Ergin's answer uneasy to everyone present: "Three days ago we received a piece of information sent by the Americans, which is a few clippings from the Jiangnan newspaper of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which clearly describes the battle of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the north. Ladies and gentlemen, the news is regrettable that the Russians have suffered a major military blow from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the north, and at least 30,000 Cossack cavalry regiments have been annihilated, and many fortresses and strongholds have been lost, and I think the Russians will not be able to reverse the decline in the short term. After saying that, Ergin motioned to his secretary to take out the information for circulation.

Several different newspapers published the war against Russia in the north, and the course and outcome of the war were described in detail. Field Marshal Colburn frowned after reading it and asked, "Could it be that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom people let the newspapers publish fake news in order to boost morale?" ”

Ergin shook his head and said: "I don't know, but in my personal opinion, the new emperor of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attaches great importance to the credibility of the government, and this kind of thing will not be faked, and these newspapers are not official newspapers, but private newspapers." As soon as the words fell, the generals below began to talk about it.

Admiral Dundas coughed and said, "Gentlemen, please be quiet. The crowd fell silent, and he continued: "As things stand, it seems that we can no longer count on the Russians. Our original plan was for the Russians to send troops from the north, and if they could reach Heilongjiang, we could cover them with our fleet, and then they would be able to fight all the way down the northeast coast of China to Shanhaiguan, and then we would organize another battle of Beijing and Tianjin, and attack again directly from the Dagu Pass in the north. Directly threaten the new capital of China and finally force the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to submit. Now the land offensive of the Russians simply cannot be achieved. Then we'll have to think of another way, do you have any good suggestions? ”

John Baron of Seaton. Field Marshal Colburn first said: "We should attack Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou and other areas of the Yangtze River Delta. Because it was the location of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's military industry, destroying it would allow us to break the enemy's will to resist and weaken their war potential. ”

Vice Admiral He Bo was the first to stand up against it, and he said: "Gentlemen, of course we know that the Yangtze River Delta region is the most industrially developed place in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but I am concerned about waging a campaign there. Judging by the previous military reconnaissance of the above-mentioned areas by our fleet, the enemy's defense focus is also there. He Bo asked people to hang up a map of the Yangtze River estuary area, then pointed to Shanghai and said: "According to the intelligence provided by the Americans. The enemy has deployed at least two infantry corps in Shanghai, as well as 20,000 coastal defense troops and tens of thousands of township troops, and when we first attacked Shanghai, we found that the enemy had a very large number of troops, and there were many rivers, bays, harbors, and swamps here, and the enemy's mines could close the river at will. ”

John Baron of Seaton. Field Marshal Colburn interrupted Uncle Ho and said, "Lieutenant General Hobber, we don't have to land in the area heavily defended by the enemy, the entire area around Shanghai is very vast, we can even choose to land at Jinshanwei, and then our powerful army corps will go along the land road to attack the above-mentioned area." ”

Massimogli immediately said: "No offense to His Excellency the Marshal. If we had done this before, we would have suggested this, and if Lieutenant General He Bo had not finished his words just now, of course we could choose the landing site at will and then launch our forces for battle. But the problem we are facing now is the inability to establish effective supply routes. The enemy has pursued a strategy of clearing the fields along the southeastern coast, and it is difficult for us to get adequate supplies along the way. If the fleet were to guard the landing grounds and keep it well supplied after the fleet headed north, we would have to travel back and forth to most of the South China Seas. The enemy's naval forces were not completely wiped out, and there was the presence of pirates. Therefore, we must carry out a fleet escort of transport ships, and the escort fleet must maintain a certain size. The cost of the war will be high. ”

John Baron of Seaton. Field Marshal Colburn scoffed, "So what? In the future, if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is defeated, these losses can be recovered from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. ”

Erjin gritted his teeth and told the truth in the end: "Your Excellency Marshal, in fact, we are worried that even if the army lands on the shore, relying on 60,000 army troops may not be able to capture Shanghai or any important city under the control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. ”

Saying something astonishing, Baron Sidon frowned and said, "Sir Elgin, do you think that our 60,000 elite troops will not be able to defeat the enemy?" Sir Ergin nodded solemnly and said: "Your Excellency Marshal, in fact, it can be seen from the war against the Russians in the north that the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Army on land is not weak, in Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou and other places, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has a total of nearly 80,000 field regular troops, not counting the local troops and coastal defense troops, once our army lands and launches an attack, the enemy will definitely rush over from all directions to support, the enemy is fighting on the mainland, and it has a very advantage in concentrating troops. If the enemy holds a single point with equal forces, it will be difficult for us to succeed, if the enemy is twice as large as ours, we will suffer defeat, and if it is three times or even more, we may be annihilated......"

Lieutenant General Earl Lucan frowned and said, "Sir Elgin, why are you so pessimistic? Massimogli said: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, because our 20,000 troops in the Beijing-Tianjin area were defeated by an infantry corps of more than 40,000 enemy troops. ”

After a moment of silence, Baron Sidon said, "Then what are we going to do?" Could it be that our expeditionary force is here for an armed trip? ”

Lieutenant General He Bo said: "Your Excellency Marshal, we think that the most practical way is to attack Guangzhou, we are close to the main island of Hong Kong here, which is convenient for supply, and the fleet can support the army forces to the greatest extent, and we are also familiar with the terrain near Guangzhou, unlike the attack on Shanghai, we do not know much about the terrain there. The most important thing is that if we fight in the Guangzhou area, it will be easier for us to organize a retreat once the war is unfavorable. ”

Baron Sidon sneered: "When did our generals think about retreating before the war started? Where is your courage, your glory, and your dignity? ”

Sir Ergin saw that the faces of Hober and Massimogli and others were very unnatural, and immediately defended them: "Your Excellency, it is not that our generals have lost their courage, glory and dignity, but that we have come to this conclusion through the lessons of the last war, and the enemy is very powerful in terms of combat effectiveness and tactics and strategy, and we must pay enough attention to the enemy. ”

Baron Sidon waved his hand and said: "Okay, then let's attack Guangzhou and start a discussion, let's attack Guangzhou first, if the enemy's combat effectiveness is not as you described, we will attack Shanghai and other places next, we will solve the big trouble in the Far East once and for all!" ”

After two days of discussions, the British and French forces drew up a battle plan, and then they began to clear a large number of mines from the waterways, and sent reconnaissance ships to reconnoiter the batteries in the Pearl River Estuary area, focusing on several batteries in the Pearl River Estuary.

On the fifth day after the British and French expeditionary force arrived in Hong Kong, the British army first carried out a landing operation on the Kowloon Peninsula, and their land forces landed in the Tuen Mun lung kwu tan area of the Kowloon Peninsula, and then attacked to Shek Gang in the east, intending to attack from the hinterland of the Kowloon Peninsula and encircle and annihilate the Taiping troops in Kowloon, Kwun Tong and other places, but the British and French forces encountered trouble.

The landing of the coalition forces was smooth at the beginning, and as Sir Sidon said, it was impossible for the Taiping army to set up defensive troops at all the landing sites, so the landing of the coalition forces went smoothly. However, on the night of the landing, the actions of the coalition forces were reported to the Taiping army by the local people, and the Taiping troops stationed on the Kowloon Peninsula rushed to the Shigang area overnight to set up defenses.

A small battle broke out between the two sides in the Shigang area, an infantry regiment landed by the coalition army and two battalions of the Taiping army plus more than 1,000 township soldiers fought for a day, the two sides were comparable, and finally the coalition army chose to retreat, because the coalition army later found that the Taiping army mobilized troops from Nantou, Bao'an and other places to support, the coalition army was afraid of being cut off from the back road, so they chose to retreat, and there was no point in fighting here, and the victory of the Taiping army was only to occupy a few villages and small towns, The original plan to encircle and annihilate the Taiping forces on the Kowloon Peninsula also failed, and since the enemy had already set up defenses, it meant that they knew the intentions of the coalition forces.

However, the coalition attack still made the Taiping army a lot more cautious, and the Taiping army in Kowloon was no longer as unscrupulous as before, and they needed to be vigilant at all times for possible landing sites in the rear, so the Taiping army did not have enough manpower in Victoria Bay to organize and lay mines, and even the daily shelling of Hong Kong from the Kowloon Peninsula was less.

Although the coalition forces suffered a setback in the landing battle on the Kowloon Peninsula, Baron Sidon and other British and French generals still intuitively understood the enemy's combat effectiveness. So Baron Sidon and others began to pay attention to the Taiping Army, and then the reconnaissance of the Pearl River Estuary became more careful.

But the results of the subsequent reconnaissance were dismal, the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangzhou was very well defended, and the reconnaissance ships were attacked by the enemy's large-caliber coastal artillery, which was numerous in number. British Army Lieutenant Colonel Walter organized a night landing reconnaissance operation, and found that the enemy had arranged tight positions behind the side and rear of the battery, and after observation they found that the enemy's coastal artillery had been covered and reinforced, and some of them were simply hidden in the tunnels, and it was believed that it would be difficult for the naval artillery to completely remove these coastal defense guns.

Lieutenant Colonel Walter's reconnaissance operation was soon discovered by the Taiping patrol, and the two sides exchanged fire for half an hour, and in the end, Lieutenant Colonel Walter's reconnaissance team lost five men and was finally forced to withdraw to the sea...... (To be continued......)