Chongming Island, Wusong Water Division Battalion, looking at the large black and oppressive fleet in Haikou, Su Song's general Zhou Shirong and all the generals were all frightened, "British reinforcements are coming!" Guerrilla Wang Fengxiang muttered: "How can this battle be fought? ”

Seeing the expressions of the generals, the battalion deputy Mi Zhengqing laughed loudly: "Don't panic, take a good look at the flags on those ships, that is not the reinforcements of the British army, it is our Yuanqi's fleet, hurry up and send the ship to lead the way, in this battle, we will completely annihilate the British army in Wusong." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

"Is it Yuanqi's fleet?" Zhou Shirong couldn't react for a while, Yuan Qi actually had such a large fleet? It's shocking! Yuanqi even has Western warships, and there are quite a few of them!

"Don't talk nonsense!" Mi Zhengqing didn't have time to explain to them, and urged: "Hurry up and send ships to lead the way, and all the fireships and warships upstream will also be dispatched." ”

On the tower of the north gate of Baoshan, the communication soldiers generally reported: "Report, a large number of Qing naval division warships have been found upstream, including a large number of fireships. ”

"It is reported that a large number of fireships have been found in the Huangpu River and are rapidly coming towards Wusongkou."

"Report, eight light cruisers are coming at full speed through the estuary."

Putting down the binoculars, Yilu Mu didn't say a word, surrounded on three sides, no, counting the land, it was surrounded on all sides, Wu Song's naval and land armies were all in a desperate situation! In this case, there is no chance of even breaking through!

Bartley hurriedly climbed the north gate tower, only took a general look, and then said in a deep voice: "Yuan Qi wants to wipe us out, please give your Excellency an order to raise the 'St. George Flag' on the battleship." ”

St. George is the patron saint of England, and raising the St. George flag is not only to tell the opponent, but also to inspire all the officers and soldiers of their own side to fight to the death in this battle, and never back down!

Yilu glanced at him, pointed in three directions, and said in a deep voice: "At least more than two hundred warships, armed merchant ships, fireships and warships, we only have four warships, there is no place to escape, what is the point of fighting to the end?" ”

"As a soldier, it is our duty and obligation to fight to the end for the honor of Great Britain!"

Yilu unceremoniously grabbed the white and said: "Not all officers and soldiers are willing to sacrifice their precious lives for the honor of Great Britain, and no one is willing to make fearless and meaningless sacrifices!" ”

"But Wu Song is the back road of the main fleet!" Barrett suppressed the anger in his heart, and roared in a low voice: "If Wu Song is lost, the main fleet may be wiped out!" ”

"If Wu Song can be saved in the bloody battle, I will not hesitate to order the bloody battle to the end!" Yilu said unmoved: "In the current situation, no matter what, you can't save Wu Song!" I don't want more casualties! ”

"Wu Song can still take it back if he loses it!" Barrett said: "The Dinghai Fleet can come at dusk or tomorrow morning!" We must try our best to consume the strength of Yuanqi's regimental training and create conditions for the Dinghai Fleet to recapture Wusong! Once surrendered, it will increase the strength of Yuanqi's regimental training, and greatly increase the difficulty of the Dinghai Fleet to recapture Wusong! Don't you understand this? ”

Yilu shrugged his shoulders disappreciatively, how could he not understand this, but what he saw was more than this, not to mention that as a politician, even as a soldier, with such a narrow vision, he also looked down on the other party a little, but at present, he persuaded the other party.

After a slight hesitation, he spoke: "Jiangning is an out-and-out trap, this is undoubtedly true, judging from the time when the Yuan Qi regiment practiced attacking Wu Song, the Qing Kingdom wants to wipe out the fleet that entered the Yangtze River this time, and Wu Song is just the final finish!"

The Yuanqi regiment has 10,000 troops in Guangzhou, and only 1,005 troops appear here in Wusong, where are the other troops? In Jiangning? Zhenjiang? Or Jiangyin? Even the Yuanqi regimental training in Guangzhou appeared in Wusong, think about it, how many troops will the Qing State mobilize to fight this battle this time?

As expected, the main fleet along the river will inevitably be intercepted and attacked layer by layer, Wu Song, it is very likely that it is not only aimed at the main fleet, but also to attract the Dinghai fleet to fight, and by the way, the possibility of destroying the Dinghai fleet! Have you thought about this? ”

"It's impossible to ......." Barrett said that he was a little weak-hearted, and after two fights, he could only describe the combat power of Yuanqi's group training.

"Nothing is impossible." Yilu said in a deep voice: "Yuan Qi has the ability to build Humen into a fortress, and he also has the ability to build Wusong into a huge fortress!" As he spoke, he pointed to the estuary and said, "Take a good look, in addition to the sailboats, there are also a large number of Qingguo sea ships in the estuary!" Why are there so many Qing ships accompanying them? I can't think of anything else that would have been loaded on those ships other than artillery and ammunition! ”

After a pause, he continued: "Yuanqi Tuanlian was expanding the gun position of Yangjiazui Fort yesterday, didn't you notice? Whether it is France or the United States, they all hope that it is better for us to lose both sides with the Qing State, or even to fight a feud, so that it can not only weaken our strength, but also replace our hegemony in the trade between the East and the West! I believe that the two countries are very happy to sell artillery in large quantities to Yuanqi! ”

Barrett looked at him stunned, and after a while, he said dreamily: "This battle was completely lost?" ”

"Lost!" Yilu said simply: "From the moment the fleet entered the Yangtze River channel and attacked Jiangning along the river, it was doomed to lose!" We have fallen into a trap carefully deployed by the Qing State! However, it is not a complete loss. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Even if our fleet that enters the Yangtze River channel loses, we still have two fleets in Dinghai and Hong Kong, and on the sea, we are still invincible, at least there is still a chance to negotiate!" I decided to burn or blow up the four battleships before surrendering to the Yuanqi regiment! ”

This is indeed a good idea, it can avoid too many casualties and not endanger the fleet in Dinghai, Barrett nodded slowly, and said, "Are all the army's muskets also destroyed?" ”

"No need!" Yilu shook his head and said, "Yuan Qi's new musket is far better than ours. ”

The four British troops on the river quickly burned, and then detonated the ammunition on the ship, exploded, and soon sank into the river, and bursts of cheers broke out on the river bank and the river, Yi Zhizhi smiled bitterly, for Yuan Qi, the most urgent need was the battleship, he never thought that Yilu would self-destruct the battleship!

"Headmaster, look-." Yan Yangtian pointed to Baoshan County and said: "The British army raised the white flag and surrendered!" ”

Yi Zhisuff casually glanced at the white flag raised at the head of the city, the surrender of the British army was expected by him, if he was determined to hold on, he would not self-destroy the battleship, and only after a slight groan, he spoke: "Order the British army to go out of the city to surrender, send a battalion into the city to take over, first seal the ammunition depot in the city, and in addition, bring Yilu and Barrett to the three regiment camps to meet me." ”

"Yes." Yan Yangtian hurriedly said.

"The order, Zhou Shirong, the chief soldier of Susong Town, immediately organized manpower to salvage, salvage the guns on the four British battleships as soon as possible and send them to Wusong Fort, and the British Dinghai Fleet will come to Wusong soon!"

"Order the fleet to send the artillery to the east and west forts of Wusong as soon as possible, and in addition, order Tuan Yong from Changhua to camp outside Baoshan City. The battleship fleet was temporarily anchored in the river outside the Wusong Fort. ”

"I went to tell the commanders of the warship leaders of France and the United States that the British Dinghai Fleet would arrive at Wusong this evening or early tomorrow morning, and asked them to take precautions, and in addition, warmly invited them to come ashore for a meeting after the war was over."

Several orders were issued one after another, Yi Zhizhi rode to the camp of the third regiment stationed not far from Baoshan County, this battle surprised him a lot of things, the expected vicious battle did not appear, and the expected harvest was also burned, in general, it should still be gratified, it can almost be said that it was to recover Wusong Baoshan with zero casualties, and capture thousands of British troops, this record is more brilliant than the recovery of Dinghai!

After leading his subordinates out of the city to disarm and surrender, Yilu and Barrett were taken to the big tent of the camp outside the city. When the two people came in, he greeted him with a smile and stretched out his hand, "Welcome the two of you to surrender." ”

Yilu was originally a little apprehensive in his heart, after all, his current identity is a prisoner, although he surrendered, but he only surrendered after burning four warships, how can there be any truth in his heart, seeing Yi Zhizhi with a smile on his face, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, quickly stepped forward to shake hands with him, and said with a look of shame: "I really didn't expect that we would meet in this situation." ”

"Victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers." Yi Zhifen said and looked at Barrett and said, "It's a pleasure to meet General Barrett." ”

Barrett looked at him and said, "If we knew that Yuan Qi Tuanlian had such a powerful new musket in his hands, we wouldn't have lost this battle so badly." ”

After stretching out his hand to give up his seat, Yi Zhizu chuckled and said, "Your country's first large-scale expedition to our Qing Dynasty, the collection and analysis of relevant intelligence has already impressed me. ”

Barrett said: "Is Mr. Yi ridiculing us? ”

"No!" Yi Zhishu said and took the humidor, gave one to each of them, and picked one up himself, and said nonchalantly while cutting the corners: "Your intelligence collection and analysis are indeed good, your biggest mistake is to ignore Yuan Qi, however, this mistake, I think you will never make it again in the future." ”

Yilu said with concern: "Yuan Qi will treat prisoners of war as well as always, right?" ”

"Of course." Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "I will not sacrifice prisoners, nor will I kill prisoners, but all prisoners of war should be honored and fed through labor." ”

"Labor?" Barrett gave Yilu a suspicious look.

"As a newly opened treaty port, Shanghai needs to be vigorously developed, roads need to be built, and embankments need to be built." Yi Zhizu smiled slightly: "Don't worry, we will not abuse prisoners of war, they will be treated decently, of course, we also allow you to redeem, you can use silver or engineering." ”

Yilu knew that the last batch of prisoners of war was the same in Guangzhou, so he immediately bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, Your Excellency, for your kindness." ”

After taking a slow puff of his cigar, Yi Zhizhi said, "Dinghai's reinforcements should be able to arrive tomorrow, right?" ”

Yilu said: "It should be, we sent a light cruiser to Dinghai yesterday morning to ask for help. ”

"I hope that the two of you will write a letter to persuade you, there is no need to waste ammunition, and there is no need to increase the casualties on both sides, the two of you should know very well that with the Dinghai Fleet, you will not be able to capture Wusong." Yi Zhizhi looked at the two of them: "Don't hide it, Wusong Baoshan, there are now 6,000 defenders stationed there, of which 4,000 are Yuanqi regimental training." ”

Yilu said with some surprise: "Yuan Qi doesn't want to take this opportunity to weaken the strength of the Dinghai Fleet? ”

"I don't want to." Yi Zhi said confidently: "On the contrary, I hope that the two fleets of Hong Kong and Dinghai can preserve their strength, otherwise your army will completely lose the qualification and confidence to negotiate, so to speak, I don't want the two countries to expand the war again, after this war, I hope that the two countries can establish equal diplomatic and commercial relations, as the two empires of the East and the West, we should coexist peacefully."

After this war, His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty will treat your country as equals, and I hope that your country will also give up some unrealistic ideas, otherwise, continuing to expand the war will only lead to the decline of the two empires together. ”

Yilu said eagerly: "If we want not to continue to expand the war, we must let the Far East Fleet end this war with dignity." ”

Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "Your Excellency is concerned about the safety of your army's main fleet attacking Jiangning?" ”

"Yes." Yilu said unabashedly: "Although there are no railway trains in your country, there are 800 miles of urgent express, I can send a letter to General Pu Dingcha, tell him about the situation of Wusong, let him give up attacking Jiangning, let's negotiate in Shanghai, and end this war with dignity!" ”

Smiled noncommittally, Yi Zhizhi said, "Can I trust General Pudingcha?" Your Excellency should remember that we signed the Treaty of Macao in Guangzhou, and it was General Pu Dingcha who treacherously tore up the treaty and continued to expand the war. After a pause, he said: "Wu Song can't withstand the two-sided attack of your army's main fleet and the Dinghai fleet!" ”

Listening to this, Yilu was speechless for a long time, the other party did not distort it, this time it was indeed Pu Ding Cha who unilaterally tore up the treaty and expanded the war, the other party did not dare to believe it, and it was reasonable, after a long time, he said in a deep voice: "If the main fleet led by General Pu Ding Cha suffers heavy losses, the two sides are afraid that there is no chance to sit down and negotiate, for the honor of Great Britain, for the prestige of Her Majesty, the parliament is very likely to mobilize more warships to come and continue to expand the war." ”

Yi Zhizu chuckled: "As far as I know, your country sends troops on an expedition with only one purpose, interests!" For the sake of the honor of the empire and the prestige of the queen, the parliament will not pass, and the huge military expenditure is enough for the majority of parliamentarians to make the right vote. ”

Seeing the two of them going around in circles, Barrett was anxious, and said directly: "As long as the casualties of the main fleet can be reduced, what conditions Mr. Yi has, just put it forward." ”

"It's still General Barrett's quick talk." Yi Zhishu smiled and stretched out a slap, "One third-class ship and four fourth-class ships of the Dinghai Fleet." (To be continued.) )