At dawn on September 9, 1853, three Qing army naval warships were cruising near Zhenhai Cape, where they were the throat of Xiamen Port.

Xiamen is located in a very wonderful location, with a continuous coastline, and a piece of it is concave here. Below is the peninsula called Zhenhaijiao, and to the right are Kinmen Island and Taiwan. Xiamen's Lu Island is like a baby sleeping in the uterus, lying in this huge bay.

These warships should not have appeared here because the "Bandit Suppression Commander" former admiral Li Tingyu of Jiangsu and Zhejiang was nervously preparing for a general attack on Xiamen in the northeast Liu Wudian, which was across the sea from Xiamen. This kind of war would not be the same naval battle as the foreigners, nor would it even be the inland water war like the Taiping Army and the Qing Army. The warships originally planned to be used to shell the Xiamen city and transport the Qing army's green camp soldiers to land.

But the situation has changed recently. According to the terrible news from spies and merchants in Guangdong, Guangdong: Guangdong thief Zhao Ziwei is requisitioning civilian ships with great fanfare, claiming to send 30,000 long-haired army of animals to take advantage of the opportunity of a small knife to revolt and take over Fujian in one go. The situation on land is not good, and more than a dozen long-haired spies were arrested at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, and it is said that they will attack Fujian with sea and land immediately.

This news scared Wang Yide, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. The troops originally planned to be used to capture Xiamen were reduced by most of the troops, and all those reduced were guarding the land border. Moreover, because Guangdong was occupied by Zhao Kuo, some of the former Guangdong navy surrendered to the enemy, and some fled elsewhere, so no one could think of the reinforcements on the water, so Li Tingyu was short of warships.

But no matter how short it is, he must beware of the long-haired army's attack at sea, so he had to send some warships to patrol nearby.

The warships that came to Zhenhaijiao patrol were also powerful ships of the Fujian Navy.

There are two double-cloaked boats, which are the most common types of warships among the Fujian Navy. This ship, also known as the Tong'anzhou ancient ship, is actually a kind of transport ship modified.

This was originally an excellent coastal transport ship. When it was changed to a warship, a female wall and a baffle were installed on the top of the bulwarks. The gun position was set at the gap, double brigs, four oars. The boat was meter long, 5 meters wide, and the displacement was tons.

In addition to these two double-cloaked boats, there is also a fast-sentence ship: this is a double-brid sailboat with more than 10 oars on each side, and the speed is relatively fast. It is mainly used for patrol and sentry bars.

Because of the use of sails and the speed is fast, it is often used to hunt smuggling ships. This kind of ship is also called a boat, a hull, a cruiser, and a fast crab. The total length is meter long, a 5.79 meters wide, a 2.17 meters deep, and a 15 oars per side. The main weapon is a large-caliber lift gun mounted on a bracket.

These warships are equipped with about 10 artillery pieces, with a range of 300 to 400 meters for a few hundred kilograms. As well as bird guns and bows, in addition to sailors and gunners, there are also a large number of rattan soldiers who are trained as boarding battles.

Although the situation seemed not good, it was for the Qing people, and they didn't care about so many of these soldiers and sailors.

Slowly wandering around the vast ocean, nothing happened. A group of soldiers tied their braids on their heads, barely gambling on the dirty deck.

"Damn Xiaodao, no opium boat has arrived recently. I haven't snatched the bamboo stick in five months." A veteran buck-toothed swearing and rolling the dice.

"Okay, Brother Wang, you have been in the navy for fifteen years. There is an opium restaurant in Fuzhou City, and there are three concubines! What a glorious thing! Poor brother, I finally got through the joints and had only been in trouble for two years. I met Xiaodao, so I couldn't catch my hair." Another soldier with a fair face sighed and placed his bet.

"Two brothers, what does it mean to quarrel? Musical instrument?" Lian Yong, a new move next to him, was washing clothes and wiping weapons for veterans. After a few days, he asked in confusion.

This question aroused a burst of laughter in the veteran group. Old Wang, buck-toothed, spat and said to the guy who said he had only been here for two years: "Kobayashi, tell this fool."

Kobayashi smiled and explained, "It's an old story. A merchant ship was inspected by a navy before. We thought that his ship must be carrying opium, but he couldn't find it. Later, a veteran took the tobacco pole from his mouth and knocked it on the bamboo pole on the boat. The owner of the ship immediately changed his face. He knew that he had met an expert, so he obediently gave us the silver. It turned out that the boy hid the opium in the bamboo pole."

"Hey, Xiaolin," Lao Wang punched Xiaolin at this time and whispered: "I heard that the big nose on the 'Wan Nianqing' ran away. I heard that I went to Guangzhou to be a long-haired navy? Are you not his fellow villager? What's going on?"

"Be a navy master! Changmao has a navy master. He just offended them and couldn't make it. He is a Guangdong native of the Tiandihui, and he didn't want to fight, so he ran away." Kobayashi curled his lips disdainfully and said, "The opium on Changmao is fucking legal, and it can't be anti-smuggled. Who can stuff your navy money? I won't run away if I beat you to death..."

Before he finished speaking, a sailor on the bow roared in horror: "South! South! There is a big ship! There is a big ship coming towards the corner of Zhenhai!"

"What?" All the navy soldiers flocked to the bow of the ship and looked at the horizon.

A black mast pierced the boundary between the sea and the sky like an iron thorn, as if it was rushing out from under the sea. Following this thorn was a group of black spinners that quickly rushed out of the sea like dragon fins. In the blink of an eye, the fully armed briggish schooner of the 105-ton "Spike" sailed into the vision of three Manqing Naval Warships like a black monster.

But this is not over, followed by this ferocious dragon, countless iron teeth, reverse scales, and flying fins rushed out of the ocean.

Immediately, many ships sailed on the ocean, but each ship was flying with a blue-bottom cross flag, and the fierce momentum that swarmed in, made the entire ocean suddenly feel murderous intent.

"The hair is coming!" Someone shouted, and suddenly the three naval warships were in chaos, but no one could think of touching weapons. They just touched the deck like headless flies driven by fear.

"What's going on? What's going on?" The pipe strap who was sleeping in the cabin rolled and crawled onto the deck, pressing the hat of the Qing Dynasty room pot while shouting: "What's wrong? What's wrong? Who's calling for long hair?"

"Sir, discover the enemy ship!" Seeing this old commander, Lao Wang seemed to have seen his mother, and he rushed to him and shouted in a crying voice: "Sir, discover the enemy ship."

The fleet rushed towards them quickly, and the guard had seen it. He hadn't seen it just now, but he didn't have the courage to look outside the ship. Now he stared at the black "Spike" who rushed over quickly and his face turned green. He stared at the "big figure" three times heavier than his ship. This adult who had seen the world in the First Opium War, opened his mouth for a long time before shouting: "This is a fucking ship!"

"Come on the way! Turn around!" The Qing commanders on the three ships almost didn't need any contact information, so they issued the same order at the same time: "Prepare to fire the gun! Get the weapon and run away! Run away!"

The three Qing warships immediately turned around and rose up the sails and began to run away.

No one wants to compete with such a fleet. Not to mention the 6 or 7 fastest rushing ahead are all extremely terrifying "Western warships". The one in front is three times the size of theirs. The cannon gate on the side of the hull will make them lose their souls (although there are only four on each side);

Even if they are all Chinese ships, they definitely don’t want to fight.

Because the Manqing naval commander was not formed for the purpose of naval warfare at all, their real mission is equivalent to the water police in later generations, and who has touched a gun for so many years?

When you encounter soft people, small merchant ships are sheep and tigers, they all take the initiative to give them money;

When they encounter ruthless people, they don’t even dare to mess with pirates.

Moreover, almost all the Qing warships and firearms were cut corners. Half of the money allocated by the emperor was actually used for construction, and they were considered to have encountered the Qing officials. This kind of fir ship might be able to pass through a solid shell.

"Carry up and shoot me! Don't let them catch up!" Guan Dai was furious and ordered several gunners during the turn.

Lao Wang, who was holding the fire in his hand, glanced at the cannon with a pale face, and asked Xiaolin tremblingly: "Didn't you fill in too much gunpowder?"

Like Lao Wang, Xiaolin stared at the iron cannon in a daze. When he heard Lao Wang ask, he shouted: "Do I dare!" He shrank to the side and distanced as far away as he could from the cannon. It seemed that the cannon was a tiger, not eating the enemy but eating his own.

Lao Wang looked at the fuse on the cannon, turned his head and hid at the corner and begged loudly: "Sir, this cannon cannot hit them at all. Besides, I haven't hit it for several years, so let's forget it..."

"Damn it!" Guantai jumped up from the corner, carried a big knife in his hand, and shouted: "If you can't beat it, you have to fight, hurry up!!! If you don't click, I'll kill you immediately!"

In fact, several cannons were loaded and they were just waiting for the fire, but the few who were igniting were trembling, and no one noticed that the seven foreign warships were queuing from the side in battle lines. Kobayashi knelt down at the cannon, put his hands together and murmured: "Mazu Dragon King Tathagata Guanyin Ship God bless..."

This Qing artillery is much scarier than that of foreigners.

The cannons are mostly made of mud molds, and the cannon body has bees' eyes, which is very easy to explode. The inside of the cannon is not smooth and the shooting accuracy is very poor.

Moreover, this kind of artillery is a super weapon that combines backward technology, corruption, and cutting corners.

The smelting technology of the Qing Dynasty lagged behind, the furnace temperature was low, and the molten iron could not be purified.

It contains a lot of impurities, the cast artillery is very rough and has many pores and bubbles, and it is easy to explode when it is released.

Self-injuring the shooter. The Qing army did not thicken the walls of the cannons to address this problem, which made the Qing army's cannons extremely bulky and several kilograms of huge cannons, which was not as powerful as Western small cannons. They either used copper as materials for casting cannons. Due to the lack of copper resources at that time, copper cannons were very useful and regarded as powerful tools. Therefore, most of the cannons on the Hunan Navy gunboats were purchased from foreigners, so how dare they use them from the Qing Dynasty?

In addition, for artillery that had been cast into more pores and was prone to burst, the Qing army had to reduce the amount of gunpowder filling for its own safety, which reduced the power of the cannon, such as being able to shoot 300 meters, but only dared to fill 200 meters of gunpowder.

Fill in the limited amount of gunpowder? Are you afraid of your life?

You are a Qing artillery, not a French artillery!

The cannon itself is not good, nor gunpowder, but that doesn't count. The Qing Dynasty weapon manufacturing system first stipulated the modeling of various weapons in the Qing Dynasty, secondly, the manufacturing process is stipulated based on the modeling system, and finally the labor price and material price are stipulated based on the modeling system and technology.

This matter sounds wonderful. I have stipulated how you embezzle it?

But these labor prices are often set during the Yongzheng period, and the prices at that time were the standard. Just like before, you could pick up a penny and hand it over to the police uncle, but 20 years later, can you still see a penny?

Prices have risen, and you also stipulate that it costs 5 cents to buy popsicles. I don’t use tap water + saccharin for you, am I sick?

Therefore, craftsmen cannot cut corners, nor can they give gifts and bribes, and do not give gifts and others to give gifts and others to steal! Many people make money on these weapons.

The result was that the Qing cannons were more lethal and more accurate than imperialist shells, because they exploded in the Qing army's own camp at any time.

In 1835, Guan Tianpei, the admiral of the Guangdong Navy, made 40 new cannons to improve the defense situation of Humen. As a result, 10 were exploded during the trial release process, killing 1 soldier and injuring one (so few casualties, they must have been veterans. They lie down on the spot after they knew to click the cannon). There were 5 other artillery problems. Guan Tianpei inspected the exploded artillery and found that "there were too much broken iron residue, the chamber was uneven, and there were more holes", one of which was hollow, "four bowls of water could be stored inside"!

This is probably how the "cannon" in Chinese mahjong is coming, blowing yourself to death; if Westerners invent mahjong, if you "cannon" and you will pay for it, you will definitely be the one who pays for it.

Now this cannon hasn't been fired for many years, so old soldiers such as Lao Wang and others were so nervous that they didn't want to ignite the cannon, but their commanders wanted to ignite it, at least there was a little noise to scare those enemy ships.

But before we could make up our minds to fire the cannon, there were two loud noises on the Twin Pangolin ship beside us. The "Spike" was already running parallel to the Qing fleet. It fired its cannon and began to massacre. In its eyes, these Qing naval warships and pirate ships were probably not different.

The solid bomb hit a cannon position on the double-cloaked boat. Amid the low wall chips and the flesh and blood of soldiers, the cannon position next to it immediately fought back out of fear, but the shell only drew a small arc and fell into the water far away next to the "Spike".

Then Spike shot in sequence with four gun doors behind him. The three Qing soldiers who were running in parallel were in trouble. The outermost double-cloaked ship was hit like a target. The wooden chips flew over the ship, which was sandwiched in the middle, suddenly flew together. The sound of crying and calling for her parents was shocked over the ship. Lao Wang quickly threw the fire and hugged his head and leaned on the deck. He wanted to fire the cannon.

At this time, a crackling sound came from behind the hull. Kobayashi pointed at the back with surprise and shouted: "Look!"

Lao Wang looked up slightly and was immediately overjoyed: the largest expressway ship was cut off by a chain blast fired by a Portuguese escort ship, and the entire mast fell into the sea with a large piece of Chinese sail.

"That's great, we are not the slowest ones!" Lao Wang hit the deck with his fist, his eyes flashing with tears of relief. He turned his head slightly, and saw their belts pressing their hats and lying on the ground looking at the express ship. The two of them looked at each other, and a trace of "perseverance" and "understanding" that the hero saw was slightly different.

The friend ship on the left was beaten into a hornet's nest by the terrifying Spike, completely losing its ability to move, and circled around the sea with the inside of the ship, while the friend ship on the right was broken with the mast. In the middle, Lao Wang, the Qing warship, rushed to the front with his sails and fled towards the Liu Wudian's old nest.

But before Lao Wang and the others were happy, a horn sounded from behind him that was resounding through the sky. The fast whistle boat lowered its large oars and rowed towards Liu Wudian at a terrible speed. However, the speed of the horn seemed faster than the wind-eating double-paned boat. Everyone in front of the boat was stunned.

"Have they eaten opium?" Guan Kai risked his life to get up from the ground and shouted: "Brothers, run quickly! You must not be caught up by the express ships! Whoever is behind will die! Throw the ballast to me!"

"Yes!" Old Wang Xiaolin and other Qing soldiers roared in unison, and worked together to push the cannons on the ship into the sea.

But the foreigners were fed by Zhao Kuo, and they were very dedicated. They turned around on the sea several times in front of a group of white-faced pirates and boatmen behind them, and sent three Qing warships into the seabed one by one.

The second patrol fleet on the east side of Xiamen Lu Island watched his friendly troops being sent to hell for a moment, then immediately ran away.

In the afternoon of the same day, under the escort of seven small foreign armed ships and 18 small pirate modified gunboats, more than 100 civilian ships docked in Xiamen.

7,000 members of the Xiaodao Society uprising were watched by the 30,000 heavy troops of the Fujian-Zhejiang Governor Wang Yide and Zhejiang Governor Li Tingyu.

They didn't even have the courage to send an obstacle to a warship.

On the contrary, Wang Yide and Li Tingyu were both frightened, thinking that Zhao Kuo was crazy about adding troops to Xiamen and trying to sweep Fujian in one fell swoop. Wang Yide sat on the bed until dawn, and held a volume of "Jin Ping Mei" in his hand to concentrate on studying hard, but did not turn the page, and read the first page for a whole night; and Li Tingyu immediately shrank all his naval warships and gathered together to the so-called "old camp" of Liu Wudian, digging trenches all night on land, trying to defend Xiamen's raids on both sides of the water and land - overnight, this "attack base" became "old camp".

After all, the Qing soldiers at that time were the lowest in this continent in terms of organizational and combat power. Old farmers could chase them for a few miles as long as they broke their braids and carried their forks.

Moreover, China's five thousand years of civilization has launched large-scale water attacks everywhere, such as Cao Cao, Chen Youliang, Emperor Wen of Sui, etc., but I have never heard of "large-scale water withdrawal"!

This is unheard of! Shocking!

In war, people pursue consuming the strength of their opponents. If Xiaodao is really not good, no one will save him. If it really doesn't work, he can kill you when he defends the city, right? If he can send a fleet to conduct military operations, why should he withdraw people? Isn't it easy to directly increase troops? Anyway, it's more organizational and number of soldiers these days.

No one expected that Zhao Kuo would act in an anti-Oriental war civilization fundamentally. Instead of taking the opportunity to conquer cities and territories, he would take the rebels away.

When I got the tip the next day, I realized that the rebels were making trouble all night last night and actually took away the rebels in Xiamen!

Xiamen is now empty!

This is equivalent to returning Fujian to the Qing Dynasty without fighting. As for the Xiaodao Society, go to rebel wherever you fall in love, just don’t make trouble with me!

The two of them were so excited that they wanted to send a letter of thanks to Zhao Kuo!

Soon Xianfeng received a memorial: On the * month of * (September 9th of the Gregorian calendar), the Guangdong thief Zhao Ziwei recruited 300 large ships, land and sea soldiers, set sail from Guangzhou, intending to invade Xiamen Port by water, reinforce Xiaodao bandits, and poison Fujian. Wang Yide and Li Tingyu received information and set off at Liu Wudian to sail to Zhenhaijiao and fight against the enemy bravely. The battle lasted for a day and a night, the fire attacked and destroyed the long-haired ships and sunk the long-haired ships (numbers). Now the seas of Zhenhaijiao, Kinmen Island and Xiamen Lu Island are full of wood fragments, and they are all ships with long-haired thieves being sunk.
To be continued...