Chapter 708 - Before the Bogue
Guided by Haitian, the fleet quickly passed Furong Shoal and continued upriver. Most transmigrators aboard were entering the Pearl River Estuary for the first time. Chen Haiyang, however, had navigated these waters many times during his service in the South Sea Fleet, commanding warships into Huangpu Port on repeated occasions. Yet the Pearl River of this era bore little resemblance to the one he remembered. The river sprawled far wider here, water and sky merging into a single vastness that might easily be mistaken for the sea itself. Everywhere lay bays, tributaries, and small sandy islets. The alluvial plains on both banks, fed by converging waters, created the illusion of an inland sea dotted with islands. The waterways that fragmented the land were indistinguishable from the channels encircling the islands themselves.
Small patches of cultivated fields appeared everywhere. The late rice was flowering, and the fragrance of rice blossoms hung heavy in the air. Villages and market towns were scattered along the banks with almost no roads between them—only boats for transportation. Large and small rivers formed a complex lattice connecting settlements. Occasionally, masts and sails could be glimpsed rising from distant rice paddies.
This breathtaking subtropical landscape had almost vanished from the Pearl River Delta of the old timeline. The transmigrators in the fleet gazed hungrily at the scenery, drinking it in. Was this not the very essence of the poet's words—"a broad river's waves, the wind carrying rice-blossom fragrance to both shores"? China's land had always been this beautiful and bountiful. And the more beautiful the scenery, the stronger their desire to seize it for themselves.
A few inland transport vessels and fishing boats plied the river. Seeing such an imposing, well-equipped fleet bearing down on them, they scattered into the surrounding bays and tributaries. Chen Haiyang ordered several captured for questioning about river conditions.
According to the boatmen and sailors, there were no government patrol ships on the Pearl River. If any official armed vessels existed, they amounted to nothing more than a few small boats from the tax station at Zini.
Most government warships lay scattered in the large and small bays between Xiangshan and Huangpu. At the Bogue, roughly a dozen were stationed. Besides naval vessels, over two thousand large ships were moored at Great Huangpu. Ever since the war with the "crop-heads" had begun, many long-haul merchant vessels dared not set sail—especially those bound for Vietnam and Siam that would have to pass through the Qiongzhou Strait, now effectively a war zone. Aside from a few bold, well-informed shipowners, no one risked the journey.
As for Guangzhou's defenses, the troops had reportedly strengthened their vigilance. Many sandbag artillery positions had been constructed along the riverbank. The Yaniangxie Battery at the Bogue had also received additional gun emplacements and a reinforced garrison.
Once Chen Haiyang had grasped the general disposition of river defenses, he concluded that Guangzhou had not established anything particularly elaborate—though of course, even the most elaborate defenses by seventeenth-century standards held little value against his forces. The navy he commanded operated at early nineteenth-century capability levels. Were it not for the special-service boats' outdated design and modest tonnage, he would not have needed nearly this many vessels to enter the Pearl River.
"Release all captured boatmen," Chen Haiyang ordered. "Give each a souvenir."
The captured boatmen and merchants had expected to lose their vessels and cargo at the very least, even if they were not taken hostage. To their surprise, the crop-heads proved unexpectedly polite. After questioning, they were permitted to depart. Each person aboard even received an "Australian face-washing cloth"—a towel—as a gift. Towels were among the most popular and widespread products of Lingao's industry.
The captives stared dumbfounded at the towels in their hands—blood-red thread embroidered with "Commemorating the Australasian Song Navy's First Entry into the Pearl River"—and watched the fleet sail away under full canvas. The whole encounter felt like some strange dream.
The fleet made straight for the Bogue. Chen Haiyang had resolved to take this Pearl River stronghold—the gateway to Guangzhou—in the very first engagement. The Bogue, part of Dongguan County in both Ming-Qing and modern times, bordered Lingding Bay to the east and Lion Bay inland. It comprised roughly eight kilometers of Pearl River waterway and the banks on either side. This was the river's critical chokepoint—Guangzhou's front door.
Throughout history, the Bogue's security had carried profound psychological significance for Guangzhou's safety. Once foreign enemies seized it, all Guangzhou would tremble. Hence, defenses here had always been elaborate—at least in theory. Yet the Bogue stronghold had never withstood a single frontal assault by foreign enemies. The British and Japanese, with their superior ships, guns, and tactics, had breached this chokepoint with ease. Even local Chinese pirates during the Jiaqing era had broken through without difficulty.
Chen Haiyang knew that in 1637, the Englishman Weddell would destroy and occupy the Yaniangxie Battery with just a handful of ships. Given his own forces, taking this place would require little effort.
While the Pearl River Special Expeditionary Fleet advanced, the Bogue's defenders had been working feverishly to strengthen their position. Although Guangdong Commander-in-Chief He Rubin remained besieged at Qiongshan and Wang Zunde was too ill to administer affairs, the efforts of Li Fengjie, Guangdong's local officials, and the Ming military commanders had significantly reinforced the entire region.
Leading the Bogue defense were Xu Tingfa, Supervising Regional Commander of Guangzhou Coastal Defense; Chen Qian, Commander of the Bogue Garrison Coastal Defense; and Fan Wencai, Magistrate of Dongguan County. Since the Bogue lay within his jurisdiction, Fan Wencai felt particularly duty-bound. He had personally relocated with his staff to Taiping Market before the Bogue Garrison to direct the efforts, conscripting several thousand laborers to construct fortifications.
Xu Tingfa was a veteran of coastal defense who harbored no illusions about the Bogue's existing defenses. Yaniangxie Island possessed only one earth-and-stone battery, gradually constructed since the Wanli reign and badly deteriorated in many places. The cannons mounted were mostly old Foulangji guns and fakang guns—not only underpowered but rusted from years of outdoor exposure. Besides this, a second earth-and-stone battery stood on Upper Hengdang Island opposite Yaniangxie, mounting four Foulangji guns. The crossfire these two positions could generate was pathetically weak. And both batteries could barely cover the eastern channel. The western channel had no defenses at all—only past Upper Hengdang Island, south of Dahu Mountain Island, did a makeshift Dahu Battery offer any resistance to vessels using that approach.
These three batteries together mounted only thirty-six guns—all Foulangji pieces cast during the Wanli reign or earlier, plus even more antiquated fakang guns. The total garrison for all three positions numbered only one hundred twenty men—barely sufficient to guard the cannons and fortifications.
Beyond these three batteries, the only Ming forces available to defend the Bogue were Chen Qian's garrison troops: a peacetime strength of 640 soldiers and ten warships mounting 120 guns. This sufficed to intercept smugglers and intimidate common folk—nothing more. For actual combat, reinforcements would be required; wartime strength was meant to expand to 2,000 troops.
Xu Tingfa knew that the crop-heads were renowned for their powerful ships and guns, far superior to ordinary pirates. So while consulting with Fan Wencai about cleaning and restoring the old cannons and repairing the batteries, he also ordered newly cast Red Barbarian cannons shipped from Foshan and elsewhere to expand the number of gun positions.
Gun positions at Yaniangxie Battery increased by sixty, reaching an unprecedented seventy-two. Upper Hengdang Island not only had its original battery refurbished but was also scheduled to receive a new battery facing the western channel, mounting twelve guns. Dahu Mountain Battery was likewise expanded. The Bogue Garrison itself received reinforcement with an earthen wall designed to mount eighteen additional cannons.
Beyond reinforcing and expanding the existing batteries, Xu Tingfa, Fan Wencai, and their colleagues also constructed Western-style fortifications following the specifications laid out in Sun Yuanhua's Xi Fa Duntai. Additionally, temporary sandbag-and-earth batteries were hastily thrown up at Dajiao and Shajiao, each mounting two Red Barbarian cannons and ten Foulangji guns.
According to Xu Tingfa's ultimate design, batteries would also be built along the Luwan shore west of Upper Hengdang Island, creating crossfire with the new Upper Hengdang Island western battery and thoroughly sealing the western channel.
Such an ambitious program required enormous funds and labor. Without more than a year of steady work, it could not be completed—yet the crop-head invasion might come at any moment. Xu Tingfa and his colleagues agreed to first erect temporary sandbag batteries and mount what guns they could. At minimum, this would provide some deterrent effect.
Neither Xu Tingfa nor Chen Qian believed these defenses could stop the crop-heads' great iron ship or their armored fast boats. However, these vessels appeared to be few in number; the crop-heads relied mostly on sailing ships. Against sail, the Great Ming navy still possessed some confidence—after all, Guangdong's navy had fought numerous maritime bandits in recent years and gained considerable experience.
The moment Chen Haiyang's expeditionary fleet passed Dajiao, the batteries at Dajiao and Shajiao spotted the tight formation. Combined with the red flags flying from the masts and the landing craft belching thick black smoke, identification was unmistakable.
At 11:23 on September twentieth, the Red Barbarian cannon at Dajiao Battery fired for the first time. The other guns at both batteries joined in moments later, filling the air with continuous thunder.
Chen Haiyang ordered the formation tightened. Haitian had already reported intelligence on both positions: the best cannons at Dajiao and Shajiao were merely twelve-pounder guns cast in imitation of English naval pieces, with a maximum range of roughly a thousand meters—nowhere near enough to reach the fleet. This was theater, nothing more.
He could have ignored the bombardment entirely and sailed straight through. But Chen Haiyang's mission was to teach Guangdong's local officials a lesson and demonstrate the transmigration faction's strength. Such provocation demanded fierce retaliation.
Raising his telescope, he observed the two batteries: crude temporary positions built from sandbags, mounting only a limited number of guns. He issued the order to eliminate them.
"Attack Dajiao Battery first! All long-gun squadrons, free fire. Alternating volleys by odd-even sequence! Carronade squadrons—await my command to engage!"
The special-service boats assigned to this expedition included squadrons equipped with either long guns or carronades. Though carronades were inexpensive and devastatingly effective at close range, their effective distance was too short—generally requiring closure to around 130 meters for maximum impact.
Notes:
1. The Bogue's defense system was formally established during the Wanli reign. The Ming defenses described here roughly follow the Qing-era Bogue coastal defense system.
2. The names of the Bogue officials are, of course, fictional. However, Chen Qian is a historical figure—according to "History of Sino-British Relations," the Guangdong Commander-in-Chief in 1637 was indeed Chen Qian. Whether he ever served as Bogue Garrison Commander is unverified by the author—including whether such a position existed.
3. Carronades were large-caliber short naval guns invented by the British. Short range, high power.
(End of Chapter)