In the fourth lunar month of 1662, in the sixth month of the Gregorian calendar, the wind direction had changed to favor the southeast wind entering from the mouth of the Yangtze River.

On the sea north of the Zhoushan Islands, hundreds of boats competed for the current, sails were dotted, and the flags were hunting, and a huge fleet of ships hanging the battle flags of the Zhejiang army sailed towards the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Zhang Huangyan stood on the helm tower of the fourth-class cruiser Determination, with a satisfied bird's-eye view of his fleet. This powerful fleet made Zhang Huangyan feel extremely heroic, and his heart was full of confidence. He believed that no Qing fleet could defeat this fleet, and that the Zhejiang fleet was a symbol of invincibility along the coast of China at that time, except for the fleets of Zheng Chenggong and the Dutch.

After three years, Zhang Huangyan entered the Yangtze River estuary again. After three years of construction, the Zhejiang army has been able to take charge on its own, of course, only at sea and on land, Zhang Huangyan is still insufficient.

In the past three years, with the help of Wang Xinyu, the Zhejiang army has formed a huge fleet with two Western-style fourth-class ships, four Western-style fifth-class ships, 16 Western-style sixth-class ships, 30 Chinese-style centipede clippers, 12 Dafu ships, 26 Haicang ships, 38 Cangshan ships, 120 fire attack ships, 60 bicycle wheels, and more than 400 sampans. This fleet has a total of more than 15,000 officers and men of the naval division, and carries more than 6,000 marines of the Qiongzhou military naval division.

The commander of the fleet is Zhang Huangyan himself, and the commander of the fleet is Zhang Yukun, who was lent to Zhang Huangyan by Wang Xinyu, and Zhang Huangyan's own generals, Chen Wenda and Luo Zimu, two fierce generals, as well as female general Wang Qingfeng and junior general Yang Guanyu.

In addition to a batch of ships that Wang Xinyu lent to Zhang Huangyan at the beginning, Zhang Huangyan later leased a number of Western-style warships from the Qiongzhou Army, and built a number of new ships himself, which reached today's scale.

In the naval battles of that year, the British-built soft-sail warships were a symbol of invincibility in the East. The British ship was made of oak and had a sturdy hull structure. There were many artillery pieces, and the firepower was fierce, and the small ships that dealt with the Qing army could basically sink one with one shot, and these twenty-two Western-style ships were the backbone of the fleet.

A large number of Chinese warships and small boats are a fast attack force that charges into battle and a convoy force that protects large Western-style ships.

The Western-style giant ships are most afraid of the impact of a large number of fire attack ships of the Qing army, which are protected by a large number of small boats, and the fire attack ships of the Qing army do not want to get close to the Western-style warships of the Zhejiang army.

Zhang Huangyan In this Northern Expedition, Zheng Chenggong also sent a part of the sailors to assist, including 20 Dafu ships, 20 centipede clippers, 30 Cangshan ships, 36 Haicang ships, more than 100 fire attack ships and more than 300 small boats, with a total of more than 10,000 sailors. But Zheng Chenggong did not send Lu Shi to help. Because after the battle between Zheng Jiajun and the Dutch, the Lu division suffered a lot of losses, and his vitality had not yet recovered, and he had to crusade against Taiwan's potbelly kingdom.

Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, in fact, only Tainan, and took back a small piece of Taipei's territory from the Portuguese, most of which was still in the hands of the Potbelly Kingdom established by the local natives.

Due to the Zheng family's army reclaiming wasteland on the island of Taiwan, there was a conflict with the territory of the Potbelly Kingdom, so the Potbelly Kingdom sent troops to attack the Zheng family's army. Zheng Chenggong sent Liu Guoxuan to lead the Zheng family's army to attack the Potbelly Kingdom. At this time, the strength of the Zheng family's army and land division was insufficient, so the land division was not sent to assist Zhang Huangyan, and the water division could only send a part, and most of the water divisions had to be kept on guard against the rebel generals such as Shi Lang and Huang Wu in Fujian on the opposite side.

Weapons. The Zhejiang army was also greatly improved, and Zhang Huangyan purchased a large number of firearms such as artillery and bird guns from Xiamen, as well as a lot of flintlock pistols and bows and arrows. Economically, the Zhejiang army was originally very weak, but it had the support of Wang Xinyu. Zhang Huangyan has also earned a lot of silver in the past two years, and the silver earned was given to the king of Yanping to buy weapons from him. In addition, Wang Xinyu gave some of the seized weapons to Zhang Huangyan. This has made a qualitative leap in the weaponry of the Zhejiang army.

The strength of the Zhejiang army on land is not very strong, but with the fortifications such as forts and fortresses built with the help of Qiongzhou, even if the Qing army takes advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the Zhejiang army to sneak attack Zhoushan and other islands, it is impossible to succeed, and the 5,000 land divisions, 20,000 men and fortifications left on the island can make the attacking Qing army taste the bitterness.

Originally, Zhang Huangyan was most worried that there would be traitors who took advantage of his own attack to lead the Qing army to attack Zhoushan Island, but because of the arrival of Fang Chonggong of the Heaven and Earth Society, many traitors were found from Zhejiang. A group of traitors led by Xu Yuan were arrested and beheaded on the spot, and their bloody heads were still hung on the city gate to deter those unstable elements.

The agents of the Heaven and Earth Society are all over the line of eyes in Zhejiang, and any wavering elements will not be able to escape the punishment of the Heaven and Earth Society.

"General Zhang, this time our army attacked, there is a castle defense in the rear, and there is also the help of the Heaven and Earth Society, so we basically have no worries. After we take Chongming Island this time, will we capture Jiangning City in one fell swoop? Zhang Huangyan asked.

Although Zhang Huangyan is the secretary of the military department and the commander of the Zhejiang army, the fleet is under the management of Zhang Yukun, and Zhang Huangyan has to ask for his opinion.

Zhang Yukun arched his hand and said: "Lord Zhang, our army is not strong enough on land, and attacking Jiangning Jiancheng will inevitably suffer heavy losses, even if we take Jiangning, we can't hold it." It is better for our army to open up the route of the Yangtze River and shell the city of Jiangning with gunboats, so as to give the Tartars a certain deterrent. The fleet then took advantage of the southeast wind to swim upstream, reached the east of Sichuan, and got in touch with the thirteen families in Kuidong, providing them with assistance and supplies, and ensuring that they could confront Li Guoying. ”

At that time, the backwardness of communications led to the fact that neither Zhang Huangyan nor Zhang Yukun knew that Wang Xinyu had sent a small-scale mountain force through the Hengduan Mountains to prepare to enter the Tibetan residential areas to develop their strength, and then formed a situation of encirclement of Li Guoying from the west, forcing Li Guoying to give up the encirclement and suppression of Li Laiheng and others.

According to Wang Xinyu's strategic plan, after completely defeating Li Guoying and seizing Chengdu and Chongqing, he used the Zhejiang army to completely block the Yangtze River route and cut off the north-south communication of the Qing court.

Sichuan is the key to the west and the best base in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Capture Sichuan, echo the Yangtze River estuary, and then wave its army to seize the Huai River Valley, and the Qing court can only watch the Yangtze River shipping line being cut off. Strategically speaking, the Huai River and the Dabie Mountain line are the northern barrier of the Yangtze River, and in order to control the Yangtze River route, the Huai River line must be taken. But in addition to guarding the river, Sichuan in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is also the key.

At present, both the Qiongzhou Army and Zhejiang have only water forces, which is not enough to complete this grand strategic plan, and the task at this stage is to open up the route first. The north-south transport line that threatened the Qing court. When Wu Sangui's sale of a large number of "Eight Banners Special Offerings" was discovered by the Qing court, Kangxi would inevitably ban smoking, and Wu Sangui would inevitably rebel, and then launch a large-scale counteroffensive.

Wang Xinyu is not in a hurry, Zhang Huangyan is still a little anxious, and wants to take Jiangning in one go, which is a little unrealistic. However, Zhang Huangyan still followed Zhang Yukun's advice, and after taking Chongming Island, he sought to make steady progress and not rush to attack Jiangning.

In the early morning of the twelfth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar. More than 32,000 troops from Fujian, Zhejiang and Qiongzhou arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River on more than 1,000 large and small ships, gathering outside Chongming Island.

"In the last Northern Expedition, the king of Yanping was soft-hearted to the Tatars of Chongming Island, let go of their sailors, and did not occupy Chongming Island. This time, we have to learn a lesson, we must annihilate all the Tartar sailors on Chongming Island and Wusongkou! Zhang Huangyan ordered.

The water at the mouth of the Yangtze River was extremely deep, and it was difficult for the Qing army to arrange hidden piles underwater, and the river surface was very wide. Obstacles such as barrages could not be arranged, and only some waters had underwater piles and shipwrecks as obstacles. Before Zhang Huangyan sent out his troops, the agents of the Heaven and Earth Society and Hu Dedi's marines had already found out the underwater situation.

As soon as the sky was dark, the Qing generals stationed on Chongming Island and Wusongkou were horrified to find out. A flotilla of black-pressed ships appeared on the river, with masts like forests, and at least a thousand warships, among which there were Western-style warships as huge as mountains.

The Ming army based on the nautical charts provided by the Heaven and Earth Society and the Nanyang Marine Corps. did not issue a warning to the local garrison of the Qing army, and directly rushed into the Yangtze River.

"Boom" The cannon roared on the river, and the Western-style soft-sail warships, Chinese-style Daifuku ships, and the larger Haicang ships spit out clusters of scarlet-orange fireballs. The flickering fires flashed like rows of lightning from the river, and the thunderous cannon rang out, and white gunpowder smoke rose from the river.

The unsuspecting Qing warships were anchored on the shore, and after being shelled, the Qing ships were shot one after another, and the solid shells smashed open the holes, causing the ships to sink into the water. Some large ships were hit by red-hot solid shells, because there was no one on board, and the shells ignited a fire and began to sink in the firelight.

The Western-style giant ship rushed straight to the Qing Army's water village, and the cannonballs smashed through it like hailstones, and the gate of the water village was torn apart.

"Fire on the ship!" Zhang Yukun gave an order.

More than 10 sub-mother fire attack ships rushed in from the water gate of the naval division Dazhai that was blasted open by the gunboat, and the Ming soldiers on the ship lit the firewood and grass poured with fire oil, and the fire attack ships ignited a raging fire, and then the Ming soldiers untied the cable of the sub-mother ship and evacuated in a small boat. The blazing fire attack ship crashed into the middle of the Qing fleet, soaring into the sky. The fire takes advantage of the wind, the wind helps the fire, and the smoke rises to the sky. The Qing ships, which had no time to untie the cables, caught fire one after another. Some of the more daring Qing soldiers had just boarded the boat and tried to flee by boat, but they were driven back to shore by a burst of artillery fire.

In the blink of an eye, the Qing army's Wusongkou naval division was completely annihilated.

Zhang Huangyan personally took the Determination and a group of large ships to attack the Qing army's naval division camp in Jiangbei.

There is no water village gate in the Jiangbei Navy Division, and the Qing ships are moored on the docks on the shore. The huge ships of the Ming army rushed over, and a round of cannonballs smashed like a sea of mountains, and a number of Qing ships sank.

The Determination, with its oak structure and exceptionally strong hull, and several huge ships crashed into the middle of the Qing ships, like hammers smashing eggs, smashing the Qing army's small boats to pieces one after another.

After dealing with the Qing naval divisions in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, the fleet began a fierce artillery bombardment of the Chongming Island battery.

"There are mountains of thieves, especially the Tessie giants. The Haikou had at least 10,000 cannons, and the range and number were higher than ours. In an instant, the fort of Chongming Island was powdered. Afterwards, the guard of Chongming Island, who fled back in embarrassment, wrote to the court.

The artillery on the Chongming Island fort of the Qing army was not as good as the new artillery cast by Wang Xinyu, and the firing range was far inferior to the artillery of the Ming army. The Ming army also bombarded the ships with the conversion of sixth-class ships, firing a large number of thirty-two-pound flowering shells at the Chongming Battery.

The bombardment ship, converted from a British sixth-class privateer, was dismantled from some of the broadside guns and a thirty-two-pounder mortar was mounted in the middle of the ship, which could be used to fire flowering shells.

In addition to the artillery ships, the short-barreled guns on the fourth- and fifth-class ships were also replaced by Wang Xinyu with real mortars, and the Chongming Island battery was destroyed with heavy firepower.

The small boat on which the Ming Army's sailors were ridden, under the cover of the artillery fire of the big ships, rowed towards Chongming Island and launched a landing battle.

The Qing army on the island had long been stunned by the dense artillery fire of the Ming army, and occasionally those who tried to resist stubbornly were all shattered by the shells that came from the ship.

The Marines climbed onto the beach, put on their armor, and went ashore to kill them.

The Qing army did not dare to intercept it on the shore, so they could only hide in the depths of the island.

Because of the needs of the landing battle, the marine corps of the Ming Army still mainly used cold weapons, and firearms were easy to cause gunpowder to be damp when landing, and long-range weapons were mainly bows and arrows. Immediately after landing, the marines took out their bows and arrows wrapped in tarpaulin, put on the armor that the auxiliaries had brought ashore, and launched an attack into the depths of the island.

Seeing that the Ming army left the shore, went deep into the interior of the island, and left the artillery coverage on the shore, the Qing soldiers also became more bold, and some people formed a formation to intercept them.

As a result, these Qing troops were not at all the opponents of the elite Ming Army's naval division marines, and they were defeated in the blink of an eye.

The battle of Chongming was fought cleanly, and the more than 2,000 Qing troops of the green battalion stationed on Chongming Island were captured by the Ming army except for more than 800 people.

After seizing Chongming Island, Zhang Yukun proposed to Zhang Huangyan: "We are not in a hurry to attack Zhenjiang and other places, we should stabilize Chongming Island first." We sent people from places where the Qing army was weak, entered by small boats, brought some people over to act as people's husbands and people's strongmen, and built fortifications and castles on Chongming Island. After stabilizing Chongming Island, we will attack in depth. ”

"The soldiers are fast, so procrastinating, how long will it take to open up the Yangtze River route? When the time comes, it will be difficult for us to enter the upper reaches of the Yangtze River! Zhang Huangyan asked.

Zhang Yukun said with a smile: "Lord Zhang, strength determines everything!" As long as we have absolutely overwhelming strength, we are not afraid that the Tartars are prepared! On the water, no matter how prepared the Tartar is, it is no match for it! Our weakness is on land, so we do not land easily, so we use the river network to fight the Tartars. ”

At this time, a clipper came to report: "The Qi family in Shanyin is being attacked by the Tartars!" The green battalions of Hangzhou have been dispatched! ”

At this time, under the Qijia Castle in Shanyin, the corpses of the Qing army piled up into a mountain. The Hangzhou Green Battalion stormed the castle again and again, but was repelled by the fierce fire from the fortress and the city walls. (To be continued.) )