Chapter 487 Cloud Ladder Pass

However, if the fleet wanted to go up the river, Lin Xiao was most worried about the fort set up by the Qing army at the most dangerous point of this section of the Yellow River, Yunti Pass.

Yunti Pass, is the river defense danger of the Yellow River estuary, from the Yellow River to seize Huaihe and flow into the sea, the silt gradually rises, there are more than 10 soil sets (river bays), the shape is like a cloud ladder, so it is called Yunti Pass.

Although it is located in the plain, there is no steep mountain pass as a reneend, but the Yunti Pass is backed by the Yellow River, the Yellow Sea is overlooked, before the Song and Yuan dynasties, it is an important coastal defense town in the past dynasties, and the dangerous river defense, the geographical location is very important, known as the reputation of "the first pass on the southeast coast".

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Great River Guard was set up here, five earthen cities were built, and the troops were stationed to prohibit the invasion of the Japanese invaders, in the 34th and 36th years of Jiajing, the Japanese invaded the Yunti Pass twice, and were defeated by the local military and civilians.

Lin Xiao was worried about the fort set up above Tucheng, where the river was bent and impassable, and the width was less than 300 meters—it was within the effective range of the Hongyi cannon.

Originally, because the Ming army did not have red-coated cannons, it was necessary to place some light cannons such as tiger squat cannons at the head of the city, but time passed, and Lin Xiao was worried that if the Qing army added Hongyi cannons to the north bank of the city, it would pose a serious threat to the ships under sail.

In that case, even if the Hongyi cannon shoots solid iron bullets, at a distance of less than 300 meters, hitting large sail warships such as the "Qinzhou" and "Gray Dolphin" is enough to cause serious damage, not to mention the smaller tonnage troop carriers of Shi Lang's fleet, not to mention that they are also full of people, it will really be bloody and fleshy.

However, according to the scout's report, for some reason, there were no heavy artillery on the ladder gate, and most of them were still old light guns from the Ming army, with extremely limited range and power.

Perhaps, the Qing army did not expect that the Ming army would hit the other side of the Yellow River so quickly, and it was too late to focus on fortification here, right? It's understandable to think about it this way.

It seems that the speed of the soldiers and the surprise attack are not empty words.

However, Lin Xiao was still not at ease, and sent a special operations team to carry out extended reconnaissance in this area.

"However, the scout discovered that the enemy had plans to use fire,"

Lin Xiao picked up the horsewhip and pointed to the map on the table, "The scout reported that the enemy had assembled more than a hundred small civilian boats upstream, and the boats were piled with straw and tung oil. ”

Shi Lang frowned slightly when he heard this, if he used fire to attack the ship, it would indeed be a threat to him.

The river here is narrow and crooked, and the current is fast, and the key is that the Tartars can use fire to attack the boats downstream, while their ships are all upstream, and their maneuverability will be poor.

"This big river is no bigger than when we fought on the Min River in the past, and the water is slow and the river is wide,"

Shi Lang said in a deep voice, "The Tartar is upstream, and the water is so fast......"

"So, I discussed it with Jiang Dazhuan, the captain of the Qinzhou,"

Lin Xiao nodded and said, "The attack will be postponed for a day, and my gunboats will attack Yunti Pass first, blow up the heavy artillery at the head of the city, and destroy those fire attack ships." ”

"Is there time to come?"

Zhang Chenfeng interjected, he was a little worried, "Once it takes too much time here, Chen Jin from Shanyang County is afraid that he will slip ......."

"I don't think it's a big problem,"

Lin Xiao raised his head and said, "How long does it take to pass through the Cloud Ladder Pass?" I think one hour is enough, and I will give you another four hours to land, and occupy Yangzhai, Miaowan, Maluo and other places separately, and the main force will be able to enter Huai'an Mansion tomorrow night. ”

"That's fine,"

Zhang Chenfeng nodded and muttered, "However, if the navy ends the battle so quickly, I will be able to take Huai'an before dark today." ”

"You can take it down at night, we don't dare to transport the jars and jars here at night, so why don't you act tomorrow morning?"

"Okay,"

Zhang Chenfeng nodded, "I'll go back and ask the troops to prepare." ”

"Wait a minute, I'll give you a reinforced cannon battery,"

Lin Xiao stopped him, "Shanyang is the city of Huai'an, the city defense is much stronger than the ordinary city, and it is Chen Jin's lair, the enemy's resistance may be more intense." ”

"A cannon company? Forget it,"

Zhang Chenfeng smiled and refused, "The city is full of wooden houses, and if I accidentally burn down the city, I still have to take care of the fire relief." ”

"Be prepared,"

Lin Xiao insisted, "The right should be given to them to practice, and the troops must also experience more coordinated attacks with the next step artillery." ”

……

Early the next morning, Shi Lang boarded the bridge of the ship "Grafland".

Shi Lang held on to the railing and inspected the large and small ships moored on the sea, making sure that they were all ready to go.

The "Graflan", a large Franc machine gunboat, was captured in the Battle of Taijiang not long ago, and Zheng Chenggong assigned it to Shi Lang as a ship, which shows that he attached great importance to Shi Lang's coordination of the Northern Expedition.

"Report to Lord Hou and ask for permission to go!"

With his order, the signalman immediately raised the flag.

After a while, the signal from the shore came back.

"Master Hou sent a signal - permission to go!" The report from the observation post was immediately transmitted to the bridge.

"Raise the signal flag, the whole fleet departs!"

The signal flag was raised on the mast.

Jiang Dazhuan, the captain of the "Qinzhou", calmly issued a series of orders: "Anchor!" "Left rudder 15 degrees!" "Forward One"......

According to Lin Xiao's arrangement, the two large gunboats, the "Qinzhou" and the "Gray Dolphin," were the vanguard and were responsible for opening the way for the whole army.

A puff of light smoke erupted, and the clumsy bow of the "Qinzhou" slowly turned and headed straight out of the port.

With the lifting of anchor of the "Qinzhou" and the "Gray Dolphin", dozens of warships of all sizes in the harbor moved when they heard the sound, and for a time the sails were lined up on the ocean, and the task force finally set off slowly.

It is said that it is a fleet, but in fact there are only six or seven "ships", and the many warships surrounding these large objects can only be regarded as "boats" strictly speaking, but on the Yellow River, they can be regarded as out-and-out "giant ships".

Especially this time, Lin Xiao's ship "Qinzhou", a 24-pounder front-loading rifled gun on the open-air turret surrounded by steel armor at the bow and stern, is a god-like existence on this river......

From time to time, Shi Lang picked up a telescope and searched the surface of the river.

In front of the "Graflan", the "Qinzhou" and the "Gray Dolphin", which were responsible for reconnaissance and assault, took the lead in the turbulent river and moved forward bumpy.

The mouth of the Yellow River in front of Yunti Pass is more than 500 meters wide, but after entering the Yellow River, the river surface is immediately narrowed, the narrowest place is only less than 300 meters, the turbid river water rushes and roars in the narrow channel, in addition to the machine-driven "Qinzhou", even the "Gray Dolphin" such a large gunboat of more than 1,000 tons is also very bumpy.

Fortunately, the water depth of the channel here is more than 50 meters, not to mention the sail gunboats with a draft of only a few meters, even the 10,000-ton battleships of the later generations will not run aground.

The crooked river was about ten miles long, and the greatest danger to Shi Lang was not so much the Qing army's sailors, but the troop carriers with a displacement of just over 100 tons—not only were they small in tonnage, but they also lacked sail power, and their maneuverability would become very poor in the rapids, and they could easily be washed ashore by the currents and run aground.

Just yesterday, one of the fleet's armed troop carriers almost ran aground out of control while escorting the reconnaissance team across the river for reconnaissance.

This made Shi Lang's face gloomy, the commander of the task force was his first official position after being ordered by the prince to follow the Northern Expedition of the Marquis of Qinchuan, and it was also the first time he independently commanded a detachment in one aspect.

(End of chapter)