1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 538 Is this also French?

"The ghost guy is on the beach!"

"Why are these bad ghost guys different from the ghost guys we saw before?"

"The ghost soldiers we saw before were all wearing red clothes and barrel hair, and the darker ones also wore turbans. Why do these ghost soldiers wear blue clothes and red pants?"

"Didn't the ghost guys from Citigroup say that these are ghost soldiers from the French country, not the British country's ghost soldiers?"

"Whether it's the French or English ghost soldiers, they are not good things."

"Do you think the French ghost soldiers are more powerful or the English ghost soldiers?"

"The ghost soldiers from the Citizen country said that the ghost soldiers from the British country are very powerful on the water and ashore, and the ghost soldiers from the French country are very powerful."

"Then we can't let these French ghost soldiers come ashore!"

Near Xiangshan Brother Reef, a group of Yue Yong recruit camp soldiers who were patrolling looked at the French soldiers on a small gunboat and talked.

This gunboat is called the Reina. Its displacement is very small, only more than two hundred tons, and there are not many people on board, only about twenty people.

But these patrolling Guangdong soldiers saw at least thirty or forty people on the boat. The extra people were engineers and leading soldiers of the company responsible for reconnaissance and surveying.

"The ghost guys from Citi are right. The French ghosts are not as good at water skills as the English ghosts." Liang Xiude, chief of the Guangdong Patrol Team, saw the small gunboat rushing straight into the reef area. Very surprised.

"Don't they know there's a reef here?"

The waters near Brother Reef are a reef area, but now that the tide is high, the underwater reefs are not easy to find.

"What the hell! Look! Gui Lao's boat has hit the rocks!"

Whatever comes to mind, a sharp-eyed Xiang Yong said, pointing to the gunboat Reina that ran aground on the rocks.

I saw the small gunboat sitting firmly on a sharp rock, unable to move.

"Quickly notify the sentry! There is a foreign ship running aground here! Others disperse, follow me and fire guns to contain these foreigners!"

Liang Xiude was very excited. Not all of these foreigners seemed to be good at water. This small gunboat now represented military merit in his eyes.

"Sir, our guns can't reach them at this distance." One of the big-headed soldiers said.

"You're the only one who talks nonsense!" Liang Xiude glared at the talkative soldier.

"Disperse quickly! There are cannons on the foreigners' ships! Cannonballs don't have eyes!"

Liang Xiude didn't want to kill the French soldiers on the Reina. He even wanted to capture them alive and claim credit.

It was only because they were afraid that the Reina was equipped with naval guns and that the French army was far more numerous than them, that they did not dare to act rashly.

Soon, Liang Shaoqiong heard that a French gunboat was stranded, so he personally came with the men and horses of the Sanshao (Company) Shanzi Battalion. He also asked Sutter to borrow three 6-pound Sacramento guns, and even the artillerymen were borrowed. .

These French troops were also unlucky. The lifeboat they lowered ran aground before rowing far, and the sailors on the lifeboat had to get back on the ship.

The French troops on the Reina were in a dilemma. Facing the guns fired by the Cantonese warriors on the shore, they could only use the four naval guns on the Reina to fight back.

It's just that the Yue Yong's formation was very scattered, and the French troops on the Reina fought low and high. They couldn't even see where the people on the shore were. They could only rely on intuition and the sound of the opponent's guns to fight back.

On the other hand, the three 6-pound Sacramento field guns, relying on their advantages in rate of fire and accuracy, were able to suppress the four naval guns on the Reina from a commanding position.

"That old boy Sartre's artillery fire is really fast and accurate!" Liang Shaoqiong couldn't help but sigh.

Liang Shaoqiong's artillery regiment was also equipped with a 6-pound Sacramento field gun, but the quality of the Yueyong artillery was not at the same level as Sutter's private artillery.

Sutter's private artillery also worked part-time as quality inspectors at the Sacramento Arsenal. These people probably fired more shells in a month than the Yueyong Artillery in a year.

The British and French warships passing nearby heard the sound of cannons and came to support the Reina. This rekindled the hope of the French troops on the Reina, but soon their hopes were dashed.

After several attempts by British and French warships to enter Brother Reef and almost running aground, they chose to give up entering Brother Reef and instead lowered their lifeboats to rescue the French troops trapped on the Reina.

However, these lifeboats that were released could only withdraw from Brother Reef in despair under the increasingly fierce firepower of the enemy forces on the shore. One of the British lifeboats accidentally ran aground on the rocks during the retreat.

Unfortunately, these British sailors had excellent water skills, so they were allowed to swim back.

Seeing that it was impossible to rescue the Reina and that the tide was about to recede, the British and French rescue ships fired several rounds of cannons at the shore and then withdrew to safer waters.

At night, Sutter pulled two heavier 12-pound Sacramento field guns to the vicinity of Brothers Reef, quickly assembled them, and then personally fired the guns, which was a pleasure.

Sartre had many opportunities to shoot with artillery, but there were not many opportunities to shoot with live targets. Sartre continued to hit more and more, until the French troops on the Reina raised the white flag and refused to give up. They fought for two more rounds before stopping.

There were originally 39 French navy and land officers and soldiers on the Reina. Except for an engineer who couldn't swim and fell into the water and drowned, and 7 people were killed in the shelling, the remaining 31 French soldiers were all captured.

Seeing that the British and French warships in the distance had not yet evacuated, Liang Shaoqiong had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​capturing the Reina and ordered people to bring yellow diatomaceous earth explosives used to blow up mines and blow up the Reina.

Back at Xiangshan Port, Liang Shaoqiong and Sartre interrogated the prisoners overnight.

Liang Shaoqiong ordered the disarmed and shackled French prisoners to stand in a row. He walked back and forth in front of the group of French prisoners, observing the French prisoners.

"Is this fucking French too? The French also own slaves?"

Liang Shaoqiong stopped in front of a black prisoner and looked up and down at the black prisoner by the light of the kerosene lamp. This black prisoner stood out among the white prisoners.

In Liang Shaoqiong's perception, France is a white country and has no black citizens.

"There is nothing surprising about the soldiers in the West African colonies. There are also a large number of Indian soldiers in the British army." Sartre then pointed to several prisoners with Arab faces and said.

"Although these guys look quite white, they are not orthodox French. They are soldiers from the North African colonies."

"Who is the real French? Ask them what the purpose of this operation is!" Liang Shaoqiong didn't understand the French army, and he didn't expect that the composition of the French army was so complicated.

Sartre paused in front of a French Army non-commissioned officer. As for why Sartre determined that this person was an Army non-commissioned officer, the reason was also very simple. He obtained the information from the military uniform he was wearing.

The two orange bars on the front of the noncommissioned officer's arms indicate his status as a noncommissioned officer.

The two rows of red inverted V-shaped armbands worn on the upper arm indicate that the noncommissioned officer is an old noncommissioned officer who has served for a long time. The brochure with red and green colors indicates that the noncommissioned officer belongs to the vanguard unit and is a noncommissioned officer of the elite unit.

During the Crimean War, the Lotus Garment Factory in California produced a large number of military uniforms for the French army. Therefore, although Sartre was far away in California and had never been to France, he knew the French military uniforms well.

"This is an orthodox Frenchman and a veteran."

Sartre moved his eyes from the French army noncommissioned officer's brochure to his face. He looked directly into the noncommissioned officer's eyes and asked in French that he was not very proficient in.

"Tell me, Sergeant, what is the purpose of this operation of your vanguard company!"

"Are you French?"

The French sergeant was very surprised to see that the other party knew so much about the French army. It's just that the other person's French is relatively poor, and it can be clearly heard that French is not this person's mother tongue.

"I'm interrogating you now! You're not interrogating me!"

Sartre was not polite to the French non-commissioned officer and directly punched him in the face.

Sartre was originally from Germany and grew up in war-torn Germany. Not only did he not have a good impression of the French, but he also had a bit of hatred for them, especially French soldiers.

"No comment!" the French sergeant said through gritted teeth.

Seeing that the opponent's bones were still quite strong, Liang Shaoqiong, who was experienced in handling prisoners of war, didn't waste any words. He waved his hand and motioned for the soldiers to come up and execute him directly.

Several soldiers skillfully pushed the French sergeant to the ground, pressed his hands with their knees, and then found a few bamboo sticks to pierce the French sergeant's fingernails.

For a moment, the French sergeant's howling like a pig was heard throughout the compound.

Several French recruits were so frightened that they trembled all over and their legs trembled. They covered their eyes and did not dare to look, for fear that it would be their turn next.

"Shuai Liang, this guy is quite tight-lipped and won't say anything."

After some torture, the soldiers reported to Liang Shaoqiong.

"Tear off his pants and find some wax to wash his bird." After that, Liang Shaoqiong said to Sartre again.

"Mr. Sartre, please tell him that I, Mr. Liang, are not afraid that he will not tell me, but I am afraid that he will not be able to withstand my punishment."

It's not like Liang Shaoqiong has never seen a tough tongue. In Jiangnan, he often examined hairy tongues. Many tongues can withstand one round or two rounds, one or two days, but those who can endure it all the time are only rare.

There were so many French prisoners here, and he couldn't believe that he couldn't figure out the reason.

Sartre conveyed Liang Shaoqiong's words to the French army sergeant, who heard the words and hurled obscenities at Liang Shaoqiong crazily.

Liang Shaoqiong couldn't understand French and asked Sartre: "What did he say?"

"He said you were a barbarian and uncivilized," Sartre translated.

"Barbarian? Tell him, no matter how barbaric the barbarians are, they have never gone wild in his French land. As for civilization? Do bandits like them deserve to call themselves civilized people?" Liang Shaoqiong sneered.

"Today I will let you civilized people open your eyes and learn how we barbarians treat guests!"

Not long after, the soldiers brought a few pieces of wax, burned it, and applied it to the French sergeant's vitals.

At first, the French sergeants could hold on with grit.

Liang Shaoqiong was very patient, and he was not in a hurry. He ordered people to pour water on him to cool him down, and sprinkled sea salt on him and continued to drip.

Some soldiers felt that dripping wax was not satisfying, so they burned it directly on an open fire from time to time.

Soon, the entire compound was filled with a burning smell, and several timid French soldiers were frightened to the point of incontinence.

The French sergeant finally couldn't bear it any longer and explained everything.

It turned out that they were ordered to conduct surveying and mapping work on Xiangshan Port and its surrounding areas, and at the same time, select a suitable landing site for the subsequent landing of the army.

There are heavy coastal defense guns at the Xiangshan Port pier, and the forts on Qi'ao Island Mountain can form cross-fire with the coastal defense guns on the pier.

In the past few days, the French army had repeatedly tried to approach Xiangshan Port on the pretext of replenishing supplies and purchasing military supplies, but was repelled. The French Navy also experienced the power of the Xiangshan Port's coastal defense artillery.

Frightened by the powerful firepower of coastal defense artillery, the French army had to give up its plan to use warships and naval guns as cover and the Marine Corps to storm and seize Xiangshan Port.

Although the naval guns have powerful firepower, they will still suffer a loss in the rough seas and when the well-prepared coastal defense guns are waiting for work.

After discussion, the French military leaders chose to find another way to land from other places. The Reina is one of the small gunboats responsible for surveying and mapping points. The French army dispatched a total of three such gunboats.

When asked why the French prisoners did not attack Guangzhou but wanted to attack Xiangshan Port, the French soldiers were also very honest. They said that people from the British East India Company told them that the Bank of America in Xiangshan had a large amount of gold, and other trading banks were also there. Xiangshan Port stores a lot of gold and silver treasures.

After interrogating the French prisoners, Liang Shaoqiong called the patrol leader who discovered the Reina today and rewarded him and the entire patrol team with 200 US dollars in California gold coins. Due to its abundant materials and sophisticated casting technology, California dollars are very popular in the port areas and are a harder currency than the Eagle Ocean.

Liang Shaoqiong was very happy to learn that the patrol leader was a descendant of the Liang family and said a few words of encouragement to him.

Liang Xiude was excited beyond words. After taking charge of Guangdong Yong, Liang Shaoqiong became one of the most prominent figures in Guangdong, with extremely high prestige. It is difficult for ordinary people to meet Liang Shaoqiong, let alone say a few words alone.

After doing this, Liang Shaoqiong and Sartre hadn't had dinner yet because they were busy interrogating the prisoners. Liang Shaoqiong then stayed with Sartre to have a supper together.

What the two of them are most worried about now is the landing of the French army.

Liang Shaoqiong looked worried at the confiscated French military equipment.

Except for the elite Shanzi Battalion of the Yue Yong guarding Xiangshan Mountain, which is equipped with the original Walter rifle, the rest of the troops are equipped with the same exported Walter rifle as the French army.

In terms of rifles, the gap between the two sides is not big, and it can be said that Yue Yong still has a slight advantage.

But in other aspects, the French army's equipment is better than that of the Guangdong Yong.

The belts, shoulder straps, ammunition belts, water bottles, wool blankets, backpacks and other portable equipment of the French army are all high-quality industrial products. The coats and military uniforms are wool coats of good quality, and the boots have wear-resistant buckles that can be adjusted for tightness. cowhide boots and sheepskin boots.

Opening the rucksack of an ordinary French soldier, Liang Shaoqiong found that there were multiple compartments in the backpack. In addition to military rations such as hard bread, canned food, dried meat, and sugar, the compartments also contained knives, matches, sewing kits, Cigarettes and other daily necessities.

The ordinary French army's backpack was like a small warehouse, which made Liang Shaoqiong envious.

After leading troops for so many years, he knew that logistics was the place that best reflected the strength of an army. The equipment of ordinary soldiers could be so meticulous, and not to mention the combat effectiveness of the French army, the national strength must be very strong.

Rao is the most elite direct line battalion of Guangdong Yong, and Liang Shaoqiong cannot equip every major soldier with such complete equipment.

In the end, Liang Shaoqiong did not give up and dismantled a rifle seized from the French army. The result still disappointed him. The French soldiers took good care of their rifles.

"The equipment of the French army is quite good, comparable to that of the Western Brigade." Sartre also looked at the small items of the French army with interest.

"The equipment is too complete. Although there has not been a decent formal battle, looking at these equipment, the French army is not an easy enemy to deal with." Liang Shaoqiong ordered people to take photos and records of these things and put them away. He stared at the map behind him with his hands behind his back and asked Sartre. road.

"Mr. Sartre, if you were the French commander, where would you choose to land?"

"You are asking the question knowingly." Seeing Liang Shaoqiong's eyes fixed on Macau, Sartre gave him the answer.

"Only when forced to do so, we need to land on the beach. Moreover, Xiangshan is densely populated. No matter where the French army lands from, it will be difficult to hide it from us, except for one place."

"Macao."

The two of them said the answer in their hearts almost in unison.

Although Macau is small, it is well-equipped with ready-made ports and terminals. The French army can march directly to Xiangshan Port through the Macau Peninsula. The distance from Xiangshan Port to the Macau Peninsula is only more than 40 miles.

According to the marching speed of the French army, the light infantry can reach Xiangshan Port in less than a day.

"Macau is occupied by the Portuguese. Will the Portuguese let the French army pass through Macau?" This was the last doubt in Liang Shaoqiong's mind.

"The British and French warships are parked at the door, and the Portuguese have no choice but to agree." Sartre used a pencil to draw a line from the Macau Peninsula to Xiangshan Port.

"I also suggest deploying some elite troops here to prevent any unexpected events. If we want to attack Xiangshan Port, this is the most efficient and convenient route of advance."