On the surface of the ocean, ships flying the flag of the Manchu Jiangnan Navy Division are sailing along the coast. On top of the flagship, Xie Zhihai, as the commander-in-chief, looked quite dignified.

"General Liu, we are about to enter the mouth of the Yangtze River, I hope everything goes well."

"Lord Xie, don't worry, although there are Manchu batteries near the estuary, those batteries don't dare to really fire at us, as long as we don't encounter other warships of the Jiangnan Naval Division, there will be no big mistakes." Liu Mingchuan is quite confident.

Xie Zhihai didn't dare to relax at all, he saw the power of the sea from the sea, there was no boundary, even if they had sailed as close to the coastline as possible, but in order to avoid being discovered by the people on the shore, his route was always out of sight of the coast. This made Xie Zhihai, who had always acted on land, unable to help but feel weak in his heart.

It was getting dark, and the fleet picked up the pace of its advance. Occasionally, there are other ships on the route, including merchant ships from the mainland and merchant ships from foreigners, and the flags are also varied.

By noon, they had reached the mouth of the Yangtze River, and behind them were a dozen merchant ships, large and small, most of which flew the flags of foreigners, and they followed the fleet from the point of view of safety.

The big ship entered the Yangtze River and soon saw where the Manchu batteries were located.

In the face of the huge fleet of the Jiangnan Naval Division, there was not much commotion on the fort, and there was not even a routine inspection.

Thinking about it, it is understandable that the current Jiangnan Naval Division is the most powerful naval division in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, responsible for the logistics of the battle between Shanghai and Li Xiucheng.

The fleet sailed smoothly into the mouth of the Yangtze River, and Xie Zhihai and Liu Mingchuan also breathed a sigh of relief.

But just when they relaxed a little, three foreigners' iron-clad merchant ships sailed down the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and these merchant ships were flying British flags, which should be directly piloted by the British.

This merchant ship turned a blind eye to the fleet flying the flag of the Jiangnan Naval Division, and actually came directly towards the fleet.

Xie Zhihai's face changed greatly, and he looked at Liu Mingchuan.

Liu Mingchuan's face was not good-looking, and he said in a deep voice: "I heard that foreigners, whether they are warships or merchant ships, are extremely arrogant, but I didn't expect to let us meet them." ”

"How did the Qing army sailors deal with this kind of thing before?" Xie Zhihai said in a deep voice.

"Get out of the way!" Liu Mingchuan said with great grievances.

"Give way? The army also has to make way for foreign merchant ships? Xie Zhihai said in disbelief. He knew that the Manchu army was fighting in the bag, but he didn't expect it to be to such an extent. The dignified Jiangnan sailor still has to make way for the merchant ships of the foreigners, which is simply unbearable.

"There's no way, the rules set by the Admiral Yamen, we can't afford to provoke and hide!" Liu Mingchuan said with a wry smile.

"Damn it!" Xie Zhihai's expression was uncertain.

"My lord, if we don't let us, I'm afraid it will cause trouble, and if these merchant ships block the way, I'm afraid that something else will happen at that time." Liu Mingchuan said in a deep voice. What he meant was that more is better than less. The current foreign merchant ships also have strong military force, and if they really want to do it, they will definitely be the ones who will suffer.

Xie Zhihai naturally understood, but he was a little unwilling to let him go like this.

"My lord, we still take the orders of the Young Heavenly King first." Liu Mingchuan admonished in a deep voice.

Xie Zhihai glanced at him a little strangely, and nodded silently.

Soon, the Jiangnan sailors approached the two sides of the river and gave way to the central waterway.

The decks of the three British merchant ships were full of people, and they pointed at the Manchu Masters on both sides, even if they were far away, Xie Zhihai could hear their laughter and feel a hot face.

It would have been fine if it had passed like this, but the three merchant ships had suddenly stopped in the middle of the procession, and the muzzles of black holes were still visible above the merchant ships.

"Oh no, something happened!" Liu Mingchuan's face changed greatly.

"What's going on? Could it be that the news has been leaked? Xie Zhihai was also taken aback.

"I don't know, but these three merchant ships are showing their weapons."

"Order all ships to be on guard, and if there is the slightest disturbance in the British merchant ships, give me a damn blow." Although Xie Zhihai is cautious, he is definitely not a person who is afraid of things, not to mention that now when he enters the Yangtze River, it is no better than on the vast sea, and the land on both sides of the strait has given him great strength.

The muzzles of black holes leaked from the dozens of wooden warships of the Jiangnan Naval Division, and the foreign merchant ships controlled by the Wehrmacht also showed their weapons one after another, as if in an instant, the three British merchant ships became surrounded.

The British merchant ships were in chaos, but they had no intention of putting away their weapons, and even turned their bows and took on a confrontational posture.

"Damn, what the hell is going on?" Xie Zhihai's expression was ugly, how could these three British merchant ships make an attack posture.

"It's not clear yet, Lord Xie, the situation is not good now, I'm afraid I really have to fight!" Liu Mingchuan said in a deep voice.

"How?" For water warfare, Xie Zhihai doesn't understand, and Liu Mingchuan doesn't understand either. But they understood that once the British merchant ships did not retreat, they had no other way but to fight.

"Surround it! Fuck if they dare to do it, I'll fight with them! "Most of the materials transported on the warships are lighter grain and grass, which is also to ensure the flexibility of the warships, but most of the foreigners and merchant ships that are levied are machinery and equipment, which are quite valuable. Xie Zhihai knew that Hong Tiangui was very fond of these things, and he would definitely not let them have problems.

Dozens of Manchu warships surrounded them, and the foreigners were in even more agitation, and they raised the banner of negotiations.

"To talk?" Liu Mingchuan said in a deep voice.

"There's nothing to talk about, let them leave immediately, or else they will bear the consequences." Xie Zhihai said in a deep voice. It can't be soft at this time, otherwise there will inevitably be more trouble.

As Xie Zhihai replied strongly, the British merchant ship obviously did not expect that all the people on the deck entered the cabin, but the muzzle of the gun was still exposed, obviously the other party did not want to compromise easily.

"Order the merchant ships to move on, and tell the ships that if the British merchant ships dare to act rashly again, I will sink them at all costs." Xie Zhihai was ruthless, and the wooden battleship approached again. At the same time, huge merchant ships began to sail.

As soon as the merchant ship moved, the three British merchant ships suddenly became anxious and rushed towards one merchant ship.

"Fire!" Xie Zhihai decisively gave the order to attack.

Boom Boom Boom ——!

The ships of the Manchurian division were inferior to the British and French warships, but they had an advantage over the merchant ships. Coupled with the absolute superiority in terms of numbers and the proximity of the distance, this fire instantly hit a merchant ship and opened a hole in the hull.

The foreign merchant ships quickly returned fire, and the guns on their ships were better than those of the Jiangnan Naval Division, but the operators were not regular troops, so although several artillery shells hit the naval ships, they did not cause fatal damage.