Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 269: Fighting at Humen Again
Looking around, Li Yi continued.

"The battle in Hong Kong was indeed very fruitful."

"Our Zhongmen and Jiulong batteries not only successfully sank four enemy ships, but also killed and wounded more than a thousand enemy landing troops."

"And even our own casualties were minimal. Such a victory is truly worth celebrating!"

Upon hearing this, everyone stood up and congratulated Li Yi.

"I congratulate the king!"

"Thanks to the king's wise command, our army has won this great victory. How happy we are!"

"..."

Li Yi listened to everyone's flattery and just waved his hand and said.

"Alright, alright, stop praising Yu Gu."

"The victory in the Hong Kong battle this time is the credit of the soldiers on the front line. Without the soldiers' sacrifice, how could we have such a great victory?"

"How can I compete with the soldiers for credit?"

After saying this, Li Yi turned around and gave instructions to Zhang Tai who was standing beside him.

"Immediately send a message to the Propaganda Department, and have them print an extra edition of the newspaper immediately, specifically for publishing the great victory in the Hong Kong battle, and distribute it free of charge to the people of our Tang Dynasty."

"It is used to boost the morale of the army and people of the Tang Dynasty!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Tai immediately clasped his fists in agreement.

Li Yi nodded slightly and continued.

"In addition, send a message to all our coastal units, asking them to brace themselves and prepare to meet the enemy..."

As soon as Li Yi finished speaking, footsteps were heard outside the meeting room.

Soon a communications soldier came in to report.

"Your Majesty, there is an urgent telegram from Shajiao Fort that the fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance has raided Shajiao Fort!"

Hearing this, Li Yi's expression quickly became solemn, and then he asked.

"What is the current situation at Shajiao Fort?"

Upon hearing this, the communications soldier replied.

"According to the report from Shajiao Fort, the foreign fleet suddenly arrived and, while engaging our artillery fort, sent land forces to land on the beach in an attempt to raid our artillery fort from behind."

"Their offensive has been blocked by our army and they are unable to advance an inch. The fort is safe for the time being."

Li Yi breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that.

He stood up and walked to the map hanging in the conference room. He looked around and locked his eyes on one place. After thinking for a while, he spoke.

"Send a message to our Fourth Cavalry Regiment stationed at Baisha Village, and order them to attack immediately and rush to the support of Shajiao Fort."

"Send a message to our naval fleet, and have them cooperate with the garrison at Shajiao Fort and the 4th Cavalry Regiment to annihilate the foreigners who dare to land and fight. There must be no mistakes!"

In order to ensure the safety of the coast, the Tang Dynasty stationed a large number of cavalry along the coast, specifically for providing support on the battlefields.

As long as there is an emergency of war somewhere, a telegram will be sent and the cavalry with superior mobility can rush to provide assistance at the first possible moment.

Upon hearing this, the communications soldier immediately bowed and took his leave, and went to convey Li Yi's order.

……

Humen, Shajiao Fort!
boom! Boom boom!

The Tang army's artillery was bombarding the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet on the ocean.

The sound of heavy artillery fire continued.

"Move the muzzle up five degrees, move left 15 degrees, and shoot!"

As the command flag was waving, a cloud of smoke suddenly rose from the muzzle of the gun, and the black shells cut through the air and flew towards the river.

With a loud bang, the shell successfully hit the side of the Allied warship.

The kinetic energy contained in the solid shell exploded instantly, creating a large hole in the side, with smoke filling the air and wood chips flying everywhere.

Faced with artillery with increasingly powerful power and longer range, the wooden sailing battleships have almost become fragile.

This is especially true when facing a turret.

When the artillery fired a shot, a big hole would easily be made in our warship.

However, the shot fired by our side could not cause much damage to the fort's building.

In the back and forth, the warship was severely suppressed by the artillery.

If it weren't for the need to provide fire cover for the landing troops to attack the artillery from behind, the coalition forces would definitely not have been so foolish as to use warships and artillery to bombard each other.

Elgin stood on the deck of his ship, looking at the battlefield in the distance, with a solemn expression on his old face.

The rumbling sound of artillery fire continued, and the disadvantage of the Allied fleet was fully exposed. Two armed merchant ships were sunk, and nearly ten sailing battleships and armed merchant ships were seriously damaged.

Countless people suffered minor injuries.

Moreover, the battle situation on the landing side was not going well.

After completing the landing, the British army launched several attacks on the Shajiao Fort, but was defeated every time by the Tang army's combination of barbed wire and machine guns.

Amid the sound of machine gun fire, there was no difference between the British and French armies. They could only retreat in shame, leaving behind a pile of broken limbs and arms.

Elgin took a deep breath, put down the telescope in his hand, and his face was filled with gloom.

"It seems that the Tang army has already made preparations at Shajiao Fort."

"It's meaningless to continue fighting, it will only result in casualties. Signal the landing troops to prepare for retreat!"

"Let our boats go and pick up the boys who have landed..."

However, Elgin's order had just been issued and the British army that had landed was just preparing to retreat.

In the distance, they saw a cloud of dust rising from the end of the horizon.

Amid the sound of artillery fire that echoed throughout the fields, the rumbling of horse hooves was still clearly audible.

The Tang cavalry suddenly appeared on the battlefield and rushed towards the landing British army.

Bao Chao rode his horse and whipped it, leading the team to the front and shouting loudly.

"Brothers, the foreigners are just ahead." "Follow me and kill them all!"

The Tang cavalry galloped and attacked the British army that was preparing to retreat.

Amid the rumbling sound of horse hooves, the distance between the two sides continued to narrow.

The Tang cavalry on horseback let out bursts of strange cries and seemed extremely excited.

Seeing the Tang cavalry getting closer and closer, the British commander Miller shouted loudly.

"Don't panic, young man, stay calm!"

"If they hide in the fortress, we really can't do anything to them."

"But since they dare to leave the fortress, then don't go back!"

"Line up and prepare to shoot. Let's teach these yellow monkeys a lesson!"

"God will bless us!"

Under the command of the commander, the landing British troops quickly changed from a retreat formation to a combat formation.

They lined up in lines on the battlefield, ready to meet the attack of the Tang cavalry.

Bao Chao was slightly surprised to see that the British army quickly adjusted their formation.

"These foreigners are really alert."

"They were able to complete the array adjustment in a short period of time. Their level of organization is not much worse than that of the Tang Dynasty."

"Pass the order, all troops stop and wait for our infantry to come to support. Don't charge too hard, just stay away to contain the foreigners and prevent them from retreating at will."

Seeing that the British army had completed the formation adjustment, Bao Chao gave up the idea of ​​directly charging the British formation.

Instead, they planned to contain the British army's retreat first and wait for their own infantry to take the field!
The reason is nothing else but simply because it's not worth it.

No matter when, using cavalry to attack a well-organized infantry formation is never a wise choice.

It takes at least ten infantrymen to support one cavalryman.

If we really use cavalry to exchange lives for those of infantry, we will suffer a huge loss.

Miller couldn't help frowning when he saw the Tang cavalry stop, but he still ordered the troops to continue retreating to the shore.

However, just as he ordered his troops to retreat, the Tang cavalry rushed up again, ready to attack them aggressively.

Seeing this, Miller had no choice but to order his troops to adjust their formation again and prepare to meet the enemy.

But just as they formed their battle line, the Tang cavalry that had been preparing to charge retreated again.

Miller just ordered a retreat when he saw this, but the Tang cavalry came running again, ready to charge.

Miller had no choice but to order the British army to continue to maintain the combat formation.

This happened several times, making Miller angry and frightened.

I was annoyed because the fighting style of the Tang cavalry was really disgusting.

He lies like a toad on the ground, not hurting anyone but annoying them.

The fear came from the fact that the Tang army in the Shajiao Fort had already left the fort and was slowly advancing in their direction.

It was obvious that they wanted to cooperate with the Tang cavalry to keep them completely.

How could Miller not be afraid when he saw this?
The Tang cavalry alone is disgusting enough. If the Tang infantry also come up, the two sides will cooperate in the battle.

Is that okay?

The only thing that comforted Miller now was that his fleet was still parked on the ocean not far away.

Even if the war goes badly for them, they will eventually have a way to retreat.

However, when Miller subconsciously turned around to take a look at his own fleet on the ocean, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

Because he suddenly discovered that his own fleet seemed to be in trouble!
……

Flags are fluttering on the broad surface of the Pearl River.

The Tang army's naval fleet, with sails fully spread, marched towards the allied fleet at the mouth of the Pearl River in a mighty force.

Leading the way were more than a dozen sailing battleships!

Among these more than ten sailing battleships, except for three that were built by the Tang Dynasty’s shipyard, the rest were all captured during the last Battle of Guangzhou and the Battle of Hong Kong.

Behind these dozen or so sailing battleships were even more red sloops, fast crab boats and other large and small ships.

And there was a dense crowd of at least hundreds of sampans.

Almost all of these sampans are equipped with rocket launchers.

Looking at the aggressive Tang army fleet, Elgin could not help but clench his fists.

"Yeah!"

"I originally thought that our army had no hope of inflicting heavy damage to the Tang army and forcing the Tang to surrender and seek peace. Unexpectedly, the Tang army's fleet took the initiative to create opportunities for our army."

"To use an old Chinese saying, it's really easy to get something without any effort!"

"Hahaha!"

"Order the fleet to prepare to engage the enemy!"

"Let's teach these ignorant yellow monkeys how to fight a naval battle!"

Upon hearing this, everyone around responded in unison.

The mood is somewhat uplifting.

Previously, they were blocked in their attack on Hong Kong and failed to capture the Sha Kok Fort. After suffering consecutive setbacks, everyone was holding their breath.

Now that they saw the Tang army taking the initiative to attack and there was a hope of winning the naval battle, how could they not be excited?
After saying this, Elgin spoke again.

"Send a flag signal to Miller and his men who have landed, and ask them to hold on."

"Once our coalition fleet defeats the Tang fleet, we will help them retreat."

The number of British troops landing now is actually not small. In addition to a British native regiment, there are two Indian regiments and nearly two thousand Nanyang indigenous vassal troops.

All together there are six or seven thousand people, and among these six or seven thousand people there are quite a few British.

Elgin certainly couldn't abandon them!
(End of this chapter)