The battle continued until the sun set, and the landing troops of the British and French coalition landed only advanced 500 meters. After dark, the British and French troops chose to garrison on the spot, and they waited for another attack after dawn.:.

In the evening, the Taiping Army launched a night attack. This night attack with bayonets reminded the British and French coalition forces of the Russians in the Crimean War a few years ago. During the Battle of Sestopol Fortress, the Russian army often launched night attacks. They used the night to rush into the coalition's positions and used bayonets to kill unprepared coalition soldiers in the trench positions. Now the Taiping Army has done this, but fortunately the coalition forces are already prepared. After both sides handed over similar casualties, the Taiping Army finally retreated.

As soon as the sky was shining, Dundas and other coalition generals received the casualties of the night attack last night. More than 1,000 casualties were almost the same as the casualties during the day. In just one day, nearly 3,000 soldiers of the coalition army were killed and killed. If this continues, will the entire coalition army have to be fought for more than 20 days?

The coalition generals stared at the map with a sad face, trying to find the weak defense of the Taiping Army. However, before they had thought of a new plan, the miserable soldiers of the coalition still attacked the two turrets according to the previous plan.

The Shajiao and Dajiao Forts finally fell into the trap after three days. Both of the forts had a fatal weakness, that is, they were hanging alone. Once the logistics supply line was blocked by enemy artillery fire, food and ammunition could not be transported. Moreover, the two fortresses were limited. During the three-day battle, the soldiers of the fortress were all injured and killed and the ammunition was used up. When the last batch of more than a hundred Taiping troops launched a counter-charge against the British and French coalition forces that were attacking fiercely, the two forts had actually fallen.

British corporal James sat on the ruins of the fort and gasped heavily. The body covered the entire inside and outside the fort. Looking down at the fort, he saw that the coalition attack route was also everywhere. James was very scared. He sat there and shivered. However, at this moment, the entire mountain shook violently. James was shocked. He stood up in panic and saw flames ejected from the ventilation openings of several forts beside him. Captain Link exclaimed: "Damn it, these Taiping Heavenly Kingdom people have blown up the cannons in the fort!"

The coalition forces fought hard for three days. After more than 5,000 casualties, the only thing they received was two broken turrets. The number of casualties of the enemy was not clear. The coalition forces only cleared more than 2,000 enemy bodies and did not catch any prisoners. But from the scale of the enemy's fortress, the two turrets had a total of up to 3,000 people stationed. It was these 3,000 defenders who caused 5,000 casualties to the coalition forces, and this was just the first level of the fortress attacking Guangzhou. There were dozens of large and small turrets behind the Humen Fortress, Weiyuan Fortress, Zhenyuan Fortress, Jingyuan Fortress, Sifang Fortress, etc.

After conquering the two forts, the coalition temporarily withdrew its troops. One day later, the coalition forces formulated a new combat plan. They gave up the army's plan to cooperate with the Navy to attack Guangzhou along the Pearl River, and instead changed to the army's large-scale landing from the Jinzhou area after the Shajiao Fort. Then the army launched an attack on Guangzhou from land along Baishazhai, Dongguan, Xintang and other places, and at the same time distributed an army to cooperate with the Navy to restrain the enemy from the Humen Fort. If the side and rear defense of the Humen Fort is as tight as the Dajiao Fort and the Dajiao Fort, then give up the attack for the time being.

This is the difficulty facing the coalition forces. If the sea and land jointly attack the enemy's turrets, then there will be great casualties. The army avoids the enemy's tight defense fortresses, which will lose the cover provided by the navy. But in the end, the coalition generals chose to take a risk. What if the army can successfully attack the city of Guangzhou? Then the enemy's turrets will become useless.

So on the fifth day after the Battle of Shajiao and Dajiao Fort, the coalition forces began to land on a large scale in the Jinzhou area. Fifty thousand coalition soldiers were sent ashore. Then the coalition forces quickly launched their troops to attack Baishazhai, Dongguan and other places.

As expected by the coalition generals, the Taiping Army could not set up troops everywhere. There were only a small number of local troops stationed in Baishazhai, Dongguan and other places. Under the large-scale attack of the coalition forces, these places quickly fell. Local troops did not organize effective resistance, but after they broke it into pieces, they often attacked the single coalition soldiers or baggage teams, which made the British and French soldiers dare not act alone.

A few days later, the coalition forces set up a floating bridge on the Dongjiang River near Dongguan and began to head north to attack Xintang Town. However, on the north bank of the Dongjiang River, they found traces of the enemy. After the Taiping Army appeared, the coalition forces felt a little nervous. The situation on the north bank was not clear. Then Sir Sidon sent several reconnaissance teams to the north bank of the Dongjiang River for reconnaissance.

Three of the five reconnaissance teams came back, and the information they brought back was that at least thousands of regular Taiping troops were deploying defenses on the north bank. They were building positions around Xintang Town. It seemed that after the Taiping Army received the news that the coalition army troops had landed, they sent the first army to meet them.

Xintang Town is located on the north bank of the lower reaches of the East River in the Pearl River Delta, adjacent to Guangzhou to Xiancun Town to the east, across the river from Dongguan City to the south, and Yongning Street to the north. It is located in the east-facing traffic throat area of ​​Guangzhou. It is impossible for the Taiping Army to sit and watch the British and French forces occupy this place.

After receiving the news, the generals of the coalition army immediately ordered the troops to speed up the river. They did not want to watch the enemy strengthen the complete fortifications before the army launched another attack.

The day after the reconnaissance team returned, the coalition forces began to cross the river on a large scale, and three pontoon bridges were built on the Dongjiang River. When the coalition forces built the pontoon bridge, the local troops of the Taiping Army also released dozens of floating mines downstream, intending to let the mines destroy the pontoon bridge of the coalition. But this time the coalition forces learned their lessons and ordered the soldiers to drive small boats to connect a long interception net upstream of the pontoon bridge with fishing nets to stop the mines downstream.

After the coalition's actions were discovered by the local troops of the Taiping Army, they no longer waste their energy or mines. The coalition also found that local people often appeared around the military camps. Later, they found that these civilians came to spy on the military information of the coalition forces, which resulted in the fact that local people wanted to get close to the coalition's camps or positions, they would be driven away by the coalition forces' force.

The day after the coalition army crossed the river, the coalition army led by three French regiments began to attack Xintang Town. The Taiping Army set up field fortifications here, mainly dense trenches and barbed wire. Xintang Town is located in the Pearl River Delta Plain area. Although the terrain is not conducive to defense, the Taiping Army still acts like a defensive posture here.

But the Taiping Army, like all hot weapons troops, has a fatal disadvantage, that is, the supply problem. Once the army is besieged and the ammunition cannot keep up, the combat effectiveness of the troops will plummet. After the Taiping Army in Xintang Town repelled several battles of the coalition forces, the coalition forces began to surround this small town, intending to wait until the Taiping Army is out of ammunition and food to take it down in one fell swoop.

When surrounding Xintang Town, the generals of the coalition were also wondering a question: There were tens of thousands of regular Taiping Army stationed in Guangzhou. Where did their main force go? Is it because I was afraid that Guangzhou would be in trouble, so I kept holding the troops? Once Xintang Town is surrounded, it will be a place to die. Anyone with a little military knowledge understands this truth. Then why did the Taiping Army send more than 5,000 people here to die?

After the battle in Xintang Town began, the generals of the coalition had to start paying attention to one issue, that is, their supply line. From Jinzhou, Dongguan and Xintang Town, the supply line of the coalition forces has reached more than 80 kilometers, including crossing two rivers and one river. Sometimes the supplies teams transporting supplies will be attacked by local Taiping troops. Although the troops surrounding Xintang Town have a lot of troops, they have already shown fatigue. Moreover, the coalition forces must always be prepared for the main forces of the Taiping Army, that is, the longer the encirclement time, the more unfavorable it is to the coalition forces. Therefore, three days later, when the ammunition is sufficient, Baron Sidon finally decided to attack Xintang Town and quickly eliminate this obstacle, the coalition forces immediately attacked the periphery of Guangzhou.

The coalition forces attacking Xintang Town began to prepare for artillery fire in the morning. Hundreds of army artillery bombarded Xintang Town for hours, and almost every piece of land was scrambled by artillery fire. In this case, the coalition commanders believed that there could be no living people in the town anymore. But when the coalition's charge soldiers were attacked by the enemy's fire, the coalition commanders present were shocked, French Field Marshal Aima, Duke of Marakov.

When Bühler Jean Jacques Pelicier watched the French soldiers fall under the enemy's precise shooting, he couldn't help but murmur: "The era of plagiarism is over. We are facing new difficulties in attacking. What should we do when the enemy's rifled musket range and accuracy are comparable to those of the offensive troops? The enemy is hiding in the trenches, and the charge soldiers have to face dense barbed wire barriers. Such casualties are unacceptable."

Field Marshal John Colborne, Baron Sidon, found it incredible: "Why can the enemy survive such fierce artillery fire? Is it possible for the Chinese to have any magic?" He did not know that in later history, a coalition general had also sighed at Songgufeng, North Korea. The mountain was once attacked by the coalition forces' fierce artillery fire, but the brave army still attacked the coalition forces fiercely after the artillery fire.

The battle began bloody baptism again. Whether it was the coalition or the Taiping Army, the soldiers of both sides fought to kill me inside and outside this small town of less than ten square kilometers. The coalition relied on the advantage of artillery fire and number of people, while the Taiping Army relied on the fighting will and the trenches and barbed wire. Many times, the coalition broke through a position, and the Taiping Army would immediately organize counterattack troops to rush forward, and even if they fought for bayonets, they would take back the position. The battle was beyond the imagination of the coalition generals at the beginning. Attacking the enemy's tightly defended positions is a very difficult task for any unit.

But after all, the coalition forces had a huge advantage in numbers, and several elite troops attacked in turn, while the Taiping Army had only one unit, and gradually their ammunition began to run out. The Taiping Army in some places had no ammunition, so they could only wait for the enemy to rush up and fight with the enemy for bayonets.

Just as Baron Sidon said, "We will be able to wipe out the enemy tonight." Just as he was full of complacent, Lieutenant General of Cavalry James Thomas Brudernell quickly came to him and said, "Rewards from the scouts, there are tens of thousands of enemy troops appearing north of Dongguan..." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!