At the same time, the British expeditionary fleet successively conquered several batteries on both sides of the Lion Ocean, and destroyed a frigate of the Chinese Empire that came to spy on it.

Ross, the commander of the British Army, led the first batch of only more than 5,000 marines to land in a place called Wenzhougang in the middle of the Lion Ocean, ready to loot everywhere, but he didn't expect that the surrounding villages were empty, the door was wide open, and the village was already surrounded by four walls, and the British soldiers could only dig out some radish and beets from the field next to them, and turn out a few jars of grain that the villagers had not hidden in a hurry from the village, and find a few vicious dogs that came up and bit people to kill them as food.

In desperation, Ross had no choice but to lead his troops north along the west bank of the Lion Ocean, preparing to rely on each other with the expeditionary fleet in the river. However, along the Pearl River, especially in the south of the Yangtze River, the water system is well developed, and all kinds of small rivers and ponds are full of it, and the infantry has to wade all the way to pave bridges all the way, which is unspeakably miserable and the march is very slow. Fortunately, Rus's military orders were strict, and the British soldiers followed the orders.

On this day, the British expeditionary fleet arrived in Cheung Chau waters, and the wide Lion Ocean became a slightly narrower and slow-flowing provincial river. Seymour, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, was strange, and invited the guide to ask, only to know that the river in this province is divided into two roads, one is the south waterway, and the other is the north waterway, although the water surface is not wide, but the river is very deep, even if a large warship sails on it, it will not run aground.

However, Ross still had some doubts, and he ordered that the expeditionary fleet should be divided into two routes, the province and the north and south of the river, and attack the forts along the way, and go up to the city of Guangzhou. At the same time, the flagship battleship "Duke Wellington" and the battleship "Captain Hundred", with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons, were stranded in Shiziyang off Cheung Chau Island, and hundreds of troops were stationed for defense.

Seymour was worried that the two battleships, with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons, would have problems in the narrow provincial river, and finally left the two battleships with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons at the mouth of the Lion Ocean, where the water was wide. If it weren't for the fact that the main warships of the expeditionary fleet had lost a lot, Ross was afraid of insufficient firepower, so he would have prepared to leave the other three battleships including the "Willisley" in Lion Ocean. I have to say that he is still extremely cautious, and if something happens, these two battleships can still take care of it.

Seymour moved the flagship of the expeditionary fleet from the battleship "Duke Wellington" to the "Melville", and personally led more than 40 warships of the North Route Fleet to enter the waterway of the Provincial Hebei Road from the outer tip of Cheung Chau Island and attack the city of Guangzhou from the southeast.

He Bo also led more than 30 warships, large and small, with the battleship "Bolanhan" as the flagship, from the southern tip of Changzhou Island to enter the provincial Henan Road waterway, intending to finally attack Guangzhou City from the southwest.

The first to encounter the battle was Hobber's Southern Route Fleet.

The two main cruisers of the Hober fleet, the "Crouffler" and the "Talisha", were the vanguard, and followed the reconnaissance ship of a frigate, and as soon as they entered the southern road channel within 3.5 kilometers of Cheung Chau Island, they were suddenly bombarded. In the original bushes on Cheung Chau Island, more than 20 swarthy cannon barrels suddenly stretched out, followed by an earth-shattering cannon roar, and the entire Cheung Chau Island and the South Pearl River Road were boiling.

Fortunately, the cruiser "Talisha" had a solid plank and finally did not fall apart and enter a large amount of water, but it could no longer take any more risks, and hurriedly withdrew from the attack range of the Cheung Chau battery under the cover of the other two frigates.

And several other warships in Hober's fleet suffered the same thing. On the two-mile-long river along the south bank of Cheung Chau Island along the South Road Channel, three of the British army's main cruisers, two small cruisers, four gunboats, and three frigates were all damaged by the heavy artillery fire of the Cheung Chau Battery, of which two gunboats and one frigate were sunk, and nearly ten other warships, especially four main warships, were damaged.

This loss was unbearable for Hoberton.

At this time, his subordinates reported that a merchant who was friendly to the British Empire had reported that the Chinese Empire had set up a large battery group on Cheung Chau Island, and that thousands of people had been seen building forts on Cheung Chau Island for a year, and according to the news, the Cheung Chau Fort Group had hundreds of heavy coastal guns, which were more powerful than the Weiyuan Fort Group in Humen, and it was even more difficult to overcome. This merchant also has a top-secret piece of information that can allow the British Expeditionary Force to reach and capture the city of Guangzhou smoothly and easily, but this top-secret information, the merchant wants to make the British Empire pay the price in exchange for it.

When Uncle He heard this, he was immediately interested, and hurriedly asked the merchant to ask him carefully.

The merchant claimed to be the Tan surname of the original Guangzhou Thirteen Commercial Firms, saying that since the Taiping thieves occupied Guangzhou City and established the Chinese Empire, they robbed all his Tan family's property and hurt his Tan family, so their Tan family hated the Chinese Empire today and always wanted to take revenge, and now, they finally found an opportunity. It is said that for the sake of the British army attacking the Chinese Empire and exporting evil qi for his Tan family, as long as the British agree to the Sino-British trade in Guangzhou in the future, and hand over to him the Tan family to set up the Tan family to account for half of the entire trade, he can tell He Bo the method of dealing with the forts along the Chinese Empire.

He immediately agreed, and even if he did not consult the Commander of the Expeditionary Force, Seymour, and the Commander of the Army, Ross, he was sure that the two of them would definitely agree.

The two immediately signed a bilingual agreement in Chinese and English, stipulating that Tam & Co. would become a special British agent in the Far East, and that 49 percent of the Sino-British trade share in Guangzhou would be entrusted to Tam & Co.

Seeing that the British army readily agreed, the Tan merchant also readily revealed the top-secret information in his mouth. Tan told He Bo that along the river of the provincial Henan Road they were preparing to pass through, there were not only a group of Changzhou batteries with hundreds of guns, but also many other hidden batteries, such as the Xinzao and Suishi batteries, which were extremely strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, although He Bo's fleet was strong, but to conquer these forts, he was afraid that he would have to lose more than ten or twenty warships, so it was better to set out from the provincial Hebei Road and river.

There is a fork in the southeast of Cheung Chau Island, and the waterway of this fork directly communicates the water surface of the Pearl River between Provincial Henan Road and Provincial Hebei Road. After passing through this fork in the road, you can bypass the Changzhou Fort Group and go directly to the provincial Hebei Road waterway. Moreover, there are only a few forts in the North Road Waterway, such as Pazhou Fort, Liede Fort and Ershawei. Among them, the main general of the defenders of the Pazhou Fort is still the son of their Tan family, and he can be persuaded to transfer all the defenders of the Pazhou Fort and give the entire Pazhou Fort to the British army, and occupy it without much effort. Then, the British army only needed to break through the Liede Fort and the Ershawei Fort to approach the east of Guangzhou.

He Bo was overjoyed when he heard this! He didn't expect that there was such a good thing waiting for him, if what this Tan businessman said was true, then it would be much smoother to attack from the waterway of Hebei Road in the province like this. In any case, the Changzhou Fort Group in front of him is indeed extremely difficult to attack, and if there is really another way to attack Guangzhou City, it must be tried.

Immediately, He Bo ordered the Tan merchant to be the guide, and he arranged for men to lead the way in front. When the fleet retreated three or four miles, it really found a relatively hidden waterway, which could bypass the easternmost part of the longest continental battery group and lead directly to the provincial Hebei Road.

As a result, He Bo began to believe the statement of the businessman surnamed Tan and was full of expectations.

Soon, Hobber's fleet caught up with the main fleet of the expeditionary force in Xinzhou, and Hober personally led the merchant surnamed Tan to board the flagship of the "Melville" to persuade Seymour. When Seymour heard this, he was also extremely surprised, and praised the merchant surnamed Tan, saying that as long as he served the British Empire well, he would help him propose to Her Majesty the Queen to award him the title of knight of the British Empire.

As soon as Seymour made a statement, the rest was simple.

At that moment, the Seymour fleet and the He Bo ships set out from the waterway of the provincial Hebei Road, all the way forward, upstream, and soon arrived at the Pazhou Fort.

The Pazhou Fort was indeed as Tan said, there were no defenders, and the entire fort was abandoned, but the dozen or so cannons left behind seemed to be old artillery, but no one paid attention to these details.

In this way, in the entire provincial Hebei Road, only the Liede Fort and the Ershawei Fort can block the expeditionary fleet. The city of Guangzhou also seems to be on the horizon.