Section 164 in front of the Tiger Gate

The flotilla quickly passed through the Seremban sand under the guidance of the Haitian, all the way up. Most of the veterans of the fleet entered the mouth of the Pearl River for the first time and sailed in the waters of the Pearl River. Chen Haiyang sailed on the Pearl River many times in the past -- when he was serving in the South China Sea Fleet, he commanded warships to enter Huangpu Port many times. But the Pearl River in this plane is very different from the old time and space. The river surface is wider, and the water and sky are as vast as the sea. Filled with harbors, rivers and small sandbar islands, the plains on both sides of the river give the illusion of an inland sea dotted with islands. The fragmented rivers that cut the land often make it difficult to separate them from the water surface around the island. Everywhere there are small plots of cultivated land, the late rice has been raised, the aroma of rice huā fills the air, villages and market towns are scattered along the banks of the river, there are hardly any roads, only boats come and go, and the large and small rivers form a complex network linking the towns and villages. From time to time, several ship masts and sails can be seen looming in the depths of the rice paddies.

This beautiful tropical rural scenery has almost disappeared in the Pearl River Delta in the old time and space. The elders of the fleet watched greedily at this scene. Isn't this the artistic conception of "a big river with wide waves, and the wind blows on both sides of the river"? The land of China has been so beautiful and fertile since ancient times, and this beauty has aroused their strong desire to take it away

There are a number of inland river transport boats sailing on the river, as well as fishing boats. Seeing that such a vigorous and well-equipped fleet was sailing, and they all took refuge in the harbor rivers 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 boatmen and sailors, there were no official and military divisional ships patrolling the Pearl River, and if there were any official armed ships, only a few small boats were on the river.

Most of the warships of the officers and men were scattered in the large and small harbors between Xiangshan and Huangpu, and there were more than a dozen warships of the officers and soldiers in Humen. In addition to the ships of the sailors, there are many large ships berthed in Thampoa, and the total number has exceeded 2,000. Since the beginning of the war with the "thieves", many merchant ships that had traveled long distances had not dared to sail, especially those bound for Vietnam and Siam, because they had to pass through the Qiongzhou Strait, which was now in a "war zone" and no one dared to venture except for a few bold and well-informed ship owners

As for the defense of Guangzhou, it is said that the officers and men have strengthened their vigilance, and many sandbag batteries have been built on the riverbank. The Yaniang shoe fort in Humen also increased the gun positions and added troops.

Chen Haiyang had a general grasp of the situation of the defense of the river, and believed that the Guangzhou side did not make too complicated defenses -- of course, no matter how complex the defenses were, they were of little value according to the standards of the 17th century. The navy he commanded was at least at the level of the early 19th century. If it weren't for the fact that the spy boats were too old and too small in tonnage, he wouldn't even need to launch so many ships into the Pearl River.

Chen Haiyang ordered: "Release all the boat people who have been caught, 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 lose both the ship's cargo. Unexpectedly, the thief was very polite, and after the questioning, they were allowed to sail away, and each of the people on board gave them an Australian washcloth-towels as a gift. Towels are the most popular and popular product in Lingao's industrial products.

The people on the boat looked blankly at the towel in their hands -- there were blood-red threads sewn on it with the words "The first time the Australian and Song Dynasty Navy entered the Pearl River to commemorate the suspension" -- and then looked at the fleet that was sailing away, and felt that they had simply had a strange dream.

The fleet drove directly to Humen. Chen Haiyang decided to take the first battle to take this key pass of the Pearl River and the gateway to Guangzhou. Humen in the Ming and Qing dynasties and modern times belong to Dongguan County, bordering the Lingding Ocean outside, the Lion Ocean inside, is a section of about 8 kilometers long Pearl River and both sides of the river. This place is the key pass of the Pearl River and the gateway of Guangzhou. Historically, the safety of Humen has important psychological significance to the security of Guangzhou, and once a foreign enemy captures Humen, it can shake the whole of Guangzhou. Therefore, the fortification here for generations is very tight. Although the Humen Pass has never been able to withstand even a frontal attack by a foreign enemy, not only the ships are strong and the guns are strong, but the British and Japanese, who have the advantage of equipment and tactics, have broken through this key pass, and even the Chinese pirates of the Jiaqing era have easily broken through the Humen Fortress. He knew that in 1637, the Englishman Weddell had destroyed and occupied the Yaniangshoe Fort in Humen with a few ships. With his forces, it would not have taken much effort to occupy this place.

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

Presiding over the defense of Humen were Xu Tingfa, the general of the Guangzhou coastal defense, Chen Qian, the guerrilla of the coastal defense of Humen Village, and Fan Wencai, the commander of Dongguan County. Humen is in Dongguan County, Fan Wencai has the responsibility to simply move to Taiping Town in front of Humen Village with his own people. Thousands of migrant laborers were requisitioned to build fortifications in Humen.

Xu Tingfa is a general of coastal defense, and knows that the defense of Humen is very weak, and the original free earth and stone structure of the fort on Yaniang Shoe Island has been gradually built since the Wanli period, and there are many places that have collapsed and damaged. Most of the artillery mounted on the batteries were old Big Franco cannons and fire cannons. Not only is the power insufficient, but there is also a lot of rust on weekdays. In addition to the Ya Niang Shoe Fort, there is only an earth and stone fort on the upper rung island opposite the Ya Niang Shoe Island, on which there are 4 big Buddha Lang machine guns. The crossfire with the A-Niang shoe battery was very weak. These two forts can only barely control the Humen East Waterway, and the West Waterway does not have any fortifications, only after passing through the Upper Rung Island, there is a simple Dahu Fort on the south side of Dahushan Island that can barely block the ships passing through the West Waterway.

In these three forts, there are only 36 artillery pieces in total, all of which are Franc machine guns and older fire cannons cast in the Wanli period or even earlier. The total number of defenders of the three batteries was only 120 men, and it was just a simple matter of guarding the cannons and batteries.

In addition to these three forts, the Ming army could use to defend Humen was the defenders of Humen Village led by Chen Qian. There are 640 defenders and 10 warships in Humen Village on weekdays. 120 ship guns.

This amount of troops intercepted the merchants and deterred the people. Therefore, if there is really a war, the Ming army will have to send reinforcements here. The total number of troops in wartime will be increased to 2,000. Xu Tingfa knew that the thieves were known for their strong ships and guns, and they were far from being comparable to ordinary pirates. Therefore, on the one hand, he discussed with Fan Wencai to start steaming and cleaning the old cannons and repairing the forts, and on the other hand, he transferred the newly cast Hongyi cannons from Foshan and other places. Expand gun emplacements.

The gun emplacements on the A-Niang Shoe Turret have increased by 60 to an unprecedented 72. In addition to the original forts, the original forts were renovated, and a fort facing the western waterway was also being prepared. Placement of 12-bit cannons. The Dahushan Fort was also expanded with artillery. Humen Village itself has added Tucheng and is preparing to place another 18 artillery pieces.

Xu Tingfa, Fan Wencai and others began to strengthen and repair the forts, and also built Western forts in accordance with the shape of Sun Yuanhua's "Western Law Pier". And in the big horn and the sand corner of the temporary construction of a sandbag earthen fort, each fort is placed 2 Hongyi cannons, 10 big Buddha Lang machine.

According to Xu Tingfa and others, Jihuazuihou also had to build a fort along the Luwan coast west of Shangheng Island, and form a pincer of artillery fire with the west fort of Shang Heng Jie Island, so that the west waterway could be tightly blocked.

It takes a lot of money and manpower to build so many forts that it can't be built in more than a year, and the invasion of thieves can happen anytime and anywhere. Xu Tingfa and others discussed, first using sandbags to build a temporary fort, and then erect the artillery. At the very least, it can also play a deterrent role.

Neither Xu Tingfa nor Lin Qian thought that this defensive measure could stop the big iron ships or ironclad clippers of the thieves, but there didn't seem to be many of the two types of ships, and most of them were sailboats, and they still had some confidence in the sailing battles of the Ming Sailors -- over the years, the Guangdong Sailors had frequent battles with various pirates, and they had a lot of experience.

As soon as Chen Haiyang's task force passed through Dajiao, the forts at Dajiao and Shajiao spotted this well-formed fleet. Add to that the red flag on the mast and the big hair boat emitting black smoke, and it is not clear who it is.

On September 20, 1123, the Hongyi cannon of the Big Horn Fort opened fire for the first time. Subsequently, other artillery pieces of the Big Horn and Shajiao batteries also rang out one after another.

Chen Haiyang ordered the formation to be retracted. The intelligence of these two batteries has already been reported by the "Haitian": The most haode cannon on the two batteries at Shajiao at Big Cape is only a 12-pounder cannon imitating the British naval gun, and the firing range is only 1,000 meters at best, and it cannot hit the fleet at all. It's just a big deal.

He could have turned a deaf ear to the shelling and turned a blind eye to the past. However, Chen Haiyang's mission this time is to teach the local government in Guangdong a lesson, so that they can fully understand the strength of the crossing group, and this kind of provocative behavior is naturally to retaliate fiercely.

He held up his binoculars and observed two forts: makeshift batteries made of very rudimentary sandbags. And the number of artillery is also not much. An order was given to destroy the batteries of Big Horn and Sand Point.

"Attack the Bighorn battery first, and the cannon squadrons are free to fire. Alternately firing Caron artillery squadrons in single and double sequences under my command and entering the battle"

The special service boats that were integrated into the task force this time included squadrons equipped with cannon and caron guns. Although the Caron cannon is low in cost and has a good effect at close range in naval warfare, the effective firing range is too close, and it generally has to reach about 130 meters to play its maximum effect.