Chapter 290: The Response of Guangdong Provincial Authorities

The news that the American army had defeated the Japanese shogunate army and forced the Japanese shogunate army to sign the humiliating "Nagaki Treaty" and "US-Japan Treaty of Amity" quickly spread from Japan to the Qing Dynasty across the water.

After learning of this news, the Guangdong authorities first doubted the reliability of this news, until Perry's American East India Fleet was replenishing in Xiangshan, Xu Guangjin sent someone to confirm the authenticity of this news with Perry.

When he learned that the news was true, Xu Guangjin's body was refreshed, and at the same time he was glad that he did not have a military conflict with Liang Yao in Xiangshan.

Even Pan Zhengwei, Pan Shicheng, Wu Yuanhua and others who had just returned to Guangzhou were very surprised.

Pan Zhengwei and Wu Yuanhua were relatively familiar with the American army, especially the American army in California.

There is no doubt that Pan Zhengwei and Wu Yuanhua both believed that the American army had the strength to defeat the Japanese shogunate army.

But they didn't expect that Liang Yao and Perry could defeat the army of the Tokugawa shogunate so quickly and force the Tokugawa shogunate to sign such a harsh and unequal treaty.

"The Universal History says that the strongest country in the West is England, followed by France. Among the Western countries, the United States can only be regarded as a second-rate country in terms of strength. I didn't expect that a second-rate Western country could defeat the Japanese shogunate so easily."

Pan Shicheng, who was familiar with the Universal History, said with worry.

"Wakoku is not a weak country. Its people are quite fierce, but it still ended up like this. If one day a first-class Western power like England and France goes to war with my Qing Dynasty, how should we respond?"

Pan Shicheng didn't want to experience another Opium War. After the end of the First Opium War, the Pan family inevitably became weak and suffered a great loss of financial resources.

If he hadn't been decisive and sent Pan Zhengwei to California, the United States to pan for gold, the situation of the Pan family would definitely be more difficult than it is now.

"I heard that the English are quite dissatisfied with the Jiangning Treaty and have repeatedly asked for a revision of the treaty. If this continues, given the insatiable nature of the English, it is not impossible that the imperial court and England will fight again."

Pan Zhengwei did not think that Pan Shicheng was exaggerating, and there was indeed such a possibility.

Lt. General Kang Enze, who returned to Guangdong on Perry's favorable ship, immediately reported to Guangdong Navy Admiral Hong Mingxiang what he saw and heard in Japan with the American fleet.

"The Japanese soldiers are very brave, but in front of guns and cannons, bravery is useless. Colonel Liang fought very easily in the two battles in Nagasaki and Kanagawa, especially the battle in Kanagawa. Colonel Liang fought against tens of thousands of Japanese shogunate soldiers with only 2,000 troops, and defeated the shogunate army in less than a day." Kang Enze said to Hong Mingxiang with a serious look.

"Foreign guns and cannons are indeed powerful. Whether in terms of range, firing rate or accuracy, they are much better than our guns and cannons. General Hong, I think that if we want to defend the Guangdong sea border, we must have foreign guns and cannons.

Before leaving, I asked Colonel Liang, and Colonel Liang said that he has an arsenal in California, USA, and can produce guns and cannons by himself. If we need them, we can buy guns and cannons from him."

As the commander of the Guangdong Navy, Kang Enze knows what the Guangdong Navy is like now.

If England invades Guangzhou again, Kang Enze thinks that the performance of the Guangdong Navy may not be better than this time when the Japanese pirates resisted the United States.

"I heard that the American army suffered only a few casualties in this battle, but is it true?" Hong Mingxiang asked about the casualties of the American army.

Hong Mingxiang knows the advantages of foreign guns and cannons, and of course he also wants foreign guns and cannons, but there are still two problems before them.

The first problem is the money. The Guangdong Navy can hardly pay the military salaries, let alone buy guns and cannons.

The second problem is the court's permission. If a large number of foreign guns and cannons were purchased without the court's permission, he, as the admiral of the Guangdong Navy, would not be able to bear the responsibility if the court investigated.

"It's true." Kang Enze gave a very affirmative answer. "The total number of casualties of the two American navies is only a dozen. I saw it with my own eyes."

"You compile your experience of this matter into an article, and follow me to the minister to explain the pros and cons." Hong Mingxiang sighed.

"I have compiled this experience into an article."

As he said, Kang Enze brought a wooden box, which contained the manuscript of his "Records of Japan".

Hong Mingxiang opened the wooden box, took out a few pages and read them roughly, then nodded with satisfaction: "You did a good job this time."

A few days later, at the Humen Fort, Hong Mingxiang invited Xu Guangjin to the Humen Fort to review the Humen soldiers.

Humen is the key to Guangzhou, and the soldiers on the Humen Fort are naturally the elite of the Qing army.

It's just different from the past. In the past, when the superiors wanted to review the troops, they would at least give them the news in advance so that they could prepare in advance.

This time, the Qing soldiers at the Humen Fort saw two first-rank officials appear at the Humen Fort without receiving any notice, which made the Qing soldiers at the Humen Fort panic.

The Humen Fort is not a single fort, but a fortress group composed of more than a dozen large and small forts, including Shajiao Fort, Dajiao Fort, Shanghengdangdao Fort, Weiyuan Fort, Jingyuan Fort, Zhenyuan Three Forts, Hengdang Fort, and Yong'an Fort, with three layers in front and back.

It was the most complete artillery fort in the Qing Dynasty's coastal areas. If managed properly, it could indeed protect Guangzhou.

Hong Mingxiang and Xu Guangjin first inspected the outermost Shajiao Fort.

Although there was no use of gun barrels to dry clothes on the Shajiao Fort, the absence of soldiers on duty and improper storage of ammunition had indeed become the norm.

According to the organization, the Shajiao Fort should have a Green Camp with a total of 1,100 soldiers stationed there. At this time, there were only about 400 Qing soldiers on the Shajiao Fort, and half of them were old smokers who smoked opium and could not stand steadily and had runny noses.

Seeing this, even though Hong Mingxiang and Xu Guangjin were mentally prepared, they were still angry and their faces turned blue.

Although the Humen Fort was the most solid and complex coastal defense fortress in the Qing Dynasty, it was also a thing of the past that soldiers were always short of personnel and could not be fully staffed.

In theory, that is, under full staffing, the entire Humen Fort group should have more than 10,000 Green Camp soldiers stationed there.

In fact, the number of soldiers stationed at the Humen Fort has never reached this number.

Even during the period when Lin Zexu was reorganizing the military preparations of Humen, the number of soldiers stationed at the Humen Fort that could actually be put into combat was only 7,000 to 8,000.

When Guan Tianpei went to the front line in person after the Shajiao and Dajiao Forts outside Humen were lost, he had no choice.

If the soldiers on the front line were strong, why would the commander risk death to go to the front line in person.

"Liu Fang, the captain of the Shajiao Camp! Do you admit your guilt!" Hong Mingxiang shouted in a deep voice.

"I admit my guilt."

At this time, Liu Fang was still in a state of confusion. Liu Fang, who was a little drunk from smoking, walked unsteadily to Hong Mingxiang with a light step, and then knelt on the ground, sniffing two clear snots from his nose.