At the beginning of March of the second year, although the warmth of early spring has arrived, the cold wind in the north is still cold, and the cold wind accompanied by the salty and wet smell of sea water gently sweeps through Dalian Bay, the southernmost tip of the Liaodong Peninsula.

At this time, Dalian Bay was just a bay, due to the Manchu blockade outside the customs, it was sparsely populated, just a small fishing village of about 100 households, not even a town, this later generation of deep water bay is now so desolate.

Half a month ago, a huge fleet arrived here, and the local fishermen were very surprised, they had never seen so many big ships, and some of the sea ships were still emitting billowing black smoke, like monsters.

The fleet sent dozens of small boats ashore, all of them with yellow-skinned family members, to the relief of the fishermen, but they found that these people were without braids. Through conversation, the fishermen discovered that these people claimed to be the holy soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the south, and they had come north to fight Lao Maozi. As a result, these fishermen were messy on the spot, and the Northeast got less news about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, and the three generals of Shengjing, Ningguta, and Heilongjiang blocked the news of the unhaode, and the news in the Northeast was blocked, so that these fishermen did not know that the Qing Dynasty had originally built the capital and established the number of thieves.

Since the other party was a thief, the fishermen were naturally very afraid, and after learning the identities of these people, they hid in their homes and did not dare to come out. Many of these fishermen were full of people, and they immediately sent news in the direction of Shengjing.

Instead of harassing the villagers, the soldiers in fancy dress without braids built barracks, warehouses, and ports on the shores of Dalian Bay, and carried the supplies on board the ships to hoard them.

It turned out that this fleet was the fleet of the British and French forces, and the soldiers who landed on the shore were the young guards of the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. When Britain and France decided to unite with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to attack Russia in the north, Xiao Yungui pointed out to Grant, the commander of the British and French forces, that the coalition forces must find an anchorage in the north for the transit of supplies, otherwise the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's army would not be able to guarantee the completion of the battle without sufficient supplies.

Grant said he strongly agreed with King West. In addition to the lack of land forces in the last Anglo-French rout, the difficulty in replenishing supplies was also a major reason, and the fleet of the Anglo-French forces even had to be transferred to North America to rest. However, both Bao Ling and Grant were in a difficult situation, because there were no treaty ports in northern China, which meant that the coalition forces would not be able to obtain a temporary anchorage unless they were forcibly occupied. But Britain and France were still nominally neutral and had not declared war on the Qing Dynasty, so forcible occupation would not work.

However, the king of the West quickly gave a solution, and the soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom landed and occupied a good bay, as long as they were under the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. There will be no problem, it is natural for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to occupy the land of the Qing Dynasty, and besides, the navy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has also sailed to Xiamen before, so it is common sense that the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom appears in the Northeast Sea.

As a result, the fleet in Dalian Bay was hoisting the flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which made Tan Shaoguang, the commander of the Young Guards, obsessed for a while. These are our heavenly navy!

Ten days later, General Sheng Jing heard that a long-haired sailor had landed in Dalian Bay. A thousand infantry troops and a thousand horses were urgently dispatched to investigate and clear up. As a result, he was beaten by the Taiping army. After suffering hundreds of casualties, the Qing army retreated. General Sheng Jing panicked, hurriedly organized a defense, and flew to the capital to ask for help.

The coalition forces suffered almost no casualties from the landing to the repulsion of the Qing army, and the only casualties came from the breaking of the noose that lifted the goods during the landing. Stoned to death an unlucky Indian sailor and that's it.

At first, the local fishermen were very afraid of these thieves, and the thieves always seemed to burn and loot. Fortunately, these thieves did not come to harass, and then repelled the Qing army. The fishermen's fears faded and their curiosity grew, and over the next few days, they came into contact with the Taipings. When he learned that the Taiping army did not intend to attack Shengjing from here, he just docked to replenish fresh water, and later went north to fight Lao Maozi.

These fishermen in the northeast still hate Lao Maozi very much, seeing that the Taiping army is strictly disciplined, they will be at peace, anyway, the official army can't beat these people, do you want them ordinary people to fight with others?

Then they started to trade with the Taiping army, the Taiping army brought rice from the south, and the fishermen exchanged fresh fruits and vegetables and prey, and the Taiping army's trade was also fair, and the people near Dalian Bay heard about it, and gradually became emboldened, and the people nearby came to exchange goods with the Taiping army. I have to say that in business, Tan Shaoguang is not a mediocre hand, and the vegetables and fruits exchanged for a few days are enough for the army.

Grant was very satisfied with the progress of this mercenary force, and in half a month, several temporary wharves and warehouses were built in Dalian Bay, and several small hills nearby began to build positions and dig trenches, and the Taiping army even hired local people to help them build these fortifications. The French colonel of the Allied General Staff, Brzewa, once asked puzzled: "General, aren't these Taiping troops rebels in this country?" weishenme: These people will work for them? ”

Grant said to the Indian mercenary Nunu behind him: "They are the same as the Indians, and the concept of the state is very weak. Brzeva said with some disappointment: "It seems that the words of the Emperor Napoleon are not true, China is a sleeping lion, and whoever wakes him up will be unlucky, but now I only see a group of shirtless slaves." Grant smiled and pointed to the young guards officers and soldiers in the West Hall and said, "Colonel, those people are lions that have begun to awaken, I always feel that there is a great risk in uniting with them, maybe we are doing something dangerous, but before they take the national power, I still see them as sleeping lions." ”

On this day, an unpleasant news came, the Russians continued to increase troops to several ports in the Far East through the Heilongjiang route, and the Russian Governor of Siberia, Muravyov, even let out a message that the Russian stronghold in the Far East was impregnable, and there was even gossip that Muravyov had organized a cavalry force of 12,000 men in Nebuchu.

Grant was embarrassed that although the Anglo-French fleet was strong and the Russian fleet in the Far East was not worth mentioning, it would be impossible for the navy to complete the occupation of the port if the situation on land was not reversed. He immediately felt that the size of the corps sent by the King of the West was too small, and then asked Tan Shaoguang's opinion if he asked the King of the West to send some more troops over. Tan Shaoguang's answer was simple. Their Young Guards never asked how many enemies there were, but only where they were!

Grant felt that the sixteen-year-old commander of the Taiping Army seemed too hasty, but their staff was still operating very well, so Grant didn't say anything more, anyway, it was the Taiping Army's business to have casualties, and he would not send the British and French marines ashore to take risks.

In the following days, Tan Shaoguang began to gather troops, and the officers and men who had rested on the shore for half a month had almost recovered, and the British and French fleets began to prepare to go north. Tan Shaoguang left a battalion of troops to guard Dalian Bay, and the British and French forces also attached a small fleet to this remaining force. It is believed that it is impossible for the Heilongjiang horse team of the Qing army to break through the defensive position of the Taiping army.

On 25 March, the artillery and baggage of the Taiping army were the first to board the ship, which took two days, the horses of the cavalry regiment took one day, and the soldiers took two days to board. The main reason is that the delivery capacity of the temporary wharf is too poor. On March 31, the British and French fleets completed loading. At dawn was between the faint mist. The French fleet was the first to anchor and set off.

The fleet was divided into three sub-fleets, which set sail in three columns, with Commodore Barge under the command of the lead ship "Nemesis", Commodore Broad on the "Mountain Fairy" and Colonel Bzhewa on the "Spike", separated by two chains (400 meters). General Grant on the "Forban". Admiral Chanet was on the large ship "Goddess of Information", and Baron Gro was on the "North Shela".

Grant left his confidant, Colonel Neto, to garrison Dalian Bay with a detachment of a detachment to assist the Taiping forces on the shore in protecting the temporary anchorage. Looking at the morning sun gradually breaking through the fog, the wonderful coastline of Dalian Bay gradually faded. Grant let out a long sigh: "What a wonderful harbor, how I wish I could stay here for a long time, farewell to Dalian Bay." ”

Colonel Gyuel, the French staff officer beside him, listened to Grant's hymn, gently stroked his thick beard, and said with some excitement: "We were thrilled when the towering body of the battleship staggered towards the Russians to the north; And this gently your heart, and you can't help but feel how easy and enjoyable your life has been. What fate awaits us? Will we be victorious? Or will they be surrounded by a sea of people, and trampled to death by a large group of Cossack cavalry that suddenly appeared in the unfathomable depth? ”

After listening to Giul's poems, the generals around Grant laughed, and the usual romantic atmosphere of the French made the tension of the expedition a lot less. But Grant found that Tan Shaoguang beside him was not moving at all, and after listening to the translation, the young man just muttered a sentence in English, which made Grant hear: "It is our Taiping Army who go ashore to fight!" What are the French excited about?! ”

Ten days later, on the morning of April 10, the British and French fleets met off the Tatar Strait in the Sea of Okhotsk, and the French fleet was amazed at the sophistication of the British fleet, which far outnumbered the French fleet with steam and sail ships. The British fleet was free to sail at the speed of the ships, and it was more magnificent than the French fleet. The French fleet sailed slowly in a queue; The fastest ships were forced to go with the slowest steamboats, which in turn towed sailboats and many small Chinese boats sold from Dalian Bay.

These small boats are full of ammunition and supplies, Tan Shaoguang's words are still right, if you can bring more supplies to the north, you can bring more supplies, and there will be a lot of round-trip freight. Trant admired the young officer's economic acumen, but he was not surprised that their King of the West was a man who was very fond of calculating profit and loss.

The French fleet dropped anchor to the south of the British fleet, which formed two formations and the French fleet in one formation. After sailing on the same route, the two fleets anchored together at a distance of 20 nautical miles from the fortress of Miaojie at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River in Russia. More than 100 ships and ships anchored in columns, the scene is magnificent, the masts stand in a forest, like the church bell tower that soars to the sky, at this time the British and French forces have replaced the flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the colorful flags on the top of the mast are fluttering high, so a majestic scene.

The Temple Street Fortress was silent, like a giant beast that had been sleeping, and the British and French marines who had experienced the last defeat were still in their hearts. On the day of arrival, Grant, who had become the commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French forces, ordered a day off to prepare for the landing battle. That night, each Coalition soldier was given six days' rations, a serving of wine and liquor, a serving of dry-roasted coffee, a piece of cooked pork, and a handful of fresh fruit. Since the Taiping officers and soldiers were still not used to drinking coffee, Grant ordered tea to be prepared for them. The cavalry of the Taiping army also received three days of fodder for horses, and after going ashore, more fodder should be found on land. (To be continued......)