The estuary of the Yangtze River, near Chongming Island, the sound of cannons rumbling from morning to night.pbtt.

Since King Li Weiguo of Wu took the stage to worship the heavens yesterday, 400,000 Nanyang Army officially vowed to the Northern Expedition, but the Nanyang Army encountered difficulties. With the cooperation of Li Hongzhang's remnants of the Beiyang Army Navy, the British and French Fleet sailed into the Yangtze River, blocked the river surface, and blocked the Nanyang Army's crossing the river and blocked the Nanyang Army's northern expedition.

Originally, the Nanyang Army arranged a large amount of water radium and floating radium on the Yangtze River to prevent British and French warships from entering the Yangtze River, but the Beiyang Army in Jiangbei secretly helped the British and French fleets to clear the water radium barriers. They were familiar with the Yangtze River channel, especially Li Hongzhang's guard, Jiang Tao, who was once the leader of the Jiangzhu Gang. He had prestige in the Yangtze River area, gathered old subordinates, secretly destroyed the water radium deployed by the Nanyang Army, and led British and French warships into the Yangtze River.

Although the British and French coalition forces were completely wiped out on the ground, they still had strong naval power. The South China Sea Fleet only had ten shallow-water heavy artillery ironclad ships. Although they had local combat advantages, this weakness was discovered and utilized by the British and French navies because of their small number and poor mobility. They avoided frontal combat and used the speed advantage of Western warships to focus on attacking other wooden sailing warships and troop transport ships of the East China Sea Fleet, which caused considerable obstacles to the South China Sea Fleet's Northern Expedition.

Li Hongzhang refused to be a gun envoy by Li Weiguo, and only adopted a defensive posture against the Southern Yang Army's Northern Expedition and did not attack the court. He planned to guard his own acre of three-point land and become a separatist vassal king.

In response to Li Hongzhang's retreat tactic, Li Weiguo also quickly made military adjustments. Since the British and French fleets were concentrated in the Jinling-Shanghai section in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Li Weiguo mobilized 100,000 troops to detour Wuchang Prefecture in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, avoiding the blockade of the British and French fleets, crossing the Yangtze River in the upper reaches, and then detoured in Henan, and heading straight into Li Hongzhang's nest in Anhui.

Chuansha Town Guardian and Tang Village Concentration Camp.

More than 60,000 British and French prisoners of war were centrally detained here, waiting for their fate to be either executed or permanently imprisoned and become prisoners, or they may be released as the war ends.

No matter which ending it is, it requires the final negotiation between countries. Whether you are sacrificed or rescued depends on luck in the end.

Klaus, Marin, Guba and Raymond, as the core commanders of the British and French coalition forces, were all captured. The faces of Britain and France have been thrown to Mars.

Li Weiguo deliberately summoned them, but had no other intention, just to humiliate them and slap Britain and France in the face.

Of course, Li Weiguo also had a purpose. He wanted to test the survival of these four people and use them to do something.

As long as these four people don’t want to die and don’t want to be prisoners of war for the rest of their lives as laborers in concentration camps for free, they will find ways to contact their respective families and relationship networks, promise to give Li Weiguo the benefits, and strive to release them as soon as possible.

Sure enough, under the open and secret temptation of Li Weiguo, the four of them were all moved. As commanders of the invasion of China, they knew Li Weiguo's methods very well. In the last Battle of Shanghai, most of the captured British and French officers and soldiers died on the road of hard work, building roads, building bridges, building railways, and mining mountains. All the hard work was completed by prisoners of war.

It can be said that if the person who can squeeze the labor force in this world is undoubtedly Li Weiguo, he has almost squeezed out all the labor force of prisoners of war.pbtt.

Klaus and others didn't want to be exhausted and died of hard work. It would be too miserable and too shameless, so they all explained their respective contacts. Li Weiguo immediately ordered the SHIELD Secretariat to send a report to inform the SHIELD British and French intelligence station to launch an operation, and to let the families and relationship networks of Klaus, Marin, Guba and Raymond come forward to influence the British and French governments and get the benefits that Li Weiguo wants.

It has to be said that with telegram, it is convenient. Klaus and others, who are far away in Britain and France, quickly launched a rescue operation and held a parliament to discuss the aftermath of the failure of the Second Battle of Shanghai.

Whether it was the British Empire or the French Empire, they were facing a difficult choice at this time. They lost the Battle of Shanghai again, which was a serious blow to the international prestige of Britain and France. If it were before, the British and French governments would definitely mobilize wars at home immediately and then send large troops to expedition to China.

Those who support the continued war are the British warriors. They are unwilling to accept defeat and want to maintain the world dominance of the British and French powers.

However, in the Battle of Shanghai, the first Battle of Shanghai, Britain and France participated in the battle of 200,000 people, and lost 150,000 people, and the direct military losses were as high as 80 million pounds, which did not include the losses of the colonial army. In the second Battle of Shanghai, Britain and France sent another 300,000 troops. So far, 200,000 troops were wiped out on the battlefield of Shanghai, and the other 100,000 troops were in Myanmar. Although they fought more than a dozen battles, no major losses have occurred. Even so, the direct military losses of Britain and France have exceeded 240 million pounds, which is a full three times the losses of the first Battle of Shanghai, and it can be said that they have suffered heavy losses.

In addition to casualties, the most important thing is equipment losses. You should know that the last Battle of Shanghai was only old-fashioned muskets and artillery. Britain and France have developed local industries and long-term equipment made it cheap. However, this time the loss was advanced rear-mounted rifles and artillery. Britain and France have just started production, and the cost was extremely high, and more than a dozen advanced steam engine-powered ironclad ships were lost. During this period, due to industrial technical problems and low steel production, the cost of ironclad ships was also quite high.

In addition, the mobilization of 200,000 troops from a distant Europe to expedition China, which was thousands of miles away, was a military expenditure on weapons and ammunition, food and drink, and fuel supply and consumption, which combined into a set of astronomical figures. Even the world's number one power like Britain and France cannot withstand this consumption.

The anti-war faction had an excuse. If they wanted to completely defeat Li Weiguo's million-dollar army, they would have to mobilize at least 1.5 million elite troops and prepare hundreds of warships to expedition to China from Europe. There was no need to fight. Just the food and drink consumption of the British and French coalition forces along the way was enough to drag down the finances of Britain and France.

The expedition is unrealistic. At least the fiscal revenue of Britain and France will not be able to support it in the next few years. What's more, Europe has a bigger problem. Prussia blitzed Denmark and started a war of unity, and it was unstoppable. The French side's attention has shifted to the huge military threat of Prussia. It is impossible to support the third expedition to China without solving the Prussian issue. The British population is small and the army is pitifully small. Even if it is two expeditions to China, many of the army are colonial troops from various colonies as cannon fodder, and Britain cannot afford to provide 150,000 army forces. Unless it gives up European interests and expeditions to China with the whole country, it is obviously an unrealistic fantasy.

In the end, the UK also gave up the idea of ​​another expedition to China. Driven by Klaus, Marin and other families and relations networks, the peacemakers authorized the British ambassador to China to agree to negotiate peace and fulfilment with Li Weiguo.

Similarly, in France, Guba and Raymond's family and relationship network also put a lot of effort into it. In the end, the ministers of Britain and France were promoted to negotiate with Li Weiguo as plenipotentiary representatives.

When the news came back to China, the British and French ambassadors to China immediately went south from Beijing and came directly to Shanghai, requesting to meet Li Weiguo.

Everyone knows the purpose of the ministers from Britain and France, and Li Weiguo will not refuse to meet, but he must kill them first, and it will be cool for them to summon them for two days.

Of course, although Li Weiguo would not meet the British and French ministers in the past two days, Li Weiguo's subordinates were not restricted and allowed to meet with the British and French ministers.

In fact, this is also the art of negotiation. First, the subordinates negotiate with the ministers of Britain and France to determine the bottom line of both sides. Now, exchange opinions on some issues of concern to both sides. If both sides can accept it, then Li Weiguo will come forward in the end, which also means that the negotiation is about to end, and both sides are just taking a formality.

Li Weiguo ordered Wu Yong and Yung Wing to be responsible for the test and contact with the ministers of Britain and France to test the bottom line of Britain and France.

Yung Wing lived abroad for a long time and was easier to deal with the ministers of Britain and France.

Before Yung Wing went to the negotiations, he asked Li Weiguo about the bottom line of the negotiations.

In response, Li Weiguo's reply was that all the provisions of the 16-year Beijing Peace Treaty must be restored at least. The Qing government and Li Hongzhang's loans to banks such as Britain and France were illegal. All commitments and agreements to the great powers of Britain and France were invalidated, and Li Weiguo did not admit it.

This is the bottom line, the sovereignty and dignity of the Chinese nation are sacred and inviolable.

As for other conditions such as demanding war compensation and withdrawing from Myanmar and Cambodia, it is subject to additional conditions. Li Weiguo did not make any rigid regulations on this. He also knew that the British and French powers were not really defeated. If the powerful British and French empire really launched an expedition again without regard for the consequences, then Li Weiguo himself could not guarantee that he would win. The ending would inevitably be that the British and French empires would fall from the world hegemony, but Li Weiguo himself would also pay a heavy price.

Obviously, Li Weiguo did not want to pay a heavy price, and the British and French powers could not give up their world hegemony and continue their expeditions through the country. The game between countries requires both sides to sit down and talk.

Yung Wing and Wu Yong met with the ministers of Britain and France with the bottom line drawn by Li Weiguo. The first round of negotiations between the two sides was similar to the negotiations between most countries, and only lasted half a minute. The two sides ended in disagreement.

The ministers of Britain and France had no attitude of defeat at all, and they threatened Britain and France to retaliate on a large scale unless Li Weiguo was willing to accept all the agreements secretly reached by the British and French powers and the Qing government, release prisoners of war and compensate Britain and France for 200 million pounds of war losses.

Of course Yung Wing would not agree. At the same time, he conveyed several bottom line requirements set by Li Weiguo to the British and French ministers, and demanded that Britain withdraw from Myanmar and France withdraw from Cambodia, forbidding the British and French powers from coercing and invading China's vassal states through military and non-military means, and demanded the British and French powers to carry out war compensation and demanded 200 million yuan in compensation.

The first round of negotiations was asking for prices, and neither side was sincere, so they naturally parted in disagreement. Then the two sides would contact each other again, threatening each other while appropriately relaxing the conditions.

This is negotiations between countries. It takes one or two years to go on, and the two sides keep tug-and-challenging until both sides meet acceptable conditions.

For Li Weiguo, what he needs most at the moment is the British-French joint fleet to withdraw from the Yangtze River and at least maintain a neutral attitude.

Yung Wing and Wu Yong fulfilled their mission. During the negotiations with the British and French ministers, they proposed that both sides should temporarily stop targeted military operations, otherwise they would not be able to negotiate.

The envoys of Britain and France said that unless Li Weiguo suspended military operations in Myanmar, the British and French joint fleet would continue to sail into the Yangtze River to attack the Nanyang Army. Although it could not cause huge losses to the Nanyang Army, it would also make the Nanyang Army unable to cross the river safely and safely.

Finally, Yung Wing agreed to suspend the military operations of the South China Army in Myanmar, so Britain and France also ordered the joint British and French fleets to withdraw from the Yangtze River and return to Naha to rest. The two sides reached a ceasefire agreement and continued the subsequent negotiations.

Without the help of the British and French fleets, Li Hongzhang's army in Jiangbei could not stop the Southern Ocean Army from the Northern Expedition.

In the early morning of the 15th, the East China Sea Fleet concentrated ten shallow-water heavy artillery ironclad ships and eleven sail battleships to launch a fierce attack on the narrower Jiangyin section waters in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The cannons roared, shaking the earth.

The East China Sea Fleet fired artillery volleys, destroying the Beiyang Army's defense line in the Jingjiang area of ​​Jiangbei in one fell swoop. At the same time, the Nanyang Army in the Sixteen Towns launched a large-scale crossing operation. It took only two hours to break through the Yangtze River defense line and capture the Jingjiang County.

By dawn, all the Nanyang troops in the sixteen towns completed crossing the river. The floating bridges on the river were built, and a large amount of military supplies were continuously sent to Jingjiang, making the Jingjiang small city immediately become a large military supplies base.

Li Hongzhang from Haimen learned that the British and French fleets were evacuated and the Nanyang Army launched a large-scale attack in Jiangyin. He was immediately restless and ordered 30,000 Beiyang Army to set out immediately to support Jingjiang County. As a result, he learned that Jingjiang County had fallen halfway, and the Nanyang Army was heading towards Tongzhou behind the seaside hall. Once Tongzhou was lost, more than 100,000 Beiyang Army in the sea entrance hall would be surrounded by counter-encirclement.

Li Hongzhang was shocked and immediately applied oil to the soles of his feet and fled north overnight.

More than 100,000 Beiyang troops in Haimen Hall had no intention of fighting again, and immediately gave up the Haimen Hall defense line and evacuated to Tongzhou.

Unexpectedly, the Beiyang army in Haimen Hall was about to evacuate. Li Weiguo, who had already expected the results, immediately ordered the Nanyang army on Chongming Island to launch a counterattack and captured Haimen Hall at noon the next day. Tens of thousands of Beiyang army that had not had time to evacuate were all surrendered just after a little resistance.

The Nanyang Army attacked from both east and west, and advanced by water and land. More than 100,000 Beiyang Army were beaten to flee, and it was no longer established, and more than half were captured.
Chapter completed!