Zhenjiang Mansion is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Across the river is Yangzhou Mansion, which was occupied by Haihan just a few years ago.
According to the armistice agreement signed by the two countries in 1654, this section of the Yangtze River actually belongs to the area jointly governed by both parties.
However, in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, Haihan has not deployed water armed forces in the Yangzhou area in the past few years, which is equivalent to handing over the governance of this water area to the Ming Dynasty.
Haihan seemed to have little interest in Zhenjiang, but Shi Diwen actually had ideas about winning this place and was just waiting for a suitable opportunity to send troops.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, an important inland waterway that connects the north and south, is now under the control of Haihan, starting from Hangzhou and passing through Jiaxing, Suzhou, and Wuxi, as well as the section of the canal on the north bank of the Yangtze River from Yangzhou to Huai'an.
Only the section of the canal from Wuxi to Changzhou Prefecture and then into the Yangtze River via Zhenjiang Prefecture was still under the control of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Zian, a descendant of King De, served in the Special Liaison Office in Hangzhou. One of his responsibilities was to negotiate jurisdiction with the Ming Dynasty's Water Transport Yamen. Unexpectedly, there are too many relationships involved in all aspects, and the Caoyun Yamen is naturally unwilling to sacrifice its interests to help Haihan, and the two parties have been unable to agree on terms.
This has resulted in many important goods traveling between Hangzhou and Yangzhou unable to use the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, which is a direct connection between the two places, for safety reasons. They have to go out to sea and make a long circuit before reaching their destination.
As long as Haihan captures Changzhou and Zhenjiang, the entire section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal south of Huai'an will be connected, and shipping costs in the core area of the East China Sea Region will also be greatly reduced.
In this war, Yingtian Mansion and Nanjing City are only secondary targets in comparison. The primary targets that must be captured are actually Changzhou and Zhenjiang.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty also knew this. If Changzhou and Zhenjiang were lost, there would be no buffer zone east of Nanjing. Even if Haihan could be defeated this time and Nanjing, an important town, could be defeated by Haihan troops at any time in the future.
Therefore, both sides can predict that there will be a fierce battle in Zhenjiang, and the battlefield will most likely be on the Yangtze River, and each has made corresponding preparations.
There are many water systems in Zhenjiang, with dense river branches. There are several huge central river islands in the Yangtze River, which fragments the originally open river surface. The waterways are narrower and more complicated than those upstream and downstream.
If the Haihan fleet must be blocked on the Yangtze River, then this is undoubtedly a battlefield that is relatively more favorable to the Ming army.
Yan Chujie also knew this, so when the fleet entered the Zhenjiang River section, he ordered to slow down the speed and strengthen the alert, waiting for the Ming army, which had the advantage of home field, to take the initiative to attack.
A huge Jiangxinzhou appeared on the river ahead, dividing the river into two. The waterway near the north bank of the Yangtze River is relatively safe, because the north bank is Yangzhou, and it is difficult for the Ming army to set up an ambush near the river bank for a long time. The waterway near the south coast is more complicated, and the two military ports of the Ming Navy are also in this direction.
But Yan Chujie did not choose the relatively safe northern route, but ordered the fleet to continue moving along the south bank of the Yangtze River.
Since this battle must be fought, he must try his best to complete it in one battle and take this opportunity to eliminate the effective strength of the Ming Navy.
Sure enough, not long after the fleet sailed into the Zhenjiang boundary, several fireworks rose on the river a few miles in front of the fleet. This was a signal from the reconnaissance boat in front, which meant that they had discovered the enemy's situation, and there were a lot of them.
"It's finally here!" Yan Chujie breathed a long sigh of relief when he saw the fireworks signal, and ordered the fleet to start fighting as planned.
As expected before the war, the Ming army deployed many warships in nearby waterways. As soon as the Haihan Fleet sailed into this section of the river, they all rushed into the Yangtze River from their hiding places and attacked the Haihan Fleet with their numerical advantage. .
Fighting on a river with a width of only three to four hundred feet, for the Haihan Navy, which is accustomed to the maritime environment, the space for maneuvering is undoubtedly much smaller, and it is no longer possible to use the standard array of sail warships to use the side Maximum firepower output is aimed at the enemy's direction of travel.
Fighting in such an inland river environment, the weapons advantage of the Haihan Navy will be weakened at the beginning of the war. Only after the two armies engage in battle can the ship's side gunfire be fully utilized.
However, the Ming army's strategy was to use this little space before the two sides engaged in battle to launch offensive methods.
Dozens of serial boats rushed at the front with great momentum. This light sailing ship is only about four feet long. The hull is divided into two parts, front and rear, connected by an iron ring in the middle.
The front part accounts for about one-third of the entire ship. The bow is equipped with several large nails with barbs. The inside of the ship is equipped with various fire starters. When it is close to a certain distance, the sailors on the ship will untie the front and rear connections. The iron ring at the bottom was ignited, and the fire starter at the front was ignited, causing it to rush down the river and collide with the enemy ship.
Once they collide, the barbs on the bow of the ship pierce the enemy ship, connecting the two together and directing the fire to the enemy ship.
These suicide squads are also mixed with some mother and daughter ships of similar size. Their combat principles are similar to those of serial ships. The difference is that the warship itself, which is the mother ship, is used to ram enemy ships, while the sailors ride on detachable ones. The sub-boat dinghy leaves and can be operated by only four or five people.
The advantage of the mother-child ship is that the hull responsible for collision is larger and can carry more ignition materials. Once it hits an enemy ship, it is more difficult to push it away.
Behind these suicide squads, there followed a large number of small warships such as Fire Dragon Boats, Red Dragon Boats, and Cangshan Boats. The main means of attack of these ships are crossbows, muskets, small artillery, etc. They rely on numbers to implement siege tactics.
At the very back are large warships such as Haicang ship, Fu ship, Centipede ship, and Zhuang ship. They wait for the small ships in front to open up the situation before rushing in to pick up the leaks.
The boat at the front also began to release smoke, trying to affect the Haihan Army's shooting field of view.
Such tactics do have a certain effect. Although the Haihan fleet has superior firepower, its hit rate when bombarding small boats sailing fast on the river is very limited.
However, once it hits, it will often immediately detonate the kerosene, gunpowder and other materials on the ship, exploding a large firework on the river. If these self-destructing ships have not been broken up, the people on board will have almost no chance of escape.
Facing the small self-destructing ships rushing straight upstream, the only measures Haihan could take besides bombarding them was to let the small warships clear the way ahead.
Long wooden frames were installed on the bows of these warships in advance, and sailors used bamboo poles to push them back. They could effectively block part of the self-destructing ships, and then throw explosive packages onto them to blow them up at a relatively safe distance.
Of course, this tactic may not be completely effective, and some self-destructing ships still successfully ignited the Haihan warships, but as long as they can cover the large warships behind, this exchange ratio is still within an acceptable range.