When Li Yunzhong first arrived in Tianjin City, he received the news that the British army had arrived near Dagu, which cast a shadow on his heart, according to his memory, before the crossing, the British made a big fuss in Guangzhou, and after a while, they led their troops north, but they didn't think that now they came directly and quietly to Tianjin, it seems that they are already planning to go to war!

"Someone!"

"Wechen is here!" Tang Liang was dressed in a military uniform and stood directly bowed.

Li Yunzhong asked, "How many troops are there in Tianjin now?" ”

Tang Liang didn't think about it, and replied directly: "Your Majesty, there are only 10,000 horses in Tianjin, of which 3,000 are still reserves, and if you have no combat experience, I'm afraid you can only defend the city, and I'm afraid you can't do field battles!" ”

"Is there an army nearby?" Li Yunzhong clutched his stomach, he couldn't sleep at night recently, he couldn't eat well, and his stomach hurt for a while, although he could be recuperated in a few days, but the foreigners didn't give him this time.

Tang Liang shook his head, his face hesitated, and he replied loudly: "There is no army nearby, only the three thousand students in Nanjing have rushed to Beijing, plus five thousand reserves, a total of eight thousand people, and now they are training in the Fengtai battalion, I am afraid it will take at least five days before they can go to the front line." ”

Li Yunzhong's head was also dizzy, and he ordered: "Go, call Zhao Liewen!" I have something to ask! ”

After a while, Zhao Liewen hurriedly walked over, saluted, and asked, "What does the emperor command?" ”

"How's the fortifications outside Tianjin?"

Zhao Liewen replied: "Your Majesty, the fortifications have been roughly completed, and the bunkers are all made of cement turning heads, and ordinary artillery fire can't help it at all. ”

Li Yunzhong was overjoyed. Standing up, he excitedly asked, "How can you be so fast?" It took only seven days. That's it? ”

"When the people in the neighborhood heard that it was a foreigner, they came over to help. In the past few days, the people have gathered more and more, about 100,000 people, and we have set up obstacles on the road that foreigners must pass, and finally built several fortifications on the road that foreigners must pass. ”

Li Yunzhong sat down on the ground all of a sudden, shocked and angry, and asked, "100,000 people! 100,000 people! How much food is left in the city? Is it enough for tens of thousands of troops in Tianjin to eat for a few days? ”

Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "The emperor flickered, now that the railway is being built, it is convenient and fast to transport grain to Tianjin from the rear, and a large amount of grain has been hoarded in Nanjing, Jiangxi and other places. The day before yesterday, I issued an official letter asking them to carry food to the front line day and night, and Wechen promised that there would be no shortage of three meals a day for the army. ”

Li Yunzhong was still uneasy, and his experience in several years of war told him that the food problem was a big problem, and even if there was no food, even if there was an army of one million, it would be empty talk.

"Passing on my will, the state officials along the way must fully cooperate with the delivery of grain, and there must be no mistakes. Those who dare to withhold food without permission will be killed! ”

"Yes!" Zhao Liewen faintly felt that he had done something stupid, and regretted it, which implied his bookish anger. When I saw that the people were vying to vote, I thought that the way of heaven was in me, and I got carried away.

Li Yunzhong frowned. I remembered another annoyance in my heart and asked, "Reinforcements from the northeast." I can't count on the dozens of warships that were supposed to be parked in Japan. I am afraid that there will be no less than a hundred ships coming from Europe, and the blockade of the northeastern ports will definitely be at that time! ”

Zhao Liewen whispered: "Do you want to let the eight thousand men and horses of the Fengtai battalion drive over immediately......

"Report! Enlighten the emperor, Dagu Fort found a British warship! ”

"How many are there?"

"There are about a hundred of them densely packed, and there are huge cannons on board, and there are a hundred huge cannons on each ship!"

Li Yunzhong waved his hand and ordered: "Continue to investigate, let the people on the fort not panic, as long as the British warship enters the firing range, immediately open fire, sink a ship and reward a thousand taels of silver!" Promoted to one level! ”

Zhao Liewen said loudly again: "Your Majesty, Weichen immediately transferred 8,000 people from the Fengtai battalion to escort you!" ”

"Hmmm! That's the only way to do it! Li Yunzhong estimated that the British army would land in less than three days.

Early the next morning, there was a 'booming' cannon sound from the Dagu Fort, and dozens of miles away Tianjin could vaguely hear the cannon sound, and the earth trembled.

"Brethren! Call me! Fire all the way! Wu Zhixin, the commander of the fort garrison, roared vigorously, and more than 200 artillery pieces on the fort roared angrily.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

He Bu, who was far away at sea, looked at the hundreds of artillery pieces on the battery sarcastically, and ordered contemptuously: "Order the First Fleet and the Second Fleet to move forward in battle formation, and fire three salvos after entering the firing range!" ”

"Boom, boom!"

"Boom, boom!"

"Boom, boom!"

There was a sea of fire on the battery, and thirty British warships fired a salvo, destroying more than 30 cannons in the battery.

"Captain! Withdraw! This artillery fire is too powerful, the aim is too accurate, we can't support it! ”

Wu Zhixin took out his pistol, and with a "bang", he killed the battalion commander who asked to retreat, and said sharply: "Those who dare to shake the hearts of the army will be killed immediately!" ”

Seeing that the battery was still firing back, Hebu continued to order: "The Fifth Fleet, the Sixth Fleet, join the battle formation, and the battle will end in two hours!" ”

"Boom, boom!"

"Boom, boom!"

The British gunboats fired non-stop volleys, and after an hour, less than half of the guns on the batteries returned fire.

"The head of the regiment is dead!"

"The regimental commander is dead! The brethren fought with them. ”

"Yes, fight with them!"

He Bu anxiously looked at the artillery battery in front of him, put down his binoculars, gritted his teeth, and said, "Order all fleets to retreat and fight again in the afternoon!" ”

Bao Ling also put down his binoculars and exclaimed: "One battleship of our army was sunk, three cruisers were sunk, and eight small gunboats of various types were sunk, such tragic losses are rare in the Far East!" As long as you hold on a little longer, you can crush them, why did the general retreat? ”

He Bu explained: "Now the defenders on the fort must make up their minds to defend to the end, and if they continue to fight, they will definitely suffer heavy casualties, so that they can take a breath and come back to their senses, naturally they will not have the ruthlessness just now." ”

The defenders of the battery cheered loudly when they saw the British warships retreating.

Two hours later, the British warships approached in a semicircle, and thousands of guns were aimed at the batteries to bombard, but the batteries returned fire with very few guns, and in less than an hour, the batteries were all silent.

Clinton said with satisfaction: "Not bad! ”

"After such a fierce bombardment of the fort, I'm afraid even the ants won't survive!" Pashali was still admiring the smoke rising from the fort.

Clinton shouted: "The Microkel cavalry regiment goes ashore to defend!" ”

Bao Ling exclaimed: "General, aren't we going ashore today?" ”

Clinton shook his head and said with a smile: "We don't know the situation on the shore, so let's send people to go ashore to inspect it, the army will still spend the night on the ship tonight, and land ashore early tomorrow morning, march directly to Tianjin, and we must end the war within a month!" (To be continued......)