Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 317 Two Loud Slaps
After receiving the telegram, all prefectures and counties along the coast of Chu State sent out disguised ships and small steamers to gather information and linger in the surrounding waters.

The British and French allied reinforcement fleet set sail from Kuching, Malaya. As they sailed north, the latest information was submitted via telegrams, outlining a clear northward route.

At this moment

The Chu State Military and Political Department has determined that the destination of this reinforcement fleet is Batangas.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu made a decisive decision to launch two proactive attacks, one in the east and one in the west, to strike a blow against the enemy's arrogance.

January 10st

Around 1 a.m.
The thick night enveloped the surroundings, the tranquil sea was shimmering, and a ray of cold moonlight shone down, reflecting more than a dozen huge black shadows moving on the sea.

At the dock at Fort Corregidor
More than a dozen orange windproof lanterns lit up one after another, and the bright light cut through the dark night, forming a clear navigation line.

These windproof lanterns faced northwest and were covered with large pieces of black cloth to block the reflection of the light to prevent them from being discovered by British and French patrol ships cruising in the open sea.

These more than ten huge black shadows followed one after another, quickly crossed the heavily defended bay entrance, and plunged into the dark open sea area along the guided navigation line.

Then, these windproof lanterns were quickly extinguished. The whole process took no more than half an hour and did not cause any ripples in the outside world.

The main force of the sailing fleet, which had been entrenched in Manila Bay for more than two months, quietly rushed out of the bay and entered the dangerous surrounding waters.

More than ten hours later
Around ten o'clock in the morning

The Anglo-French joint fleet set out from Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, Malaya, carrying 1.33 allied soldiers and a large amount of supplies. Under the protection of seven sailing warships, it was sailing northward in a mighty manner.

It has been the third day since the fleet set out. It has sailed to the waters near the northern entrance of the Palawan Strait, about 70 kilometers away from Coron Island. Everything is going well so far.

Expected evening
The task force will arrive near Verde Island and enter the Batangas Bay later.

The fleet consisted of 56 troop ships and cargo ships, forming three columns and sailing on the sea.

Directly in front and on both sides, there was a squadron escorted by two British Royal Sailing Ships of the Line, totaling 7 sailing ships.

When passing by an unknown island, the silhouette of a huge warship suddenly appeared from the side. On the tall masts were hung the flag of the King of Chu and the blood-red battle flag, fluttering vigorously in the wind.

Followed by
One after another, huge sailing warships appeared. They were the "Zhenhai", "Zhenjiang", "Zhenhu", "Zhenhe" and "Guangming" five sailing battleships, filling the sea with murderous aura.

Following closely behind were seven sailing cruisers, a total of 12 sailing warships, which rushed straight towards the Anglo-French troop transport fleet like arrows.

When the British and French fleets discovered the enemy, the distance between them was less than 7 kilometers.

The situation at this point is already very clear.

The confidential information about the voyage of the Anglo-French sailing task force was leaked and completely grasped by the Chu army, which ambushed them here with its superior forces.

The British had no idea that it was such an advanced means as the telegraph that leaked the secret information of the Anglo-French task force sailing north.

Alarm bells rang across the sea, and the Royal Navy demonstrated great competence in the face of the crisis.

After the commander of the British Royal Navy fleet issued a series of orders, the sailors on the ship maneuvered the sails quickly and effectively, and seven warships broke away from the task force one after another and headed straight into the oncoming Chu fleet.

During the gathering process, they formed a straight line of sails to meet the enemy in a battle formation, with such precision as if they had practiced it countless times in advance.

What is the world's top navy?
That's it.

When faced with an encirclement by superior enemy forces on the sea, the British Royal Navy remained calm and launched attacks from the leading position of the escort and from the left and right wings.

They separated from the original fleet one after another, accelerated their sailing speed, and gathered into the combat formation.

Those who were manning the sails were manning the sails, those who were steering the helm were steering, the gunners on the gun deck were opening the gun ports and cleaning the gun barrels in an orderly manner, the logistics sailors were transporting ammunition, and the warship, consisting of hundreds of people, was like one body, demonstrating extremely high efficiency.

Lieutenant General Fu Haisheng, the commander-in-chief of the Chu Navy who led the sailing fleet to attack, observed the British fleet's quick response through a telescope with an extremely solemn expression.

As the saying goes; experts know the ins and outs.

He couldn't help but marvel at the British Royal Navy's extremely high combat proficiency. It was indeed much stronger than the Chu Navy, at least one level higher.

But so what?

This time, the main force of the Chu State's sailing fleet had no expectation of confronting the British Royal Navy fleet head-on, engaging in a tit-for-tat naval raid or a fierce boarding battle.

That’s right, the main force of the Chu sailing fleet was targeting the enemy’s troop transport ships, and they had made careful preparations for this.

Seeing the two fleets moving towards each other and the distance rapidly shortening to less than 4 kilometers, Lieutenant General Fu Haisheng turned and walked into the armored command platform, commanding the fleet to continue advancing at high speed.

From above

Two naval fleets in a straight line were approaching each other at high speed. One British sailing fleet had begun to slow down, but the other Chu navy sailing fleet did not slow down at all, but was gradually accelerating.

When the distance between the two sides quickly shortened to about 3 kilometers, perhaps the commander of the British sailing fleet noticed something was wrong, but it was too late.

The Chu Navy's sailing fleet, approaching at high speed, quickly split into two, leaving a clear blooming mark on the sea surface, forming an extremely clear "个" shape.

The left and right strokes represent the Chu State's fleet that suddenly split to the sides, and the vertical stroke in the middle represents the British Royal Escort Squadron that was unable to respond in a hurry.

Lieutenant General Fu Haisheng and Deputy Commander of the Navy Major General Dong Kuifa each led a battle squadron to rush out from the side. In just two or three minutes, they passed by the British sailing warships that were passing by, and the distance between them was getting farther and farther.

The British fleet fired their cannons angrily, and the rumbling sound of the cannons continued, but it only stirred up large columns of water on the sea surface and had no effect at all.

At this time, the British troop transport fleet received the order to "disband the formation" and "escape separately", but it was too late.

The 12 sailing warships of the Chu Navy, like 12 ferocious hungry wolves, charged directly into the flock of sheep and launched a fierce artillery massacre.

The guns on both sides of these sailing warships were fully fired, like 12 fire-breathing monsters, launching a bloody baptism from beginning to end along the cargo fleet, venting fierce artillery fire without stopping.

at the same time
The Chu sailing warships quickly approached the troop transports. These warships were two or three meters away from the deck, and all of them had large barrels of flammable oil tied to them with ropes, as if their bellies were full of fish roe.

As the two sides approached, there was a loud bang against the side of the ship. The barrels of oil hanging on the ropes immediately swung up due to inertia, and then the cables were chopped off by the sharp axes.

Several barrels filled with oil fell from the sky and shattered instantly, while the oil spread along the deck.

The Chu State's sailing warships brushed against the side of the troop transport ship and separated from each other. Then several rockets were shot over, igniting the flowing oil on the deck of the troop transport ship, and then a big fire broke out.

This happens repeatedly
Just half an hour later, more than twenty large fires had broken out on the sea. The raging flames engulfed the flammable sails and ropes, forcing the white sailors on the ship to jump into the sea like dumplings.

The white soldiers who rushed out of the cabin were burned all over their bodies and turned into firemen. They writhe in pain in the flames and soon fall down motionless.

These Chu sailing warships set fire to the transport ships and attacked them with heavy artillery fire, which damaged the sailing ships and left large and small gun holes on the wooden hulls.

By this time

After circling ahead, the British Royal Navy escort sailing fleet, which had finally corrected its course and turned back, rushed over again.

Seeing this scene, he was so angry that his eyes were bloodshot and he wanted to tear the Chu fleet apart.

They rushed forward frantically without caring about gains and losses, and entangled with the Chu sailing warships at close range. The two sides engaged in a close-range artillery battle, and the rumbling sound of artillery echoed across the sea.

The Chu fleet quickly issued an order to retreat, and the warships withdrew from the battlefield separately, as slippery as swimming fish, and did not engage with the British warships at all. After a successful attack, they resolutely withdrew.

This made the British Royal Navy escort fleet, which had rushed back angrily, feel very uncomfortable as they had hit nothing.

Only some of the warships engaged in exchanges of fire and close-range artillery battles. Most of the Chu warships quickly broke away from contact, and with their sails filled with sea breeze, they quickly evacuated.

The sea was a real mess at this time.

The sea was littered with densely packed human heads floating on the surface, broken planks and burnt sails. Dozens of large ships were burning like torches, and billowing smoke obscured the sky.

This made the entire sea area seem to be gloomy, shrouded in a bloody scene like a slaughterhouse.

The British Royal Navy escort fleet had no time to pursue the enemy, and their current priority was to rescue those who fell into the water.

Each warship lowered several small boats and tried its best to rescue those who fell into the water. The small boats were soon filled with people, and then they were immediately sent to the nearest large ship for settlement.

The boat then quickly rowed away and searched the sea for survivors who had fallen into the water.

Fortunately, the South China Sea in October is not as cold as the Atlantic Ocean. The water temperature is still around 10 degrees Celsius at this time of the afternoon, so soaking for a while will not cause any additional harm. Except for those who drowned, most of the others who fell into the water were rescued.

This busy

The three and a half hours of emergency rescue at sea came to an end only when dusk fell.

The large-scale sea rescue has ended, but the small-scale search has not stopped.

The British still left six small boats in the battle area, carrying lanterns in the twilight, and wandering around looking for possible survivors.

The wreckage of more than a dozen cargo ships that had not sunk and were still burning on the sea illuminated the gloomy sky and left indelible painful memories for the British officers and soldiers.

许多 年 以后

Said the surviving sailor who had experienced this bloody battle;

“It was a truly apocalyptic scene, in my memory;
The sky was a dark blood color, and countless charred corpses were floating on the sea, attracting countless sharks to grab food, and streams of blood were surging up.

A strong stench filled the air, and fragments of blood and flesh floated on the surface of the sea, forming a thick layer of garbage. It was a scene reminiscent of hell..."

The specific losses in this battle are not detailed, and the losses counted by various parties vary greatly.

It is believed that at least 3700 British and French troops were missing, more than 5500 were killed, another 1435 were rescued at sea, and more than escaped by chance.

Those missing British and French soldiers either sank to the bottom of the sea with the burning troop transport ships or drowned in this sea area and returned to the sea completely.

On the Chu Navy side, 13 people were killed, 71 were injured, and two fell into the water and went missing. The losses can be said to be negligible, and they won a complete victory.

This naval battle, known in history as the "Battle of Palawan", was another heavy blow to the British and French forces and a loud slap in the face.

at the same time
The Chu Navy's heavy armored fleet, which had been trapped in Singapore Bay for a month and a half, also took action. A total of five ironclad warships, led by the "Taishan", left the bay in the middle of the night and headed directly for Penang, more than a hundred kilometers away.

After the British Royal Navy patrol warship left behind discovered the situation and reported it, the commander of the warship was horrified and quickly summoned the main forces of the fleet patrolling at both ends of the strait to launch a frantic pursuit.

The Royal Navy's sailing fleet had a very fast speed, with an average speed of 15 knots. At about 10 o'clock the next morning, it finally caught up with the Chu State's ironclad warship formation that had broken through.

At this time, it had been more than 13 hours since the Chu ironclad warship formation attacked, and it had sailed more than 270 kilometers south.

As a result, rounds of naval artillery battles were launched in the nearby waters, with both sides fighting and sailing at the same time.

In the process

The British sailing warships continued to take the initiative to advance and engage in more than ten rounds of intermittent artillery battles, with certain casualties on both sides.

But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't slow down the speed of the Chu Navy's heavy armored fleet heading south.

The British Navy also knew

The 15-inch Dahlgren bombardment guns equipped by the Chu Navy's heavily armored formation were incredibly powerful. The sailing warships left behind in Singapore were mainly wooden warships, with only two being armored warships, and they could not withstand the attack at all.

So even though they were entangled, they always kept a distance of 900 to 1200 yards, harassing them with long-range artillery fire, but did not dare to get really close.

The artillery harassment from such a distance was like a tickle to the Chu Navy's heavily armored formation. They ignored it completely and just kept charging forward with their heads down.

Using both coal-fired steam power and sail power, the four heavy ironclad ships could reach a maximum speed of 4 knots per hour, which is about 11 kilometers per hour.

The leading Taishan ironclad ship is equally impressive. Using both sail and steam power, it can reach a maximum speed of 13 levels.

Singapore is only about 580 kilometers away from Penang. After all this trouble, by the evening, it was only about kilometers away from Penang.

Anyone with a standard of intelligence can guess with their toes what this heavily armored firepower strike formation is doing in Penang.
Anyway, it's not a charity event, so it can't be stopped.

Without any choice
The British Royal Navy squadron could only send a brigantine to reach the port of Penang first, inform the local British colonial authorities of the emergency war situation, and quickly evacuate the ships in the port.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time. When the British brig arrived at the Penang port, it was just after 3 o'clock in the morning.

The entire Penang Port was in a dreamland in the night. By the time the local white colonial officials were found, they hurriedly rang the alarm bells in the port area, loudly warned and drove the ships out of the port for evacuation, but it was already too late.

Around five in the morning

Less than two hours late, the heavily armored firepower strike formation led by the "Taishan" came charging over aggressively, and ran head-on into cargo ships from various countries sailing out of the port one after another, like fat meat delivered to the door.

All the anger from being chased and beaten for half a day yesterday afternoon was vented at this time.

The heavy armored firepower strike formation led by the "Taishan" did not use the deadly 15-inch Dahlgren bombardment gun, nor did it use the 10-inch rifled gun. These heavy naval guns were too powerful and could sink the cargo ship with just a few hits.

The Chu State's heavy armored firepower strike formation used dozens of 10-pound Parrot rifled cannons temporarily mounted on the deck to launch a frenzied artillery attack on the cargo ships.

Suddenly, the rumbling sound of artillery broke the quiet night of Penang, bringing the terrifying smoke of war.

For all this

The dozens of British sailing warships that accompanied them all the way were helpless. They could neither fight nor stop the enemy, and could only allow the ironclad heavy ship formation to wreak havoc.

The Chu State's heavy armored firepower strike formation launched round after round of firepower strikes on the Penang port from early morning, especially merchant ships flying the British and French flags, which were the main targets.

The colonial government buildings, tax offices, and customs on the shore were all reduced to rubble by the roar of heavy artillery, which set the wooden houses on the shore on fire, causing thick smoke to billow.

In an instant, Penang was plunged into the great fear of war...

In this unprecedented catastrophe

More than a dozen British and French merchant ships were sunk and burned, and hundreds of houses on the shore were destroyed. The resulting wooden house fire spread to two blocks. Thick smoke billowed over the entire city, and people were fleeing in panic everywhere.

The shipping company and shipyard run by local British were also bombarded and burned, causing huge losses, which amounted to around 32 pounds alone.

The British were careless and did not implement the policy of clearing the cities in the above-mentioned colonies, which resulted in heavy losses.

After the artillery fire, the Chu State's heavy armored firepower strike formation fired dozens of tons of ammunition and finally tasted the bitter taste of being beaten all the way.

At around 3 p.m.
Against the backdrop of the dense flames of Penang Harbor, a group of five heavily armored strike ships from the Chu State filed out, like heavily armored warriors, and swaggered out of the Penang Harbor and headed back to Singapore.

This Penang attack was a second hard slap in the face of the arrogant British, and the implication was clear;

Aren't you super awesome?
But it must be clear that the Royal Navy forces currently stationed in the waters near Singapore are simply unable to restrain the fierce tiger of the Chu Navy's heavy armored strike formation.

under these circumstances
The British and French allied forces actually dared to march thousands of miles away. Who are you looking down on?

If a tiger doesn't show its power, do you really think I'm a sick cat?

The impact of these two disastrous defeats was extremely significant, shocking the Governor-General of British India and the London government, and directly led to the complete failure of the British and French forces' attempt to gather all their strength in Batangas Bay, and they did not launch any attacks for several days.

Starting from the morning of the sixth day after the Battle of Palawan

The British and French forces began to move supplies at the dock of the small fishing village and gradually withdrew them to the ships. This operation lasted for four full days, and then the remaining officers and soldiers of the British and French forces withdrew one after another.

Under the protection of the coalition fleet's huge warships, a large fleet totaling more than 100 troop ships and transport ships finally withdrew from Batangas Bay, ending the first expedition against the Chu mainland.

Faced with the retreat of the Anglo-French forces, King Zheng Guohui of Chu restrained his urge to pursue them and did not act rashly.

After careful analysis
Although the British and French forces retreated on a large scale, they were like tense African hyenas, ready to counterattack at any time. This was their inherent brutality.

We must never take this dangerous enemy lightly.

Even if we launch an all-out attack, the effect will not be good.

They might be killed by heavy fire from the Anglo-French sailing fleet near the coast, fall into the enemy's trap, and be bitten hard.

So, it’s better to let it go.

The caution of King Zheng Guohui of Chu really made Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips, the commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French Allied Forces, hate him to the core, but he could do nothing about it.

What can I do if the fish won’t take the bait?

(End of this chapter)