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The Americans surrendered!

The people on the barges miles away could hardly believe their eyes - the Americans had surrendered!

They saw the Americans raise the white flag on their warships. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 The info lasted less than half an hour before it ended. Before they could even react, the naval battle was over, and only three of the seven American warships that had died at the mouth of the Pearl River were now left, and all of them had suffered heavy damage.

The naval battle is over!

Before the sailors on the barge had come to their senses, they saw in the distance more than a dozen "old lock boats" - transport ships that combined Chinese sails and European hulls, which had been used as patrol ships by Guangdong sailors for many years because of their superior seaworthiness. However, after Ye Mingchen surrendered to the Han Dynasty, the Guangdong Navy Division was explained that more than a dozen "old lock ships" of the Navy Division had been moored in the harbor, and now these "old lock ships" have appeared in this sea area again.

And without exception, the barrels of these "old lock boats" stick out, pointing directly at the opium barges of Lingdingyang. When the foreign sailors on the opium barges had not yet recovered from the one-sided naval battle that had preceded them, these "old lock boats" pounced on them like evil tigers.

Capture sailors and seize opium.

All of this is just like more than ten years ago, except that this time it is with the majesty of the naval fleet in a great victory, so that the sailors of various countries on the opium barge are simply tied up, and have no courage to resist at all.

While the newly formed customs fleet seized the opium barges on the Lingding Ocean like a fierce tiger pounced on the sheep, the victorious Yangtze River Fleet was slowly heading towards the Pearl River, and in the naval battle, the fleet also suffered losses -- many warships were damaged, but they were hardly worth mentioning compared to the losses of the American fleet.

Four U.S. warships were sunk and three were captured, and although most of the three warships suffered heavy damage, it could not change the fact that they were captured.

When the merchant ships of the nearby countries saw the three warships with red flags on their sterns, their vision was invariably extremely complicated, and the defeat of the Americans did not belong only to the Americans, which was to remind everyone that the Han government was different from the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Whether they want to or not, they will have to face this change in Guangzhou.

Compared with the complicated expressions of foreigners, for those Chinese sailors who rowed sampans and supported sailboats, they were also stunned by this naval battle, and they tried to avoid it in fear. But when they saw that the Yangtze River Fleet had defeated the foreign devils, their hearts immediately burst out with a pride that they had never felt before.

"We defeated the foreign devils!"

For people in other places, maybe they don't know what a foreign devil is? But for the people in Guangzhou and the Pearl River Estuary, they know very well the power of foreign devils, more than ten years ago the foreign devils almost beat the city of Guangzhou, and being a foreign devil on the sea is almost equal to an invincible existence.

Now the sailors, no, the fleet, the Han fleet sailing from the Yangtze River, defeated the foreign devils on the sea. Moreover, the ships of those foreign devils are even bigger, and even now, the warships of the captured foreigners are far more powerful than the warships of the Yangtze River Fleet.

That inexplicable sense of pride permeated the hearts of the sailors in almost every estuary, and when they looked at the warships with awe, and took the initiative to avoid them to make way for them, and then looked at the sailors on the ships with envious eyes, the sailors felt the gaze of their compatriots, and their expressions were also full of pride and pride.

"Sir, where are we going now?"

In the face of his subordinates' inquiries, although his mood was agitated by the previous victory, Shen Ming still said very rationally.

"Go to Whampoa Dock now."

The Whampoa dock in Shen Ming's mouth, originally the Kebai dock, was the dock company of the British merchant Kebai, and after Kebai arrived in Huangpu, he rented several mud docks from the local Chinese, hired a group of Chinese to engage in ship repair, and soon changed from one oversee to one industrial capitalist. In order to expand his business, he expanded the dock into a stone dock, which later generations called the "Kobai Dock". This is the first shipyard opened by foreigners in China, and dozens of various ships have been built here in the past eight or nine years.

It is also because it is the only Western-style shipyard in Guangdong, with some machinery and equipment and it has a large stone dock, so as early as four months ago, the Governorate invested 70,000 taels of silver to buy the Kebai Dock, renamed "Whampoa Dock", and it has also become the only shipyard near the sea in the Governor's Mansion, because of this, in the past four months, the Governor will allocate a special fund for the expansion of the Whampoa Dock in the shipbuilding equipment, and also set up the Whampoa Dock Company, now there are 4 stone docks here, which can be built, Repair of 5,000-ton ship berths.

"After arriving at the Whampoa dock, first send the captured US warships to the dock for repair, our ships do not need to be docked for repair, but they must be repaired as soon as possible, now the fleet is the confidence for the next move, as long as we are here, they must talk to us at that time."

Although Shen Ming is the admiral of the fleet, it does not mean that he does not understand politics and diplomacy, and he knows very well the meaning of this battle -- it is nothing more than knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger.

It is precisely because of this that when the naval battle broke out, he did not hesitate to order an all-out attack on the American fleet, in order to let the American fleet be the mountain, but it was another tiger that was shocked! Only by shaking the tiger can the Governor's Office take the next step. This requires that the fleet must immediately complete the repair and restore its combat effectiveness, and it would be better if the three US warships could be repaired.

Shen Ming, who has crossed the seas, knows very well that in this sea, there is only one way to win the respect of others, and that is to win the respect of others through strength.

"Sir, where are Perry and the rest of the American POWs housed?"

More than 700 American prisoners of war, this is also a problem that must be faced now, after thinking for a moment, Shen Ming said.

"Didn't the Governor build the Whampoa Military Academy on Whampoa Island? Now that the military academy has not yet been put into use, first escort these prisoners of war there to take care of them, so that they can just stop by the way! ”

A few hours later, when the victorious Yangtze River Fleet sailed into the Whampoa dock, Shi Si, the shipyard engineer who heard the news, watched with amazement at the American warship being dragged into the dock -- the wrecked warship was riddled with bullet holes, and if it weren't for its wooden structure, it might have sunk to the bottom of the sea.

"USS Mississippi cruiser ......"

Looking at the name of the warship in surprise, Shi Si's first reaction was that it was so lucky. Then he asked a naval officer beside him.

"Was it shelled by the Paixhans?"

It was invented by General Peksan around 1823 and has had a great effect since then, it is a cannon specialized in firing explosive shells. It has a more accurate trajectory and long range than howitzers, and has an incredible direct range. Even if it is a hollow explosive projectile, due to its large caliber, it can still fire an explosive projectile that is 60 pounds heavier than a 32-pound shell, and can effectively penetrate enemy warships at a certain distance. This artillery can be considered as a weapon specifically against warships. During last year's Battle of Sinop, the Russians used it to blow Turkish warships to pieces.

Although he had heard about that naval battle, now that he had witnessed the bombed and battered cruiser USS Mississippi, he immediately realized that the rules of naval warfare had changed radically.

"Mr. Shi Si, how long will it take for these warships to be repaired?"

The naval officer's words stunned Shi Si, and after a moment of surprise, he immediately said.

"Repair? Why fix them? ”

Shi Si pointed to the rags in the dock and said excitedly.

"It's all beaten like this, do you need to fix them? What's the value of fixing it? Sunk in the next naval battle? I said, "My friend, don't you see that the rules of naval warfare have changed?" Don't you see what the future of naval warfare is? ”

Shi Si, who seemed a little excited, pointed to the "Hanfeng" in the middle of the river, the "ironclad ship" that was actually still a wooden-hulled ship, had been overhauled in the dockyard after arriving in Guangdong, and he was no stranger to this very failed warship.

"Ironclad! Ironclads are the future of the Navy! ”

That's right!

The future of the Navy is ironclads!

Shi Si, who was staring at the only one of all the warships with almost no damage, immediately came up with the words of the teacher.

"Iron is harder than wood, and all regiments, whether warships or merchant ships, will be built with iron in the future, and now we are creating a historical ......"

As Isambad? Kindham? In fact, from eleven years ago, when the world's largest iron-hulled ship propelled by propellers and sails, the Great British, was launched, Shi Si, who was only a teenager at the time, had always fantasized about building warships made of iron, and when he was studying with Brunel's men, he repeatedly suggested to his teacher to build iron-hulled warships. However, his advice has been ignored by Brunel, who focuses on "floating cities on the sea", and of course the Royal Navy does not need iron-hulled warships.

But now looking at the wooden-hulled warship that was bombed beyond recognition by the paixhans, Shi Si's strong desire to build an ironclad ship burst out again. He even said stubbornly.

"A warship like this has no repair value at all, and it is a waste of money if it can't be repaired, I want to see the commander of the fleet, and I want to tell him what is needed, and what the fleet needs is not this kind of broken wooden ship."

As Shi Si expressed his attitude excitedly, a voice came from behind him.

"So you're not willing to repair these three warships? Even if it's fired. ”

"Dismissal?"

Shi Sitou said without looking back.

"You can fire me, but you can't change the future. If you dismiss me, it will be the future of the Chinese Navy that I dismiss! (To be continued.) )