The estuary of the Yangtze River, the front line of the sea hall......

Li Hongzhang personally arrived here and commanded 200,000 Yan troops to launch artillery bombardment on the north bank of the Yangtze River and hundreds of cannons on Chongming Island in the middle of the river.

This is a deliberate military provocation. Li Hongzhang's excuse was very bad, accusing Li Weiguo of plotting to rebel and seducing foreigners to sell national interests.

Who is seducing foreigners to sell national interests? Didn’t you, Li Hongzhang, think of rebelling?

Obviously, politicians are always thieves who shout to catch thieves, and they are just (￣3￣)> and paper is erected.

If you want to fight, you will fight, and Li Weiguo is not afraid of threats.

Chongming Island is the place where Li Weiguo rose. Over the past decade, Li Weiguo has invested a lot in Chongming County and has been working hard.

Nothing else, Chongming Island’s strategic location is too important, guarding the Yangtze River Estuary Channel. At the same time, the second branch of Jiangnan Shipyard is also on Chongming Island.

Chongming County has built a total of seven fortress forts, with seven and five forts being divided on Chongming Island, namely the Hechakou Fort in the north, the Yangjiahe Town Fort in the middle, the Jiangbeihai Foyer in the north, the Xinzhen Fort in the northeast, the Beibao Town Fort in the southeast, the Beibao Town Fort in the main channel of the Yangtze River, and the South Gate Fort in the south gate fort in the southwest.

In addition, there is a fort on Changxing Island and Changsha Island. These two forts are the main forts guarding the Yangtze River channel, and are mutually supportive with the Wusongkou Fortress Fortress on the opposite Wusongkou to block the main waterway of the Yangtze River and the main waterway of the Huangpu River.

Li Hongzhang had a navy, but it was only the Yellow River navy. He could not compete with Li Weiguo's river defense fleet on the Yangtze River, let alone against Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet.

This is also the fundamental reason why Li Hongzhang attached extra importance to Wu Zhiqiang and wanted to sneak across the Yangtze River. If he attacked normally, he would not be able to defeat the Yangtze River in eight lifetimes. Li Weiguo took advantage of Li Hongzhang's weakness and deliberately threw out bait to lead Li Hongzhang to be deceived.

On the Yangtze River, the Jiang Defense Fleet is on high alert and is mainly responsible for reconnaissance tasks. The East China Sea Fleet dispatched twelve battleships, all of which were wooden sail battleships, and did not dispatch shallow water heavy artillery ironclad ships.

To deal with Li Hongzhang, the Nanyang Army, which had the advantage of water warfare, did not need to dispatch ironclad ships at all, and the twelve sail battleships were enough to sweep.

Dongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdong...

The battleship gun door opened, the flames shone, and a stream of gunpowder sprayed out. The cannonballs roared and shot towards the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang b

The shells exploded, and huge and fiery red mushroom clouds instantly rose from the Yan army's position on the shore.

Although Li Hongzhang's army had hundreds of artillery guns, they were all infantry mountain cannons and did not have large caliber shore defense cannons, and had no advantage in dealing with battleships on the river.

Of course, even infantry artillery poses a certain threat to wooden sail battleships, but this cannot control the situation of the battle, and Li Hongzhang cannot foolishly fight the navy with infantry.

After paying a certain amount of casualties, Li Hongzhang saw that there was no advantage to take, so he ordered to retreat and avoid the artillery range of the East China Sea Fleet battleship.

It was the purpose of restraint, and Li Hongzhang didn't care, so he waited happily.

"Is there any news from Ding Richang?"

The leader guard immediately replied: "Report to the prince, General Ding has successfully led the army across the Yangtze River. It is said that he had already taken down the Dan disciples last night. If not tomorrow, the 200,000 troops will be able to reach the city of Shanghai."

If Li Weiguo was here, he would definitely be able to recognize this guard. Jiang Tao, the leader of the Jiangzhu Gang, was officially the leader of the Jiangzhu Gang. This man later joined the Tiandihui and became a commander of the Taiping Army. Unfortunately, he was surrounded by Li Hongzhang's Huai Army and eventually surrendered. Because of his contribution to recommending Ding Richang, Jiang Tao was valued by Li Hongzhang and stayed by his side as the leader's guard.

Li Hongzhang suddenly became furious and said proudly: "Li Weiguo, aren't you very awesome? How did you die this time?"

When Jiang Tao thought of Li Weiguo, he gritted his teeth and wanted to pull out his skin. He immediately agreed: "Li Weiguo is just a young boy, who is a lowly businessman. How can he compare with the noble status of the prince? However, a young boy will eventually be defeated by the prince."

He paused and said, "It is said that there are countless beauties in Jiangnan, and among them there are four beauties that are so beautiful that they are so beautiful. But Li Weiguo can enjoy three of them alone, so God is really not looking at them."

Li Hongzhang has also heard of it, but unfortunately he has never seen it, but he is curious.

Are you a man? No one is curious about beautiful women!

"Have you seen it?"

Jiang Tao nodded and explained: "To be honest, the slave was born in Jinling. Since ancient times, Jinling has produced beautiful women. Qinhuai Eight Eight Prizes are even more famous all over the world, so we naturally need to inquire more. Li Weiguo's second wife Chen Ziyan is known as Xishi. Even if he was a blind man, he was still beautiful in Jinling and won the title of No. 1 Beauty in Jinling. As for the eldest wife Fu Shanxiang and the third wife Su Sanniang, one of the two women was the daughter of a criminal minister and the other was the master of the Tiandihui Society, so they did not dare to show their faces easily. They were not known at the beginning. Until the Taiping Army uprising, the two women joined the Taiping Army for a time, which made Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing and other kings jealous, and were known as the peerless two heroes."

Li Hongzhang nodded. He knew a little about these things. He suddenly asked: "You have met Ci'an and Cixi with me in the palace. How about you compare to Li Weiguo's three women?"

Jiang Tao replied without hesitation: "Win three points!"

Li Hongzhang was very surprised. He had never seen Li Weiguo's three beautiful ladies, but he had met Cixi and Ci'an. He was the emperor's woman, a beauty selected from thousands of people. Even he drooled when he saw it, wishing to push it down and ravage it. But such a beauty was still three points away. This is a situation of a god-like horse. Is it a fairy who came down to earth?

Lao Li was a little dry and dry.

"really?"

"On the day when Shanghai City was broken, I am willing to lead my troops to capture these three girls and give them to the prince to warm the bed. You can tell at a glance!" Jiang Tao often lies, but this time he is rarely sure.

Li Hongzhang did not suspect that Jiang Tao was lying. After all, Shanghai was right in front of him. He could see the real person soon, and Jiang Tao didn't have the courage to deceive him.

"I am looking forward to it!"

Old Li smiled and seemed to have a thousand miles of eyes, trying to penetrate the Yangtze River and Shanghai's city walls and find the three beauties surrounded by their souls.

Unfortunately, everything is always filled with sorrow.

Old Li was just thinking about it, but Qian Dingming rushed in and reported it anxiously.

"Prince, something is wrong!"

"What's so panicked? What's the norm?"

"Prince, something big happened, Wu Zhiqiang is a fraudulent surrender!"

"What?" Old Li jumped up immediately. "What about Ding Richang? What about my king's 220,000 army?"

"Jinling and Dantu fell back into the hands of the Nanyang Army. Ding Richang was ambushed by Wu Zhiqiang in Dantu, and 20,000 elite troops were wiped out. Ding Richang committed suicide. The 200,000 troops from Jinling did not arrive at Dantu for some reason. However, they were ambushed by hundreds of thousands of Nanyang Army in Jurong, with heavy casualties, and the final battle situation still needs further news."

Ah pud...

Old Li squirted out blood and fainted in an instant.

The British-French joint fleet arrived outside the estuary of the Yangtze River.

On the flagship Warrior first-class ironclad bridge, British commander Klaus and French commander Gu Ba were looking at the estuary of the Yangtze River with telescopes, constantly communicating.

There were constant reports of various intelligence from the British and French armies, mainly about the defenses around Shanghai, including the tonnage, quantity, weapons and equipment of the East China Sea Fleet. The artillery scale of the Chongming Island Fortress Group, the Wusongkou Fortress Group, the Jinshanwei Fortress Group, as well as the coastal defense fortifications along the coast of Shanghai, and the deployment of troops.

"Are you going to enter the Yangtze River?" Gu Ba asked.

"Do you have a way to drift the opponent's enemy?" Klaus asked back.

Gu Ba shrugged and spread his hands, indicating that he could do nothing.

Klaus said: "If we cannot solve the problem of radium, our fleet will not be able to get close to the Wusongkou Fortress, and we cannot provide infantry fire support, so we will not be able to conquer the Wusongkou Fortress at all."

Gu Ba then said, "Apart from Wusongkou, there are only Chongming Island Fortress Group and Jinshanwei Fortress."

Klaus analyzed: "The Chongming Island Fort Group is isolated in the Yangtze River, and it seems that it is the easiest to capture, but unfortunately Li Hongzhang is on the opposite side. I don't like to expose my back to the enemy."

Gu Ba immediately said, "Then are you going to fight the Jinshan Guard Fortress?"

Klaus said: "Kingsoft Guard is the back of Shanghai. If you can occupy the Kingsoft Guard, it will be like opening the southern gate of Shanghai. However, the information shows that Li Weiguo has sent heavy troops to defend, and I don't want to accept this tough bone for the time being."

Gu Ba asked in confusion, "What are you going to do? Do you still want to land in Sichuan? We were defeated in that place last time!"

Klaus said hatefully: "Where you fall, you must get up. This time we will choose Chuansha to land. There is a flat horse, suitable for a decisive battle between the large army!"

Gu Ba opposed: "I don't agree. If you land in Sichuan, even if you win the first battle, if you want to capture Shanghai next, we have to face the Huangpu River. If you can't take over the Wusongkou Fortress and Jinshanwei Fortress, our warships cannot enter. Do you have to swim over the Huangpu River when facing the Huangpu River?"

Klaus smiled and said, "Who said I'm going to swim? Do you think I'm stupid?"

Gu Ba teased him, I really want to say that you are stupid.

Klaus then said: "We can attack the east bank of the Huangpu River and raid the Jinshan Guard from the back. At that time, we can cooperate with the naval fleet to attack forward and back. We can break through the Jinshan Guard, and then the navy can go directly to the Huangpu River through the Jinshan Guard, block the Huangpu River and lead the army to cross the river and take Shanghai."

Guba immediately looked at the map and then found that Wusongkou Fortress was on the west bank of the Huangpu River, while Jinshanwei Fortress was on the east bank of the Huangpu River.

Gu Ba asked back, "Since you want to attack Jinshanwei from front to back, why don't you choose Fengxian closer, but Chuansha?"

Klaus then said, "If we land in Fengxian first, Li Weiguo would have guessed immediately that our goal is to attack Jinshanwei from front to back, which would lose its strategic value. In addition, I chose Chuansha landing and wanted to wash away our shame. Don't you want to?"

Gu Ba naturally thought about it and finally agreed to Klaus's proposal.

At the same time, in the shallow sea area of ​​the Yangtze River Estuary, a fleet of eleven British and French navies was blocked by the East China Sea Fleet.

The purpose of this British and French fleet was to show off its power at the estuary of the Yangtze River and tell Li Hongzhang that Britain and France had fulfilled their promises. On the surface, they wanted to cooperate with Li Hongzhang to restrain Li Weiguo's army, but in fact they were just to investigate the nearby Sichuan and sand waters and prepare for their future landing.

However, the British and French fleets never expected that the East China Sea fleet would dare to take the initiative.

Although the East China Sea Fleet was equipped with dozens of British sail battleships five years ago, the East China Sea Fleet did not dare to take the initiative to fight against the British and French joint fleet, but the cat did not come out of the Yangtze River.

At that time, Li Weiguo's tactic was to maintain strategic deterrence in the East China Sea Fleet, which did play a role. Although the British and French fleets were invincible in the world, as long as they did not destroy the East China Sea Fleet for a day, they would not dare to be rampant in the near-shore areas, and would not dare to be alone, and their actions were restricted.

Now the British and French fleets invade again. However, the East China Sea fleet dared to sail out of the Yangtze River and provoke and attack the British and French fleets in the near sea.

On the deck of the flagship Edgar, Major General Marlin, interim commander, saw the lineup of the East China Sea Fleet from his telescope, and was surprised because he discovered that the East China Sea Fleet had only a dozen sail battleships.

"You dare to come out and shout? Let's see if I don't beat you into fire sticks!"

"Command! The four ships Endymion, Gibraltar, Grafton and Hawk surrounded the enemy fleet from the left wing, St. George, Theseus, and Arthur detoured from the right wing, Crescent and French Tago, and French Dwyck attacked head-on with this ship!"

Twelve British and French warships formed an attack formation and went directly to the East China Sea fleet.

On the Songjiang third-class sail battleship, Lin Jiyun and Li Jun were also staring at the British and French fleets coming from opposite sides. Although the twelve British and French warships were sailed, they were all steam warships, with heavy iron armor outsourced.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the powerful British-French joint fleet, but it brings a strong sense of murderous aura and oppression to Lin Jiyun and Li Jun.

The British and French navies were expeditions to all major seas around the world and were trained from blood and fire. They were by no means paper tigers. However, the East China Sea Fleet had not experienced a real maritime battle, and the gap was huge in this regard.

Lin Jiyun looked behind him. Behind more than a dozen sail battleships were ten shallow-water heavy artillery iron armored ships. At this moment, the ten iron lumps only exposed rows of turrets and chimneys. They looked like lurking big hippos, and I don’t know if they have combat effectiveness.

Even Lin Jiyun himself didn't know that, after all, he had never beaten.

"Let's be a living horse!"

Lin Jiyun sighed lightly and then his eyes became serious.
To be continued...