1850 American Gold Tycoon

In order to prevent the French army from attacking from Macau, Liang Shaoqiong sent troops overnight to dig fortifications at the junction of Xiangshan and Macau, and dispatched the most elite Shanziying Yueyong from the 3 posts to guard it.

Sutter also detached two companies from the 13th Regiment, and assisted Yue Yong in guarding this line of defense with four 6-pound Sacramento cannons and two 12-pound Sacramento cannons.

The remaining main force still guards Xiangshan Port to ensure that Xiangshan Port is safe.

The senior French military officials were very angry when they learned that the Reina had been blown up and that all the surviving officers and soldiers on the ship had been captured by Yue Yong.

At dawn the next day, little Meng Toban came to the port to ask for someone on the order of Old Meng Toban.

"Your country rashly opened fire on my French warship, causing casualties to our French soldiers, and now you are detaining my French crew. What is your purpose?" Little Meng Toban's attitude was arrogant and rude.

Liang Shaoqiong was unhappy and stretched lazily: "I have heard for a long time that France is a big country in Europe. I think the envoy from France should know some etiquette of a civilized country.

I didn't expect that the envoys from the big European countries would be so uneducated. They disturbed people's dreams so early in the morning, showed no courtesy to their elders, and had a damn bad mouth. "

"You?!" Little Meng Tuoban was young and energetic, and was not someone who could keep his temper.

"What are you doing? If you have anything to say, just say it. If you have any questions, let it go! I'm still waiting for morning tea!" Liang Shaoqiong didn't give Little Meng a good look.

"Release the French officers and soldiers detained by you immediately, otherwise" little Montauban threatened.

"Your country has declared war on our country, and we are now at war. You want me to release your prisoners just because of your words?" Liang Shaoqiong said coldly.

"Your Excellency, you are so innocent and cute."

Although France declared war on the Qing Dynasty, due to various reasons, the two countries did not formally submit their credentials.

Little Meng Tuoban had always heard that the officials of the Qing Dynasty were ignorant, arrogant, and as timid as mice. They also wanted to use information to blackmail the other party to release the prisoners, but he did not expect to encounter Liang Shaoqiong.

"As long as you let our people go, we promise not to attack Xiangshan." Xiao Meng Tuoban's attitude became much better.

After all, the prisoners of the French army are now in the hands of the Qing army, not the prisoners of the Qing army in the hands of the French army.

"This is just right. When asking for help, you should act like asking for help." Liang Shaoqiong said.

"It's not impossible for me to release these prisoners. You and Britain are allies. I think that since Britain and France can organize an expeditionary force to work together, the brotherhood between your two countries must be excellent and unbreakable.

There are more than 200 prisoners of the Guangdong Navy on Hong Kong Island. If you sincerely exchange, we are willing to exchange prisoners. "

At the Battle of Humen, the British captured 213 elite members of the Guangdong Navy.

Most of these captured elites of the Guangdong Navy were gunners from the Humen Fort. They were the most scarce technical arms of the Qing army at the moment. If French prisoners of war could be used to replace these naval gunners, Liang Shaoqiong would be happy to do so.

"this"

Exchange Qing troops captured by the British for French prisoners of war? Little Mentoban was stunned.

He had participated in the Crimean War and fought side by side with the British army. Britain and France might be able to share wealth and honor, but forget about sharing adversity together.

"Still not leaving? Do you want me to stay with you for morning tea?"

Liang Shaoqiong issued an expulsion order to Xiao Mengtuoban.

"If the British are willing to exchange their captured Qing troops for French prisoners, the sun will rise in the west tomorrow."

Sartre, who was acting as translator for Liang Shaoqiong, said.

"Just change it if you can, or not." With that, Liang Shaoqiong invited Sartre to have morning tea with him.

The British were indeed unwilling to exchange their captured Qing troops for French prisoners. After all, the British also had prisoners in the hands of Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

The British still hoped to exchange these prisoners for prisoners with Ye Mingchen. If they exchanged prisoners for the French army, what would the British army do for their own prisoners? The British are not philanthropic people who sacrifice themselves for others.

Seeing that the British could not be persuaded, the French army sent warships to capture 125 fishermen near the mouth of the Pearl River, and once again sent Little Mentoban to negotiate a prisoner exchange.

The French expressed that they were willing to suffer some losses and exchanged 125 Chinese spies for 31 French prisoners.

Liang Shaoqiong was furious, saying that he would not accept this trick, and immediately expelled Xiao Meng Toban.

When the prisoner exchange failed, the French military leaders decided to formally attack Xiangshan Port.

As Liang Shaoqiong and Sartre expected, the Portuguese in Macau opened the port of Macau under the pressure of Britain and France.

The main force and heavy weapons of the French army continued to disembark through the Macau Port. When they saw the Yue Yong and the Xiangshan civilians recruited from Xiangshan were building fortifications and digging trenches at the junction of Hong Kong and Macau, the French commander-in-chief Montauban praised: " There are still capable people in the Qing Dynasty, and we can expect that we will attack Xiangshan from Macau. "

Montauban ordered artillery to bombard Yue Yong, interrupting the opponent's civil engineering work.

The French artillery, together with the artillery of the British troops stationed in Hong Kong, fired 42 field guns of various sizes at the unfinished fortifications of the Cantonese Yong.

Immediately, the warships of the British and French coalition opened fire on the Gongbei Port at the junction of Hong Kong and Macao, clearing the way for the troops to land on the flank.

Just after the bombardment ended, the Yue Yong in the fortification walked out of Maoerdong and came to the trench. They saw that the French army had already formed a formation and was advancing towards their position with guns in hand.

The French army advancing in an orderly manner was like a red and blue wave, rushing towards the position of the Shanzi Camp.

Soon, another bad news came.

What they had to face was not only the French army that was attacking from the front, but also a French division of more than 400 people. Under the cover of naval guns, they calmly landed at Gongbei Port and launched an attack on their flanks.

They have been attacked from both sides by the French army!

Fortunately, most of the Guangdong soldiers on the battlefield were veterans who had experienced actual combat. Although the battle situation was unfavorable, they did not collapse and still stood firm on the battlefield!

"Damn it! I suffer the loss of not having a navy! If I had a capable navy, I would never have allowed these ghost soldiers to land at Gongbei Port so easily!"

Liang Shaoqiong could only watch the French troops landing at Gongbei Port. He felt very uncomfortable and hit the railing of the observation deck.

"After all, it is still the French army that has just been baptized by the Crimean War." Sartre also saw the French army landing at Gongbei Port through the telescope.

Several observation posts and sporadic positions established by Liang Shaoqiong at Gongbei Port had been destroyed. The landing French engineers quickly cleared the wooden spines and wooden obstacles in front of them, and soon opened up a path for attack.

The military quality of these French troops was obviously much higher than that of the average American and Mexican troops. Sartre was also very anxious at this time, wondering whether the defenders on the position could withstand this wave of French charges.

If you can't stand it, you can only fill it with the three reserve companies you brought.

"The French army attacked in an orderly manner and was courageous and united. It is indeed a strong army."

Although they were opponents, Liang Shaoqiong still did not hesitate to praise him. To be fair, judging from the offensive formation alone, the French army was the best opponent he had ever encountered since he joined the army. The most difficult opponent Liang Shaoqiong had encountered before was Shi Dakaibu from the Taiping Army.

"This is a tough battle." Sartre held his breath and clenched his fists.

"Come here! If there are any signs that the three posts Bing, Ding, and Wu can't hold up, the two posts A and B will attack immediately! Make no mistake!" Liang Shaoqiong looked solemn, ready to put the reserve team into battle at any time.

"Liang Shuai, this is the entire wealth of our Shanzi Battalion! After all these old Cantonese soldiers are killed, we will only have new recruits left!" the battalion officer next to Liang Shaoqiong dissuaded.

The officer of the Yue Yong Battalion was not being alarmist. Shanzi Battalion was the only elite old Yue Yong camp that returned to defend Xiangshan.

The entire Shanzi Battalion must be handed over here, and then they can only rely on two battalions of new recruits to guard Xiangshan.

"Where's all the nonsense!" Liang Shaoqiong shouted, he had made up his mind.

The French army is coming fiercely, and it may be difficult to stop the French offensive with just the veterans on the 3rd sentry post and the new recruits on the 2nd sentry post.

Although there are soldiers from the 2nd Company of Sutter's 13th Regiment on the position, many of these soldiers are veterans of the Western Brigade and are worthy of new appointments, Sutter is a visiting army after all, and Liang Shaoqiong cannot pin all his hopes on Sutter.

"These Qing troops haven't collapsed yet." Meng Tuoban was greatly surprised.

This was the first battle between the French army and the Qing army. The Qing army did not know the strength of the French army, and the French army also did not know how powerful the Qing army was.

Montaban's understanding of the Qing army mainly came from the British army, while the British army's impression of the Qing army mainly came from the so-called trade war sixteen or seventeen years ago.

The French army and the Qing army were equipped with the same type of rifle. Although the Shanzi camp was equipped with the original Walter rifle with rimmed needle bullets, which had better performance, there was no qualitative difference in performance between the two. The original Walter rifle was The range is only slightly longer than the export type.

The two sides quickly entered each other's firing range. The charging French army lay down on the spot and started shooting at the Qing army in the bunker.

Along with the sound of gunfire one after another, the diffuse smoke quickly shrouded the front of both sides like a miasma. After several rounds of shooting, both sides suffered casualties.

But in general, the Qing army in the bunker had the advantage and suffered fewer casualties.

According to Montauban's judgment, the French army would suffer casualties of at least one company after this wave of fire, which gave Montauban a headache.

Doesn’t it mean that the Qing military expenditure is unbearable? This Qing army is no less elite than the Russian army in Crimea.

"This is Liang Shaoqiong's personal soldier, an extremely rare elite in the Qing army!" Colonel Watson, an employee of the British East India Company, was afraid that Montauban would want to quit because of the huge casualties suffered by the French army.

"The main force of the Qing army is not even as good as the security police in Europe. As long as we destroy this Qing army! Both Xiangshan and Guangzhou will be at our fingertips!"

Montauban did not order a retreat; it was not his style to give up halfway.

Soon, the French army, which had recovered its strength, launched the final sprint towards the Qing army's position.

French flag bearers waved the flag of the Second French Empire and took the lead in rushing into the Qing army's trenches.

"The ghost guys are coming! Fight with the ghost guys!"

"Fire the bayonet!"

"Get the shovel!"

The Yue Yong in the trenches were also prepared for close combat with the French army.

The two sides met in narrow, muddy trenches and fought to the death.

The French soldiers wearing blue woolen military coats and round hats, covered in mud and sweat, were entangled with the Yue soldiers wearing gray uniforms and using cloth headbands to wrap their heads.

For a time, the trenches were filled with smoke, the smell of blood and mud was everywhere, and the scene was very chaotic.

Here a Cantonese warrior took out a shovel for digging trenches and slapped a French soldier on the head, and there a French soldier thrust a bayonet into the chest of a Cantonese warrior.

The sound of gunshots, the clash of weapons, the moist, creepy sound of metal piercing flesh, and the deafening roars and painful howls of soldiers on both sides were intertwined.

It is unbearable to hear and unbearable to see.

Warm blood quickly flowed into channels in the trenches, and dead and injured bodies piled up like mountains. But regardless of whether the French army or the Qing army, as long as they can still move, they are fighting bravely and will not retreat until the death.

There are many Xiangshan soldiers in the Shanzi camp. For these Cantonese warriors, this battle is a battle to surround their hometown. Behind them are their parents, wives and children.

Therefore, their morale was extremely high and their will to resist was extremely tenacious. They did not hesitate to use their own flesh and blood to try their best to prevent the French army from advancing, prevent the French army from crossing the trenches, and ravage their homes.