Author: Zero Romance

Zhenjiang Prefecture is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Across the river is Yangzhou Prefecture, which was occupied by Haihan just a few years ago.

According to the armistice agreement signed by the two countries in 1654, this section of the Yangtze River is actually an area jointly governed by both parties.

However, in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, Haihan did not deploy water armed forces in the Yangzhou area in the past few years, which is equivalent to handing over the governance of this water area to the Ming Dynasty.

Haihan seemed to have little interest in Zhenjiang, but Shi Diwen actually had ideas about taking over this place and was just waiting for a suitable opportunity to send troops.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, an important inland waterway that connects the north and south, is now under the control of Haihan.

Only the section of the canal from Wuxi to Changzhou Prefecture and then into the Yangtze River via Zhenjiang Prefecture was still under the control of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Zian, a descendant of King De, worked in the Special Liaison Office in Hangzhou. One of his responsibilities was to negotiate jurisdiction with the Ming Dynasty's Water Transport Yamen. Unfortunately, it involved too many relationships, and the Water Transport Yamen was naturally unwilling to sacrifice its interests to benefit Haihan. The two sides kept talking.

Not agreeable conditions.

As a result, many important goods traveling between Hangzhou and Yangzhou cannot use the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, which is a direct connection between the two places, for safety reasons. They have to go out to sea and make a long circuit before reaching their destination.

As long as Haihan captures Changzhou and Zhenjiang, the entire section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal south of Huai'an will be connected, and shipping costs in the core area of ​​the East China Sea Region will also be greatly reduced.

In this war, Yingtian Mansion and Nanjing City are only secondary targets in comparison. The primary targets that really must be captured are Changzhou and Zhenjiang.

However, Yan Chujie did not choose the relatively safe northern route, but ordered the fleet to continue moving along the south bank of the Yangtze River.

The front part accounts for about one-third of the entire ship. The bow is equipped with several large nails with barbs. The inside of the ship is equipped with various fire starters. When they get close to a certain distance, the sailors on the ship will untie the front and rear connections.

The iron hoop at the bottom of the boat was ignited, and the fire starter at the front was ignited, causing it to run straight down the river and collide with the enemy ship.

At the very back are large warships such as Haicang ship, Fu ship, Centipede ship, and Zhuang ship. They wait for the boats in front to open up the situation before rushing in to pick up the leaks.

There are many water systems in Zhenjiang, with dense river branches. There are several huge central river islands in the Yangtze River, which have fragmented the originally open river surface, and the waterways are narrower and more complex than those upstream and downstream.

"It's finally here!"

However, the Ming army's strategy was to use this little space before the two sides engaged in battle to launch offensive methods.

Therefore, both sides can predict that there will be a fierce battle in Zhenjiang, and the battlefield will most likely be on the Yangtze River, and each has made corresponding preparations.

Fighting on a river with a width of only three to four hundred feet, for the Haihan Navy, which is accustomed to the maritime environment, the space for maneuvering is undoubtedly much smaller, and it is no longer possible to adopt the standard array of sail warships and use the side ships

Maximum firepower output is aimed at the enemy's direction of travel.

Fighting in such an inland river environment, the weapons advantage of the Haihan Navy will be weakened at the beginning of the war. Only after the two armies engage in battle can the ship's side artillery fire be fully utilized.

Once they collide, the barbs on the bow of the ship will drive into the enemy ship, connecting the two together and directing the fire to the enemy ship.

These suicide squads are also mixed with some mother and daughter ships of similar size. Their combat principles are similar to those of serial ships. The difference is that the warship body, which is the mother ship, is used to ram enemy ships, while the sailors ride on detachable ones.

The sub-boat can be operated by a small boat, which can be operated by only four or five people.

Since this battle must be fought, he must try his best to complete it in one battle and take this opportunity to eliminate the effective strength of the Ming Navy.

The boat at the front also began to release smoke, trying to affect the shooting field of view of the Haihan army.

If it is necessary to block the Haihan Fleet on the Yangtze River, then this is undoubtedly a relatively more favorable battlefield for the Ming army.

A huge Jiangxin Island appeared on the river ahead, dividing the river into two. The channel near the north bank of the Yangtze River was relatively safe, because the north bank was Yangzhou, and it was difficult for the Ming army to set up an ambush near the river bank for a long time. The channel near the south bank was more complicated, and the Ming army

The Navy's two military ports are also in this direction.

Behind these suicide squads, there are a large number of fire dragon boats, red dragon boats, Cangshan boats and other small warships. The main attack methods of these ships are crossbows, fire blunderbuss, small artillery, etc. They rely on numbers to implement siege tactics.

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Sure enough, not long after the fleet sailed into Zhenjiang, several fireworks rose from the river a few miles in front of the fleet. This was a signal from the scouting boat in front, which meant that they had discovered the enemy's situation, and there were a lot of them.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty also knew this. If Changzhou and Zhenjiang were lost, there would be no buffer zone east of Nanjing. Even if the Haihan could be defeated this time and Nanjing, an important town, could be defeated by the Haihan troops at any time in the future.

When Yan Chujie saw the fireworks signal, he breathed a long sigh of relief and ordered the fleet to start fighting as planned.

As expected before the war, the Ming army deployed many warships in nearby waterways. As soon as the Haihan Fleet sailed into this section of the river, they all rushed into the Yangtze River from their hiding places and attacked the Haihan Fleet with their numerical advantage.

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Yan Chujie also knew this, so when the fleet entered the Zhenjiang River section, he ordered to slow down the speed and increase alert, waiting for the Ming army, which had the advantage of the home field, to take the initiative to attack.

At the forefront were dozens of chain boats. This light sailing boat was only about four feet long. The hull was divided into two parts, the front and rear, connected by an iron ring in the middle.

The advantage of the mother-child ship is that the hull responsible for collision is larger and can carry more ignition materials. Once it hits an enemy ship, it is more difficult to push it away.

Such tactics do have a certain effect. Although the Haihan fleet has superior firepower, its hit rate when bombarding small boats sailing fast on the river is very limited.

However, once hit, the kerosene, gunpowder and other materials on the ship will often immediately detonate, exploding a large firework on the river. If these self-destructing ships have not been broken up, the people on board will have almost no chance to escape.

Facing the small self-destructing ships rushing straight upstream, the only measures Haihan could take besides bombarding them was to let the small warships clear the way ahead.

Long wooden frames were installed on the bows of these warships in advance, and the sailors used bamboo poles to push them back, which could effectively block part of the self-destructing ships, and then throw explosive packets onto them to blow them up at a relatively safe distance.
Chapter completed!