Chapter 143, Strike Again

Although Bruce and Gro lost thousands of men and horses in the East China Sea, they thought it was a natural disaster, and after rescuing the soldiers who had fallen into the water, they continued to march north violently, and arrived outside the mouth of the Baihe River in Tianjin at the end of the month, where they met with representatives of the United States and Russia and asked the Qing court to send plenipotentiary ministers to negotiate in Tianjin or Beijing.

However, Li Shucheng didn't pay attention to this, he had already taken Jiang Mingyue to Guanwai at this time, because in his impression, Tsarist Russia took advantage of the fire to rob this time, but occupied a large territory. At that time, when the history teacher talked about the "Aihui Treaty", he talked about the signing of the treaty, Heilongjiang straw bag general Yishan. At that time, the governor of Eastern Siberia of Tsarist Russia, Muravyov, took advantage of the internal and external troubles of the Qing government, took advantage of the fire to rob, led the troops and ships directly to Aihui, fired guns and cannons outside the city, frightened the Heilongjiang general Yishan, and signed the "Aihui Treaty" with Muravyov without notifying the imperial court, ceding more than 600,000 square kilometers of territory north of Heilongjiang. The imperial court felt that it was too much to approve it, and two years later it was beaten up again before it was forced to admit it.

A local general dared to sign a treaty with outsiders to cede territory behind the back of the imperial court, which shows how weak the Qing government was at that time, not only did it not dare to provoke Western countries, but even its own officials lost their sense of awe.

"This big fish is good, not only delicious, but also grows big, one can have more than 1,200 catties, and this fish roe can also be made into caviar, very beautiful. Li Shucheng said while eating.

"Then raise a few. Jiang Mingyue said, "You can eat whenever you want to eat in the future." ”

The two searched for the big fish along the river, and when they came downstream, they happened to meet the Russian warship.

"Hey! How could the Tsarist Russian warships enter Heilongjiang? Could it be that they came to take advantage of the fire to rob?" Jiang Mingyue said. She didn't know that Li Shucheng came here to block these Tsarist Russian warships, and thought that Li Shucheng was coming to taste the much-praised big fish.

"Just like that, two or three ships came to take advantage of the fire, and if they hadn't met us, they might have succeeded. Li Shucheng said, "But when they meet us, they can only blame them for their bad luck, don't think about going back when they come." ”

"Just scare them away. Jiang Mingyue said, "If these ships really sink at the bottom of the river, it will bring more trouble to the Qing court." ”

Li Shucheng was right when he thought about it, the Qing court had already been frightened, and if Tsarist Russia used this as an excuse to attack, it might not only cede more than 600,000 square kilometers, but only this large area outside the border could satisfy people's appetites. Then you can only scare the other party away with a few shots.

The two quickly came to the confluence of the Heilongjiang River and the Ussuri River, installed the cannon, and adjusted the muzzle. After another forty minutes or so, the Russian warship finally sailed.

Li Shucheng and Jiang Mingyue single-handedly controlled a cannon and opened fire, and the shell fell into the water in front of the warship and exploded, forcing the warship to stop. Then Li Shucheng shouted: "Who is on board! This place is the territory of our Great Qing Dynasty, and any foreign ships are forbidden to enter, otherwise they will send you to the bottom of the river!"

The Governor of Eastern Siberia, Muravyov, came to force the Qing court officials to sign a treaty, and naturally there were people who knew Chinese.

Without Muravyov asking, this person immediately translated Li Shucheng's words.

"It's okay all the way here, but I didn't expect there to be a cannon here. Muravyov said, "But the Qing State can't make artillery, even if there are cannons, there should only be these two, we will first fire the two cannons, and then go directly to Aihui." ”

Li Shucheng and the others had already taken precautions against this, put away the cannons and changed positions, came to the place where the other cannons were placed, adjusted the muzzles, and each person controlled three cannons, and the six cannonballs were fired almost in order, blowing up a curtain of water on the river.

Then Li Shucheng continued to shout: "This is a warning, if you don't retreat, the next time you fire the artillery, you will be sent to the bottom of the river!"

"Your Excellency, they ...... They don't just have two cannons, and if we want to break in, they're going to shoot us. The translator shuddered. In the face of death, everyone is equal, even if they face the Qing Kingdom, but their lives cannot be guaranteed, they will also be afraid and afraid!

Not only the translators, but also the other officers and men are also afraid, they are now on the warship, the speed of the warship is slow, the defense is poor, they are a live target.

Muravyov also began to be scared at this time, originally he thought that the Qing country was weak, and this time he came to fight the autumn wind privately, but he didn't expect to meet a tough guard. If you really fight, your life may not be guaranteed. After thinking about it, it is still important to have a small life, as for meritorious service, as long as a small life is still there, there is an opportunity, so he said: "The Qing Kingdom has been prepared, even if we break through, we can't negotiate, just with our people, we can't beat them, retreat." ”

Watching the Russian warship turn around and go downstream, Li Shucheng and Jiang Mingyue put away their cannons and monitored all the way until the Tsarist Russian warship went out of the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.

"This time I kept it, but what about next time?" Li Shucheng thought to himself and shook his head.

"What are you thinking?" Jiang Mingyue asked.

"I wonder how such a corrupt and depraved court can deal with these barbaric Western countries. Li Shucheng said, "After thinking about it, I still can't deal with it, so I can only change the government." ”

"The Manchu population is small, and most of them are idle, and even many of them are illiterate after being officials all their lives, and if they want to continue to maintain their rule, they naturally shrink from everything, for fear that the Han people will become strong and overthrow their rule. Jiang Mingyue said.

"Yes!" Li Shucheng said, "Didn't Wei Yuan propose 'mastering the skills of Yi to control the country', but no one wants to learn it, and the court is afraid that they have never heard of it." ”

"Well, Wei Yuan's "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" is much more detailed than the map we drew back then. Jiang Mingyue said.

"Of course, there are just two of us, he is translating and sorting out the books brought by Westerners captured by Lin Zexu, these books are summarized by many Westerners, and they are naturally much more complete. Li Shucheng said.

After guarding Heilongjiang for a month, no more Russian ships entered, and the two returned to the pass.

Coming to Tianjin from the capital, there are still traces of war on the city wall of Tianjin, and I went into the city to inquire, and it turned out that Tianjin City was broken by the Eagle Weight Coalition Army, and it was only withdrawn a few days ago.

"But an army of 1,000 people actually broke through Tianjin again. Li Shucheng sighed, "This Qing army is too wasteful." ”

"It was Tan Yanxiang, the governor of Zhili, and others who fled in fear of the enemy, which caused the army to disperse. Jiang Mingyue said, "A general is incapable of exhausting the three armies, if you fight hard, even if the Dagu Fort can't be defended, Tianjin City may not be able to hold it." ”

"I don't know how much blood the Qing court gave this time to satisfy Yingli and withdraw the army. Li Shucheng said.

Of course, it was a heavy hemorrhage, and the treaty stipulated: Foreign envoys were stationed in Beijing, 10 additional ports were opened, foreign warships and ships could sail freely in the ports of the Yangtze River, foreigners could travel, do business, and preach in the Qing Dynasty; and the two countries should be compensated for their military expenses of 6 million taels of silver, and the eagle merchants should be compensated for the loss of 2 million taels of silver.

Adding up to 14 million taels of silver, it is equivalent to a year's tax revenue of the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing court does not have much money in the first place, so it can only increase the tax revenue, and more people will become poor.

The Qing court thought that this was the end, but no, people's greed is endless.

In May of the ninth year of Xianfeng, Li Shucheng and Jiang Mingyue found in Shanghai that the three kingdoms of Yingwei and Mi had formed a joint fleet heading north, and felt that the war was about to start again, so they rode horses and galloped to Dagu Fort day and night to report the news.

After receiving the report, the Qing army of Dagu Fort sent people into Tianjin City to report, and after receiving the report, Seng Lingqin sent Shi Rongchun, the commander of Zhili, to guard the fort on the south bank of Dagu, and Long Ruyuan, the deputy general of the Dagu Association, to continue to guard the fort on the north bank to prevent foreign fleets.

On 13 May, 24 warships of the Combined Fleet drove out of the mouth of Dagu. The Qing court sent the new governor of Zhili, Hengfu, to Beitang to greet him, and instructed the envoys of various countries to land from Beitang, with no more than 20 people and no weapons, and Hengfu was responsible for escorting them to Beijing. The envoys of the two countries categorically rejected the Qing government's reasonable demands and arrangements, and they were on this trip to show off their strength, so how could they enter Beijing like this? Therefore, the envoys of the two countries ignored them and insisted that they should be escorted into Beijing by a fleet from Baihe.

The two sides were at a stalemate, and time passed day by day.

On 25 May, the commander of the Eagle Fleet, Heb, ordered a surprise attack on the Dagu battery. The weight army had only two warships, and the Mi army had only three warships, and did not participate in the attack.

"Well, there's a fight. Li Shucheng put down the binoculars and said, "I didn't expect that there were people in the Qing army who dared to fight." ”

Jiang Mingyue said: "In such a big country, how can there not be many people who dare to fight. It's just that most of them can't be behaved because Shangguan cowardly escaped. ”

"Since the Qing troops in the fort dare to fight back, then we will also help. Li Shucheng said.

After the fight, the Eagle Army realized that this time was different from the last time. Last time, the two armies attacked the Dagu Fort and took advantage of the high tide to launch an attack, which severely damaged the defending Qing army and scared away Tan Yanxiang and others.

However, this time it was not a high tide, and they disembarked and landed in an attempt to seize the fort, but the front of the fort was full of mud, and the Eagle Army was slow to move, and was blocked by the shotgun fire of the Qing army, and could not advance.

The landing was frustrated, and the artillery battle could only be held, and the fierce battle lasted for a day and night, and the batteries on the north and south banks suffered heavy losses, Shi Rongchun, the commander of Zhili, was seriously wounded and died, and the deputy general Long Ruyuan was also shot and died. The general was not afraid of death, the soldiers below were naturally affected, and the Qing army on the fort still fought by itself, until dawn and the soldiers who rushed to reinforce fought desperately, and finally the Eagle Army was unable to fight anymore, and withdrew in embarrassment with the white flag.

Although the Li Army and the Mi Army later saw that the Eagle Army was frustrated, they also fired artillery to help, but they could not save the fate of the Eagle Army's defeat. Moreover, they only have a few warships, because they are afraid of damage, they can only fire from a distance, and their accuracy is reduced.

Li Shucheng calculated, this battle sank eight warships of the Eagle Army, and damaged many ships, four of which were sunk by two people.

"This time the Eagle Army has more than half of the casualties. Li Shucheng said with a smile, "I'm afraid they never thought that they would lose so much if they drove the fleet." ”