The sunset is setting, and the sunset is filled with gold, sprinkling on the blue Yangtze River, the scenery is so beautiful.

However, uninvited visitors suddenly appeared on the river surface at the mouth of the Yangtze River. A fleet of stars and stripes was heading towards Wusongkou.

Wusongkou, originally called Huangpukou. Since the Wusong River channel was silted, the Huangpu River became the main river channel. Therefore, Huangpukou became the current Wusongkou, guarding the flanks of the Yangtze River and the fortress of the Huangpu River. It has always been a place that military strategists must fight for and is also the gateway to Shanghai.

Since Li Weiguo occupied Baoshan County, he realized that this was the gateway to Shanghai and the necessary waterway for the fleet of great powers to enter Shanghai from the sea, and must focus on defense.

Originally, the Qing army had fortifications at Wusongkou, including two forts in the east and west, and thirty artillery pieces. During the Sino-British War in 1840, Chen Huacheng resisted the British fleet here and repelled the British fleet's attacks many times, but the final fall also exposed a large number of major problems.

Li Weiguo promoted a group of generals from Chen Huacheng's old subordinates, one of whom was named Lin Yao, who was once the subordinate of Shanghai General Peng Wenyuan. When Xiaodaohui attacked Shanghai, Peng Wenyuan was killed. Lin Yao led more than 700 elite troops to break through and surrender to Li Weiguo.

Lin Yao was a powerful general, brave and resourceful. After joining the Li family army, he performed outstandingly and was well-managed. He was highly valued by Li Weiguo. So Li Weiguo ordered him to lead 5,000 defenders to guard the Wusongkou Fort. At the same time, he also built the South Fort and the North Fort in Nanshitang in response to the defensive loopholes at that time, and built the back-sloping turret on the line of the Lion Fort to prevent the enemy from surrounding the main fort from behind.

The entire Wusongkou Fortress added 68 artillery pieces of various caliber, including 12 64-pound fortress artillery pieces, with a range that directly covers the south bank of the Yangtze River and the entire Huangpu River. The original brick and stone fortifications were replaced by Li Weiguo with iron reinforced concrete structures, and infantry support bunkers and burials were added to protect the safety of the fortress artillery and ensure that the fortress artillery became an iron gate bolt to guard the west gate of Shanghai.

"It's the American fleet! Report to the general quickly!"

Looking upstairs at the east fortress in Wusongkou, a soldier from the Li family discovered the fleet through a telescope. He recognized the American star-striped flag and quickly warned.

The rapid alarm was blown, and the defenders of the entire East Fort quickly rushed out of the hidden underground artillery holes everywhere. The artillery quickly entered their respective artillery positions and opened the cover door. They pushed out the cannon hidden inside and entered the combat position. At the same time, they opened the ammunition depot and took out the shells and fired medicine. As long as the artillery commander gave the order, they could immediately enter the battle.

Similarly, a group of soldiers from the barracks gathered and drove out quickly, and quickly entered the bunkers and castles that they were responsible for guarding, and everything was in order.

In less than five minutes, both infantry and artillery entered the combat post, waiting for the order to go up the peak. The four fortress turrets in the east, west, south and north were successively completed and entered the state of combat readiness.

Lin Yao, commander of Wusongkou Fortress, quickly climbed to the highest point of the East Fort, looked at the river through a telescope, and saw seven American warships slowly sailing towards Wusongkou.

"Shooting warning! Ask them what they are doing with flag words?"

The order was issued, and an empty cannon rang out. The whistling sounded through the sky.

On the front American warship USS Saskana steam paddle frigate (USSSusquehanna), Matthew C. Perry, the admiral of the US Asian (East India) fleet, and Robert Mclane, the new US ambassador to China, suddenly heard the sound of cannons coming from the Wusongkou Fortress. The two were shocked and hurried to the fore deck.

Perry saw the flag utterances made by the Li family army in the telescope, and asked in confusion: "Mr. Minister, don't you say that the Qing people don't know how to communicate? How could they play the flag utterances that are common to the international navy?"

Mailian took the telescope and saw that the Shanghai soldiers on Fortress Hill were placing flags on them, so he replied: "It is my first time to come to Asia. It was Mashali who told me before. Admiral Perry, you don't have to be nervous. According to the provisions of the "Mei-Qing Wangxia Treaty", our warships have the right to enter and exit the trading port."

Perry nodded and immediately ordered someone to reply to the other party by placing flags and showing his identity and purpose.

On the Fort Hill, Lin Yao quickly learned about the intentions of the US Navy fleet. But he was unwilling to let the US fleet in just like this. He always had a bad feeling, and felt that the arrival of the US Navy was not good.

Lin Yao looked at the instructor Li Xiang beside him and asked worriedly: "Staff Officer Li, you said we killed seven or eight American soldiers last year, and now they are here with the fleet. Isn't you going to take revenge on us, right?"

As the name suggests, the staff officer is a military system established by Li Weiguo imitating the modern military staff system and combining the current actual environment. In order to further improve the combat effectiveness of the Li family army, and at the same time strengthen the control of the Li family army officers and soldiers, so that they will always be loyal to Li Weiguo alone.

All the staff members of this system are from members of SHIELD. They receive strict military training, strategic training, intelligence training, espionage and counter-espionage training, etc. They are soldiers brought out by Li Weiguo himself. They are extremely loyal to Li Weiguo. They serve as staff officers at all levels of the army. They can not only help the army improve their combat effectiveness, but also ensure high ideological unity within the army and prevent the enemy from lurking into the army.

Of course, the staff officer is not the military chief, and only provides staff officers and suggestions to the military chief. As Li Weiguo's direct suspicion in the army, unless the military chief officer has the possibility of rebellion, they have no right to interfere with the military chief officer's military command. This is also a tight curse by Li Weiguo to China SHIELD to prevent organizations like the Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei and Dongchang from eventually losing control and becoming a national cancer.

Li Xiang is a graduate of the second phase of SHIELD. Because all the 100 students in the first phase of the year were sent out by Li Weiguo to perform hidden tasks, the second phase of the school became the pillars of SHIELD. Li Xiang is the best among the second phase of the school of the school. Because he came from the Li family clan, he did not participate in the acquisition of Li Weiguo's property at that time, so Li Weiguo later became rich. Under the entourage of Li's father, Li Weiguo launched a group of children of the Li family clan, including Li Xiang. He was five years older than Li Weiguo, but he was a generation younger than Li Weiguo and went to a private school. Therefore, among a large number of illiterate classmates in SHIELD, he made great progress in his studies and was valued by Li Weiguo. He was sent to a key position like Wusongkou Fortress as the chief of staff of the fortress.

When Li Xiang heard Lin Yao ask him, he smiled slightly and said, "If I remember correctly, the twelve-year validity period of the Qingmei Wangxia Treaty has arrived. According to the provisions of the treaty, the two sides will negotiate the new terms of renewal. If General Lin is not willing to let them in, he can use this reason to block them."

Lin Yao's eyes suddenly lit up and he asked again: "Foreigners have always been arrogant. Now that the Americans have driven all the fleet, they probably won't agree. What if they fight?"

People in this era are afraid of going to war with foreigners. It’s not that they dare not fight with foreigners, but because the imperial court’s law that is not allowed to initiate foreign disputes. Whether you win or lose, you will end up with Lin Zexu.

After all, Li Xiang was brainwashed by Li Weiguo and was not nervous about foreigners like Lin Yao. He smiled and said, "As long as General Lin has the ability to win a battle, Lord Li will naturally be happy and reward your contributions. But I want to remind you that our Lord Li is a master who never suffers losses. If you defeat the battle and embarrass Lord Li, then I have to remind you to be careful that you can't afford to take advantage of it."

"I'll be relieved if you say this!" Lin Yao immediately smiled and immediately ordered the troops to return the flag words to the Americans. The treaty period has passed and the US fleet is not allowed to enter the Huangpu River.

On the Saskatchewan, Perry and Mailian were also shocked after receiving the response from the Li family army. The former was furious and the latter was thinking.

Perry said angrily: "These Qing people remember to eat but not beat them. It seems that it is necessary to teach them a lesson!"

Mai Lian said worriedly: "The reason why I asked you to bring the fleet this time is to scare the Qing people. We want to avenge the American soldiers who died at the hands of Li Weiguo, but we are not going to go to war with the Qing people."

Perry snorted coldly and said, "The Qing people didn't even know where we are. Their ships could not reach the United States at all. Even if the war started, we could only fight them. They could not fight us at all. What are you afraid of?"

Mailian hesitated and said, "You are a soldier and don't understand politics. This is not as simple as you think. I must first meet with the ministers of Britain and France, and then take action after implementing some issues."

Perry couldn't listen and patted Mai Lian on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I'm just teaching the Qing people a lesson, just like I'm teaching the Japanese a lesson in Japan. Only by letting them see the power of our American fleet can they sit down and talk. I'm also for your own good. I'll give the Qing people a warning first and make them afraid of us. In this way, if you negotiate with them, they won't dare to neglect you, and the talk will be twice the result with half the effort."

"This--" Mailian was a little moved, and Perry's words made sense, and he hesitated immediately.

"Okay, that's it!" Perry immediately made a decision for Mai Lian. Since he opened the door to Japan, he was very arrogant and did not take the so-called Celestial Kingdom seriously. In his opinion, the last time he just scared the Qing government a little, forced the Qing government to sign the Wangxia Treaty. Now that the Wangxia Treaty has expired, he happened to force another force to renew the contract.

Perry suddenly became excited when he thought of making contributions again.

"Tell the Qing people by flag-telling that if we don't let us go, we will pass by force!"

On Fort Hill, Lin Yao was also aroused blood in his heart when he knew that the US Navy was going to pass through Wusongkou by force.

"The old general Chen Huacheng was here to beat the British fleet, and now I, Lin Yao, are definitely not a coward!"

Lin Yao immediately ordered: "Tell me the order to prepare for battle and never let the American devils' ship pass Wusongkou!"

The sound of the battle horn sounded, and the officers and soldiers of the Li family at the Wusongkou Fortress were immediately excited, loading shells, and preparing to fight with the US Navy.

At the same time, Perry saw that Wusongkou Fortress entered a state of combat, and he was not willing to be outdone.

"Tell me the order, raise the battle flag, and prepare for the battle!"
Chapter completed!