Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 214 Guizi Liu: I will sell the country that Xianfeng was embarrassed to sell! (Additional Chapter 5)

The victory that the Tang Dynasty achieved over Britain in Guangzhou did not cure the Qing Dynasty's xenophobia.

But it cured the xenophobia of the various rebel armies!
Apart from anything else, at least the Taiping Army is not so afraid of foreigners nowadays.

Many people think that if Tang Guo can do it, then they can do it too.

Upon hearing this, the morale of the Taiping Army's naval officers and soldiers was greatly boosted.

"Kill the Qing monsters! Peace for all!"

"Kill the Qing monsters and live in peace!"

"..."

Amid the shouts, the Taiping Army's naval officers and soldiers began to prepare for war.

……

As time passed, the Qing navy and the Taiping navy, which were sailing upstream, met on the surface of the Yangtze River.

When they were far apart, Tang Zhengcai commanded the Taiping Navy to take the initiative to attack and advance towards the Qing Navy.

The command flags were waving, and the shouts of the Taiping Navy officers and soldiers resounded throughout the battlefield.

"Soldiers, follow me and kill!"

"Kill the Qing demons, and live in peace. Long live the Kingdom of Heaven, and long live the King of Heaven!"

"..."

The dark mass of the Taiping navy sailed down the Yangtze River and headed straight for the Qing navy.

Accelerated by the downstream river water, the Taiping Navy's ships were moving at an extremely fast speed, and the distance between the two sides was closing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Li Zhao, admiral of the Qing army's Yangtze River Navy, and Altai, admiral of the Fujian Navy, stood on the deck of a three-class sailing battleship named Maria and looked out with telescopes in hand.

Seeing this scene, everyone's expression became somewhat solemn.

Altai couldn't help but ask the foreign captain beside him.

"Captain Paul, the long-haired navy is coming. How should we respond?"

Paul was the fleet commander hired by the Qing army.

British, and an active member of the British Navy.

And this third-class sailing battleship named Maria is naturally a British warship.

Although after the Battle of Guangzhou, Britain's military power in East Asia was almost destroyed by the Tang Dynasty.

However, how could the British side just accept its fate so easily?

Although they did not dare to send troops to Guangzhou rashly to retake Hong Kong which was captured by the Tang Dynasty.

However, after receiving the news, India chose to send reinforcements to Shanghai.

Then, Paul and others were transferred from India to Shanghai.

The reason why these foreigners were employed by the Qing court was because the Qing Dynasty and the British had reached an agreement.

The content of the agreement, in addition to opening up trade, included commercial loans secured by tariffs, the division of concessions, tariff agreements, and garrisons in concessions.

The Qing government also promised the British that after suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, it would send troops to assist Britain in fighting against the Tang Dynasty.

There are a lot of things involved here. If Emperor Xianfeng was too concerned about his reputation, he would definitely not agree to it.

However, the one who was ordered to contact the foreigners now was the devil Liu Yi.

Moreover, as Xianfeng became a eunuch, many officials began to invest in Guiziliu in advance, so Yi's voice in the court increased rapidly.

That’s why this matter was finalized so quickly.

Guiziliu was much more shameless than Xianfeng. As long as he could pacify the Taiping rebels and the Tang bandits as soon as possible and restore stability to the Qing Dynasty, Guiziliu would be happy to sell the country that Xianfeng was embarrassed to sell.

Well, when it comes to selling out one’s country, no one can sell it out better than him!

Also, in Guiziliu's opinion, the Qing Dynasty actually gained the upper hand this time.

According to the strategy for suppressing bandits agreed upon by the court, after suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing Dynasty was supposed to deal with the Tang bandits.

But now we can use this matter as a condition to ask the British to send troops to assist the Qing Dynasty in eliminating the Taiping Rebellion.

Even according to the agreement between the two parties, in the future, when dealing with the Tang bandits, the Qing Dynasty only needs to provide logistics support for the British, and the British will deal with the Tang bandits themselves, and the Qing Dynasty does not necessarily need to send troops.

How can this not be considered as the Qing Dynasty taking advantage?
What a huge profit!
After receiving many promises from Guiziliu, the British were not vague.

Soon Paul received an order to take the British fleet stationed in Shanghai and a fleet of armed merchant ships assembled by merchants from various countries to assist the Qing army in fighting the Taiping Army.

Paul heard this and just spoke.

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency the Admiral."

"The human wave tactics currently used by the rebels are already outdated in naval warfare."

"Britain has rich experience in defeating enemies who are still using outdated tactics from two centuries ago." After saying this, Paul turned around and instructed his first mate.

"Mr. Johnson, please give the boys orders to launch our rocket boats!"

In an environment where mobility is severely restricted on inland rivers, the artillery on British warships is indeed helpless against small boats with outstanding maneuverability.

However, the British army did not only have artillery.

Their rockets are also amazing.

When the Opium War broke out, the Qing army considered using naval tactics or setting fire to ships to deal with the British army.

But the result?

In the face of the British army's rockets and artillery bombardment, the Qing army suffered a crushing defeat without any suspense.

After hearing this, Altai and Li Zhao were visibly relieved.

As time passed, the distance between the Qing army and the Taiping navy grew closer.

"fire!"

With a loud roar, the British gunners on the Maria opened fire first, igniting the battlefield.

A cannonball flew out of the barrel, smoke quickly spread, and the black cannonball shot towards the Taiping Army's naval fleet.

With a bang, the shell hit the water, shooting up a column of water.

The river water surged, causing several Taiping Army ships around the point where the shells landed to shake continuously.

boom! Boom boom!

Several more shells were fired.

Although most of them failed to hit the Taiping warships, they fell into the river and exploded into fish.

But a few shells did achieve actual results.

A cannonball hit the deck of the Taiping warship. Amid the exclamations of the Taiping soldiers, the cannonball penetrated the deck and several cabins, then penetrated the bottom of the ship and shot into the river.

A large hole several feet in size was left on the bottom of the ship, and a large amount of river water poured into the cabin through the hole.

The Taiping warship, which was hit by a cannonball, began to sink slowly, and the river water gradually submerged the side of the ship.

The sailors on the ship tried to remedy the situation, but it was too late. They could only watch the ship sink and then escape on their own.

Tang Zhengcai looked at the scene in front of him, his face darkened, and he spoke.

"This foreign navy is indeed strong in ships and powerful in guns, and their guns are extremely accurate."

"Now our Heavenly Kingdom Navy is still 200 to 300 feet away from the foreigners, but the foreigners' artillery can still hit them."

“It’s amazing!”

Seeing this, a Taiping Army officer nearby spoke up.

"Be careful and let the brothers fight back!"

Upon hearing this, Tang Zhengcai waved his hand and said.

"At present, our army is still two or three hundred feet away from the Qing monster."

"Opening fire at this time would be a waste of ammunition, so use it sparingly!"

Today, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is trapped in the south of the Yangtze River, and all kinds of supplies are scarce.

Both the iron needed to cast cannonballs and the gunpowder needed to launch them were scarce.

Therefore, Tang Zhengcai didn't want to waste ammunition.

However, although the Taiping Army did not open fire, the British warships on the Qing side were indeed fighting more vigorously.

Artillery shells were fired one after another, and the surface of the Yangtze River was filled with smoke.

Moreover, as the distance shortened, the British gunners' hit rate began to improve significantly.

With a bang, Tang Zhengcai's ship was hit by a cannonball.

The flying wood fragments brushed past his body and left a very obvious blood mark on Tang Zhengcai's face and body.

But Tang Zhengcai was completely unmoved and continued to give orders calmly.

"Immediately repair the damaged parts of the ship. Now that we are about the same distance, prepare our artillery to fire."

"Hit me hard!"

"Let these foreign barbarians and Qing monsters see how powerful our soldiers are."

……

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(End of this chapter)