Chapter 157: The Battle of Lantau

Could it be an internal conflict within the gang? Zheng Bao feared infighting the most. His subordinates had only been cobbled together in the last few months, and their relationship was still just a simple partnership. He was only revered as the great chief because he was the strongest. It was hard to say what might have happened below to cause a conflict.

A confidant rushed in from outside. “Great Chief! Outside! Outside…” His face was filled with horror, and he couldn’t speak.

“Damn it!” Zheng Bao cursed, knowing it was something serious. He quickly buckled on his sword and rushed out, surrounded by his trusted men.

Zheng Bao saw the most terrifying sight of his life: streaks of fire, trailing black smoke, crisscrossed the sky, falling like meteors towards Tung Chung Hau.

The ships in the harbor and the houses on shore were burning fiercely. The black streaks of fire in the sky emitted a terrifying shriek as they fell, and flames and explosions engulfed the entire port of Tung Chung.

For a moment, Zheng Bao thought he was dreaming and stood there in a daze.

“Great Chief, what do we do now?” his men asked anxiously.

Zheng Bao was startled back to reality. “Quick! To the ships!” He waved his hand and led the way towards the Tung Chung Hau pier.

Zheng Bao’s trade was murder, arson, and all manner of wickedness, and he had sometimes thought about things like “hell.” He never expected to see hell while he was still alive. The road to the Tung Chung pier was littered with charred corpses and collapsed houses. Twisted black iron shells were scattered everywhere. Not a single house was not on fire, and even the jetties were burning. As far as the eye could see, the water in the harbor was filled with burning ships, some already half-sunk.

Overhead, rockets shrieked terrifyingly as they plummeted to the ground. Each rocket that hit the ground made Zheng Bao tremble. Some men simply fell to the ground, crawling on all fours as if that would get them further away from these terrible gods of death in the sky.

The group finally reached the shore. The jetties were mostly burned down. The ships in Tung Chung Hau that weren’t on fire were all weighing anchor and setting sail towards the mouth of the harbor. His confidants surrounded him, found a small boat, and hastily helped him onto his flagship.

“Quick, weigh anchor and set sail. Hoist my banner!” As soon as Zheng Bao boarded his flagship, he didn’t bother to fix his disheveled appearance and barked out orders. The situation was chaotic, and everyone was thinking only of their own escape. If he didn’t get his ship out of the harbor quickly, identify himself, and rally his men, his “great gang” would scatter to the winds in an instant.

Looking through Shi Zhiqi’s telescope, the rocket bombardment of the harbor was highly effective. The burning ships in the bay were the best testament to this tactic. Through the thick smoke, he could see many ships racing to escape the harbor. Some were already on fire, and the pirates were fighting the flames as they fled.

“Report to the Commander: most of the enemy ships are fleeing towards the open sea,” Shi Zhiqi said with satisfaction. “The pirates in Tung Chung Hau have been broken.”

The female signalman standing beside him quickly recorded his order and then ran to the radio operator—actually a walkie-talkie.

Shi Zhiqi ordered, “Fire another 100 rockets!” The rockets that had been carried up the mountain couldn’t be carried back down, so they might as well use them all up.

The bombardment of 400 rockets turned Tung Chung Hau into a hell of fire and smoke. In comparison, the effect of the few 12-pounder howitzers was negligible.

Chen Haiyang’s fleet was waiting in formation outside Tung Chung Hau. Every special service boat had its broadside aimed at the harbor mouth. All gunports were open. When the scattered pirate ships escaped from Tung Chung Hau, they were met with a dense barrage of cannon fire. Not a single ship could escape the terrifying power of a dozen special service boats firing simultaneously. Often, after the thick smoke from a concentrated barrage cleared, all that was left of a pirate ship was a toppled mast, shattered planks, and a deck littered with corpses—many of them missing heads and limbs, some reduced to bloody, mangled torsos.

The anticipated naval battle never happened. There was only the methodical firing and maneuvering of the special service boats. The sailors were already very experienced, using a hybrid of Chinese and Western seamanship to control their vessels with sails and oars. The gunnery chiefs, trained by naval artillery NCOs, used simple wooden rangefinders to measure distance and angle, observed the currents and wind speed, and then quickly calculated the firing angle on their slide rules. The gunners, in the smoke-filled decks and gun bays, adjusted the angles and then fired in unison on command. A single powerful broadside, if it hit, could disable a pirate ship.

Outside Tung Chung Hau, the sea was littered with pirate ships with toppled masts, burning fiercely, and covered in corpses, drifting with the waves. The scene was as tragic as the one inside the bay.

Wang You and the dozen or so ships he had brought with him escaped the bay in a state of chaos and disarray. He secretly complained that the Aussies had attacked without even giving a warning, nearly getting him killed. But he knew this was not the time for complaints. He ordered his men to hoist the white flag and the secret signal flag they had agreed upon with Shi Shisi at the top of the mast. As expected, the Aussie warships did not fire on any ship flying the secret signal. Wang You’s dozen or so ships reached the open sea safely and were then boarded one by one by waiting special service boats and disarmed.

The surrendered pirates had no complaints. They were all obediently disarmed and escorted by marines towards Hong Kong Island. After witnessing the Aussies’ powerful firepower, no one felt they had any room to bargain.

Zheng Bao’s flagship struggled out of the bay and managed to rally seven or eight ships. He had already heard the cannon fire from outside the harbor and knew that Aussie warships were intercepting them, but he had no other choice but to charge out. The easily defensible terrain of Tung Chung Hau was a death trap for a fleet being suppressed by artillery from the surrounding highlands.

In a brief moment when the smoke cleared, he saw the Aussie Song fleet in the sun outside the bay—it was the first time he had seen them. The neat formation, the fluttering flags, the gleaming cannons… A strong sense of inferiority welled up in his heart. Just a few days ago, he had actually thought of competing with the Aussies.

Overestimating his own strength. The thought had just flashed through his mind when several special service boats fired at him simultaneously. One volley swept across the deck of Zheng Bao’s flagship, and a cannonball passed by Zheng Bao, tearing him in half.

Zheng Bao’s death caused little reaction on the battlefield. It didn’t even attract the attention of others. In fact, before his flagship was sunk, the entire pirate fleet had already disintegrated. Every ship, every man, was only thinking of their own escape, and so they sailed one after another into the muzzles of Chen Haiyang’s cannons.

At five in the afternoon, Chen Haiyang ordered a ceasefire, allowing a few ships to escape—they would be the voluntary propagandists of the Aussie army’s might. The entire sea outside Tung Chung Hau was a mess, littered with burning ships. Some ships that weren’t on fire, with their hulls shattered, drifted aimlessly, lifeless. The sea was full of scattered pirates who had jumped overboard to escape. Those who were quick-witted lowered their sails and flags to signal their surrender.

The marines and the temporary landing party of sailors, commanded by Shi Zhiqi, charged down from the mountains around Tung Chung, occupying the pirate-infested villages and piers by the bay. They captured hundreds of pirates who hadn’t managed to get on board and escape, and also seized many abandoned sampans and “long dragons,” as well as several large ships. The marines met almost no resistance and completely occupied Tung Chung Hau.

Shi Zhiqi, with his guards, orderlies, and signalmen, strode into the still-burning Tung Chung Hau. He stood by the burning jetties, with the marine flag flying behind him.

Shi Zhiqi lit a pipe—he never actually smoked a pipe. Huang Zhua’zi raised his camera and took seven or eight pictures from different angles: Shi Zhiqi casually smoking and observing the battlefield under the sun; Shi Zhiqi with burning ships in the background; Shi Zhiqi with the marines who had just captured the jetties and conquered Tung Chung behind him…

“Now you’re satisfied. All glorious images.”

“It’s a pity the Lingao Times is so strict about publishing photos,” Shi Zhiqi coughed a few times, emptied the pipe, and had his orderly put it away.

The pirates who couldn’t get on a ship and those who swam back from the sea were rounded up in large numbers. The prisoners, tied together in strings, were herded to the shore to wait for ships to transport them to Hong Kong Island. They would undergo “re-education” in the local purification camp and serve as much-needed labor.

After five in the afternoon, all fighting on land and sea had ceased. The navy’s total losses were only seventeen wounded—all minor injuries. But the ammunition consumption was enormous; the Hale rockets originally intended for the Pearl River campaign were almost completely used up.

However, they had captured over 2,000 prisoners alone. The number of ships towed back from the sea and captured in the bay, either intact or easily repairable, was 24 large vessels. Of the sampans and “long dragons,” which were very useful in the inland waterways, although most were burned, more than 50 intact and repairable boats were left.

Even the ships that couldn’t be repaired, as long as they hadn’t sunk or burned completely, were all towed back. Chen Haiyang planned to recycle the timber from them. Even the useless parts could be used as fuel. The marines found a large amount of supplies and money in Zheng Bao’s main camp in the village, a considerable windfall.

The two villages at Tung Chung Hau were mostly burned down by the rockets, and almost all the fishing boats moored on the shore were destroyed. Chen Haiyang ordered all the remaining villagers to be taken to Hong Kong Island for resettlement. As for the other villages, no action was taken for the time being. Lantau was not suitable as a military base. After the necessary cleanup, Chen Haiyang ordered the entire force to withdraw to Hong Kong Island.