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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha, Chapter 730: I also have them all

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    Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula face each other across a bay. The widest point of this bay is about two miles and the narrowest point is only a mile. This bay is called Victoria Bay in the British population, while the Chinese like to call it Kowloon Bay.  .  This is a natural harbor with an average water depth of 12 meters. It was probably because of this natural deep-water harbor that the British chose Hong Kong.

    Unlike in history, the British army still only occupies Hong Kong Island, and the Kowloon Peninsula has not yet been ceded to Britain, so the Taiping Army still occupies the Kowloon Peninsula.  Sir Napier arrived at the largest naval base of the British Army in the East, but found that the northern part of the bay was also densely populated with mines. The existence of these things caused the bay channel to become narrow.

    The captain of the Far East Fleet who went to clear mines told Napier and others, "The damn Taiping soldiers, they mobilized pirates and nearby fishermen, and released mines from the Kowloon Peninsula every night. I remember the first time they released mines.  When we got up the next day, we found that our warship was surrounded by dense mines in the harbor. I bet that they must have mobilized tens of thousands of people that night and laid tens of thousands of mines in this sea area. So  Since that night, most of our ships have been trapped in the harbor. Then all they need to do is to add more mines every night from the north coast or waterways such as Rambler Channel, Sulfur Strait and Lei Yue Mun. When there are more of them in one night  Putting a few hundred, sometimes dozens, will be faster than us clearing the mines."

    Napier took a breath of cold air, and the captain said with a sad face: "We are worried that the currents and tides will bring mines to our anchorage, so we have set up a lot of fishing nets to intercept them, but fishing nets are still often blown up. Damn it.  , these Taiping troops used defensive weapons as offensive weapons."

    Napier also saw this kind of mine weapon used by the Russians to defend ports during the Crimean War, so he asked: "Why not clear it with intensive artillery fire?"

    The captain smiled bitterly, shook his head and did not answer. Instead, he looked at his pocket watch and said, "It's almost time to start." Napier and others didn't know why, so they also looked at their pocket watches, and it happened to be seven o'clock in the afternoon.  The sky was already darkening. At this moment, on the dim Kowloon Peninsula to the north, a large lightning-like fire appeared in the mountains over there.  The British troops following the Hong Kong Island pier and the shore shouted loudly: "Hide! Enemy shelling!" Then intensive artillery fire attacked this side.

    The north bank is more than two miles away from here. The Taiping Army must have deployed many artillery positions on the north bank, which can directly hit the pier and the shore here.  Napier immediately ordered the artillery on the ship to fire back, but the captain hurriedly stopped him and said loudly: "It's useless. Most of the enemy's artillery positions are hidden on the Lion Rock on the Kowloon Peninsula. They hollowed out the mountain and the artillery was hidden on the  We can't hit them in the heart of the mountain, and firing cannons will reveal the position of our warships! They will stop firing after a few cannons."

    Sure enough, ten minutes later, the sound of artillery subsided, and Napier felt extremely humiliated. The captain shrugged and said: "They will bombard for a few minutes at this time every day. Oh, by the way, they won't do it on Sundays."  .¡±

    Napier frowned and asked: "Where is Vice Admiral Massimogli?" The captain said: "The Vice Admiral's fleet is in Deep Water Bay in the south. The fleet we stay here is mainly to defend the north coast. For fear of  The enemy will sneak over from the north shore to attack us. If not, we would have taken a detour to Deep Water Bay in the south. We have already had enough."

    There are Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay in the south of Hong Kong Island. Deep Water Bay is also more suitable for use as a port. However, since there are no restrictions on two sides of land, the tides fluctuate greatly, and the wind and waves are larger than those in Victoria Bay.

    The captain continued: "And we are also in short supply of supplies. The Taiping Army has joined forces with pirates from Southeast Asia to act together. They often attack our merchant ships and transport ships. Lieutenant General He Bo's fleet has been doing escort missions during this time.  They suffered a defeat in the Bashi Strait last month. The Taiping Navy and Philippine pirates joined forces to severely damage the Hobo fleet, and they lost two warships."

    Napier frowned.  It seems that my previous imagination was too optimistic. The enemy used almost all available means to continuously consume the British army, and the British army was restricted everywhere due to the lack of effective counterattack means.

    After pondering for a moment, Napier asked: "Didn't Sir Elgin organize a counterattack?" The captain smiled bitterly and said: "We have already organized it. We have sent fleets to attack Zhoushan, Chongming, Yangtze River Estuary, and Pearl River Estuary.  However, it did not have a strong army force. The navy was unable to completely eliminate the enemies on the shore. In the end, it had to retreat because it ran out of ammunition and food. There were harassment from the Taiping Navy and pirates along the way. In addition, in the second half of the year, the Taiping Army strengthened  The military strength of the Kowloon Peninsula was reduced and they often bombarded Hong Kong Island. They had 64-pound heavy artillery, so our fleet had to withdraw to protect Hong Kong Island.??

    Napier asked again: "How are the concessions in Shanghai, Xiamen, and Ningbo?" The captain's answer was: "God knows!"

    A few days later, with the arrival of the second expeditionary force of the British and French coalition forces, the dilemma on Hong Kong Island began to be lifted. The British army had to send more ships to clear mines around Hong Kong Island to restore navigation and berthing capabilities in Victoria Bay.

    After Admiral Dundas arrived at Hong Kong Island, he, together with the new British Minister Plenipotentiary, Lord Collington, Field Marshal John Colburn, Baron of Seton, and Lieutenant General of Cavalry, James Thomas Bruder, Earl of Cardigan.  Nell, Army Lieutenant General George Bingham, Count of Lucan; French Field Marshal Aimable, Duke of Malakoff. Jean-Jacques Pellissier, Army General Patrice McMahon, Duke of Magenta.  , French Admiral Hamlin and others held a combat meeting at the British Governor's Palace in Hong Kong. Also participating in the meeting were Sir Elgin, Uncle Ho, Massimo Gly and others from the British and French First Expeditionary Force.

    The British and French generals commanding the expeditionary force this time are a very luxurious lineup. It can be seen that Britain and France do not want to fail again. If they still fail this time, they will have no choice but to make peace with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This is their last chance.

    The meeting was presided over by the new British Minister Plenipotentiary, Lord Collington, who replaced the previous Minister Plenipotentiary to the Far East, Sir Elgin. His low London accent made the atmosphere of the meeting particularly solemn: "Gentlemen, I would like to know what happens when we arrive.  What happened in the Far East before."

    Sir Elgin felt a little bitter in his mouth, but he still introduced it in detail: "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom destroyed the Qing Dynasty probably within three months after we withdrew from the north. The Qing government no longer organized effective resistance, and the Qing royal family surrendered.  The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and then they held a grand founding ceremony in Beijing two months ago. According to the information we got from the Americans and Spanish, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom now controls most of the Qing Dynasty, leaving only Tibet, Xinjiang, etc.  A few places have not yet been fully controlled, but after Mongolia announced its annexation to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, I believe these places will not resist for too long. In other words, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can now calmly integrate all its national power to deal with the war with us."

    Field Marshal John Colburn, Baron Seton of the British Army, knocked on the table and asked: "What about their military deployment?"

    Sir Elgin smiled bitterly and said: "In terms of intelligence work, it can be said that we are unable to make progress. The foreign companies in several treaty ports have been surrounded by the enemy in the concessions. Those who could withdraw have withdrawn. The only intelligence channels we can obtain now are  Only Americans and Spaniards. The Prussians are so nice that they can wear the same pants as the Taipings, while the Dutch and Swedes just go about their business."

    Admiral Dundas asked strangely: "Why not send a fleet to completely blockade the enemy's ports? Completely cut off their commercial activities?"

    Sir Elgin smiled bitterly and said: "Our merchants in the Far East are still doing business with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They do business with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom through the Americans and Spanish. Several other countries support Shanghai becoming a free trade port, which is not subject to war.  The impact. In fact, the most important thing is that our fleet is exhausted. The enemy has implemented the tactic of fortifying the wall and clearing the country on the southern coast. After our fleet leaves Hong Kong, it will not be able to obtain effective material supplies in any coastal area. After a period of blockade, it will be blocked due to material support.  We had to retreat because of the problem, so we were never able to completely blockade the enemy's ports."

    Dundas said strangely: "Aren't the Qing people happy to provide us with food and water in the past? Why can't they do it this time?"

    Sir Elgin said: "The great eastern country under the control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is no longer the Qing Dynasty in the past. They have very strong control over the local area. Almost all coastal villages have local soldiers stationed. When our fleet arrives at a place, we want to  When we go ashore to replenish water, they will hide the food in advance. The wells or rivers will be filled with the carcasses of dead animals, making it impossible for us to obtain water. The Chinese civilians will hide further inland, and then they will disappear.  Attacking our disembarking personnel. It is said that this is the so-called people's war launched by them. What we are fighting is no longer the simple Qing government, but the entire Far Eastern country. The people's will to resist here has been fully released in the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  It¡¯s a very scary thing.¡±

    Everyone was silent for a while after listening to Elgin's introduction. Elgin continued: "The Taiping Army we knew before has nearly 200,000 elite field troops and no less than one million local rural troops. Recently,  After the Qing Dynasty surrendered, the Americans said that they reorganized and armed hundreds of thousands of Qing troops. Together with several newly formed armies in the south, we estimate that their regular army reached an astonishing one million, the size of the rural army.  It is even larger. On the Kowloon Peninsula just opposite Hong Kong Island, we estimate that we have tens of thousands of field troops.There are an estimated 50,000 regular troops stationed in Guangzhou, a little further away.  "

    Field Marshal John Colburn, Baron Seton of the British Army, asked again: "What are their weapons and equipment like?"

    Sir Elgin and Lieutenant General He looked at each other.  Lieutenant General He said bitterly: "They imported several firearms and artillery production lines from Norway a few years ago. When the United States was in economic crisis, they acquired several American industrial companies. Now it can be said that, in addition to warships,  , they also have all the weapons we have. At the same time, they are constantly developing new weapons. Our Congreve rockets were copied by them, and the Russian mines were copied by them, and the effects of their use are better than those of us and  All Russians are nice"

    Baron Sidon frowned and interrupted him and asked: "Okay, we understand, so what are our other Far Eastern allies, the Russians, doing?" (To be continued.)
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