The trench warfare inflicted heavy losses on the arrogant British and French forces, who quickly retreated after discarding tens of thousands of corpses and retreating all the way back to the Salt River.

Ergin didn't die, but his legs were blown off, and he could only be on crutches and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

This news was a huge blow to the Anglo-French forces, but as far as Glo was concerned, he was very happy, because his wish was fulfilled, and according to the provisional regulations of the coalition command, Gro officially succeeded Ergin as deputy commander-in-chief as commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.

"Order the troops to quickly withdraw the fleet!"

Glo was very timid, he was already frightened by the strong combat strength of the Shanghai army, so the first order after receiving the command was to retreat.

"We can't retreat, we must avenge Your Excellency Ergin, and the heroic spirits of the tens of thousands of dead soldiers will not allow us to retreat like this!" Scott immediately objected, citing only revenge and the glory of the British Empire.

"Nope! Must retreat! Gro frowned, and he was upset that his first order was opposed.

Seeing that Scott and Glo disagreed, Brons had a heated argument, and hurriedly stood up and persuaded: "Your Excellency Glo, if we retreat like this, we will make the empire ridiculed by the whole world." ”

Glo snorted coldly and said, "No, we will soon make the whole world envious and jealous of us, because I will lead the coalition army north to attack Beijing, the capital of the Qing Empire, and I will sack this rich country, and all our losses will be compensated ten times and a hundred times over." ”

Brons asked Scott, "General Scott, are you sure you will win as it stands?" ”

Scott was speechless for a moment, and finally shook his head, he had to admit that the Shanghai army was more advanced in equipment than the British and French forces, and the tactics used were equally advanced. Even in a close-range hand-to-hand battle, an Anglo-French army, which was famous for fighting bayonets, did not take advantage of the superiority of troops, which ultimately frustrated Scott's self-confidence, and he admitted that he could not think of a good way to defeat the Shanghai army in a short time.

Bronce then said, "In this way, we will not be able to defeat the Shanghai army in a short time. Hong Kong can supply us with food and water, but the consumption of arms and ammunition is huge, and we need to be transported from distant India, which will take several months. Rather than fighting with the Shanghai army here, we should go north and attack Beijing. Because there is no Shanghai army in Beijing, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army there is very weak, and we still have at least more than 120,000 troops. The easy capture of Beijing will not only make up for our losses, but also allow us not to be too passive. ”

After much thought, Scott finally agreed to withdraw his troops.

The battle continued outside, and after the Anglo-French troops withdrew to the Yunyan River, the Shanghai army took advantage of the victory and advanced forward.

More than 700 Type 59 infantry guns were lined up to carry out non-stop artillery bombardment of the positions of the British and French forces, and several hundred front-loading smoothbore guns of the Chuansha Garrison Brigade were assisted. The fire was extremely fierce, completely suppressing the fire of the British and French artillery. Inflicted heavy casualties on the retreating Anglo-French forces.

The cannon roared, the earthquake trembled, and I saw that in the smoke of artillery fire, the British and French soldiers were blown to pieces of flesh and blood, and the stumps and broken arms were scattered in all directions.

The battle turned into a one-sided carnage in that instant.

At this time, the artillery of the Shanghai army adjusted the angle of fire of the artillery. Concentrated fire on the pontoon bridge over the Salt River was heavily shelled.

Hundreds of huge water columns rose on the river in an instant, and the pontoon bridges of the British and French troops were blown up one after another, and the soldiers on them fell into the water one after another, and there was chaos.

"It shouldn't have been withdrawn! It's me who is so stupid! ”

Scott was remorseful as a battle-hardened general. Knowing the huge risk of a sudden withdrawal of troops in a large-scale battle, he still despised the army of the Orientals too much, and as a result, the number of troops after the arrangement was too small and was easily defeated by the Shanghai army in a short time, and a large number of Shanghai troops tightly bit the main force of the retreating British and French forces, causing the retreat of the British and French forces to turn into a rout in an instant.

"Throw away your weapons and equipment and immediately swim across the river!"

"The artillery provided me with fire cover!"

After weighing it, Scott finally made up his mind to let the soldiers cross the river as much as possible, and as long as the soldiers were there, even if all the weapons were abandoned, they could start again.

"Your Excellency, our artillery divisions have suffered heavy casualties, a large number of artillery pieces have been destroyed by the enemy, and there is no longer the strength to resist the enemy's powerful artillery fire. If you barely participate in the battle, the entire artillery division will be finished. ”

"I don't want to listen to the explanation, I want to open fire immediately, otherwise you will be dealt with by military justice!"

Scott couldn't care so much anymore, and he had to let the seventy or eighty thousand Anglo-French troops on the other side of the river return as soon as possible, otherwise the whole army would be annihilated.

However, Scott ignored the determination of the Shanghai army to completely annihilate all the main forces of the Anglo-French coalition army that landed in Shanghai.

Knock knock......

The artillery divisions of the Anglo-French army opened fire again, covering the retreat of the infantry across the river.

They have less than a hundred artillery pieces left, and they can no longer be called artillery divisions.

The soldiers of the Shanghai Army, who were chasing the British and French forces with all their might, were suddenly hindered by this sudden artillery bombardment, and the offensive slowed down.

On the high ground, Li Weiguo observed the situation from a telescope.

"The Anglo-French forces cannot be allowed to withdraw!"

"Order the artillery to quickly kill the enemy's artillery, cover the infantry to launch a general attack, and be sure to eat the remaining tens of thousands of British and French enemy troops!"

Li Weiguo quickly gave the order, and soon the artillery group of the Shanghai army roared again.

I don't know how many firepower salvos have been fired by the Shanghai artillery group, the barrel is hot, it can boil eggs, the internal rifling has been smoothed, and the muzzle is even more fiery, and every time the cannon is ejected, it will burst out a large number of sparks, as if it will explode at any time.

But even so, the Shanghai artillerymen still forcibly opened fire, in order to shoot as many shells as possible and destroy one more enemy.

Under the domination of this all-out spirit, the artillery positions of the British and French forces were again rapidly crushed by the artillery of the Shanghai army, and this time they were completely destroyed.

Taking advantage of this time, a part of the British and French soldiers successfully swam across the Salt River and returned to the Allied beachhead fortifications on the opposite bank.

However, there were more than 20,000 British troops left on the west bank of the Yunyan River, all of whom were Indian Sikhs, who were used as cannon fodder during the attack and also put last when retreating, and they were completely abandoned.

After the artillery of the Anglo-French army was destroyed. The Shanghai soldiers quickly got up and reorganized the attack.

The originally 30-kilometer-long front now retreated with the British and French forces, and the remaining 20,000 Indian Sikhs could only shrink the defensive line and gather into a front of less than five kilometers.

Bang bang......

The dense gunfire is getting closer.

"The enemy is coming up again!"

The Indian Sikhs shouted one after another, one by one tense and took the initiative to shoot without waiting for the commander's order.

Bang bang......

The two sides fired fiercely. People kept getting shot and falling.

The Sikh commander tried to stop the Shanghai army from advancing, but he soon found that his firepower was getting weaker.

In addition to being shot by the Shanghai soldiers, more Sikh soldiers saw more and more Shanghai troops on the opposite side after a few rounds of shooting, getting closer and closer, and one by one they became more nervous. As a result, many Sikh soldiers found that their hands were trembling, and all the ammunition was poured out of the muzzle, and some soldiers loaded a bullet and suddenly found that the person next to him had been shot and fell, so frightened that he hurriedly loaded another bullet. The shot was suddenly fired, and the chamber exploded.

The more this time comes, the more we can see whether the army has always been well-trained, has excellent psychological quality, and is not afraid of danger.

Obviously, these Indian Sikhs were only used as cannon fodder by the British army, and their training on weekdays was not in place, and they finally bore the consequences on the battlefield. When the war is unfavorable, it becomes a bunch of waste.

"Run! What are you waiting for? ”

"The Commander won't allow us to retreat!"

"Fuck the commander!"

"Whoever doesn't run will die!"

The Sikhs mutinied and no longer listened to the commander's commands. They jumped down to the Salt River and tried to swim to the other side.

"Damn it!"

"Let them go back!"

"Those who retreat will be killed!"

On the position of the Anglo-French forces on the opposite side of the Salt River. Scott was very annoyed, and wanted to use these Sikh soldiers to consume the strength of the Shanghai army as much as possible, but he didn't expect that the Sikh soldiers would escape from the battle, causing the defense of the entire west bank of the Yunyan River to be in chaos, but to help the Shanghai army.

The Anglo-French soldiers who had just withdrawn to Dong'an, on the Salt River, hid behind a beachhead made of sandbags and wood. Began to shoot the Indian Sikhs who had fled.

The Sikhs were dumbfounded, cursed, and hurriedly swam back again.

At this time, the Shanghai army had already rushed over, and shot the Sikhs on the shore and in the water without mercy.

Half an hour later, more than 20,000 Indian Sikhs were annihilated by the Shanghai army and the British and French forces. Most of them died in the water, staining the river blood-red.

However, the battle was not over, and after the Shanghai army eliminated these Indian Sikhs, the guns were quickly aimed at the Anglo-French forces on the other side of the Yunyan River.

This time it was the turn of the Anglo-French forces to defend, and the Shanghai army served as the attacking side.

The two sides first fired at each other across a river less than 100 meters wide, but there were no decent fortifications on the west bank of the river where the Shanghai army was located, and a large number of temporary beachheads were built on the east bank of the river where the British and French forces were located.

These beachheads were the first defense line built by the British and French troops when they landed, in order to prevent the Shanghai army from suddenly attacking, so the fortifications on the defense line were relatively complete, and the British and French soldiers no longer had to be exposed, lying behind the fortifications, shooting from the shooting holes to the other side of the river.

This time it was the turn of the Shanghai army to have a headache, and the British and French troops who were cowering behind the fortifications fought very tenaciously. The Shanghai army tentatively attacked several times, but was repulsed by the other side, so it could only continue to shoot at the British and French forces across the Yunyan River.

However, in this case, the rifle advantage of the Shanghai army is not so obvious. The breech-loading rifled gun is only fast to load, and the advantage is huge in field battles and defending the city, but when it is the attacking side, the advantage is not obvious, because the Anglo-French forces have successively replaced the firing rifled guns after the Crimean War, although the loading speed is slow, but there are fortifications in the way, and the three rows of soldiers take turns to replace the shots, which does not delay time at all. At the same time, the rifled gun has a high shooting accuracy and long range, and in this respect it is not weaker than the breech-loading rifles of the Shanghai army.

Therefore, across the Yunyan River, the British and French forces and the Shanghai army could not help anyone, and the battle quickly stalemate.

At the headquarters of the Shanghai Army, Zhang Xiaoliu returned from the front line to report the battle situation to Li Weiguo.

Li Weiguo was not surprised at all when he learned that the enemy and us had stalemate, because this was the standard mode of war in the historical period before the First World War, as long as the turtle was huddled in a strong position, the troops and ammunition were sufficient, and no small mistakes were made, it was a protracted war, and no one could change this mode of war unless tanks appeared.

"What about our casualties?"

Li Weiguo's first question is always about the casualties of our army, which is his habit, and it is also one of the places where the officers and men in Shanghai respect Li Weiguo the most.

Zhang Xiaoliu replied: "At present, the preliminary statistics of casualties have exceeded 10,000!" ”

Li Weiguo's heart sank, this price is a bit high, but after all, it is still acceptable to face the world's strongest main force of the British and French alliances, the first large-scale battle between the Eastern and Western armies.

Zhang Xiaoliu continued: "It is preliminarily judged that our army will destroy about 100,000 enemies, and according to the total strength of the enemy army, there should be about 60,000 left!" ”

Hearing that 100,000 enemies were annihilated, Li Weiguo felt a little comforted in his heart, and the battle loss ratio of one to ten on the frontal battlefield was enough to make the Shanghai army famous all over the world.

However, the thought that there were still about 60,000 British and French troops made him worry again.

"The enemy will not attack Shanghai again, but they are afraid that they will go north to attack Beijing, and the 60,000 British and French troops will be able to destroy the hundreds of thousands of troops in Zenglingqin in minutes."

Zhang Xiaoliu asked, "Isn't the fourth town over there?" ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "Yes, the fourth town is still near the capital, and the rest depends on them!" ”

Wu Yong analyzed at this time: "At present, it seems that the battle loss ratio between our army and the British and French coalition forces should fluctuate around 1:10. There are more than 12,000 people in the fourth town, and there are about 60,000 British and French troops left, and the strength is 1 to 6. ”

Chen Jingnan said: "I have observed that the retreat of the British and French forces in front of them are all wounded soldiers, and it is estimated that there are at least 10,000 or 20,000 wounded, and it is impossible to return to the battlefield in a short time, so the actual participation in the northward offensive will not exceed 40,000." ”

Hearing Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan's analysis, Li Weiguo felt that it made sense, and he had another chance of winning.

The war has reached this point, and Li Weiguo is basically sure of victory, so he will have to think about what will happen after the Second Opium War.

"If the Anglo-French army goes north, we will also send a force north to Qinwang to attract the attention of the Anglo-French army and cover the surprise attack of the fourth town."

"Besides, I plan to recover Hong Kong Island, what is your best plan?"

Wu Yong smiled and said, "It's easy to fight Hong Kong Island, but we have to change back to Ye Mingchen first, otherwise the Liangguang side will never let us get it easily." ”

Li Weiguo laughed and said, "So you see my purpose!" ”

"For what purpose?" Zhang Xiaoliu didn't understand, and asked Chen Jingnan beside him in a low voice.

Chen Jingnan then explained to him: "This is called taking advantage of the road to attack the enemy, we used the excuse of recovering Hong Kong Island, borrowed the road from the governor of Fujian and the governor of Liangguang, and took the opportunity to send troops to occupy it!" (To be continued......)