The flagship Guangzhou rode the wind and waves, this ship was equipped with 120 guns of various types, it was simply a moving fortress, in addition to fighting, she also shouldered other missions, carrying Wu Chongyao's right-hand man, comprador Xu Rongcun invited from Shanghai. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Xu Rongcun is a native of Xiangshan, one of the first Guangzhou businessmen to go to Shanghai to work as compradors, and it was from him that many compradors emerged in Xiangshan County. Almost all of the first compradors in Shanghai were Cantonese people, and it would be 20 years later that compradors in Ningbo and Wuxi could compete with the Cantonese compradors.

The most important reason why this is so is that Guangdong has reserved the most talents who understand foreign trade in the era of commerce, and the reason why it is Xiangshan is because Macao belongs to Xiangshan, and the other is the first batch of people brought out by Xu Rongcun.

Xu Rongcun is unknown in the later generations, can not be compared with Xu Run, Sheng Xuanhuai and a large number of official and commercial compradors, but in this era, he is also a capable person, very good brain, good at seizing business opportunities, when the United Kingdom held the first World Trade Fair, Xu Rongcun heard the news, immediately sent his own "Rongji Lake Silk" to the exhibition, and finally won the gold medal, but unfortunately the International Bureau of Exhibitions did not record, resulting in later generations have always thought that the Chinese did not participate in this expo, let alone the will, Why the Expo Bureau did not record it, either Xu Rongcun did not participate in an official capacity, or the ethnic discrimination of the British.

But fortunately, it was recorded in the literature report of this expo, and it was finally confirmed when the expo was held in Shanghai.

Xu Rongcun is already a successful businessman, as a comprador before, he was helping businessmen to do things, so he had business dealings with Wu Chongyao, Wu Chongyao formed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of course, he needed talents who knew foreign languages and foreigners, these compradors were the best choice, so he hired around to buy and sell, Xu Rongcun, who had already earned a lot of money, also wanted to improve his status, and wanted to glorify his ancestors, which was a common problem of businessmen in this era, so he accepted the appointment and held a job that was quite decent for ordinary people, For him, a salary that was better than nothing, and he began to take up his duties.

His work can not be said to be excellent, can only be said to be decent, the current Guangdong has not been able to train outstanding diplomats, it would be good to have these little rules, Xu Rongcun's task this time is to take a copy of the note, go to Shanghai to ask foreigners from all countries to remain neutral and not interfere in the Chinese civil war.

"Lord Chen, have you ever sold vegetables in the past? Don't get me wrong, it's a cloth seller, and they're all businessmen. ”

Diplomatic envoy Xu Rongcun was close to Captain Chen Ada in the captain's room.

Chen Ada only nodded lightly, with a calm face, and said that this is a person who does not smile, and it seems that he is not wrong.

Xu Rongcun thought to himself, he didn't see him talk along the way, so he looked at the map vigorously.

He didn't know what Chen Ada had in his heart, he was indeed a vegetable seller back then, he was not very old at that time, far from being as old as he looks now, he had just gotten married, his wife had a son left, and the whole family was very happy.

He is a son of the Chen family, he has studied for a few years and is literate, but he does not read well, and his family conditions are not good, so after marrying a wife, he gave up his studies, learned to do business with others, and went to Xin'an to sell vegetables for a living.

Because the land is familiar, so when Zhu Jinglun led the troops to attack Xin'an City, he was a guide, but at that time the foreigners ran to dig manholes, Chen Ada was very intersecting at that time, he was worried about his parents, wives and children, worried about what would come, and later when he went back, his house was burned, his father and mother were burned to charcoal, and his wife escaped with her young son in her arms, but when he found his wife, his wife was already stupid, disheveled, unkempt, holding a dead baby in her arms and smirking.

Chen Ada aged ten years old overnight, and looked like a person in his thirties in his twenties, with hoarfrost on his temples, but his disaster was not over, when he took the dead baby from his wife's arms and buried it, he came back to find that his wife had jumped into the river.

At that time, he hated Zhu Jinglun very much, if he could go back early, or don't let him be a guide, maybe his family will be fine, and once again when he was drunk and complained to others, he was heard by the patriarch Chen Zhiting, and beat him hard, telling him that if he hadn't been a guide, he would have died with him, and said that if he wanted to blame, he would blame the foreigners, don't distinguish between right and wrong.

So Chen Ada hated the foreigner, and then he became a soldier, he was promoted quickly, others thought that he was because he had read and knew how to count, so the things taught by the foreigner learned quickly, but no one knew that he had worked countless times more hard than others, when he was studying, he only slept for two hours a day, and he couldn't sleep any more, and when he opened his eyes, he felt that the foreigner owed him a blood debt, so he continued to study frantically.

Later, because he was born in a manhole, not only has good water quality, but also knows how to steer a ship and deliver food, he was selected as a naval officer, and he was the captain at the beginning, when he was on the small ship Zero, and when there were more and more warships, his position became higher and higher, and now he is the captain of the flagship and the commander of the entire navy.

The huge Guangdong, no, it should be said that when the Ming fleet arrived in Shanghai, the local Taoist platform was frightened, and did not take any measures to prevent the fleet from docking, Xu Rongcun calmly went to the port of Shanghai, and went to the Bund to negotiate with the consuls of various countries, and after the fleet added coal and water, it set off again.

At this time, the navy's spirit was high, and before leaving, three officers on each warship accepted the banquet of Emperor Zhu, who told them that they were waiting for their triumphant return from victory, and invited them to participate in the founding ceremony with victory, and the emperor hoped that the soldiers would use the victory to add glory to his enthronement ceremony.

What an honor, as if the Emperor had postponed his accession to the throne in order to wait for news of their victory.

Although most of the soldiers still have the mentality of being a soldier and eating food, the sense of identity of the officers is higher, because most of the officers are selected from the army, have good water nature, and live by the sea, among which more than 20 of the Tanmin officers under the black dog are captains, whose grades are equivalent to the brigade commander level, and the captain grade of the flagship is even equivalent to the commander level, and they are also the commanders of the entire fleet.

The whole army attacked in order to win, but the Americans said that there was no need for the whole army to attack at all, and although the Yangtze River was wide, the more than 50 warships could not be used, but instead had a large number of troops.

At present, the smallest 200 and 300-ton gunboats in the army, with an average length of 30 meters, a total of 30, and 500-ton gunboats are 40 meters long, a total of 20, and these 50 small warships alone are connected to 1,700 meters, counting the distance between them, which stretches for more than two kilometers, plus other giant ships, and then they will be lined up for 3 kilometers, which is impossible to fight at all.

However, Zhu Jinglun insisted that the purpose of the whole army be dispatched was not military, but political, he wanted to deter the Hunan army, and at the same time give confidence to the Taiping army, Zhu Jinglun's order, Chen Ada will definitely abide by it.

He decided to use an inverted V-shaped formation, that is, a wedge-shaped formation, with the flagship Guangzhou as the sharp edge, and the two wings and rear columns, advancing forward like a wild goose formation, and destroying the defenses on both sides of the strait with the firepower of the two wings.

They had already reconnoitred once before, and found that the Hunan army blockaded Tianjing, using long trenches to besiege on land, and on the river bank, they used naval divisions to blockade, from Yanziji to Dashengguan, more than 500 warships of the Hunan army went back and forth, and did not give the Taiping army any chance at all.

Although the number of Hunan naval divisions is large, most of them are Chinese sailing ships, each ship is equipped with an average of 4 cannons, a total of 2000 cannons, the performance of cannons is average, individual equipment Western artillery, most of them are still their own casting of earthen cannons, cannonballs are mainly solid shells, this kind of cannonballs smashed on the Ming warship, generally can not cause any damage.

What needs to be worried most is that the forts built by the Hunan army on both sides of the Yangtze River, some of which weigh as much as 10,000 catties, can still cause fatal damage to warships.

Therefore, Chen Ada decided to use his flagship as a penetration knife, because the flagship not only has a large displacement, but also has the thickest hull.

Chen Ada's telescope had already seen Yanziji, and also saw the fort above, which was the farthest point of the blockade of Tianjing, and the Hunan army not only built forts, but also built fortifications such as water villages.

But these fortifications were mainly fortified, and they did not expect anyone to attack from the sea.

Chen Ada suddenly saw the opposite Hunan army suddenly move, knowing that the other party also found his fleet, he was not in a hurry, and calmly ordered:

"Raise the battle flag and prepare for battle!"

A capitalized Chen Zi flag slowly rose, and Chen Ada stood straight on the deck, without any weapons, only holding a telescope in his hand, quietly looking at the opponent's fort.

The American advisers simply ignored Chen Ada's second offense, and stayed honestly in the captain's room, and they had already violated the law if they could follow the war, and according to the agreement with the Guangdong government, now called the Ming government, they would not intervene in the Chinese civil war.

Soon the American advisers heard the sound of artillery, and the enemy opened fire first, and the gunnery was as bad as ever, smashing a high column of water on the surface of the river, but it did not even touch the edge of the warship, and the distance was at least more than 200 meters.

The warship continued to move forward, and after ten minutes, it felt a shaking, and the warship actually dropped anchor, turned sideways, and then felt a huge earthquake in the hull, as if it had drifted backwards in unison.

The salvo of the 32-pounder cannon, no joke.

No matter from which point of view, the Canton belongs to the category of first-class battleships stipulated by the British Navy, the 64-pounder gun is a heavy short gun, placed in the bow and the ship, the three decks are respectively placed 40 32-pounder guns, 50 24-pounder guns, 60 18-pounder guns, the main heavy gun is a 32-pounder cannon, powerful, high rate of fire, the most suitable for armor piercing, even if it can only be placed on the lowest deck, but the shock force is still very large.

After the flagship fired, soon other warships also took action, six thousand-ton and 3,000-ton giant ships, on both sides of the flagship to swing the sides and also began to fire, 3,000-ton battleships, not as many 5,000-ton guns, only 120, but also equipped with 30 32-pounder guns, as well as 40 24-pounder guns, 50 18-pounder guns The power should not be underestimated. The thousand-ton warship, which was only equivalent to the British third-class battleships, was even slightly worse, armed with only 20 32-pounder guns, 20 18-pounder guns, and 18 9-pounder guns.

Even so, the firepower of these capital ships far exceeded the Hunan army's batteries, and there were few guns on the Hunan army's batteries, obviously their opponents were not worth their investment too much, only a dozen or so cannons responded, and they were quickly suppressed, but Chen Ada ordered to continue the shelling, and at the same time ordered the use of flowering explosive shells.

His telescope looked at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and at the Hunan sailing ships that were rushing over, and at this time, one after another, his own gunboats were passing behind the capital ships one after another, rushing straight towards the Hunan naval division, as if they were protecting the capital ships.

But after they crossed the capital ship, they were not in a hurry to advance, but lined up in two columns not far away, the formation was really strange, even the Hunan army knew that in the era of throwing artillery to bombard his mother, they did not use the tactics of sideside shelling.

The artillery fire of the sparse sailors rang out, and Zeng Guofan's sailors obviously did not have the elite of his army, and the formation was very untidy, until they rushed to within 1,000 meters of the gunboats, they still had not lined up in formation, but their number was really large, at least two or three hundred.

At this time, Chen Da's capital ship suddenly anchored, and in the whine whistle, billowing black smoke came out of the chimney, he turned the bow of the ship and went straight through the middle of the gunboat formation, with six large ships, and rushed towards the Hunan army and naval division, the steamship was advancing at full speed, and the river flowing eastward could not stop their momentum.

After crossing the gunboat formation, seven large ships, with the flagship in the middle, flanked by warships of 3,000 tons and 1,000 tons, were really arranged in a wedge, and after they sailed over, the gunboat formation followed, they were the two tails of the wedge.

Half an hour later, this wedge successfully penetrated into the Hunan army's naval division, and then thousands of cannons on both sides fired in unison, and white smoke rose from the Yangtze River, covering everything.

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I don't know how to write war pictures, everyone will just watch it, in short, it's just a sail steamship abusing a small sampan, nothing worth writing about. (To be continued.) )