Chapter 409 The Navy is in action

When the Fourth Army continued to fight fiercely with the Anhui army, the Feng army in other directions was not idle, and the Feng army in Anqing, Wuhu, Jinling and other directions continued to launch attacks, not to mention that the 10th Division around the Yangtze River alone had launched many small-scale cross-river attacks in March. Although the overall results are not big, and there has been an example of a complete annihilated defeat, they have successfully contained a large number of Anhui troops.

In order to prepare for the Feng army to cross the Yangtze River in the vital Yangtze River, Duan Qirui did not dare to transfer too many troops to leave even if the war situation on the southern Anhui front line was tense.

However, the Feng army was still not satisfied with this. Under the huge pressure of the army and other generals, and received more than 1 million yuan in military expenses, paid the salaries of sailors who had been lacking for a long time, and Zhao Dongyun's promise to use the aftermath loans to buy multiple warships from the United States, the Feng army navy, which has always passively avoided war, finally It's also time to take action.

They are ready to take the risk of shelling the Shanghai Fort to weaken the strength of the Anhui Fort in this area. If it goes smoothly, the subsequent navy will directly carry army soldiers to land directly. For this operation, the generals of the navy planned for a long time and took all the capital ships at hand.

On March 11, Shanghai Haikou gathered a large-scale Feng army naval fleet, including the largest cruiser Haiqi in the contemporary Chinese navy, in addition to two cruisers, the Hairong and Haicho, and a total of six gunboats. The strength of the above warships occupies 80% of the strength of the Soviet navy.

The rest of the cruiser Haichen, the destroyer Flying Eagle and several gunboats are carrying out the maritime supply escort mission from the Bohai Sea to Lianyungang in the East China Sea and can't pull themselves out.

The main force of the Soviet navy gathered in Shanghai Haikou, which naturally attracted the attention of many people. Many foreign navies moored in Shanghai also realized what large-scale actions the Soviet navy might take, so they all sent large and small ships to follow and observe.

It is very interesting that although the naval forces only sent second-class warships, they are still stronger than the warships of the Soviet navy, especially the Germans sent out an armored cruiser passing through Shanghai, which is a huge ship with tens of thousands of tons of tons. This warship alone These small miscellaneous fish are enough to crush the Soviet navy.

So there was a very strange scene in the mouth of the Yangtze River in Shanghai. A large number of warships flying the national flags in front of them followed a small fleet, just like a young man following a little boy watching how a child fights.

On the Haiqi, Cheng Biguang looked at the large number of foreign warships behind him and felt very uncomfortable. Nima was the sea area of China, and in the past it was the inland river of the Yangtze River, but his navy carried out an operation, but there were warships from various countries behind him to watch the play openly.

Although Biguang is unhappy, he can only have a calm face: "Don't worry about them, we will beat ourselves!"

As Cheng Biguang's fleet carefully sailed into the Yangtze River, it didn't take long to approach the Shanghai Fort!

At this moment, the artillery soldiers of the Anhui army also got the information early. They had already boarded the fort one by one, and filled the coastal defense guns in advance.

At this time, Cheng Biguang was wearing a white naval officer's dress and observing the Shanghai Fort in the distance with a high-multiple telescope!

"Cannon according to the scheduled plan!" With Cheng Biguang's order, the eight-inch naval gun on the largest tonnage flagship Haiqi began shelling.

It's just a long distance, and this first round of shelling is far from the predetermined target!

As the distance approached, the smaller six-inch naval guns in the rear also continued to fire at the Shanghai Fort!

At the same time, there was also a group of smoke on the Shanghai fort, which were caused by the firing of coastal defense guns. With the counterattack of Anhui military coastal defense guns, Cheng Biguang's small fleet also began to stir up high columns of water.

With the fierce shelling on both sides, the naval officers of various countries who followed the battle also watched the battle with great interest in their respective telescopes. However, half a day later, a British major couldn't help muttering: "This gunnery is too bad. It's been half an hour, and neither side got a hit. Play!"

In the view of British naval officers and other military attacharies of the great powers, this artillery battle between the Soviet navy and the coastal defense forces of the Anhui army is simply a child playing at home. It's okay with your artillery scum, but it's still so far away from firing. If you can hit it, you won't be a ghost.

The rumble of cannons, in the smoke of the sky, this is not a battle at all, at best an expensive fireworks show!

Cheng Biguang didn't care about the contempt of the foreign army's contempt of the officers, because for him, shelling the Shanghai Fort was just a political task. His biggest task was not to destroy the Shanghai Fort, but to ensure the safety of his warship during the battle, so he chose to shell as far as possible. In this way, the other party's coastal defense guns could not effectively threaten his fleet. As for how many shells would hit, Cheng Biguang didn't care.

The reason why the Soviet navy went to shell the Shanghai fort is a political task. The Soviet navy did nothing when the war began, which made many Feng army generals quite dissatisfied. In addition, if they were always passive to avoid war, it would be even more difficult to get naval military expenses from Zhao Dongyun.

Therefore, this action of the Soviet navy is not about the result, but about the navy telling the generals of the army, and we also went up to fight in person. As for why we can't fight? That's because we lack warships. If you buy us a few battleships, I will take down the Shanghai Fort to show you army turtles in minutes.

The Soviet navy and the Soviet Feng army are two different things. The former is a quite independent interest group, and they are just attached to the survival of the Soviet system. The latter's army is the direct force under Zhao Dongyun, the foundation for his hegemony to unify China.

This situation is as strong as Zhao Dongyun can't be changed in a short time. He did not expect the navy to be one with himself and fight to cover the army crossing the river. Since the pre-Qing era, China's naval power has been quite independent, and the central government has never taken full control of China's naval forces. In the past, the Beiyang Marine Division and Nanyang Marine Division were to some extent local navies controlled by local governors. Although the Qing court tried to unify the navy during the reform of the new policy to seek thorough He controlled the navy, but before it was completed, Yuan Shikai was stabbed to death. After the four warlords of Beiyang rose up, the unified navy was even more difficult to talk about.

Now Zhao Dongyun did not say that he would want to completely control the navy in a short time. He only needed the navy to maintain a good attitude towards himself. How to say? Don't turn to Duan Qirui or the Southern Federation, then it's enough for him.

In this environment, the Soviet navy's shelling of the Shanghai Fort naturally became a tiger's tail. After Cheng Biguang's vast fleet of more than ten warships shelling the Shanghai Fort fort for about three hours, even the skin of his warship was not broken, and his warship was not injured at all, and even the water was not damaged. How much watering is the announcement of the return voyage.

The news reached the capital, which made Zhao Dongping, the commander-in-chief of the Ordnance Department, furious: "These bastards, I have just approved millions of funds for them, and bought them worth hundreds of thousands of ammunition and coal. Did they show me this?"

Cheng Biguang's fleet spent a lot of money on this operation. The coal-fired and shells fired were not a small number, but as a result, the Shanghai Fort was still intact, which made the generals of the Feng Army, who had always been dissatisfied with the navy more dissatisfied with the navy.

However, Zhao Dongyun doesn't care much about this result, because he didn't expect the navy to achieve anything before. All he needs is a political attitude of the navy.

As long as the navy is willing to go out to fight, it means that the navy is at least towards itself, and I don't have to worry that the navy will suddenly mutiny, and then run to Duan Qirui.

So although the army generals were extremely dissatisfied with the nature of the navy this time, Zhao Dongyun sent a telegram to Cheng Biguang, who led the fleet from afar, praising the brave spirit of the navy, saying that this action of the navy strongly hit the morale of the enemy!

Still on the Haiqi, Cheng Biguang, who led the fleet to prepare to return, couldn't help but feel hot. Maybe he felt that it was really not good to explain to Zhao Dongyun that he was playing like this, so that night he led the fleet to enter the mouth of the Yangtze River again and took risks at dawn the next day. After a distance, another shelling of the Shanghai Fort was launched.

The shelling time this time was relatively short, only about an hour from firing to the evacuation, but compared with yesterday, certain practical results were achieved. Many eight-inch shells and many six-inch shells accurately landed on the Shanghai battery, causing hundreds of soldiers of the Anhui army's fort, although the Haiqi itself also A shell was hit by the Shanghai Fort's counterattack, but the damage was not much, and only a few soldiers were injured.

After the evacuation, Cheng Biguang led the fleet to officially return.

Compared with the negative preparations of the navy, the Soviet army forces fought fiercely.

Since the beginning of March, the Feng army troops in many directions in the north of the Yangtze River have launched a fierce offensive against the Anhui army, including the crossing of the river by the Fourth Army.

Zhao Dongyun wants to unify China, relying on the army, and the navy is just an embellishment.

On March 15, after many days of hard fighting and more than 1,000 casualties, the 14th Division and the 1st Mixed Brigade finally broke through the defense line of the supplementary brigade of the 4th Division and the rest of the nearly 10,000 military and provincial army forces, and then captured a series of areas outside the southwest of Jinling, pushing the front line from Fenghuang Mountain to Tianjiashan. The southern coastal urban area of Jinling is already close to the foot.

In the face of the rapid advance of the Fourth Army, and the second mixed brigade was blocked by the 9th Division of the Feng Army on the front line of Dangtu and was unable to break into the Ma'anshan area for a long time. Duan Qirui once again showed amazing decisiveness.

In order to defend Jinling, especially the Jinling City on the south bank of the Yangtze River, he voluntarily gave up the Jinling City on the north bank of the Yangtze River for many months.