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Section 164 In front of Humen

 Chapter 164 In front of Humen

The fleet quickly passed Furongsha under the guidance of the Haitian and went all the way up. It was the first time for most of the veterans of the fleet to enter the Pearl River Estuary and sail in the Pearl River waters. Chen Haiyang had sailed on the Pearl River many times in the past -

When he served in the South China Sea Fleet, he commanded warships to enter Huangpu Port many times. However, the Pearl River in this time and space is very different from the old time and space. The river surface is wider, the water and sky are the same color, and it is as vast as the sea. There are harbors and river branches everywhere.

With small sandbars and islands, the plains where water flows on both sides give people the illusion that this is an inland sea dotted with islands. The fragmented rivers that cut the land often make it difficult to distinguish them from the surrounding islands.

The water surface is divided. There are small pieces of cultivated land everywhere, and the late rice has been cultivated. The fragrance of rice flowers permeates the air. Villages and market towns are scattered on the river banks. There are almost no roads and only boats are used to travel. The large and small rivers form a complex network.

The network connects towns and villages. From time to time, you can see a few ship masts and sails faintly appearing in the depths of the rice fields.

This breathtaking rural scenery of the Yangtze River Delta has almost disappeared in the Pearl River Delta in the old time. The veterans of the fleet looked at this scenery greedily. Isn't this just like "a big river with wide waves, and the wind blows the rice and flowers on both sides"?

Is it artistic conception? The land of China has been so beautiful and fertile since ancient times. This beautiful scenery has aroused their strong desire - they must take it!

There were some inland river transport ships sailing on the river, as well as fishing boats. Seeing such a menacing and well-equipped fleet sailing, they all fled to the bays and river branches on both sides. Chen Haiyang ordered people to capture a few ships and inquire about the situation on the river.

.

According to the information provided by the captured boat people and sailors, there were no official ships patrolling the Pearl River. If there were any official armed ships, there were only a few small boats from Zini Customs on the river.

Most of the warships of the officers and soldiers are scattered in the large and small harbors between Xiangshan and Huangpu. There are more than a dozen warships of the officers and soldiers in Humen. In addition to the ships of the Navy, there are many large ships berthed in Dahuangpu. The total number has been

More than 2,000 ships. Since the war with the "Kun Bandits", many long-distance merchant ships have not dared to sail, especially merchant ships heading to Vietnam and Siam, because they have to pass through the Qiongzhou Strait - which is now in the "war zone", except for

Except for a few bold and well-informed ship owners, no one dared to venture there

As for the defense of Guangzhou, it is said that the officers and soldiers have stepped up their vigilance, and many sandbag forts have been built on the river banks. The Ya Niang Shoe fort in Humen has also increased its gun positions and added troops.

Chen Haiyang has a general grasp of the Jiang defense situation and believes that Guangzhou has not made too complicated defenses - of course, no matter how complicated the defenses are, they are of little value according to the level of the 17th century. The navy under his command is at least the level of the early 19th century. If not

The spy boat's shape was too long and its tonnage was too small. He could not even launch so many ships into the Pearl River.

Chen Haiyang ordered: "Let all the captured boat people go and give each of them some souvenirs."

The arrested boat people and merchants thought that even if they were not captured as meat tickets, they would still lose both their boats and their cargo. Unexpectedly, the thief was very polite and allowed them to sail away after the questioning. Everyone on the boat was also issued a note.

Australian face wash cloth - towel as a gift. Towel is the most popular product among Lingao industrial products.

The people on the boat stared blankly at the towels in their hands - there were blood-red stitches on it with the words "The Australian and Song Dynasty Navy first entered the Pearl River to commemorate" - and then looked at the fleet that was sailing away, feeling that they were simply

Had a strange dream.

The fleet drove directly to Humen. Chen Haiyang decided to take the Pearl River Pass, the gateway to Guangzhou, in the first battle. Humen belonged to Dongguan County in the Ming and Qing dynasties and in modern times. It is adjacent to the Lingding Ocean on the outside and the Lion Ocean on the inside. It is a section of about 8 kilometers long.

The area on the Pearl River and both sides of the river. This is the Pearl River Pass and the gateway to Guangzhou. Historically, the safety of Humen has important psychological significance to the security of Guangzhou. Once a foreign enemy captures Humen, it can shake the entire Guangzhou. Therefore, the fortifications here have been very tight in the past dynasties.

.Although the Humen Pass has never been able to withstand even a frontal attack by foreign enemies, not only are the ships strong and the artillery powerful, but the British and Japanese with superior equipment and tactics have broken through this pass. Even the Chinese pirates in the Jiaqing era have easily broken through this pass.

He had broken through the Humen Fortress. He knew that in 1637, the British Weddell, with a few ships, destroyed and occupied the Ya Niang Shoe Fort in Humen. With his strength, it would not take much effort to occupy this place.

While the Pearl River Task Force was advancing, the defenses in the Humen area had been greatly strengthened. Although He Rubin, the general of the Guangdong Army, was surrounded in Qiongshan, and Wang Zunde was unable to attend due to illness. However, under the efforts of Li Fengjie, Guangdong local officials and Ming army generals

Next, the defense of the entire Humen area has been greatly strengthened.

The people in charge of the defense of Humen were Guangzhou Coastal Defense Counselor General Xu Tingfa, Humenzhai Coastal Defense Guerrilla Chen Qian and Dongguan County Magistrate Fan Wencai. Humen was in Dongguan County, so Fan Wencai had no shirk in his duty, so he moved his people to Taiping Town in front of Humenzhai to work.

.Thousands of migrant workers were recruited to build fortifications in Humen.

Xu Tingfa was a veteran of coastal defense and knew that Humen's defense was very weak. There was originally an earth-rock fort on Ya Niang Shoe Island, but it was gradually built from the Wanli period onwards. Many places collapsed and damaged. Most of the artillery installed on the fort was

The old Daifo Lang cannons and cannons are not only weak in power, but also are often displayed in the open air and are often rusty. In addition to the Ya Niang Shoe fort, there is only one on the Upper Hengdao Island opposite Ya Niang Shoe Island.

The earth and stone fort has four Dafolang machine guns installed on it. The crossfire formed by the Ya Niang Shoe fort is very weak. These two forts can only barely control the Humen East Waterway, and the West Waterway does not have any fortification measures. It can only pass through

After Hengdang Island, there is a simple Dahu Fort on the south side of Dahushan Island, which can barely block ships passing through the West Water Channel.

There are only 36 artillery positions in these three forts, all of which are Franco machine guns and older cannons cast during the Wanli period or even earlier. The three forts have a total of only 120 defenders, who are just simple guards.

Just cannons and forts.

In addition to these three forts, the Ming army could use to defend Humen through the garrison of Humen Village led by Chen Qian. Humen Village usually had 640 defenders, 10 warships, and 120 cannons.

This small amount of troops is enough to intercept merchants and scare the people. Therefore, if a war really breaks out, the Ming army will send reinforcements here. The total military strength during the war will be expanded to 2,000. Xu Tingfa knew that the Kun thieves were known for their strong ships and powerful artillery, which was far from ordinary.

The pirates are comparable. So while discussing with Fan Wencai, they started steaming and cleaning the old cannons and repairing the forts. At the same time, they transferred newly cast Hongyi cannons from Foshan and other places to expand the gun positions.

The number of gun positions on the Ya Niang Shoe fort has been increased by 60, reaching an unprecedented 72. On Shanghengdang Island, not only the original fort has been renovated, but also an additional fort facing the West Waterway is being built. 12 cannons will be installed. Dahu Mountain

The fort has also been expanded with artillery. Humen Village itself has built an additional Tucheng and is preparing to install 18 more artillery pieces.

Xu Tingfa, Fan Wencai and others not only strengthened and repaired the forts, but also built Western forts according to the shape of Sun Yuanhua's "Western Fort". They also temporarily built a sandbag earthen fort in Dajiao and Shajiao, and each fort was equipped with a red fort.

There are 2 Yipao players and 10 Dafo Langji players.

According to the plan of Xu Tingfa and others, a fort will eventually be built along the Luwan coast to the west of Shanghengdang Island, forming a trap of artillery fire with the west fort of Shanghengdang Island, so that the west waterway can be tightly blocked.

Such a large number of forts require a lot of money and manpower and cannot be completed in more than a year, and the invasion of the bandits may occur at any time and at any time. Xu Tingfa and others discussed to build temporary forts with sandbags first.

Once the artillery is set up, it will at least have a deterrent effect.

Neither Xu Tingfa nor Lin Qian thought that this defensive measure could stop the Kun Thieves' large iron ships or armored clippers. However, the Kun Thieves did not seem to have many of these two types of ships, and most of them used sailboats. The Ming Navy fought against the sailboats.

I still have some confidence - the Guangdong Navy has rich experience in frequent battles with various pirates over the years.

As soon as Chen Haiyang's task force passed by the forts at Dajiao, Dajiao and Shajiao, they discovered this well-formed fleet. Coupled with the red flag on the mast and the black smoke-emitting large boats, it was easy to tell who was coming.

.

At 1123 on September 20, the Hongyi cannon of Tai Kok Fort fired for the first time. Subsequently, other artillery guns of Tai Kok and Sha Kok Fort also fired one after another.

Chen Haiyang ordered the formation to be reduced. The "Hai Tian" had already reported the intelligence on these two forts: the best cannons on the two forts in Shajiao, Dajiao were only 12-pound cannons imitating British naval guns. The range was only 1,000 meters at best, and they could not be fired at all.

There is no fleet. This is just a show of force.

He could have completely turned a deaf ear to the bombardment and turned a blind eye and traveled directly through the past. However, Chen Haiyang's mission this time was to teach the local officials in Guangdong a lesson and let them fully understand the strength of the travel group. Such provocative behavior would naturally require severe revenge.

He raised his telescope and observed the two forts: very crude temporary forts built with sandbags. There were not many artillery pieces. He issued an order to eliminate the Dajiao and Shajiao forts.

"Attack the Big Horn Fort first! Each cannon squadron fires freely. Fire alternately in odd and even sequences! Caron gun squadrons follow my command and enter the battle!"

The special agent boats organized into the task force this time include squadrons equipped with cannons and carronades. Although carrones are low-cost and effective at close range in naval battles, their effective range is too short and generally has to reach the approach.

It can be most effective when it reaches about 130 meters.


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