Everyone hurriedly looked downstream, and their faces changed color one after another, sure enough, there was a ship, not just one, but nearly twenty, and it was going up the river from more than ten miles downstream!

Everyone's hearts sank, at this time, a ship came over, whether it was friend or foe, it was not a good thing, Wang Feng hurriedly called: "Don't be affected, continue to salvage!" ”

"Yes!" The warriors continued to pile dirt on the ship, but they sped up.

Chen Alin looked straight ahead and pondered: "This can't be a merchant ship, since the Taiping Army went east from Wuchang, no merchant ship dares to enter the Yangtze River, even if there are a few bold, there will not be so many, is it a foreigner's ship?" ”

No one can answer this, Wang Feng's eyebrows are also loose and tight, tight and loose, how can he be a foreigner? Even if Bonham transferred troops to retaliate, but the nearest British military base was in Hong Kong, the Hermes sank on May 13, and today is May 20, plus the time to report the news, it is only seven days, and it is impossible to be a soldier with great speed, right?

Wang Feng was anxious to salvage the steam engine, in addition to avoiding the flood peak of the Yangtze River, another important reason was to rob the British of the time difference in revenge, and with mines, he also made some ships into fireboats, out of the usual caution of the agents.

Hong Xuanjiao simply picked up the telescope and took a closer look, the other party's ship was painted red and black, the hull was narrow and slender, the hull was large and small, a full twenty, as the distance approached, you could see the black muzzle of the bow and the Qing soldiers, the largest boat, a yellow flag fluttering in the wind!

"It's a red single boat! It's the boat of the Guangdong sailors, this surnamed Huang must be Huang Kaiguang, I didn't expect it to be him! Hong Xuanjiao exclaimed.

"What is a red single boat? Who is Huang Kaiguang? Zhou Xiuying asked.

"The Qing court has ordered that Guangdong merchants need to report to the customs when they build ships, and give red orders for inspection, so the name is red single boats, it is actually two kinds of boats, you take the telescope to see, the smaller ones are fast crab boats, there are rows of oars on both sides of the boat, the shape is like crabs, hence the name fast crab, earlier it was a pirate boat, no wind to raise oars, raise sails in the wind, if necessary, oars and sails are used, the speed is extremely fast, and often rely on the sharp artillery fire and the official ship to bombard, so that the Qing court coastal defense officials have a big headache, and then fight poison with poison, a large number of imitation fast crab boats, only to make the pirates at the mouth of the Pearl River disappear.

The larger one is the big pickpocket, which is actually an enlarged version of the fast crab boat, in addition to retaining the speed of the fast crab boat, but also increasing the advantages of being large and solid, each ship can be equipped with twenty or thirty guns, and was hired by the Guangdong Navy Division for coastal defense. ”

Hong Xuanjiao glanced at Zhou Xiuying and explained: "Xiuying girl, you are from Jiangnan, it is not surprising that you have not heard of it, but you must not despise it, the red single boat is out of Shunde Chen Village, where people often travel to and from Luzon and Siam, the speed of the ship, the elite of the artillery fire, the skillful point of hair, the combat effectiveness is much stronger than the Qing court sailors, its helmsmen, sailors are fathers and sons, and the enemy moves forward together, without the risk of prevarication, as for Huang Kaiguang, from Foshan, Guangdong, although this person is not a tooth merchant of the Thirteen Lines, but he is famous in the Thirteen Lines, specializing in overseas trade, unexpectedly, he was willing to serve the Qing court. ”

Wang Feng nodded and said: "No matter who he is, the ants still bite the elephant to death, and order the whole army to fight immediately!" ”

Ding Daquan immediately clenched his fists: "Prison army, division commander, let me come to this battle, I will make it difficult for the Qing demon to advance an inch!" ”

Chen Alin also arched his hand: "I have not made an inch of merit since I joined the Taiping Army, and I am willing to go!" ”

Wang Feng groaned slightly, and said: "Okay, be careful in everything, be anxious in a hurry, especially pay attention to the artillery on the side side, don't hit the upper side, the mines will be released when they are spotted, if possible, try to capture Huang Kaiguang alive, and if you can't catch it, you will be killed!" ”

"Please rest assured!" Ding Daquan and Chen Alin both made a promise and jumped on another boat to prepare.

After a shout and a wave of flags, one hundred and fifty small fishing boats scattered across the river, starting with a hundred fireboats that served as cover and caused chaos, and the other fifty boats, in addition to carrying mines, each with three Mini gunners, were specially designed to shoot the fighters on the Red Fan boats from a distance.

The artillery of the Qing army, the bow is the original Hongyi cannon and the Franc machine gun, the rate of fire is slow, the hit rate is low, on the bumpy water, it is luck to hit, and it is normal to miss, and its bow can only be loaded with one or two cannons, unable to form a salvo scale effect.

The side side is installed is the sub-mother gun, the improved version of the Francophone cannon, passed from the Ming Dynasty, according to the size of the hull installed twenty to forty guns, is the smallest artillery at that time, fires shotguns, has the advantages of fast rate of fire, great lethality, is the baby bump of the Qing Dynasty, in the Kangxi period, even the green battalion equipment is not allowed, only in the Yongzheng period to gradually let go, but still only allow the pass, coastal defense to important node equipment.

It's just that its range is only between 100 and 300 meters, which is not as good as the Mini gun, and in addition, if the red single boat wants to use the sub-mother cannon, it needs to find an opportunity to face the fishing boat, which will invisibly increase the cross-sectional area of the trigger mine.

Therefore, Wang Feng was not worried, and let it be commanded by Ding Daquan and Chen Alin.

After looking forward for a while, Wang Feng turned his head and asked, "Sister Xuanjiao, can you tell me about Shunde Chen Village?" ”

Hong Xuanjiao muttered: "Shunde is located at the mouth of the Pearl River, because of the low-lying terrain, there are typhoons every summer, floods are extremely severe, and have a great impact on the harvest, so from the Tang and Song dynasties, Shunde people have developed the habit of going to sea to do business, which has also led to the prosperity of the shipbuilding industry. ”

Wang Feng asked again, "How many people are there in Chen Village?" How many Ding Zhuang are there? ”

"Chen Village is called a village, and its actual size is equivalent to a small town market, and I think there are always thousands of people." As she was talking, Hong Xuanjiao frowned slightly, and asked rhetorically, "What are you asking these for?" I don't believe you are idle and bored to ask, should you have the idea of Chen Village? ”

Wang Feng nodded and said: "The red single boat is strong and compact, and the craftsmanship is excellent, it can be seen from this that the shipbuilding level of Chen Village, sooner or later we will have to build our own ships, so I want to get the villagers of Chen Village to build ships for us." ”

"How can Chen Cun serve you? It's not as simple as giving money! Zhou Xiuying immediately retorted and stared straight at Wang Feng, who looked like he was smiling but not smiling.

"Oh! I understand! Zhou Xiuying suddenly blessed her heart, and suddenly realized: "You are going to kidnap again, you are a person who is full of benevolence and morality on the surface, and democracy has become your mantra, but in fact, you are specialized in kidnapping and extortion, how many hostages do you count?" You must be trying to kidnap the families of the villagers of Chen Village and force them to serve you, right? ”

Hong Xuanjiao was startled, and hurriedly said: "You really dare to think that the villagers of Chen Village are fierce, and even the government does not dare to persecute them too much, not to mention how many people do you send to Shunde thousands of miles?" If there are too many people, your whereabouts will be exposed, and if there are fewer people, you can't do the villagers, so you should put it away as soon as possible, so as not to let the brothers die in vain! ”