"Hong Kong Island, here we go again." Staunton looked at the land that was gradually emerging from the sea level with affection and infinite affection, and took off the hat on his head, as if he had returned to the harbor of his homeland.

"yes, we're here." Major General Ford took a deep breath of cool air, the winter in the south is indeed much more comfortable than in the north.

Hong Kong, although pirates are rampant here, but the British are not worried, the important thing is that the British have long envied those Portuguese who were able to get such a good piece of land at the doorstep of the Qing Dynasty, so that the Portuguese have a great advantage in trade.

The British also had the idea of learning from the Portuguese to get a piece of land nearby, and Hong Kong Island became their best choice, because long ago, the colonists of Western countries began to carefully survey the coast of the Qing Dynasty, looking for a place that could become their foothold next to the empire in the East like Macao.

Soon, Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Bay, just off the mouth of the Pearl River, fell into their sight. This is the best natural harbor in the south of the empire, and it is inhabited by only a small number of Qing fishermen except for pirates, and it is not valued by the empire, and it has not even begun to be developed.

Although they have long been in love here, they have long been afraid of this huge empire, and there are many pirates there, if they don't use enough strength, they can't occupy it at all, but if they use huge military power, it will inevitably arouse the vigilance and attention of this empire, and even lead to a series of consequences, so they can only look at this piece of fat and swallow saliva.

But now, with a mighty fleet and a large number of soldiers, they have come to the East, easily shattering the fragile shell of the empire, and by "legitimate" means, they have obtained the right to live on the island.

It is unreasonable not to take advantage of this time to have a large fleet and an equally large army to clean up the pirates in the vicinity of Hong Kong Island, and to leave a garrison to wait for a large number of craftsmen from India to come here to build a port and various facilities for the convenience of British citizens to live here.

"I don't know if those pirates will be so frightened when they see our British Empire's warships that they will all hide without a trace." Rear Admiral Ford's face was proud, yes, he was able to defeat the fleet of this empire, and also forced the empire to cede the island and make reparations, Rear Admiral Ford knew that with this merit alone, he was enough to go to the next level and become a vice admiral of the British Empire, you know, there are many outstanding talents in the British Imperial Navy, and it took him a full twenty-eight years to climb to the position of rear admiral, but who made himself so lucky?

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"That's Tung Lung Chau, and after Tung Lung Chau, we can see Hong Kong Island. We can go directly from the east side bypassing Tung Lung Chau and directly entering the harbour between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. "Dabansdang, who had been surveying the place for a long time, volunteered to be a tour guide, standing on the tail tower and introducing the names of the locals to the members of the legations.

"Look there, that's Liyumen, and when you enter here, it's that harbor, but now, there is no name, and those Tanjia pirates call it Tanjia Bay." Staunton's introduction made the Britons present frown.

"Tanjiawan?" After stammering the name of the harbor in Chinese, Macartney looked uncomfortable. "It's a name that doesn't fit into our British Empire."

"Yes, I think this harbor should be dedicated to our Majesty the King." Maj. Gen. Ford thought for a moment and replied that his proposal was immediately accepted by the vast majority of the people.

"That's right, in the name of His Majesty the King, how about George III Bay?" Staunton hurriedly threw out a place name that he had come up with in a hurry.

While the British were discussing the name of the place, their fleet was slowly sailing into Lei Yue Mun, and on a small pier near Lei Yue Mun, which was the dock of the Black Flag gang of the Tan family thieves, but their small boats were really not taken seriously by these British.

In particular, the dozen or so small sampans that rushed forward saw that the Lion had opened the gun window on the side of the ship, and drew a beautiful arc on the sea at a faster speed than the charge, and fled directly to the pier, and the fishermen and pirates on the pier fled in panic, which made Macartney and others, who were in high spirits, laugh.

"It seems that our battle at the mouth of the Pearl River has made these pirates understand that they have no way to compete with the navy of the British Empire on the sea." A naval officer gave a very reasonable answer, which was agreed by almost everyone present.

"General, do you want my soldiers to land first and warn those Qing pirates not to make any unnecessary resistance." The Colonel Henry said with a serious look on his face.

However, his proposal was immediately rejected by Major General Ford. "No, dear Henry, you don't need to worry so much, their warships and artillery really can't pose a threat to us, remember, this will become the territory of our British Empire, and those Qing people or pirates who live on it will become our laborers in the near future, what we need now is to appease the already timid souls of those people, and we don't need you to frighten them anymore."

Macartney smiled and nodded in agreement with Major General Ford. "That's right, dear Colonel Henry, don't forget that the reason why Macao is today is not because of the few Portuguese, but because of the hard-working, low-value Qing laborers, I don't want you to take revenge on these innocent civilians for the sacrifice of the army soldiers after you land, you know, we are civilized people from the West, not barbarians who only know how to use artillery and guns."

"Okay, then let them live a little longer, to be honest, I hate pirates, whether they are Eastern or Western, and those Qing people on the shore make it impossible for you to distinguish the difference between civilians and pirates." Colonel Henry pouted with some dissatisfaction. "In my eyes, these poor, savage fellows all look the same. It's no different from the African and Indian. ”

"Colonel Henry, watch your words." Macartney frowned in displeasure, racists like Colonel Henry still have a big market in Britain, but now is an extraordinary time, Macartney doesn't want to affect the soldiers below because of Colonel Henry's words and deeds, if he does something out of the ordinary, the empire is likely to turn around again.

Although their navy is not good, however, their army is more than one million, think about this number, almost five times the British Imperial Army, this is not counting the Eight Banners of this empire's descendants, in short, Macartney does not want any accidents at the end of success, besides, there is an Oriental Liang Sanhuai who is valued by him next to him.

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"I'm sorry, Your Excellency, please forgive me for my gaffes." Henry sensed Macartney's displeasure, and quickly lowered his posture and said, after all, Macartney is an excellent diplomat who is deeply trusted by the Imperial Diet and His Majesty the King, and more importantly, after this trip to the East, Macartney's reputation in the British Empire will definitely rise, and it is really good to offend such a figure.

What's more, he has been tired of staying in the East enough, but if he wants to return to England, he naturally has to have someone above, and Macartney, the ambassador, is that if he can say a few words in the country, maybe he, the colony colonel, will become a colonel of a garrison unit in the British Isles.

"Tell the captains that there is no need for those little squanders to pay attention to them, as long as they do not provoke or attack our fleet, but I am sure they don't have the guts to do so." Major General Ford gave the order loudly.

The tall and majestic warships of the British Empire passed through the Lili Gate, which was one and a half miles wide, and slowly drove into the natural harbor that they had just named George III Bay.

"It's a really secluded environment. Such a wide and calm sea is indeed a natural harbor, and so wide in size, I believe that even if our fleet has many times as many warships, it will be able to anchor completely in this harbor......" Staunton chattered excitedly about the newly acquired colony.

And at this moment, Liang Sanhuai, who had also been standing on the flagship deck, seemed to have seen something along the coast, and his originally serious face showed a faint, unpredictable smile.

"There are also two three-masted battleships, we will set off immediately five minutes after they pass through the carp gate, everyone pay attention to whether the torpedo insurance on their respective ships has been lifted, and you must pay attention to the distance when laying mines for a while, and don't blow yourself up, in that case, don't say that you are dead and there is no pity, I am afraid that no one will drop a drop of cat urine for you." On a recessed tidal flat outside the carp gate, dozens of small boats were already in a state of preparing to enter the water, and on both sides of those small boats, they were full of black iron balls the size of watermelons fixed with hemp ropes.

(To be continued)