Chapter 166: The Battle of Shanghengdang Island

Splashing water occasionally flew over the bow. The motorboat was crowded with marines and sailors from the landing party. They sat silently on the deck, holding their rifles—as per regulations, each was encased in a disposable oil-paper protective bag. The steam engine made a huge vibrating noise. Shi Zhiqi stood at the stern of a motorboat, watching the approaching Shanghengdang Island, his heart pounding so hard he licked his lips—he wished he had some chewing gum or something to chew on right now.

A few small motorboats, serving as fire support, led the formation, spewing black smoke. These small boats were equipped with shielded “typewriters” and had their hulls wrapped in iron sheets, specifically designed to approach the coast and provide covering fire for the troops. The gunners on board wore steel helmets and protective vests with front and back steel plates, their expressions tense as they held the balancing bars of the “typewriters,” waiting for the order to fire.

The small motorboats approached the coastline, and the loud roar of the “typewriters” immediately filled the air. In reality, this was unnecessary. The unfinished west fort was already deserted. The lead bullets fired by the “typewriters” only managed to break many grass and tree branches.

Shi Zhiqi led by example, being the first to jump off the motorboat. The water was shallow. He swung his command sword forward and shouted, “Attack!”

A bugler in the water sounded the charge. Boat after boat of marines and armed sailors quickly jumped into the knee-deep water, waded ashore, and soon, Shi Zhiqi had landed two companies and two 12-pounder mountain howitzers on the west coast of Shanghengdang Island, clearing out all remaining Ming troops. About 50 were captured. Shi Zhiqi ordered the troops to immediately advance towards the east side of the island.

According to intelligence, there were eight hundred government troops on Shanghengdang Island. The east fort on the island had 12 newly added Hongyi cannons. The fort had been built since the Wanli era and was relatively strong, with a garrison of five hundred. A frontal attack would not only have to endure the fire from the east fort but also flanking fire from the Anniangxie fort.

Since all the gunports of this fort faced east, its rear was completely undefended. So when Shi Zhiqi’s two marine companies appeared from the flank and rear, and shells from the two mountain howitzers landed in the fort, the morale of the entire garrison collapsed. The heavy Hongyi cannons could not be easily moved, and the enemy was coming from the flank and rear. The soldiers, armed with broadswords, spears, and three-eyed muskets, had neither the ability nor the will to resist. Only the personal guards of the fort commander engaged in a brave hand-to-hand combat, resulting in one marine killed and three wounded—the only casualties for the navy in the entire battle of Shanghengdang Island.

The marines quickly routed the defending government troops, who outnumbered them two to one. The combined fire of rifles and mountain howitzers turned the battle into a one-sided slaughter. A few managed to escape to the opposite Anniangxie Island on small boats, while the rest scattered and soon surrendered in large numbers.

Shi Zhiqi, surrounded by his guards, orderlies, and signalmen, entered the smoke-filled, corpse-strewn fort and climbed to the highest point. The fort itself was not heavily damaged, and seemed to be quite sturdily built. The 12 Hongyi cannons were in their positions, unfired, aimed at the sea where the enemy ships were supposed to appear.

Shi Zhiqi observed that the design of the fort was strange. The so-called fort was just a circular earth and stone platform, faced with bricks and stones. On the platform were 12 Hongyi cannons, all facing the sea. At the side and rear of the platform, there was only a simple brick wall, with no defensive structures, not even a trench. It seemed the defenders had not considered the possibility of the enemy landing and attacking from the flank and rear.

Even in a frontal attack, because there were no auxiliary defenses around the platform, once the attackers got close, they would be in the platform’s blind spot and could easily climb up to fight. Shi Zhiqi estimated that a marine company could take this fort in less than half an hour with a frontal assault—though with some casualties.

“Send a message!” Shi Zhiqi said with satisfaction, placing his foot on the battlement of the fort. He looked at Wushan on the other side of the East Waterway and swung his command sword. “The key to Humen is now in the hands of my Marine Corps!”

While the battle for Shanghengdang Island was raging, another force landed at the Luwan fort on the west bank of the river. The hundred or so soldiers guarding the fort fled without a fight, leaving behind the half-finished fort and a large amount of building materials. With this, the second and main defensive line of Humen had been breached. Even without attacking Anniangxie Mountain and destroying the forts there, the Pearl River was wide open.

However, Chen Haiyang wanted to capture Humen completely. He immediately ordered the bombardment boats to be towed into the Humen East Waterway by motorboats to prepare for the bombardment of the Anniangxie fort. The shallow-draft motorboats and bombardment boats sailed along the coast of Shanghengdang Island. Because they were out of range, the forts on the opposite Anniangxie Island could only watch in frustration.

The main camp on Wushan was in a state of panic. No one had expected the defense system they had painstakingly built to be so fragile. Fan Wencai trembled and said, “The fort, how could the fort be lost so quickly…”

“The Kun thieves actually landed on the other side and attacked from behind! How despicable!” Li Xijue, who had rushed from Zhaoqing to inspect the defenses of Humen and was “lucky” enough to witness the event, had a pale face. Although he said it was despicable, he finally understood the feeling that had prompted Lu Yizhong to write that letter.

“It’s alright, the Kun thieves don’t have many men on the island, only two or three hundred,” Xu Tingfa said, trying to remain calm. In fact, when the red and blue-and-white flags of the Aussies were raised on Shanghengdang Island, Xu Tingfa’s heart had already sunk. With Shanghengdang lost, the entire Humen chokepoint had lost its blocking effect. To rebuild the defense, they had to retake Shanghengdang Island.

He called over a subordinate general. “Immediately recruit three hundred daredevils! Each will be rewarded with five taels of silver. Prepare to cross the sea and counter-attack Shanghengdang Island! After success, each will be rewarded with ten taels! The wounded will get an additional five taels! The dead will get twenty taels!”

“I understand!” The subordinate general immediately left. On the other side, he ordered the preparation of sampans and small boats for the counter-attack across the East Waterway.

Just as he was mobilizing his troops for the counter-attack, the 10 bombardment boats, already anchored under the east fort of Shanghengdang Island, began their bombardment.

With the thunderous roar of the 280mm mortars, black iron balls soared into the air from the thick smoke, trailing fire as they fell onto the fort. The Anniangxie fort, which Xu Tingfa, Fan Wencai, and others had painstakingly expanded and repaired with thousands of laborers and tens of thousands of taels of silver, trembled and collapsed under the fire of the 280mm mortars. Broken bricks and stones were thrown into the sky, and muffled explosions were heard one after another. The entire fort seemed to be completely shrouded in smoke.

Xu Tingfa’s planned counter-attack was completely disrupted. Under such fierce fire, no fool would run to the beach for a “counter-attack” for five taels of silver.

Li Xijue watched as the fort was battered by the Kun thieves’ cannons, with smoke and fire everywhere, walls and platforms collapsing, yet there was no sign of a single shot being fired in return. He anxiously said, “Why aren’t our Hongyi cannons firing?”

“They can’t reach!” Xu Tingfa said impatiently. “At this distance, they’ll just fall into the water!”

“What?! Even the Hongyi cannons…” Li Xijue’s face turned pale. He had always regarded the Hongyi cannon as an unprecedented military weapon. Now, there was a cannon that could shoot farther and was more powerful. Coupled with the fact that throughout the battle so far, the government forces had only been taking a beating without a single effective counter-attack, he became more and more frustrated. At this moment, he felt a wave of dizziness and fainted.

Xu Tingfa had no time to spare for this official from the Governor-General’s office. Not only was his counter-attack plan difficult to implement, but the Kun thieves’ fleet had already entered the East Waterway.

If Shanghengdang Island had not been lost, they could have “severely punished” the Aussie ships! Xu Tingfa thought with regret. He still held out a sliver of hope: that the various forts on Anniangxie, suppressed by the artillery fire, would open fire as the enemy ships entered their range.

Shi Shisi’s 5th Squadron was ordered to use the suppressive and smoke effects created by the bombardment boats’ high-explosive shells. The 5th Squadron closed to within 380 meters of the front of the fort, dropped anchor to fix their position, and then joined the bombardment with their broadside cannons.

At a distance of 380 meters, the Hongyi cannons on the fort had enough power to inflict heavy damage on these special service boats. But after being bombarded by the mortars for thirty minutes, the soldiers on all the forts were either dead or had fled. There were no soldiers left at the open gun positions to fire the cannons. The fort’s fortifications were seen collapsing in large sections under the artillery fire, like sandcastles. From time to time, a powder magazine on the fort would be detonated, sending a black fireball soaring into the sky.

Then, two more squadrons entered the East Waterway and joined the bombardment. After one hour and twenty-five minutes of shelling, all the forts on Anniangxie Island had lost their combat capability. Three hundred marines and sailors from the landing party landed on sampans and entered the forts through the rubble-strewn walls. By 17:07 in the afternoon, all the forts had fallen. The defending government troops left behind two hundred corpses, and about four hundred were captured.

Xu Tingfa and the others were ashen-faced. Seeing the forts fall, let alone counter-attacking, they were now in danger of not even being able to save themselves if they remained on Wushan. The only option now was to immediately retreat to the Humen Garrison and defend it to the death. Just as Xu Tingfa was about to give orders for the retreat, he heard someone shout, “It’s bad! The Kun thieves are attacking the mountain!”

Instantly, the entire main camp on the summit of Wushan exploded in chaos. The officers and soldiers, who had been watching the battle all afternoon, had no will to fight and scattered like birds and beasts. Except for a few of Xu Tingfa’s personal guards who remained calm and protected the command center, the entire main camp was in utter chaos.

“Sir, let’s go quickly!” Several of his trusted generals, without waiting for his consent, rushed Xu Tingfa and the others onto their horses and fled down the mountain, surrounded by their men.