Jiangnan ushers in the rainy season, and the sky often falls with a drizzle. After the military meeting, Chen Jintang inspected the captured French warships at the concession wharf. Boarding the ironclad battleship Triumph, Chen Jintang sighed: "What a behemoth, I didn't expect this French state-of-the-art battleship to become our trophy." Seinfeld said: "The battleship is being repaired in full force, and someone has been sent to inform Fuzhou, and He Tao will lead 500 people to receive the battleship at that time." ”

"Damn, the French are so generous, they actually sent us such a rich gift, if the lord knew about it, I wouldn't know how happy I was." Chen Jintang continued to say happily. Seinfeld said: "The arsenal has been notified to launch the production line of shells for French warships. "You've thought about it very well, let's go to the other warships and have a look." Later, Chen Jintang inspected two sail cruisers and two gunboats. The cruisers Philip and Goddess had a displacement of about 1,500 tons, and the two gunboats had a displacement of about 500 tons.

Zuihou Chen Jintang inspected the fortress batteries along the river, and the arsenal had already developed fortress cannon shells in advance, so all the original fortress battery shells were replaced, and the replaced shells were sent to the arsenal for reconstruction. This Sheng Huaixuan inspected the arsenal of Rose Manor with great interest, and was personally accompanied by Deng Qiang, the director of the factory. Everywhere Deng Qiang explained carefully, the layman looked at the lively insider, and Sheng Huaixuan sighed after hearing it. The arsenal of such a scale did not show any clues, and Sheng Huaixuan was strongly shocked.

The governor of Nanjing, Jiangsu, Yamen, and the commander of the Yangtze River Naval Division of the Huai Army, Huang Yisheng, rushed to Nanjing from Anqing to meet Ding Richang. Huang Yisheng is five big and three thick, and his body is very tough. The new master of the Yangtze River is very conceited, and this gentleman is deeply respected by the imperial court, and it can be said that Ding Richang has to respect him for three points. Huang Yisheng listened to Ding Richang's report: "The little thief actually captured Shanghai City, he deceived me that there was no one in the Qing Dynasty, and I will raise troops and horses to kill Xiangshang Haicheng." ”

"Lord Huang, this rebel army should not be underestimated, they are a standard foreign gun team." Ding Richang was cautious. At this time, a young Huaijun general said: "Lord Peng, the military situation is unknown now, it is better to be careful." Huang Yisheng saw that he was a general and asked, "Who are you?" "My lord, down is the head of the Shuzi camp, Nie Shicheng. The subordinates sent people to Shanghai to investigate, and the other party has tens of thousands of horses to be underestimated! "Humph! Greedy for life and afraid of death, Hugh's agitation, I personally led the sailors to Shanghai to see who the rebels were! ”

Two days later, Huang Yisheng gathered 3,000 sailors and horses to kill Xiangshang Haicheng along the Yangtze River waterway. Due to the vigorous development of industry in the Qing Dynasty, many warships of the Yangtze River Naval Division were equipped with small steam engines, so that a large number of oarsmen were not used when sailing against the current. The strength of the entire Yangtze River Naval Division was 12,000 men, and it was not easy to assemble the Yangtze River Naval Division because it was distributed along the Yangtze River and various lakes. It can be said that the Yangtze River Naval Division has the strongest combat effectiveness in Jiangnan, and because Jiangnan is not suitable for army operations, the Jiangnan Naval Division undertakes a relatively large mobile combat mission, and the Qing court also attaches great importance to the Jiangnan Naval Division.

The original oarsmen of the Yangtze River Naval Division were large in number according to the size of the warships. Especially in mobile combat on the surface, a warship oarsman is indispensable. Half of the fast warships required about 30 oarsmen. With the spread of small steam engines, propellers were generally installed on larger warships, so oarsmen were eliminated. But the small ships still retained oarsmen. Usually large ships and small boats are equipped with separate artillery.

In addition to the front and rear of the ship, artillery is also installed on both sides. Small boats are highly maneuverable, and usually have only one front gun. The artillery of the Yangtze River Naval Division is all old-fashioned artillery, and since the strangulation of the Taiping Army, the artillery has basically not been updated. Admiral Huang Yisheng led 3,000 soldiers, drove more than 200 warships, and nearly 500 artillery pieces to kill Xiangshang Haicheng along the Yangtze River. It should be said that Huang Yisheng took over as the Yangtze River Naval Division for less than a year, and this guy's meritorious service is not a problem.

There was no war for a long time, and the role of the Yangtze River Naval Division gradually faded. At the beginning, the Hunan army and naval division, which had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses and thousands of warships, evolved into a Changjiang naval division, and the scale gradually became smaller. At present, the Yangtze River waterway from Wuhan to Shanghai, plus the water division troops along the rivers and lakes, has a total of 12,000 troops, and the number of troops along the way is not much. At that time, the Huai Army's naval division was strong in combat, and the soldiers stood on the ship during the battle, and stood still in the face of artillery fire. If a soldier is greedy for life and afraid of death, and hides everywhere, it is considered a great shame. However, more than ten years have passed, and let us wait and see what the combat effectiveness of the Yangtze River Water Division, which inherited the Huai Army Water Division, will be.

On the south bank of the Yangtze River, there is a place called Liuhe, opposite Chongming Island. The black barrels of the guns were visible in the grass, and a group of soldiers sat around the guns, resting leisurely. Here is the first battalion of the artillery regiment, where it serves as a guard. Their task is to guard against attacks from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and there are fortress cannons from the lower reaches of the Liuhe River to the mouth of the Yangtze River, and the Liuhe River is the junction of Shanghai and Suzhou, and there are no fortress cannons here, so the first battalion of the artillery regiment is here to guard.

The 1st Battalion of the Artillery Regiment had 10 cannons and the number of officers and men was about 300 people. About 5 kilometers from the rear of the 1st Artillery Battalion, there was a battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment to defend the line in depth along the river. It was drizzling again, and the soldiers quickly got into their tents to take shelter. At this time, it was about 9 o'clock in the morning, because the Qing army began to blockade, there were basically no boats on the river, and occasionally boats appeared all small sampans of fishermen along the river.

Suddenly, a lookout post at a high point on the riverbank issued a signal, and the commander of the 1st Artillery Battalion led two of his subordinates to hurry to the high point. "What's going on?" "Report to the battalion commander and find a large number of warships!" After listening to the sentry's report, the battalion commander hurriedly picked up the binoculars and observed. Sure enough, it was found that a large number of ships appeared on the foggy river, and the masts on the ships were lined up, and the flags were densely covered and went down smoothly. The battalion commander said: "It's the Yangtze River Naval Division, immediately report to the headquarters, and the artillery is ready for battle." ”

As the battle order was given, the 10 guns quickly removed their camouflage, the soldiers skillfully shook the muzzles, the loader quickly pushed the shell into the chamber, and the aimer began to lock on to the target. Soon a large number of warships appeared on the river and entered the area covered by artillery fire, and the battalion commander decisively ordered the artillery to be fired. With a deafening roar, 10 guns were ejected and roared towards the warship. A column of water rises from the surface of the river. A large ship was shot, the mast and sail of the battleship were blown down in the explosion, the big ship lost control and went down the river, a straight ship was hit, the hull was instantly blown apart, and the guns and soldiers on the ship instantly hid in the belly of the fish.

Before the Qing army's naval division could react, the second round of shelling roared. The second is to attack the Qing army, two more large ships lost control and went down the river, and three straight boats were hit. Only then did the Qing army's sailors react and quickly retreated. And the three large ships that lost control went down the river and suddenly became a live target for the artillery. The third round of firing 10 guns was all aimed at the three large ships, and in the roar of one large ship hit two shells, then rolled over and sank, and the fourth round of shelling the other two large ships were shot one after another, and they saw that they were sinking and disappeared.

The large ships of the Qing army's naval division were only about 200 tons, and the 60-mm infantry guns could not be lethal to large warships. At this time, on the river, the big wooden boat struggled out of the water and showed its head, and floated away with its bottom facing the sky. The river is littered with all kinds of debris and broken wood. Many Qing soldiers struggled in the water, and some Qing soldiers swam to the shore.

After Admiral Huang Yi ascended to the palace, he was startled by the sudden sound of shelling. He knew that there were no fortress cannons in this section of Liuhe, and suddenly there was a sound of shelling, which made him a little confused. Although the number of artillery fire was small, but seeing the battleship in front of him being blown up in a mess, he judged that it was a Western cannon, and it was a terrifying flowering shell. Seeing this, Huang Yisheng immediately ordered all the warships to retreat. The drowning retreat caused chaos in the entire fleet, and 5 straight ships were blown up in front of this kung fu.

Tossed for an hour. Huang Yisheng ordered the warship to anchor in the diving area on the south bank, and then ordered the warship to open fire in front of the gun, and a burst of gunsmoke filled the cannon roar, and Huang Yisheng saw in the telescope that the range of his own artillery shells did not work at all, and the impact point was at least 200 meters away from the enemy's artillery position. Huang Yi was about to vomit blood and ordered several large ships to swim forward. However, about 150 meters ahead, the enemy's artillery fire began to bombard again, and the accuracy of the shelling was extremely high, and a large ship was hit and lost control and drifted away.

There was no way, Huang Yisheng had no choice but to order the big ship to withdraw. Looking at the artillery position on the riverbank in front of him, Huang Yi was full of smoke. This guy thought that there were not many artillery in the artillery position on the riverbank, so he immediately ordered the straight boat to quickly rush forward, enter the Liuhe River and then go ashore, and destroy the artillery position. The order was issued to more than 30 straight board ships to launch an attack, and sure enough, there was a clear effect. Five straight boats were hit and blown up, and the other straight boats relied on the strong power of the boat to move downstream, and soon entered the mouth of the Liuhe River, and also entered the dead end of the artillery.

However, the Qing army thought that the straight plate boat entered the mouth of the Liuhe River, and the successive blows caused the Qing army's straight plate boat to be annihilated. Just after the shelling began, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment, located 5 kilometers behind, immediately rushed to the riverside after hearing the news, and happened to see the Qing Army's naval division attacking with straight boats. The whole battalion immediately moved to the east bank of the Liuhe River to fortify.

The Qing army's sailors drove a straight boat into the Liuhe River without waiting for docking, and suddenly a dense grenade was thrown from the grass. The Qing soldiers on the ship were almost dumbfounded, not knowing what it was. With the sound of violent explosions, the straight ship of the Qing army was suddenly shrouded in smoke. Before the smoke of the grenades had cleared, a dense burst of gunfire rang out. Although the Qing sailors had guns in their hands, they hardly even had a chance to return fire.

Faced with such an enemy, the soldiers jumped up and threw themselves into the river. The soldiers of the Qing Army's sailors were frightened and jumped into the river, and the soldiers stood by the river almost like shooting targets, and this one-sided slaughter of the soldiers could hardly bear it. The battalion commander ordered the shooting to stop, and then shouted to order the Qing troops in the river and on the boat to surrender and surrender their guns. The battle ended in less than half an hour, and at least 300 Qing soldiers became prisoners. In the process of cleaning the battlefield, it was found that a large number of warships of the Qing army upstream had anchored on the shore, and the battalion commander thought that the opportunity could not be lost, so he ordered a platoon to be left to clean the battlefield and guard the prisoners. Then he led the whole battalion to cross the Liuhe River and traveled in a roundabout way.

On the flagship of the Yangtze River Naval Division, Huang Yisheng was overjoyed to see the straight boat facing the artillery fire and quickly entering the Liuhe River. He knew that when he entered the Liuhe River, he would enter the dead end of the enemy's artillery fire, and sure enough, the enemy's artillery fire stopped shelling. There was a brief silence, and suddenly there was a dense and violent explosion, and a large cloud of smoke rose in the direction of Liuhekou. "My lord! The brethren have opened fire," one of his subordinates shouted in surprise. But Huang Yisheng felt wrong, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong for a while.

Then there was a burst of gunfire, "My lord! The brethren have come ashore! "My lord! We should attack now! The subordinates clamored and asked for an attack. Huang Yisheng took the binoculars and observed, because the confluence of the Liuhe River and the Yangtze River formed a T-shape, the situation on the battlefield could not be seen clearly, and said: "Let the warships prepare, and if you find a signal, attack immediately.!" "Half an hour passed, and the gunfire became sporadic and stopped, but there was no movement in the direction of the enemy's artillery positions.

Whether to attack or wait, Huang Yisheng ran out of ideas. After an hour of hesitation, there was still no movement ahead. Seeing that the Admiral's face was blue, his subordinates didn't dare to squeak. After another half an hour, the military advisor boldly said: "My lord, I think the situation is not good, and the brothers who go up may ······." Before the military advisor finished speaking, a dense figure suddenly appeared in the grass on the riverbank, and then a dense rain of bullets swept in.

There was a strict requirement for the Yangtze River Naval Division, that is, all officers and men should stand upright on the boat. This undoubtedly provides the conditions for the sneak attacker to shoot accurately. The flagship has the largest and highest tonnage, which naturally forms an eye-catching target. When the gunshots rang out, Huang Yisheng and the generals naturally became the targets. Huang Yisheng was shot in the right arm and was protected by his subordinates, and the military advisor was shot in the brain and fell to the ground, and the white and red ones flowed out.

Several subordinates stepped forward to protect Huang Yisheng and quickly helped him into the cabin. Even during the support, two guards were shot in the chest and fell to the ground. A sudden blow caused the entire fleet to be in disarray. The small boat quickly fled, and the large ship began to anchor. Some of the boats did not anchor, and the soldiers were frightened to lie on the boats to hide, some boats fled to the center of the river, and many soldiers could not bear the fierce fire and jumped into the river. The flagship was the first to flee, and the entire fleet of sailors was in disarray······.

Although the scale of the battle was small, his shock effect was quite large. So far, the Yangtze River Naval Division has never participated in the battle again and completely withdrew from the war stage.