Chapter 552: The Recovery of Macau

About 9 a.m. on December 25, 1857.

This will be the most memorable Christmas in Hong Kong Governor Bonham's life.

Only four hours had passed since the first cannon was fired, and the raid on Hong Kong Island's fleet had already sunk and captured all the warships anchored in the port.

The troops who landed at Tai Koo Estate established a foothold and quickly advanced to the eastern suburbs of Victoria City.

"Your Excellency, at least a thousand troops have been gathered in the east of Victoria City!"

The assistant to the Governor ran into the Governor's Office in the Government House, panting.

"It's the army that attacked our Hong Kong Island. Do you see clearly?" Wen Xian asked pretending to be calm.

"The ingredients are complex, including Yue Yong, Green Battalion soldiers (remnants of the Guangdong Navy), and mercenaries from Umbrella Company." The assistant wiped the sweat from his forehead and added.

"They're setting up artillery outside the city right now."

"The cannon was brought up so quickly?" Wen Xian was shocked.

"It seems that I still underestimated the strength of Umbrella Company's mercenaries. Yue Yong, Green Camp has nothing to be afraid of. Umbrella Company's mercenaries are the only ones who are difficult to deal with."

Wenxian didn't believe that Yue Yong and Green Camp could fight such a beautiful surprise battle. Of course, he was also looking for a way out. It would be embarrassing to lose to the Qing army, but not so embarrassing to lose to the mercenaries of the American Umbrella Company.

"Your Mightiness!"

Watson, a senior employee of the East India Company in charge of the defense of Victoria City, held the ultimatum sent by Liang Shaoqiong's envoy with an ugly expression on his face.

"Liang Shaoqiong, the right minister of the Qing Dynasty's Ministry of War, and Kang Enze, the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Navy, issued an ultimatum to us, requiring us to surrender within 6 hours, otherwise Victoria City will be razed to the ground."

"What an arrogant tone! Do you think our soldiers in Victoria City are all puppets? Six hours?" Wen Xian was furious and asked immediately.

"No signature from Umbrella?"

Continental countries issue ultimatums to each other, usually within 48 hours, and 24-hour ultimatums are relatively rare.

The 6-hour ultimatum was a naked humiliation to him! How can there be a governor who cannot defend Hong Kong Island for 6 hours?

When the main force of Guangzhou City returns to support Hong Kong Island, everything will be fine.

At this time, Bonham still had great hopes of holding Hong Kong Island.

The opponent achieved the current results through a sneak attack without any sense of military ethics. If he confronts the British and French expeditionary forces openly and openly, he will definitely lose!

"No."

Watson carefully looked at the ultimatum written in Chinese and English again, and said with certainty.

"Liang Yao, this little fox, is so cunning." Wen Xian said through gritted teeth.

"Sir, how do you reply?" Watson asked.

"Ignore this piece of waste paper and defend Victoria City. Our main force will soon return to support Hong Kong Island." Wen Xian very stubbornly tore the ultimatum into pieces.

"Issuing weapons to all adult British male residents in the city and organizing them to help defend the city. I don't believe Victoria City can't be defended for 6 hours."

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"Wen Xian is quite tough."

Wen Xian's refusal to accept the ultimatum was unexpected by Liang Shaoqiong. He knew that it would not be easy to win Hong Kong.

Liang Yao elegantly raised his hand and glanced at the time on his watch: "I hope he can still be so tough in three hours."

Liang Xi has already led the artillery regiment to climb Mount Zhaqi. As long as he ascends the commanding heights of Mount Zhaqi and deploys artillery, the entire city of Victoria will be within the range of the artillery regiment.

At that time, the artillery regiment will be shooting targets in Victoria City.

"Why is your watch so small? Can you still wear it on your hand?" Liang Shaoqiong coveted Liang Yao's watch.

"I'll give it to my uncle to try after the battle."

"Liang Shuai, special envoy." As he was talking, the officer of the Yue Yong Shanzi Battalion came to report.

"Macau has been liberated! The 500 prisoners of the Portuguese army and more than 2,000 expatriates have been controlled by our army. The Portuguese governor of Macau is clamoring to see you."

"So fast? No resistance from the Portuguese army in Macau?"

Liang Shaoqiong was a little surprised that Macau surrendered without a fight. He had thought that the Portuguese defenders in Macau would symbolically hold on for a while before surrendering honorably.

There are also four to five hundred Portuguese troops and police stationed in Australia, and a little resistance can last for a while.

"No, he threatened us with a lot of harsh words before the war, but when he saw that we were serious, he immediately showed the white flag as soon as the cannon fired." The battalion officer laughed.

"Compared to the British and French armies, the Portuguese army is really in trouble. They are just paper tigers that can be broken at the first poke."

"Portugal is not a big country, let alone a powerful country. They can only follow the British and French powers and pretend to be powerful." Liang Yao said.

In 1822, Pedro I declared Brazil's independence in Rio de Janeiro and became the first emperor of Brazil. Portugal lost its most important overseas territory and became an insignificant peripheral country in Europe.

By 1857, Portugal's remaining overseas colonies were only a few in Mozambique, Angola, East Timor, Sao Tome and Principe, Guinea-Bissau, Goa and Daman in India, and Macau in the Qing Dynasty.

Except for Goa and Macau, the location conditions and degree of development of other Portuguese colonies were not very good.

"It doesn't hurt to meet the Portuguese Governor." Liang Shaoqiong said.

"Bring on the military flag of our brave people from Guangdong, I want to raise the flag in Macau."

Liang Shaoqiong, Liang Yao's uncle and nephew came to Macau on a Bold-class frigate.

"play music!"

Shanziying military musicians beat military drums and played military music in a small square in Macao.

The flag bearer held the military flag and marched in neat steps to the flagpole.

"Lower the Portuguese flag!"

At Liang Shaoqiong's command, the flag bearer lowered the flag of the Grapevine under the watchful eyes of the crowd, threw it aside casually, and then replaced it with the military flag of the Yueyong Army.

At this time, the Qing Dynasty had not yet been integrated with the international community and did not have an official national flag, so Liang Shaoqiong used the military flag instead of the national flag.

Looking at the slowly rising flag of the Yueyong Army, the Portuguese Governor of Macau, Luis Amado Pereirado Souto Maior, looked pale. It was a cool winter, but beads of sweat the size of soybeans appeared on his forehead.

Sauer served as the Governor of Portuguese Macau in 1855. He did not expect that during his tenure, Macau would easily change hands in this way.

"Minister Liang, our country strictly adhered to a neutral position in the military conflict between your country and Britain and France, and never sent troops across the border. Your Excellency entered Macau without a proper diplomatic note and insulted our national flag. Your Excellency is violating and provoking the sovereignty of our country of Portugal!" After the flag-raising ceremony, Saboea protested angrily to Liang Shaoqiong. He did not want to be the last governor of Macau, and did not want to ruin his bright future. He wanted to struggle to save it. "Your Excellency's words are full of fallacies." Liang Shaoqiong sneered. "First, your country did not strictly adhere to a neutral position in this military conflict! Allowing the British and French coalition forces to invade the territory of the Qing Dynasty through Macau, is this also the act of a neutral country?

Second, the Guangdong authorities only granted you Portuguese the right to settle and do business in Macau! Macau is still the territory of the Qing Dynasty, but you openly built fortresses here, sent troops, appointed governors, and collected tariffs privately. It is you, Portugal, who are infringing on the sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty!"

Britain's occupation of Hong Kong Island has a clear treaty as the basis, while Portugal's occupation of Macau has no clear treaty as the basis.

In the pre-Ming Dynasty, there were still government offices in Macau, which were under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province. It was not until the establishment of the Qing Dynasty that the government offices in Macau were withdrawn, and control over Macau was gradually lost.

Portugal's right to reside and trade in Macau was granted by the Guangdong local authorities, not the central government of the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, the two countries have never formally established diplomatic relations and have never signed a valid treaty agreement on the ownership of Macau's territory. According to international law at that time, Portugal had no legal basis to occupy Macau.

Portugal was able to occupy Macau because of historical inertia, the inaction of the Guangdong authorities, and the fact that the central governments of the Ming and Qing dynasties did not pay enough attention to this tiny place.

It was not until 1887 that the Qing and Portuguese signed the "Draft Treaty of the Qing-Portuguese Conference" and the 40-year "Qing-Portuguese Treaty of Friendship and Commerce". Portugal officially completed the occupation of Macau through complete diplomatic means and treaty basis.

"Mr. Saboea, you are now illegally settling on the territory of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing government has the right to detain you." Liang Yao smiled.

"Not only do we have the right to detain you, but all your income in Macau is illegal income. The Qing government also has the right to confiscate your illegal property in Macau."

Hearing that the property was to be confiscated, Saboea issued a solemn protest. He did not want to continue communicating with Liang Shaoqiong and hoped to communicate with local officials in Guangdong.

"You should negotiate with your local officials. You have no right to confiscate the property of Portuguese residents in Macau, let alone the property of the Governor!"

"Since Portuguese residents are illegally settled in Macau, I dare not recognize you as the Governor of Macau."

Liang Shaoqiong waved his hand, signaling that Saboea should also be detained, without giving Saboea a chance to argue.

After Saboea was taken away, Liang Shaoqiong and Liang Yao immediately sent people to take over Macau and implement effective administrative management of Macau. At the same time, they counted the property of the Portuguese Macau authorities and Portuguese merchants in Macau.

"I don't know if the property of these Portuguese merchants is enough to pay your mercenary commissions." Liang Shaoqiong was already thinking about how to deal with the property.

Macau is an important maritime trade hub at the mouth of the Pearl River. Although it is small, the Portuguese have been operating here for hundreds of years. There are complete tax departments, port departments, complete infrastructure, and fortresses. It can be said that it has everything.

"It's too early to consider these things now. If we can't repel Britain and France, we will have to pay them back with interest." Liang Yao said.

Hong Kong Island, Cheqi Mountain, Liang Xi, who was out of breath, had no time to rest. He ordered the removal of grass and trees on the top of the mountain, assembled the disassembled field artillery, and prepared to bombard Victoria City at the foot of the mountain.

Standing on Cheqi Mountain, which is more than 500 meters high, the scenery of Victoria City is in full view.

Liang Xi can even see the British soldiers patrolling the streets through a telescope.

"Great, great, the British troops in the city are all within our range!"

Liang Xi calculated the distance from the top of the mountain to the seaside, which is only about 7 kilometers.

In other words, the entire Victoria city area, and even the dock, are all within the range of their artillery regiment.

Unfortunately, the 12-pound field artillery was too heavy and could not be pulled up, which was not exciting enough.

"Lieutenant Colonel! The artillery is in place. Where should we shoot?"

Soon, the 6-pound Sacramento field gun was assembled and set up. The battalion commander asked Liang Xi about the target of the artillery fire so that he could calibrate the firing parameters.

"Where is the Governor's House? Aim at the Governor's House and shoot hard!"

Liang Xi looked around carefully with a telescope. There were many mansions of British wealthy businessmen in Victoria City. Many of them had Union Jacks flying in them. He was not sure about the exact location of the Governor's House.

"I'll ask a Hong Kong civilian who's carrying ammunition," the battalion commander replied.