"There are 62 French ships, 15 British ships, and 8 warships. Looking at the results of the drone reconnaissance of Saigon Port, Wang Hailong couldn't help but be very happy, and said: "Haha, there are 7 or 80 ships here, catching big fish, if you really blow up Saigon Port, then the French will not have to be distressed to death!"

Chief of Staff Li Yadao: "I think the ship is still a trivial matter, in fact, I have seen that there are not many big ships here, half of them should be small boats sailing in the river, and the warships are all small ships of 2 or 3,000 tons, but Guan Jian has sunk so many ships, and the mouth of the Saigon River must be blocked, so Saigon Port will become a waste port, so it is really the most fatal?"

Wang Hailong also nodded again and again, and said, "Yes, yes, but so many ships have all been blown up and sunk, it's really a pity, it would be nice if I could capture a few of them." ”

Li Ya smiled: "Hehe, Lao Wang, you really plan to be a pirate, you want to rob the ship when you see it." If you're done this time, you can go back and apply for it, and take a ship to rob merchant ships at sea. ”

Wang Hailong also said with a smile: "Isn't it because we are not wide now? We grabbed a lot of warships in the First World War in the Taiwan Strait, but there were not enough logistics ships, and if we could grab more civilian ships, the navy would be able to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible." But there's no need for robbery at sea, just have the people below do it, I'd better save it. ”

Li Ya said: "Don't think about good things, it may not be easy to bombard Saigon Port, even these 4 batteries are not easy to deal with." ”

Wang Hailong said: "It's easy to do, as long as there is a Yueyang ship, the fort is a fixed target for us, and it is very easy to deal with it." ”

Li Ya said: "I think you don't have to be too optimistic, although we have the Yueyang ship to provide shooting parameters, but the defense of these batteries is quite strong, the main artillery is hidden in the stone fortress, it seems to be quite strong, and the open air is full of small cannons, it is not easy to destroy these 4 batteries." ”

Wang Hailong said disdainfully: "No matter how strong the fort is, if it can only be beaten and cannot fight back, it will be destroyed sooner or later, it is nothing more than spending more time and bombarding a few more cannons, not to mention that we have prepared special weapons to deal with them." By the way, what time is it?

Li Ya looked at his watch and said, "4 o'clock in the afternoon." ”

Wang Hailong said: "Inform all ships to leave on time at 5 o'clock, and strive to arrive at the position before 10 o'clock in the evening and start the attack." Then he added: "It takes five hours to reach the position and start the attack, even if it takes an hour to destroy each fort, and another two hours to cross the river, that is, at 4 o'clock in the morning, it is more than enough to destroy the port of Saigon at dawn."

Li Ya nodded and said, "Such a plan will work." ”

After an hour, the fleet set out again, and along the way there were no incidents, until 9:30 p.m., reaching the sea about 15 kilometers from the battery. Since the four forts are arranged in a zigzag at the mouth of the Saigon River, about 1,000 meters apart, each fort has its own firing range, and a considerable part of the firing range coincides. If you are not familiar with the geographical sea area in this area, it is very likely to fall into the flanking of 2-3 batteries, but because the KPA fleet has already discovered the batteries, the fleet can choose where to anchor, only to face one battery, although the firepower of a battery is still very strong, but after all, it is alone, and it is also conducive to the KPA fleet to break through the batteries one by one.

The People's Army fleet first attacked the first battery on the east bank of the mouth of the Saigon River, and the main force of the bombardment battery, of course, was 3 battleships and 3 armored cruisers, with a total of 12 305 mm guns, 4 240 mm guns, and 8 203 mm guns。

Wang Hailong sat in the command room of the Yueyang ship, watched that the six warships participating in the battle had all entered their respective positions, and the distance from the battery was about 10,000 meters, and he adjusted their respective firing units and gave the order to open fire according to the instructions of the Yueyang ship.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The first to fire were the three battleships, and the tongues of fire from the muzzles of the guns illuminated the sea in the dark night, dazzling, and at a distance of about 10,000 meters, more than 10 explosions of sparks rose at the moment of death, illuminating the scene on the shore. This was followed by 3 armored cruisers, which also opened fire.

The warships participating in the bombardment of the batteries were not in the same place, but in a group of battleships and armored cruisers, sailed along an elliptical line about 900 meters long and 600 meters short, and fired in turns, each rotation took about 3-4 minutes. Although it is dark at night, it is difficult to measure and locate, but the fire of the gun port still fully exposes the position of the warship and provides a rough correct direction for the battery, so the battery only needs to shoot in this direction to have a certain chance of hitting, and the warship is constantly moving its position, which can reduce the probability of being shot.

In the first round of firing, 2 305-mm shells and 1 203-mm shell were hit, but the defense of the battery was indeed quite strong, so the damage to the battery was not great.

Soon the second round of strikes by the KPA fleet arrived, and this time the hits were significantly improved, with 2 305-mm shells still hit, 203-mm shells and 240-mm shells also hitting one, although there was still little damage to the battery, but 3 guns in the open air were destroyed.

And after the third round of shelling by the KPA fleet, a counterattack finally began on the battery.

As a matter of fact, since the departure of the KPA fleet, the French Indochinese colonies have been prepared for prevention, and although the KPA fleet is aiming at Java, it will pass through most of the coastal areas of the Indochinese colonies along the way, and who dares to guarantee that the KPA fleet will not attack the Indochinese colonies with ease? If there are still people who think at this time that the East China Government does not dare to attack the Indochinese colonies, then there is really a problem in their heads; after all, the East China Government has not even dared to attack the French colonies after the expeditionary force fleet has been destroyed?

Saigon was the most important port in the Indochinese colony, so it was naturally fortified and fortified, but the French were confident in holding the port, because Saigon was not a coastal port, but 45 kilometers deep into the inland river, and at the mouth of the sea, there were four strong and powerful batteries, and any fleet would have to pay a heavy price to break through the blockade of the forts.

And it was precisely because the French strengthened the fort that after being attacked by the People's Army fleet, it was able to quickly counterattack, and the counterattack was launched within 15 minutes, which can be regarded as a quick response.

The sound of explosions sounded one after another on the surface of the sea, and a continuous column of water could be faintly seen, and it was obvious that the French counterattack was also quite powerful. However, the landing points of the shells were all far away from the KPA ships, and some of them were even worse than 2 to 3,000 meters; first, it was difficult to accurately measure them in the dark of night; and second, because of people's habitual thinking, the distance of the shelling could not reach 10,000 meters, so the French artillery on the batteries still fired at the conventional distance of 6 to 7,000 meters, and naturally could not hit the warships of the KPA fleet.

The two sides fired at each other, and for about 10 minutes, the firepower of the KPA fleet gradually overwhelmed the firepower of the battery, on the one hand, because the firepower of the battery was not delivered to the range of the KPA fleet at all, but the KPA fleet continued to hit the battery, and even if some shells failed to hit the battery, they also fell near the battery, which could create momentum for the KPA's artillery bombardment.

On the other hand, because the angle of the KPA fleet's shelling was very cleverly chosen, the firing angle of the other battery on the east bank was blocked by the front battery, and it was impossible to open fire, while the two batteries on the west bank had an angle of firing, but the firing distance was close to 20,000 meters, far beyond the artillery fire, and there was only one battery that could be confronted, so there was only one battery that could confront the KPA fleet. Although the number of guns on a battery is more than 40, which is said to be a lot of firepower, it is still far from the firepower of 3 battleships and 3 armored cruisers in terms of the number of large-caliber guns.

At this time, the fort had been hit by nearly 100 rounds of bullets, of which more than 20 shells of large-caliber artillery, the artillery in the open air had basically been destroyed, and the fortress had also been destroyed 2, but the fortress of 4 large-caliber guns was still fine, although the outer wall had been blown up to the pit, but the content was still basically intact, of course, it was injured and smashed by the debris that was shaken away, and it was unavoidable. Moreover, the ventilation effect in the fortress was not good, and at this time, the continuous firing of artillery was filled with a large amount of gunpowder smoke, coupled with the impact of the explosion, a large amount of dust and ash was formed, which made the air in the entire fortress extremely turbid. However, as long as the 4 large-caliber guns on the battery are still in good condition, the battery will still have the strength to fight again.

Wang Hailong stood on the bridge of the Yueyang ship, holding a telescope and looking at the shore, although it was still dark at this time, the entire fort area was burning with large and small fires, illuminating the fort brightly, so it could still be seen clearly.

And Wang Hailong is also very satisfied with the current artillery effect, so he ordered all warships in addition to the main gun, the rest of the artillery are replaced with high-inclammation shells, this is the latest artillery shells developed by the East China government, ** is the main one, this kind of explosion is powerful, and the combustion performance after the explosion is extremely strong, far better than the famous *****, the Japanese Combined Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War used Shimose**, is a *****. However, the biggest disadvantage is that it is unstable and prone to explosion during storage, transportation and safekeeping, and the risk is very high, so it is eventually replaced by *****.

Of course, the East China government has also developed *****, but it is used very vigilantly, and is mainly used for 105, 125, 155 and other medium and large caliber artillery, the main gun is still used *****, and the amount of equipment is not much, there are special warehouses in the warship, but the amount of equipment on this voyage is much larger, reaching 1/3, which is to use the fort as a solid fortification. Now it's the turn of this high-inclammation bomb to exert its power.