Chapter Seventy-Five: The British Army Successfully Sneaks Up The Navy Rises in Pursuit

Qin Peng's projects in Myanmar are not only wharves, but also road repairs. In addition to using a few captives, they also hired a lot of local Burmese. Most of these Burmese people were illiterate, and in order to manage them conveniently, Qin Peng and his team had to hire some literate Burmese as well. In this way, there were British intelligence agents mixed in. These people are often more capable of doing things than ordinary people, and they quickly won the trust of the officers and soldiers of the kiln gang. These people also worked very hard in their work, and the officers and men of the kiln gang also relied on them for many things. Slowly, my vigilance against them relaxed. The Yaogang Navy fleet was coming, and there was a telegram almost every day to communicate with Qin Peng and their docks. After a long time, the officers and soldiers of Yaogang also talked with great interest, and when the Yaogang fleet came, they would teach these British who came over from time to time to sneak attack. The news that the flotilla had crossed the Andaman Sea and sunk a British ship pleased the officers and men of the kiln guard at the wharf, and the news also made the intelligence officers hear.

Of course, soon the news was also communicated to the British fleet at sea.

The British fleet had been out for a long time this time, and they didn't want to have a hard time with the Yaogang fleet, so they withdrew to the Mughal Empire for repairs. However, they have to wait for the kiln people to get tired and come back and carry out a sneak attack on the kiln people.

The Yaogang fleet docked at the port of the Dajinsha River (Irrawaddy River), and Qin Peng specially organized officers and soldiers to take turns to visit the ship. Seeing the majesty of Yaogang's own big ship greatly boosted the morale of the officers and men.

The fleet sent out ships to the sea every day in search of British ships, and the punts of Yaogang were accompanied by sappers to help clear the channel of the Great Jinsha River (Irrawaddy River). Only large ships can use lifting cranes to lift the bundled ***** into the reef crevices at the bottom of the river, and a small amount of ** will be quickly washed away by the torrent and cannot sink to the bottom at all.

Just in the Yaogang fleet, a military port that has gradually taken shape since docking in the Dajinsha River (Irrawaddy River), Fan Chengkun and Mu Yi are also thinking about why the British suddenly disappeared before the arrival of the fleet.

Qin Peng thought for a while and said, "It seems that the problem must be on our side. Because it was on the Andaman side of the Sea that you sank the British ship that you were seen by the nearby Kiln Gang ships, it is impossible for them to inform the British sooner than you do. I think it is likely that we exchanged telegrams, did not pay attention to secrecy, and the officers and soldiers were discussing below, and the Burmese intelligence officers of the Yaogang people heard it, and the news spread like this. ”

Fan Chengkun nodded and said, "It seems that you guys are still a little careless!" However, this intelligence officer must be dug up, or there will be endless trouble. I think it's better to inform my family about this, and people from the intelligence department should also send someone to participate in the intelligence work. ”

"Alright! I'll report this to my family and review it! Qin Peng said.

"Hey! It's okay to report it, and the review is serious! Fan Chengkun said, "You guys are doing a very beautiful job in Myanmar, and we are all happy to hear it!" ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "I don't think the British dare to fight us directly, so let's take a break for a while and hit the door as soon as possible." After cleaning up the British, I will also cooperate with the army to solve the affairs of the entire Southeast Peninsula. ”

"yes!" Qin Peng smiled and said, "Our Chuang Wang Ye has sent me telegrams several times to ask when to send troops to Siam. I couldn't answer his question at all. However, if we send troops to the Mughal Empire to fight the British, we will have to fight a war with the Mughal Empire, so that the matter of sending troops to Siam will be postponed again. ”

Mu Yi said: "If we don't meet with the Mughal Empire, our borders with them will not be stable." In addition to the two Mountain and Jungle Corps, the family has decided to expand your infantry into two border guards. One was stationed on the border with the Mughal Empire, and the other was in Burma and Siam. ”

"Hmmm! I understand what my family meant, we, the border guards, have to carry out reclamation and cantonment on the spot. The family also allowed officers and soldiers to marry wives and have children. This matter must be done slowly, and the officers and men cannot be made aware of this matter all at once, otherwise the morale of the army will be unstable. Qin Peng said, "I'm going to start with the officers and allow them to marry wives and have children." When they settle down in their homes, we will expand it and allow veterans to go home and marry wives, and eventually all officers and soldiers will be able to marry and have children. In this way, our border guards are stabilized, and at the same time, the residential areas are built, so that there are schools and hospitals here, and we can mobilize our Ming Dynasty people to immigrate here. ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "General Qin, wait for your border guards to stabilize. I suggest that you build a few large farms, as you did in Japan, and then hire agricultural workers from the hinterland, each of whom will sign a three-year contract, and after three years you will be given preferential treatment if you are willing to stay. and if he marries him, build a house for him. Over time, many agricultural workers will slowly stay. O peasant! As long as they can have a stable income, do not worry about food and drink, and have some savings, they can stabilize. ”

"It's a really good idea," Qin Peng said, "and we have very few people here, and without our people, we can't govern these places for long." We have now begun to ban the teaching of Chinese language, and all schools learn Chinese. I think in a few decades, we will be able to unify here culturally. ”

The Yaogang people only thought about going to the Mughal Empire to find the British, but they didn't know that the British were also maritime powers and thought very highly of themselves.

Today, the Fenzhou came out to inspect the circle, but still did not find the shadow of the British ship. Originally, two warships went out every day, but there were no British ships, and now everyone thinks that the British will not come, so they only send out one boat every day to patrol, which means that the Yaogang sailors are waiting to go straight to the Mughal Empire to block the British and then clean them up.

The Fenzhou slowly docked on the dock in the twilight, and soon the smoke on the chimney on the Fenzhou was no longer thick, and it was slowly extinguishing. Because the Fenzhou does not have to go to sea to patrol tomorrow, it will turn off after docking at the dock.

As twilight fell, a faint mist slowly rose on the Dajinsha River.

On the pier, the sentry of the kiln guard vaguely saw a sailboat with the Burmese flag pulling full sails and going upstream. He shone his searchlight over the ship and saw a Burmese man in a turban waving at him. The sentry didn't notice the problem and moved the searchlight overhead.

But soon, I saw a Burmese ship going against the current, and the sentry began to mumble a little, how can I see two Burmese ships today, there are not many Burmese ships!

But before he could figure it out, someone had changed the guard. When the sentry changed the guard, he said to the sentry who took over the guard: "Your squad should be careful today. We just saw two large Burmese ships going upstream. ”

"Huh! Vigilance! The sentry who took over said, "Don't worry! Nothing can happen! Go back, I'll pay attention to something! ”

The sentry who took over the guard didn't take the sentry's words seriously, but after a while, he also saw two Burmese ships passing against the current. The sentry remembered the words of the sentry who had just taken over, which meant that four large Burmese ships had gone up the river during this time. Obviously, the situation is not right, because there are not many large ships in Myanmar, and it is impossible to go up the river from here in the Greater Jinsha River at the same time. The sentry wondered if there was another ship flying the Burmese flag and posing as a Burmese ship. Could it be the big ship of the British? Thinking of this, the sentry knew that the matter was serious, the British had done a sneak attack, and now that there were so many ships parked here, it would be troublesome if they were attacked by the British.

Thinking of this, the sentry immediately picked up the phone and told the officer on duty about the situation. The officer on duty immediately called Qin Peng. Qin Peng shouted after hearing this: "Immediately pull the alarm!" ”

At the same time, Fan Chengkun, who lives on the ship, was notified by radio, "Hey! Old Mu? The situation is not good, and immediately prepare for a sneak attack by the British! ”

Fan Chengkun didn't take the time to ask Qin Peng the reason, time was of the essence at this time, and the alarm on the dock outside had already sounded.

Fan Chengkun knew that it was obviously too late to start the warship immediately, so he ordered the sailors on each ship to immediately light up all the searchlights and shine them on the river.

But they were still a little late.

This time the British came more than forty large and small warships. Their intelligence officers reported to the British every day the rules of the activities of the Yaogang Naval Army. The British have been waiting for an opportunity. On this day, the British received information that they would soon set sail for the Mughal Empire to attack them. These British, who had come a long time ago, hidden in a bay in a small island, knew that the opportunity had come.

The British, who had made very careful reconnaissance of the situation in this area, were very familiar with the waters in this area, and they had long known that one of the islands had a sheltered bay. However, there are no too high mountains on the island to hide the big ship, because the mast of the big ship is very high, and it is easy to expose it and be seen by the ships passing outside. But this time the British drove the ship here, and they all risked putting it on the mast.

Today, they judge from experience that there will be fog at night. So when they saw the smoking ship passing by, they got busy and erected the mast. Many boats entered the mouth of the Dajinsha River under the flag of Burmese ships and went upstream. They wanted to go upstream, then go downstream, shoot in front of the Yaogangren port, and leave when they were done. They already knew that although the ships of the kiln were coal-burning and steam-driven, fast and maneuverable, they took a long time to ignite and were slower to start. So they decided to sneak up on the Yaogang fleet parked in the harbor.

The British's boat went very smoothly at first, and when the Burmese-flagged ship was illuminated by the Kiln Gang people with searchlights, they nervous for a while, but they were soon bluffed by the Burmese turban. They didn't expect that after four boats passed, a shrill "woo" sound sounded in the port of the Yaogang people. The British had never heard such a voice, but they understood that the kiln man must have found out about the situation and called the police.

The British also reacted quickly, and when the Yaogang people were parked on the dock and all the warships were shining their searchlights on the river, the British decided to fire their guns first, no matter where the ships went.

The command ship of the British first fired "dong dong" on the pier of the kiln gangren. The other British warships, when they heard the command ship firing their guns, also knew that the sneak attack would not succeed, and now they needed to open their guns. Whether it was the ships that had already passed through the Kiln Gang Wharf, or the cannons of the British ships that were going upstream, they all began to fire at the boats parked on the Kiln Gang Wharf.

The British were very experienced, and after firing the shells on one side, they immediately turned the hull of the ship on the river, and then lit the cannon on the other side of the hull, and walked down the river after the "dong dong" fire. Get out of the way and the other ships come and continue firing.

This whole artillery fire really made the kiln gang people scramble. Smoke billowed from the docks, and several ships were hit by shells. The sailors also suffered casualties.

Due to the arrival of the Yaogang fleet, the Yaogang people did not come back to attack the dock at all, and Qin Peng's infantry guns that they had originally arranged on the dock also withdrew to the original artillery position. And many sailors on board the Yaogang Navy are going to sail away in a few days, and they are all resting on the shore.

However, after a period of panic, the cannon of the Yaogang warship soon began to return fire on the target locked by the searchlight.

The British ships, one by one, began to be shattered by shells and flowed away along the river.

The rest of the British warships, one by one, went down the river.

Fan Chengkun did not let Yaogang's speedboat and other boats go after him.

The very frustrated kiln generals knew that they had suffered a big loss today, and they had lost a lot of people.

Several steel-hulled warships in Yaogang were hit by a few shells, but nothing serious, but the steel deck was blown black, and several sailors were killed or wounded. Although the Taiping is a wooden-hulled ship, the deck is all made of steel plates, and a few shells are not a big problem.

Two 5,000-ton ships did not go unhit in the harbor.

Fan Chengkun ordered all the warships to be set on fire immediately, and at dawn tomorrow, all of them went out to pursue the British warships.

Although the British sneak attack could not be regarded as a complete victory, it basically achieved the purpose of the sneak attack and hit the morale of the Yaogang people. They believed that at least a few kiln warships would be sunk, and the damage to the dock would be very serious. The British were also sunk six warships, and one was wounded and disintegrated on the surface of the Dajinsha River.

Out of the Dajinsha River, the British knew that the Yaogang people would not give up, and they all fled to their Mughal Empire's harbor with full sails.

After a night of preparation, after dawn, Fan Chengkun handed over the affairs on the shore to Qin Peng and Jiang Wei, and he led the fleet with Mu Yi and Zheng Zhilong to pursue the British big ship.

Out of the mouth of the Dajinsha River, Zheng Zhilong looked at the wind direction on the deck, and said to Fan Chengkun and Mu Yi: "Fuck! The British have a good life! They are downwind! ”

Mu Yi said: "Maybe the cunning British have already counted it to this point!"

"Hmmm! In all probability! Zheng Zhilong nodded approvingly.

"Chase them to the edge of the sky! We're full speed ahead! Fan Chengkun said.

In the afternoon, there was fog on the sea, and Fan Chengkun ordered, Guangzhou and Fuzhou, to lead the way in pursuit. Because on these two ships, there are radio detectors, as well as hydroacoustic detectors. Fog can also detect whether there is a target ahead.

At this time, both radio detectors and hydroacoustic detectors came into play. In the foggy sea, it is equivalent to loading the eyes that pierce the clouds and fog.

However, today's radio and underwater acoustic detectors still rely heavily on the concentration of operators. But even so, in the evening, they still found a group of ships in the fog ahead.

Fan Chengkun on the Taiping discussed with Mu Yi and Zheng Zhilong. Mu Yi said: "It is best for us to follow the British ship in front of us from a distance and try not to let them find out." Now there is fog on the sea, and it is getting dark, and it is impossible to completely annihilate the British ships when they get up. It's better to wait until dawn tomorrow. Now the fog was very strong, and the British ships did not dare to go too fast. They also don't think we've discovered and followed them. ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "I agree with Commander Mu's opinion. We're going to play a game of cat and mouse with them now. Let's keep up, they won't be able to run. ”

Fan Chengkun showed a rare smile, "Hehe! Now, my heart is a little more relaxed, otherwise yesterday's incident would be too wretched! ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "It's not, fuck, we have such a good ship, and we are blocked and beaten by people at home." It's a wretch! ”

"It's all our carelessness! If it weren't for the high vigilance of the two sentinels, we would have suffered a great loss! Mu Yi said with palpitations.

"Now send a telegram to the house to report the situation!" Fan Chengkun said.

Mu Yi lowered his head and said, "I really don't have the face to send a telegram to my family!" ”

"If you don't send it, you can't do it, Qin Peng's side may have already finished the review. There is no telegram from home to ask us, we have to be conscious! Fan Chengkun said, "Fortunately, we have caught up with the British, and when we speak, we can also look better!" ”

The command center was also surprised when it received a report from Qin Peng that it had been attacked by the kiln gang people.

Ouyang He said: "This is a common problem we have, carelessness to underestimate the enemy!" This problem seems to have been there since the founding of our army! If you don't overcome this problem, you can't do it! ”

"Humph! Several of our kiln generals are over there, and they have suffered such a big loss, so they can't teach them a lesson! Chen Yufeng snorted angrily.

Liu Yun asked: "Do you need to send a telegram to Fan Chengkun and ask them how their current situation is?" ”

Chen Yufeng stopped and said: "Don't worry about them, there is such a big scandal, they should take the initiative to report!" ”

"Behold! Fan Chengkun and they can now lower their heads to the crotch of their pants, and they won't report if they don't have a result! Ouyang He said.

Liu Yun said: "I think that judging from their request to Li Zhi to send intelligence personnel to our port, they must have British intelligence personnel there. Without the cooperation of intelligence officers, the British would not have been able to achieve such a complex sneak attack! ”

Ouyang He said: "Li Zhi's people are sent out, and Li Jing and their people will also be sent over." Didn't Mr. Zhang repeatedly emphasize that intelligence sources should be diversified? ”

Fan Chengkun and the others have not sent a telegram to their home, and they are also very anxious to wait for their news.

waited until the evening, when Fan Chengkun's telegram arrived, Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He also breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Yufeng said proudly: "Hmph! Tomorrow, the British are going to give us a flag! ”

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New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.