Chapter 554: The Army That Destroyed the Nation

"Expand the conflict? No." Liang Shaoqiong shook his head.

"On the contrary, I hope that the two countries will be friendly again. Among the thousands of officials in the Qing Dynasty, no one wants the Qing Dynasty and Britain to be friendly again more than me. Therefore, as long as you cooperate, I will do my best to protect your personal safety."

This is Liang Shaoqiong's inner thoughts. It is more in line with his own interests and the interests of the Liang family to maintain peace between the Qing Dynasty and Britain and continue to make a fortune quietly. The British and French coalition forces are more difficult to deal with than the Hongyang bandits. This is a louse on the monk's head, which is obvious.

The reason why he fought against Britain and France was that Britain and France violated his core interests, and he had to do so.

"What about the safety of our property?"

Hearing that Liang Shaoqiong was willing to protect their personal safety, the British gentlemen in the Governor's Mansion breathed a sigh of relief, but they felt that Liang Shaoqiong seemed to deliberately ignore a problem.

Liang Shaoqiong only emphasized the protection of their personal safety, and did not mention the safety of property.

"I can't do anything about this." Liang Shaoqiong spread his hands and said helplessly.

"As you said, the Qing Dynasty is a country composed of barbarians, and my army is composed of a group of more barbaric people.

Their military discipline is corrupt and the discipline is lax, even I can hardly restrain them effectively."

The British gentlemen in the Governor's Mansion turned pale when they heard this. The Liang family is really more rogue than the other, but they can't do anything about these rogues now.

The flag bearer of the Guangdong Navy came to the flagpole of the Governor's Mansion, lowered the Union Jack, and replaced it with the flag of the Guangdong Navy.

"General Hong, Hong Kong has been recaptured. We have captured many British prisoners. You can rest in peace." Kang Enze looked in the direction of Hong Mingxiang's martyrdom at the mouth of the Pearl River.

At the same time, at the mouth of the Pearl River, the battle continued.

The British and French fleets and the Umbrella fleet were fighting at the mouth of the Pearl River.

Major General Spence now regretted very much that he had issued the stupid order: destroy Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort.

He did not expect that the navies of the two great powers of Britain and France would lose control of the sea in the Far East.

If Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort were still alive, they could have used Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort to fight against this unknown Qing fleet and gain firepower advantage.

The naval battle at the mouth of the Pearl River lasted from 1 noon on Christmas Day to 6 pm, a full 5 hours, and the outcome was still undecided.

After the Hong Kong Island Fleet returned to the mouth of the Pearl River, the two sides showed a situation of equal strength.

The British and French coalition forces had a clear advantage in the total tonnage of the fleet, and the sailors had more practical experience. The Umbrella fleet won because the ships in the ship-to-ship battle were all cutting-edge warships, and the Sacramento naval guns used had a faster firing rate and higher accuracy than the naval guns of the British and French coalition forces.

Of course, the most troublesome thing for the British and French fleet was the two ironclad ships of the Umbrella Company fleet.

They desperately discovered that as long as the two ironclad ships were separated from them by a distance, their existing cannons could not cause effective damage to the hulls of the two ironclad ships.

The French ships Fuli and Gunner, both of which had a displacement of more than 3,500 tons, tried to rush up and engage in close combat with the two enemy ironclad ships.

But Fuli and Gunner, which had broken away from the formation, were soon fired upon by the enemy's naval guns and severely injured.

The charge tactics of the French ships Fuli and Gunner failed, and the British and French fleet could only continue to use explosive bombs to wash the decks of the two annoying ironclad ships from a distance in order to suppress the firepower of the two ironclad ships.

However, the turrets of the Vanguard-class ironclad ships were all protected by steel armor, and the British and French coalition's deck-washing tactics had a certain effect, which did cause certain casualties and troubles to the sailors on the ship, but the effect was limited.

The British and French fleets then focused their attacks on the more than 1,000-ton Bold-class frigates and a number of Loach-class gunboats.

They hoped to sink the enemy's frigates with solid bullets, and finally pick up two ironclad ships.

Although the Bold-class was a wooden frigate, it was not completely without protection. The sides of the Bold-class ship were also covered with cast iron armor, which had a certain degree of protection.

It was just that it could not be immune to the damage of large-caliber naval guns like the Vanguard-class ironclads, but the defense effect against 9-pound guns and 12-pound guns was still good.

The two sides continued to fight at the mouth of the Pearl River until sunset, and there was no intention to cease fire.

At 9 o'clock that night, the British and French coalition leaders received accurate intelligence and learned that Hong Kong Island had been lost, and it was no longer meaningful for them to return to Hong Kong Island.

In order to save the limited ammunition, the British and French coalition leaders decided to withdraw from the battlefield on their own initiative.

This naval battle lasted for a full eight hours. The British and French coalition forces confirmed the results of the battle, including the sinking of four Daring-class battleships and five Loach-class gunboats of the other side.

Compared with the results achieved, the losses of the British and French coalition fleets themselves were greater.

The British ships Coromandel, Pegasus, Punjab, Barracuda, and Providence were sunk.

The French ships Fuli, Gunner, and North River were sunk.

In this naval battle, the ironclad ships left a deep impression on the top leaders of the British and French coalition forces, and became an indelible shadow for the top leaders of the coalition forces.

If the other side did not have these two ironclad ships in the front line to attract firepower, they would have broken through the blockade and successfully returned to Hong Kong Island. This is the unanimous view of the top leaders of the coalition forces.

The existence of ironclad ships is the reason why they cannot win.

Seeing the British and French coalition forces retreat, the Umbrella fleet did not pursue them.

Firstly, their losses were not small, and secondly, the Humen Fort Group was not completely destroyed by the British and French forces, so it was very dangerous to pursue rashly.

Hong Kong Island was lost, and Guangzhou City had not yet been taken.

The British and French forces were now facing the risk of being attacked from both sides by the Qing army, and the situation was very unfavorable to them.

In order to break this unfavorable situation, the British and French forces, who had lost Hong Kong Island as a logistics supply base, made a very bold decision: to attack Guangzhou City directly after dawn.

At this time, Liang Shaoqiong also sent a message to Ye Mingchen, who was still in Guangzhou City, asking Ye Mingchen to hold on to Guangzhou City and buy time for him to regroup and dispatch troops to attack the remnants of the British and French forces from both sides.

In Guangzhou City, Ye Mingchen was not idle either. The governor was racking his brains on how to defend Guangzhou City.

After praying to Buddha to no avail, Ye Mingchen turned to setting up an altar to hold a planchette (a feudal superstitious game similar to the pen fairy asking for gods), asking a group of Jianghu sorcerers who pretended to be gods to communicate with spirits, and asking the gods for guidance.

How could these spirit-telling shamans reach the heavens directly, and how could they know any method to defeat the enemy? They just ignorantly regarded the Western gunboats as magic.

The shamans suggested that Ye Mingchen use the traditional method of exorcism: using black dog blood, toilet feces, menstrual belts and other dirty things to deal with the attack of the British and French coalition forces.

What is outrageous is that one dared to say it, and the other dared to believe it.

Ye Mingchen was like finding a treasure, and ordered the soldiers to collect black dog blood, feces and menstrual cloth throughout the city, and decided to use them as weapons to break the evil magic of the British barbarians, making their guns and cannons inoperable, the army demoralized, and retreated on their own.

"Old immortal, has Lu Zu sent down an oracle?" Ye Mingchen asked the old Taoist who presided over the spirit-telling with full expectation.

Lu Zu is Lu Dongbin, the immortal that Ye Mingchen believes in most. During his house arrest in India, he still recited and copied the "Lü Zu Sutra" all day long, which shocked the Indian soldiers guarding him and made them think that Ye Mingchen was a person with extremely devout faith.

This old Taoist had a fairy-like appearance and did look like a Taoist master.

Facing Ye Mingchen's expectant inquiry, the old Taoist, who was panicking inside, had to shirk his duty by saying that the secret of heaven could not be revealed.

The situation was urgent, and Ye Mingchen ignored the old Taoist's refusal and kept asking questions.

Seeing that there was no way to shirk his duty, the old Taoist had to say: "Lü Zu has sent down an oracle, please be at ease, the governor, the British will retreat within a hundred days!"

Ye Mingchen was greatly relieved and in a good mood after receiving the oracle of Lü Zu. He rewarded these gods generously.

Ye Mingchen thought to himself that it was not in vain that I believed in Lü Zu, and Lü Zu would protect me after all.

On the morning of December 26, 1857, the remnants of the British and French coalition forces entered Guangzhou City after suffering single-digit casualties and easily captured the provincial capital.

The defenders of Guangzhou City abandoned the toilets placed on the top of the city and fled for their lives.

Ye Mingchen himself was captured by the British on his way back to the Governor's Office.

The British and French coalition forces also searched for Guangdong Governor Bai Gui and Guangzhou General Mutten in the city, and learned that the two bannermen had already fled. They had no choice but to support the uncooperative Ye Mingchen as a puppet, and announced to the whole city that Guangzhou City would be temporarily governed by Ye Mingchen and the British and French coalition forces.

At this point, Guangzhou fell.

In order to avenge Liang Shaoqiong's uncle and nephew for seizing Hong Kong Island, the British and French coalition forces set Liang Shaoqiong's coal mine in Baiyun on fire, and the fire burned for several days.

The fall of Guangzhou also made Liang Shaoqiong's plan to attack the remnants of the British and French coalition forces from the north and south completely bankrupt.

The main force of the British army departing from Xingzhou Island is about to arrive in Guangdong. Now they are at risk of being attacked from both sides by the British and French coalition forces and surrounded and annihilated.

With the help of Liang Shaoqiong and Fang Jianyuan, Liang Yao recruited Xiangshan civilians to strengthen the defense facilities around Xiangshan Port. At the same time, the cannons shipped from California were assumed to be set up on high ground such as Cheqi Mountain, Mount Davis, and Cape Collinson.

Fortifications were built in Taikoo Village, Victoria Harbor, and several other places where the British army was most likely to land, and machine guns were set up to defend Hong Kong Island.

The easy loss of Guangzhou also made Liang Shaoqiong realize that if he wanted to change all this, it was definitely not enough to have military power.

He had to climb to a higher position, such as Ye Mingchen's position, to become a frontier official and have his own political power, so that he could do more. So as not to be played by Ye Mingchen, Bai Gui, Mutten and others.

Looking at the flames rising from the direction of Baiyun, Liang Shaoqiong's heart was bleeding. Rather than saying that it was the mine that was burning, it was Liang Shaoqiong's silver that was burning.

Since the British and French forces occupied Guangzhou, they were limited by insufficient troops and did not take the next step. They just huddled in the city, waiting for the arrival of the main British army.

January 3, 1858.

The main British army, which the remnants of the British and French forces in Guangzhou City had been looking forward to, finally arrived in the Pearl River Delta.

53 British warships flying the white flag, carrying more than 8,400 British troops, wandered in the waters near the Pearl River.

This army was the East India & China Fleet, the British Empire Far East Expeditionary Force, the main force of this trade war.

The leader of this powerful British fleet was the famous British Royal Navy Admiral Michael Seymour, and the commander-in-chief of the army was General James Hope Grant. Elgin, the British Empire's plenipotentiary envoy to China who was responsible for the diplomatic actions of this war, was also among them.

In the mid-19th century, this was a military force that was powerful enough to destroy a country.

Liang Yao was also fortunate enough to witness such a large-scale British army for the first time in his life.

Due to the huge disparity in strength between the two sides, Liang Yao prohibited the Umbrella Company fleet from leaving the port to fight, but instead, it remained in Xiangshan Port as a fleet in existence.

Unless the British fleet went all out to attack Xiangshan Port, Liang Yao would not easily put this naval force that he had spent eight years to build up into battle.

Although Xiangshan Port was important, it was not Jinshan Port after all.