After walking slowly for a while, Yi Zhizu stopped, turned to look at a few people and said casually: "The first battle of Dinghai, the merits of the Yuanqi regiment are not small, I have listed the merits of the meritorious officers and soldiers in detail and submitted them to the ministers. ”

Dinghai victory, a group of brave people did not think about rewards, but they also knew that they were group training, for Yuan Qi's reward they knew in their hearts that there must be, for the court will have a reward, but no one knows, at this time, when they heard that the court will reward official titles, Yan Yangtian, Chen Hongming, Xiao Mingming's eyes are bright.

Even if it is a false title, it is not an official body, how to say that it is also an official, this is enough to make them glorify their ancestors, which of them is not a disaster at home, and even survival is a problem, so they sold themselves in desperation, and sent Yuan Qiyi to learn, it has only been a few years, and they have the possibility of becoming court officials, which makes several people feel like they are dreaming.

Several people were overjoyed, and Yi Zhizhi smiled secretly in his heart, looking like the temptation of being an official. The confusion was big enough, knowing that it was just a false title, and a few people couldn't hide their joy, and he groaned slightly, so he encouraged: "There are still battles between us and the British army, and the merits have been accumulated, not to mention the false titles of four and three grades, even if it is awarded a real position, it is also possible, give me good training during this time." ”

Several people responded loudly, and Xiao Mingliang said: "Headmaster, the British army has suffered defeats in Modaoyang and Dinghai, will they be annoyed and angry and come to attack Guangzhou?" ”

Will the British come to attack Canton? Yi Zhishu was still relatively optimistic before, holding more than 4,000 British prisoners of war in his hands, and it was estimated that the British army would be a rat trap and would adopt negotiations to redeem these prisoners of war.

But after a brief contact with Bourley today, he realized that he might want to left, four thousand prisoners of war, how much silver would England need to redeem? According to his calculations, it would be at least a million silver dollars, and he would have to pay forty or fifty silver dollars to buy a small servant, not to mention that he was a well-trained and experienced professional soldier, and a soldier would have to pay two hundred silver dollars to say the least, and the price of an officer would naturally have doubled up, so that he would have to get two million silver dollars if he said the least.

The question is that the British army will pay such a large ransom to ransom these prisoners of war? If he were the commander-in-chief of the British invasion of China, would he be willing to pay a large ransom to ransom these prisoners of war? How do you go back? Losing the war is humiliating enough, and it also makes the government in the midst of an economic crisis. The government takes a large sum of money to ransom people, and when you go back, you still have a face?

If you are not willing to pay a ransom to ransom people, and it is impossible to abandon these prisoners of war, then there is only one possibility, exchange prisoners of war! Thinking of this, his heart sank, this basket seemed to be a little bigger, the previous judgment may be completely wrong, Dinghai, the British army is estimated to attack, not only that, the British army may also attack the coastal port cities along the way, in order to capture enough prisoners of war to exchange with him in Guangzhou.

If so, the situation is chaotic enough! Thinking of this, he was a little entangled, even if he knew that this would be the result, he was helpless, and he couldn't take the initiative to return this batch of prisoners of war to the British army in vain.

In the official hall of the battleship "Melville," George Yilu's flagship, Yilu, and Bomai, listened to Captain Joyce's account of the situation returning from Dinghai's reconnaissance from Dinghai with gloomy faces.

The Western-style sailing ships attacking Dinghai, whether they were armed merchant ships or warships, have disappeared, and there are more than 20 old-fashioned Qing naval warships moored in Daotou Harbor, and the flag of the British Empire that originally fluttered at the head of Dinghai City has been replaced by the various flags of the Qing Dynasty, and there is not a single British soldier in sight of Daotou Harbor and the place where it can be seen.

After the report, Captain Joyce hesitated before saying: "The Qing Navy Division sent a small fishing boat to approach our speedboat with a white flag, and the people who came said that it was the Guangdong Navy Division and the Yuanqi Regiment that had recovered Dinghai before, and the British army suffered few casualties, and all of them were captured and escorted to Guangzhou. ”

Yilu listened to it, looked at Yilu, and said, "Yuanqi group practice? Is that Yuanqi Bank? What is a team exercise? ”

"Team practice." Yilu knew that Yuanqi Bank had set up a group of 10,000 people, but he didn't know how to accurately describe the nature of the group training, especially the Yuanqi group training was very different from the general local group training, and he groaned slightly, and then he said: "Yuanqi group training, to be exact, is a reserve army, it does not belong to the regular army of the Qing Dynasty, however, the situation of Yuanqi group training is a little different."

Yuanqi regimental training is composed of 10,000 young men, I heard that it is trained using the training method of the American Army, all equipped with muskets, but the army has not been in force for a long time, only half a year. ”

"What about the warships and the armed merchant ships?"

"Yuanqi and the Thirteen Banks have had frequent business transactions in the past two years." Yilu groaned: "There is no reason for the United States to declare war on us for the sake of the Qing Kingdom, it should be Yuan Qi who wants the United States to purchase warships." ”

A Qing reserve army that had been trained for half a year easily captured the city of Dinghai, which was defended by 4,000 British troops, and captured most of the British troops? Does anyone believe this? Yilu rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything, after all, the facts were in front of him, he would rather believe that those British soldiers were captured than believe that they were killed in battle, and the Guangdong sailors obviously did not have this ability.

After pondering for a long time, he said in a deep voice: "We must find out the truth of the matter, how did the Dinghai defenders lose and where did they go?" After a slight pause, he said in a deep voice: "Tomorrow, the fleet will be stationed in Daotou Port, and let the generals of the Qing defenders get on the ship to answer and ask what is going on?" If we don't reply positively, we will attack Dinghai. ”

The Qing guards still dare to go on the ship to answer? Yilu glanced at him and waved his hand to let Captain Joyce leave first, but Bo Mai said: "The only reasonable explanation is that when the Qing Navy attacked Dinghai, the defenders in the city had a large-scale outbreak of malaria and lost their due combat strength. ”

This explanation, Yi Lu can accept, after all, the defenders of Dinghai are already rampant with malaria, he nodded, and said: "Yes, only in this case will the defenders surrender on a large scale." ”

Yilu didn't agree with this statement, and he didn't know what he was thinking, he seemed to be a little distracted, Yilu glanced at him dissatisfied, coughed lightly, Yilu glanced at the two of them, and then said: "Yuanqi's big shopkeeper is easy to be content, I have dealt with him a few times, this person can speak fluent American English, and he also knows the situation in Europe very well, and he is very bold, but he is not a person who does not think about the consequences."

The Qing country's group training is mainly to defend the place, think about it, why did Yuan Qi's group training come to attack Dinghai? If you are not sure, Yuanqi Tuanlian dares to send troops to attack Dinghai? We have already lost half of our troops, and the most suspicious thing should be Yuanqi's group training.

I don't think we can take Yuanqi group training lightly anymore. ”

Hearing this, Yilu frowned, he admitted that this was reasonable, Yuanqi Tuanlian and Guangdong Sailors should be very clear about their combat strength, and they must have some reliance if they dared to come all the way to attack Dinghai, where four thousand British troops were stationed, but he really couldn't believe that the Qing Navy's sailors and Tuanlian could compete with them head-on.

Seeing that he was silent, Yilu continued: "No matter what reason the Dinghai defenders surrendered, we can't ignore them and try to redeem them by all means." ”

Yilu's face was tense, and he was unspeakably angry in his heart, four or five thousand prisoners of war, how much ransom did he have to pay? If he had reported to London and asked for a ransom, he, the commander of the Far Eastern Fleet, would have become London's latest joke.

Bomai said at this time: "It can't be ransomed, if we really have to pay a ransom to redeem the prisoners of war, this battle will not be fought, and the war is not over, and the other party will not allow us to redeem the prisoners of war." In my opinion, we should attack Dinghai again, capture as many Qing soldiers as possible, and then exchange prisoners of war with them.

In addition, we must apply for reinforcements and expand the war, otherwise it is impossible for the Qing State to accept our conditions, since we have to wait for reinforcements, it is impossible for the fleet to anchor at sea for a long time, we need a suitable port, and Dinghai is undoubtedly the most suitable. ”

"Dinghai may not be suitable." Yilu said without thinking: "If we break out of malaria again in Dinghai, it is very likely that the whole army will be wiped out." ”

Yilu nodded, that's true, this question has to be considered, the four thousand army troops contracted malaria in Dinghai, can they guarantee that they will not be infected? After thinking about it, he looked at Yilu and asked, "Is there a more suitable place than Dinghai?" ”

Yilu pondered and said: "We have never been infected with diseases in Guangzhou, and Macao, Kowloon or Xiamen should be better than Dinghai." ”

"What about prisoners of war?" "Where are we going to get enough prisoners of war for exchange?" ”

"I didn't say that I wouldn't settle the sea." Yilu smiled: "It's just that you don't want to occupy Dinghai, so as not to get infected with malaria." ”

Dinghai County, County Ya, Zhejiang Admiral Zhu Tingbiao can be said to be worried, although he had long expected that the main fleet of the British army would come to Dinghai, and in the past few days he has also dispatched troops, repaired fortifications, and made sufficient preparations, but when he heard that the main fleet of the British army has arrived outside Jiushan, he is still inevitably worried, God knows whether the British army will be annoyed and angry, and sprinkle a belly of sulking on Dinghai's head.

Although he was fully prepared, Zhu Tingbiao still had no bottom in his heart, he asked the Dinghai defenders who participated in the Battle of Dinghai in detail, knowing that the British artillery was powerful, and he knew better that his subordinates were a group of officers and soldiers who had not experienced the battle formation for a long time.

"The Warrior Gate." A military general in his early fifties, with a mustache, a little thin, and dressed in a second-grade military attache robe, strode in and said, "The last general has just made an inspection, and the defenders of each battalion are already in place." ”

"Pengqi doesn't need to be polite, sit." Zhu Tingbiao politely stretched out his hand to give up his seat, the person who came was Ge Yunfei, the chief soldier of Dinghai, last year Ding Wei returned home, the British army captured Dinghai, the imperial court hurriedly recalled it, and when he sat down, he said: "The Guangdong Navy Division recovered Dinghai and escorted thousands of prisoners of war to Guangzhou. ”

Ge Yunfei naturally knew what he was worried about, Dinghai was lost in the hands of Zhejiang Green Battalion, but it was recovered by the Guangdong Naval Division, this face had already been lost to the Beijing Division, and now the Guangdong Naval Division handed over Dinghai to the Zhejiang Green Battalion, if it was captured by the British army again, they didn't have to wait for the imperial court's will, they just wiped their necks, for them, this battle was simply a battle to the death, and there was no way out!

After a little muttering, Ge Yunfei said in a deep voice: "There is no need to worry about the military gate, the people that Yingyi rely on are nothing more than the strength of the ship and artillery, let's avoid naval battles and defend the sea, Yingyi only has the advantage of artillery, and the last general has carefully inspected the fortifications deployed by Yuanqiyi in the past two days, and it is indeed able to resist Yingyi's artillery to the greatest extent."

The military gate is assured, there are 6,000 defenders in Dinghai, and the strength is superior, which is not only to wait for work, but also to have fortifications to rely on, and to defend the fortifications, even if the British Yi attack, this time may not be able to attack down. ”

Zhu Tingbiao narrowed his eyes slightly, and said in a deep voice: "Order all battalions, let all the soldiers eat well tonight, and fight tomorrow, break the cauldron and sink the boat, and there will be death and no life!" ”

The next morning, the British fleet slowly sailed into Daotou Harbor and blockaded the entire port, but did not rush to attack, but sent a speedboat to dock and sent a letter requesting that it be forwarded to the commander-in-chief of the Dinghai garrison.

The letter was written in Chinese, and it was also written in crepe, asking the master of Dinghai to negotiate with the British ship, limited to one hour, otherwise he would attack Dinghai, Zhu Tingbiao said with a sneer after reading it: "Arrogant and ignorant." Then he commanded: "Reply to them, if you want to fight, you will fight, and listen to them." ”

After receiving the reply, Yilu put down the binoculars, gritted his teeth and sneered: "It's really confident, can you rely on those trenches to stop us?" Naive!. ”

Before he could finish speaking, Yilu interrupted him and said, "Your Excellency, those trenches are enough to make our artillery powerless. ”

"Seize the commanding heights on the east and west sides and set up artillery." "I don't believe those trenches can withstand shelling from three sides. ”

"Really." Yilu squatted down as he spoke, drew a simple sketch on the deck, and said, "Your Excellency, their trench is a perfect fortification, they have long expected that we will seize the commanding heights on both sides, these trenches are enough to resist artillery shelling from three sides. ”

After a slight pause, he said simply: "I suggest giving up attacking Dinghai, we can't afford big losses at the moment, there are many port cities along the coast of Qingguo, which are basically undefended, we don't need to gnaw on this hard bone." ”

"I agree." Bomai, who had been silent, spoke at this time: "Attacking Dinghai, we may pay a great price. (To be continued.) )