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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 389: The Fall of the Fortress

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    In the second half of May 1855, in late May 1855, the British-French Far Eastern Allied Forces and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom mercenary group captured Petropavlovsk, the most important military port in the Russian Far East. The news did not reach the United Kingdom until a month and a half later. Sir Bao Ling also brought back the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's west  Wang offered to help the Taiping Army train naval personnel, transfer three main battleships of the Far East Fleet to the Taiping Rebellion, and order five cruisers with a mixture of sail and steam power at the shipyard in Portsmouth, England.

    British Prime Minister Palmerston was hesitant about how to deal with this incident. He took over as British Prime Minister in early 1855. The issue of the Taiping Rebellion was left to him by his predecessor, Edward Stanley.  Although Palmerston was a Whig who did not like radicals, he was a man who was willing to seek the greatest interests for Britain. In his view, his predecessor, the leader of the British Conservative Party and the 14th Earl of Derby,  Edward Stanley was still more humble in his stance towards the Taiping Rebellion.  Although the two trading ports occupied by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom accounted for more than 60% of the trade with China, Palmerston believed that through diplomacy and coercion, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a local rebel regime that was not much more enlightened than the Qing Dynasty, could definitely surrender.

    Although the Taiping Rebellion has an absolute advantage in military power in the Far East, and intelligence analysis shows that the Taiping Rebellion will completely unify the country within five to ten years, Palmerston's diplomatic rhetoric is to beat him first and then explain.  everything.  This was how he resolved the First Opium War conflict when he was foreign minister.

    However, Palmerston's Foreign Secretary John Russell also kindly pointed out that rather than spending huge costs to confront the Taiping Rebellion, it is better to make the Chinese regret humiliating Britain in some way, such as  Send a navy to intimidate the Manchu Qing government in Beijing and force the decadent Manchu Qing government to sign a new treaty.  In this way, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom overthrows the Manchu and Qing government in the future, as the successor government, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom must face up to the treaty signed by the Manchu and British, and the British will have a great legal initiative.

    As for helping the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom train its navy, in the words of the Admiralty Minister, by the time the yellow-skinned monkeys of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom learned how to drive British warships, the British Imperial Navy had already sailed iron-clad steam warships to Shanghai.

    After several meetings and discussions, Palmerston also agreed with Foreign Secretary John Russell's China policy, which was to unite the Taiping Rebellion to exert pressure on the Manchu government. It would be best if the matter could be resolved without resorting to war.

    Although the British cabinet hopes for peace and the avoidance of new conquests.  But they did not know that the decadent Manchu Qing Dynasty would not give in easily, and they would be forced to use force to open the road to Beijing.

    Unlike the British attitude, the French official was more decisive, but their emperor Napoleon III firmly supported the Taiping Rebellion.  In the emperor's words, nothing could be more interesting than seeing the establishment of a new Catholic state in the East.  This can be said to be a profound portrayal of the difference in thinking between the Channel Islands and La Manche!  The British value material interests.  Just wants to talk about money, business, exports and emigration to Hong Kong etc.; the French and Napoleon III as idealists.  But he was answering what a "crusade" was.

    As a Catholic polity, the Second French Empire did want to appease Catholic conservatives, who were very worried about the fate of the Holy See in the reorganization of Italy's political situation.  Napoleon III would not forget the Pope's "complete approval" of the "December 2 coup".  Relying on military operations to help missionaries spread the Bible in China can be seen as an excellent domestic policy.  Although the emperor himself was indifferent to religious affairs, he hoped that the Catholic clergy would push people to vote for him, and the Empress Eugenie enthusiastically supported religious interests.  If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can really establish a country in the Far East.  The missionary work to France and the Holy See will be a very good thing. At least the missionaries who have come into contact with the Taiping Army say that under the rule of the Taiping Army, it is a paradise for missionary work.  The French emperor's optimism was due to his ignorance of the God-worshipping leader of Tianjing and his teachings, but it is undeniable.  The west hall allowed the missionaries operating in Su Fu Province to see the good side of the Taiping Army.

    Marshal Landon, the French Minister of War, gave an incisive summary of the motivations in all aspects: "In the eyes of the British businessmen in Bangladesh, the Treaty of Nanjing became a means for them to continue poisoning the Chinese with narcotics and obtain millions of silver taels. France  Asked to join honest trade with these areas. Unfortunately, France's trade volume with China is not large, but it has higher interests in China, that is, sending missionaries; despite risking all kinds of dangers and enduring all kinds of hardships, they finally succeeded  Many Catholic parishes have been established in all the provinces of China and even in the most remote areas. This is truly a cause of Christian civilization, and we are honored to support it."

    Therefore, France fully supported the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom¡¯s plan to train the navy, exchange ships, purchase ships, and build ships. Similarly, France also proposed the construction of Catholic churches in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom-occupied areas such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Ningbo.?.  So the King of the West agreed to pay the French to upgrade the chapel under his rule into a church. Although the King of the West has been implementing the separation of church and state, what needs to be faced is the spread of Catholicism and Christianity, which has become a fashion in Sufu Province.

    The Chinese people do not have firm beliefs to begin with. They believe more in God. Regardless of Buddhism, Taoism or other sects, the Chinese feel that as long as their wishes can be fulfilled, they do not mind which Bodhisattva they worship.  Therefore, in Su Fu Province, it is considered fashionable to believe in Catholicism and Christianity, just like it was fashionable to believe in any doctrine in the early days of the New Culture Movement in later generations.

    Although the West Hall implements the separation of church and state, there are still huge religious groups among the military and civilians. Everywhere they go, simple chapels will be built in the West Hall for soldiers and civilians to worship.  However, due to changes in policy, the King of the West did not invest a penny in these chapels. The construction of the chapels was entirely voluntary donations from believers. Most of the money from the King of the West was used to build new schools and the army.  Since the French enthusiastically want to build more churches, the West Hall will not stop them. At least the beautiful churches built by the French are better than the simple chapels built by the military and civilian believers in Sufu Province, right?

    However, Britain and France still had the same policy towards Russia. After learning that the largest military port in the Russian Far East had fallen, Britain and France felt like they had received a shot in the arm.  The same voice is heard in both countries. Since the Russians cannot defeat the yellow-skinned monkeys, are we not even as good as monkeys?

    The Crimean War was fought very hard.  The Russian fortress of Sevastopol had never been completely surrounded since the beginning of the war, and Russian troops had free access from the north and east.  The coalition forces still planned to use large-scale shelling to weaken the fortress defense system.  By February 1855, a large number of French reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, and the French army increased to 90,000 men.  The British army only had 11,000 soldiers in good condition, and the other 23,000 were either injured or sick.  The Turkish army had 20,000 men and 30 cannons.  The French army was the main force of the attack.  In addition, there are some mercenaries, 9,000 German legions, 3,000 Swiss legions and 1,500 Polish legions. These are all troops hired by the British.

    By March, 15,000 Sardinians were on the battlefield.  Despite the considerable strength of the coalition forces, the attack was still difficult, and the Russian army's defense system was very complete.  The stone walls of the Sevastopol Fortress are not continuous.  Malakoff Fortress is the only stone fortress.  The Russian army's method was to use sharpened branches to make a fence, then a deep trench, and behind it was a rifle firing position made of branches and soil.  Behind the position is another layer of obstacles made of tree trunks, and there are traps on the ground with sharpened branches inside.  There are also a large number of mines.  The Russian army often sent out raiding parties at night.  Killing unsuspecting soldiers in the Union trenches.

    Coalition soldiers who have been deeply affected by disease and poor logistics now have to endure another kind of torture, which is the pressure from their counterparts in the Far East.  It is said that a young general of the Taiping Army in the Far East who was less than 18 years old captured the Petropavlovsk military port fortress with nearly 10,000 Russians garrisoned by a mercenary group of more than 2,000 people.  And rumor has it it only took them a week.  Although this is all hearsay.  But the fall of the Petropavlovsk naval port fortress is an undisputed fact.  Although the soldiers of the coalition forces were curious about how the Taiping Army did it, their sense of honor as soldiers did not allow them to think too much. They must take over the Sevastopol Fortress in a short time, which they had been besieging for nearly a year.  The fortress.

    In fact, the coalition soldiers did not know that the Petropavlovsk Military Port Fortress was abandoned by the Russians on their own initiative when Tan Shaoguang's troops occupied the volcanic ridge east of the military port.  The entire fortress and even the passages in and out were under the control of Tan Shaoguang's artillery fire.  Muravyov, an old fox, knew that in this case the military port would fall sooner or later. The troops and materials Russia invested in the Far East were not sufficient. He did not want these precious personnel and materials to be wasted on such consumption.  , so he chose to retreat.  He also knew that if the coalition forces were to maintain their occupation of the Petropavlovsk military port, they would have to invest in maritime transportation.  This kind of consumption is also very huge. Muravyov calculated that when the coalition forces can no longer bear it, they will voluntarily give up. Even before the severe cold of autumn arrives, they will withdraw in advance. No one is willing to defend in the bitter cold of the Far East.  A winter, not to mention the sea surface will freeze, sooner or later there will be problems with the supply of the coalition fleet.  Time and severe cold would allow the Russians to regain their lost ground without any bloodshed, at least that was Muravyov's plan.

    The coalition soldiers on the front line of Sevastopol Fortress began a large-scale storming operation in early June.  On June 17, 1855, the coalition forces launched the fourth large-scale artillery bombardment. The British army planned to capture the Fort and the French army aimed at the Malakoff Fortress.  The Russian army knew about the attack in advance and even knew about the quarrel between Belisier and Bosquet and Belisier's detailed plan to advance the attack to 3 am.  The French army suffered heavy casualties after the attack began, and Belisier ordered a retreat at 8:30 in the morning.  The British troops fared just as poorly. The troops were killed by grapevines as they crossed a quarter-mile of open ground.and musket bullets causing severe damage.  The British suffered 1,500 casualties, while the French suffered 1,500 killed and 1,600 wounded.

    The failure of this operation was a heavy blow to the spirit of the British commander-in-chief Lord Raglan, who was already feeling exhausted.  Cholera once again visited the camp, and on June 14, 1855, General Escott announced that Lord Raglan was suffering from severe dysentery.  On June 28, 1855, Lord Raglan died peacefully in his sleep.  At this point, at the beginning of the war, the top commanders of the British and French armies died of illness one after another, causing great shock to the coalition military camp.  On July 1, Sir Simpson succeeded as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, but he was obviously inexperienced and was helpless in the face of difficulties.  Tš¹rkiye's battlefield in the Caucasus is tight, and Omar Pasha's Turkish army is preparing to withdraw from Crimea to rescue the important Caucasus town of Kars.  Napoleon III was very dissatisfied but the siege could only continue.  On August 16, Gorchakov concentrated 4 infantry divisions and 2 cavalry brigades across the Chenaya River to attack the coalition forces. Only part of the British cavalry and artillery participated in the battle, but the Russian army suffered 8,000 casualties. The last time  The rescue operation failed.  British commander Simpson was pessimistic about the outcome of the war, which earned him criticism from London and comparisons with the young commander of the Far East Taiping Army, where London was already discussing his successor.

    Simpson had no choice but to make progress before London ordered him to remove himself, otherwise his honor would be lost in the Atlantic Ocean.  At 11:30 on July 8, 1855, the coalition forces began their fifth violent bombardment.  40 minutes later, the coalition launched a general attack. This was the first time in history that all forces calibrated the time and launched an attack at the same moment.  The French McMahon Division attacked the Malakoff Fortress. In just 10 minutes, the fortress fell into the hands of the French. Then the French army repelled the Russian counterattack.  The British attack on Fort Loch failed again.  The British troops were pinned behind the breastworks at the foot of the Fort by Russian fire and refused to advance. Soon they turned and retreated.  But the fall of Malakoff Fortress was fatal to the Russian army. The coalition artillery fire could cover the entire Sevastopol from here, and the fall was only a matter of time.  That night, the Russian army destroyed all fortifications and withdrew from Sevastopol in a planned manner with artillery and logistics facilities.  After a 13-month siege, the coalition finally entered the ruins of Sevastopol.

    Although the British and French allied forces overcame huge difficulties in a short period of time and captured the fortress heavily guarded by the Russians for the sake of military honor, they paid a heavier price than ever in later history. More than 17,500 British soldiers were killed, and three  More than 10,000 people were injured, and nearly half of the wounded soldiers subsequently died from poor medical conditions and malnutrition due to lack of supplies.  The losses of the French army were even more severe, with more than 50,000 soldiers killed and more than 70,000 soldiers injured. Like the British army, half of the soldiers did not die on the battlefield, but died at the hands of their own logistics officers.  The Russians suffered even greater losses, with more than 300,000 soldiers killed or injured.

    The exhausted parties all need to negotiate. War is just a continuation of politics. All parties need to end this war.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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