The length of the main stream of the Luo River can only be regarded as the fourth in the Daheng Empire, but the navigation conditions are very good.

This refers not only to the main stream of the Luo River, but also to its many tributaries.

There are many tributaries of the Luo River, only the tributaries that flow into the Luo River in Nanhai Prefecture, there are more than a dozen of them, quite a few of which are very good navigation conditions, such as Dingjiang, Qiu River, Xintai River, etc., which seem to be not big, but the average water depth is very good, and the navigation conditions are very good.

The Luo River Basin, formed by the Luo River and its huge tributary system, has been an important inland river transportation channel in the central and southern regions of Daheng since ancient times.

The Qiu River is the most important and largest tributary of the lower reaches of the Luo River, and there is no problem at all with ships of several thousand tons navigating tens of kilometers downstream, even if it is more than 100 kilometers away, it can also be navigated by ships of thousands of tons

So when the time comes, Shao Bing will not use a small gunboat of three or five hundred tons, but a large ironclad ship of several thousand tons!

This is also why Shao Bing counted on the naval fleet to assist the army units in holding the Qiuhe defense line.

More than 30 kilometers north of the Qiu River, after learning that the enemy was deploying along the Qiu River and that a large number of warships were blockading the Qiu River and the Luo River, Dr. Tian Yaping, the commander of the experimental artillery regiment, showed disdain: "When we have deployed our positions, I want to see if they dare to come." ”

Tian Yaping's words were not nonsense, but the experimental artillery regiment's actual combat experience gave him enough confidence.

When they conquered Dingjiang Fortress before, Li Dingjun and the others did not have the help of the Luohai fleet, but the experimental artillery regiment was able to use the long range, accuracy and power to seriously threaten the opponent's fleet, and damaged many enemy ironclad ships in the artillery battle.

And there is nothing to lose!

Because of the artillery on the opponent's battleship, the effective range can't hit them at all!

Based on past examples, Tian Yaping confidently assured Lin Ziran that after the deployment of the main experimental artillery regiment was completed, then more than 20 rear-loading artillery pieces would be enough to blockade the Qiu River with the cooperation of many large-caliber heavy artillery front-loading guns and the fleet, so as to cover the troops to build pontoon bridges to cross the river.

Tian Yaping is full of confidence, and this southbound army will naturally not stop the pace of going south.

Two days later, the forward troops of the Luo An army had already arrived on the north bank of the Qiu River.

Three days later, a large number of the main forces, especially a large number of artillery units, also arrived on the north bank of the Qiu River.

After careful surveying, Lin Ziran officially signed the order to prepare to cross the river.

The site of the river crossing is located in the lower reaches of the Qiu River, about 30 kilometers away from the Luo River, at Baihetan.

The terrain is relatively flat, the water flow is gentle, and there is also a low hill on the north bank, which can be used to deploy a large number of artillery.

After the order was given, the artillery units began to be urgently deployed, and at the same time the engineering units began to build pontoon bridges.

With such a big movement of Luo Anjun on the north bank of the Qiu River, it was naturally impossible to hide the Luo Navy over there.

It didn't take long for a lot of Luo Navy to be deployed on the other side of the Qiu River, and more importantly, a Luo Hai fleet was already slowly coming from the lower reaches of the Qiu River.

"There is at least one thousand-ton ironclad ship, and another eight ironclad ships of several hundred tons!"

"This should only be the first forward fleet of the enemy fleet, and it is estimated that there will be more capital warships behind!"

"However, they still need to leave a part of the fleet to block the Luo River, otherwise our fleet will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to break through."

"But even so, we estimate that the enemy will at least draw more than five thousand-ton ironclad ships, and there may even be large ironclad ships of several thousand tons!"

"If these ironclads are allowed to move on the Qiu River, they will cause us great trouble!"

Although Dr. Tian Yaping swore that he could block the Qiu River and prevent the enemy fleet from approaching, in fact, no one was at ease, even Lin Ziran was a little worried.

Even he still asked Wu Guanlin and them to make a few alternative plans to cross the river, after all, it was a big war, and there must be several backup plans.

After returning from the headquarters, Tian Yaping held his breath.

Not only Tian Yaping, but even Kong Deyi Shaoqing was also a little unhappy.

Tian Yaping is the commander of the experimental artillery regiment, and he Kong Deyi is the current artillery director of the Luo'an Garrison Headquarters.

They did not trust the artillery units to block the Qiu River, which was equivalent to not believing in Kong Deyi.

However, Kong Deyi was very unhappy.

Lao Tzu has hundreds of artillery pieces under his hands!

Today, the artillery units of Luo'an's southward troops are in addition to the 90-mm and 120-mm smoothbore guns and 150-mm short-barreled howitzers in the divisional artillery regiment.

The rest were all smoothbore guns or rifled guns.

Today, the artillery unit under the command of Comte has 22 75-mm rear-loading guns, 6 150-mm rear-loading guns, and 16 100-mm front-loading rifled guns.

There were also twenty-four 130-mm smoothbore cannons, thirty-six 150-mm smoothbore cannons, and fourteen 170-mm smoothbore howitzers.

There are also nine two-hundred-mm smoothbore howitzers and three three-hundred-mm smoothbore howitzers.

The overall strength of the artillery was even stronger than before they went south, because they captured almost all of the artillery of the previous 40,000 Dorohai County.

With so many artillery, and a large number of heavy artillery, he didn't believe that the fleet on the other side could withstand it.

But he soon discovered that a lot of artillery really didn't necessarily mean that he could block the Qiu River!

When his artillery positions were deployed, and his own engineering units began to enter the Qiu River to erect pontoon bridges, the opposing fleet moved.

I saw the opponent's 1,000-ton ironclad ship taking the lead, slowly going upstream!

When the enemy's fleet moved, Comte did not hesitate at all, and soon gave the order to open fire, and the first to fire was naturally the rear-loading guns in the experimental artillery regiment.

But soon, Tian Yaping's face was not very good-looking.

Because of the shells fired by their 75-millimeter guns, although several shells did hit the enemy's battleships, the other side did not do anything, and continued to swagger forward.

Tian Yaping said quickly: "Give Lao Tzu the right time, these turtle shells are very hard, and it is almost impossible for our shells to penetrate their armor, so we can only rely on explosions to kill and injure the opponent's deck personnel, and it is best to hit them at their gun positions!" ”

Tian Yaping's words made the subordinate artillery officers, especially those gunners, speechless!

Isn't it embarrassing for us to let us hit the shells directly on the enemy's gun emplacements!

Three or four thousand meters away, the opponent is still maneuvering, and the ability to hit the enemy ship is already because of the high accuracy of the rifled artillery.

If they still want to accurately hit a certain part of the enemy ship, it is estimated that they will have to go back to practice artillery skills for many years, and now, enough.

But the seventy-five-mm guns were not very powerful, and the power of those 150-mm breech-loading guns was incomparably great.

A 150-millimeter grenade landed on the bridge of the enemy flagship, and the huge explosion even blew up the upper bridge of the enemy battleship, and for a while, this huge 1,000-ton battleship actually stopped.

"Hit!"

"They've stopped!"

But Tian Yaping soon became unhappy again.

Because the opponent's warship slowly continued to advance.

Seeing this scene, Tian Yaping said: "Keep fighting, the heavy artillery is aimed at Lao Tzu!" ”

"Ma Dan, even if you can't penetrate this turtle shell, the earthquake will shock them to death!"

()