Chapter 165: The Battle of Dajiao and Shajiao

Considering the low combat capability of the Ming navy, the possibility of a large-scale naval battle was slim. The fleet would be more focused on shore bombardment and close support missions. All the Ming cannons on the forts were out of range for the carronades. Therefore, only two squadrons were equipped with carronades. To avoid excessive losses, Chen Haiyang had the squadrons equipped with 24-pounder cannons open fire first.

“Should we deploy the bombardment boats?” someone suggested.

For this mission into the Pearl River’s inner waterways, the fleet had brought along specialized bombardment boats, which were fire support vessels specially built by the shipyard for the upcoming mainland campaign.

A bombardment boat was a small, specially reinforced single-masted vessel designed for land attack. It had a shallow draft, allowing it to navigate into shallow waters to conduct bombardments. The boat’s shape resembled half a hazelnut shell, with gunwales much higher than a normal sampan, making it less likely to capsize even when violently rocked. A wooden leeboard, as long as the hull, was fitted along the keel underwater to counteract the boat’s side-to-side rocking caused by cannon recoil. In the middle of the boat, there were one or two reinforced gun mounts for 10-inch or 15-inch mortars.

This type of bombardment boat had participated in the assaults on the Humen and Zhoushan forts during the First Opium War, demonstrating its excellent effectiveness in destroying shore targets.

The bombardment boats made in Lingao used an iron-ribbed wooden hull construction to simplify production and strengthen the hull structure. They were also modified to be multi-purpose, capable of mounting mortars or large-caliber howitzers, as well as launching Hale rockets after installing a launch frame. The ordnance factory had cast 20 280mm mortars, which were installed on 10 bombardment boats.

“Not for now,” Chen Haiyang shook his head. The bombardment boats had limited ammunition storage, and resupplying at sea was time-consuming and laborious. He wanted to save them for the main fort at Anniangxie.

Shi Shisi’s 5th Special Service Boat Squadron was the first to move out. From the sterncastle, Shi Shisi gave the order for the entire squadron to approach Shajiao in a column formation.

In terms of range, the cannons on the special service boats had no advantage. To achieve good firing results, they had to close to about 400 meters to open fire. But in terms of firepower and accuracy, they were on a completely different level.

The gunnery chief on each boat of the 5th Squadron raised their measuring instruments, calculating the distance, wind direction, wind speed, and ship speed. They quickly used their slide rules to compute the aiming data.

“Entire squadron, load high-explosive shells!” Shi Shisi ordered. “Prepare to fire!”

The officers and soldiers on the fort probably didn’t expect the enemy ships to approach the fort instead of quickly passing through the channel. As they had originally planned, the distance between Dajiao and Shajiao was too great for the two forts to form an effective crossfire. The small garrison at the poorly defended fort was immediately thrown into chaos by the frontal assault. The rhythm of their firing became erratic. The old-fashioned cannons were slow to load and cool down, and the poorly trained gunners became flustered in an emergency. The cannon fire was very disorganized.

Shi Shisi noticed that the water spouts from the cannonball splashes were of different sizes, and the smoke trails of the projectiles were also chaotic. He knew that there were very few Hongyi cannons on the fort that could pose a threat to the ships; most were probably large breech-loading swivel guns.

Thick white smoke enveloped the Dajiao fort. Cannonballs landed far from the special service boats, raising large and small water columns. Not to mention the aiming problem, the enemy was firing randomly before the ships were even in range. This was a typical characteristic of how various armed forces on Chinese soil used firearms at this time. For a moment, it looked spectacular, but soon many cannons stopped firing due to overheating. Only a few scattered cannons were still firing, their shots posing no threat.

“Starboard 20 degrees, all ships follow me!” Shi Shisi saw that his flagship was less than 600 meters from the fort. At this distance, the 24-pounder cannons on his ship had enough power and accuracy to bombard the fort.

A cannonball landed not far from the ship’s side. The 5th Squadron followed the flagship’s turn, all turning to starboard, presenting their port side to the fort.

“Port broadside!” Shi Shisi roared.

The Lin Te 51 erupted with a huge roar. The salvo from the four cannons on the port side, plus the two cannons at the bow and stern, made the entire hull tremble. The crew clearly felt the whole ship being pushed to starboard by the recoil. The planks and masts creaked. A pungent smell immediately filled the deck.

Six high-explosive shells, trailing fire and smoke, landed on the beach in front of the fort, raising a line of tall, yellow-stained water columns—the flagship had fired ranging shots.

“Damn it! Too close!” Shi Shisi cursed. “What kind of rangefinding was that? Correct it, now!”

The other three special service boats following the flagship quickly corrected their range. The second and third volleys hit the Dajiao fort one after another. Black flashes of explosions could be faintly seen rising through the thick smoke. After the entire 5th Squadron had finished its bombardment, the fire from the Dajiao fort had completely ceased. By the time all three squadrons had finished firing, the 5th Squadron had completed its turn, now heading south, presenting its unfired starboard side to the Dajiao fort. It began a second round of bombardment.

The Dajiao fort had been hastily built, and its open gun emplacements could not withstand the bombardment of 24-pounder high-explosive shells. It was quickly silenced by the continuous shelling. The entire fort was engulfed in smoke and flames, completely losing its combat capability.

Several sampans carrying marines landed at the Dajiao fort. The sandbag-built fort had mostly collapsed, the cannons were scattered, and the ground was littered with the bodies of officers and soldiers killed by the artillery fire. Most of the defenders had already fled.

Next, the special service boat squadrons bombarded the Shajiao fort. The terrain at Shajiao was more advantageous than at Dajiao, but the government forces had only hastily built a sandbag fort at the foot of the Shajiao hill. It too quickly lost its combat capability under the artillery fire. The marines swiftly landed at Shajiao, capturing all the cannons and 11 surviving defenders who had not managed to escape. The navy’s losses were extremely light: in the two-hour battle, apart from four special service boats being hit and seven men wounded, there were no other losses. The hit special service boats were only struck by small projectiles; the most serious damage was to the Lin Te 75, whose side was pierced by a 9-pounder cannonball, though it did not affect its navigation at all.

The marines who landed at the Dajiao and Shajiao forts dismantled all the cannons on the forts and loaded them onto sampans to be taken away. Several captured pirate ships in the fleet were designated as transports for the spoils of war.

After eliminating the two corner forts, Chen Haiyang commanded the fleet to continue approaching the main defensive position of Humen, Anniangxie Mountain. He decided not to charge directly through the East Waterway—the East Waterway had crossfire from both banks, and passing through directly would inevitably result in many ships being hit, causing unnecessary casualties and losses.

From reconnaissance intelligence, Chen Haiyang knew that the government forces had no defenses in the Humen West Waterway. He decided to lead the fleet into the West Waterway to launch the attack. The cannons of the Dahushan fort posed no threat to his fleet. The government forces’ plan for the Dahushan fort was to block enemy ships that had broken through the East or West Waterways from continuing upstream. But Chen Haiyang’s objective was to capture Humen first.

A special service boat squadron entered the East Waterway first. Because the east fort on Shanghengdang Island was not yet complete and had no cannons installed, Xu Tingfa had stationed three hundred soldiers and some small artillery at the fort construction site to cover Shanghengdang Island. The Ming commander on Shanghengdang Island, seeing the Kun thieves about to enter the East Waterway, quickly lit a beacon fire to warn the Humen Garrison.

Xu Tingfa was at this time in his command tent on the summit of Wushan, watching helplessly as the Dajiao and Shajiao forts, three or four kilometers away, fell. He had not deployed many troops or cannons to these two forts. In the minds of Xu Tingfa and his men, the Kun thieves would sail directly through the channel and make a straight break for the Shanghengdang line to break the river blockade. They had not expected them to eliminate the two corner forts one by one.

Now he watched as the enemy took the East Waterway, which was wide open because the forts were not yet complete. Xu Tingfa was very anxious—after passing the East Waterway, only the Dahushan fort could intercept the enemy ships, and the cannons of the Dahushan fort were clearly insufficient. As a contingency plan, he ordered Chen Qian to lead the Humen Garrison’s warships to the West Waterway immediately to engage the enemy.

The squadron entering the West Waterway was the 13th Special Service Boat Squadron, commanded by Li Guangfa. After entering the waterway in a column formation, he was immediately bombarded by small cannons from the shore. But the small artillery could not reach the ships at all. Li Guangfa ordered a return fire. A few volleys of high-explosive shells quickly silenced the small cannons behind the earthen walls. Then, the special service boats approached the coast and used “typewriters” to clear the government infantry massed on the earthen dikes. A rain of lead bullets left the remaining men strewn across the field, routed. The resistance on the west bank of Shanghengdang Island was quickly destroyed.

Chen Qian’s 10 two-masted naval vessels did not charge directly into the West Waterway. Instead, they formed a line on the sea south of Dahushan. Ostensibly, they were waiting to deliver a head-on blow to the Kun thieves’ ships as they exited the West Waterway. In reality, Chen Qian knew the enemy had strong ships and powerful cannons and did not dare to enter the West Waterway to fight them. He planned to fight under the cover of the Dahushan fort’s firepower. But Li Guangfa was in no hurry to engage—the mission Chen Haiyang had given him was to control the West Waterway and cover the marines’ landing on Shanghengdang Island.

Shanghengdang Island was the “key” to the Humen defense system. As long as the defenders controlled this island, they could effectively block the East and West Waterways of Humen. Therefore, the focus of Chen Haiyang’s plan to attack Humen was to take this island.

Since the west side of Shanghengdang Island had no forts and was weakly defended, it gave Chen Haiyang the opportunity to directly attack and occupy the island. As Li Guangfa’s 13th Squadron signaled that they had control of the West Waterway, motorboats, spewing thick black smoke and loaded with marines and sailors from the landing party, headed for the West Waterway.