At around three o'clock in the morning on January 20, heavy fog spread over the Yangtze River. Even at this time, the sky was stained with ink. Now it was dark and foggy, and it was really hard to see where I was.

On both sides of the Yangtze River, the north bank was pitch black and dead without a trace of light. On the south bank, countless searchlight beams stretched out into the river, moving in vain on the river surface, trying to search for something.

Every ten seconds or so, a batch of flares rise up in the sky, rising to a high altitude, spraying white magnesium light, and falling slowly. When they fall into the river and are extinguished, another batch is immediately fired up, never ending.

A gap appears.

Despite this, visibility only improved slightly.

Nanming has obviously reached the edge of fear. Eighty percent of Nanming's sense of security lies along the defense line of the Yangtze River. This winter we encountered heavy fog that had not been seen in fifty years, and this sense of security was completely lost. In addition, it was exposed by the tabloids.

People all over the country are now panicking about the "His Majesty Dreamed of the Tengu" story that has been exaggerated so much, as if Nanming, which had held on for three hundred years, was about to collapse this year.

During these days of war, Ming submarines and torpedo boats were working hard to lay mines on the river every night, checking old mines and laying new mines. Engineers were also laying mines on the muddy beach under the river embankment every day. The mines that were knocked out by Qing artillery during the day were

They were all made up at night. Even the bomb craters had to be buried with landmines, so that the Qing army had nowhere to hide on the beach. Today, the density of landmines and sea mines has been unprecedentedly high. This can be regarded as adding some confidence to the Nanming defenders.

: Heavy fog affects the aiming of guns, but mines don’t require eyes.

The searchlights could not see far away, so Nanming sent a large number of torpedo boats and submarines to patrol the Yangtze River, trying to detect the enemy as soon as possible. Now, several destroyers on the Yangtze River on both sides have been sunk by the other side's shore artillery after the war. These days, in

These are the "little guys" scurrying on the river, and torpedo boats from both sides often encounter battles at night. However, Beiqing has no submarine force, and surface ships cannot be mobilized, while Nan Mingguang has more than 20 pocket submarines on the Yangtze River, starting a war.

Later, several medium-sized submarines were transferred from the East China Sea Fleet.

Submarines are weak in front of destroyers, but they are 100% strong in front of torpedo boats. Especially the newly transferred medium-sized submarines, which are several hundred tons in size, have a 40mm machine gun and a 20mm machine gun.

There is also a 75mm main gun on the front deck, which is very powerful. In comparison, the torpedo boat, which only has a few dozen tons and a 20mm machine gun, is completely at a disadvantage. When launching torpedoes, the target of the submarine is too small, so it is difficult not to get close.

Hit. If you get close, you are courting death.

Now, the "Qingshuang" submarine of the East China Sea Fleet is cruising on the Nanjing River. In the past, when cruising at night, they were very careful to hide under the water. Now it is foggy and the enemy's shore guns cannot hit it, and there are no guns on the Yangtze River.

It is a destroyer, so it can sail on the water with great arrogance. This has a wider field of vision and a much better reconnaissance effect.

On the command tower, the captain and four observers wore waterproof coats and hung telescopes around their necks, but they only scanned the river with the naked eye. Because of the thick fog, they could only see a dozen meters away, and using telescopes would only affect the field of vision.

On the front deck, the gunner and loader were wearing helmets, life jackets, and safety belts, guarding the 75mm main gun. The two little female soldiers stamped their feet, clapped their hands, touched their ears, and looked at the dense surroundings.

Fog, waves crashing underfoot, and people chatting quietly.

A Jiangnan girl said:

"The Yangtze River is really smooth. There are no waves at all. I can't even see that the seat belts are fastened. The ones in the Yangtze River Fleet are not too comfortable."

Another Sichuan girl said:

"Humph, why are you so comfortable? Across the street is Qinglusa, and they play with their heads every day. I wonder how the Grasshopper sank?"

"Hey, Grasshopper, if I can marry a commander in the end, I would be willing to be sunk once..."

"Shh... don't say that, it's very clever... The Chixiao didn't come back last night. I heard it hit one of my own mines and sank..."

"Hey, the Chixiao has been transferred to Yanziji... The one that hit the mine was the Ladybug, or the submarine of their Yangtze River Fleet..."

"That's right. The mines are too dense now and the fog is so heavy that even those familiar with them will hit them. Then we..."

"Shh..."

The main gunner waved his hands and listened hard into the thick fog, carefully identifying the direction:

"It seems to be on our side..."

The loader also heard it and hurriedly gestured to the conning tower. The conning tower was closer to the stern engine of the boat, and the noise was not heard yet. The captain saw their actions and quickly gave the order:

"Twin engine stop."

After a while, the propeller was turned off and the surroundings became quiet. Sure enough, the sound of the engine was faintly heard in the thick fog. It was on the right side of the submarine, not too far to the northwest. It was not just one or two, but there were many sounds, and it was loud.

one slice.

"Torpedo boat!"

One person said.

"No," the captain shook his head, biting his lip, his face slowly changing color, "It's a Zodiac!"

The sound became louder and louder, and gradually there were sounds from all directions, almost surrounding the submarine. There seemed to be hundreds of thousands of them. The captain shouted:

"Sail at full speed with full right rudder, prepare for battle! The observer evacuates the bridge, and the gun crew is ready to fire! Send a report immediately, encountering a large number of enemy infantry assault boats!"

Before he finished speaking, the four observers around him got into the hatch cover with a "bang bang".

The harsh noise of the propeller sounded again, dragging up white waves. The steel body of the submarine quickly turned to the right and rushed towards the direction of the sound. The captain was alone on the conning tower, holding on to the railing, searching with all his eyes.

The crew members of the three artillery crews were holding the handles with sweaty hands, and the loading hands were holding the shells and drums. They were all pale, looking at the dark fog around them, wondering what their fate would be.

Even though the noise of the submarine was huge, the sound of the motors of the surrounding assault boats was getting louder and louder. They were so densely packed that one could already hear shouts and curses with northern accents everywhere:

"Grandma, you're a bear, what the hell?"

"Why is the sound so loud? Is it a submarine?"

"It's probably a torpedo boat!"

"I can't see you. Get out of the way. Don't hit me!"

"Lie down, lie down!"

"Shh, don't fucking say anything! You're not seasick anymore, are you?"

…

"Plop-ah-"

As the submarine trembled, the bow of the boat rose up and the bottom of the boat was lifted up. There were screams and the sound of falling into the water. The submarine passed over an assault boat at a speed of 12 knots, leaving a series of flapping cries for help behind it.

Suddenly the loader screamed and stretched out a hand from the water. A Qing soldier who fell into the water grabbed her feet and climbed desperately to the deck. The loader struggled, and the shells in his arms hit the deck with a bang.

, rolled again and fell into the river. She fell down on the deck, grabbed the railing and kicked the Qing soldier desperately. The gunner also came to help.

"Get off!"

The captain on the conning tower shouted, pulled out his revolver, aimed and fired, and the Qing soldier slipped into the water with blood pouring from his mouth.

The fire of the pistol attracted the shooting of the surrounding rifles. The bullets flew by and hit the steel plate of the submarine. The main gunner and loader on the front deck were shot to death immediately. The two bodies were hung by safety belts and dragged on the submarine.

There is blood in the water.

Because the two machine guns were on the gun mount at the rear of the command tower, they were in a higher position and had baffles. Even though sparks were flying, the gun crew was still intact. Without the captain's order, the two machine guns immediately fired back, 20 mm.

The muzzle of the 40mm gun moved around, spitting out huge tongues of flame into the water, and the roar was deafening.

In an instant, there were explosions and screams. The submarine was charging at full speed, flipping over several assault boats. The surrounding water was like a boiling pot, turning into a soup of blood, with both dead and alive, like dumplings.

Same.

In the dense fog, the huge flames of the machine gun naturally became the best target. For a moment, rifle bullets flew like locusts, and the thin steel plate of the control tower was riddled with holes. The captain could only squat behind the steel guardrail.

He shouted into the cabin based on his feelings and commanded the course of the submarine. But on the contrary, the rifle fire on the water also indicated the target for the submarine gun crew. The 40mm cannon turned more cumbersomely and had a slower rate of fire, but the 20mm cannon

It was much more flexible, and it was double-linked. When I saw the muzzle flames there were relatively dense, the machine gun immediately pressed over. Within a few seconds, the assault boat was overturned and people were killed.

Suddenly, the ammunition feeder of the 20mm cannon fell on his back. A few seconds later, there was a fire interruption. The gunner went to move the drum himself, and was shot to death as soon as he left the baffle. Only a heavy 40mm cannon was left.

Single tree support.

"Okay, okay," the captain patted the deck under his feet and shouted through the cabin door, "Full left rudder, return at full speed!"

The submarine's propeller roared and turned over the white waves. The speed increased to 14 knots. It turned around and headed towards the south shore. It soon left the slow assault boat behind. The 40mm cannon was still "bang bang bang" far away behind it.

The two living girls were convulsed with tongues of fire, with tears streaming down their faces, and they were still firing like crazy.

…

After a short and fierce battle, a piece of floating corpses and several overturned assault boats were left on this small piece of water. The Qing soldiers who were not dead in the water struggled to climb onto other assault boats, and overturned a few more assault boats.

The other people refused to let them get on, and hit their arms with rifle butts, and many people drowned in a short time. The water was filled with mist, and there were floating corpses, which was extremely strange.

However, this was only a small part of the long attack line of the Qing army. Only in the Nanjing section, on the river for more than ten kilometers, tens of thousands of assault boats were divided into rows and headed towards the south bank.

Suddenly, a fire flashed in the darkness in front, a high column of water rose, and then a muffled sound came.

Immediately afterwards, such muffled sounds came one after another, water columns rose and fell one after another in the heavy fog, and the fragments and residual limbs of the assault boat were thrown into the air and fell again.

The Qing army's assault boat group entered the mine array.

Nanming's mines on the Yangtze River are specially made. They are not large iron balls with a diameter of one or two meters like sea mines. These mines are very small, only as big as a basketball, and can be deployed very densely. They are designed to deal with torpedo boats and assault boats.

Small target. This small boat with eight people from the Qing army will be lifted into the sky once it hits.

Nanming's Yangtze River minefields were only deployed on its own half, and reconnaissance cruises were carried out to the Beiqing half. Several narrow channels were left in the minefield for the entry and exit of its own ships. The captain of each ship was insured

Inside the cabinet, there is a mine configuration map for its own defense section, indicating where the minefield is and where the waterway is. This is the same as the code book, which is very confidential. To keep it secret, Nanming will send minelayers to change it from time to time.

Channels will also issue new mine maps to captains. However, this kind of thing is easy to make mistakes, and accidents of mines hitting mines by our own ships occasionally occur. Especially recently, the density of mines has greatly increased, and several mines hitting accidents have also occurred.

rise.

But these costs are worth it. Now, the first barrier of the Yangtze River defense line is functioning.

The Qing army in the assault boat almost watched the boat in front of them being blown to pieces, and they no longer dared to step forward to die. Some operators turned off the engine and stopped, and some turned around and drove back. For a moment, the first

The assault boats of the first line were in a mess, mixed with the assault boats of the second and third lines following closely behind. The formations were chaotic, they collided with each other, and some even knocked over. The shouts and curses were mixed together, making it a mess.
To be continued...