Chapter 2: The stormy waves of 174: Wusongkou attack and defense

The name in the previous chapter is written incorrectly, it should be "Preparation for Singapore 2"

The Wusongkou Fort is located at the entrance of the Huangpu River and is the maritime gateway to guard Shanghai. One morning in autumn 1839, when the fog was dispelled by the sun, the defenders of the fort appeared on the river. The fleet approached in black from the northeast, and huge warships with hulls lined up on the river not far away. A battle that had been waiting for many days finally came, and later the British warships launched violent shelling on the Wusongkou Fort. The sound of the naval guns rumbled from the sea like thunder, and thick smoke floated above the British ships. In broad daylight, you can still see the light of the cannons coming out of the moment.

The British fleet's artillery fire at the attack on Wusongkou did not require a message from the messenger. The 6th Army Minister Gong Zizhen already knew it. His base was near Baoshan, not far from Wusongkou. When he heard the sound of cannons on the sea, he immediately walked out of the house.

Gong Zizhen quickly sorted out the situation in his mind. The Wusongkou Fort was naturally separated by the Huangpu River to two old-fashioned groups of east and west groups. The guard of the east fort was the Green Camp Yubuyun, and the guard of the West fort was the Green Camp Zhou Shirong. In addition to these two old groups of old batteries, there were two sets of new artillery. These new artillery were Changwei three-type rifled guns, which were produced by China. Due to the slightly worse steel quality, the barrel was thickened, so the weight was increased. Although it was not convenient for artillery maneuvers, these artillery were just suitable for fixed turrets. The two new turrets each had forty, and were hidden in dense forests on both sides of the straits.

Gong Zizhen has been preparing for this possible battle for several days. As planned, when the British initial attack was launched, the new turrets are not allowed to fight back, so the British ships must be bombing the exposed old turrets at this time.

Gong Zizhen's personal guard brought him a telescope, and Roland, the chief of staff of the 6th Army, gathered from the nearby barracks with a group of officers.

From the telescope, you can clearly see that after rounds of shells poured down, the sky was filled with smoke and dust, and the surroundings of the turrets were covered with bullet craters. You can think that the battlefield must be full of pungent scent of sulfur at this moment.

Roland and Romain had already become proficient in Chinese and rang in Gong Zizhen's ears: "I had guessed that the British would come long ago."

It is not difficult to hear from Roland and Romain's words that this attack was expected by the 6th Army.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 �

According to the advance arrangement, the Eight Banners soldiers reinforced the Green Camp after the attack began. Half an hour after the battle began, the Eight Banners soldiers slowly drove out of the camp and moved slowly towards the Wusongkou. From the camp to the front line, it took half an hour to go from the camp to the front line.

Gong Zizhen had already assembled the troops, and he climbed a nearby hill to adjust the telescope. Jiangning General Huimin, who was wandering in the Eight Banners' positions, appeared in the camera. This guy was still sitting in a sedan chair in a march and war. He was so fucked. His camera extended forward and you could see the battle situation of the officers and soldiers of the front line of Green Camp. After half an hour of bombing, Yu Buyun, the guard of the East Fort, was already retreating in a hurry, and Zhou Shirong, the guard of the West Fort, was still fighting back tenaciously. Most of the exposed turrets have turned into rubble fragments, and the foundations of the turrets made of stones were smashed into potholes, and none of them were intact.

"General, the last general Wu Qiyun is willing to lead the 13th town to support the East Fort."

"I'm willing to go next."

"Zhang Kui, the commander of the 15th Town of Xiaguan, went to."

Hearing the request from these generals, Gong Zizhen knew that they were in Huzhou. Shortly after the British captured Dinghai, they attacked Zhenhai and then attacked around Zhenhai. After confronting the foreigners, the Eight Banners and Green Camp of Ningbo Prefecture fought against the foreigners and fled in panic. Occasionally, some of the desperate green camp teams had already fallen in groups before they even charged in front of the British army.

The army rushed to Zhenhai, but unfortunately the Liangjiang Legion had not yet arrived at Ningbo Prefecture. The British 6th Army had retreated back to the sea. However, the army officers and soldiers saw the villages and towns burned, killed and looted by foreign devils in Ningbo Prefecture. The charred rubble and the corpses of Chinese people hanging beside the trees all made the troops angry. This time the British attacked Shanghai, no wonder the new army generals asked for battle.

Gong Zizhen said to these generals indifferently: "Everyone, be at ease."

The reason why Gong Zizhen did not support immediately was that he was waiting for the Eight Banners soldiers to retreat. He didn't want the Eight Banners soldiers to disperse the new army. Gong Zizhen understood the emperor's secret instructions to let these Eight Banners soldiers and Green Camp soldiers stand in front. The emperor should have wanted to use the British to attack and weaken the Eight Banners soldiers and Green Camp soldiers. It seems that after this war, the emperor will have new military adjustments and deployments. It is not difficult to guess that the emperor will speed up the elimination of the Eight Banners and Green Camp.

The British bombing finally gradually weakened, and their troop transport ships began to appear in Gong Zizhen's camera. It seemed that the British wanted to board the 6th. And the British seemed to have also observed that the guards of the East Fort were retreating, and the place where they boarded the 6th was on the side of the East Fort.

Seeing the British fleet approaching, Roland Romain and Gong Zizhen realized that it was the time for the fort to start counterattack. The two eyes met, and Romain nodded slightly. Gong Zizhen ordered the messenger beside him, "Transfer all the forts immediately and attack."

Just as the British fleet approached forward to cover the arrival of the 6th ship, the seemingly broken Wusongkou Fortress suddenly flashed, and a shell shot out from the hidden fire point. The sea surface was suddenly shrouded in a piece of artillery fire.

The accuracy of the first round of bombing was very poor, with only a few hitting warships, but these shells were completely different from the solid shells of the old-fashioned turret just now. The shells roared again on the ship, shining with orange-red light and air waves, and there was no intact object within a few feet of radius. Immediately, two transport ships hit the deck exploded several large holes, causing a large number of British officers and soldiers to suffer.

When Gong Zizhen saw the dozens of British ships approaching, not only did not turn around, but immediately began to fight back. He had to say that the commander of the British fleet was correct. The distance between the fleet and the turret is about kilometers. If the British fleet turns around and returns, it will definitely suffer huge losses.
Chapter completed!