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In the distance, a large black land appeared. This means that the destination of the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet is about to arrive. Vice Admiral Wei Yong, commander of the Imperial Navy's 1st Fleet, ordered the transport fleet to remain first, and then five 'Shang-class' cruisers to protect the transport fleet. The four 'Western Zhou-class' battleships and four other 'Shang-class' cruisers of the 1st Fleet first went to the coastal waters of Tianjin to destroy the Qing army's coastal fortifications.

Over the years, the Qing army has also built coastal fortifications in Tianjin. In particular, the Dagu Wharf was fortified by a continuous series of batteries and pillboxes. Tianjin is the gateway to Beijing, and once Tianjin is breached, the enemy will be able to kill directly under the city of Beijing. In order to resist the threat from the sea, the Qing army had to build as many coastal fortifications as possible.

When the Manchus and Britain were in their honeymoon period, the Manchus obtained many large-caliber coastal defense guns from the British, which made the shore fortifications of Dagu Wharf extremely strong. The Qing army built more than 10 forts at Dagu Wharf, with a total of more than 200 shore defense guns. These coastal defense guns are breech-loading guns produced by the British, with long range and great power. Moreover, almost all of them are shore defense guns with a caliber of more than 100 mm. After the shore fortifications of Dagu Wharf were completed, the Qing army once proudly claimed that with the shore fortifications of Dagu Wharf, the empire would not want to threaten the Beijing division from Tianjin.

However, even the best fortifications have to be manipulated by people. After the Manchus lost most of their territory, the Qing troops guarding these coastal fortifications were already panicking. If it weren't for the Qing army's severe punishment for deserters. Maybe most of them have already escaped. Even so, the morale of the remaining Qing troops was not high, and most of them were just messing around. They wanted to rely on these Qing troops to defend themselves against the attack of the Imperial Navy. It's absolutely impossible.

Tianjin was known as Tianjin Wei in ancient times, in the second year of Jianwen in the Ming Dynasty (1400), Zhu Di led his troops to cross the river to the south through Zhigu to seize power, and in 1403 changed to Yongle, the name Tianjin appeared in the early years of Yongle. Tianjin, as a military stronghold, was formally established in the second year of Yongle (1404), and the Tianjin Left Guard was established in the following year. In the following year, Tianjin Right Guard was added. In the ninth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1652), the three guards were integrated and merged into Tianjin Wei.

Compared with Tianjin, which Long Yufei is familiar with. At present, Tianjin has not yet developed, and is just a small city developed from the land of garrison. After the war began, the ordinary people living in Tianjin had already been evacuated. Stay in the city. Most of them are military personnel or people who have nowhere to go. After all, the powerful combat power of the Imperial Navy is known to the world. Even fools know that once the flames of war are ignited again, Tianjin will definitely be attacked. If you continue to stay here at this time, you will definitely be affected by the war, and the best way is to flee to the countryside and come back when the world is peaceful. Though. The Manchus tried their best to denigrate the empire. However, now ordinary people still know the attitude of the empire towards ordinary people. Compared to the brutal oppression and exploitation of the Manchus. The empire undoubtedly treated the common people much better. Many ordinary people are eager for the empire to defeat the Manchus as soon as possible, so that they can also live a good life.

The highest official of the Qing army in Tianjin was the governor of Zhili, Nerjing, who had held the position of governor of Zhili since 1840. He is a Manchu Qing Dynasty White Flag man, and he is also a hardcore of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he is able to reassure the Manchu court by guarding Zhili. In addition, the 50,000-strong army of Toamin, the commander of the Zhili Admiral and the commander of the 5th Infantry Corps, also sat in Tianjin. The person in charge of the Dagu Fort was Cheng Yu, whose official position was the chief soldier of Tianjin Town. These are all Manchus, and at this time, the only people that the Manchus can trust are Manchus.

On the morning of March 16, when four 'Western Zhou-class' battleships and four 'Shang-class' cruisers of the 1st Fleet of the Imperial Navy appeared in the waters off the Dagu Fort, the Qing troops on the entire Dagu Fort were in an uproar. Although the Qing army had already expected that the imperial navy would launch an attack on Tianjin after the beginning of spring, they were still very shocked when this moment really came. Especially the four 'Western Zhou-class' battleships in the lead, the tall hulls like hills are enough to make everyone tremble.

"Lord Commander, something is wrong. The rebels are coming from the sea! A herald rushed to the office of Cheng Yu, the chief soldier of Tianjin Town, and told him.

"What are you panicking about? Isn't it just those rebels who are coming? Order all the batteries to get ready, and once the rebel warships enter the firing range, give me a hard beating, and let those rebels know that our Dagu fort is not so easy to bully! Compared with the flustered heralds, Cheng Yu seemed calm and composed.

"Yes, my lord, I'll give the order at once!" The herald hurriedly said.

"Come back, immediately send someone to the city to report to the military gate, the rebels are coming, let the brothers of the 5th Army also get ready!" Cheng Yu continued.

"Yes, sir!" The herald nodded hurriedly.

"Humph! Damn rebels, if you want to subvert my Qing Dynasty, I must make you pay enough price! Cheng Yu gritted his teeth and said. As a Manchurian, of course, he hated the Chinese Empire in the south. In their opinion, if there was no Chinese Empire, the Qing Dynasty would undoubtedly be as stable as Mount Tai. Now, most of the Manchu Dynasty has been lost, and it is very likely that it will not even be able to keep the last point. But these Manchu military generals did not intend to give up, and planned to sit back and make a final struggle. Eventually, they will realize that they are just fighting again. The mantis arm will never end well when it is a car.

Afterwards, Cheng Yu put on his armor, put on his battle knife, and rushed to the fort under the protection of his personal guards. Now that the Imperial Navy has arrived, he, as the commander of the Dagu Battery, naturally has to go into battle to kill the enemy.

"Order all ships to start shelling in five minutes, destroy all the batteries of the Qing army, and clear the way for the landing of the marines and the army!" On the battleship 'Zhaowang', Vice Admiral Wei Yong, commander of the 1st Fleet of the Imperial Navy, gave the order.

"Yes, Commander!" The signal corps issued the order of Vice Admiral Wei Yong to the ships.

The four 'Western Zhou-class' battleships and the four 'Shang-class' cruisers began to move up and down to adjust the parameters of the shelling, bow, stern and side guns.

At 9:42 a.m., the cruiser Shoo, the flagship of the 1st Fleet of the Imperial Navy, fired its first salvo. Two twin 210-mm guns in the bow and stern and six 155-mm secondary guns on the side and four 105-mm secondary guns opened fire simultaneously. The orange-red flames shone in the muzzle, and 14 shells whistled towards the Dagu Battery, and the huge recoil pushed the battleship out of the sea a meter away.

Three other 'Western Zhou-class' battleships and four 'Shang-class' cruisers followed suit and began to fire fiercely at the Dagu Battery.

"Whew! Shout! "The whistling sound of a sharp cannonball piercing the air was so loud that it almost tore a person's eardrum. Dense explosions sounded on the Dagu fort of the Qing army, and a burst of flying sand and rocks were scattered, and the black smoke of gunpowder almost shrouded the Qing army's forts in it. The Qing coastal artillery, which was manipulating artillery on the battery and preparing to attack the battleships of the Imperial Navy, suffered heavy losses. Many people were torn to pieces directly in the violent explosion, and the coastal defense guns of one gate were blown up, the gun mounts were lifted off, and the barrels of the guns were twisted into twists.

At this time, Cheng Yu, a heavy soldier from Tianjin Town, had just arrived at the fort, and before he could enter it, he saw one after another forts shrouded in gunsmoke. Such a powerful firepower blow was definitely something he had never seen in his life, and he couldn't help but make Cheng Yu gasp.

"Oh my God! Is this the shelling of the warships of those rebels? How can this be resisted? Cheng Yu's originally firm confidence was shaken at this moment. The guards who followed him were even more earthy. This is simply something that human beings can't compete with, and if they were shrouded in such an explosion, they would definitely be blown into powder.

The batteries of the Qing army were all open batteries. That is, some cannons are deployed on a platform. Such a battery has almost no protective power, and in the face of heavy shelling by the Imperial Navy, the consequences can be imagined.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Those Qing army batteries, which have not been shelled for the time being, also launched a counterattack. However, the cannonballs they fired fell into the sea without even touching the edge of the Imperial Navy, splashing up columns of water that rushed to the sky.

Even though the Qing army's shore defense guns were bought from the British, they were much smaller in range and power than the naval guns used by the Imperial Navy. In addition, the Qing army's coastal defense artillery was not properly trained in peacetime, so it was impossible to bring out the power of these coastal defense artillery on the battlefield, and naturally it was impossible to threaten the warships of the imperial navy.

The fierce artillery battle continued, and although the two sides were firing fiercely, the Qing army was almost completely in a one-sided situation, and they were completely in a passive position. One artillery battery after another was destroyed by the Imperial Navy, and the Qing army's counterattack became weaker and weaker.

Under the condition of being completely passively beaten, the morale of the Qing army fell rapidly, and many people were frightened and began to flee from their posts. In less than two hours, the Dagu Fort, which was heavily built by the Manchu government, was completely destroyed. And they did little damage to the Imperial Navy. This qiē was seen by Cheng Yu, the chief soldier of Tianjin Town, and he did not enter the fort, because he knew that in the case of a huge disparity in strength, even if he went, it would be useless. (To be continued......)