There are six days of the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, after the reign of the King of the West, the calendar before the Kingdom of Heaven was modified, and the internationally accepted Gregorian calendar was adopted as the annual calendar, and at the same time, the traditional lunar calendar was used as a reference to supplement, the Mid-Autumn Festival and important festivals could come in time, and there would be no time in history because of the 366 days of the Heavenly Calendar and the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the moon in the sky was a semicircle.

Dinghai County, which is across the sea from Ningbo County, does not have the slightest festive atmosphere, and there is an endless stream of soldiers and civilians inside and outside Dinghai County, including migrant workers who went to the forward forts to carry out reinforcement projects, soldiers who were ordered to garrison, and villagers who were responsible for patrolling.

Although the fleet of the British and French forces suffered a defeat in Shanghai two months ago and returned to Hong Kong in the south, all the soldiers and civilians of Dinghai did not relax, on the contrary, their preparations for war became more active, they knew that the foreigners would definitely come to retaliate, and Dinghai was their primary goal!

In 1843, the Faisel & Co. of London published the famous British watercolorist Thomas ? In his book China: The Landscape, Architecture, and Social Customs of the Ancient Empire, Arom makes it clear that the Zhoushan archipelago is geographically located as "the first gateway to the East China Sea": "Zhoushan, shaped like a giant boat, is the fourth largest island in China, straddling the Bay of Hangzhou. There is a saying: Ningbo's defense is in Zhoushan, and Zhoushan's danger is in Dinghai. Ningbo is a giant town in eastern Zhejiang, built on the Yongjiang River, with Zhoushan Island and Zhoushan Islands as a natural barrier. Zhenhai at the mouth of the Yongjiang River and Dinghai on Zhoushan Island are at an angle, controlling the sea passage from Zhoushan Islands to Ningbo and Hangzhou Bay. Dinghai has such an important location. Naturally, it is the first gateway to the East China Sea. ”

Arrom also points to the British occupation of Zhoushan during the Opium War of 1840. It is related to Zhoushan's superior geographical location and good port conditions: "The British have long investigated the navigation route and figured out the topography of Zhoushan. They know. Zhoushan Island is the fourth largest island in China, resembling Singapore in shape and larger than Singapore. The nearest part of the island is more than 10 kilometers from the mainland, which can be independent and easy to contact. Their ambition was to occupy by force, forcibly open the port, and turn Dinghai in Zhoushan into a second Singapore. "In the eyes of the British, Zhoushan is an archipelago with many islands. The coastline is long, the water area is wide, the water depth is flat, and it has unique port conditions, which provides great convenience for them to carry out Chinese and foreign shipping and trade.

In the First Opium War more than 20 years ago, although Dinghai fell twice, Dinghai did not become a second Singapore as the British imagined. After the first occupation, the people of Dinghai rebelled fiercely. The British army could not be guaranteed by supplies here, and foreigners who went out alone often ended up being beaten to death, and they couldn't stay any longer, at the beginning of the next year. From the Chinese side, more than 20 captives, including the Assassins, Lady Naboo, and Antude, were returned, and retreated from Dinghai to Guangdong.

On the sixth day after the second occupation of Dinghai by the British army, a government was established in Dinghai. In January of the following year, Dinghai and Hong Kong were declared international free trade ports. August 29, 1842. The Sino-British Treaty of Nanking was signed, and Britain obtained trade with Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai. In addition to the terms of the cession of Hong Kong to Britain and the payment of indemnities, Article 12 also specifically stipulates: "Only Zhoushan Island in Dinghai County and Gulangyu Island in Xiamen Hall shall remain temporarily garrisoned by British soldiers; After all the foreign silver discussed was paid off, and all the seaports had been opened up for trade with the British, the sergeants stationed in the two places were about to withdraw and no longer occupy them. On March 12, 1846, China and Britain signed the "Return of Zhoushan Terms", the main content of which was: "After the British army returns Zhoushan, Zhoushan and other islands will never be given to other countries; If Zhoushan and other islands were invaded by other countries, the British army should still be defended by China in order to protect them. And so on. On May 17, the British army withdrew from Dinghai City to the seaside, and Dinghai, which had been occupied by the British army for four years and nine months, finally returned to the embrace of the motherland again.

Ironically, the Third Battle of Dinghai is very likely to break out again, and the main force of the invasion is still the British army that once declared that "if Zhoushan and other islands are invaded by other countries, the British army should be protected". However, at this time, it was no longer the Qing army that was guarding Dinghai, but the emerging Taiping army.

Ten days ago, the liaison ship of the East China Sea Fleet of the Taiping Army came to report the enemy's situation, and a British and French fleet composed of more than 30 warships anchored from Hong Kong and came north. As a result, the soldiers and civilians of Dinghai seized the time to make the final effort and did everything possible to strengthen the positions and batteries on the shore. They don't want to be occupied by foreigners for the third time, the people of the country say that there are no more than three things, if Dinghai is occupied for the third time, the soldiers and civilians of Dinghai will not be able to raise their heads for the rest of their lives, and the unyielding Dinghai will once again resist the strong foreign enemy!

Half-mountain green bamboo and half-mountain pine, seven points stay on the shore and land, three points into the sea, Zhushan Gate towers majestically in the south of Dinghai City in Zhoushan. More than 20 years ago, the Qing army fought to the death against the invading British fleet here, and more than 20 years later, the forts and defensive positions in depth have been renovated, and the extensive use of new building materials and cement makes the forts here look more solid.

The sea outside Zhushan Gate was quiet, the Taiping Navy's East China Sea Fleet did not have ships here, and the Taiping Navy's strategy was to avoid the guerrilla strategy of a weak enemy and a strong enemy, so there was not even a single warship cruising in the Dinghai Sea, but only a few small fast sailing ships as a guard and liaison ship cruising here.

It was noon, a Dinghai Taiping Army shore defense fast sailing ship pulled full sails and rushed to Dinghai quickly, the highest part of the sailing ship mast raised the flag representing the enemy's situation, it was a dazzling bright red flag, when approaching the Zhushan Gate, the sailors on the ship sounded the ship's cannon, followed the sailboat to stop not far away, put down a small boat, the sailboat quickly headed towards Ningbo.

Several sailors in the dinghy rowed hard and soon landed on the shore, and a crowd of soldiers and civilians on the shore immediately surrounded them.

"A large number of foreign fleets have appeared in the open sea, and there is still less than an hour to go from here!" As soon as he stepped on the shore, the sailors who summoned him shouted loudly: "Old and young masters, prepare for war!" ”

The soldiers and civilians of Dinghai exploded at once, and soon the soldiers were organized by their officers. The people began to retreat to the safety of the city and to the deep positions, and the officers and soldiers nervously lifted their artillery jackets. Ammunition was prepared, and the units began to move into their preset positions. A qiē is orderly. The qiē was so well organized that only half an hour had passed since the qiē was in place, and some officers and men even had time to smoke a cigarette in the trench or on the gun emplacements to relax their tense nerves.

Off the coast of Zhoushan, the commander of the British fleet, Uncle Ho, was a little annoyed, and since he left Hong Kong ten days ago and went north to find the main force of the Taiping fleet, the fleet of 36 ships under his command had not gone well along the way.

The night before departure. The battleship Prince he was riding on was blasted underwater by the Taiping Army's water ghosts, and a big hole was opened in the bottom of the ship, but fortunately, the rescue was timely, and the ship ran aground on the shore and did not sink. He Bo was very angry about this, how could the water ghosts of the Taiping Army appear in Hong Kong? Still unwittingly breaking through the shore dock and patrolling the water dinghy, potentially approaching his flagship in the water?

Leave this to the Governor of Hong Kong to worry about, and the next day He changed to another battleship, the Faith, as the flagship to lead the fleet on sail. The Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Ergin, began his troubles, and according to later investigations, it was learned that at least hundreds of Taiping spies or spies had infiltrated Hong Kong. There were even more people active in Hong Kong, and Sir Ergin began the intelligence spy war in Hong Kong, and his mission was to capture these pesky intelligence agents, but unfortunately it was not until the end of the war that the war ended. He also failed to completely clean up Hong Kong, where spies and spies of the Taiping Army have been active among the people.

After leaving the Hong Kong anchorage, Ho Bo recovered from his injuries this time. Spirited to lead the mighty fleet north, he soon forgot about the unhappiness of the Prince incident. He was aggressively preparing to find the location of the Taiping Navy fleet, and then make a big move.

Xiamen was his first target. He felt that instead of looking in the vast sea, it was better to come to a siege point to send reinforcements, as long as the port city of the Taiping army was threatened, the Taiping army and navy would definitely appear.

But after He Bo came to Xiamen, he was taken aback by the defense of the Taiping Army in Xiamen, and Lu Chaoan, then director of the Xiamen Military and Political Department, spent 2 million taels of silver to reorganize the army in Xiamen, deploying a total of 50 large and small forts, more than 400 shore guns, 5,680 defenders, and 9,274 returning soldiers. The artillery fortifications on the south shore of Xiamen Island are all made of solid granite, called stone walls, and form a three-point crossfire network with the two forts of Gulangyu and Longhaiyu Tsaiwei, and the channel is tightly blocked by 279 new guns. It can be said that Xiamen has become one of the most powerful coastal defense fortresses in the south of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time.

Remembering the example of the capture of Xiamen in the First Opium War, He Bo still decided to try his luck, because the Taiping army's batteries could not be moved, while his own fleet could, so He Bo decided to use several ships to bombard one battery fixedly, and then clear all the batteries one by one.

The result was sad, although the enemy's batteries could not be moved, but the artillery on the shore was no longer the kind of backward artillery used by the Manchus more than 20 years ago, and several warships besieged the Gulangyu Fort for an hour, in exchange for the result that two ships of the British and French fleets were seriously damaged, one was sunk, and most of the Gulangyu Fort was destroyed.

So He Bo made a difficulty, and according to this situation, he had to completely remove all the shore batteries, and maybe his fleet would all be folded here. Just as he was riding a tiger, news came from the warship that was serving as a perimeter guard, and several Taiping warships were spotted watching in the distance. Overjoyed, He Bo immediately ordered to withdraw from the battle and set sail out to the open sea to find the Taiping fleet.

But the cunning Taiping Navy ships ran away in a flash, and He Bo led the fleet to search around and found nothing, when they returned to the sea off Xiamen, they found that the two warships that were seriously injured and anchored here had been sunk by the Taiping warships, and the crew floating on the sea was rescued and described to He Bo the scene of the Taiping Navy attack.

He Bo repeatedly searched the waters of Xiamen, but found nothing, in the face of Xiamen's fortress-like coastal defense, He Bo had to order to continue to look for fighters in the north, he did not believe that the Taiping army could build all the port cities in the south as impregnable as Xiamen, so he led the fleet towards the Zhoushan Islands...... (To be continued......)