By this time all the artillery fire had stopped. The entire line of the Lianjiang estuary was silent except for the raging fire on the warship ignited by incendiary bombs on the river. Yang Zhen held the binoculars and looked at the bombed, half-floating and half-sinking warships on the river, and after secretly checking the number, he nodded secretly.

On the river, there were 13 gunboats, gunboats, and armed barges of the puppet Manchurian army on the river, and at this moment there were six of them on the river, which were half floating and half sinking, and were still burning violently. Several small gunboats, which were relatively weakly defended, were sunk in the middle of the river, with only the top of a mast exposed.

Not long after Yang Zhen arrived at the riverside, Ma Qichang also rushed over. Ma Qichang didn't come because of Yang Zhen, and he didn't know that Yang Zhen came to the riverside to observe the results. He came over, it was just a habit he developed after joining Yang Zhen's army.

At the end of each battle, as long as conditions permit, he has to see with his own eyes the effect of his artillery, so that he can make some tactical adjustments in the next battle according to the problems exposed this time.

Ma Qichang was startled when he saw that Yang Zhen was by the river, and after the Battle of Jiamusi in his hand, Yang Zhen gave him the German-made seven-fold telescope that captured the commander of the Fifth Army of the Kwantung Army, Kenji Dohihara, and hurriedly threw it to the staff officer behind him, and walked to Yang Zhen's side in a few steps.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Yang Zhen put down the binoculars in his hand, but said without looking back: "It looks pretty good, doesn't it." You guys fought well, and after this battle, I can rest assured. Without the puppet Manchu River, this Songhua River can become an artery for us. ”

Yang Zhen didn't need to turn around to know who was behind him, not that he had any unpredictable prophetic skills. It's Ma Qichang's habit, which he already knew. And he also specifically told Xiaohuzi that when Ma Qichang came, there was no need to report it. The location where I stand is the best place to observe the position on the bank of the entire Lianjiang estuary. Ma Qichang wants to see his own results, and it would be strange if he didn't come here.

Yang Zhen's words fell, and Ma Qichang walked to Yang Zhen's side and said, "Commander, this battle can only be regarded as unsatisfactory, far from being good." The main force of a rocket artillery regiment, together with some field artillery and rapid-fire artillery on the Jiangnan side, also ran four ships. It would have been enough if there were four small gunboats, but they were all large gunboats. ”

"Although these four ships can be regarded as damaged, the little devil has a ship repair yard in Harbin, and it won't take much time to repair all of them. It has only been a long time since the two ships of Jiangqing and Lisui, which you had severely damaged at the mouth of the Songhua River in June, not only have they all been repaired, but they have even been strengthened to a certain extent. ”

"If our field artillery also has armor-piercing shells, I can assure you that none of these devils' old ships will escape. The two ships of Shuntian and Yangmin are all new ships that were launched in three or four years. The legs are fast and the armor is thick. But the two old ships that were heavily damaged by you in Binsui have old arms and legs, and their speed is less than ten knots. This time let them run away again, I am really unwilling. ”

Regarding Ma Qichang's unwillingness, Yang Zhen smiled and said disapprehantly: "They can't run." You forget, the artillery of the first brigade is still waiting for them upstream. Although these four ships escaped in your hands, they were also badly damaged. According to the report of the observation post, the guns of these warships have all failed, and it can be said that they have lost their combat effectiveness. The most important thing is that you sank the two ships Dingbian and Qinren, the main forces of the puppet Manchurian army on the river, as well as all the gunboats. ”

"Compared with the Jiangqing and Lisui, the two old ships that are aging, have only one 75 mm main gun, and are weakly equipped. The Dingbian and Qinren ships, which are equipped with three 120-millimeter high-level dual-purpose guns, and those maneuverable gunboats, are our greatest threat in the future. ”

"One hundred and twenty-millimeter grenade fell on the position, and it could knock out at least one of our infantry squads. And those maneuverable gunboats are a greater threat to us. They are not like those big warships, with obvious targets. Those large warships pose a great threat to us. But on the narrow river, in the face of superior firepower that our troops can concentrate at any time. Especially those old ships, their huge hulls, are a live target. ”

"Moreover, these warships are huge, and in order to facilitate supply, they use very large cigarette coal as fuel. As soon as they set out, we could see the smoke coming out from afar. There are many shallows near the river, and they can't get in. Even if we can't afford to fight, we can still hide. ”

"But these gunboats are different, their equipment is weak, and many even have only one machine gun. But the advantage is that it is extremely maneuverable, and they can enter many shallows that large warships cannot enter. We don't have the ability to build ships, and in many cases we can only rely on rafts that are basically unprotected to cross the river. These gunboats are the real threat to us, don't look at them small, there is absolutely no problem with a gunboat overturning our hundreds of rafts. ”

As the two of them were talking, a violent explosion suddenly sounded from several warships of the Jiangshang Army that were burning violently in the center of the river. With the sound of a violent explosion falling, the two ships of Dingbian and Qinren, the main forces of the Japanese puppet Jiangshang Army, which were half-sunk in the river, turned over in pain and sank completely. Only the corpses of the sailors floating on the surface of the river, and the few exposed masts, bear witness to their rampant past.

Yang Zhen and Ma Qichang both understood that these violent explosions were the explosion of ammunition on the ship. The large number of 120-mm shells loaded inside the ship was really not covered.

I don't know if the armor-piercing shells fired by the 37 rapid-fire cannon are too powerful, or whether the Japanese have excellent shipbuilding technology. The two ships were still struggling with hundreds of 37 rapid-fire shells, plus dozens of field shells, although they had lost their combat capability and operational capability.

During the bombardment, these two gunboats and the fleeing Yangmin and Dingbian ships had the most fierce counterattack firepower because of the largest caliber and number of guns on the ships. Therefore, it became the main target, and almost half of the field shells and half of the blasting shells fired by rocket artillery were concentrated on these four gunboats.

Perhaps the lack of large-caliber armor-piercing shells, despite becoming the main target. Not to mention that two of the four main ships of the Jiangshang Army ran away, the remaining two that were heavily damaged, although they were already covered in bruises, they did not sink anyway.

Until the internal ammunition was killed under the barbecue of the raging fire, these two river gunboats with a full load displacement of more than 290 tons. Finally, he had no choice but to sink into the river.

Looking at the two warships with the largest tonnage and the strongest firepower configuration in the puppet Manchurian army that sank quickly due to the explosion of their own internal shells, Yang Zhen and Ma Qichang's faces were not good-looking. It's just that the faces of the two people are not good-looking, but the reasons for being ugly are different.

Compared with Ma Qichang, who considered tactical gains and losses, Yang Zhen considered the problem more in terms of campaign. This battle did sink the main force of the puppet Manchurian army on the river, although four warships ran, but in one fell swoop sank almost all the gunboats of the puppet Manchurian army on the river.

However, the Japanese army had a strong shipbuilding capacity, and these four ships that were supplemented by the Jiangshang Army after the establishment of the puppet Manchukuo were all built by the Japanese mainland, and then disassembled into parts and transported by train to Harbin for reassembly. I sank a few ships today, as long as there is a shipyard in Harbin and a strong shipbuilding industry in Japan, the Japanese puppet can be rebuilt, and even more Jiangshang troops can be established.

Judging from the results of today's battle, although the number of gunboats of the puppet Manchurian army on the river is small, its survivability is extremely strong. After receiving so many shells, the final silence was due to the detonation of his own internal shells. Once the Japanese puppet army builds more similar ships, how should Yan zhòng face the lack of armor-piercing shells?

These large ships alone have concentrated most of their firepower, but they still haven't sunk. This was still under the condition that the Japanese army was caught off guard. If the Japanese army is prepared, the number of warships is larger, and according to the caliber of artillery and the military quality of the two sides just now, their side needs to concentrate more, even twice as much artillery as today, in order to reach a draw.

Yang Zhen had already seen in the artillery battle just now, and the reaction speed of these warships left a deep impression on him. Before the first round of salvo fire of these rocket artillery soldiers was finished, the opponent's counterattack artillery fire had already followed. Without even a test shot, he fired a close-arrow shot based solely on the judgment of his own trajectory.

If it weren't for the fact that these 107mm rocket launchers were light and quick. If you don't get it right, the possibility of being eaten by the other party is quite high. As soon as the rocket artillerymen, who had quickly moved their positions after one round, had moved away, the enemy's counterattack artillery fire had already covered their previous firing positions.

The Songhua River is a natural barrier, and this is true. With this Songhua River, even if you are frustrated in your southward journey and retreat to the north of the river, there is still a natural defensive barrier after all. But when necessary, especially when the opponent has a fleet that can cross the river, the river becomes his fatal weakness.

As long as the Japanese ships are still on the river for a day, their supplies and transportation to the south will be in danger of being cut off at any time, and they will always feel like they are stabbed in their backs. Even if he went south to occupy the Jiamusi area, as long as this Jiangshang army was still on the Songhua River, he would not be able to occupy it steadily.

Once this fleet is rebuilt and restored, judging from the Suzhì who appeared in today's battle, it will become its own lifeline after cutting off the Songhua River, which is going south at any time during the war. Unless he comes up with a large number of artillery to focus on defense along the river, he will have no means to contend with it at all.

If the Songhua River is cut off by it, it is very likely that he will fall into a passive situation where he will not be able to retreat north because the back road is cut off, and the supply line will be cut off and he will not be able to go south.

may be in a different position, but Ma Qichang does not consider the height of Yang Zhen. But one thing they agreed on was that they were extremely shocked by the unexpected speed of reaction and the accuracy of artillery fire when this Jiangshang army was attacked.

The predecessor of this puppet Manchurian army, the Northeast Army River Defense Fleet, Ma Qichang once saw it. Its artillery firing skills are very poor, and the ships are not well maintained. Except for the three ships Jiang Heng, Li Sui, and Li Jie, all the rest were gunboats and gunboats converted from merchant ships.

One of the reasons for the defeat in the First Battle of Tongjiangkou before the September 18 Incident was that in addition to the huge disparity in equipment between the two sides, the difference in the skills and tactics of the sailors was also one of the reasons. However, after the 918 incident, in just a few years, not only did the equipment change greatly.

In addition to the fact that the old ships of the past were generally effectively maintained and their equipment was replaced, the number of large shallow water gunboats alone was increased by four. As for the gunboats, there were at least a dozen more than before. The most important thing is that the technical and tactical level of its sailors has improved considerably compared with the previous time of the river defense fleet.

In the previous artillery battles, although several large ships did not pose much threat to the infantry guns and rapid-fire guns on the riverside because of the large caliber of their guns and their ballistics. However, the speed of reaction and the high accuracy of its small-caliber guns left a deep impression on Ma Qichang.

If it weren't for his own first attack, he first fired a covering shot at the river and knocked out half of the gunboats. The rest of the warships also ignited a raging fire because of the more than 200 incendiary bombs they fired, making at least half of the guns on these warships unusable.

You must know that your own explosive anti-personnel grenades are not good against warships with rough skin and thick flesh, but they are still extremely lethal against sailors who operate warships and naval guns. Especially those gunners who are basically unprotected, the lethality is still extremely high.

Three rapid-fire artillery batteries, in an almost one-sided artillery battle, were knocked out by a third of the opponent's rapid reaction of 47-millimeter artillery fire. The 120-mm high-level dual-purpose guns and 80-mm flat-firing guns on several large ships of the other side also used to fight the rocket artillery and field artillery under their own command several times.

This puppet Manchurian army on the river, which was familiar with his own Northeast River Defense Fleet, was almost reborn from the previous appearance, which gave Ma Qichang the idea of looking for a few artillery instructors from among the captured officers and soldiers who had been salvaged.

As for the reason why Yang Zhen's face is not good-looking now, Ma Qichang naturally understands why. It's just that there is one thing in Yang Zhen's approach that makes Ma Qichang puzzled. This Jiangshang army is rampant on the river, and he naturally has no way to hold it except to concentrate artillery on him.

But the commander is different, as a cadre at or above the brigade level in the whole army, Ma Qichang has seen the guys in the reconnaissance battalion. It is not possible for these people to let them fight these warships face-to-face, but they can touch them while the night is dark, at least it will not be a problem to control those big ships silently without bloodshed.

As long as you control those large gunboats, with them as a foundation, they will become your own fleet. When the little devil reorganized this so-called Jiangshang army, his own side was not without the slightest strength to fight back. The entire Songhua River is so long, and the artillery at hand is limited, so it is impossible to deploy all the artillery along the river. Moreover, under the current situation that the main force is moving southward and the main artillery force still has to support the troops, it is impossible to take out artillery and artillery shells to deploy along the river.