1627 Rise of the South China Sea

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

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

However, in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, Haihan has not deployed 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's performance seems to have little interest in Zhenjiang, but Shi Diwen actually has an idea about taking this place, just waiting for a suitable time to send troops.

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

Only the section of the canal that runs from Wuxi to Changzhou Prefecture and flows into the Yangtze River via Zhenjiang Prefecture is still under the control of Ming Dynasty.

One of the responsibilities of the special liaison office of King De's descendant Zhu Zi'an in Hangzhou is to negotiate jurisdiction with the Water Transport Yamen of the Ming Dynasty.However, there are too many relationships involved in it, and the Water Transport Yamen is naturally unwilling to sacrifice their interests to make Haihan complete, and the two sides have been unable to agree on terms.

As a result, many important goods traveling between Hangzhou and Yangzhou cannot go through the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, which is directly connected between the two places, for safety reasons.

As long as Haihan wins Changzhou and Zhenjiang, all the sections of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal south of Huai'an will be connected, and the shipping cost in the core area of ​​the East China Sea will also be greatly reduced.

In this war, Ying Tianfu and Nanjing City are only secondary targets compared to the main targets that must be won, in fact, Changzhou and Zhenjiang.

Of course, Daming knew this too. If Changzhou and Zhenjiang were lost, there would be no buffer zone to the east of Nanjing. Even if they could beat Haihan this time and keep Nanjing, an important city, Haihan soldiers might come to the city at any time in the future.

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

There are many water systems in Zhenjiang, and the river channels are densely covered. In the Yangtze River, there are several huge Jiangxinzhou, which divides the originally open river surface, and the waterway is narrower and more complicated than that of the upstream and downstream.

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.

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

A huge Jiangxinzhou appeared on the river ahead, dividing the river in two.The waterway near the north bank of the Yangtze River is relatively safer, because the north bank is Yangzhou, and it is difficult for the Ming army to set up an ambush near the river bank for a long time.The waterway near the south bank is more complicated, and the two naval ports of the Ming Army Navy are also in this direction.

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

Since this battle had to be fought, he had to do his best to complete the battle in one battle, and take this opportunity to eliminate the vital strength of the Ming army's navy.

Sure enough, not long after the fleet sailed into the border of Zhenjiang, several fireworks went up on the river several miles ahead of the fleet. It was a signal from the scouting boat ahead, which meant that they had discovered the enemy's situation, and there were a lot of them.

"It's finally here!"

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

As expected before the war, the Ming army deployed many warships in the nearby waterways, and when the Haihan fleet sailed into this section of the river, they all entered the Yangtze River from their hiding places and attacked the Haihan fleet by virtue of their numerical superiority. .

Fighting on the river with a width of only three or four hundred feet, for the Haihan Navy, which is accustomed to the sea environment, there is undoubtedly much less room for maneuvering, and it is impossible to adopt the standard array of sailing warships. The maximum firepower output is aimed at the direction of travel of the enemy.

Fighting in this inland river environment, the Haihan Navy's weapon advantage will be weakened at the beginning of the battle. Only after the two armies engage in battle, can the gunfire on the ship's side be given full play.

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

Dozens of serial boats rushed at the forefront.This light sailboat is only about four feet long, and the hull is divided into two parts, the front and the rear, connected by an iron ring in the middle.

The front part accounts for about one-third of the entire ship. There are several large nails with barbs on the bow, and various firelighters are installed inside the ship. When they get close to a certain distance, the sailors on the ship will untie the front and rear. The iron ring on the front, ignite the firelight on the front, let it go down the current and crash into the enemy ship.

Once hit, the bow's barb spikes into the enemy ship, linking the two together and directing fire to the enemy ship.

Among these death squads, there are also some mother ships with similar hull size. The sub-boat can be operated by only four or five people.

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

Behind these death squads, there are a large number of small warships such as fire dragon boats, red dragon boats, and Cangshan boats.The main means of attack of these ships are crossbows, firecrackers and small artillery, etc., relying on numbers to display siege tactics.

At the back are the large warships such as the Haicang boat, the lucky boat, the centipede boat, and the Zhuang boat. They wait for the small boats in front to open up the situation before rushing in to pick up the leak.

The boat rushing to the front also started to release smoke at the same time, trying to influence the Haihan army's shooting vision.

Such a tactic is indeed effective to a certain extent. Although the Haihan fleet has superior firepower, the hit rate is very limited when bombarding the fast-moving boats on the river.

However, once it hits, it will often immediately detonate the kerosene, gunpowder and other materials on the ship, 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 of escape.

In the face of the small self-destructing ship rushing directly from the upper reaches, apart from bombardment, Haihan can only let the small warship open the way ahead.

The bows of these warships are equipped with long wooden frames in advance, and the sailors use bamboo poles to block them, which can effectively block some self-explosive ships, and then throw explosives on the ships to blow them up at a relatively safe distance.

Of course, such tactics may not be completely effective, and some self-destructing ships have successfully ignited the Haihan warships, but as long as they can cover the large warships behind, this exchange ratio is still within an acceptable range.