Luo Wenhu boarded the flagship of the 1st Special Task Force of the Jinghai Division with Chen Enze, the governor of Jeju and the staff officer of the Haidong Xingying Army, and the newly built battleship faintly smelled of tung oil.

After the Battle of Jingxiang, it took nearly two and a half years to officially unveil the prelude to the Northern Expedition, and Luo Wenhu was also curious about what a new warship that could cost as much as a brigade-level warship formation would look like.

Although in late January, when Luo Wenhu went to Haizhou for rotational training, he saw the appearance of the Fuhuo crossbow and the training of new-style warships, but the Lin Zhengjun-class battleship had not yet stopped in the dry dock of the Chongzhou shipyard. Boarding the ship at this time, Luo Wenhu still felt the majesty of the third-class battleship.

The five sets of masts towered into the sky, the sails lowered, and the masts cast of fine iron exuded a cold metallic sheen of lead. Although there is no overall armoring, the weak structure and the places that are easy to penetrate are covered with armor, and for new warships, the deck leakage prevention is more important than fire prevention. The muzzles of the guns were covered with guards full of copper nails, and the fenders were nearly three feet above the water.

If you want to compare the stern compartment of the old Lin Zhengjun-class warship as high as seven or eight zhang high, the new ship is not high, but the overall size is unusually majestic, after all, in addition to hundreds of light and heavy guns, it must accommodate a full number of up to 600 soldiers.

Huaidong developed navigation in the early years, and built many sea ships with different standards and shapes, and began to standardize production in recent years. The warships were graded by net weight, with the net weight of the old Lin Zhengjun-class warships reaching 1,000 tons, while the new-style Lin Zhengjun-class warships were comparable in width and length, and the net weight was fully doubled to 2,000 tons.

However, even so, the Lin Zhengjun-class battleship is still only designated as a third-class main battleship for Lin Xuan.

Boarding the deck and looking at the huge battleship that served as the flagship of the First Task Force, Luo Wenhu really didn't know, what kind of shocking thing should it be when the Harbour Master Department built the second-class and first-class main warships?

Yang Shi saw Chen Enze and others boarding the ship and invited them into the command cabin.

The portholes of the command cabin are all equipped with glass baffles, but the glass is fragile, the portholes look small and thick, and the view is not wide, but it is much better than the traditional viewing window that can only be seen after opening the deck.

Before Chen Enze and Luo Wenhu, the Haidong Battalion Army sent a large number of generals and pilots to temporarily incorporate the First Task Force, and Chen Enze and Luo Wenhu came over to officially represent the Haidong Battalion Army to cooperate with the First Task Force to attack the Goryeo Naval Division stationed in Shaocheng.

In the command room, Yang Shi personally introduced the pre-war military situation to Chen Enze, Luo Wenhu and others: "The Goryeo army on Hejin Island has raised a warning gun, and in another half an hour, when the tide rises, in the first battle, if the capital ships do not enter, we will send half of the frigates and the left wing escort fleet to kill the sea area between Hejin Island and Shaocheng from the south flank; The capital ships will cooperate with the 1st Brigade of the Denghai Town Division to land on the southwest flank of Hejin Island and establish a beachhead. There was an interval of six hours from high tide to low tide, and the frigates and the left flank convoy had to retreat south between dark. If conditions permit, the 1st Brigade of the Denghai Town Division can pass through Hejin Island to the east flank before dark tomorrow, and after tomorrow, the second attack on Shaocheng will begin, and the fourth-class capital ships can cooperate to enter the sea area between Hejin Island and Shaocheng, bombard the southwest city of Shaocheng, and wait for the main force of the Haidongxing Battalion to come over......"

In the early days, the Goryeo warships were weak and the number was insufficient, especially after the defeat of Seogwipo, the naval division was almost completely destroyed, but after nearly ten years of recovery and accumulation, the Goryeo naval division also had more than 12,000 people and nearly 600 large and small warships; There are also as many as eight large naval warships that can be compared with the old Jinhai-class warships in Huaidong.

Although the Goryeo Naval Division has not left the coastal range for all these years, and has fought a decisive battle with the Huaidong Naval Division in a more open sea area, its strength should not be underestimated. In particular, there are generals like Urging Quanchen, who have repeatedly asked the Haidong camp army to suffer losses in his hands.

Although the Huaidong Army decided to use the Beiyan Lock Coastal Defense Line as the breakthrough point of the Northern Expedition, in order to tear apart the Lock Coastal Defense Line, it must first solve the threat of the Goryeo Naval Division on the southeast flank. Therefore, Lin Jian set the attack on Shaocheng and the Goryeo Navy Division as the first battle of the Northern Expedition.

In order to prevent the enemy generals in Shaocheng, such as Ye Ji Baishi and Urging Quanchen, from alerting in advance, Lin Jian directly ordered Yang Shi to lead the newly formed special task force to attack across the sea to open the prelude to the attack and killing battle in Shaocheng, and the Haidong Battalion Army in Asan will delay the general mobilization, and even delay until the day before yesterday to officially inform the Haiyang Army and the Zhen Clan - the main force of the Haidong Battalion will come to Shaocheng by sea to participate in the battle, and it will be two days later at the earliest.

From the command module, you can clearly see the situation on Kazu Island through a telescope.

Hejin Island is the second largest island in Goryeo, covering the entire interior of Shaocheng, and in the early years, only 3,500 fishermen and farmers lived.

After the outbreak of the Goryeo Civil War, the Goryeo royal army increasingly felt the threat from the sea, Shaocheng was the western gateway of the national capital Hanyang, and Hejin Island was the western gateway of Shaocheng. By the time Yeji Baishi settled in Shaocheng, the garrison on Hejin Island had increased to 3,000 people.

From the map, you can see that Kazu Island is placed in the shape of an eggplant placed in the east and west, and the east wing of the island is across the sea from Shaocheng, forming a long and narrow strait. On the eastern flank of the strait, on the north side of the county seat of Shaocheng, there is a trench that sinks into the land, where the main camp of the Goryeo naval division is stationed.

In addition to Hejin Island, there are nearly 100 large and small islands and reefs in the Hejin sea area, and the tide rises and falls in the offshore waters, bringing silt and sand, making the water level in this sea area quite shallow, and the water situation is particularly complicated.

In order to find out the water situation in this sea area, the Haidong camp lost several warships before and after, and nearly 200 soldiers died in this sea area, which can be said to be a great price. It's not during the high tide, not to mention the main battleships of the Jinhai-class and Lin Zhengjun-class, even if the 200-ton frigate enters, you have to be extra careful.

Yang Shi moored the fleet on the northwest flank of Hejin Island, located in the sea area between Hejin Island and Changfu Island, and the flagship was directly anchored on Baisha Island in the outer waters of Hejin Island. At this time, more than 100 workers and soldiers had landed on Baisha Island, and set up a pre-war command post on this small island that was more than three miles long and less than one mile long.

In addition to one Jinhai-class battleship and a right-wing escort flotilla guarding the flagship on both flanks of Baishayu, two Jinhai-class warships and six frigates have covered several pot-bellied troop carriers entering the waters on the southwest flank of the Hejin Sea.

Although the enemy army has 3,000 defense troops on Hejin Island, Hejin Sea itself is a large island with a circumference of nearly 150 miles, and the main city is built on Assuka Mountain across the sea from Shaocheng in the northwest corner, and there is only one beacon post in the southwest corner.

There were no more than 100 garrisons at the beacon outpost; The enemy discovered the alarm an hour earlier, and more than 1,000 soldiers and horses who rushed from Feidao Mountain to the beach outpost fort on the southwest flank for reinforcement were still running wildly on the road, and there was still a distance of 20 miles from the southwest outpost.

In the face of four landing ships and seven or eight hundred elite infantry soldiers rushing to land on the southwest flank under the cover of two wing frigates, more than 100 armored soldiers dared to honestly stay in the sentry fort and wait for reinforcements......

Along with the 1st Task Force across the sea was the 1st Brigade of the Denghai Town Division Li Baidao's headquarters, the enemy did not dare to go out of the sentry fort, and they landed in front of the enemy faster; Chen Enze and Luo Wenhu could see the soldiers of the Denghai Town Division rushing directly to the beachhead with waist-high seawater and black artillery from the looking glass.

The weight of the four-pound cannon is less than 400 catties, and even the cannon rack is only more than 600 catties. The seven or eight hundred men who landed at the end quickly set up a beachhead in the southwest corner of Kazu Island and prepared to meet the enemy's reinforcements in order to cover the rear flank of troops and horses to continue the landing. Although the enemy's coastal outpost fort was within the range of the 12-pound naval guns, in order not to scare away more than 1,000 enemy reinforcements, the two Jinhai-class warships remained silent for the time being, and only paid close attention to the development of the situation on the beachhead.

In the waters further south, six frigates were mixed with the left flank convoy and were trying to enter the Kazu Strait from the waters south of Kazu Island.

There are no main battleships, the six frigates only have 72 barrels and 8 catties of naval guns, and the eight warships of the left flank escort fleet are all old, and there are no guns on the side side, so they are equipped with a number of 8 catties and 4 catties of naval guns in front and behind the top deck, and the long-range attack capability is weaker than that of the frigates, but it mainly focuses on near-side engagement.

In the Shaocheng Water Village on the inner side of the Hejin Strait, there are nearly 6,000 Goryeo naval troops stationed there, and more than 300 large and small warships, including as many as six or seven Jinhai-class warships; Luo Wenhu is worried that there will be fewer warships going deep into the Hejin Strait?

However, there is no way, the old Jinhai-class warships can sail in, but even if the new warships are the same in width and length, due to the different internal structures, the net weight is usually nearly doubled, and the draft is deeper.

A deeper draft means that you can move in shallow waters with less range and greater restrictions, and if you are not careful, you may be shallower. Without further understanding the situation, it would be a bit risky to send in the main battleship costing hundreds of thousands of silver dollars.

Luo Wenhu thought about it again and again, the narrow waters of the Hejin Strait are actually not conducive to the development of the Goryeo Naval Division. If the Goryeo sailors moved a little slower and blocked the naval guns in the trench, the suspense of this battle would be even less - Luo Wenhu regretted that he and Chen Enze were a little slower, otherwise they could follow over and see for themselves what it would be like for the first time the fire crossbow would be used in actual combat.

Rather, frigates and the old Jinhai-class warships are both galleys and sails, and in complex waters, they are obviously much more flexible than pure sail warships.

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The Goryeo royal army took Shaocheng as the western gateway of Hanyang, the national capital, and focused on guarding against the enemy from the sea, and established a complete set of enemy Taiwanese and outpost forts along the coast. After Ye Ji Baishi settled in Shaocheng, he dug a deep trench more than 100 miles long along the coast on the west side of Shaocheng.

Hearing that a large number of enemy ships were attacking from the sea area on the west flank, Ye Ji Baishi and a group of generals such as Urging Quanchen quickly rushed to the enemy platform of Bailing Mountain in the northwest corner of Shaocheng.

Bailing Mountain and Hejin Island Feidao Mountain face each other across the sea, on the north side of Bailing Mountain is a narrow mouth ditch that recess deep into the land, and the Goryeo sailor paddles the water on the inner side of the ditch as the main village; Bailing Mountain, which has the heavy responsibility of locking, is particularly important.

The enemy platform on Baekryeong Mountain is divided into three layers from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, and it is one of the most complete mountain fortress defense systems established by the Goryeo royal army on the periphery of the national capital; Facing the steep cliff on the north side of the trench mouth, there is a three-story large crossbow platform built from the bottom to the top, but unfortunately it is not a fort.

Ye Ji Baishi and Urging Quanchen rushed to Bailing Mountain and saw fourteen Huaidong Army warships approaching the Hejin Strait from the south side.

Seeing this situation, Ye Ji Baishi and the Urging Ministers were all puzzled: although there were still enemy ships stationed in the outer waters of the message, there were only fourteen enemy ships approaching in the Hejin Strait, of which there were only two Jinhai-class warships, and the others were Jiyun-class or smaller warships--did the Huaidong general who led the troops take the wrong medicine and sent these fourteen ships in as targets to fight them?

It is also said that the warning was a little late, and at this time, the main generals of the navy were watching the flame-spraying crossbow drills in the school field, and they urgently rushed to the water village to lead the troops to fight, which also wasted some time.

At this time, their own warships only went out of the village to the northeast side of Bailing Mountain, located on the inner side of the trench, and had not yet had time to enter the Hejin Strait to set up the battlefield, but what made the ministers puzzled was that they only had seven Jinhai-class warships in Shaocheng, and nearly 300 other warships of all sizes, even if the fourteen enemy ships that came over were all iron-bone ships, and the ant colonies were swarming, even if they bitten, they could bite the elephant to death!

"If an enemy ship has a flame-spraying crossbow, it may not be afraid to engage ...... broadside," a veteran reminded.

The minister shook his head, and the warships engaged, first the bed crossbow, the scorpion crossbow, and the near side were bow crossbows and throwing spears, at a distance of twenty or thirty paces, the flame-spraying crossbow only had a chance to fire once, and it could not change the absolute difference in numbers; Unless the flame-spraying crossbow made by Huaidong is much better than that of Northern Yan.

Thinking of this, he urged the ministers to recruit his henchmen and ordered: "You go down the mountain quickly, go to see Jin Chengzong, and ask him to be careful that the enemy ships are equipped with more sophisticated flame-spraying crossbows, and don't worry that the many people on the ship have fallen into the enemy's tricks......" and said to Ye Ji Baishi, "More enemy ships are parked outside Hejin Island, it is possible to storm Hejin Island, and the commander must be ready to send troops to reinforce Hejin Island." ”