When nearly 100 warships of the 10th Division came to the confluence of the Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River, they encountered the Manchu Qingshui Division, which had no way to retreat. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 At this moment, Bo Chengsheng ordered less than thirty ordinary river warships to cross the confluence of the two rivers to intercept.

As for himself, he took the warship he rented from the United States and hid far behind the Huangpu River.

Lu Shunde was about to give the order to launch a charge formation and rushed straight forward.

Lu Ernan, chief of staff of the 10th Division, stopped: "The estuary here, with a wide field of vision, is a habitable place to live, but there are no tiles, just some slopes, and there must be a fort hidden." It's better to be careful! ”

Lu Sannan, deputy chief of staff of the division, also chimed in: "There must be a battery!" Otherwise, this number of warships would dare to fight us on such an open river, where would they have the confidence? The only explanation is the battery. This kind of estuary fort was the most common practice in the British Empire. This is exactly within the British Concession, and if there is no riverbank fort, it is impossible! ”

When Lu Shunde heard the two of them say this, he asked, "Is this fort in the British Concession?" If so, it would be much easier. ”

Lu Sannan asked strangely: "Why is it easier to do it in the British Concession?" ”

"In the British Concession, it represents Britain. In this way, one of the Englishmen who had just been captured will deliver a letter for us. If the fort dares to open fire, our fleet will regard Britain as a war against our holy country and directly fire on the concession. See who can stand it. ”

Lu Shunde sneered, "It's just that some people in the concession can't stand it." However, in the concession, most of them are people who seek refuge in foreigners to make a living, and there are also rich and large households, which are not worthy of too much attention from my holy country! Compared to the tens of thousands of old and weak people in Shanghai City who are on the verge of starvation, this is nothing! ”

Lu Sannan was silent.

Soon, the staff officer who accompanied the British prisoners to the British Concession to deliver the letter came back and reported to Lu Shunde that the British consul Aliguo had a tough attitude, saying that this was the British Concession, which was equivalent to their British territory, and that unless they authorized it, the ships of our Holy Kingdom could not sail through it.

"Does this mean that you want to help the Manchus to the end and fight against my holy country?" Lu Shunde's anger rose and he became angry, "As long as they open fire, they will directly bombard Lao Tzu." Ning Yuan lost a few ships, and he also had to defeat the arrogance of foreigners! ”

Lu Ernan immediately understood Lu Shunde's thoughts. Indeed, the Huangpu River and the Wusongkou Fort at the mouth of the Yangtze River have been captured, and the forts in this concession are nothing compared to them.

However, the Wusongkou Fort was defended by the Manchu Green Battalion, because the volunteers of the Little Knife Society had swept the fort a while ago, and the fort was temporarily short of gunpowder and cannons, and no one paid attention to it. The main energy of the Qing army was to deal with the rebels in Shanghai City, who would have thought that such a large fleet would attack Wusongkou from the open sea, therefore, the occupation of Wusongkou does not mean that the warships of the 10th Division can easily break through the Wusong Fort.

Now there is only a strong attack.

Lu Shunde ordered himself to take the flagship of the Western warships to take the lead, and led more than 60 warships of the 10th Division to attack the Huangpu River, while the remaining 30 or so warships also approached the intercepted fleet of the Qing Army's naval division and began to take the lead in opening artillery bombardment.

The five Western warships on this side also separated two of them and led ordinary warships to fire fiercely at the Qing fleet.

Lu Ernan's on-site command was very effective. He divided more than 30 warships into two parts, and concentrated their fire on only two places. Where the cannons were concentrated, the two warships were covered in an instant, and ordinary planks could not withstand the huge impact at all. The sides of these two warships were covered with more than a dozen holes that had been broken by cannons, and the hull tilted so that the river water poured in.

A warship exploded because the cannon directly hit the gunpowder, the hull was blown up, and more than a dozen people staggered out of the deck covered with injuries, but they happened to encounter a few cannons, and they couldn't dodge, and they were smashed to pieces and fell into the river.

At this time, the batteries on the shore of the river port also began to fire. It was a small fort with only five shore guns. It is not known who was handling the guns, but the first round of artillery missed, and only one shot landed on an unlucky warship, breaking the mast and breaking the deck.

Lu Ernan ordered the fleet to ignore the fort and just pass quickly from the side. And the rest of the warships bombarded the warships intercepted by the Qing army.

After a fierce confrontation, the 10th Division sank three warships north of the 10th Division and damaged seven warships at a heavy price, in exchange for six Qing warships sunk and three were damaged. The remaining twelve Qing warships saw that the situation was not right, and hurriedly approached the fort.

The 10th Division also ignored it, and still left more than 30 warships to block the lower reaches of the Huangpu River to prevent the Qing army and foreigners' warships from escaping; The remaining fifty or so ships had already rushed through the firing range of the battery and came to the Lend-Lease area.

Lu Ernan was a little unbearable, but Lu Shunde gritted his teeth and said: "Give me a cannon shot at the British Concession, but you must avoid the low houses and find the tallest western-style building." Let them fight for so long, even if the Qing Demon Soldiers borrow their fort, this account will be counted on their heads! Teach them a lesson! ”

Lu Ernan hurriedly went to arrange, and deliberately explained that he could only shell the western-style buildings in the center. He knew very well that it was the British Consulate and Baoshun Foreign Company.

Suddenly, more than 50 warships opened fire on the western-style buildings near the Huangpu River in the British Concession, and after the second round of shelling, one of the western-style buildings was directly bombarded and collapsed, raising huge smoke and dust. The other three or four western-style buildings are also in a mess, and the entire concession is also crying and howling.

Before the third round of shelling, a white flag was hoisted on the roof of a half-sloping western-style building that was not the tallest, but in the very middle.

Lu Shunde saw that the British were soft, so he ordered a pause in the firing of artillery.

Not long after, on a small wooden rowboat, the British Vice Consul Wittoma, accompanied by two entourages, hurried to the flagship of the 10th Division in the middle of the river, proposed to meet the commander of the 10th Division, and demanded that the attack be stopped.

"It was you who took the lead in firing at my fleet, so my Taiping Holy Kingdom has declared war on our country as if you were you!" Lu Shunde looked angry, "If you want to stop the war now, there is only one way, you surrender unconditionally!" In addition, we will enter the concession and arrest those who attack our warships and punish them severely! ”

Wei Tuma was shocked, he knew that it was a thankless errand to ask for a truce this time, but he didn't expect that the other party's request would be so unreasonable! Let the British consulate in Shanghi announce its surrender unconditionally, and their new British Minister Bao Ling and Consul Ali Guo will definitely not agree.

"This lord, I can't be the master, and I have to go back to report to Mr. Consul." Wittoma looked at the rebel commander, "Until then, please exercise restraint and refrain from attacking again." Otherwise, it will cause the British Empire to start a full-scale war against your country, and I think this is what your country does not want to see. ”

"Don't talk nonsense, let you talkers come to me in person! I'll give you half an hour. Lu Shunde seemed a little unreasonable, he knew that otherwise, these British people would not be afraid.

It was only more than half an hour before Ali Guo hurried to the flagship, and as soon as he entered the cabin, he shouted in English: "Bastard." Do you know the consequences of you rebels firing at my British consulate? Who is the boss? ”

After listening to Lu Ernan's translation, Lu Shunde stepped forward and sneered: "Who are you?" Come on, throw this inexplicable madman into the river! ”

Lu Ernan stepped forward and said, "Commander, this is Mr. Ali Guo, the British Consul in Shanghi. He has come to ask for a truce. ”

"Truce? I made it very clear just now. First, surrender unconditionally. Second, in addition to making a public apology, we will take the lead in provoking incidents, and the criminals who attacked our fleet will be handed over to our side for disposal, and the soldiers will compensate for all the losses of the Holy Kingdom. Lu Shunde obviously said it to Ali Guo, "Otherwise, whoever comes will be the same, don't talk about it." Half an hour later, there was no reply, and they continued to shoot at me! ”

"You...... You, you can't do that! Did you know that this is the concession of the British Empire, the territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland? You rebels, trespass into the river of the concession area without permission, and we have the right to drive you out! Ali's Chinese tone was tough, but he obviously lacked confidence, "This lord, you have to bear the most serious consequences for everything you say." Do you know that in the world today, there is no such force that dares to be the enemy of our British Empire. You guys hurry up and get out of the area, I can still pretend it didn't happen, otherwise ......"

"It's rambling, and the birds are talking." Lu Shunde didn't let Lu Ernan finish translating Ali Guo's words at all, and interrupted the other party impatiently: "In a word, do you surrender or not?" What do you do with raising the white flag without surrendering? If you don't surrender, keep shelling me! ”

This time, Ali Guo understood. He actually spoke Chinese very well early, just to pretend to be superior and deliberately speak English. In a hurry at this moment, he forgot to cover it up and shouted directly in Chinese: "This adult, why are you not reasonable?" It was your fleet that broke into our concession, and you are aggressors! ”

"Aggression? This is my land in China, and you foreigners came here to enclose the land, not allowing our own people to pass by, and saying that we were invading? Lu Shunde laughed angrily, "Concession? Who agreed to you renting? I'm sorry, but I haven't received rent from the Holy Kingdom! ”

"You...... You? "Ali Guo's chest is about to be blown up!

It is crazy that a small leader of the Qing rebel army dared to talk to his dignified consul of the British Empire like this!

"Crazy! You're a madman! Ali Guo said viciously, "If this is your own initiative, then you should wait to be punished by your holy king." If this is what your holy king means, then your ridiculous holy kingdom awaits the heaviest blow of our British Empire! When the time comes, you will regret what you did today and pay an unimaginable price! ”

After saying that, Ali Guo slammed the door and wanted to leave.