1850 American Gold Tycoon

Huge artillery shells roared in, and the battleships of the Guangdong Navy were swaying on the smoke-filled ocean, as if they were about to capsize.

The British gunners' shooting skills were extremely superb. In the first round of shelling, the Roland ate five or six iron lumps. Fortunately, the Roland's hull was big enough and could withstand these iron lumps. The ship was in After being hit by a solid iron lump, there was obvious shaking, but the hull itself was not seriously damaged.

However, a loach ship that was continuously hit by the British 64-pound naval gun was not as lucky as the Roland. The huge impact and explosion directly threw three or five crew members into the sea, and the entire hull shook violently. The planks at the hit site shattered, exposing twisted beams. The hull quickly took on water and began to sink.

To the surprise of the British army, although the loach ship suffered heavy damage and almost lost its combat capability, the Guangdong Navy sailors on the ship did not put down the lifeboats to escape. Instead, they fired back and fired at full power to break away from the formation, like a The sharp arrows swung from side to side and crashed into the British battleship formation.

"Madman! Madman! I don't want my life! All the artillery of the Pegasus concentrated fire on the gunboat that broke away from the Qing army formation!"

"Stop his suicide attack! Protect the flagship!"

Seeing this Qing gunboat rushing straight towards their flagship Zhongzhen, the captain of the British frigate Pegasus, who was responsible for protecting the flagship Zhongzhen, immediately ordered a concentrated fire to sink the desperate Qing gunboat.

The sound of cannons from the battleships continued, and the cannonballs fired by both sides drew parabolas that intersected in the air. The scene was spectacular. The seawater was splashed by the impact of the cannonballs, forming water columns several meters high.

The Qing gunboats that crashed into the British flagship shuttled through water columns. From time to time, shells directly hit the high-speed loach boat, but this still did not slow down the speed of the loach boat.

The remaining warships of the Guangdong Navy opened fire on the British warship with tears in their eyes to bid farewell to the gunboat that regarded death as home, and to practice the practice of the robe who risked his life on the boat.

In the end, the gunboat failed to complete its feat. Unfortunately, the main structure of the hull broke and sank under the repeated ravages of the British 64-pound, 32-pound, 24-pound, 18-pound, and 12-pound naval guns.

Although this brave and fearless loach boat failed to directly ram and sink the British warship, it attracted the firepower of the British warship and bought some precious time for other warships of the navy. The British and French forces who witnessed this scene were moved and in awe.

The flagship of the Guangdong Navy, the Bold-class battleship Weiyuan, hit a British cruiser named the Pearl in succession after two rounds of calibration fire. A shell hit the ammunition room on the Pearl and successfully ignited it.

The cruiser with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons quickly caught fire, and the fire quickly spread to other cabins. The crew of the Pearl had to stop fighting and evacuated the battlefield while struggling to put out the fire.

The Guangdong Navy did not let go of the Pearl. Hong Mingxiang, who was personally in command, ordered the sinking of the burning British ship. Even if the entire fleet of the Guangdong Navy was annihilated here today, he would still take away a supporter and sink it before he died. A large British ship makes the British know the pain!

In the past 16 years since the Battle of Southeast, it has been easier for British warships and smuggling ships to enter and exit the Pearl River Estuary than to enter and leave the Jingou of Yaojie. He can no longer swallow this birdiness!

Hong Mingxiang set an example by leading his flagship to withstand the bombardment of other British ships and pouring ammunition into the Pearl regardless of risk.

One shell after another hit the side of the Pearl hard, and the hull of the Pearl was shaking.

Violent vibrations shook the crew to and fro. The British sailors on the Pearl staggered on the deck. Some were knocked down by the shock, and some were hit by flying debris. Blood was sprinkled like raindrops. On deck.

The planks on the ship's side were torn apart by cannonballs, huge holes appeared in the hull, seawater poured in, and the Pearl was in chaos.

The crew hurriedly blocked the leaking holes with clothes, canvas and everything within reach, but the water was strong and their efforts were in vain.

The captain of the Pearl was shouting orders from the bow, but his orders could hardly be conveyed in the chaos. The explosions of artillery shells kept ringing, and the fierce sound of artillery and the groans of the wounded echoed in his ears, making him dizzy.

Seeing that the fire on the ship was getting bigger and bigger, the water leakage was getting worse and worse, and there was no way to save the ship. The captain of the Pearl finally had no choice but to order to abandon the ship and escape.

The Pearl became the first second-class battleship lost by the British Royal Navy in the Far East since 1841. It was also the largest maritime result achieved by the Qing army since the two drug wars.

Although one British ship was sunk, the situation of the Guangdong Navy was not optimistic. The British gunners were extremely skilled. During the bombardment, three loach ships of the Guangdong Navy sank directly, the Roland was seriously injured, and Hong Mingxiang's Bold-class flagship The damage was moderate, and the remaining warships were more or less injured.

The slowly sinking Pearl greatly boosted the morale of the officers and soldiers of the Guangdong Navy. Hong Mingxiang ordered to fight and retreat, trying to bring the British warships into the range of the Humen Fort.

It is hoped that coastal defense artillery can make up for the gap in maritime strength and destroy the British fleet to the maximum extent.

In order to lure the British warships to take the bait, Hong Mingxiang even took the risk of lowering the two chains set up at the Humen Gate.

Major General Spence saw through the Guangdong Navy's intentions. He did not pursue the Guangdong Navy, which had already suffered heavy losses.

Spence's goal was not to destroy the Guangdong Navy fleet, but to capture the city of Guangzhou.

The commanders-in-chief of the British and French armies knew very well that to capture Guangzhou they had to remove the Humen Fort Group, which was a thorn in their side. The Guangdong Navy Fleet, which had been crippled, was only a secondary target.

The British had already suffered a loss at the Humen Fort Group, and had experienced the power of the Humen Fort. As the saying goes, one learns from every experience.

This time, the British army did not plan to storm the Humen Fort Group from the sea. Instead, they chose to directly land on the beach and directly use the Marine Corps to penetrate from the land to seize the Humen Fort Group, the key to Guangzhou's sea.

British Marines, wearing combat uniforms and carrying rifles and ammunition, stood on the deck of the warship and boarded the landing craft in an orderly manner.

The landing craft carried the British Marines slowly into the water, rowed across the quiet sea, and approached the Shajiao Fort on the east bank of the Pearl River Estuary and the Dajiao Fort on the west bank.

Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort are the outermost forts of the Humen Fort Group. If the Humen Fort Group is the key to Guangzhou, then Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort are the keyholes of this key.

The Humen Fort Group has a total of 328 large and small artillery pieces. Most of the artillery pieces are still old cannons cast during the tenure of the former Guangdong Navy Admiral Guan Tianpei. During Hong Mingxiang's tenure, he successively purchased 118 cutting-edge Sacra cannons and old cannons from each fort. Mix it up.

Only the two forts, Sand Point Fort and Big Point Fort, are equipped with all-Sacramento cannons and have the largest ammunition reserves.

The Shajiao Fort on the east bank of the Pearl River Estuary and the Dajiao Fort on the west bank are 4 kilometers apart. The original old artillery had a short range and its firepower could not completely cover the Pearl River Estuary.

However, after being replaced with the Sacramento gun, these two forts were finally able to completely block the Pearl River Estuary and eliminate the shooting dead zone. In the Battle of Humen, it was these two echoing forts that severely damaged the British fleet that invaded Guangzhou.

It can be seen that Hong Mingxiang's transformation of these two forts was quite successful, and the limited funds were used wisely.

Although during the last Humen War, the Shajiao Fort on the east coast was occupied by the British army, and the cannons on the Shajiao Fort were also destroyed by the British army, Hong Mingxiang still demolished the east wall, repaired the west wall, and used the Sacramento cannons on other forts to Moved to Shajiao Fort.

At the same time, experience was learned and the damaged masonry structure of the fort was rebuilt with Sanhe soil to prevent stones from flying up and hurting people after being shot away by enemy warships.

Not long after, the British landing craft approached the beach. The Marines on board jumped into the sea, raised their rifles above their heads, rushed to the shoal, waded quickly through the water, and landed on the beach in front of Sand Point Battery and Big Point Battery.

In addition to Hong Mingxiang's Guangdong Navy, responsible for guarding Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort, there were also Green Camp troops from Humen Town.

The Manchu and Qing court established seven Guangdong frontier defense towns on the riverside and seaside of Guangdong, namely Humen, Chaozhou, Nan'ao, Qiongzhou, Gaolian, Yingde, and Huizhou Jieshi. The seven towns were divided into generals for defense.

The commander-in-chief of the seven towns has an admiral, the general military affairs officer of Guangdong Province, who is in charge of the military affairs of the seven towns in Guangdong and is commonly known as the admiral of Guangdong.

However, the original intention of the Manchu and Qing authorities in setting up the Admiral of Guangdong was to divide the military power of the Governor of Guangdong. In order to prevent the Admiral of Guangdong and the Governor of Guangdong from moving around too frequently, the residence of the Admiral of Guangdong was moved from Guangzhou Prefecture to Jieshi Town, Huizhou Prefecture in the 18th year of Shunzhi.

Yes, the Admiral of Guangdong is not based in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, nor at Humen, the throat between Guangzhou and Dongguan, but in Huizhou, which deliberately reduces the efficiency of the Admiral of Guangdong in commanding the Guangdong Green Camp.

What's even more outrageous is that after the Qing Dynasty, the post of General of Guangzhou was added. This post could only be held by banner clan members and was responsible for commanding the Eight Banners troops in Guangdong. At the same time, the Qing government granted the Guangzhou general the power to control the green battalions in the province. The Guangzhou general's power and status were so high that even the governor of Guangdong and Guangdong had to give in three points, let alone the admiral of Guangdong.

The Admiral of Guangdong was based in Huizhou, and the General of Guangzhou commanded the Eight Banners and controlled the Green Camp. The powers of the Admiral and Governor of Guangdong overlapped, which caused chaos in the military command system of Guangdong. Although the seven towns of Guangdong nominally had more than 50,000 Green Camp troops, it was difficult to deploy them. In fact, there are very few green battalion soldiers in Guangdong's seven towns who can be engaged in front-line operations.

During the First Drug War, the Qing army claimed to have 800,000 troops, but in fact there were 800,000 (about 200,000 Eight Banners soldiers and about 600,000 Green Camp soldiers). However, the Qing army's professionalism was appallingly low.

The total number of British troops involved in the war did not exceed 20,000.

There seems to be a huge disparity in the strength of the two sides, but the Qing army was dispersed. In order to prevent Han soldiers from rebelling, the battalions in the Green Camp were not concentrated in battalion units, but were distributed and stationed at dozens of checkpoints, with several people in groups. , scattered in the flood gates of the towns at that time.

The function of the green camp is more similar to that of the public security police, focusing on internal governance of the people rather than fending off enemies and foreign aggression. To put it more bluntly, the Green Camp is used to deal with Han people like you, not the foreigners.

The only ones who have the opportunity to be stationed in battalion units are the governor's standard battalions. And how many governors and standard camps can a province have?

What's more, the vast majority of governors prefer to use the servant-type standard camp as a supervisory team, rather than directly entering the battlefield to fight foreigners.

Therefore, when it comes to each battle, the British army does not have much disadvantage in terms of strength.

When the Green Camp soldiers in Humen Town saw that the British troops had landed, facing only five to six hundred British troops who had just landed, the Green Camp soldiers in Humen Town, from the military commander Liu Yongchang to the followers, the first thing that Yu Ding thought of was not to take advantage of the opportunity. The British landing force had not yet finished lining up to attack the enemy halfway, but ran northward without looking back, directly exposing the Guangdong Navy artillerymen on Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort to the muzzles of the British landing force.

As soon as the green battalion soldiers in Humen Town ran away, the naval artillery at Shajiao Fort and Dajiao Fort instantly split open, and people's hearts were filled with excitement.

Hong Mingxiang, who had just commanded the naval battle and came ashore, was about to go to Humen to inspect the Humen Fort. He was personally stationed at the Humen Fort when he learned that the green battalion in Humen Town had been disbanded.

Not caring about the old bones and physical and mental fatigue, Hong Mingxiang hurriedly led the Biao battalion to the Shajiao Fort without stopping, and ordered his adjutant Kang Enze to lead another battalion to assist the Taijiao Fort.

On the way, Hong Mingxiang, the green camp soldier who was crumbling, could not stop or kill them all. He killed more than 30 deserters in a row but did not stop the green camp soldier in Humen Town from escaping.

"Liu Yongchang! As the chief military officer of Humen Town, how can you escape from battle?!"

Hong Mingxiang recognized Liu Yongchang, the commander-in-chief of Humen Town, who was fleeing northward in a hurry surrounded by pacesetters, and he blocked Liu Yongchang's way.

"Hong Junmen, I respect that your official rank is higher than mine, so I call you Junmen. I am under the command of the Admiral of Guangdong, not your navy. I have been guarding here for half a month with my troops, so I can be considered worthy of the imperial court. , I feel sorry for you.

I also hope that Hong Junmen will show his noble hand and let our brothers from Humen Town have a way out! I, Liu Yongchang, am very grateful! "

Normally, Liu Yongchang would not dare to speak rudely to Hong Mingxiang. After all, the official rank is overwhelming. Although Humen Town Green Camp is not under Hong Mingxiang's control, Hong Mingxiang is the admiral after all.

But now, the foreigners are about to attack. In order to survive, Liu Yongchang speaks without hesitation and does not care about many things.

"Be bold!"

Hong Mingxiang saw that the situation was urgent and Liu Yongchang's rude words made her angry. She pulled out a Colt six-gun revolver and shot Liu Yongchang dead. Then she shouted sternly at Liu Yongchang's servants.

"If something goes wrong in the Humen Fort! Guangzhou City will definitely be difficult to defend. If Guangzhou City cannot be defended, I, Hong Mingxiang, and your heads will not be able to save it!"

If you want to survive, follow me and fight back to Shajiao Fort! Today’s incident will be forgotten by this military sect! "

Hong Mingxiang did not intimidate Liu Yongchang's servants. When Liu Yongchang died, his servants were immediately in an uproar.

"He killed Liu Junmen!"

"We only listen to Liu Junmen! Liu Junmen asked us to move into Guangzhou City and recharge our batteries before fighting the foreigners again!"

"Yes! Enter Guangzhou City! We entered Guangzhou City on Liu Junmen's orders!"

"If the law doesn't punish everyone, I don't believe that the imperial court can kill all the green soldiers in Guangdong!"

"Guarding the Humen Fort is your Navy's business, not our Land Division's."

"Yes! Why should our army division be allowed to guard the fort!"

"You damn sailor, don't blame me for turning against you if you stop blocking my way!"

"If you take another step back, don't blame Hong for being ruthless!"

Hong Mingxiang and his navy soldiers aimed their guns at the defeated troops of the Green Camp in Humen Town.

Just as the green soldiers who were blocked were hesitant, a servant of Liu Yongchang stood up and raised his arms and shouted: "Brothers, don't listen to him, if you go back to Shajiao Fort now, you will die!"

Damn it, I'm afraid of foreigners and don't dare to fight the ghost soldiers, so why don't I dare to fight you water monkeys of the Navy? "

Liu Yongchang's servants responded one after another, showed their weapons and started fighting with Hong Mingxiang's soldiers.

Hong Mingxiang felt extremely disappointed. In order not to delay the rescue of Shajiao Fort, he had no choice but to let go of the fleeing Green Camp soldiers in Humen Town.

"Junmen! Junmen! Oh no! The ghost soldiers have already attacked the Shajiao Fort!"

The soldiers who came down from the observation tower reported to Hong Mingxiang with a look of horror.

"If a man is dead or a bird is in the air, follow me to the Shajiao Fort and drive the Gui Lao soldiers into the sea!"

The seventy-year-old Hong Ming Shanti Dao rushed towards the Shajiao Fort not far away.

None of the more than 500 pacesetters of Hong Mingxiang's Biao Battalion flinched, following in the footsteps of the veteran, and rushed to the Shajiao Fort without hesitation.

Although the Admiral of the Guangdong Navy controls five towns: Yangjiang, Jieshi, Qiongzhou, Beihai, and Nan'ao Navy, he directly oversees the five battalions of the center, left, right, front, and rear.

Indirectly under the jurisdiction of the thirty-sixth battalion of the province's navy, there are 2 generals, 3 guerrillas, 9 generals, 4 deputy generals, 13 Chinese garrison personnel, 33 generals, 59 generals, and 94 foreign commissions. people, and an additional 65 foreign commissions. With all these, the total number of troops can reach tens of thousands.

But these are only paper and theoretical data, and the Manchu and Qing court would not allow any Han general to have the power to dispatch tens of thousands of green soldiers.

During the war, Hong Mingxiang was able to directly dispatch only the 2,000-strong 5th Battalion. Among these 5 battalions, only his standard battalion was the most capable.

In addition, the Guangdong Navy suffered heavy losses in the last Battle of Humen and had to recruit some new soldiers. Now the Guangdong Navy's combat effectiveness is still compromised.

Hong Mingxiang took the lead and led the pacesetters of the Biao Battalion to the Shajiao Fort. He fired all the bullets in the revolver in one breath and killed three British soldiers who were caught off guard in a hand-to-hand battle with the naval artillery.

The British army expected that there were still Qing troops who dared to fight back, so they were caught off guard and did not react.

Just as Hong Mingxiang was about to continue reloading, some British soldiers who responded quickly had come to their senses. More than thirty British soldiers lined up in line raised their guns and fired volleys in Hong Mingxiang's direction.

The servant next to Hong Mingxiang blocked the British bullets for Hong Mingxiang.

After firing a volley, the British troops rushed forward with their bayonets shining brightly.

Dozens of surviving pacesetters around Hong Mingxiang responded with a volley of fire from the British army.

The distance between the two sides was only eight or nine feet. When a round of gunfire came down, half of the more than thirty British troops fell instantly. Instead of retreating, the remaining British troops roared and rushed forward under the command of the sergeant.

The two sides then fought together. After all, Hong Mingxiang was over seventy years old and half of his body was about to be buried. His physical strength was really limited. After fighting for a while, his physical strength gradually became exhausted. He leaned on the fort with a knife and panted heavily.