"I also want to make it clear that these Chinese are not government troops, but anti-government forces, so the combat effectiveness of the Tatar army cannot be used as a reference." Davis went on to retort to the Colonel's words, "They are very close to the civilized countries of the West in terms of the size of their armies, their weapons, their methods of warfare, and even the style of their uniforms. It can be seen as a modern army, not an ancient army armed with cold weapons and firearms from centuries ago. ”

"Rebels? Are they the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? Or will Heaven and Earth meet? Having been in China for nearly a decade, Bao Ling also has a full understanding of the local political forces, "What kind of political ideas do they have?" ”

"According to my observations, they were neither the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom nor the Heaven and Earth Society, and their political proposition was to overthrow the Tatar rule and restore the glory of the Han Chinese. This can be seen from the name of their army. "Davis's negotiations with the Liberation Army were not for nothing.

"Really? In this way, China has one more player in the game of dominance. Bao Ling commented with a smile. Then he saw that Davis was about to speak, and asked, "Ensign, do you have anything else to say?" ”

Davis thought about it and decided to voice his guess, but he lifted Spentitozzi out. "The commander made a guess based on my report that there may be support from Western countries behind these liberation forces."

The incident escalated from a military issue to a political level, and Mr. Governor was in good spirits. "What a bold speculation! Is there a specific goal? ”

"The general thinks it's Russian or American, but I think it's more likely to be American."

"Why do you think so? Is there direct evidence? "An accusation against other Western countries, the Governor had to be cautious.

"When I talked to them, I found that many of them spoke English, and even soldiers could have simple conversations. Mr. Zhang, who was in charge of negotiating with me, spoke English with a distinctly American accent. Davis was proud of his discovery, and there was a hint of ostentation in his tone.

Bao Ling frowned, if Western countries were involved, the problem would be complicated.

"Damned traitor!" Colonel Ramsay roared, "If this is really their back, I don't mind setting another fire in Washington, I swear I will." ”

After some consideration, Bao Ling asked Davis, "What advice does Your Excellency General have for this matter?" In fact, the meaning of this question is to know whether Spintozzi intends to continue the confrontation by force or to engage in peace negotiations. Although Bao Ling was nominally the commander of the British forces stationed in Hong Kong, he was not a soldier after all, and he needed to listen to the opinions of professional soldiers on the issue of war and peace.

"The commander hopes that His Excellency the Governor will send us some reinforcements, and Hong Kong's current strength is empty." Davis implicitly conveyed Spintozzi's intentions. The army lost the battle this time, more than thirty people died, and an equal number of people were captured. has lost such a big face, and you have to find the field first.

Bao Ling groaned and did not say anything, and Colonel Ramsay couldn't sit still for a while. "Isn't that Shin'an Fortress not far from the sea? I'll take the fleet there tomorrow and let the guns of the Royal Navy teach them a good lesson, monkeys must have monkey consciousness, and there is a price to pay for angering the United Kingdom. Even if their guns are very powerful, can they still be more powerful than our cannons? The colonel's words successfully aroused the emotions of everyone in the coalition command, and several junior officers who had not spoken said that they wanted to teach this group of arrogant Chinese a lesson, while several civilian personnel carefully chose not to express their opinions.

There are more issues to consider. The Anglo-French army in Guangzhou had only a little more than 1,000 troops, and it is not known how the French would react to this matter. But it could not dampen the morale of the army, so the colonel could only be prepared for war for the time being, and the rest would wait until the results of Wang Comprador's reconnaissance were obtained.

※※※※※

Two days later, the long-awaited comprador Wang finally appeared at the headquarters of the coalition forces in the city of Guangzhou.

After Wang Ju left Xin'an County, he went straight to the beach in Xixiang and hired a fishing boat to sail directly to Guangzhou. Because of the war, the pirates at the mouth of the Pearl River lost their traces, and Wang Comprador arrived at the Baietan-Wharf safely.

After arriving at the headquarters of the coalition forces, he was immediately received by Bao Ling, and the governor was still waiting for the information of the Wang comprador to make a decision.

"The strength of the Liberation Army is about 1,000 people, all of whom have received Western-style military training, and they are currently recruiting local natives, and the number will exceed 10,000 at any time. But most of them are the Army, and their Army is a firearms-only unit, with a rifle for each soldier, and some weapons that require several people to operate and are not yet known for purpose. The navy was not numerous, and the warships had only one landing gunboat. Wang Ju reported his "reconnaissance results" according to Lu Renjia's instructions, exaggerated the strength of the Liberation Army and the Army, and deliberately talked about the strength of the Navy, so as to achieve the goal of showing strength and weakness at the same time, in order to cause the British to miscalculate.

"Landing-gunboat? What kind of ship is that? The Colonel interjected.

"It was a ship designed to transport infantry landings, with a shallow draft and a hatch in the bow that opened forward, allowing people and cargo to be disembarked on the beach. It was about 200 feet long and 30 feet wide, with a dozen sailors and a cannon with a very long barrel. Wang Ju's words proved that what Davis saw was not a hallucination, which made the colonel very embarrassed.

"How are their forces distributed?" An Army officer's questioning took everyone's attention off the colonel.

"I need a map." Wang Ju said.

His request was quickly satisfied, and a map of the Pearl River Estuary with a large dagger was hung, and Wang Ju picked up a long stick and pointed at the map to explain to everyone. "The Liberation Army is mainly stationed in three major parts. The first part had about two companies, stationed in the city of Sinan; The second part has about a battalion, stationed in the northern area of Shenzhen Bay, where a fortress is being built, which is estimated to be the main base of the Liberation Army; The dock of the Liberation Army Navy was on the seashore near the main base, and their only landing gunboat was also parked here; The third part is the troops of Kowloon, I heard that there is also a battalion, but I have not personally seen it, so it is not very clear; There were also scattered forts, built on some of the main communication routes, and most of the troops stationed were platoons. "According to Lu Renjia's requirements, Wang Ju's intelligence is half-true and half-false, the location of the garrison is true, the number of troops is false, and the size of the troops is exaggerated, and a platoon is said to be a company, and a company is said to be a battalion.

After listening to Wang Ju's account, the people in the governor's office were silent, the strength of the Guangfu Army was comparable to that of the British army in Guangzhou, and the combat effectiveness was obviously better than that of the British army. Even Colonel Ramsay, who looked down on the Army, did not think that the Navy alone could win the battle.

Bao Ling sent Wang Ju, who had already completed the task, to discuss the battle plan, and it was not appropriate for a Chinese to be present. "Gentlemen, what do you think? How should we fight this battle? "Bao Ling asks for advice and suggestions from everyone. Negotiations were not on the purview of Mr. Governor, who, with his usual hard-line attitude, had to fight for peace.

"I think we should take advantage of the fact that these Chinese forces are too scattered, attack only one point, and use superior forces to break them one by one." An army lieutenant suggested. In fact, this is also military common sense, and anyone who has attended a military school knows it.

"So where did you choose that?" Bao Ling agreed to this proposal.

"I think it should be the main base in the northern part of Shenzhen Bay." Colonel Ramsay preemptively said. If he wants to take command of this military operation, he must show his ability. He was too ordinary in the Royal Navy, otherwise he would not have been sent to the position of commander of the remaining fleet.

"Can you tell us why? Captain. Bao Ling asked. Colonel Ramsay was currently the highest-ranking British army in Canton, and his preferred commander.

"If the intelligence of the Chinese comprador is accurate, then the main base of the Chinese is the most suitable target." The Colonel stood up, glanced at the crowd in his office, and walked over to the map. "First of all, let's look at Kowloon, which is the front line of the conflict, where the Chinese have laid heavy troops. Moreover, there are many Chinese villages in this area, and the Chinese can recruit hundreds or thousands of militia at any time, and after these few days, the Chinese must have constructed a complete position, which will cause great casualties to our attack; Secondly, the terrain here is not ideal, and Victoria Bay is only a very narrow channel, which is not suitable for my fleet to spread. At this time, someone muttered below: "Three warships can't be deployed yet?!" Colonel Ramsay ignored it and continued: "The Army on Hong Kong Island can only land in front of enemy positions, and although the Navy can provide fire cover, it cannot guarantee the safe landing of the Army; Third, because of the problem of the shipping lane, the range of activities that warships can move has also become smaller, which is not conducive to warships avoiding artillery fire and is not conducive to warships giving full play to the advantages of artillery range. ”

"Didn't you say that the Chinese don't have artillery?" An army officer asked.

"It's just a rumor, it's always right to be careful." After the colonel was slapped in the face, he became cautious. However, he did not continue the topic, and pointed to another location on the map and said: "Let's look here, Xin'an County." Although it was the least Chinese strong, it was also the most fortified because it had walls. Even if the Chinese do not have artillery, the field artillery of the army alone will not be able to bombard the city wall, so this is not a good target. ”

Everyone, both Army and Navy officers, including Davis, agreed with him. Without objections, the colonel pointed to the last target. "Finally, let's take a look here. This is the heart of the Chinese, but also the weakness of the Chinese, and it is the easiest point to break. Let's talk about the terrain first, it's not far from the sea, and there are many suitable places to land, so we can destroy their strange gunboat first, and then use their dock to send the army ashore. "Although the colonel also admitted that the ship described as advanced by the Liberation Army, he did not think that a ship with such a small tonnage and only one gun was an opponent of three British warships." After going ashore, the troops went straight to the main base of the Liberation Army. Intelligence says that their base is only a mile from the coast, and there are only a few pillboxes and a ring of barbed wire on the perimeter, and these small troubles simply cannot stop us. Although there are several small lakes nearby that can act as barriers, they also block their escape paths, and if the troops rush into their base and their burst fire is ineffective, we will win. ”

"Colonel, I need to warn you that they still have thousands of construction workers in their base, and if they organize these people, we will not have an advantage in terms of troops." A civilian pointed out a "loophole".

The officers all laughed, and the army officer who asked the question just now explained to the clerk: "The Chinese cannot fight hand-to-hand combat. They could hold out in the fortifications for a while, and in the field they were all at the touch of a button, each time we broke them with a volley of guns and then a bayonet charge. ”

"To sum up, our goal must be here and can only be here." The stick in the colonel's hand slammed heavily on that point of the map.