Although the Chinese army did not launch an attack during the day, the two ministers were still in a panic of fear. Lightning began to appear occasionally in the sky, and then thunder came, and gradually lightning and thunder began to grow densely. The dark clouds seemed to be pressing on the head, and the air became dull, which made the anxious ministers even more anxious. A war that was supposed to be easy evolved into such a result, which was a fact that the ministers could not accept.

The artillery fire of the Chinese army destroyed a lot of houses in this small village. There were few good houses in the village, which was originally small. The heavy rain came as scheduled. The coalition soldiers could only try their best to find a place to shelter from the rain. However, most of the soldiers were still soaked into chickens, and the bean-sized raindrops hit the coalition soldiers, making a sound. After the rain melted the blood on the shore, the red water flowed into the Baihe River along the low-lying area. The coalition soldiers could only watch the dead comrades in the distance being ruthlessly beaten by the rain, but no one dared to go out. The soldiers could only let themselves be hit by the rain and squeezed into a ball.

The heavy rain came to an abrupt end after more than ten minutes. At this time, the sky was completely dark. In one of the few good houses, with the light of the kerosene lamps, British Minister Erkin, French Minister Gro, American Minister Levitra, and Russian Minister Putiyatin sat together to discuss the prospects of the troops. The lights were dim and the ministers did not speak, and the scene was a bit dull.

"The barbaric Chinese are afraid of the cannons of our fleet, so they dare not attack us during the day." Erkin shouted, and Gross nodded in agreement. Both Wei Lian and Putiyatin sat without saying a word. For them, they were a bit unfair. They were just trying to get some benefits, but who knew that the coalition was trapped. 5,000 soldiers went there in a short time. The two were not worried about their fate. After all, the British and French coalition forces who were sending troops are the third party, but on the battlefield, if any unfair shell was called on their heads, it would be really unfair. However, as friends of the British and French coalition forces, at least this time, everyone's interests were the same, so they should encourage the two countries that sent troops.

Wei Lian stood up and said, "The Chinese army does not have enough cannons, so they dare not attack. They just want to trap us to death. The person who reported the news has broken through. When the main fleet arrives tomorrow, we can leave safely."

Gro waved his fists and stood up and roared, "Yes, as long as we can fight out and use the fleet to destroy all the cities along the coast of China. I don't believe that the Chinese emperor will not surrender."

"I also want to suggest that His Majesty the Tsar send troops to China. At that time, our four-nation coalition forces will completely teach these barbarians." Putiyatin also jumped out, and the dull scene began to become active.

"Boom, boom, boom" A few loud noises, the Chinese army began to use the cover of night to launch artillery shells. One of the shells happened to land in the yard outside the room where the envoys lived. The explosion made the oil lamps on the table sway. Erkin hurriedly called out: "Hurry out the lights, the damn Chinese people have bombarded again." The house soon fell into a dark envelope again.

The artillery was still very large, and the ministers had every reason to believe that the number of Chinese military artillery was very small, so they could only secretly shoot a few shots after dark. As soon as they discovered, the ministers increased their confidence in the future, they were eagerly hoping that the fleet would arrive as soon as possible. Although the artillery fire was only messy to the village, it was enough for the coalition forces to have a headache, and no one wanted the few shells to fall on their heads.

At night, this sudden heavy rain turned the water of the White River from steady to rapid and the clear river water also became turbid. The next morning, at the mouth of the White River, the British and French Joint Fleet was quietly anchored on the sea. Since there was no decent resistance, the commander of the United Fleet, General Short, the British Royal Admiral, leisurely sat on the fore deck of the flagship Prince of Wales battleship. Seeing the turbid river water quickly merged into the blue of the sea, the water at the estuary was completely different, with yellow river water on one side and dark blue sea water on the other.

The turbulent river water flowed to the sea with alluvial logs. From time to time, large groups of seabirds were waiting for food at the estuary. The scene was spectacular. Short enjoyed the view at the estuary and waited for the guards to bring his breakfast.

The last drop of coffee also flowed into Schott's mouth, and the guard also brought the steak made by the chef to the deck. Schott smelled the steak from the air and couldn't help but have a lot of appetite. The steak looked good and was Schott's favorite five-quarter cooked. Schott was a crazy carnivore, and even for breakfast he had to eat his favorite steak. Fastening his napkin, Schott picked up the fork and prepared to start his breakfast.

"General, there are many corpses floating on the surface of the river, and many floating objects that look like hulls." This was the lookout on the mast shouting. Hearing the word corpse, Short suddenly felt his heart blocked, and his good appetite suddenly stagnated. Short looked up and looked at the unlucky lookout. The lookout with a cold lookout looked at the lookout. The appetite was destroyed, and the depressed Short simply stood up. As the commander of the fleet, he needed to know what was going on. He picked up the telescope, Short stood on the deck of the bow of the ship and began to look at the estuary of the river. Through the lens of the telescope, Short found that one corpse after another was washed into the sea, and some floating objects seemed to be things on the hull.

"Yeah?" Short's heart skipped a beat. Why did the clothes of the corpse look like the uniforms of the Royal Navy? Short wanted to see clearly, but the distance was a bit far, so he could only see a vague approximation. He was about to send someone down to observe, and the lookout on the mast shouted again: "General, flag words are coming from the fort."

"The ministers were surrounded by Chinese troops, and the fleet was attacked by,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

When the three coalition soldiers, covered in mud and water, were still habitually standing attentive and saluted when they saw Shaute. Shaute quickly returned the salute and immediately asked one of the soldiers: "You are from that unit, what happened?"

The soldier immediately stood up attentively and replied: "Corporal Peter, who is under the Third Brigade of the Royal Marine Squad. The troops were attacked by Chinese troops on the way to attack Tianjin. The accompanying fleet was completely damaged. The envoys were surrounded in a village on the way." Short frowned and then asked: "How did you run back?" The soldiers replied: "The envoys gathered all the horses and then covered us with artillery fire. There were 45 people breaking through, and only three of us were left."

"How many enemies are there?" Short's frown even more violently.

"I don't know, there are many, and they are well equipped, but it seems that they don't have a few cannons." Short said that he was slightly relieved. No artillery means that there is no threat to the fleet. But what happened to the accompanying fleet? Short quickly asked again: "No artillery? How can our fleet be wiped out?" "This is the situation of the general..." The corporal told the story of the fleet being sneak attacked by a small boat, and Short then fully understood.

The military situation was urgent, and Xiaote immediately sent someone to salvage the bodies on the sea surface, and at the same time ordered the entire fleet to ignite the fire and prepare to set off-

In the command center of the new army, Yang Yi was also waiting anxiously. None of the water ghosts sent out to find the warship bombing ships have come back now. I don’t know how the water ghost brothers are doing? There is also a few coalition soldiers who deliberately let go and did not know whether they arrived at Dagukou? Whether the main fleet of the British and French coalition forces can be dispatched. There is no news about all this. Yang Yi couldn’t help but feel anxious. Even Zhang Jian, who had always been calm, was walking back and forth in the command center.

A burst of rapid steps came in from the yard outside the door. Yang Yi and Zhang Jian rushed to the door at the same time, and saw a few water ghosts standing in the yard with the help of the soldiers. Yang Yi stepped forward a few big steps and held one of them and said, "It's good to come back, it's good to come back, how are you all brothers?" A soldier in charge of looking for water ghosts stood up and said, "Report to Master, 120 water ghost brothers have found 65 people, and the others are still looking for them."

"Brothers are all good. It's worth it to exchange for our 60 small boats for ten large warships!" Yang Yi looked at these water ghosts, and his eyes showed a keen light.

"It's a pity that they were not sank. There are still seven or eight stranded on the shore and can still fire at us." A water ghost said fiercely, with an unwilling expression on his face.

"Sir, let's go again tonight and we must blow them all into the sky." The water ghosts shouted together.

Yang Yi quickly comforted them and said, "Brothers do a beautiful job, keeping them will be good for us. Thank you for your hard work, let's go and rest first."

The water ghosts saluted Yang Yi and left. Yang Yi and Zhang Jian returned to the house, and now they were waiting for the main fleet of the coalition forces to take the bait. I wonder how the heavy artillery brigade and Nie Shicheng and others were preparing? Yang Yi could no longer sit still in the house, so he called a few guards and pulled Zhang Jian up and hurried out of the command center.

Mud bend, Baihe turned a long bend here, and then went east to the sea. The river surface in this area is relatively narrow, and it is difficult for ships to turn around here. There is a large forest not far from the south bank of Baihe. After entering, I found that many new soldiers were busy. One 155mm heavy artillery was constantly pushed into the gun position. Li Mingzheng kept shouting that his men should pay attention to digging the gun position and laying the gun shells. Due to limited conditions, the entire Second Army had only such a heavy artillery brigade, which had one equipment of 24 guns.

The 55mm Cannon Battalion, two battalions equipped with 24 105mm howitzers, are the treasures in Nie Shicheng's eyes. On the high ground not far ahead of the mud bend, New Army soldiers dug out trenches, and mortars of various caliber were set up here, waiting for the main fleet of the coalition forces to die. Yang Yi's cannons were concentrated here, 60mm, 80mm, and there are more than 300 direct 120mm heavy mortar battalions of each division, all of which are distributed in this area at a level.

Nie Shicheng stood at a high place with his telescope in his hand, nervously looking east along the river. The expected signal was not available for a long time. Logically speaking, the coalition fleet should have received the news, but why didn't this damn fleet appear yet?

Nie Shicheng's hands were already a little sore, but he still couldn't see the expected signal. Nie Shicheng was a little doubtful if he was not standing high enough, so he quickly asked the guard to get a bench for him, and he continued to look into the distance.

"Pongting, are you in a hurry?" The voice was very familiar. Nie Shicheng looked back and found that it was Yang Yi and Zhang Jian coming up. Nie Shicheng quickly put away his telescope, ran towards Yang Yi, and then stood attentively saluting.

"How is it? Is there any signal?" Yang Yiyi asked.

"It's not yet, I'm so anxious." Nie Shicheng said as he handed the telescope to Yang Yi. Yang Yi took the telescope and looked eastward. He saw that the Baihe River was still flowing eastward calmly, mixed with mud and water brought by the rain, and the river surface was a yellow color.

Zhang Jian also took the telescope handed over by the guard and began to observe the movements in the distance. Occasionally, a few clouds floated by in the clear sky, but they didn't see the predetermined signal. Yang Yi put down the telescope and sighed, "Don't worry, wait a moment." He said that, but Yang Yi still reluctantly picked up the telescope and looked at it, but he still didn't find anything. Just as he was about to put down the telescope, something flashed in the distance. Yang Yi quickly looked again, for fear of looking at it himself.

The wrong Yang Yi shouted, "Gongting, sir, you can take a look." Nie Shicheng and Zhang Jian quickly looked over with a telescope. Nie Shicheng shouted excitedly: "Yes, it was the foreign devils coming out. Yang Yi finally saw clearly, a huge butterfly-shaped kite was dancing in the sky on the east side. The excited Yang Yi also shouted, "Damn, we're finally here." A "dum" made Zhang Jian stunned, but was soon overwhelmed by the joy brought by the upcoming battle.

The sky above the river finally appeared, and it was blurred at first, and gradually became clear. It was the coal smoke released by the steam engine when it was burning. The fish that had been waiting for a long time finally took the bait-

The joint fleet moved forward without encountering the expected obstacles, and the smooth progress was unbelievable. But Short thought that the news was reported by the soldiers saying that the Chinese army did not have many artillery, and he also felt that if he was a commander, he would not be able to use an army without many artillery to attack the well-equipped Royal Navy. In Short's view, the Royal Navy's strength was the most powerful. Indeed, the main force of the joint fleet had ten battleships, including three heavy battleships, and fifteen other ships could be used to ship them. The flagship Prince of Wales was equipped with 40 105mm cannons with astonishing lethality, which were listed in two Hyun. Other ships were also equipped with a large number of artillery.

Shorty stood on the foredeck and used a telescope to observe the channel. The river in front was bent, but it could still ensure safe navigation. The two sides of the river were also calm. As a general who had been fighting for many years, Shorty was still careful to order to reduce the ship's speed and slowly pass through this curve. The sailors on the mast immediately notified other warships in flags. The fleet began to enter the curve. Seeing that the flagship that was leading was about to sail out of this curve, the hull suddenly slowed down and finally stopped. Shorty was shocked and quickly asked the sailors to inquire about what had happened.

"Report to the general, the propeller was entangled by something." The sailor quickly reported the situation. Short quickly ordered: "Order the ships behind to stop advancing and each ship is at a distance." But Short's order was still late, and the warships behind had already leaned forward. For a moment, the bend of the river was filled with ships of twenty-five combined fleets of large and small.

Seeing this, Shorty couldn't help feeling a little bad, and hurriedly ordered the sailors to use flags to make the fleet behind not get too close. But before the order could be issued, the south of the Baihe River made a series of dense loud noises, and dense shells roared towards the bend of the river. Shorty thought to himself: "No, I ambushed."

"Please note that the target is north, with a scale of 2,000, and three fast shots." After a command, various artillery that had been waiting on the shore for a long time opened fire on the joint fleet. The joint fleet, which was suddenly hit, was in a mess, and the ships were constantly caught fire. In the panic, the ships squeezed into a ball, and several of them collided with each other and began to enter the water. The British Navy is worthy of being the most powerful in the world. After a brief panic, the orders sent by the flagship were quickly implemented. The ships braved the dense artillery fire, and while fighting back, adjusting their teams, trying to distance each other.
Chapter completed!