The bulky cannons affected the speed of the soldiers and horses in the West Temple, and the dense river bays, harbors, and ponds in the south of the Yangtze River, coupled with the bad road conditions, made Xiao Yungui's men and horses busy carrying their cannons.

After starting from the main camp, the army of the West Temple crossed three small ditches, but fortunately, there were craftsmen and soldiers who specially built pontoon bridges in the camp of the West Temple, so that dozens of mules and artillery horses could pass through these small ditches, otherwise the muddy swamps and reeds by the river would have caused the artillerymen to sink into them and could not extricate themselves.

Came to the coastal area of Zhaojiabang, only to see the high soil mountains piled up along the coast on both sides of here, the guide of the Qingpu Volunteer Army said, the coastal area of Zhaojiabang in the south of Xujiahui, because after the opening of the port of Shanghai, the government dredged the river, and the mud on both sides of the bank was piled up into a fu, accumulating in the bay, so it was named Tushan Bay here.

Xiao Yungui was a little worried when he saw this terrain, both sides of the bank are high mounds of earth, climb to the top of the mound, and below is the Zhaojiabang River, Tushan Bay is only ferried by ferry, people and horses are good to say, you can wade through the past, but it is a little difficult for artillery to cross the river, this terrain is not suitable for building pontoon bridges, and if the Qing army sets up a camp on the dirt hill on the opposite bank, it will be difficult to pass from here.

Fortunately, the spies sent out reported that there was no trace of the Qing army on the other side, Xiao Yungui breathed a sigh of relief, and ordered the artillery team to cross the river from a relatively flat place three miles to the east, and also ordered the artillery team to leave three 800-pound artillery pieces in Tushan Bay and set up an artillery array, and he was going to set up a camp here, responsible for receiving and defending the flank.

After Xiao Yungui dismounted, he climbed up the dirt mountain with a horsewhip and looked into the distance, only to see that the Catholic church in the east was more detailed than what he saw yesterday. The architecture of the church is based on the Renaissance Baroque, which pursues movement, with rich decorations, sculptures and strong colors, as well as twists and turns. However, the Catholic Cathedral has a slightly surprisingly simple decoration style, and I wonder if there is a reason for it.

Xiao Yungui, who had good eyes, even noticed that there were people on the church bell tower peeping here, Xiao Yungui smiled secretly. He said to himself: "It must be the foreign devil soldiers in the church who are watching, and my army of 3,000 people is crossing the river, and they are just afraid that they will pee their pants in fear, haha." ”

I have to say that Xiao Yungui's eyesight is very good, and there are indeed people on the bell tower of the Catholic Church who are watching the Taiping army crossing the river at this moment.

"My God, they are only afraid of thousands, Corporal Barrett, you hurry up and tell Lieutenant Harold that he had better come up and take a look at this, I don't believe that a hundred and twenty-six of us can withstand the attack of so many barbarians. It's ridiculous that there are twenty-five Sikh soldiers, fifty-five Frenchmen, thirteen Americans among the one hundred and twenty-six, and four of our men are wounded and five have diarrhea, and maybe they can kill us if they send out a reconnaissance unit. Be merciful, O God. "A pale British sergeant stood on the bell tower. Looking at the Taiping army in the West Hall who were crossing the river with a telescope, he muttered: "They still have more than ten cannons." Damn yellow-skinned monkeys. Didn't the grinning Qing official tell us that the rebels were natives with big swords and spears? How could they have so many artillery? ”

Corporal Barrett, a British soldier in his thirties, also saw these amazing scenes, sweat beads rolled down his twitching cheeks, pursed his lips and said, "Sergeant Liszt, Lieutenant Harold is still attending the church service......"

Liszt cried out almost with a shout: "Go and call him up!" The enemy's guns are about to be aimed at the church, forget the damn liturgy unless they can ask God to guard the church himself! ”

Barrett sped down the bell tower. Walking through the hall where the service was taking place, Barrett did not forget to look at the vault of the lobby, which was vaulted instead of a dome, and the ceiling was formed by a green caisson pattern. Very much like that village church in Barrett's hometown.

Stunned for a moment, Barrett had already stepped on the stairs of the chanting building, which was a mezzanine level above the entrance door, facing the altar in the distance, and the exquisite reliefs on the high walls of the church could be clearly seen from the side. As a concrete embodiment of the combination of Chinese and Western, these reliefs show very Chinese lotus, crane, gourd, sword, double coin and other contents. Barrett did not understand that the relief weishenme of this church would have these things, and although it looked beautiful, he did not understand the meaning of it at all.

In the chanting building, Barrry was giving a report to Lieutenant Harold of the British Army, who was praying, and Harold put down the Bible in his hand, his brownish-red hair, typical of Celtic descendants, his long shaved face, the bridge of his nose was straight, and under the deep sockets of his eyes, a pair of pale blue eyes. He opened his mouth softly and whispered: "Corporal Barrett, please pay attention to your demeanor and demeanor, this is a church, not a battlefield. ”

Barrett said anxiously, "But sir, the rebels of the Yellow Monkey have crossed Tushan Bay, and Sergeant Liszt and I are very worried that they will attack the church. ”

Harold stood up, sorted out the traditional red twill army uniform jacket of the British Army, and said lightly: "Corporal, please remember the purpose of our garrison of the church, we don't have to fight those rebels, of course, unless they take the initiative to attack the church, we only need to guard the church and the church school behind." Besides, Father Maddos and the others had already gone to negotiate with the rebels and warned them not to enter the church area. ”

Barriet's face became calm, but he was still a little relieved: "Sir, do we need to make some preparations?" ”

At this moment, the floor-to-ceiling self-striking bell on the chanting floor rang melodiously, and it was already twelve o'clock, and Lieutenant Harold said slowly with a sword studded with gems at his waist: "It's twelve o'clock, go and tell the French, Americans, and Sikhs that the service is over and it's time to eat." ”

Barrett was stunned, Harold looked back and smiled slightly, "Don't worry, corporal, the prestige of our Red Shirts will make those indigenous rebels fearful." Then he turned and went out to enjoy his lunch.

Barrett didn't know what to say, and returned to the bell tower, where Liszt was still watching. After listening to Barrett's story, Liszt was extremely annoyed: "This damned descendant of Celts, letting him join the Red Shirts is Lord Wenham's biggest failure, what can he do with the son of a smuggler?" Having a midshipman lead this squad is complete murder! He should stay in Hong Kong and do his local garrison duty, not come here to send us to death! ”

After the invention of the smoothbore gun, the bulky armor completely lost its usefulness, and the European army appeared in a new light form, but did not forget the ornate decoration of the ancient samurai, the most representative of which was the British army, which used red as the main color of military uniforms. In the 18th century, the British army was mainly characterized by red uniforms, tricorne hats, flint smoothbore guns with bayonets, and the infantry formed a phalanx under the cover of artillery during the battle, and the march of the British grenadiers marched slowly in the exhilarating military music, fighting bravely for the interests of the British Empire in various parts of Shijie, which was world-famous. The British army of this period was also known as the "Redcoat Army" because of its representative red uniform.

The uniform of the British army has always been mainly red, with a white shirt inside, a red tuxedo-style jacket outside, with a white ribbon and a bowler hat, and shiny high leather boots on the feet, which has always been the pride of the British army.

Barrett said with some puzzlement: "Liszt, maybe the lieutenant's words make sense, those rebels will not attack us." ”

Liszt turned back coldly and said, "Young man, did you participate in the war in Afghanistan ten years ago? When I was eighteen years old, I saw the butcher's knife of a rebel for the first time there! That year, an uprising broke out in Kabul, and our Kabul garrison and family members, totaling more than 16,000 people, only came back with a military doctor. Then I took part in the counter-offensive, and although we recaptured Kabul and retaliated in a frenzy there, we lost men every day after that, can you believe what weapons those indigenous rebels were holding? Don't you know? The rebels in the city we captured a few days ago were all killed by the yellow-skinned monkeys, and these rebels outside the city came to avenge them! Wait for them to rush in and tear us apart one by one! ”

Barrett couldn't help but shudder when he heard Liszt's cold words, and he snorted: "Sergeant, maybe you are too worried, those rebels should be dealing with those Qing people with pigtails, not us, they have no reason to attack the church." ”

Liszt sneered and said: "This church is located in the south of Shanghai City, if the rebels want to attack Shanghai, we are like a fishbone stuck in their necks, if you are the leader of the rebels, will you be willing to let a church with armed personnel become a stronghold that may threaten your flank?" I knew I was just a crazy guy who didn't like my boss, so I'm just a sergeant for ten years. But in spite of this, I would like to say that this time we may have met someone even more ferocious than the Afghans, and I hope I am wrong. ”

Barrett was speechless, and in a blink of an eye, he saw five war horses break away from the rebel ranks and go straight to the church, Barrett immediately straightened up, put his hands on the pergola and looked at it, and said, "Sergeant, it seems that someone from the rebels is coming this way." ”

Liszt immediately pulled out the monoculars and looked at them, and muttered: "Five people, only sabers, no other weapons, it seems that they are here to negotiate, damn it, don't they know that they want to send someone over to negotiate to raise the white flag?" Then he turned back to Barrett and said loudly: "Corporal, you hurry down and inform the lieutenant, these five people should be here to negotiate, let those French, Americans, and Sikhs settle down, don't make any trouble, this may be an opportunity for us to avoid fighting, don't let this opportunity be ruined by the stupidity of others, I don't want to die in this church where there are no nuns!" ”

Barrett immediately ran down the bell tower to inform Lieutenant Harold, and Liszt continued to look at the five men, and gradually the faces of all five appeared in his binoculars, the first one was a large man with a fierce face and a thick beard, and Liszt even saw the hideous scar on his face. (To be continued.) )