The Yangtze River rolls from west to east, and when it flows through Yizheng, it is divided into two parts, and when it reaches Dantu Jinshan, it is combined into two parts, and then it is known as the Xinjiangkou and the Oldjiangkou.

Since Li Weiguo led the main force of the Shanghai Navy and Army Army into Zhejiang to wipe out the Taiping Army Wei Changhui's troops, the army first set out to attack Tianjing. However, the Navy's East China Sea Fleet had no combat mission at the beginning, so it returned to Hangzhou, left the canal and entered Hangzhou Bay, and then went to the East China Sea for daily practice.

Later, after discussing with his aides such as Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan, they decided to let the East China Sea Fleet participate in the war, attack Tianjing together, and force Shi Dakai to return. So they ordered the East China Sea Fleet, which was in the East China Sea to train, return to Shanghai, and then carry out supplies and then head towards Tianjing along the Yangtze River.

Since the East China Sea Fleet only has two steam warships seized from the US Asian fleet, and the others are sail warships, the speed of going upstream after entering the Yangtze River was not fast. When Li Weiguo completed his strategic mission and had withdrawn from Yuhuatai, the East China Sea Fleet had just arrived at Yanziji. After receiving Li Weiguo's order, the East China Sea Fleet no longer had to attack Tianjing, but returned to support the Dantu battlefield. After all, Shi Dakai left 10,000 elite troops in the Dantu, posing a threat to the Dantu.

When they arrived, the East China Sea Fleet was walking in the Jiujiangkou at night. That night, the main force of Shi Dakai's 30,000 naval forces were stationed in Jinshan on the south side of Xinjiangkou, and the two sides did not meet.

When the East China Sea Fleet was ordered to return from Yanziji, it happened to meet the Taiping Navy who followed Shi Dakai's main force back to Tianjing.

At this time, Shi Dakai had just experienced a crushing defeat in Liyu Mountain, and more than 30,000 Taiping Army was killed, of which more than 23,000 were real elite Taiping Army, while the others were soldiers pretending to be civilians. If Zhang Xiaoliu had not led his army to rush to rescue Li Weiguo, I am afraid that the Taiping Army in Shi Dakai's hands would have suffered even more heavy losses or even annihilated the entire army.

During the Taiping Army's Eastern Expedition, there were 100,000 elite soldiers and 50,000 or 60,000 civilians. At this time, nearly half of the 100,000 elite soldiers had been lost. In addition to Li Xiucheng, there were 16,000 cavalrymen and Wei Jun's 10,000 infantrymen. Only 30,000 elite navy soldiers were left.

Shi Dakai felt extremely frustrated after experiencing such a great defeat. He was already very angry and fell ill in bed. He was transferred to the navy warship by his subordinates to cultivate, saving him from land bumps.

However, no one expected that Shi Da would encounter Li Weiguo's main force in the East China Sea Fleet on the river.

Half of the main ships of the East China Sea Fleet were dispatched this time, including two first-class sailing battleships (3200 tons), six second-class battleships (2500 tons). Four third-class battleships (1800 tons), ten fourth-class battleships (1200 tons), forty frigates (800 tons), two steam paddle-wheel frigates (although there are 2500 tons, there are only 9 artillery pieces, and they were assigned to Li Weiguo as a frigate to protect battleships), and more than 100 Zhejiang Navy Red Single Ship (12~30 cannons, British ships imitated by the Qing army after the Opium War). They are huge in scale and great momentum.

Although the Taiping Navy had more than 600 warships, unfortunately the largest warship was just a shuttle ship built in Fujian, with a tonnage of only a few hundred tons. It was not as good as half of the smallest frigate of the Shanghai Army (800 tons), equipped with 8 to 20 artillery pieces, which was also not as good as the Shanghai Army's red single ship (12 to 30 artillery pieces). At the same time, the Taiping Army's artillery pieces were all self-made general artillery. They had a short range, were small in power, and were easy to explode. They were also not as good as the British artillery used by the Shanghai Army, with a long range, high power and stable performance.

When the fleets of both sides met on the Yangtze River, the soldiers on the Taiping Navy warship were immediately shocked by the huge size of the East China Sea Fleet.

"There is such a huge warship?"

"Look at the other side there are warships with chimneys and big water wheels!"

Most of the Taiping Navy came from the mainland and had never seen Western warships, so they all sighed.

Compared with the awesomeness of the Shanghai Army's warships, the Taiping Army's naval warships are really weak, and there is no one that can be compared in terms of size or firepower.

"What are you doing when you stand stupidly?"

"Do you want to die?"

"Don't you hurry up and prepare for the battle!"

Shi Dakai heard the uproar outside and felt something was wrong. He rushed out and saw that it was the Shanghai Navy. He hurriedly scolded the officers and soldiers and ordered them to prepare for battle.

At the same time, on the Dingyuan, the flagship of the East China Sea Fleet, the fleet commander Lin Jiyun, the chief of staff of the fleet, Li Weijun, and the fleet adviser James Carter were also urgently deploying troops. Under the orders and supervision of the officers and British instructors, the sailors of each ship entered their respective combat posts, took their place, loaded shells, and prepared for combat.

As the commander of the fleet, Lin Jiyun immediately ordered: "Order each ship to form a Yanxing formation, take the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan as the leader to rush together."

The only two first-class battleships of the East China Sea Fleet were named Dingyuan and Zhenyuan respectively. This was specially made by Li Weiguo. It was a kind of nostalgia, an inspiration and spur. It always warned Li Weiguo not to forget the national humiliation and not to follow the old path of the Beiyang Navy back then.

Lin Jiyun was appointed as the commander of the fleet by Li Weiguo. First, Lin Jiyun's real name was Lin Yun. He was born in the Fujian Navy and was one of the few outstanding Chinese naval generals. In the battle of Ludao, Xiamen, the Fujian Navy was severely injured by the British fleet. The Qing court was furious and dismissed all generals, especially Lin Yun, who was Lin Zexu's nephew and was implicated and would never be used.

Only Li Weiguo knew that Fujian was the birthplace of the modern Chinese navy, the cradle of the navy, and many famous generals emerged. Therefore, after establishing the East China Sea Fleet, he recruited young navy soldiers from the southeast coastal areas, especially Fujian and Guangdong. Lin Yun loved the sea deeply and was unwilling to stay at home. He wanted to make a career. So he joined the East China Sea Fleet with his pseudonym Lin Jiyun. He quickly became a leader from hundreds of naval officers to the fleet commander.

Of course, Lin Jiyun's identity cannot be hidden from Li Weiguo. The agents of SHIELD of China are most concerned about the details of the Shanghai Army officers. Whether it is the superior commander or the grassroots commander, the agents of SHIELD of SHIELD will find out their background, with their 18th generation of ancestors to ensure that the Shanghai army will not infiltrate enemy spies.

Li Weiguo talked to Lin Jiyun alone for ten hours, and no one knew what they had talked about. After this conversation, Lin Jiyun was promoted from the Navy to commander of the East China Sea Fleet, and no one mentioned Lin Yun's previous identity.

However, the position of Chief of Staff of the East China Sea Fleet was Li Weijun, a member of Li Weiguo's family. Li Weijun was also a special agent of the China S.H.E.D. He usually does not interfere with the military tasks of the East China Sea Fleet, and only carries the ideological and political aspects of the officers and soldiers of the East China Sea Fleet, because Li Weijun's employment standards completely inherit Li Weiguo's ideas, that is, the employment standards are always loyalty and loyalty. If there are people among the naval officers and soldiers who do not support Li Weiguo, no matter what position he is, Li Weijun will directly drive this person out of the military camp and never use it.

It is precisely because Li Weijun performed well in this regard that he deservedly appointed as the chief of staff of the East China Sea Fleet by Li Weiguo to ensure that the East China Sea Fleet will always be surnamed Li. He only obeyed Li Weiguo's command.

As for the British adviser James Carter, his power was very great, which was a privilege given to him by Li Weiguo. Because when the East China Sea Fleet was first established, they used British and American warships, so they had to be trained completely according to the training methods of the British Royal Navy. Li Weiguo was very firm in this regard. Although the officers and soldiers of the East China Sea Fleet were loyal to Li Weiguo, a considerable number of officers and soldiers were very xenophobic, especially many of them had fought wars with the British Navy. They had more or less blood feuds. If Li Weiguo had not given James Carter the rights, they would not be able to suppress these people at all, let alone complete the training task.

At this moment, Carter was the first to express his opinion, and he suggested: "Commander Lin, if I were you, I would put those two iron-shelled ships in front."

Lin Jiyun is also a member of the British hatred. He is very strong, but he has a clear distinction between public and private affairs, and always humbly listens to Carter's opinions in his business. Learning from other people's strengths, he asked: "Carter Consultant, soldiers are very fast. Can you give me a reason enough to convince me within one minute?"

"Of course! It won't take a minute!" Carter was very confident and pointed to the Taiping Army's warship in the distance and said, "The enemy's warship is very small. We put two iron-shelled steamships in front and directly sank their leading warships. In this way, their formation will inevitably be in chaos and our warships can be easier to fight!"

Lin Jiyun nodded. The foreigner made sense, so he immediately ordered two American iron-shelled paddle wheel frigates to take the lead.

It is called an iron-shelled frigate, but it is actually a wooden skeleton inside and a layer of iron plates wrapped on the outside. It is essentially different from the iron-clad ship that appeared more than a decade later, which was completely riveted with large iron blocks.

However, no matter how thin the iron plate is, it is iron, and no matter how thick the wood plate is, it is wood. Two huge iron-shelled steam paddle frigates of 2,500 tons were down the river, and with the steam-powered propulsion, the speed instantly soared to 28 knots.

The Taiping Army lined up more than 600 warships side by side, covering the entire river. The intention was very obvious, that was to block the Shanghai warships and then launch a close-range battle.

Dongdongdongdongdongdong!

On the front decks of two iron-shelled paddle-wheel frigates that were launching a rapid impact, two 15-distance 64-pound front main guns opened fire.

Two solid shells fell down roaringly, one fell into the river, instantly arousing several meters of water column, and the other hit a Taiping warship.

The moment the Taiping Army warship was smashed by a 64-pound shell, the two-meter-high arrow tower was smashed, and wood chips flew, and more than a dozen Taiping Army archers fell into the river. The shells continued to cast, and directly smashed through the bottom of the ship. The river water poured in, and in the blink of an eye, the small warship of more than 50 tons sank.

This immediately scared the Taiping Army. It could sink a warship with one shot. This was the first time for the invincible Taiping Army naval officers and soldiers. It was not the case when dealing with the Qing army before.

"Don't be afraid! It's just a coincidence!"

"Snap back quickly!"

Shi Dakaiqiang stood on the sick body and stood on the largest coach's warship, encouraging the soldiers while issuing combat orders.

Dongdongdongdong! Dongdongdongdongdong!

The Taiping Navy began to fight back. Although their artillery performance was behind, they could not withstand the number of them. The deterrent power of the Hengjiang volley was quite considerable.

The shells fell like raindrops, stirring up hundreds of water columns, and the river surface suddenly became boiling.

If it were the Qing army navy in Jiangbei Camp, this time the volley shot was shocked.

However, for the East China Sea Fleet, this volley exposed the weakness of the Taiping Army. After all, these Taiping Army were just farmers who had no food to eat and were forced to rebel. Without formal training, they rely on courage to fight against the decayed Qing army. This situation could not be scared by the Shanghai army that received formal training from the British Royal Navy.

The thunder was loud and the rain was small. The fire started before it even entered the range, and all the shells fell into the river, and there was no possibility of hitting the Shanghai warships.

Perhaps this is the manifestation of backward concepts. From ancient times to the present, fire-powder cannons have been the earliest invention and application in China. Unfortunately, they are all face-saving projects. Fire-powder is made into fireworks. Artillery is used for military purposes. Most of the time, it is just a cannon to hear sounds. It is used to enhance one's momentum and scare the enemy. It is rarely used directly to attack the enemy. The backward tactical thinking led to the Taiping Navy fighting with the Qing Navy. Artillery rarely plays a key role, and is more of a psychological shock. In the end, the Taiping Army and the Qing Army still use the oldest battle to win and lose a point.

But now the Taiping Navy is not facing the former Qing Navy, but the Shanghai Army's East China Sea Fleet. Whether it is thoughts or tactical actions, it is destined to undergo major changes.

The Shanghai Army has the advantage of strong ships and powerful guns, but it will not play any platoon battles with the Taiping Army. It will directly bombard the artillery to solve the problem.

After a round of artillery fire, the formation of the Taiping Navy changed. Some Taiping generals waved their swords and ordered their warships to attack the East China Sea Fleet. Typically, they were unorganized and undisciplined. This was very common in the Taiping Army.

Rumble

Rumble

Two iron shell steam warships of the Shanghai Army rushed into the Taiping Navy quickly. The design of the big collision angle at the bow made the two iron shell warships enter the flock of sheep like tigers. They smashed the Taiping Army's wooden warships to pieces.

In fact, Shi Dakai had long expected that the Shanghai army would use the large warships and the advantages of upstream downstream to collide with the Taiping Navy formation. This is an inevitable means of the Yangtze River water war from ancient times to the present, and it is not surprising.

Shi Dakai thought that although the warships of the Shanghai Army were big, they would definitely stop after the impact. As soon as they stopped, even on the tall warships, Shi Dakai was confident that his elite Taiping Army would climb up to kill the Shanghai sailors and seize the warships. He even thought of the scene in front of him that the giant warships of the Shanghai Army raised the stone-shaped battle flags.

However, the next moment, Shi Dakai's expression suddenly became petrified.

After the two iron shell warships of the Shanghai Army successively crashed into several Taiping warships, their power remained unabated and continued to charge forward, crashing and sinking Taiping warships one by one, and even continued to fire artillery while advancing to attack the surrounding warships.

"What's going on?"

Shi Da was so tired that he didn't know that steam ships could advance without the help of wind, nor did he know that steam-powered ships of more than 2,000 tons could not be stopped by a few hundred tons of wooden warships. Besides, most of the Taiping Navy warships were flat bottoms and shallow drafts. If they were hit hard by giants, they would be more likely to capsize.

Before Shi Dakai could think too much, the main fleet of the Shanghai East China Sea Fleet also came up, followed the channel opened by two iron shell warships, rushed into the Taiping Navy formation, and divided it into two.

On the huge warships, the gun doors were opened, and the pitch-black guns were pushed out one by one, and the black muzzles aimed at the Taiping Army warships on both sides.

"openire!rlet day ght! (Free fire, from left to right)"

On the flagship Dingyuan battleship, the British Royal Navy officer who served as the instructor of artillery immediately ordered. He naturally spoke English, but all the artillery soldiers on the Dingyuan understood and fired in turn from left to right. The reason for firing in turn instead of volleys at the same time is that this way can ensure that the battleship will not roll violently in an instant and affect the accuracy of the artillery.

Dongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdongdong!

More than fifty cannons on the port side of the Dingyuan opened fire in turn, with flames shining and black smoke spitting out. One shell was instantly shot at the Taiping Army warship opposite.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang b

The Taiping Army warship, which was more than 100 tons, was hit by dozens of shells at the same time. It exploded from the bow to the stern. The entire ship was instantly shattered. The hundreds of Taiping Army soldiers on it were blown to pieces without even making a shout, and the flesh and blood flew everywhere.

A cluster of fiery red mushroom clouds rose into the air, and there was no shadow of the warship below, leaving only countless blood-filled wooden boards, as well as incomplete corpses.

For the Taiping Navy, he had never experienced such a fierce water battle. In the past, he relied on hand to fight with bows and arrows and big swords, even if he set fire, it would take an hour to completely burn the ship. However, in the blink of an eye, a firepower volley from the first-class battleship of the Shanghai Army exploded the ship to pieces, and there were no survivors. This was too terrifying.

However, this was just the beginning. As the Dingyuan took the lead in firing, other ships also opened fire one after another.

In an instant, the sound of artillery continued and the sound of explosions continued. The artillery fire flew on the entire Yangtze River, and water columns soared into the sky. The battle became white-hot at this moment.

The river water was boiling and the smoke was rolling. The East China Sea Fleet directly destroyed the Taiping Navy formation, and in the blink of an eye, more than 300 Taiping Army warships were sunk.

Shi Dakai's warship was the first to be hit. Two iron shell warships attacked left and right, smashing Shi Dakai's ship into pieces, and Shi Dakai also fell into the water.

Seeing the Taiping Army warships on the river one by one by one by the Shanghai warship, the bodies of countless Taiping Army soldiers were torn to pieces by artillery shells, and they were also lit up by artillery fire and screaming and jumping into the river. All this was seen in Shi Dakai's eyes, which made his heart bleed.

Shi Dakai's Eastern Expedition was happily vowed to go out, but now he was defeated. The death of 70,000 to 80,000 Taiping soldiers made Shi Dakai feel disheartened. He closed his eyes and sank directly into the Yangtze River.

However, the deputy general beside him could not let Shi Dakai die so much, so he hurriedly pulled him up.

"Your Highness, victory or defeat is common in military affairs, why do you have to commit suicide? If Your Highness dies, then no one will take revenge on the tens of thousands of soldiers we sacrificed! I hope Your Highness will think twice!"

Someone persuaded Shi Dakai to feel better and guilt turned into revenge.
Chapter completed!