When Lee Siu Kee first met Chen Shangchuan, he was impressed by his character, and as a literati, it is rare for him to like practice rather than empty talk. Now it seems that Chen Shangchuan's open-mindedness is also extraordinary, and it is rare for him to be able to talk to Li Zhaoji in the group of scholars.

The two accompanied each other to the north, talking all the way, and each gained knowledge, but Chen Huairen, who did not talk to Li Zhaoji, moved to a bird boat affiliated with the regiment.

In the early morning of 13 October, the Second Fleet lowered its sails, was powered by oarsmen's oars, and entered the strait.

The strait between Hong Kong Island and the mainland is deep and winding, entering from Tsim Sha Tsui and heading southeast, but after going deeper, it is necessary to turn to the northeast, and at this time, the northeasterly wind is blowing, and the spinnakers on the galleys are not enough to provide power, but tend to obscure the sight of lookouts and signal soldiers.

Of course, the current Tsim Sha Tsui refers to the western part of the Strait, not the Tsim Sha Tsui of later generations.

Six heavy galleys slowly entered the strait in a straight column, and they were met by four fast crab boats in a straight line, followed by fast crabs, long dragons, and sampans arranged in a horizontal line, all of which were designed to cover the heavy galleys to exert their firepower.

The speed of the galleys was very slow, no more than three knots, this was to save the firepower of the oarsmen, all the way deep, the strait gradually narrowed, the fleet avoided the islands and reefs in the strait, and successfully came to the first turning point, the Kowloon Peninsula, which is a peninsula where the mainland penetrates deep into the strait, and the top is later known as Tsim Sha Tsui.

As the rhythm of the drums slowed down, the speed of the fleet gradually slowed down, and the fleet slowly approached Kowloon, and the standard-bearer successfully made contact with Chen Ping's headquarters, which had already arrived on the Kowloon Peninsula.

Because the north shore of the strait has been occupied by friendly forces, Chen Liuzi deliberately took advantage of this advantage and sent the standard-bearer to the Ming military camp, using the flag during the day, and reporting the news by fire if the weather is bad or at night, especially the Kowloon Peninsula, which is arranged separately to prevent being ambushed by pirates at this turning point.

"Report to the Commander, the Kowloon Peninsula Flag: There are four long ships haunting, and there is no ambush. The channel was blocked by shipwrecks, and pirates were found laying wooden stakes in shallow waters. The communications officer informed Chen Liuzi of the information.

Chen Liuzi nodded and ordered: "Order the striker to investigate slowly and be careful underwater." ”

The western waters of the Kowloon Peninsula are the shallowest places in the strait, and the shallowest is only a little more than two feet.

The four fast crabs moved slowly, constantly measuring the depth of the water with plumb weights, and a sailor in the bow probed the bottom with a long bamboo pole, and soon discovered the barricades set up by the pirates.

Wearing water spirits to dive down, they do not rule it out, but tie long bamboo poles to sunken ships or wooden stakes to mark out obstacles.

When the fast crab boat was about to reach the top of the headland, it was immediately ordered to return to standby, and two long boats took over the exploration.

"Chief Chen, why did you change ships?" Someone asked.

"The reason is simple: this is the narrowest area between the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island, less than 400 feet apart, and the deep-water channel is on the side of Hong Kong Island.

Simply, send a small boat to take over, and the replacement of the long dragon ship is not only small, but also has a broken mast, even if it sinks, it will not hurt. Chen Liuzi said lightly.

This is enough to convince all those who doubt, but it does not mean that this is the truth, the fact is that the intelligence sent by Cheng Tingqiu shows that the pirates have set up batteries in the bay opposite the Kowloon Peninsula, and there are more than one.

In the deepest part of the bay, Shi Bi and the other four men hid in a mangrove forest, and beside them was a fort made of stones and straw bags filled with sand, and in the fort, two Hongyi cannons and three thousand catties of Franc cannons were ready to aim at the channel that went around the bay.

These cannons used to be the pirates' treasures, and they were placed on the bow of the big ships, but their big ships were all sunk by Li Zhaoji's night attack, and now they are facing the imperial court, so they salvage the cannons and put them in this bay.

It's just that at this moment, the four pirate leaders are all pale.

According to the arrangement of the gun emplacements, they placed the heavy guns in the deepest part of the bay to shell the enemy ships passing through the channel, and the gun forts were very strong. Although the pirates are not professional navies, they also know that the naval guns and the coastal defense artillery will definitely not be able to defeat the coastal defense artillery.

Therefore, if the enemy forces who come to destroy this fort must go deep into the bay and carry out a landing, and the batteries arranged on both sides of the bay can flank the enemy ships that have landed, and even if they cannot stop the enemy, they will inflict heavy losses on the enemy.

But the scene in front of them made them extremely embarrassed.

It was indeed a large ship that attacked, but it was neither the fortune ship or bird ship of the Great Ming Naval Division, nor the foreign ship of the Oriental Trading Company, but a heavy galley like a fortress, and the big ship did not go deep into the bay, but let the small boat explore the channel.

"Shibi, which side is the main attack?" The scale of the fleet in front of him made Ma Xuansheng scratch his ears and cheeks, and he asked Shibi.

Shi Bi shook his head slightly, now there are enemy ships at the east and west entrances of the bay, all of which are owned by the Oriental Trading Company, speaking of which, those three-masted gunboats are the main ships of the Eastern Trading Company, but the problem is that the fleet is anchored at the entrance and does not enter, but this galleys are slowly advancing.

The enemy divided their forces, and the pirates also divided their forces, and they placed their fleets on the east side to deal with the First Fleet to prevent it from breaking through, and arranged batteries on the west side, but the problem was how to arrange the land forces, and they did not dare to let the men of the Eastern Trading Company go ashore easily.

"No matter which side is the main attack, it won't work hard if you don't work hard. Damn, we have to give the thief a hard blow, or we'll die. Xu Guixiang said viciously.

Speaking of which, among the four leaders in the past, he was the most Buddhist and had no quarrel with the world. Because he is the leader of the Tan people, he is naturally a faction of his own, but he cannot expand. But Xu Guixiang's wife Wu Siniang was killed in Potai, which made Xu Guixiang completely changed, he took out all the money that could be gathered, and let the other three families support, organized the four families who wanted money and didn't want to die, and transformed more than 30 galleys, filled with oil, sulfur and hay, and made them into fire attack ships, ready to launch a fatal blow at any time.

"If they land and attack, this side will be the main attack, if not...... That's over there. Shi Bi said, he glanced at Zheng Tingqiu, Zheng Tingqiu didn't say anything.

Under the noses of the four leaders, the boats of the Second Fleet went back and forth on the channel, marking all the wrecks and measuring the deep-water channel. It was not until the afternoon that the Second Fleet began to move when it had rested enough and had enough to eat and drink.

This time, it was the Tamsui River that took the lead, and the other five galleries all followed, and the six ships formed a wide wedge-shaped array and went deep into the bay, especially the Tamsui River, which was the deepest and the first of the fleet.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The thirty-six guns on the Tamsui River took the lead in launching an artillery attack, and they opened fire directly with full firepower, and those who hit the shore were bombarded.

The dilapidated docks and buildings were hit one after another, and then they actually shelled the surrounding grass and mangroves, and the rest of the Callalists followed suit, and the twelve guns of their respective subordinates were fired, and the shelling was hurriedly indecisive.

Immediately, the pirate gun emplacements arranged on both sides of the bay began to return fire, and after the chaotic cannon fire, white smoke rose up, and the position was immediately exposed, and then it was attacked by shells.

"Damn, these idiots, didn't I say that you can't fire guns without my orders?" Shibi scolded endlessly.

But his subordinates are all pirates, and where to take care of this, there is no reason to just be beaten and not fight back.

With a whoosh, a shell from a nine-pounder cannon flew over the fort, shattering the branches of the tree that had covered the gun emplacement, and then striking a camphor tree, which was the size of a bowl, snapped in the middle, and smashed into the surrounding pirates, and for a moment wailed.

Ma Xuansheng shrunk his neck, and couldn't help but look at the fort, that is, he used a straw bag to fill some sand and soil and built a circle, and there were some stones piled up outside, can it block the attack of heavy artillery?

"Boss, let's shoot!" The gunner said.

"Open, open! Don't open it and keep the cubs. Ma Xuansheng scolded and said.

Immediately, someone lit the fire door, and the cannon rumbled and fired back.

On the Tamsui River, Chen Liuzi passed through the gun deck from the front battery and inspected the rear battery.

All the guns were being cooled, the chambers were cleaned by wool brushes soaked in vinegar water, the wet canvas was covered with a creaking sound, and the closed gun decks and batteries were shrouded in moisture.

The shelling had stopped, and the Galleria had withdrawn, but the Tamsui River was in place and became the target of public criticism.

Knock knock .......

From time to time, shells landed on the hull of the ship, making a thumping sound, and the nervous people looked up at the black bulkhead of the ship, and some felt a sense of palpitation.

"Damn, it feels like lying in a coffin, being stoned by a bunch of bear children." Someone muttered something in the steam-filled hull, which immediately caused everyone to burst into laughter.

"Sir, Sir, Look." Chen Liuzi, who was resting on the tail fort, heard someone shouting.

As the gun door opened, the water vapor dissipated, and a young man came to him with a wooden basin containing various cannonballs that he had picked up on the upper deck.

These shells have been smashed into crooked melons and cracked dates, all kinds, the big ones are the size of peaches, and the small ones are similar to the projectiles of the arquebus, and the types are different, those that are seriously deformed are lead bullets, and the deformation is not obvious is the iron solid shells, and there are stone shells, but they have been smashed by the fall.

This was the power of the pirate artillery, and there was nothing that could be done against the more than twelve-inch-thick oak hull of this heavy galleys.

Click!

A still obvious impact sound came, Chen Liuzi immediately ordered someone to check, and soon got the news that it was a cannonball in the foremast.

Chen Liuzi listened to the sound of the cannon outside, thinking that the enemy's artillery was also dissipating heat, he walked out and saw an apple-sized cannonball at the front of the open deck, looking at the size, it seemed to be an eight-pounder gun used by the Spaniards.

And the cannonball hit the middle of the foremast, smashing a crater and causing the mast to crack, but the diameter there was only seven or eight inches, judging by this, the heaviest guns of the pirates could not penetrate the hull of the Tamsui, their guns were too small in caliber and too far away.

"That's how the pirates' artillery fire, and the order is that the whole fleet will spare the Kowloon Peninsula, enter the strait, and camp in Kowloon Bay tonight." Chen Liuzi commanded.

Then he added: "Everyone rests in shifts, the boats are outside, watch out for enemy fire attacking ships." ”

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