Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 352: The Brave Lioness
Jilong Mountain stands on Sheliao Island at the entrance of Keelung Port. It is named after its shape resembling a chicken cage. It is an extinct volcano. Although the surface of the mountain is green, there are almost no trees. It is only lightly covered with a layer of green grass, and the view is very wide.

In the Zhenhai Fort on the top of the mountain, Lin Hai opened the telescope and looked at the enemy fleet in the open sea through the firing window of the artillery. This is a three-story round fort, built with rammed earth, and its shape is a bit similar to the earth building in Fujian, but it is covered with bricks on the outside.

There are more than 20 shooting windows evenly distributed around each floor of Zhenhai Fort, but the windows on the two upper floors are larger because these two floors are equipped with heavy artillery that can hit the waters around Sheliao Island.

Since the production capacity of cast iron cannons in the Firearms Bureau was insufficient, the gun positions facing the inland sea were currently empty. However, the shooting windows on the first floor were not idle, as they were equipped with wrought iron Portuguese cannons, which were mainly used to shoot people.

Lin Hai watched from the shooting window on the third floor for a while, put down the telescope and said, "The enemy's main fleet has not arrived yet. It seems that they want to play a trick to lure the snake out of its hole."

Shi Bi sneered at the side: "That's a nice thought, but we won't be fooled. Come and attack us if you dare."

Miguel also waved his fist and said, "That's right. The Navy Department has made all the necessary preparations. If the Red Fleet dares to force its way into Keelung Port, we will send them to the sea to feed the fish!"

"What if the enemy launches an attack from land?" Lin Hai had not asked about Keelung's defense before. In the past two days, apart from the overall personnel arrangements, his energy was mainly focused on the defense of Tamsui. He only reported detailed military intelligence to Keelung.

Because this is the navy's base, he believes that the top leaders of the Navy Department can complete the defense deployment excellently.

Sure enough, Shi Bi laughed loudly upon hearing this: "It's wishful thinking again, Boss, take a look at the bottom of the mountain..."

Lin Hai then looked towards the beach at the bottom of the mountain, where he saw dozens of simple artillery forts, arranged in a row like battlements on a city wall, with garrison gunners and artillery in place. To protect against rain, a canopy was built behind the artillery fort to ensure that the gunpowder would not get wet.

He nodded with satisfaction, and then asked, "How many artillery batteries have been built in total, and what kind of guns have been pulled over?"

"There are 50 of them, all -jin cannons. Each cannon is equipped with solid bullets and shotgun shells, which can be used to attack ships and people..." Miguel said, "Add to that the heavy artillery of Zhenhai Fort, Sheliao Island can be said to be impregnable."

The caliber of the seven-jin cannon is not too big, but it is also not too small. It is the largest caliber forged iron cannon that the Firearms Bureau can currently produce. Previously, the 500-ton old lock ship mainly used the seven-jin cannon, but later it was gradually replaced by the ten-jin cannon cast in mud molds, so there are quite a lot of seven-jin cannons eliminated by the Navy Department.

"The same goes for Tongpan Island. There are also 30 seven-jin cannons deployed in the open sea." Shibi added that there are actually three small islands at the entrance of Keelung Port. Tongpan Island is the westernmost one among them. It is also the second largest island after Sheliao Island. The island also has commanding heights.

However, this commanding height is relatively low and cannot threaten the shipyard's slipway, but it can strike the bastion on Sheliao Island from a high position. So after the two forts on Sheliao Island were completed, the Engineering Bureau built a small round fort on the high ground on Tongpan Island last year, which Lin Hai named Peace Fort.

Since Tongpan Island was very small, it was even more difficult for the enemy to deploy their forces. With the 30 seven-pound cannons at the foot of the mountain, plus the existing firepower of Heping Fort, it was completely sufficient to defend the commanding heights on the island.

"Very good, you really didn't let me down. Don't worry about Tamsui. All we have to do now is wait for those two ships to be equipped with cannons..."

The Changping and Champion were about to be launched, and they would have to be outfitted and tested after launching. When Lin Hai got to this point, he suddenly had an idea and said with a grin, "I think we can prepare another gift for the enemy..."

Off the coast of Keelung, the enemy fleet came from the northwest and passed more than three miles outside Sheliao Island, basically avoiding the effective range of Zhenhai Fort and the artillery forts at the foot of the mountain. The Lioness fired a few shots from a distance, but was met with silence. Until the entire fleet passed the Bashimen Channel on the east side of Keelung Port, the Huiyou Company did not fire a single shot, and no ships left the port.

So Li Kuiqi ordered to drop anchor in the sea east of Keelung Port, intending to wait and see if he could lure the enemy out. It was the southwest monsoon period, and the sea near Keelung was all available anchorages.

After a long time, there was still no movement in Keelung Harbor. Captain Lucas of the Lioness boarded Li Kuiqi's ship and asked aggressively: "Your information is wrong. They have two fortresses that can reach the open sea, and there are many cannons on the beach!"

"One was built later, and there were no artillery forts before that." Li Kuiqi explained. A year and a half had passed since the Battle of Dongshan, and the information he had was already outdated. Besides, those artillery forts were built temporarily...

Obviously, with these artillery batteries, An Duan Anthony's landing operation plan has been difficult to implement. Li Kuiqi was also quite frustrated about this: "Let's go, let's turn back and see if we can lure the enemy out this time. If not, we will first merge with the main force..."

"Ming country coward!" Lucas cursed under his breath, turned around and got off the boat.

So, the vanguard fleet led by Li Kuiqi weighed anchor and turned around, passing through the sea outside Keelung Port again, but this time the course was from east to west. The two round forts and dozens of artillery forts of the Huiyou Company remained silent, and no ships came out of the port.

The Lioness did not open fire this time, but after sailing to the west of Keelung Port, Lucas suddenly ordered: "Turn around, we will rush into Keelung Port from the west channel!"

First mate Marcel was horrified when he heard this: "Captain, this is too risky!"

"Risk? How many heavy artillery do you think the Ming people have?"

Lucas asked back with disdain, and then continued: "They are likely to aim all their heavy artillery at the open sea, which means that as long as the main fleet rushes in, everything will be over, so we should go and scout the firepower in the harbor."

"Maybe you are right, but Captain, this violates the military order of Lord Carpentier..." Marcel was somewhat tempted when he heard this, but he did not want to take responsibility.

"Lord Carpentier ordered us to lure out the enemy ships, but now these cowards are not moving, so we have to give them a hard blow!"

Lucas was eager to achieve success. In fact, the best scenario he envisioned was not fire reconnaissance or luring the enemy out of their hole, but to rush directly into the harbor and annihilate the Huiyou Company's fleet.

After all, the Lioness also had 30 heavy guns. He wanted to take a gamble and bet that the opponent had deployed all the heavy guns on the harbour and the ship towards the open sea...

"Turn around! If the Fleet Council holds me accountable for disobeying orders, I will bear all the consequences alone!" Lucas ignored his first mate and insisted on giving the order to turn around and enter the port.

(End of this chapter)