1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 293 Reaction of the Guangdong Provincial Authorities

The news that the American army defeated the Japanese shogunate army and coerced the Japanese shogunate army to sign the humiliating "Nagasaki Treaty" and the "U.S.-Japan Treaty of Goodwill" soon spread from Japan to the Qing Dynasty across the river.

After hearing the news, the Guangdong authorities first doubted the reliability of the news. When Perry's American East India Fleet was replenishing in Xiangshan, Xu Guangjin sent someone to confirm the authenticity of the news to Perry.

When he learned that the news was true, Xu Guangjin's body was lifted. At the same time, he was thankful that he did not have a violent conflict with Liang Yao in Xiangshan.

Even Pan Zhengwei, Pan Shicheng, Wu Yuanhua and others who had just returned to Guangzhou were very surprised.

Pan Zhengwei and Wu Yuanhua are quite familiar with the American army, especially the American army in California.

There is no doubt that both Pan Zhengwei and Wu Yuanhua believed that the American army had the strength to defeat the Japanese shogunate army.

It's just that they didn't expect that Liang Yao and Perry could defeat the Tokugawa shogunate's army so quickly and force the Tokugawa shogunate to sign such a harsh and unequal treaty.

"The "Wan Guo Tong Jian" says that England is the most powerful Western country, followed by France. Among the Western countries, the United States can only be regarded as a second-rate country in terms of strength. I did not expect a second-rate Western country to be able to defeated the Japanese shogunate so easily."

Pan Shicheng, who was familiar with "Tongjian of All Nations", said with a worried face.

"The Japanese country is not a weak country, and its folk customs are quite fierce, but it has ended up like this. If one day the first-class western powers like England and France go to war with the Qing Dynasty, how should we respond?"

Pan Shicheng did not want to experience another Opium War. After the end of the first Opium War, the Pan family inevitably weakened and lost a lot of financial resources.

If he hadn't been decisive enough to send Pan Zhengwei to California, America to seek gold, the situation of the Pan family would have been even more difficult than it is now.

"I heard that the English are quite dissatisfied with Jiang Ningtiao, and have repeatedly demanded that the treaty be amended. If things go on like this, with the insatiable temperament of the English, it is not impossible for the imperial court and England to break out again."

Pan Zhengwei didn't think that Pan Shicheng was really alarmist, and there was indeed such a possibility.

Lieutenant Kang Enze, who returned to Guangdong on Perry's downwind boat, also immediately reported to Admiral Hong Mingxiang of the Guangdong Navy what he had seen and heard in Japan with the American Fleet this time.

"The Japanese soldiers are very brave, but in the face of guns, bravery is useless. Colonel Liang fought very easily in the two battles in Nagasaki and Kanagawa, especially in the battle of Kanagawa. Colonel Liang fought tens of thousands of Japanese with a mere [-] troops. The shogunate soldiers defeated the shogunate army in less than a day." Kang Enze said to Hong Mingxiang solemnly.

"Foreign guns and cannons are really powerful. No matter in terms of range, rate of fire or accuracy, they are much better than our guns. Hong Junmen, humble staff think that if we want to defend the Guangdong sea area, we must have foreign guns and cannons." .

Before leaving, I asked Colonel Liang. Colonel Liang said that he has an ordnance shop in California, USA, and can produce his own guns. If we need it, we can buy guns from him. "

As the general of the Guangdong Navy, Kang Enze knows exactly what the Guangdong Navy is currently like.

If England invaded Guangzhou again, Kang Enze thought that the performance of the Guangdong navy might not be better than the Japanese pirates' resistance to the United States.

"I heard that the American army suffered only a few casualties during this battle, but is it true?" Hong Mingxiang asked about the casualties of the American army.

Hong Mingxiang knew the benefits of foreign guns and cannons, and of course he also wanted foreign guns and cannons, but there were still two problems before them.

The first problem is money. The Guangdong Navy can barely afford the military salary, let alone the money to buy guns.

The second problem is the permission of the imperial court. Without the permission of the imperial court, a large number of foreign guns and cannons were purchased. If the imperial court pursued it, he, the admiral of the Guangdong Navy, could not bear the responsibility.

"It's true." Kang Enze gave a very positive answer, "The total number of casualties of the two armies of the American Navy is no more than a dozen people. This is what I saw with my own eyes."

"You compile what you have seen and heard about this matter into an article, and follow me to report your interests to Lord Butang." Hong Mingxiang said with a sigh.

"The humble job has written this knowledge into a document."

As he said that, the celebrity Kang Enze brought a wooden box, and inside the wooden box was the manuscript of his "Experiences in Dongying".

Hong Mingxiang opened the wooden box, took out a few pages and read it roughly, then nodded with satisfaction: "You did a good job on this errand."

A few days later, at the Humen Fort, Hong Mingxiang invited Xu Guangjin to the Humen Fort to review the Humen soldiers.

Humen is the key to Guangzhou, and the soldiers on the Humen Fort are naturally the elite of the Qing army.

It's just different from the past. In the past, when Shangguan was going to have a military parade, the superiors would give them the news in advance so that they could prepare in advance.

But this time, the Qing soldiers on the Humen Fort saw two first-rank officials appear on the Humen Fort without receiving any notice, which made the Qing army on the Humen Fort terrified.

Humen Fort is not a single fort, but is composed of more than a dozen large and small forts, including Shajiao Fort, Dajiao Fort, Shanghengdang Island Fort, Weiyuan Fort, Jingyuan Fort, Zhenyuan Three Fort, Hengdang Fort, and Yongan Fort. There are three layers of fortresses.

It is the most complete fort in the Qing Dynasty. If it is managed properly, it can indeed protect Guangzhou.

Hong Mingxiang and Xu Guangjin first inspected the outermost Shajiao Fort.

Although there is no use of gun barrels to dry clothes on the Shajiao Fort, the absence of soldiers on duty and improper storage of ammunition have indeed become the norm.

According to the establishment, the Shajiao Fort should have a green battalion, with a total of [-] people in charge of the garrison. At that time, there were only about four hundred Qing soldiers on the Shajiao Fort. Those who smoke opium can't stand still, and the old smokers with a runny nose.

Seeing this situation, Hong Mingxiang and Xu Guangjin were both mentally prepared, but their faces were still pale from anger.

Although the Humen Fort was the strongest and most complex coastal defense fortress in the Qing Dynasty, it was too old to be full of soldiers due to the shortage of soldiers all the year round.

In a theoretical situation, that is, when it is fully staffed, there should be more than 1.1 green battalion soldiers stationed in the entire Humen Fort Group.

In fact, the number of soldiers stationed at Humen Fort has never reached this number.

Even during Lin Zexu's rectification of Humen's military equipment, there were only seven or eight thousand soldiers stationed at the Humen Fort that could actually go into battle.

After Guan Tianpei lost the Shajiao and Dajiao forts on the outskirts of Humen, he had no choice but to go to the front line in person.

If the soldiers on the front line are strong, why would the commander risk death in battle to come to the front line in person.

"Liu Fang, chief executive of Shajiao Battalion! Are you convicted!" Hong Mingxiang asked in a deep voice.

"Humble and humble."

At this time, Liu Fang was still in a dazed state, and Liu Fang, who was smoking a bit of smoke, walked unsteadily, walking in front of Hong Mingxiang, and then knelt down on the ground, sucking her nose for two A clear nose.

(End of this chapter)