Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

"Your Majesty, the British and the Gauls have already set off from Hong Kong Island. They are expected to arrive at the mouth of the Yangtze River in ten days."

Intelligence Minister Zhou Yufeng reported.

The intelligence department had already dispatched intelligence personnel to Hong Kong Island to lie in wait.

Furthermore, they secretly sent a wireless telegraph machine there as well.

This allowed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to accurately know the situation on the other side.

"The British and the Gauls have finally arrived. Order the 2nd Infantry Division of the Eastern Expeditionary Army stationed in Songjiang Prefecture, as well as the garrison at Wusongkou Fortress, to prepare for battle!" Hong Tian commanded.

Although Hong Tian was well aware that the British and the Gauls were coming with great force.

However, at this time, the British and Gauls did not deploy many troops. Even though the British and Gauls had powerful fleets, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not yet able to contend with them.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's own warships are still under construction and will not be put into service until the second half of next year.

Therefore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could only rely on the fortresses it had built and its ground troops to resist the attacks of these two foreign devils.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" replied Shi Dakai, Minister of Military Affairs.

"This time, the British and the Gauls did not send out many troops. Although their fleet was quite large, with more than fifty warships, their ground forces numbered only three or four thousand."

The 2nd Infantry Division of the Eastern Expeditionary Army should be perfectly capable of handling this.

But I hope that the Eastern Expeditionary Army can seize the opportunity to annihilate the ground forces of the British and the Gauls in one fell swoop.

If we could capture a large number of prisoners, that would be even better.

This will give the Kingdom of Heaven a greater advantage in future negotiations with the British and the Gauls!

Hong Tian reminded him.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, the Eastern Expeditionary Army will definitely complete its mission!" General Li Xiucheng replied.

General Li Xiucheng was waiting to defeat the British and Gauls' attack before leading his army south to attack Zhejiang Province.

In particular, the 4th and 5th Armies under the Eastern Expeditionary Army have already begun to be formed.

Even troops primarily equipped with old-fashioned firearms and cannons still held considerable advantages when facing the Qing army.

Moreover, after the formation of standard infantry divisions, these units, equipped with outdated muskets, artillery, and melee weapons, mainly played a supporting role on the battlefield.

The 1st Army of the Eastern Expeditionary Force also began to be reorganized.

Once this army is reorganized into a standard infantry division, the strength of the Eastern Expeditionary Army will be further enhanced.

Taking over Zhejiang Province will be no problem at all.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was prepared for the attack by the British and the Gauls.

The fortress at Wusongkou has also been completed. The entire fortress is equipped with a large number of cannons.

In addition, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom built more than ten forts of varying sizes along the Yangtze River west of Wusongkou.

Even if some managed to escape and pass through the Wusongkou Fortress, the forts along the Yangtze River could intercept the foreign warships.

Furthermore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's ground forces were also equipped with a considerable number of artillery pieces.

If necessary, these ground troops could also set up cannons directly along the Yangtze River to prevent the foreign fleet from penetrating further into the heart of the Heavenly Kingdom.

The combined forces of the British Empire and the Gallic Empire relied primarily on sailing warships for their main battleships, with other transport ships also powered by sails. Only a small number of warships were equipped with steam engines.

Therefore, the fleet moved very slowly.

It took the allied fleet a full ten days to reach the mouth of the Yangtze River.

At this moment, the Wusongkou Fortress and the 2nd Infantry Division of the Eastern Expeditionary Army stationed in Songjiang Prefecture were all ready for battle.

After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rebuilt and expanded the Wusongkou Fortress, its scale was much larger than before.

Furthermore, it was reinforced with steel and concrete. The outside was then encased in stone slabs for further enhanced defense. Inside, sandbags and cork were used to insulate against impact, ensuring that gunners inside the fortress wouldn't be stunned or killed by the shockwave from a shell explosion.

Of course, the gunpowder at that time was still black powder, and it didn't have that much power yet.

On the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's side, they also strengthened the defenses of their fortresses as much as possible to ensure the safety of their soldiers.

"Commander, the foreign devils are here!" a young soldier reported.

"Order all artillery positions to prepare for battle!" Colonel Ding Juncheng, the commander of the Wusongkou Fortress, who was also young and only in his twenties, issued the order.

"Yes, Commander!" The soldier immediately went to relay the order.

The entire Wusongkou Fortress is now in a state of combat readiness.

The fortress cannons were already aimed at the Allied fleet that had appeared at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The Wusongkou Fortress today has hundreds of cannons of various sizes.

其中，最大口径的要塞炮是120毫米要塞炮，一共有12门。此外，还有20门105毫米火炮。36门75毫米火炮。

These 68 cannons were the main firepower against enemy warships.

The remaining thirty-odd cannons were small-caliber rapid-fire cannons.

It is mainly used to deal with enemies from the side and rear.

Once enemy ground troops land and attack the fortress, the fortress will have sufficient defensive firepower.

At the mouth of the Yangtze River, aboard the Allied flagship HMS Fury, the Allied Commander-in-Chief, Count Elgin, and Admiral Seymour, Commander of the Royal Navy's Far East Fleet, were observing the Wusongkou Fortress through binoculars.

"Your Excellency, according to domestic records, our navy once destroyed this fortress. However, those yellow-skinned monkeys have clearly rebuilt it. They want to keep us at the mouth of the Yangtze River and prevent us from penetrating deeper into their territory!" Admiral Seymour put down his binoculars.

Count Elgin nodded repeatedly.

"Your Excellency, I believe our fleet can easily destroy their fortress!" said Count Elgin.

"Of course, Your Excellency. What the Royal Navy could do more than ten years ago is even less of a problem now!" Admiral Seymour said with a proud expression.

The Royal Navy has always been the most powerful navy in the world.

Even though both the Gallic Navy and the British Royal Navy have now entered the steam age and are vigorously building steam warships, the British Royal Navy still holds a slight edge over the Gauls due to its superior industrial strength and financial resources.

Even though the Gauls dispatched the steam cruiser "Diechera," with a displacement of over 1,800 tons, to participate in the battle this time. Compared to the steam cruiser "Furious," its displacement was more than 600 tons larger.

However, at the request of the British, the steam cruiser "Fury" remained the flagship of the Allied fleet.

"Then, Your Excellency General, use our naval guns to destroy those yellow-skinned monkeys' fortresses and let them know what the consequences are of opposing the Empire!" Count Elgin gave the order.

"Your Excellency, as you wish. Soon, you will see those yellow-skinned monkeys' fortress destroyed." Admiral Seymour was very confident.

The messenger on the steam frigate "Fury" relayed the order via flag signals.

One by one, warships of the British Royal Navy and the Gallic Navy began to turn and approach the Wusongkou Fortress.

In this era, the cannons on these warships were almost all muzzle-loading cannons with a range of only two or three kilometers.

Therefore, these warships need to get as close as possible before they can open fire.

Furthermore, apart from a small number of steam-powered warships, the rest of these warships were sailing warships.

These sailing warships, although often equipped with dozens or even more cannons.

However, these cannons were not very powerful. Some warships even used spherical projectiles.

"Order all gun positions to get closer before firing!"

Faced with the approaching large numbers of British and Gaulish warships, Colonel Ding Juncheng was not intimidated. Instead, he calmly and collectedly issued orders.

"Yes, Commander!" The messenger immediately relayed the order.

Soon, the warships of the British and the Gauls approached to within three kilometers of the Wusongkou Fortress.

The cannons in the fortress were already aimed at the warships of the British and the Gauls.

"Fire!"

"boom!"

At Colonel Ding Juncheng's command, a 120mm fortress gun fired first.

This served as a signal, and the other cannons in the fortress also opened fire.