On this day, the French army in Zhili Bay temporarily stationed in the port of Zhili Bay welcomed the main fleet of the British and French coalition naval forces. [The main squadron of Rigo Degenuilli who landed in the coalition was not waiting for the main force of Grant and Montauban. Three days later, they met the American warship Minnesota, and then they met the members of the envoys such as Sir Erkin and Sir Gro, and then learned about the bad news of the destruction of the main force of the army. Then Rigo Degenuilli led the main force of the fleet to go south and meet with General Massimogli, who had advanced south in Zhili Bay.

The British and French navy had few supplies in Zhifu. They lost almost all the army equipment and supplies in Jintang, including artillery, horses, tents, etc., and food began to be short of food. Unlike when they arrived, the Qing people around Zhifu were afraid to trade food. Fortunately, they did not come. The coalition military commander piled up the entire legion's money in Tianjin and had not had time to transport it onto the ship. Therefore, the British and French navy is now so poor that if the Qing people still trade food and vegetables, they would definitely be robbed. Perhaps a small number of Yingyang soldiers were willing to pay for shopping, but most soldiers said they were no longer willing to pay, and they would rather rob.

Erkin and others understood the soldiers very well. They originally thought that this expedition was an adventure. After the adventure was successful, each soldier would return with a full load, but now they can't even get the salary they should have every month, and if they still want them to continue fighting, the only way is to allow the soldiers to rob. However, after they attacked the capital in history, they did return with a full load. Isn't they running so far to the other end of the earth just for this?

In Zhifu, the British and French navy did not stay for too long. They took away all the supplies. They all allocated the supplies carefully, and then went south. They fought a battle in Jiaozhou Bay. The British and French navy captured Jiaoao (now Qingdao) under the Qing army. The Qing army was still defeated as usual. Moreover, the Qing army had very few troops stationed here, with only hundreds of weak and remnants. General Napier led a thousand soldiers to land and completed the mission like a trip.

Here in Jiaoao, the coalition forces obtained supplies, fresh vegetables, fruits and meat. Because it is the only sea canal on the Shandong Peninsula and the southern estuary of the Jiaolai Canal, the stockpiling is relatively abundant.

After a general translator asked, I learned that most of the Qing army on the entire Shandong Peninsula were transferred to the north. They went to the capital to serve the king. General Napier scoffed at this. What's the use of a group of mobs going north? Perhaps they had been beaten by the Taiping Army at this moment.

Erkin urged the navy to go south as soon as possible, and Shanghai was the place they needed to control as soon as possible. Three days later, the British and French naval officers and soldiers who robbed in Jiaoao and vented their failure returned with a full load. The fleet received sufficient supplies and then headed south.

When the fleet headed north, there were 100 warships, and now there were only 74 warships left. In the Battle of Dagu, the coalition lost twelve shallow water gunboats. Then, twelve gunboats were lost in the battle with the Taiping Army in the inland river. The Iser battleship hit a reef and sank on the way. During the docking of the artillery, the Queen of Kuaisai was fired due to drunken artillery, and then the ammunition depot was ignited. The unlucky Queen of Kuaisai exploded and sank. Only half of the 450 crew members and soldiers escaped. The loss of the transport ship was not large, and it still maintained its original scale. Even some fishermen's ships in Zhili Bay snatched by the British and French coalition were tied to the back of the large transport ship to be towed. However, when returning south, the army was almost wiped out. So the transport ship was empty.

The naval officers and soldiers stuffed the transport ships with everything they had robbed from Jiaoao, including cloth, porcelain, wooden furniture, and even live poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs. Even if they returned to Shanghai, they would not be able to get ashore for the time being, and they would still have fresh meat to eat.

However, the British and French coalition fleet seemed to have gone bad luck. When they headed south to the Yellow Sea, the coalition fleet encountered a big storm. After the storm, the coalition lost several transport ships and several lost contact. The Navy then sent a squadron to search for the missing transport ships, but encountered a group of pirates in the Yellow Sea.

This group of pirates were originally entrenched in the Zhoushan Islands. The pirate leader was a notorious British sailor. The Chinese gave him a nickname, probably "fokietom". Because of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Navy's clearance, Fuechi Soup could not stay in Zhoushan and had to look for opportunities northwards. So his pirate fleet became a large pirate active in the East China Sea and Zhili Bay.

When the coalition brigade was heading south, Fuji Soup did not dare to take action, so he had to follow behind to see if there were any ships that were left behind to rob. Fortunately, after a storm, several coalition transport ships fell behind. Of course, Fuji Soup refused to let go of food. This British sailor led the pirates to rob the poor transport ships.

After the coalition squadron arrived, Fujitang had just completed the robbery and was still executing the crew. The coalition fleet stepped forward to attack the pirates. After a not-so-fever naval battle, Fujitang, the big pirate and his beautiful Malayan lady, were captured, his sailboat was seized, and another 6 were blown up and sunk. The coalition lost a gunboat, several transport ships, and several crew members.

After completing the operation to clear the pirates, the coalition squadron was preparing to chase the brigade, but unexpectedly, a Taiping Fleet rushed up behind him. A small fleet of three flying scissors relied on their fast speed and bit the coalition fleet fiercely.

This coalition search fleet had twelve warships, the commander was Major General of the French Admiral Sane, and the destroyer Eugenie in the formation was in charge, so naturally he would not be afraid of three flying scissors.

But the three flying scissors of the Taiping Army took advantage of the chaos in the formation of the coalition navy after fighting with the pirates. They shelled the coalition's Aid gunboat, injured it and quickly fled northward. Major General Shane did not chase him. He ordered the Aid to drag the Aid and then all the warships continued to sail south.

Although the raid by the Taiping Navy did not cause much damage, it reminded the coalition forces that they were not lonely above the ocean in the Far East. The raid of the Taiping Navy attracted the attention of General Massimogri, who speculated that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's navy had been following behind them and monitoring them.

But the coalition forces did not look back and search and annihilate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Navy. What they want now is to return to Shanghai as soon as possible. There are large concessions and the common people of Britain and France that need their protection. There are also Hong Kong, this gem on the crown of the queen. It also needs protection.

After six days of sailing, the coalition navy finally returned to the estuary of the Yangtze River. Chongming Island was still vaguely looking at it, and the ships they encountered were all anti-smuggling ships from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After seeing the coalition navy, they issued a warning "panic" and then retreated all the way to the inland river of the Yangtze River.

When they arrived at the estuary of the Yangtze River, the coalition forces encountered multiple-choice questions. Should they break into the estuary directly and then break into the inland waterway of Shanghai from Wusongkou? Or should they find a place to settle down and collect information first?

Along the way, several British and French naval generals had many quarrels and discussions. Massimogri believed that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom should be caught off guard. He immediately broke into the inland river so that he could gain the upper hand. The heavy French believed that he should first find a place to dock most of the transport ships without combat capabilities, and then the warships were dispatched in batches so that they could maximize their combat effectiveness. At the mouth of the Yangtze River, the best place to settle is undoubtedly Chongming Island, but Chongming Island is an island that has accumulated over millions of years of mud and sand in the Yangtze River. There is no deep-water port available, and there is another place to settle a little further. It is the Zhoushan Islands.

In the end, the British convinced the French that if they failed to break into the inland river, it would not be too late to move and find a place to settle down, but if the enemy in Shanghai was prepared because of hesitation, then war would be difficult to fight.

So on that day, the First Squadron of the Alliance Fleet began to break into Wusongkou. The fleet consisted of twenty-four warships, including 16 British warships and eight French warships. The British fleet was commanded by British Rear Admiral Seymour and under the jurisdiction of the USS Audicious. The displacement was 3774 tons, which was a wooden steam sail hybrid battleship. The second was the thalea 1459 tons, which was a cruiser. The others were gunboats and sail gunships, respectively, "Cadas" (char).

yadies), "Madeste", "Juno", "Igesha", "Ege private a), "Lily", "Rendav", "Rendaf", "curlew", "Lopwing", "didge", "Sisle", "Kesrel", "vigilant".

The French fleet's eight warships went to battle, but the shape and momentum were much worse, most of which were gunships and sailing gunships, and they were on the left wing of the British fleet.

More than 20 years ago, the British fleet had already entered Wusongkou. With the subsequent 20 years of trade exchanges, the British had already mastered the water-print conditions at Wusongkou. The warships entered one by one, and the waterways they sailed according to the previously measured waterways, without any confusion.

However, the two sides of Wusongkou were quiet. The ships of various countries sailing on the channel retreated to the coalition fleet. No ships flying the flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom appeared, and there was no sign of enemies on the shore. Seymour, the commander of the British fleet, smelled a trace of conspiracy. He looked at the quiet turrets on both sides of Wusongkou through the telescope, feeling very uneasy. So he decided to suspend his advance, and the ships anchored and positioned according to their current positions, and then began to bombard the fortifications on both sides of the turrets.

Wusongkou is located at the exit of the Huangpu River and Wusong River to the Yangtze River. It is the primary position to defend Shanghai and the Yangtze River gateway. From Wusong Town to Baoshan County, on the 67-mile long river bank, Chen Huacheng's Qing army resisted the invasion of the British more than 20 years ago. Later, the Taiping Army has been strengthening the coastal forts here. It turned out that 26 earth pond forts were built on the west bank, which can not only defend the enemy, but also hide, like a Great Wall. Later, the Taiping Army used granite to reinforce the forts with long strips of bluestone. The outside was covered with thick loess, which looked like a local structure fort. There were 154 cannons installed inside, collectively known as the West Fort. There was a slightly round fort on the east bank of Wusongkou, which was also a granite stone structure, with 57 cannons installed, which was called the East Fort.

At about 1:00 in the afternoon, the British warship Odisha started the volley of artillery and fired the first artillery for the coalition to return to Shanghai. But before the start of the battle, the coalition knew nothing about the situation in Shanghai, and there was no idea how many Taiping troops were waiting for them here... (To be continued, please search Piaotianwen, the novel is better and faster!
Chapter completed!