At 6 o'clock in the morning, the French artillery first opened fire on the Qing position on the right side of the first battery on the right bank of the White River, and then the British artillery joined the attack with mortars and howitzers.

The Qing army immediately returned fire, and it could be seen that they were not unaware. The 47 artillery pieces dispatched by the British army, together with the French army, intensively shelled the fort and the Qing barracks around it, which were the footholds of the infantry after crossing the river, and had to be cleared out first.

In order to pin down the opposing side, the gunboats of Jones and Bage also crossed the sandbar of the White River and bombarded one of the batteries in the most downstream. This time, the gunboats of the coalition navy became much more cautious after the last defeat, and the underwater chains and other obstacles set up by Seng Lingqin at the mouth of the river were almost cleared after the last battle, and the coalition forces often blocked the estuary with artillery fire, and the Qing army could not repair the underwater obstacles, and this time the coalition gunboats and shallow water gunboats advanced much easier.

At about 7 o'clock, there was a loud bang, and a terrible explosion shook the first battery on the right bank. A heavy 12-caliber shell hit the battery powder magazine, causing it to explode. Lieutenant Colonel Wu Shili described the scene as follows: "A cloud of smoke rose high and scattered in all directions like hellfire, followed by a torrential rain of earth and wood. Suddenly, almost everyone thought that the fort seemed to be gone, and the battlefield was unprecedentedly quiet. And soon after, the smoke dissipated, and the battery was still there!

After a while, another loud explosion resounded in the lower batteries. The same scenario recurred. However, this time it was undoubtedly the French gunboat that hit the battery. Coalition artillery fire rang out. Getting closer and closer to the target, after the explosion, the coalition infantry was under a waving flag. Shouting a motley of slogans and cheers, the offensive began.

The Qing defenders returned fire ineffectively, their shots were inaccurate, and shnelfoot, mostly flew over the heads of the attacking soldiers. There were many soldiers of the Qing infantry guarding the fort who used advanced foreign guns, but their marksmanship was not perfect, and Grant, who had seen the Taiping army's shooting exercises, was relieved, but fortunately they were facing the Qing army instead of the Taiping army. Otherwise, at least a third of the soldiers they charge will fall in the way of the charge.

As the infantry rushed closer and closer to the enemy, the guns of the Qing army began to hit, and the artillery under the command of Colino immediately bombarded the batteries on the opposite bank. There was no further sound of return fire, and at half past seven o'clock, a full-scale charge was launched.

A white-knuckle battle, hand-to-hand combat unfolded tragically! General Blondell believes. It's like a medieval war. It's like an ancient battlefield. The Qing defenders fought heroically in hand-to-hand combat with the allied soldiers who rushed up. Some Qing soldiers even grabbed shrapnel from the enemy and threw it at it after they ran out of ammunition, and then rushed over like wild beasts to bite their opponents. There were also many people who fought with their bare hands against the coalition assault team, and most of the Qing soldiers practiced martial arts, moving and dodging as nimble as monkeys, but in the face of an enemy several times their size, they all died in battle, or died from the enemy's musket fire. Either they died in the dense bayonet forest, and some officers drew their swords and killed themselves......

Hand-to-hand combat with the Qing army was not a scene that the coalition forces wanted to see. They preferred to engage in long-distance artillery battles and counter-fire with the Qing army, at least they had a huge advantage in the range and accuracy of firearms. However, the coalition forces did not have time to wait for the opportunity to fight the Qing army in the field, and after Grant and Montauban decided to attack, they knew that tragic hand-to-hand combat could not be avoided.

David followed the soldiers to the battery, having been promoted from private to corporal after killing a Qing officer in the previous battle. They stepped on the rubble to the gun emplacement, where there had been a huge explosion, and no one thought there would be any living people on it.

After ascending the fort, they saw a terrible scene in the ruins, the rubble here was littered with human tissue, heads, arms, thighs, and red viscera, and a British Marine soldier in front of David could no longer hold back, holding on to the broken wall and vomiting heavily.

Suddenly, there was an angry roar from a dark cave next to the wall, and when the soldier raised his head to look, a burst of snowy sword light had already slashed, and the British soldier's head rolled out, and the blood in his neck cavity sprayed David's head and face. David looked in horror, only to see a Qing soldier with a tattered military uniform, one of his left arms had been lost, and his right arm was carrying a notched blood knife, screaming and pounced on David again.

Shots rang out, and several Marines at the nearest distance opened fire together, and the Qing soldier was shot several times, and finally fell straight down, Davy was so shocked that he finally fell to the ground and vomited heavily.

The batteries at the bottom of the estuary were the first to fall, and the British and French flags were raised there, greatly encouraging the soldiers attacking on land. At this time, the French and British troops attacking on land were concentrating on capturing the main gate of the first battery on the right bank. They tried to build bridges over three trenches, which became ideal targets for the Qing defenders, and at such a close distance, the Qing soldiers could hit the target even if their shooting skills were poor.

Although the allied soldiers were heroic, they were suppressed by the fire of the Qing infantry, and the bridge was not built, resulting in many casualties. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived soon, and luckily, they found a hole in the wall that had been pierced by a cannonball, and the sappers immediately dug the hole so that people could drill through it.

So the coalition forces rushed in through the hole, with Colonel Dupan being the first and the other officers and men following. Colonel Dupan was a man respected by the soldiers, he was a French intelligence officer, and he did not have to lead the charge with his troops, but this time he took the lead, so that the Allied intelligence service suffered a lot less blame.

The allied soldiers rushed in, entered the courtyard of the fort, and were immediately besieged by the Qing soldiers, who immediately fought with the defenders with bayonets and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. On the wall at the other end of the fort, the heroic Qing soldiers were still shooting, Colonel Dupan temporarily organized twelve soldiers to fight back, the French soldiers were accurate in shooting, and not affected by the noisy environment, they calmly returned fire, and finally suppressed the firepower of the Qing soldiers, as more and more soldiers entered the fort, the defeat of the Qing army was doomed.

Half an hour later, the French flag fluttered on the ramparts, and the British soldiers broke through the door and stormed the fort and planted the flag on the highest point. Towards 10 o'clock, the fort defenders were losing ground one after another, and when several Qing generals were killed, the Qing army, which had lost its command, finally collapsed, and they began to flee in a race for the future.

However, the Qing army was blocked by the outer defensive line, and some of them fell into the trap of stumbling and stumbling, and were killed by the trap they had set for themselves. About 600 Qing troops were killed in the entire fort, and only more than 100 people escaped, plus the soldiers killed in the Qing barracks and trenches around the fort, the Qing army lost more than 2,000 people. Among the dead was the highest defender, wearing a flower feather and a red-capped uniform, and the first battery on the right bank fell in this way.

Later, Rong Lu identified the body of this guard general and recognized this person as the new Zhili Admiral Leshan, which means that in less than a month, the Qing army has two Zhili Admirals killed in the hands of the coalition army. When Sir Ergin heard the news, he also ordered the release of several Qing prisoners and brought back Leshan's body as a sign of respect.

The losses brought by the strong attack to the coalition forces were not small, and the casualties of more than 400 people made Grant frown, although the French lost more, this was still the loss of the left bank battery without attacking itself, if it was really a hard attack, Grant did not know how much loss would appear. Many officers in the coalition were wounded, and General Collino was shot through the shoulder, and if this bullet had been crooked a little more, General Collino would probably have become the first senior Allied general to be killed, and General Napier was very brave, but fortunately only had 5 contusions on his body, which was not considered wounded.

In view of the huge losses of the French army, the British politely recognized that the French fought well, and the French admitted that the British fought equally well. Grant greeted his allies and praised: "The French soldiers, with the determination to be the first to plant the flag on the high wall of the fort, show their courage and tenacity, and at the same time as our officers and men rushed into the fort through the gap, and won the glory of their great country." ”

But who was the first to plant the flag on the fort in France and Britain? According to Grant, it was the young standard-bearer Chaplin. Although he was wounded in three places, he still held high the flag of the 67th Regiment and bravely rushed forward, going up to the top of the battery before the French army, waving the military flag. Wu Shili also said that he had witnessed that "wonderful" moment. In the end, the British's claim was punctured by photographs recorded by Times reporters, and although the black-and-white photo of the soldier who planted the flag first was not very clear, the flag in his hand was clearly the flag of the French army.

The capture of the first battery on the right bank and the last battery on the lower reaches of the Baihe River was a complete victory, and the main battery at Dagukou was completely exposed to the guns of the coalition forces. At 9 o'clock in the morning, the Qing army sent an envoy to meet the British and French envoys, but the coalition forces replied that the envoys were not there.

The Qing envoys then made their request, and they wanted a truce for a day in order to carry away the bodies of the wounded and the dead. Consent was requested, but it only ended at 4 p.m., and the coalition forces agreed to give only four hours. At the same time, the coalition forces urged the Qing troops at the Dagukou Fort to surrender, but the Qing envoys refused to surrender on the spot.

The two commanders of the coalition army and Ergin immediately followed, and walked into the newly fallen fort together. They saw shocking scenes; There were dead and wounded guards everywhere, and the stench was unpleasant. After the charge, as soon as the fort was captured, the extremely excited photographer Beto set up his camera and wanted to capture these "wonderful" war scenes from different angles. According to Dr. Renee, he asked that the scene not be moved or carried away until the filming was completed. Photographers throughout history, all famous, have shown the brutality and savagery of war.

It's time to sum up the results. 115 French soldiers were killed and 159 wounded; Two officers were killed and 11 wounded. All 170 wounded were taken to the war hospital in the Tan Ho pawnshop. Elisson lost a comrade-in-arms, Brownkey, a sergeant from a prestigious family who had been shot several times while capturing the battery with Colonel Dupan. The British suffered fewer casualties than the French, 57 killed and 82 wounded, including 22 officers.

The Dagu Fort has lost three subordinate forts one after another, and the main fort at Dagukou is already in danger, will the Qing army defend or retreat? The generals of the coalition forces were not sure what action they would take, but they were ready to continue the assault and would know the outcome tomorrow. (To be continued......)