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On August 3rd, when Cameron took a stack of documents and handed it to the British plenipotentiary in China, Erjin, he couldn't help but look proud. "Mr. Erjin, this is the response of the Restored Governor Office."
Cameron thought that the Restored Governor Office would refuse to sign an agreement with the British. He didn't expect that the Restored Governor Office would come up with a set of ideas based on the "Treaty of Tianjin". Overall, in terms of opening up to the outside world, currency settlement, and setting the value of each country's currency, the Viceroy's Office was quite in line with the British's requirements in terms of forcing the Manchurian Qing to accept the conditions.
Of course, in terms of the legalization of the tobacco trade, extraterritoriality, the right of foreign troops in China, and the right to preach to foreign countries, the Restored Governor Office refused without hesitation.
In general, the representative of Cameron was full of joy. He had to use military force to force the Manchu Qing government to accept the conditions, but he only needed to negotiate to let the Restored Governor Office accept it. This was also a great diplomatic success. But unexpectedly, the plenipotentiary Erjin was unhappy after reading the treaty proposed by the Restored Governor Office, which made Cameron, who was ready to accept the praise, feel quite puzzled.
"Is this the content of the treaty accepted by the Restored Governor Office?" Erjin asked Cameron.
"Yes." Cameron replied.
"Then you go down first?" Erjin said.
After going down, Cameron couldn't help but find his friend Humphrey to discuss the matter. Humphrey was in charge of Hong Kong's foreign trade affairs and was considered a promising star. Cameron's ship was an official ship, so it didn't need to be inspected when entering the Hong Kong dock. So he took out the Fisherwoman brand rum, some canned dried fish, and Sichuan pickles that he bought in Foshan.
He put the boneless green pepper chicken feet into his mouth and chewed. The salty and spicy taste made Humphrey nod repeatedly. He didn't understand why Chinese liked to eat the skinny chicken feet, but now he felt that he understood the delicious taste of chicken feet. The chicken feet that Cameron brought were boneless, so it didn't take much effort to eat them.
After a sip of rum, Humphrey made an "oh" sound. The taste of the Chinese Fisherwoman brand rum was very different from the Cuban rum, but the pure taste of distilled spirits brought the same comfortable feeling.
Cameron originally wanted to secretly enjoy these delicacies, especially the bottle of rum. However, in order to get advice from his friend, Cameron had no choice but to take out these dishes that were far beyond the dark cuisine of England. His mood would have been worse if he had not seen the satisfied expression on Humphrey's face.
After eating and drinking for a while, Humphrey finally got down to business. Humphrey smiled as he listened to Cameron's introduction of the contents of the agreement reached with the Viceroy's Office. "We want to re-sign a treaty with China in order to get rid of the situation of overtaking China in trade. The agreement between you and the Regained Martial Governor's Office is only to determine the current status of our trade with Guangdong in the form of a treaty. When it's uncertain, we'll be at a disadvantage. When it's confirmed, we'll still be at a disadvantage. Do you think Mr. Erjin will agree? "
Humphrey's words made Cameron completely sober. No matter how similar the agreement with the Restored Viceroy's Office was to the Treaty of Tianjin, as long as such a treaty could not make Britain money, Britain would not accept such an agreement.
"Then the only way is to fight?" Cameron asked Humphrey.
Humphrey touched his chin, then picked up the glass and drank the remaining half glass of rum in one gulp. "Now it seems that it's like this. The only way is to fight."
Erjin could only fight now. What Britain needed now was to completely reverse the situation of overtaking China in trade, so Britain decided to adopt a very tough attitude and means. This time, Erjin brought the fleets of four countries to Guangdong. Naturally, France, the United States, and Russia were not the ones to travel.
Although Britain had Hong Kong, it could freely mobilize its navy. But the location of Guangdong was too annoying. Not only could the Regained Martial Governor's Office pose a huge threat to Hong Kong, but the Regained Martial Governor's Office with steam ships was obviously trying to build a navy. Britain dared to beat Manchu Qing so easily because Manchu Qing did not have a navy. No matter how weak the Regained Martial Governor's Office's navy was, it was still a navy. Erjin was very clear that China was just a target that Britain was preparing to rob, not a target that Britain decided to destroy at all costs. If the Regained Martial Governor's Office was allowed to develop like this, Britain was bound to face a very powerful opponent in the Far East.
There was another important reason that prompted Erjin to make the next decision. That was the reconstruction of the Regained Martial Governor's Office. The Liberation Army began to rebuild the Tiger Gate Fort on a large scale in January 58. Although Erjin had a plan to attack the Liberation Army for a long time, it could be seen that he was used to the slow action of the barbarian enemies, and thought it was nothing.
When he returned to Guangdong with the four countries' allied forces, he learned that the Liberation Army had not stopped in the past few months, and the news of the Tiger Gate Fort under construction was tightly blocked. If the Tiger Gate Fort could really become a fortress that was difficult to break, it could effectively block the Pearl River, so that the British Fleet could not directly threaten Guangzhou. This fort was like a fishbone stuck in Erjin's throat. In the end, Erjin decided to destroy the Regained Martial Governor's Office before it could develop to an uncontrollable level.
The documents that Cameron brought back this time made Erjin decide to take action immediately. After dealing with Manchu Qing, Erjin was completely sure that the Regained Martial Governor's Office was a government no different from European countries. Seeing the trouble that the European industrial countries brought to Britain, and seeing the resistance against Britain after the US colonies began to industrialize, Erjin felt that he could not wait any longer.
War needed preparation, and war needed an excuse. When he tried to negotiate, he was insulted by the Chinese. Erjin felt that this was a good excuse, but before using this excuse to start a war, Britain had to first figure out the situation of China's Tiger Gate Fort. The US and Russia fleets were completely there to do nothing, and Erjin did not expect them to be of any use. The French were very interested in Indochina. This group of Gauls, who felt that they had recovered the feelings of a great country after the Crimean War, were quite interested in following the British to obtain more colonies.
On the 6th of August, a fleet composed of small British and French ships went to the Tiger Gate Fort to explore the situation. The British had gradually gotten used to the small Chinese fleet consisting of two steamships of less than 50 tons. Facing the fleet of 12 British and French ships, this small fleet did not fear them at all. Instead, they courageously welcomed them and attempted to intercept them.
Before the British could open fire, the French ships had already opened fire. The shells did not hit the China steamship, but fell into the water 40 yards away from the China steamship. The China ships were quite courageous when they approached. As soon as the British and French ships opened fire, they immediately turned around like frightened rabbits and headed for the Pearl River. When they retreated, the steamship also released one red and two green fireworks.
Seeing the fireworks in the air quickly extinguished, the French fleet took the lead and went straight to the direction of the Big Horn Hill Fort.
When they were two kilometers away from the Big Horn Hill Fort, they saw a sudden plume of smoke coming from a place on the hill, and then there was the unique whistling sound of shells cutting through the air. The cannonball passed the first two French warships in the vanguard, and struck the starboard wheel of the British ship, which was in third position. The sound of the paddle wheel's cover being broken, the sound of the ship's wooden shell being broken, and the unique sound of steel parts being bent and bent could be heard all at once. The British steamship shook violently, and its speed was greatly reduced. As the other paddle wheel did not stop working, the steamship began to spin on its own.
The British and French fleets were immediately dumbfounded by the sudden and accurate attack from the China's shore cannons. Just now, the British and French fleets were mocking the China steamship for being as timid as mice, and for not daring to fight the British and French fleets head-on. Now, many of the British and French fleets could not help but have the thought of retreating in their hearts.
On the Big Horn Hill Fort, Major He Yongan, who was in charge of the shore defense, shouted to his subordinates, "Zhu Hongchao, your shots are really accurate!"
This shout caused a burst of laughter around him. Just now, after the two steamships of the Pearl River Fleet sent out the news that the enemy was approaching, the long-prepared coastal defense troops immediately entered combat mode. It was indeed a good thing that the first shot was hit, but Second Lieutenant Zhu Hongchao, who was in charge of firing the cannons, received orders to fire at the foreign warship that was running in front. The shell missed by a hundred meters and hit the third warship. Such an "accurate" shot made the nervous officers and soldiers feel relieved.
Zhu Hongchao did not laugh, nor did he show any embarrassment. He just continued to instruct his subordinates to continue to load the ammunition and adjust the shooting parameters. He was operating one of the three main cannons on the Big Horn Hill Fort.
The cannons left by the Manchu Qing in the Big Horn Hill Fort were basically between 800 to 1,200 kilograms. The Liberation Army transported these cannons to Foshan to be melted down. Now, the cannons were 2,400 kilograms. The cannons were cooled in the center of the casting mold. When the casting mold was made, there was an iron pipe in the center of the casting mold, and when the casting was done, the temperature would be lowered from the center by circulating the water. In order to prevent the chamber from exploding, there was also a huge cast iron cover at the end of the pouring cannon.
This kind of huge cannon had a range of about three kilometers. During the first Great Smoky War, the Big Horn Hill Fort and the Sand Horn Hill Fort, which were the first line of defense of the Tiger Gate Fort, were more than 3,600 meters away from each other. Of course, with the standard of the Manchu Qing's artillery, the accuracy of these cannons was also very limited. Now, the cannons would not have such a problem. The firepower of the two forts could be very effective in supporting each other. They completely sealed off the mouth of the Pearl River.
"Boom!" The cannon sounded again, and another shell whizzed out. This time, the cannon was not as lucky as the last time. The shell hit the water more than 100 meters away from the British and French fleets, and did not cause any damage to the enemy. Since the commander did not give the order to stop, Zhu Hongchao did not intend to stop. He instructed his subordinates to clean the chamber, lower the temperature of the cannon, and prepare for the next shot. He followed the rules of the artillery and did his job in an orderly manner.
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