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After discussing some details of cooperation with Keisuke Otori, Alikoku did not delay any more and set off directly to Yokohama, where he went to find Augustus, the commander of the British East India Fleet stationed in the port of Yokohama. Lieutenant General Cooper.

Augustus. Although Vice Admiral Cooper was the commander of the East India Fleet, he was actually the supreme commander of the British forces in Japan, after all, for the British, Japan was still a newly developed territory, mainly navy, and did not have much army.

Speaking of which, the port of Yokohama in Kanagawa is the base camp of the British troops stationed in Japan, and although the port of Nagasaki is even worse, it is mainly American, and the British, as latecomers, also left a lot of troops in the port of Nagasaki, but more symbolic, the real main force is in Yokohama.

The reason for this is that the port of Yokohama is closer to Edo Castle, that is, closer to the center of Japan, so the British East India Fleet is stationed in the port of Yokohama.

After listening to the opinion of the kingdom of Alee, Augustus. Cooper was also very impressed and felt that this was indeed a good opportunity. The key is that he feels that this action can make some trouble for the Chinese and give himself a bad breath.

Earlier, the Chinese task force raided Yokohama when Augustus. Cooper's East India Fleet was in Yokohama, but unfortunately the other side came too quickly, plus the task force was also large at that time, and the Chinese clearly targeted only the Japanese, so Augustus. Cooper did not act rashly, but still kept all the men on the highest alert, and all the warships were anchored and fired, ready to go out of port at any time to meet them.

But what happened after that startled Augustus, because he saw the five Yuanzi-class battleships of the task force firing.

The British East India Fleet had a total of twelve warships in Japan. Half of them were in Yokohama and half in Nagasaki, and among them were three of the newest warships, all armed with the latest Armstrong cannons, with a range of up to four kilometers.

At that time, it can be said that it was the best in Europe and the United States, and Britain has always been proud of the newly equipped Armstrong cannon, after all, the mainstream naval guns of European countries at that time had a range of less than three kilometers at most, and the range of the Armstrong cannon could break through to four kilometers. And the rate of fire is not slow, which is indeed something to be proud of.

However, after seeing the shelling of the five battleships of the task force, Augustus immediately discovered a fact that he was very reluctant to admit, that is, the Chinese warships had surpassed them, at least in terms of artillery.

Isn't it, the task force is equipped with Hua 3 naval guns, with a range of 6,600 meters, close to 7 kilometers, and the rate of fire is also amazingly fast. It is capable of reaching a maximum rate of fire of six rounds a minute, with an average rate of three rounds a minute.

Six shots a minute, no, even three shots a minute. In this era, it is also a surprisingly high rate of fire, you must know that in this era of large artillery, it is very good to be able to fire one shot in three minutes, three rounds in one minute. That's definitely going against the sky.

When the task force raided Yokohama with an expeditionary force, although it was far away, Augustus. Cooper didn't look closely. I don't know the specific parameters of the guns on the Chinese battleships, but with rich experience, he still sees that the guns of the Chinese battleships are quite sharp, firing at a distance of more than five kilometers, and the number of guns on the ship seems to be quite a lot (in fact, it is not much, it is a high rate of fire), and the power is even more outrageous.

The shells of the mainstream European naval guns of this era, although they all exploded. Break. bullets, but due to the relatively expensive price, and the fact that no decisive breakthrough has been made in gunpowder, there are many still solid bullets, and even if they are explosive. Break. bullet, because the charge is still black. Fire. medicine, there is no special manufacture of prefabricated fragments, and the power is not too great.

However, the Chinese artillery . Play. Feign. The medicine is all proper T-N-T, exploding. Explode. Power. Force with black. Fire. The medicine is not the same, plus the prefabricated fragments are made in advance, and the trigger fuse is also very good, so once it lands, it will be fried immediately. In a group, the Japanese defense points were simply undefendable.

Of course, this is because during the raid on the port of Yokohama, the Japanese did not have any warships at that time, and there were no particularly strong fortifications in the port, so the artillery battle was not carried out strongly, and the number of times the task force opened fire was not much. Otherwise, if the task force is allowed to let go, the high rate of fire will definitely completely frighten Augustus. Cooper's.

Although shocked by the power of the Chinese naval guns and the sharpness of the Chinese army, no matter what, being blocked in the port of Yokohama and watching the Chinese's unscrupulous attack still made Augustus. Cooper felt humiliated. Unfortunately, he knows that nine times out of ten he can't do anything to the Chinese with his own strength, and even if he can, the two countries are now allies, and he can't afford to attack allies without authorization.

So, Augustus . Cooper chose to shrink back and wait until the battle was over before sending people to protest, but the people sent did not see the commander of the opposing fleet at all, and only sent a lieutenant-level interpreter to deal with him, telling him that this was only for Japan and had nothing to do with the British, and briefly explained the origin of the task force.

When Augustus. Cooper heard that the task force was actually a mercenary of a company, and that there was a big British consortium as a shareholder behind this company called the Eastern Bloc, so he didn't dare to act rashly, but it was precisely because of this, especially when he couldn't even protest, that he felt even more aggrieved.

Although Yokohama soon regained calm afterwards, and after the port of Yokohama changed hands, the Chinese were also the same, but Augustus. Cooper still felt uncomfortable and felt that the Chinese were too arrogant and presumptuous, so since then, he has been trying to make some trouble for the Chinese.

It's a pity that before he could figure out a way, China's Japanese dispatch army came over, okay, a division landed in the port of Yokohama alone, more than 13,000 people, and all of them were well-equipped and well-trained, and the escort ships were also chilling.

Limited by national strength and time, China does not have too many high-end transport ships, most of them are still Fu ships and sand ships, but the ability of such ships to resist wind and waves is poor, and it is still a little worse than Western ships, at least when they are in the open ocean.

Therefore, in order to make the navy as capable of forming combat effectiveness, the navy of the Chinese Empire pursued a combination of lease and purchase. The development policy of modification as the mainstay and self-made as the supplement.

To put it simply, it is to order ready-made sail warships from Europe, the United States and Western countries, mainly flying scissor sailing ships of more than 1,000 tons.

These purchased clippers are generally required to be launched for no more than five years, with large tonnage, beautiful ship shape, and good maintenance, after all, they are mainly used as naval warships.

The navy belonged to the Praetorian Guard, and it was usually crowned royal in front of the navy. In other words, the full name of the Chinese Navy is the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire.

Since it belongs to the Praetorian Guard and belongs to the troops directly under the royal family, all the expenses are paid by the royal family, that is, by Li Yongji's own small treasury. The current situation is that Li Yongji's small private treasury is much higher than the national treasury, plus many special institutions, such as the 110 Special Economic Zone. All of them belong to the direct jurisdiction of the royal family, so the financial and technical strength of the troops directly under the royal family are far ahead.

Because of the money, the Admiralty is also wealthy, as long as the conditions are qualified. As a result, we bought 22 flying scissors merchant ships with a tonnage of more than 2,000 tons, 32 flying scissors merchant ships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, and a total of 54 flying scissors merchant ships with Britain, the United States, France, Pupu, Italy and other countries in one go. As a result, the size of the Royal Chinese Navy has suddenly increased, and it is no longer as thin as before.

However, these ships are, after all, wooden sail merchant ships. It is far from enough to be a warship, at most it is a transport ship, so in order to improve its strength as much as possible, the General Staff, the Royal Admiralty and the Ma'anshan Arsenal and other departments have jointly acted to prepare to transform all the 22 clippers with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons into Yuanzi-class ironclad battleships, and the reference object is the Pingyuan-class ironclad battleships of the task force.

It may be very troublesome to build an ironclad ship, but if it is only a modification, it is relatively simple, after all, it is only a layer of iron plate on the outside of the hull, and the other is to add a few Hua 3 naval guns.

In the later modification plan, they learned from the experience of ships such as the Pingyuan, plus the technical information of later generations, so instead of putting 30 guns on a ship, they placed six guns on a ship, but they were all equipped with rotating turrets, and they were all placed on the central axis of the deck of the battleship.

In this way, the total weight of the guns is reduced, which improves the stability of the ship, and the installation of rotating turrets makes the guns more stable and accurate, and the total number of crew members remains the same, allowing the gunners to rotate and fire, which is better than installing 30 guns.

Originally, after the installation of artillery, a steel shell was also installed, just like the Pingyuan, but it was very time-consuming to add iron plates, especially the people of the Ma'anshan Arsenal also wanted to apply welding technology to the second batch of ironclad ships, and not use riveting technology like the first batch of Pingyuan, so if you want to add iron armor, it will not be completed without a year and a half.

However, at this time, the task force made a lot of trouble in Japan, and as a result, the Ministry of Defense drew up a plan to send troops to Japan in advance, and even the Japanese dispatch force was formed in advance.

The problem is that the army is easy to say, but Japan is not like Korea, which can only take the sea route, so it cannot be done without a fleet escort, and the task force has to escort the expeditionary force to the Red Fort Hollywood, so the new transport fleet can only be transferred from the country.

As a result, the Royal Admiralty had no choice but to halt the renovation of some of the ships, and transferred seven pure sail warships equipped with guns, but without iron armor and steam engines, to form a fleet in the East China Sea, with the Dangyuan as the flagship, specifically responsible for guarding Japan.

The East China Sea Fleet, composed of seven sail warships, was the escort fleet, and other small clippers of about 1,000 tons, as well as temporarily leased foreign merchant ships as transport ships, quickly dispatched a Japanese dispatch force of more than 40,000 troops to Japan in a timely manner, stabilizing the situation in Japan.

Among them, since the Japanese dispatch force and the East China Sea Fleet arrived first, that is to say, when they arrived, the expeditionary force and the task force had not yet left Edo, so the main destination of the East China Sea Fleet was Yokohama Port, because Edo Port was too small to accommodate so many ships.

The East China Sea Fleet, dominated by seven sail warships, plus transports of the size of a division, such a large fleet appeared in Yokohama, once again allowing Augustus. Cooper was depressed, but there was nothing he could do, he had no choice but to continue to shrink and send someone to contact him.

In short, the arrival of the Chinese army, especially the arrival of the Chinese fleet, made Augustus. Cooper felt very uncomfortable, but the shape shì was stronger than a human, he could only be a turtle with a shrunken head, but now the arrival of the Ali Kingdom, especially the plan given by the Ali Kingdom. Jean Augustus. Cooper saw a glimmer of light.

The plan given to him by Ali was very simple, that is, under the pretext of the recent attack on the British by the Shoyi faction, he would directly lead troops to attack the Choshu Domain, as long as the Choshu Domain was defeated, then the wealth looted in the area would belong to them, and after the victory, the shogunate also promised to use the area around Zhou Fangguo as a British concession, which was quite a cost-effective thing.

In this plan, the most important thing was the attitude of the shogunate, because the Chinese had just signed a Sino-Japanese Edo treaty with the shogunate, representing both China and Japan. And the Choshu Domain is also Japanese territory, and if the British attack the Choshu Domain, a Japanese territory, without authorization, it is likely to cause a backlash from the Chinese, and the gain will outweigh the losses.

Augustus. Although Cooper was also very proud, he was not stupid, and he knew very well that if he did not get the support of the shogunate and led his troops to attack the Choshu Domain, the Chinese would inevitably interfere. Because the Chinese obviously regard Japan as their own forbidden body, this is already known to passers-by.

The good thing about Ali Kuni's plan is that he has already received the secret permission of the shogunate, or rather. The entire plan of the British to conquer the Choshu Domain was actually the plan of Katsunae.

The plan of the Ari Kingdom, or Katsu Kaishu, was as follows: Katsu Kaishu would soon declare the Choshu Domain a rebel in the name of the shogunate. and the crimes of belonging to the Choshu Domain, including the crime of attacking international friends without authorization.

Once the shogunate publicly declared the Choshu domain a rebellion, it was nominally not part of the Japanese government's territory. Coupled with the charge of attacking international friends without authorization, it gave the British an excuse to send troops.

That is to say, as long as the shogunate did this, it showed the sincerity of the shogunate, and at that time, Ali Guo, as the representative of the British army, officially went to see the general and asked the general to give a name for crusade, with this name, the British would have no pressure to attack the Choshu domain, at least the Chinese could not use the Edo Treaty as an excuse to send troops to interfere with their British actions.

The best thing is that the British fleet can also learn from the Chinese expeditionary force and task force, and also engage in a volunteer crusade army to come out and become a mercenary army of the shogunate, so that it will become a crusade against rebellion by the shogunate army, and the Chinese will have no excuse to speak of.

It is also very simple to do this, anyway, it is not once or twice that British soldiers have engaged in private mercenaries in overseas areas, not to mention far away, let's talk about China some time ago, what kind of victorious army, Changjie army and the like, nominally mercenaries, in fact, they are the product of the transformation of British and French soldiers in China, and they have not even changed their military uniforms.

Of course, the fate of those two mercenaries was not very good, and after a few fights, they encountered Li Yongji's troops, and basically surrendered and defected, and most of the middle and lower-level soldiers later joined the White Dawn International Column and became a group of famous pirates who ravaged the seas of Southeast Asia.

Augustus thought about it for a while and thought that this plan was quite good, after all, the British did not need to take risks, they only needed to deal with the situation in Japan. If the shogunate really declared the Choshu domain a rebellion, they could naturally act, but if not, then there was nothing to say, just continue to stay honest.

Neither Rei nor Augustus had to wait long, and on the fifth day after Arei informed him of this plan, they heard the news that the new 15th Shogun had officially issued a clear proclamation to all of Japan, declaring the Choshu Domain to be a rebellion against the Mori family, and in addition to rebellion, the Mori family was also an enemy of the dynasty, which meant that not only the shogun issued a rebellion order, but also asked the emperor to give an order, and the Choshu domain was made an enemy.

What is even more surprising is that among the crimes that Sheng Haizhou has made public, in addition to the crimes of disrespecting laws and regulations, there is also the crime of organizing illegal factions and attacking international friends without authorization.

As soon as these actions came out, the new shogunate and the Choshu domain were immediately on the cusp, and everyone was watching to see what the new shogunate would do and how the Choshu domain would deal with it.

Although many people in Japan resented the shogunate's actions, anyone with a discerning eye knew that the new shogunate supported by Katsu Kaishu would not be able to do anything against the Choshu clan if it did not rely on the Chinese, at least in the short term.

In addition, the Changzhou Domain is not a soft persimmon, although the overall strength is not as good as the Chinese, but the whole is united and united, if fully mobilized, at least a large army of 30,000 people can be mobilized.

In addition, the Choshu Domain had received rumors before, and it had long concentrated its main force on the newly built Yamaguchi Castle in the interior, which was a place that could not be hit by naval artillery, so if you want to take this place, you can only use soldiers to fill it, but it is not so easy to defeat it.

In other words, if it were a normal situation, the new shogunate would not be on a firm foothold at the moment. It is said that it should be based on stability, and it should not be provoked so quickly, but who knows that they will provoke, which makes many people think about watching the excitement, and plan to see how the shogunate plans to end up and how the Choshu domain will deal with this crisis.

In any case, seeing that the shogunate really classified the Choshu domain as a rebel as previously stated, Augustus and Rei were very happy, and soon. Augustus led twenty-four warships that had been assembled long ago, with 5,000 marines and sailors, with a total strength of more than 8,000 men.

These twenty-four ships, as well as the five thousand marines, were not only the British army, but the British did not have so many warships and numbers in Japan.

In fact, this is a joint force of Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands. Britain and the United States alone sent more than 3,000 marines, followed by France and the Netherlands. Of course. They all played a mercenary trick, that is, although they were actually the regular army of Shikoku, they were ostensibly mercenaries who volunteered to join, and even the name of the combined force was called "Victorious Army". to cater to Japanese tastes.

In other words, the combined forces of this victorious army were nominally only mercenaries of the shogunate. So this crusade war can also be counted as a crusade of the shogunate.

Since this crusade is not the same as the last time, it is a joint operation negotiated by Jade China, so there is no need to abide by any territorial division, as long as the Choshu domain is defeated.

And because there was a report from the shogunate's intelligence officers that the main forces of the Choshu domain were indeed concentrated in Yamaguchi Castle, the commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Augustus, did not directly storm Yamaguchi, but first went to the Kanmon Strait, directly bombarded Shimonoseki Port, and planned to land here.

The reason is very simple, Shimonoseki Port is the most important port in the Choshu Domain, and it is also the most prosperous port, and the economic return of attacking here is the highest.

Although there are many batteries arranged in Shimonoseki Port, and the total number of artillery pieces exceeds 100, these guns are all old-fashioned guns, and the farthest range is more than 1,000 meters, while the number of guns of the combined fleet of the victorious army exceeds 400, the Armstrong cannon with the longest range is more than 4,000 meters, and the average range of 400 guns is more than 2,000 meters, and the power is incomparable, so Vice Admiral Augustus is full of confidence in this landing battle.

The weather also gave Vice Admiral Augustus great convenience, at least when he led his army to the Shimonoseki Strait, although the temperature was slightly high, it was basically calm, which was very conducive to the power of the fleet's artillery fire.

After the Combined Fleet arrived, the defenders of the battery in Maedahama in Shimonoseki had already discovered the situation, and as a result, while the Combined Fleet was still observing the situation, some of the defenders of the battery opened fire first, even if the range of the shells fired at this time was not at all.

This is not to say that the artillery of the Choshu Domain is too stupid and does not know that the range is not reachable, but it is true that the people who fired the artillery belong to the Shoyi faction, and they originally had no good impression of the foreigners.

Of course, the matter of Tongguò also shows that the discipline of the army of the Choshu Domain at this time is still not very good, although I dare not say that the combat power must not be strong, but at least it is not related to strict discipline.

Finding that the Japanese had opened fire first, the commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Augustus, did not talk nonsense, and directly ordered free fire to attack the Maeda Fort and Tanoura Fort at the same time, so the twenty-four ships were divided into two groups, each lined up in a line, and the total number of more than 400 guns roared in turn.

Although the defenders of Maeda Fort and Tanoura Fort both held their positions, fought very bravely, and kept firing back under artillery fire, and also achieved certain results, successively damaging five battleships that were too close, but the technical gap was there, and in the end the two Japanese battery groups suffered heavy losses, and the losses on the side of the Combined Fleet were minimal.

The two sides attacked each other for more than four hours, and after all, the number of artillery pieces in the two artillery groups of the Choshu Domain was limited, and the total number of artillery pieces was less than 60, and the range and power of the artillery were too far apart.

Eventually, when the Combined Fleet found that the defenders of the Maeda Fort were barely fighting back, they sent a landing force of 500 men to attempt to attack, but the Maeda Fort was easily captured, and the remaining defenders of the Maeda Fort were forced to surrender.

After capturing the Maeda Fort, all the remaining battleships concentrated on attacking the Tannoura Fort, and as a result, it took less than an hour to destroy the Tannoura Fort, and also sent a force of 500 people to land successfully.

The landing force of the two batteries immediately destroyed the remaining batteries, and then stopped the defensive positions on the spot, and the other battleships were now tired of fighting, so they anchored and stopped.

However, on the same night, a small detachment of the Japanese army launched a night attack on the Tannoura Fort.

The number of this night attack force is not large, only two hundred, but all of them are strong in martial arts, and they are not afraid of death, and many of them are even tied to bombs. medicine, directly roared into the crowd, and then lit a fire to play self. Burst.

Despite this self-exceeding. The success rate of the explosion is very low, because many people have been killed on the way to the charge before rushing in, but the psychological impact of this behavior on the soldiers is very strict, so that later, many people can't stand it and really let these people rush in.

Once rushed in, some of the two hundred people played their own. Explosive, some play white-knuckle fighting, these night raiders are very strong, with two or three katanas on their bodies, and these people seem to be the most suitable for playing chaotic warfare.

If the 500 Combined Marines were still in formation, it would have been fine. The explosion scared the guts and rushed in from the self. The explosion also caused confusion among them, and as a result, they could no longer reorganize themselves, but instead gave the other party a chance to take advantage of it.

Finding that the fire on the shore was blazing, he found through the telescope that his troops had been in disarray, so the two warships opened fire in time to support, and even hit their own people directly.

This cannon shot seemed to wake up the Marines, and they also found that it was not possible to continue like this, and as a result, they all rose up to the courage and fought fiercely with bayonets in groups of two or three.

Although the marines of the combined fleet did not know any martial arts, they were tall and long, with strong brute strength, and a large number of people, and they were determined to play with white blades, and the night raid team, which was already less than two hundred, could not bear it, so after finding that less than a hundred people had died, they retreated decisively.

Although the night attack force of the Japanese was defeated, the losses of the landing force were far greater than those of the other side, after all, more than 100 people died, while the marines died more than 200 people, and the ratio of casualties was almost 1 to 2.

Early the next morning, it seemed that under the influence of the night attack of the previous night, the combined fleet was very angry, and concentrated all its efforts on attacking the Hikoshima battery early in the morning.

The Hikoshima Fort was the main battery, with the strongest firepower, so the resistance was also the most intense, and the combined fleet concentrated all its strength and bombed indiscriminately for a whole day, fighting from morning to night, and did not completely eliminate the opponent's resistance.

In the end, the battle dragged on to the third day, and this time, the Combined Fleet continued to bombard all morning, and in the afternoon, after feeling the weakening of the firepower of the defenders of the Hikoshima Battery, the Combined Fleet directly sent 2,000 marines to force a landing under the cover of artillery fire.

As soon as they landed, they found that the other side had also reached the end of the crossbow, so the landing force only paid about 30 losses and occupied the Hikoshima Battery.

At this point, the entire Shimonoseki battery group has fallen, and then, it is only necessary to force the battleships into the port, put the marines down, and force the landing under the cover of artillery fire. (The novel "Time and Space Smuggling 1859" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lottery gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner to "add friends", search for the official account "qdread" and follow, hurry up! (To be continued......)