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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 666: Unknown

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    The Taiping Army's enhanced keg tactic achieved unimaginable results. Each of the more than 300 mines cost only 150 silver dollars, while a British warship was worth hundreds of times or more.  many.  ¡ÝIn fact, compared with the mature mine warfare of later generations, this result was not the most brilliant. During World War II, both warring parties used a large number of mines. A total of about 100,000 offensive mines were used, and a total of 2,665 ships were sunk. Most of these ships were  They are all transport ships with tens of thousands of tons, and they can be said to have achieved brilliant results.

    In this time and space, although the Russians had used mines in the Crimean War, their results were not great, and the Taiping Army's enhanced version of the small barrel tactic opened a new chapter in the history of naval warfare.

    Of course, the results and losses of the battle were only known to both sides after the next day. That night, the Taiping land forces still counterattacked the fort according to the pre-made plan. General Napier suffered heavy losses in the night battle because they faced  The enemy is a Taiping Army that is several times larger than our own.

    The battle continued until the sky became dark. General Napier finally had no choice but to lead dozens of Marines to board the French ships and hastily escape from Wusongkou. Then the Taiping Army used battery artillery to send off the four French warships.  and successfully damaged one.

    Pan Qiliang commanded the entire counterattack. Although the soldiers were brave, the French army also resisted fiercely, so it was not until dawn that the Wusongkou Fort was captured. This was much later than originally planned, but for the Taiping Army's mines.  If the tactics achieved unprecedented results, then Seymour's fleet would inevitably return to support the fort or escape from the waters of the Huangpu River, and then the Taiping Army's plan to lure the enemy would completely fail.

    Fortunately, after dawn, good news came.  Pan Qiliang's hanging heart was relieved. In fact, the fighting was still going on at night.  The Taiping generals found some burning shipwrecks drifting down from the upper reaches, and they probably guessed a few things.  I just didn't expect that the twenty British warships that broke into the Huangpu River would be wiped out, and the Wusongkou Fort would have no battle to fight.

    The Battle of Wusongkou avenged the British army's capture of Wusongkou more than 20 years ago. The old hero Zhou Lichun, who was the military officer of the Shanghai Admiralty Department at the time, had tears in his eyes. Looking at the wreckage of the ships floating along the river, he murmured:  : "Chen Junmen, rest in peace, we have avenged your revenge for you"

    The news of the victory in the Battle of Wusongkou spread throughout Shanghai the next day, and the soldiers and civilians all cheered. After the Taiping Army clashed with the British army at the Pearl River Estuary.  There has never been any negotiation agreement between the Taiping Army and the British. Everyone has been holding back their anger at the British's arrogance. In addition to the old debts from more than 20 years ago, there are also new enemies in recent years. Today, it can be said that the old debts are new.  Forget the debt together.

    Taking advantage of the new victory and the news coming from the north, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's newspapers trumpeted the victory of the war. The Xiwang in the north led the First Army to annihilate more than 20,000 British and French allied forces and expel the Manchu rebels.  The city of Beijing was surrounded.  The victory at Wusongkou in the south resulted in the sinking of twenty allied warships. News of the Taiping Army's major victory in the war against the British and French allied forces began to spread throughout the world.

    In the conference room on the second floor of the British Consulate in the British Concession in Shanghai, a group of British political dignitaries and businessmen who stayed in the concession gathered together.  All of them had sad faces, or were smoking cigars silently, or drinking whiskey.  The atmosphere was extremely depressing.

    "Gentlemen, what should we do?" The speaker was the British Consul in Tianjing, Midile.  Having always been close to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he now felt that he was a sinner.

    "I have long said that we should not be too indulgent towards the people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In Chinese terms, we are raising tigers to make trouble!" British Admiral Hobo knocked on the table and said, his other arm was still hanging on  The gauze on his chest and head has not yet been removed. He was injured in the Jintang War more than a month ago and returned to Shanghai to recuperate. The injury has not yet recovered.

    Midile disliked Uncle Huber's thick sea lion beard very much. He said unceremoniously: "General Huber, what we need is constructive suggestions, not to pursue the previous problems! The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom declared war on us this time, and  It's not because our previous policy was a recipe for disaster, but because our policy has changed. The usual neutral stance was broken by the expeditionary force's force, which will inevitably cause conflicts between the two sides! We should thoroughly reflect on why the situation has evolved to this point!  "

    General Seymour, who fled back to the concession, was still a junior in the military world, but he still supported General Ho's opinion: "Mr. Midile, the power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has harmed our interests in the Far East, and we must restrict it."

    The British Consul in Shanghai, Aliguo, was a neutral. He frowned and said: "Can the strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom be limited? If we had not favored the policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time, how much benefits could we have gained in the Far East? In the Crimean War, we  Although Russia was restrained by the tragic victory, the rise of the Taiping Rebellion was inevitable. I support??Mr. Midile's opinion is that we should reflect on our China policy. If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uses a large number of mines to block ports due to war, we will lose all trade in the Far East. Note, gentlemen, all  "

    On the sofa nearby, Clifford, the representative of the Rothschild family in the Far East, raised his glass and suddenly said: "Gentlemen, as businessmen, we value long-term interests more. Indeed, currently, the war between us and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom  A lot of interests have been harmed, but in the long run, a weak China with constant internal strife seems to be more in our interests. Its strength must be limited to a controllable range, instead of daring to resist us like it is now!"

    Midile frowned, and he was secretly cursing the Rothschild family. This blood-sucking family made a lot of money from the Crimean War. They are behind the current crisis in the Far East.  The British Parliament quietly changed its policy towards China and agreed to launch an expedition against the Manchus. The Rothschild family was the mastermind behind it. The reason was simply that the increasingly powerful Taiping Rebellion vigorously developed its own industry and commerce and began to crowd out many Far Eastern markets.  Some of the Rothschild family's investments suffered losses, so they did not want to see the Taiping Rebellion lose its Far Eastern market after becoming stronger.

    After A Liguo finished listening.  Immediately asked: "Our military strength in the Far East is very weak now. Only a strong navy cannot conquer a country with a vast continent. Gentlemen, if we want to limit the strength of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, how much army do we need? Just rely on the navy alone."  Can the blockade force them to submit? Gentlemen, you must know that except for opium, we have no commodity that the Chinese are indispensable for, and even opium they do not necessarily need!"

    Clifford shook his head and said: "We don't need to conquer every inch of land, we only need to capture their capital Tianjing! This way we can sign a new treaty!"

    "Tianjing?!" Midile said with a dumb smile: "There is at least one army of Taiping Army field troops guarding it, and there are tens of thousands of local rural soldiers to assist. The Taiping Army is not the Manchu army. Mr. Clifford, how many do we need?  The army is sent to fight in the Far East?"

    What Midile said is right.  Although the British Empire was known as the Empire on which the sun never sets at that time, the pure British army only had more than 200,000 regular troops, and the rest were mostly large colonial troops. The number of armies that could be dispatched could actually be calculated on the fingers.

    Clifford pondered for a moment and then said: "The Rothschild family will support the expansion of this war. The British Empire was declared war by a weak country. This is a humiliation in itself. I think the Queen does not want to shame the Empire. We will support it."  Recruiting more expeditionary troops to come to China."

    Clifford¡¯s guarantee represents the financial support of London¡¯s major financial groups. Midile looked dumbfounded at this rich son of the Rothschild family who had a strong artistic flair.  He didn't expect that he would become as cold and ruthless as a politician. What did he want to gain?  Is it really because the interests of the Rothschild family have been damaged in the Far East?

    Midile¡¯s questioning gaze turned to Alexander Madison, the major shareholder of Jardine Matheson, because he knew that Alexander was the real representative of the interests of the Rothschild family in the Far East.

    Alexander seems a little helpless. Although Jardine Matheson¡¯s business in the Far East has been affected to a certain extent by the rise of China¡¯s local industry and commerce.  However, due to the strong industrial strength of the United Kingdom, Jardine Matheson is gradually changing its traditional business model. They are actively negotiating with the Taiping Rebellion on joint mining rights for some mineral projects in the mainland.  Jardine Matheson planned to take advantage of technological advantages in the fields of mining, shipbuilding, railways, shipping, etc. under the Taiping Rebellion, but a war ruined all previous efforts.  Because Clifford was unwilling to deepen cooperation with the Taiping Rebellion, he resumed preaching about the huge profits brought by the opium trade.  If the Taiping Rebellion took control of all of China and implemented a nationwide anti-smoking policy, Jardine Matheson's opium trade would suffer great losses.

    But Alexander knew very well that the opium trade now only accounts for a pitiful 18% of the total trade volume of Jardine Matheson. He believed that in order to expand its commercial influence in the Far East, the Rothschild family must give up the opium trade. Once China and China  Just like Japan, no one buys this kind of thing, so what¡¯s the point of producing opium?  On the contrary, the increasingly open Chinese market needs other things, and foreign investors can even start to open banks in China. For a country with a population of 400 million, the profit temptation to occupy the financial field first will far exceed that of opium.  trading.

    But Alexander couldn't convince Clifford. He could only send his assessment back to the country and wait for instructions from the country. So in response to Midile's gaze, he could only smile and said: "Gentlemen, actually we can  Don't worry. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has surrounded the concession, we are safe for the time being. The navy is lackingWith the help of the Taiping Army, there is no need to risk trying to attack other ports of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. We do not want the Taiping Army to block waterways and ports with mines. The navy should return to Hong Kong first to ensure the safety of Hong Kong and wait for further instructions from the country, or bring negotiations with the country.  wishes, or send more expeditionary forces. In fact, we just need to wait now, don't we?  "

    Alexander did not make any statement, and Midile breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that Alexander would truthfully report everything that happened here to the country, and their consulate must also make a detailed report to the country. Expanding the war is a very stupid act, but can it work?  I don¡¯t know (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!
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