The Yangtze River rolls from west to east, divides into two when it flows near Yizheng, and merges into one near Dantu Jinshan, and then has the name of the new estuary and the old estuary.

After Li Weiguo led the main force of the Shanghai Army to enter Zhejiang to destroy the Taiping Army's Wei Changhui Division, the army first opened a shortcut attack on Tianjing, while the Navy's East China Sea Fleet had no combat mission at first, so it returned to Hangzhou, exited the canal and entered Hangzhou Bay, and then went to the East China Sea for daily exercises.

Later, after Li Weiguo discussed with Wu Yong, Chen Jingnan and other staff, he decided to let the East China Sea Fleet participate in the battle, attack Tianjing together, and force Shi Dakai to return. So he ordered the East China Sea Fleet, which was conducting exercises in the East China Sea, to return to Shanghai, replenish supplies, and then march along the Yangtze River to Tianjing.

Since the East China Sea Fleet only had two steam warships captured from the US Asian Fleet, and the others were sail warships, the speed of going upriver after entering the Yangtze River was not fast, and when Li Weiguo had completed his strategic task and had withdrawn his troops from Yuhuatai, the East China Sea Fleet had just arrived at Yanziji. After receiving Li Weiguo's order, the East China Sea Fleet did not have to attack Tianjing, but returned to support the Dantu battlefield, after all, Shi Dakai still left 10,000 elites in Dantu, posing a threat to Dantu.

At the right time, the East China Sea Fleet was walking at the mouth of the old river at night, and that night the main force of Shi Dakai's 30,000 naval divisions was stationed at Jinshan on the south side of the new river mouth, and the two sides did not meet.

When the East China Sea Fleet was ordered to return from Yanziji, it happened to run into the Taiping Army Naval Division who had returned to Tianjing with Shi Dakai's main force.

At this time, Shi Dakai had just experienced the fiasco of Liyushan, and more than 30,000 Taiping troops were killed, of which more than 23,000 were the real elite of the Taiping army, and the others were soldiers pretended to be soldiers. If it weren't for Zhang Xiaoliu leading the army to rush to the rescue of Li Weiguo, I am afraid that the Taiping army in Shi Dakai's hands would have suffered even more heavy losses, and even the entire army might have been wiped out.

When the Taiping army went east, it was 100,000 elites and 50,000 or 60,000 people, and at this time the 100,000 elites had lost nearly half, in addition to Li Xiucheng, there were 16,000 cavalry in his hands and 10,000 infantry in Wei Jun's hands. There are only 30,000 elite sailors left.

Shi Dakai experienced such a big defeat, and his heart was extremely aggrieved, he was already angry, and he suddenly fell ill in bed, and was transferred to the naval warship by his subordinates to recuperate, saving him from the bumps on land.

However, no one expected that Shi Dakai would be so back-to-back and run into the main force of Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet on the river.

This time, half of the capital ships of the East China Sea Fleet were dispatched, including two first-class sail battleships (3,200 tons) and six second-class battleships (2,500 tons). Four third-class battleships (1,800 tons), ten fourth-class battleships (1,200 tons), forty frigates (800 tons), two steam paddle wheel frigates (although there were 2,500 tons, there were only 9 guns, which were classified by Li Weiguo as frigates to protect the battleships), and more than 100 Zhejiang Navy Red Single Ships (12~30 guns, British ships copied by the Qing army after the Opium War) responsible for vigilance and reconnaissance tasks along the way. The scale is huge, and the momentum is huge.

Although the Taiping Navy had more than 600 warships, it was a pity that the largest warship was only a Fujian shuttle ship, with a tonnage of only a few hundred tons. It is not as good as half of the smallest frigate (800 tons) of the Shanghai army, equipped with 8~20 guns, and it is also inferior to the red single ship of the Shanghai army (12~30 guns), and the artillery of the Taiping army is a self-made general cannon. The range is short, the power is small, and it is easy to blow up. It is also inferior to the British-made artillery used by the Shanghai army, with a long range, great power and stable performance.

When the two fleets met on the Yangtze River, the soldiers on the Taiping Navy warships were immediately shocked by the sheer size of the East China Sea Fleet.

"How can there be such a huge warship?"

"Look at the warships with chimneys and big water wheels over there!"

Most of the sailors of the Taiping Army came from the mainland and had never seen Western warships, so they all sighed in unison.

Compared with the height of the battleships of the Shanghai Army, the naval warships of the Taiping Army are really weak, whether it is the size or firepower, none of them can compare.

"What are you doing standing stupidly?"

"Don't you want to die?"

"Hurry up and prepare for battle yet!"

Shi Dakai heard the uproar outside, felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly rushed out, seeing that it was the Shanghai Army Naval Division, he hurriedly scolded a group of officers and soldiers and ordered them to prepare for battle.

At the same time, on the Dingyuan, the flagship of the East China Sea Fleet upstream, fleet commander Lin Jiyun, fleet chief of staff Li Weijun, and fleet adviser James Carter were also urgently dispatching troops.

As the commander of the fleet, Lin Jiyun immediately ordered: "Order all ships to form a wild goose marching formation, with the Dingyuan ship and the Zhenyuan ship as the lead, and rush and kill together." ”

The only two first-class battleships of the East China Sea Fleet were named Dingyuan and Zhenyuan respectively, which was specially done by Li Weiguo, which was a kind of nostalgia, but also a kind of encouragement and spur, and always warned Li Weiguo not to forget the national shame and not to follow the old path of the Beiyang Naval Division.

And Lin Jiyun was appointed by Li Weiguo as the commander of the fleet, one is Lin Jiyun's real name is Lin Yun, born in the Fujian Naval Division, is one of the few outstanding generals in the current Chinese Naval Army, the first battle of Ludao in Xiamen, the Fujian Naval Division was heavily damaged by the British fleet, the Qing court was furious, and dismissed all the generals, especially Lin Yun, he is Lin Zexu's nephew, he was implicated and will never be used.

Only Li Weiguo knew that Fujian was the birthplace of China's modern navy, the cradle of the navy, and there were many famous generals, so after the establishment of the East China Sea Fleet, from the southeast coastal areas, especially in Fujian and Guangdong, he recruited young sailors who knew how to be water-based.

Of course, Lin Jiyun's identity can't be hidden from Li Weiguo, and the agents of the China S.H.I.E.L.D. are most concerned about the details of the officers of the Shanghai Army, whether they are the high-ranking commanders or the commanders at the grassroots level, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will find out their details, and their ancestors are eighteen generations, so as to ensure that the Shanghai Army will not be mixed with the enemy's spies.

Li Weiguo talked to Lin Jiyun alone for ten hours, no one knew what the two of them talked about, only that after this conversation, Lin Jiyun was directly promoted from the first mate of the Navy to the commander of the East China Sea Fleet, and no one mentioned Lin Yun's previous identity.

However, the post of chief of staff of the East China Sea Fleet is still held by Li Weijun, a member of Li Weiguo's family, who is also an agent of the China S.H.I.E.L.D. agency. He does not interfere in the military tasks of the East China Sea Fleet on weekdays, but only grasps the ideology and politics of the officers and men of the East China Sea Fleet, because Li Weijun's standard for employing people completely inherits Li Weiguo's thinking, that is, the standard for employing people is always loyalty and loyalty come first, and if there is a person among the officers and men of the Navy who does not support Li Weiguo, then no matter what position he holds, Li Weijun will directly drive this person out of the barracks and never use him.

It is precisely because of Li Weijun's excellent performance in this regard that he was deservedly appointed by Li Weiguo as the chief of staff of the East China Sea Fleet, ensuring that the East China Sea Fleet will always be surnamed Li. Only listen to Li Weiguo's command.

As for the British adviser James Carter, he had a lot of power, and it was a privilege given to him by Li Weiguo, because at the beginning of the establishment of the East China Sea Fleet, all British and American warships were used, so it had to be trained in full accordance with the training methods of the British Royal Navy, and Li Weiguo was very firm in this. Although the officers and men of the East China Sea Fleet were loyal to Li Weiguo, a considerable number of officers and men were very xenophobic, especially since many of them had fought with the British Navy. There are more or less blood feuds, if it weren't for Li Weiguo giving James Carter the rights, he wouldn't be able to suppress these people at all, let alone complete the training task.

Now. Carter was the first to speak, and he proposed, "Commander Lin, if I were you, I would put those two iron-hulled steamers at the front. ”

Lin Jiyun is also a member of the hatred of the British. And it's very strong, but he has a clear distinction between public and private, and he always listens to Carter's opinions humbly in business. Learning from the strengths of others, he asked, "Counselor Carter, can you give me a reason to convince me in a minute?"

"Of course! It doesn't take a minute! Carter was very confident, pointed to the Taiping warship in the distance, and said: "The enemy's warship is very small, we put two iron-hulled steamships in front and directly sink their leading warship, so that their formation will inevitably be chaotic, and our warships can fight more easily!" ”

Lin Jiyun nodded, this foreign devil made sense, so he immediately ordered two American-made iron-hulled paddlewheel frigates to take the lead.

It is said that it is an iron-hulled frigate, but in fact, it is a wooden skeleton inside, and the outside is wrapped with a layer of iron plates, which is essentially different from the ironclad ships that appeared more than ten years later, which were completely riveted together with large iron blocks.

However, no matter how thin the iron plate is, no matter how thick the plank is, it is also wood, and two huge iron-hulled steam paddle wheel frigates of 2,500 tons went down the river, coupled with steam power propulsion, and the speed soared to 28 knots in an instant.

The Taiping army lined up more than 600 warships side by side and covered the entire river, with the obvious intention of blocking the Shanghai warships and then launching a close-range engagement.

Knock knock!

On the foredeck of the two iron-hulled paddlewheel frigates, which were launching a rapid assault, two 15-fold-diameter 64-pounder front guns opened fire.

Two solid shells fell with a roar, one fell into the river, instantly stirring up a column of water several meters high, and the other hit a Taiping warship.

The moment the Taiping warship was pierced by a 64-pound cannonball, the two-meter-high arrow tower was smashed, sawdust flew everywhere, and more than a dozen Taiping archers fell into the river. The cannonball continued to smash through the bottom of the ship, and the river poured in, sinking the small warship of more than 50 tons in the blink of an eye.

This moment immediately frightened the Taiping army, and a single shot could sink a warship, which was the first time for the officers and soldiers of the invincible Taiping Army's naval division, which was not the case when dealing with the Qing army before.

"Don't be afraid! It's just a coincidence! ”

"Shoot back!"

Shi Dakai supported his sick body, stood on the largest commander's warship, and gave combat orders while encouraging the soldiers.

Knock knock! Knock knock!

The sailors of the Taiping Army began to return fire, although their artillery performance was backward, but they could not withstand a large number, and the salvo across the river was also quite considerable.

Shells rained down, stirring up hundreds of columns of water, and the river boiled in an instant.

In other words, it was the Qing army sailor in the Jiangbei battalion, and this salvo was stupid

However, for the East China Sea Fleet, this salvo just exposed the weakness of the Taiping army, which was only forced to rebel by peasants who had no food to eat, and fought without formal training, relying on courage, and barely making do with the rotten Qing army, and in the face of the Shanghai army that received formal training from the British Royal Navy, this situation was categorically intimidating.

The thunder is loud and the rain is small. Before they could reach range, they opened fire, and all the shells fell into the river, and there was no possibility of hitting the Shanghai warship.

Perhaps this is the embodiment of backward concepts, from ancient times to the present, gunpowder artillery is the earliest invention and application in China, but unfortunately it is a face project, gunpowder is made into fireworks for use, artillery is used in the military, most of the time is just a cannon, used to listen to the sound. It is used to enhance their own momentum and frighten the enemy, and is rarely directly used to attack the enemy, and the backwardness of tactical thinking has led to the battle between the Taiping Army and the Qing Army, and the artillery rarely plays a key role, but more of a psychological deterrent, and in the end the Taiping Army and the Qing Army still use the oldest broadside battle to win or lose.

But now the Taiping Army Navy is not facing the previous Qing Army Navy, but the East China Sea Fleet of the Shanghai Army, whether it is ideology. Or a tactical move, destined for big changes.

The Shanghai army has the advantage of strong ships and sharp artillery, but it will not play any kind of broadside battle with the Taiping army, and directly bombarded the artillery to solve the problem.

After a round of artillery salvo. The formation of the Taiping Army's naval divisions changed, and some Taiping generals brandished their swords and ordered their warships to attack the East China Sea Fleet, which was typical of disorganization and undiscipline. This was common among the Taiping army.

Boom Boom

Boom Boom

The two iron-hulled steam warships of the Shanghai Army quickly rushed into the naval division of the Taiping Army, and the large ramming angle design of the bow made the two iron-hulled warships like tigers into the flock of sheep. smashed the wooden warships of the Taiping Army to pieces.

In fact, Shi Dakai had long expected that the Shanghai army would use the large size of the battleship and the advantage of the upstream downstream to collide with the Taiping Army's naval division, which was an inevitable means of water warfare on the Yangtze River throughout the ages, and it was not surprising.

Shi Dakai thought that although the battleships of the Shanghai army were large, they would definitely stop after the impact, as long as they stopped, even if they were on the tall battleships, Shi Dakai was confident that his elite Taiping Army would climb up and kill the sailors of the Shanghai army and seize the battleships.

However, the next moment, Shi Dakai's expression suddenly petrified.

I saw that after the two iron-hulled warships of the Shanghai Army knocked over a number of Taiping warships one after another, they still had undiminished momentum and continued to charge forward, knocking over and sinking the Taiping warships one by one, and even continued to fire their guns on the march to attack the surrounding warships.

"What's going on?"

Shi Da was dizzy, he didn't know that a steamship could move forward without the help of the wind, and he didn't know that a steam-powered steamship of more than 2,000 tons could not be blocked by a wooden warship of a few hundred tons.

Without waiting for Shi Dakai to think about it, at this time, the main fleet of the East China Sea Fleet of the Shanghai Army also came up, followed the channel opened up by the two iron-hulled warships, rushed into the square formation of the Taiping Army's naval division, and divided it into two.

On the huge battleships, the gun doors were opened, and the pitch-black guns were pushed out in turn, and the black holes aimed at the Taiping warships on both sides.

“openfire！ Fromlefttoright！ (Free fire, left to right)"

On the flagship battleship Dingyuan, the British Royal Navy officer who served as an artillery instructor suddenly gave an order. Naturally, he spoke English, but all the artillerymen on the Dingyuan understood it, and fired from left to right, in turn. The reason for firing sequentially rather than at the same time is to ensure that the battleship will not roll violently in an instant, affecting the accuracy of the gun.

Knock knock!

More than 50 cannons on the port side of the Dingyuan opened fire one after another, the flames were shining, black smoke was spewed, and one shell after another was fired at the Taiping warship on the opposite side.

Boom boom!

I saw that the Taiping warship, which was more than 100 tons, was hit by dozens of shells at the same time in an instant, from the bow to the stern, it exploded violently, and the entire ship was blown to pieces in an instant, and the hundreds of Taiping soldiers on it were blown to pieces without even shouting, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere.

Clouds of fiery red mushrooms rose into the air, and there was no shadow of the ship below, leaving only countless blood-soaked and shattered planks and incomplete corpses.

For the sailors of the Taiping Army, they have never experienced such a tragic water battle, and they used to rely on bows and arrows and broadswords in hand-to-hand combat, even if they set fire to the ship, it would take an hour to completely burn the ship, but it was only a blink of an eye in front of them, and a firepower salvo of the first-class battleship of the Shanghai Army blew the ship to pieces, and there was no survivor, which was also too terrifying.

However, this was only the beginning, as the Dingyuan was the first to fire, and the other ships also opened fire one after another.

In an instant, the sound of artillery was endless, the sound of explosions was endless, the artillery fire on the entire Yangtze River was flying one after another, and water columns rose into the sky, and the battle was white-hot at this moment.

The river was boiling, the smoke was billowing, and the East China Sea Fleet directly broke the phalanx of the Taiping Army's naval divisions, sinking more than 300 Taiping warships in the blink of an eye.

Shi Dakai's warship bore the brunt of the attack, and the two iron-hulled battleships attacked left and right, knocking Shi Dakai's ship to pieces, and Shi Dakai also fell into the water.

Watching the Taiping warships on the river being sunk one after another by the Shanghai warships, the bodies of countless Taiping soldiers were torn to pieces by shells, and there were those who jumped into the river screaming and screaming by artillery fire, all of this was seen in Shi Dakai's eyes, which made his heart bleed.

Shi Dakai's crusade to the east, happily swore to go out, but now he suffered this defeat, the death of seventy or eighty thousand Taiping soldiers, so that Shi Dakai was immediately disheartened, he closed his eyes, and sank directly into the Yangtze River.

However, the deputy general beside him couldn't let Shi Dakai die like this, and hurriedly pulled him up.

"His Royal Highness the Winged King, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, why bother killing yourself? If Your Highness is dead, then won't there be no one to avenge the tens of thousands of soldiers we sacrificed! I hope Your Highness will think twice! ”

Someone persuaded Shi Da to feel better when he was happy, and his guilt turned into revenge.

"Li Weiguo! I, Shi Dakai, don't share the sky with you! If this revenge is not avenged, I Shi Da swear not to be a person! (To be continued......)