Chapter 221 Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains 25

[221] Ten thousand miles of the country opens up a new face (25)

In the eastern section of Yangzhou, after the 77th Regiment of the 9th Army was shelled by British warships, the soldiers retreated from the river to find shelter.

Looking at the green northern soldiers hiding in the distance, the British sailors laughed on the deck, and there was a proud and sharp whistle from the gun compartment.

Colonel Cox, the commander of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy in charge of the blockade of the Yangtze River, stood on the stern observation deck of the flagship five-class battleship Carmarson with monoculars and carefully observed the revolutionary army in Jiangbei.

Colonete Cox looked contemptuously and ordered the messenger: "They are starting to run away, these timid yellow pigs. Pass my order, fly the flag to inform the young men of the ships, and launch another round of shelling to drive them back to the north. Tell Brecon to continue west and insert the waterway between Yangzhou and Zhenjiang to shell to prevent these damn Yankees from crossing the river.

It was the 77th Regiment of the Ninth Army that was shelled. Ge Shunan, the commander, was hiding behind a big stone by the river and anxiously ordered the whole regiment to disperse and hide to avoid the shelling.

"Fant leader! The commander and division commander have called!"

"What do you mean?"

"The commander and the division commander said that Ge Shunan, hold on, don't take a step back, organize troops to approach secretly, and shoot the crew of the British ship with machine guns, and focus on killing the sailors. We should take advantage of the strong bullet penetration characteristics of our army to straf the wooden shell near the British ship's gun position and strive to kill the artillery in the ship. Cooperate with artillery reconnaissance and radio-guided shelling.

Ge Shunan slapped herself in the face when she woke up and ordered, "Notify the whole group! Shoot rifles and machine guns at British warships! Inform the division artillery battalion to blow up these foreign devils quickly!"

The 77th Regiment finally began to fight back. The soldiers of each battalion crawled by the river, aiming at the muzzle of the British warship and shooting continuously.

Colonel Cox stood at the stern and saw the revolutionary army shooting back. He laughed and said, "These ridiculous yellow pigs, green monkeys, actually hit the warship with rifles."

Lieutenant Meyer, the adjutant beside Cox, smiled politely and said, "These barbarians are really stupid and pitiful."

As soon as the two spoke, they felt unsteady in their hearts. Looking from the river, they saw the sound of gunshots in all directions. Unexpectedly, bullets passed by the boat, and more bullets banged, like hammering, falling on the ship like raindrops.

A bullet hit the armrest of the stern watchtower and made a crack. The armrest as thick as an adult's arm was interrupted, and wood chips flew!

ColoneL Cox was shocked and his face changed: "My God! What kind of bullet is this!"

At this time, only a scream was heard from the ship. A sailor who climbed on the sail rope in the middle of the main mast was shot by a machine gun and fell to the lower deck like a sandbag, making a huge impact sound. The soldier was shot in the shoulder, his bones were exposed, and he fainted directly.

Then there was a scream in the cabin. After hitting the wooden shell of the frigate Carmarson, the highly penetrating 7.62 steel core bomb easily penetrated the six centimeter-thick oak board and hit the sailors and artillery in the ship. Those who did not hit the target continued their mission of flying and drilled out of the shell on the other side of the deck. Wood chips flew in the gun compartment below, and the mud filled with hemp threads filled in the gap of the ship's board was stimulated by bullets like smoke and filled the cabin.

The sailors and artillery in the British warships are constantly hit by bullets. If they are hit, the wounds are seriously torn. Modern bullets are different from the small * of these days. Even if the speed is the same, the bullets are 100 times stronger in rotation under the action of the high riverb, and against objects. The penetration is much more powerful to kill the human body. The British army was used to the way of killing and wounding. How could they see such a horrible killing? They could kill people across the board. The sailors suddenly panicked. They only felt that the warship had become a moving coffin. Immediately, sailors rushed to the deck, and more sailors lay on the floor in the cabin to avoid bullets.

Under the dense shooting of bullets like crazy swarms of bees, the cabin sailors and gunners in the British warships were killed and injured, and countless bullet holes could be seen on the outside of the hull. From the cabin, it was even worse. The bullet holes on the bulkhead were full of bullet holes, and the broken wood s on the hull around the bullet holes were strange. Turning over, the light is projected through the bullet hole, forming a mottled projection in the cabin. This scene was so horrible that the Royal Navy, which dominated the world, was completely stunned. They saw the revolutionary army shooting all over the shore. They thought that the safest place on the ship was the cabin. Who would have thought it would become hell in a blink of an eye? Some sailors cried directly in the cabin, and some people lay on the ground and prayed. Emperor Blessing, someone even scared to pee in his pants.

Ge Shunan, the commander of the 77th Regiment, obviously felt that the bullets and rain of the whole regiment had suppressed the artillery fire of the British warships, and the British warships did not fire for a long time.

"Well done! Damn! Why didn't the artillery order these powerful British ships!"

Ge Shunan was talking, and several subtle and almost imperceptible strange screams came from the north of the 77th Regiment. It was the two division artillery battalions of the 26th and 27th Divisions that opened fire. Due to the urgency of the situation, after obtaining the approximate coordinates, the 26th and 27th Divisions division artillery battalions began to test fire. As six rounds* fell into the river, the artillery battalion began to contact the 77th Regiment and asked for radio guidance by means of walkie-talkie.

"Yes, it's wrong. It's about 30 meters to the south, and about 10 meters to the west. Yes, okay, you call again, and I'll report the drop point to you. Xue Damai, the battalion commander of the 77th Regiment, held a walker in his hand and shouted at a high voice.

Colonel Cox has been stunned. At this moment, he has fallen down and hid behind the side of the watchtower. His trembling hands are holding the telescope tightly and observing the revolutionary army on the shore with fear.

"Damn Yankees! What is the caliber of their rifle? Unexpectedly, it can cut the wooden shell of the warship into butter! And their rifles have almost no smoke!" Cox was extremely frightened.

After checking the situation in the cabin, Lieutenant Meyer rushed to the watchtower in horror and reported, "Colonel! The Carmarson was seriously damaged! At least 25 sailors were shot! The bulkhead underneath was hit like the sieve of a pepper bottle! We need to leave the range of the Yankees as soon as possible! Otherwise, we will be nailed to the ship!"

Cox was extremely frightened and immediately agreed: "Flag! Everyone turned around and went back to Shanghai! All ships began unrestricted shelling! Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!"

So in a panic, six warships of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy opened a quarter of their sails under the weak southeast wind and desperately adjusted their masts in an attempt to turn around in the broad river.

Some naval historians in later generations believe that Cox's decision buried the last vitality of the Chinese fleet. The correct tactic should be to rush upstream with the whole sail, stay away from the range of the army on the shore, and then make a safe turn and escape back downstream at a high speed along the river.

Due to Cox's in-situ turn, six British warships moved slowly and became live targets for artillery. After three rounds of test firing, the two division artillery battalions of the 26th and 27th divisions finally found the target position and began to shoot crazily. 54 82MM mortars controlled the whole river, and the roaring shells were high. Quickly hit the river, the huge slap on the surface of the water was enough to trigger the fuse, and the whole river was full of fire. Due to the restrictions of international conventions, modern * no longer uses yellow phosphorus, but mainly uses aluminum heat agent, napalm and * as ingredients, but it still triggered a water flame on the river, and the killed fish quickly turned over their bellies and floated to the surface in large numbers.

In the first round of 54 mortars, a gunboat of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy was shot. For this 30-meter-long small gunboat, a high explosion* is enough to be fatal. The gunboat named Tridis was hit in the bow by a *. After the explosion, the flames rose in the air. The bow of the ship seemed to have been bitten by a giant beast, and a strong adhesive and thin combustion substance spread on the wooden hull. The Tridis drama The fierce combustion turned into a torch, and the uncontrollable flame quickly devoured the mast and sails. Under the flames, the heat wave rolled up black smoke and lit a huge beacon on the wide river.

Coloner Cox clung to the armrest of the tailwatch of the Carmarson, rolled his throat and looked at the Tridis behind him, and couldn't say a word.

He has never seen such a cannonball that can light a gunboat in one shot. This terrible destructive power is unimaginable to him. If Chinese warships can have such shells in the future, the royal fleet will escape in trembling.

The shells of the Ninth Army rained like divine punishment from the sky and ruthlessly spread to the rolling river. After seven or eight rounds of fire, all six warships of the Chinese fleet of the Royal Navy on the river were shot, and the gunpowder on the ship was ignited and martyred in the blazing flames, like fireworks in the daytime, eye-catching but desolate.

British sailors cried and jumped down the Yangtze River one by one and swam to the south bank. The revolutionary soldiers on the north coast laughed and were overly happy. Because the distance was too far, I didn't shoot.

Ge Shunan, the leader of the 77 regiment, has stood up from behind the stone, straightened his waist by the river, and looked at the river with a giggle.

"Call you crazy! Call you crazy! Let's die now!" Ge Shunan scolded with resentment.

After confirming the destruction of the Royal Fleet, Hu Guangting, the commander of the Ninth Army, was proud and reported to the central government: "This morning, when our Ninth Army launched a liberation campaign against Zhenjiang, it encountered the interference of British warships. Our army fought bravely and destroyed all six British warships, large and small warships..."

With the liberation of Zhenjiang, the Ninth Army crossed the Yangtze River in three days and quickly moved westward, surrounding Nanjing. Three days later, four gates of Nanjing were blown up at the same time and Nanjing was liberated.

After taking Nanjing, the bridgehead leading to the whole Jiangnan has been controlled by Yao Fan,

Then, after capturing the southern Anhui region north of the Yangtze River, the Eighth Army that liberated Anhui mainly crossed the river from Nanjing and liberated a series of Jiangnan cities such as Ma'anshan, Tongling, Chizhou, Wuhu and Anqing.

The 10th Army also went south from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang and went straight to Changzhou, Wuxi and Suzhou. After completing the liberation of these three cities, only Shanghai, Huzhou and Jiaxing remained in the whole Jiangnan region, and still confronted the revolutionary army under the guard of the temporarily raised villagers and British army.

Going to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the 11th Army took control of Huanggang and Huangshi after conquering Wuhan.

In this way, the revolutionary army has a series of bridgehead strongholds in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.