Dinghai City is surrounded by mountains on three sides, the sea in the south, Longfeng Mountain in the north, Qingleitou Mountain in the east, Xiaofeng Ridge and Zhushan Gate in the west, among which Qingleitou Mountain and Xiaofeng Ridge can build forts, but because of the long period of peace, there are few wars, Dinghai Division only symbolically built Dongyue Fort on the Dongyue Palace Mountain that is not precipitous in the south direction, and the small one is pitiful.

After the flotilla trained by the Yuanqi regiment was stationed at Daotou Port, the troops quickly landed separately in three routes, attacking the Dongyue Fort on one road, and seizing the commanding heights on the east and west sides of the other two, repairing fortifications and building artillery positions.

On the wall of Dinghai City, the commander of the British Army, Bourlei, held a telescope and observed carefully, his face was gloomy and seemed to be able to drip water.

He also knew the general situation of the enemy, and the size of the enemy fleet was not small, with more than 20 large and small warships, more than 20 troop carriers, and all Western-style sailboats, except for a small number of whites, most of them were Orientals with or without braids.

According to preliminary estimates, the total number of enemy naval and land troops is as high as tens of thousands, and now the Dinghai Fleet has surrendered and escaped, and there are only more than 2,000 officers and soldiers left behind in Dinghai City.

The other side was able to quickly defeat the Dinghai Division, and within more than an hour of landing and forcing the defenders of the fort outside the city to raise the white flag and surrender, and seize the commanding heights on the east and west sides, whether it was combat power or tactics, it seems that they are not inferior to them, how to fight this battle? The nearest reinforcements are far away in Tianjin, and they can't be counted on at all.

Putting down the binoculars, Bulley was silent with a gloomy face, the other party was surrounded on three sides, and the Longfeng Mountain in the north was high and steep and could not be climbed, which was actually surrounded on all sides, and the other party was telling him unmistakably that he would not only attack Dinghai City, but also want to surround Dinghai City and annihilate them.

According to the city, can you hold on to the reinforcements of Tianjin? Bourli subconsciously looked at Daotou Port, although the fleet of the Qing Naval Division was not small, it could not be compared with their main fleet, it was not a level at all, if they could hold on until the main fleet came back, they would definitely be able to annihilate this Qing Naval Division in one fell swoop.

The question is whether it can hold on for half a month! Soon he made up his mind that whether he could or not, he had to try, and always do his best!

Before noon, Guan Tianpei, who had towed several surrendered British warships back to Daotou Port, rushed to the flagship of Yi Zhixing, and asked with concern as soon as they met: "How is the situation?" ”

"It's going well." Yi Zhizhi said lightly: "I have completely controlled the commanding heights outside the city, and now we are rushing to repair the fortifications, build artillery positions, and dig trenches in the south from the afternoon, extending to Dinghai City, tomorrow, you can attack tentatively." ”

It's also so smooth! Guan Tianpei said happily: "What is the reaction of the British army in the city?" ”

"The turtle can't shrink, it seems that he is preparing to hold on to the city." Yi Zhishu turned his head as he spoke, "Why are there only six ships that have been dragged back, and two of which have sunk?" ”

"It's too hard." Guan Tianpei said with a regretful face: "The damage is serious, the sinking is too fast, and it can't be dragged back, but it can be regarded as unloading the guns on the ship, let's say it first, these warships and artillery are the trophies of the sailors." ”

Yi Zhi glanced at him and said, "The military has to go and discuss this matter with the Citi people and ask them if they agree?" In addition, the artillery was transported ashore first, and the artillery positions on the hills on the east and west sides were waiting for the artillery at the military gate. ”

"What do you mean by waiting for this batch of artillery? Contentment had previously been dismissive of this batch of artillery. Guan Tianpei couldn't help but say: "Contentment shouldn't be just trying to take it by force." ”

"This battle to recover Dinghai is counted on the head of the Guangdong sailors." Yi Zhizu rolled his eyes and said, "What's the matter, you want to gain fame and fortune?" That's okay, report the military expenses of Yuan Qi and the Citi battleships, and give all the spoils to the sailors. ”

The co-author is busy for a long time, and Bai is happy! Guan Tianpei said angrily: "Count you kid ruthless." He will naturally calculate this account, and the more than 100 small and medium-caliber artillery pieces are simply negligible compared with military spending.

In the afternoon, outside the city of Dinghai, outside the range of the artillery at the head of the city, a large number of Yuanqi regiments practiced and assembled, and then began to dig trenches, the British troops at the head of the city did not understand what these Qing officers and soldiers were doing at first, and at dusk, the trenches had extended to four or five hundred yards outside the city wall, and began to extend to both sides, they finally understood, this is a tunnel for guarding artillery, but at such a distance, what is the use?

Accompanied by a group of officers, Bourli stood on the tower at the head of the city and watched silently, he didn't know that the range of the musket practiced by the Yuanqi regiment could reach such a distance, but he knew that this distance was the effective range of rifled guns, could it be that these strange Qing officers and soldiers were equipped with rifled guns? This seems impossible, knowing that there is no other country in Europe where the army is equipped with rifled guns in such large numbers, after all, the defects of rifled guns are too obvious.

"General, this trench can minimize the damage of artillery, we should learn." A major said: "Judging from the uniforms and weapons of this Qing army, it seems that they have received Western-style training, and this trench and those sail warships and merchant ships are armed, could it be the United States?" ”

Is it the United States that is helping the Qing to train the army? But what does this mean to them in front of them? Bourley lit a cigar and then spoke: "That's something that politicians should care about, and it has nothing to do with us, but this trench, you can observe it more, in addition, be vigilant at any time, strengthen precautions, especially at night, this Qing army is good at sneak attacks, to guard against their rifled guns, and appropriately increase the Caron gun positions at the head of the city, but pay attention to protect the gunners." ”

All the officers responded, and one of the officers hesitated: "General, the commanding heights on three sides outside the city are in the hands of the enemy, if we don't take them back, we will be very passive." ”

After glancing at everyone, Bulley said unhurriedly: "I think you'd better figure out first, what is our task?" At present, we are holding on to help, not defeating or annihilating the Qing troops outside the city, as you have seen, this is not those Qing troops who flee as soon as the artillery is fired.

The opponent's strength is three times or even four times five times that of us, and the muskets equipped are not inferior to ours, I suspect that they are equipped with a lot of rifled guns, not to mention the number of artillery, our most correct method of battle is to hold on to the city, this is the only hope.

As for the artillery bombardment of the opponent on the commanding heights, this Dinghai county is our best fortification, whether it is a flowering bullet or a solid bullet, it will not cause too many casualties to us. ”

The next morning, Yi Zhicontent, Guan Tianpei abandoned the ship and landed on the Dongyue Palace Mountain, which is a hill no more than forty or fifty meters high, which is very abrupt and isolated in the south of a flat city, there is a Dongyue Palace on the mountain, which occupies almost the entire top of the mountain, and the fort is on the other side facing the sea in the south of the Dongyue Temple.

There are no Taoist priests in the palace for a long time, and the British prisoners of war who were originally stationed in Dongyue Fort have also been transferred to the prisoner camp in the port to be centrally imprisoned, and when they went up to the top of the mountain, Yi Zhizhi looked down at Dinghai County for a while, and then looked at the mountains in the east and west, and said with a smile: "This is a good place, move the headquarters here." ”

Guan Tianpei said: "It's just a matter of one or two days, why bother tossing." ”

"Who said it was just a day or two?" Yi Zhizhi said: "It is not easy for the Yuanqi regiment to train all the way away, and the British army can be called the strongest army in the world. ”

"Actual combat training?" Guan Tianpei shook his eyes and said, "Don't be careless if you are content, the speed of the Yingyi fleet is not slow." ”

"No matter how fast it is, it will take twelve days for the main force of the British fleet to come back." Yi Zhizhi said disapprerovingly: "Don't worry about the military gate, after defeating the British Dinghai fleet, Dinghai City is within reach." ”

Seeing that he was so determined, Guan Tianpei was speechless for a while, and only sighed lightly for a while: "Looking at the Qing Dynasty, those who dare to underestimate Yingyi so much are afraid that they can only be content." ”

"The military gate is wrong, I don't dare to underestimate England." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "In this battle, we are just bullying the weak." ”

Bullying? Guan Tianpei secretly smiled bitterly in his heart, the number of people in Yuanqi's group training is large, but they have never been on the battlefield, which is stronger or weaker, it is not necessarily, of course he is not easy to say, and immediately asked: "Yesterday I captured so many prisoners of war, do you find out the situation of the defenders in the city?" ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "The British army in the city includes the 18th Infantry Regiment - the first battalion of the Royal Irish Corps, the 26th Infantry Regiment - the first battalion of the Cameron Regiment, the 49th Infantry Regiment - the first battalion of the Charlotte Infantry Regiment, and the 55th Infantry Regiment - the first battalion of the Westmoreland Infantry Regiment.

In addition to the four battalions of the British Army, there were also the Anglo-Indian Army, the British army formed in India, the 2nd and 4th Infantry Regiments of Madras, the Bengal Volunteer Regiment, etc., which together had 2,000 defenders in the city, not including the sick number, of course. ”

There are only 2,000 people, no wonder this kid is full of confidence, Guan Tianpei bowed his head slightly: "Contentment wants to take the opportunity to practice in actual combat, and the old man is not good to interfere much, but it also takes time to fight down Dinghai County and deliver it to Zhejiang Green Camp, four days, how about four days?" After a pause, he continued: "In general, give Zhejiang Green Camp a little time to receive and arm, we can't let them just enter Dinghai, Yingyi will kill a horse pistol, and our faces will be gloomy." ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhizhi smiled, "Cheng, then four days." ”

Since the afternoon, the temporary artillery positions of Qingleitou Mountain and Xiaofengling began to be sporadically shelled, and the flowering shells exploded in various places inside and outside Dinghai City, and the British soldiers in the city were panicked, and those with a little experience knew that this was the artillery positions on both sides of the test firing, and what made them panic was the number of artillery, and it was roughly estimated that there were at least more than ten Caron guns in an artillery position in the east and west positions, and if this was a salvo, I was afraid that the entire Dinghai City could be covered once.

Bourley was also a little panicked in his heart, from the sound of the explosion, he could tell that they were forty-eight and sixty-four pound large-caliber Caron guns, if the opponent had enough shells, not to mention the city wall, even a slightly open place could not stand people, in this case, how could he stop the other party from attacking the city?

Early in the morning of the third day, the Yuanqi regiment launched an attack, first a burst of artillery bombardment, an explosion on the city wall in the south of the city, not to mention the city wall, there were no people standing near the city wall, the explosion stopped, the charge horn sounded immediately, countless soldiers jumped out of the crooked trench, quickly rushed to the base of the city wall, one by one the hooks dedicated to climbing the city wall flew up the city wall, and the soldiers moved neatly along the rope to climb up.

In the trenches, the soldiers in charge of fire suppression were engrossed in staring at the city wall they were responsible for, and a group of Madras infantry companies that hurriedly rushed up to the city wall became the moving target of the Yuanqi group warriors from the moment they appeared on the city wall.

In Dongyue Palace, Guan Tianpei held a telescope and watched this scene, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "This battle is really easy, and the city is broken today." ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "What is this called relaxed, to be relaxed, get a sixty-four-pounder cannon to fire two shots at the city gate, then the city gate is like paper paste, that is called relaxed." ”

Guan Tianpei said: "Didn't contentment deliberately bring a sixty-four-pounder cannon? ”

"I'm not training in actual combat." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "The two cannons smashed the city gate, can't you train the soldiers?" ”

Hearing this, Guan Tianpei rolled his eyes and said, "Going to the city wall is the beginning of casualties, I hope that when you are content, you won't feel sorry for the silver." ”

Yi Zhishu replied with a roll of his eyes and said, "How can there be no casualties in actual combat training?" However, if you want to have large casualties, it is impossible, and the situation must be wrong. ”

Guan Tianpei interrupted him and said, "Look, Yingyi has rushed strongly." ”

Yi Zhizu hurriedly raised his binoculars to take a closer look, and sure enough, a large group of Madras infantry (that is, Indian soldiers, Lin Zexu's so-called black yi. There was almost a battalion rushing up the city wall quickly, and when he saw this, he couldn't help but curse secretly, sure enough, he was using Ah San as cannon fodder!

Bourli is indeed using the soldiers of the Madras Infantry Regiment as cannon fodder, the range and accuracy of the enemy's musket are indeed rifled guns, but the rifled guns have one of the biggest flaws, that is, the reloading speed is slow, as long as the soldiers of the Madras Infantry Regiment successfully attract the other side to shoot, they can buy valuable sprint time for the British army to follow, these Indian soldiers, for him, are themselves cannon fodder, there is nothing to ache.

The Madras infantry, who rushed up to the city wall in line, naturally became the target of the shooters in the trenches, and such a dense charge was almost looking for death, and the shooters hardly had to aim, one shot at a time, and rarely misfired.

Seeing that most of the Madras infantry had fallen, a large number of authentic British troops rushed up the city walls, and a large area of dazzling red clothes and bright bayonets flashed in the sun on the top of the city.

Seeing this scene, Guan Tianpei's heart couldn't help but tighten, the critical moment - the moment to decide the outcome of the victory has arrived. (To be continued.) )