New Ming Empire mixed in America

After a ten-minute shelling, it was time for the troop transport to set off.

The first ones dispatched were the armored gunboats, which arrogantly cleared a route among the merchant ships docked in the port area.

And they used the ship's artillery to fire several rounds of shells at the parapet defense line, causing the defenders who were ready to move to retreat behind the defense line.

Then a troop transport ship covered with iron armor docked, and the National Defense Forces who had been waiting for a long time boarded the port.

After skillfully setting up a line of defense with the cargo at the dock, the remaining troop transport ships began to dock one after another.

After the machine guns and mortars were set up, Song He had already put down his telescope.

He knew that the port area was already a meal for the Wehrmacht.

Towards the afternoon, the defenders in the port area finally raised the white flag. As for the hidden coastal defense artillery, they did not fire a single shot due to the distance.

Looking at the shore defense guns placed on the back of the slope, Song He couldn't help but shake his head.

These defenders had a good idea, but they did not expect that the range of the Royal Navy's naval guns would be so far.

The warships parked outside the port were beyond their range, so these coastal defense guns became just a display.

When the troop carrier was dispatched, these coastal defense guns did not dare to fire. The officer in charge here was a smart man. If they bombarded the troop carrier now, their position would be exposed.

And Song He's battleship will definitely fire a salvo of naval guns at them.

It's great now. Once the white flag is raised and the British soldiers are handed over, the lives of the defenders will no longer be in danger.

At most, he was helping the Easterners transport coal from the port warehouse to the warships. It was better to sweat than to bleed.

Song He was the commander of this maritime patrol mission, so the problem of dealing with the British soldiers was placed in front of him.

"Just hand it over to Jin Yiwei for torture. Why do you want to send this kind of trouble to me?"

Song He looked at the correspondent and muttered dissatisfiedly.

"This is what the officer from Jinyiwei meant. He said that these ordinary soldiers had no inquiry value, so they only took away the officers..."

The correspondent's words made Song He feel a toothache. He really didn't know what to do with these British soldiers who had surrendered.

Seeing the confusion on Song He's face, the correspondent said: "How about we take these British soldiers to Victoria Harbor?"

"With these soldiers as examples, I don't think there will be much resistance among the British soldiers who stayed at the port."

After listening to the correspondent's suggestion, Song He's eyes lit up.

Yes, although Victoria Harbor is now a so-called free port, everyone knows that the British have the final say there.

Bring these soldiers over, just release a few prisoners back to spread the word, and then add artillery bombardment. I believe that the British defenders will not resist violently.

Thinking of this, Song He looked the correspondent up and down and asked, "What did you do before?"

"It would be a pity not to go to the Royal Academy. Why did you join the National Defense Force?"

There was a trace of disappointment on the correspondent's face, and then he said: "I couldn't learn those math problems with weird symbols, so I didn't get admitted to the Royal Academy."

After sighing, he continued: "My name is Chen Hong. I used to be... a comprador on a ship. Later, the ship owner went bankrupt and sold all of us to Peru..." Gu

Hearing that Chen Hong was still a comprador, Song He immediately became interested and asked: "I've heard of compradors in merchant houses and compradors in cigarettes. What do you do as a comprador on a ship?"

Chen Hong looked at Song He and saw that there was no expression of disgust on Song He's face, he breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"Comprador on board is a temporary occupation. Those foreign ship owners cannot understand human language, so they have to hire some people who understand foreign language to help them contact the stevedores..."

"More often... I take them to the brothel to discuss with the old madam... to discuss the price..."

Chen Hong blushed a little when he said this, because he was just an ordinary person who knew a little foreign language and had no way to make a lot of money.

I can only wait for the right time at the dock to work as a translator for the foreign ship owner for a period of time. The biggest business is to help contact the stevedores and earn a little bit of the difference.

As for the business of buying and selling goods, people like them are not allowed to participate in it. The Guangzhou Thirteenth Bank not only has a famous name, but also has a cunning approach.

The Thirteen Lines of Merchants were one of the three major merchant groups during the Puppet Qing Dynasty. They emerged from the monopoly of foreign trade privileges and became extremely wealthy. They were the richest merchant group in China before modern times.

The number of cultural relics and Chinese laborers sold through these people's hands is uncountable, and the cigarettes they handled could keep Mr. Lin, who has banned smoking, from burning them for a whole year.

After listening to Chen Hong's explanation, Song He also learned that there were actually three, six or nine levels of compradors, with the lowest being just like Chen Hong, who could barely make ends meet.

As for those stupid young people who want to do business with foreigners just because they understand a little foreign language, they may not even know whether they can find the corpses in the end.

(Those who think about traveling back in time and starting a business through this should be careful, stepping over the boundary can lead to death!)

"Okay, from now on you should stop working as a correspondent and stay with me. After we capture the Victoria Freeport, I will ask His Majesty for your credit."

Song He fell in love with this correspondent who had a bright mind and a good tongue. You must know that he was the one who introduced Sun Changying to Sun Laifu.

Now Sun Changying is the leader of the mountain troops, and he has led the mountain troops to eliminate many foreign mine thieves.

Song He also knew that His Majesty intended to transform the mountain troops into some kind of special forces, which would be directly integrated into the Imperial Guard in the future.

In this way, Chen Hong suddenly became Song He's envoy, leading the National Defense Forces to discuss with the County Magistrate of Portland where to lead the British troops.

At the same time, Li Mingqi had already led the Imperial Guards to the border to join the Second Brigade of the National Defense Forces, which had arrived earlier.

Seeing the long line of guardsmen riding strange iron frames emerging from the path, the expression on the face of Wang Chuan, commander of the second brigade, was very wonderful.

"Your Majesty, why...why did you come in person?"

Not many people know the news about Li Mingqi's personal expedition. The external news is that the imperial guards are training.

The news Wang Chuan received was that he was afraid that the second brigade was not strong enough, so Li Mingqi sent the Imperial Guard to support him.

But now that Li Mingqi appeared in front of Wang Chuan, how could he not be shocked.

If His Majesty loses a few hairs here, he will have to be skinned by others in the empire.

After the heavy artillery regiment was merged into the National Defense Forces, Wang Chuan was transferred to train new recruits. Later, when the second regiment expanded, he was transferred back as the brigade commander.

You must know that this is the first time he has been responsible for commanding an independent battle. It would be a lie to say that he is not nervous.

Now that Li Mingqi suddenly launched a personal expedition, he felt even more pressure.

"I have said before that the command of the army is a matter for you commanders. I will stay here at the headquarters and not go to the front line. What are you afraid of?"