southeast, south, and southwest of Guangzhou City at the same time, and at the same time dispatch the infantry that was still staying outside Changzhou Island to prepare several flanking attacks, and then capture Guangzhou City in one fell swoop.

In the quiet of the night, it was the end of the month, and there was no moon in the sky, although it was not cloudy, and there were many stars, but from the deck of the tall battleship "Melville" looking down the river, it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen. The herald on the flagship of the "Melville" could not give orders in the language of the flag, so he could only shout loudly, and when he was about to convey Seymour's order, suddenly a reconnaissance ship approached the "Melville" and shouted loudly that there was important news to report: "Report to the commander, the enemy has discovered the enemy situation on Ersha Island 3 kilometers ahead, and the enemy has spent tremendous effort to sink the river between Ersha Island and the two banks of the river with more than a dozen large merchant cargo ships, and with several rows of countless wooden piles, the river surface north to Guangzhou City has been blocked. blocked the passage forward. ”

"What?" He Bo was taken aback when he heard this, and the worry in his heart suddenly came up again: "It seems that my hunch is right, the enemy army does have a conspiracy!" Admiral Seymour, I suggest, hastened to order all the warships of the expeditionary fleet to retreat overnight. Wait until tomorrow after dawn to find out the enemy's situation before making a decision. ”

"Major General He, what are you panicking about? Now that the situation is not clear, we retreat in a panic and spread to Europe, where is the face of our Royal Navy of the British Empire? I, Seymour, will be ridiculed by the whole of Europe! Calm down! Perhaps, the enemy will go to the river blockade of the city of Canton just because they are afraid, and their purpose is only to delay our attack on the city of Canton! After speaking, Seymour ordered the herald beside him: "Go down, all the captains of the expeditionary fleet should rest on the spot and wait for dawn." Tomorrow morning, we will set out again! ”

The herald hurriedly sent people to go down separately to deliver the order.

At this time, in the rear, in the downstream direction of the river, some voices came, and it was noisy, because the wind direction was wrong, and it was not very clear to hear, but it was certain that something must have happened downstream.

Seymour's face was not good-looking, and he hurriedly sent someone to find out what was going on.

Not long after, less than six or seven minutes, from the lower reaches of the river, a vigilant gunboat at the tail of the expeditionary fleet, regardless of the exposure of the target, started a steam engine and rumbled, and before it got close to the flagship "Melville", a captain of the gunboat, a British officer, shouted eagerly: "Report to the commander, a large number of enemy troops have been found in the rear!" In the rear, an island in the middle of the river called Huangpu Island and two waterways between the banks of the Pearl River, and the narrow waterway on the southwest side, have been completely blocked by countless wooden piles, and are completely impassable, but our fleet did not find them when they passed by this morning. Relying on the wide waterway to the northeast, the enemy dispatched a large number of troops, coupled with the strength of cattle and horses, pulled several thick iron chains across the entire river, and also dropped countless wooden planks, branches, weeds and other floating objects from the shore into the river. ”

"Bastard! What did you send to investigate? Why didn't you find out earlier, the enemy army has dispatched a large number of troops, the scene will not be small, and you have pulled thick iron chains to block the river, you haven't noticed? Seymour was furious.

"Commander, the enemy didn't take much time. About an hour ago, the enemy found the end of the chain, pulled it tight and stretched it across the river, and even sent out a large number of cattle and horses. As soon as we heard the commotion, we went to investigate, and when we found that something was wrong, we immediately rushed to report it. ”

Seymour was furious: "There are so many enemy troops on the shore, what about the Marines who stayed on the shore in the morning? Do they all eat? ”

"Commander, those Marines should have sacrificed their lives for Great Britain! The first sound our reconnaissance ship heard was the sound of some dense musket fire. The enemy troops were prepared, and the number of Marines who remained on guard on the shore was also very small, and it was difficult to resist them. ”

Seymour slammed his fist on the ship's board, and under the faint pine oil lamp, he said to the somewhat pale He Bo: "Major General He, it seems that the Orientals really have a conspiracy. You see, they want to block our expeditionary fleet within this section of the river, and in what way are they going to attack us? You know, when the morning dawns, we can clean up the sunken ships, chains, stakes and other debris that have been blocked, and it will take a little time to add some trouble to us! They are not going to do anything but to add some trouble to us, there must be other tricks, but what other way can defeat the main force of our expeditionary fleet other than those batteries and fleets that are simply not likely to work? ”

Seymour said to himself, but through the flashing light of cheap pine oil, he saw that Uncle He's face was getting worse and worse, and couldn't help patting Uncle He on the shoulder and asked, "Major General Uncle He, what's wrong?" ”

He didn't speak, but pointed to the river with a frightened face, and jerked Seymour out of the cabin and onto the deck.

The unpleasant smell of oil was already very evident in the air.

"Well, what is this? Poison? Seymour exclaimed.

He Bo still did not speak, but took a rope from the deck, stepped on one end and threw the other end of the boat into the river, and after a while, he immediately pulled it up and called for the lantern in the cabin.

Seymour looked closer, and one end of the rope was stained with black paste, emitting a pungent odor peculiar to oil and gas, and he was dumbfounded: "This, this seems to be ......"

Uncle He, who was full of horror, calmed down a little at the moment, but there was still a little trembling between his lips: "No... Wrong..., yes.... Underground... Crude oil, a little bit of crude oil. ”

Although Seymour didn't know much about this crude oil, he had only heard it mentioned it inadvertently, but where did he not understand it at the moment? His face instantly turned white: "Evil Oriental, it's crazy!" Blockading both ends of the river several kilometers long upstream and downstream, pouring a large amount of this black oil, with the aim of burning our entire expeditionary fleet? God, are they crazy, how is this possible, how much black oil does this get? ”

At this moment, Uncle He's lips were no longer so trembling, and he eased from the shock a little: "I don't know how much crude oil there must be, but since the enemy is so aggressive, I believe they can do it." Admiral Seymour, don't say anything, hurry up and order the fleet to retreat, the sooner the better. The enemy must have dumped crude oil from upstream, and with the southwest wind blowing from upstream tonight, the expeditionary fleet is very dangerous! ”

Seymour did not dare to object at this moment, and immediately ordered loudly that all the warships of the entire fleet, including the guard gunboats, also set sail immediately, turned around and lowered downstream. As for the blockade downstream, at such an urgent juncture, I can't care so much, it's a big deal to lose a few main warships of large tonnage, and directly break the blockade chains, as long as you break through the blockade chains and stay away from the traps laid by these oriental madmen.