Unlike in the First Opium War, this time the British and French fleets blocked the mouth of the Pearl River, but the maritime trade did not stop. When Zhang Wenxiang first heard about the situation in Guangzhou, he thought it was incredible. The British and French fleets only restricted the movement of the Qing naval divisions, trapping them in the Pearl River in Guangzhou, while the merchant ships came and went. The reason is simple, Britain and France have declared war with the Manchus, so they have to block the mouth of the Pearl River and prevent the Qing army and sailors from going to sea, but they need trade. Ye Mingchen, on the other hand, needed the taxes, money, and food brought by trade, and he hoped that the war would not befall Guangzhou. As a result, the two sides maintained an unbelievable tacit understanding, just like the incredibleness of the five southeastern provinces protecting each other when the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded in history.

The two sides reached a consensus not to attack the commercial ships, but only to deal with the military units of the other side. Grant was like clearing a series of forts along the Pearl River early in the morning, but Bao Ling's advice to him was that when the British army did not have enough troops to take the city of Guangzhou, it was better to maintain the status quo, and God knew when the Indian side would be able to suppress the damned riot.

Therefore, this situation was formed, the British and French fleets were at the mouth of the Pearl River, and the Qing army and naval divisions were in the Pearl River, neither of them entered or came out, but the trade between the two sides was not affected in the slightest, and the merchant ships flying the flags of various countries could still enter and leave the Pearl River estuary.

Although war was declared but there was no fire or smoke of gunpowder, Zhang Wenxiang did not have much time to pay attention to this absurdity, and he had to take advantage of the slack of the Manchu army to take the forts along the Pearl River in one fell swoop, so as to clear the way for the subsequent landing in Guangzhou.

That night, Zhang Wenxiang sent two battalions of soldiers to Shajiao and Dajiao Fort to attack each other. The route was the same as the route taken by the British during the raid on the two batteries during the First Opium War.

The soldiers of the platoon that landed first did not encounter any counterattack, and on the quiet battery, the Qing troops seemed to be asleep. When small sampans and boats brought a battalion of Taiping troops ashore. The Qing army began to notice.

The battalion commander who landed on the shore was nervous, and he immediately ordered his soldiers to charge the battery, and the first to be fired by the Taiping muskets were the Qing soldiers with torches. But when the first burst of gunfire rang out, the Qing army at Shajiao Fort fell into incredible chaos.

"The foreigners are calling, retreat!" "Lord Ye has an order, don't fight with foreigners, big guy retreat quickly!" "What kind of knives and guns? It's important to escape! ”

The confusion and defeat of the Qing army was so rapid that when the Taiping soldiers occupied the Shajiao Fort, they found that a full 2,000 Qing troops had fled back to the interior from the Shajiao Fort, and everything on the fort was still intact. The neat cannons and the red medicine and lead characters became the trophies of the Taiping army, and the Qing army left more than a dozen corpses, and only a few soldiers on the Taiping army's side fell and were injured because of the darkness.

Under the stunned gaze of the Taiping soldiers, the Qing army fled with ease. It's not that the Taiping soldiers didn't want to pursue. But their troops were insufficient, and they could only hold on to the batteries first. The situation was almost the same on the side of the Big Horn Fort, and when Zhang Wenxiang was rewarded, he smiled dumbly and said, "Afraid of a tiger? ”

Zheng Yantuo said: "Ye Mingchen doesn't want to start a war with foreigners at all, although the children of Guangyue dare to fight, but they can only escape if they are so under control." ”

Zhang Wenxiang pondered for a moment and said: "Hurry up and transport more troops, and order the soldiers on the battery to turn the cannon to the muzzle." Prepare to meet the counterattack of the Qing army! ”

Zhang Wenxiang's words are right, wait until dawn. When the Qing army found that the two forts were not flying foreign flags but the Fengtian Demon Banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they immediately exploded, and the long hair actually hit Guangzhou directly?

Last night's turmoil made the Guangzhou general Mukdena not sleep well all night, and in the middle of the night he found Bai Gui, the governor of Guangzhou, and dragged him to the governor's palace to discuss a solution with Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangzhou. Then there were also political envoy Jiang Guolin and envoy Zhou Qibin, and the governor's palace suddenly became lively.

Under the dim candlelight, Ye Mingchen sat like a mountain in his regular clothes, and after listening to Mukdena's words, he just said lightly: "Although the Yiren sent a declaration of war note to me for more than half a year, they only sent troops to the north to fight the battle of Dagukou, and they lost the battle. Then the wind and the waves were calm, and the British king wanted to come to raid my fort because the British king asked the responsibility of the last defeat, and the British general had no choice but to find me one or two forts to seize it as a prevarication, and ordered the soldiers to retreat to the Tiger Gate, and the British general would not have any more trouble if he had an explanation for the British court. ”

Bai Gui and others naturally said yes, Ye Mingchen also said that the British only laid down two forts so that they could have an explanation for them, which is not strange in domestic officialdom.

But he didn't expect that when the front-line staff general reported that the Fengtian Demon Banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was hung on the two forts, Ye Mingchen was shocked. All the civil and military forces of Guangdong Province gathered at the Governor's Mansion to discuss countermeasures, but Mukhdena did not come, and when he learned early in the morning that it was actually the Taiping Army who raided the fort last night, he rushed to Humen to supervise the battle with a roar. What are you kidding, even if the British occupy the fort, as long as the imperial court and Yicheng will retreat sooner or later, the Taiping army is different, they are here to dig people's ancestral graves, but they must not be allowed to fight in Guangzhou!

"How did Long Hair come to Guangzhou?!" Ye Mingchen said angrily: "Isn't Li Tingyu guarding the front line of Meizhou and Jieyang to block Fujian's long hair?!" ”

Bai Gui couldn't help but said softly: "Lord Zhengtai, this long hair should have come from the sea, and I want to attack it from Fujian across the sea." ”

Ye Mingchen was even more angry: "Why are these long hairs so unreasonable? If you don't fight by land, what sea route will you play? How much money did we spend every month to supply Li Tingyu with food, so that he could stop the long-haired southern criminals in Meizhou and Jieyang, this is a good long-haired direct attack to the sea, what should you do?! ”

Guangzhou Mancheng Deputy Governor Shuangxi waved his hand and said: "What else can be done?" Fight to the death! Even if the foreigners occupy Guangzhou, it won't be anything, if Guangzhou is occupied by Long Hair, we will all be a dead end! ”

The political envoy Jiang Guolin and the envoy Zhou Qibin both glanced at this short and fat Manchu with disdain, the Taiping army took Wuchang, Jiangning and other places, but they all slaughtered the city, this kid is a Manchurian, naturally he is afraid of his life.

"Lord Zhengtai, hurry up and gather the young and strong people in the city to garrison the city, the long hair is the master who doesn't want to die, and if it's late, I'm afraid that the city will not be protected!" Shuangxi was busy shouting, just afraid that the city would be broken if it was mobilized late.

At that moment, Ye Mingchen had to order the whole city of Guangzhou to start closing the city gate to prepare for war, and ordered Bai Gui to mobilize the whole city to help defend the city, and the civil and military officials of various ministries guarded the city walls and city gates in sections, preparing to live and die with the city!

Soon after dawn, the Taiping army on the two forts was ready to resist the counterattack of the Qing army, and the Qing army that had been defeated last night really came back violently, and the Guangzhou general Mukdena personally sat on the Humen Fort to supervise the battle, watching thousands of Qing troops launch a counterattack on the fort.

Last night, the troops were transported non-stop all night, and by dawn, a regiment of Taiping troops on each side of the strait had landed on the shore, and they had quickly dug trenches and positions to wait for battle. Tang Zhengcai, the general of the Taiping Army's naval division, also led dozens of red single boats to block the mouth of the Pearl River, preparing to engage the Qing army's naval division.

Zhang Wenxiang and Zheng Yantuo were still waiting for the military report from the front on Guishan Island, but the military report from the front did not arrive, and Grant of the British and French fleets came to Guishan Island.

Grant would not let go of the opportunity to get in close contact with the Taipings, and he always felt that the powerful Taipings would become enemies of Britain in the future, and the sooner they got to know them, the better. He knew Tan Shaoguang's northbound troops, which were a vigorous young guard, but he didn't know about the newly formed First Army of the Taiping Army from Fujian, which was said to be the first new army of the Taiping Army that had been reorganized, and Grant wanted to observe them up close.

After only a few days of entering the Taiping Army's camp on Guishan Island, Grant was a little unrecognizable. In just a few days, the Taiping army built many fortifications and barracks here, enough for tens of thousands of people to be stationed. Their soldiers were veterans, and the bloodthirsty aura of murder could be felt from afar.

When they came to their commander's camp, they could see busy officers everywhere, and the battle map was also very detailed, which showed that they were very well prepared.

As if sensing the wandering of his gaze, Grant was embarrassed to be invited out of the camp tent by the young division commander of the Taiping Army, and this shrewd man seemed to be aware of his intentions and did not plan to talk to himself in the tent, so Grant was invited to the side of the tent to talk in detail.

After the accompanying officers on both sides sat down, Grant smiled and said, "The Taiping Army's military operation last night was beyond everyone's expectations, and we thought you would rest for at least a week before launching an offensive." ”

Zhang Wenxiang smiled faintly after listening to the translation, he didn't have a good impression of this Englishman, but said: "I don't have the habit of waiting. ”

Grant didn't talk nonsense and said directly: "But the Qing army seems to have discovered that it was the Taiping army that attacked them, and they will definitely counterattack next, we just want to ask the Taiping army if it needs the British Imperial fleet to provide naval artillery support?" ”

Zhang Wenxiang said without thinking about it: "General Grant, you seem to have found the wrong person, I am only an army general, and I am not qualified to promise you about the navy, you should find our admiral Tang Zhengcai, the admiral of this operation, to discuss these matters." ”

Grant was at a loss for a while, and just as he was embarrassed, a staff officer came quickly, as if he had an urgent military situation, but when he saw several Britons there, he stopped talking. Zhang Wenxiang looked at the itchy and scratchy faces of several Englishmen, waved his hand and said, "It doesn't hurt to say anything directly." ”

"There are about 3,000 people from the Qing Demon who have started to counterattack the Shajiao Fort, and there are also 2,000 people on the side of the Big Horn Fort!" The staff officer said loudly. Zhang Wenxiang hummed and said, "I know it." After saying that, the staff officer saluted and went down.

After listening to the translation, Grant said with some hesitation: "General Zhang, don't you take any measures?" ”

Zhang Wenxiang smiled faintly and said: "Before logging in, we have already made a combat plan, and the officers on the front line know what they should do, and I am now thinking about the next military action!" (To be continued......)