On the way back to Nanjing from Jiangyin, Lin Zhe on the Shaoxing did not blow the wind or watch the scenery on the deck like everyone else, he stayed in the cabin all the time, thinking about many things in his mind.

This time to Jiangyin inspection is generally more satisfactory to Lin Zhe, although the things seen in the inspection will not be too real, he is going to Jiangyin to inspect, those officials under him are naturally prepared in advance, and some bad things are covered up in advance, and when Lin Zhe arrives in Jiangyin, what he sees is what those generals and officials want him to see.

Lin Zhe didn't blame these generals and officials for this, after all, no one wanted to expose their bad side to their superiors, so there must be a cover-up.

But Lin Zhe is not one of those emperors who grew up in the deep palace since he was a child, he is a self-made founding emperor, and naturally has some characteristics that ordinary superiors do not have, even if the things he sees in Jiangyin are beautiful scenes on the surface, but through the most superficial things, Lin Zhe still sees the essence of things.

For example, the construction of Jiangyin Fortress, although the first phase of the project has been completed, but from the on-site point of view, it is known that the second and third phases of the project should not continue to start in a short period of time, that is to say, the completion of the entire Jiangyin Fortress will be later than expected.

In terms of artillery, the current number of artillery is seriously insufficient, although Shi Qingxuan, Lin Dabiao and other naval and army generals have tried their best to explain, but the current problem of insufficient artillery still exists.

From the review of the Sixth Army and the exercises it watched, it can be seen that although the Eighth Infantry Division has been formed, there is still a great lack in the training level of the soldiers and the command level of the middle and lower-level officers. There is a huge gap with those old troops.

In addition, it is also exposed in acting. Although the Sixth Army has carried out certain reforms in the existing tactics, it still retains many of the tactics of the line era. When the 8th Infantry Division, equipped with breech-loading rifled rifles, launched an attack, it still formed a dense formation as it did in the line era, relying on two horizontal columns to launch a frontal attack.

Among the many problems seen in Jiangyin's entourage, the tactics of the Sixth Army did not improve much compared with the line tactics, which Lin Zhe attached the most importance to.

Before leaving Jiangyin, Lin Zhe had to talk with Shi Qingxuan for more than an hour, listening to Shi Qingxuan's ideas on new tactics in detail, and in the process, Lin Zhe also took out his limited military knowledge in later generations.

At that time, Lin Zhe said in a cautious and calm tone: For the application of new rifles. The Sixth Army's steps were still too small, and its horizons were too narrow.

The rear-loading rifle is a completely different rifle weapon from the previous front-loading rifle, and the resulting infantry tactics are also completely different, not only can it greatly increase the rate of fire, but more importantly, it can be reloaded lying on its stomach instead of standing up like the front-loading rifle.

In this regard, you should pay attention to how to change the relevant tactics after the reload change.

For example, in specific battles, can soldiers directly lie on the ground to fight, so as to reduce the probability of their own side being hit?

In defensive operations. Can existing trenches be used effectively?

Is it necessary to maintain the current dense formation after the increase in the rate of fire and the significant increase in the total number of bullets thrown by the infantry phalanx per unit of time?

Could the interval between soldiers and soldiers be more wider? If the interval between the soldiers is large, will the amount of bullets projected be able to suppress the enemy troops? Will your casualties be reduced? The same number of troops is able to control a wider width of the battlefield?

Faced with a series of problems from Lin Zhe. Shi Qingxuan listened quietly from beginning to end, he couldn't argue, and he hadn't thought of these questions before. However, due to the influence of the old inherent tactics, he still has a certain degree of skepticism about the new tactics. However, he didn't dare to take these questions raised by Lin Zhe lightly.

Shi Qingxuan knew very well. Although this emperor was not a soldier from beginning to end, Lin Zhe's understanding of military concepts was far beyond ordinary people, and Lin Zhe led the Chinese army to make continuous progress with his military concepts ahead of others.

From the early use of Mini rifles, the large-scale application of trenches, grenades, and light mortars, and then to the comprehensive promotion of the navy's neatness, the rifling of artillery, and the rearloading of rifles and artillery, the innovation of these weapons is not only the spontaneous behavior of Linde Machinery Factory, nor only the guidance of the Ordnance Department, but also the personal promotion of Lin Zhe.

Lin Zhe said that it was necessary to comprehensively promote and equip the breech-loading rifled rifle, so the Ordnance Department supervised and supported the Linde Machinery Factory to vigorously develop the 1858 rifle, and finally it was just finalized to fully switch to the production of this rifle.

This kind of speed is difficult to achieve in other countries with mature systems, and it will take three or five years for a new rifle to go from initial finalization to full equipment.

He believed that after this personal instruction, the training of the Sixth Army should be greatly improved, and the victory rate against the British and French coalition forces would be greater at that time.

Now Lin Zhe is looking forward to what kind of scene those Anglo-French troops who are still using Mini rifles will be when they meet their own rear-loading troops!

When Lin Zhe returned to Nanjing on the naval battleship Shaoxing, the news that Lin Zhe led a large number of high-level military and political officials to inspect Jiangyin also spread to Shanghai!

Bao Ling, who had just finished arguing with Song Guan, looked at the letter handed over by his subordinates, and before he could finish reading it, he frowned: "These Chinese are really unwilling to fail!" ”

Several other people on the side also spoke one after another: "The Chinese are now negotiating with us, but on the other hand, they are actively preparing for war, and their purpose is very obvious, they are not ready to give in at the negotiating table, but try to resist by force!" ”

"Yes, although we have made great progress in the negotiations in the past two months, if you think about it, how similar the current negotiations are to last year's negotiations, these Chinese always find reasons to delay time, if they really have the sincerity to negotiate. Then two months ago it was possible to conclude the negotiations and sign the treaty, but until now. We only signed a few treaties of intent with them, and reached only a few verbal agreements. But the real treaty was never signed.

It is very obvious that these Chinese want to stall for time at the negotiating table and thus prepare for war! ”

I have to say that these foreigners still see the diplomatic methods of Lin Zhe and Song Guanqian and others very thoroughly, after all, everyone is not stupid, and although the Chinese army has kept the transfer of troops secret, it is unrealistic to hide from the foreigners to prepare for war.

Not to mention anything else, the Wusong Fort is being built day by day under their noses. Although Bao Ling and others had asked the Chinese army several times about the reasons for building the fort and expressed that the Wusong Fort might have an impact on British interests, Song Guan explained it with various reasons on the one hand, but the construction of the Wusong Fort did not stop for a day.

Although Bao Ling could not know how many guns were in the fort, he could guess that there were at least 50 or more large-caliber guns.

The establishment of this Wusong Fort was a major threat to the subsequent landing of the British and French forces in Shanghai.

The Chinese Empire's negotiations on the one hand and preparations for war on the other hand were actually not a secret to the foreigners such as Bao Ling. It was not urgent to prepare for war, but it was the Chinese Empire, and the Anglo-French forces were also preparing for war on a larger scale after the First Battle of Guangzhou.

Over the past few months, from the Indochina Peninsula, from India and other South Asian regions. Even the British and French soldiers drawn from the Arab region have arrived in Hong Kong one after another.

According to a letter from the Earl of Ergin to Bao Ling, it was expected that by June the Anglo-French army would be able to assemble an army of more than 15,000 men in Hong Kong. The British army will have 10,000 men and the French army 5,000. These 15,000 people do not include the more than 5,000 people who are already under the city of Guangzhou.

And judging by the military movement of Count Elgin. It was obvious that they had not expected Bao Ling to win at the negotiating table, and Count Ergin had already made up his mind from the time he sent troops to Guangzhou. Destroy the will of the Chinese Empire to resist directly through war, and thus force the Chinese Empire to sign a treaty.

Therefore, judging from the military movements of the Chinese army and the British and French forces, in fact, no one expected the Shanghai negotiations to succeed, and they all put their hopes on war and prepared for it.

For these, Bao Ling naturally knows!

It's just that now the military preparations of the two sides have become almost open, and everyone knows that if the two sides do not fight a battle to determine the winner, the Shanghai talks will never be able to negotiate a single result.

For the current situation, Bao Ling is also simply, after entering April, he suspended the negotiations under the pretext of 'occasional cold', it is obvious that he wants to delay time and is too lazy to continue to talk with Song Guanqian.

In the past half a year, he and Song Guan have met twice in the first three days, and it is useless to talk back and forth, and it is tiresome to talk about it for so long.

In the face of Bao Ling's initiative to say that he was ill and suspended the negotiations, Song Guanqian naturally raised his hand and said yes, this Bao Ling was tired of talking, and he was not easy for Song Guanqian, and he had to find an excuse to delay time every day.

However, he also felt a sense of crisis in Bao Ling's sudden suspension of negotiations, and he could also feel that these foreigners did not seem to be sincere about him and negotiating in the past two months, otherwise they would have forced themselves to sign a treaty, and they should have been preparing.

And this preparation should be about the same.

Bao Ling suspended the negotiations, and Song Guanqian immediately informed the Seventh Army and the Navy stationed in Shanghai of the relevant news, reminding them that the British and French forces might have made preparations in advance and that there was a possibility of attacking Shanghai in the near future.

At the same time, don't forget to send the news back to Nanjing!

Seeing the news from Song Guan, Lin Zhe didn't care, the Anglo-French coalition continued to increase its troops, and more and more troops were hoarded in Hong Kong, which had already been discovered and reported by the Third Army in Guangzhou.

In response to this, the high command also made adjustments in response and sent the latest order to the Third Army in Guangzhou, which can be guarded, and if the enemy army is fierce, it should temporarily avoid the front.

The reinforcements of the Anglo-French coalition army are not 1,200, but more than 10,000 people, if all the reinforcements from Hong Kong and then launch an attack on Guangzhou with 5,000 people under the city of Guangzhou, Qu Panyun's Third Army, no matter how strong its combat strength is, will definitely not be able to hold Guangzhou under such a huge disadvantage, it is better to give up Guangzhou directly.

Anyway, the strategic task of the Third Army was not to hold Guangzhou or capture Hong Kong, but to contain as many Anglo-French troops as possible and relieve pressure on the defenders in the southern Soviet direction.

As time passed day by day, the atmosphere in the Shanghai trade zone became more and more tense, and in May, foreigners left Shanghai one after another, why they left, naturally, to avoid the war, because from the end of April, the soldiers of the Seventh Army of the Chinese Army suddenly entered the trade zone on a large scale and directly built fortifications, and at the same time built a large number of trenches and fortresses on the side of the Wusong Fort

By this time, people had already understood that a large-scale war between the Chinese army and the Anglo-French coalition army, which had been brewing for nearly half a year, was finally coming. (To be continued......)