Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 329: Battle of the Beibu Gulf

The shells fell into the water, creating columns of water.

The surging waves caused the Tang army warships to sway on the sea.

But this doesn't change anything.

The Tang army's fleet continued to fire in an orderly manner.

The naval guns were aimed at the gradually approaching Vietnamese fleet and continued to deliver firepower.

boom! Boom boom!

There was a deafening sound of artillery fire.

Artillery shells flew across the battlefield.

As the distance between the two sides shortened, it became clear that the hit rate of the Tang army's naval guns was constantly improving.

A Vietnamese armed merchant ship that was in the front was fired upon.

The shells landed on the deck of the ship, and with a loud bang, everything on the deck was shattered by flames and shock waves.

The Vietnamese sailors were torn into pieces, with their limbs and arms flying all over the sky.

A shell hit the side of the ship, and the violent explosion tore a large hole in the side.

The violent kinetic energy spread quickly, and with a crackling sound, the keel of the ship was cracked, and the sailors in the cabin were shocked by the shock wave and vomited blood.

boom! Boom boom!

Another round of firing.

The shells broke through the air and shot towards the Vietnamese ships.

Amid the rumbling explosion, the Vietnamese ship was directly destroyed and began to sink slowly.

Such a scene shocked the entire Vietnamese navy.

"rush!"

"Keep rushing!"

"The fire ships that cover our army are getting close to the Tang army fleet..."

Vietnamese naval commander Su Ji stood on his flagship and shouted urgently.

It is obvious that the reason why the Vietnamese navy dared to go out to sea to fight against the Tang fleet when the enemy's strength was so different from ours was not to commit suicide.

The Vietnamese army had already made plans in advance for how to fight this battle.

Under the premise that the navy fleet was no match for the Tang army in naval battles, the Vietnamese army developed a tactic of sacrificing a certain number of ships in order to gain opportunities for close attacks by the fire ships.

"Brothers, for Dai Viet, kill!"

With the command flag waved, the Vietnamese fleet continued to move forward.

Suji shouted loudly to boost the morale of the Vietnamese army.

The French consultant nearby also shouted in French.

"Boys, charge!"

"For the sake of France and the glory of Napoleon, let us teach these damned yellow monkeys a lesson!"

The Vietnamese fleet's forward speed increased again.

With the sails fully pulled and the rowers rowing hard, the Vietnamese fleet quickly approached the Tang army.

"No, with so many small boats, the Vietnamese army might be planning to use the fireboat tactic."

"Quick! Pass the order down."

"Let our artillery groups speed up their firepower delivery!"

Fang Haiyang realized something was wrong and immediately shouted orders.

Then he continued.

"In addition, immediately release our rocket sampans to block the approach of the Vietnamese arson boats."

Upon hearing this, the messenger beside him clasped his fists.

"Yes! I obey your command!"

Chen Yucheng did not intervene in the command, but just watched Fang Haiyang make the decision quietly.

An army can only have one leader on the battlefield. If an army cannot maintain consistent command from top to bottom, then no matter how elite the army is, it will be of little use.

The situation on the battlefield changed rapidly.

The firing rate of the Tang army's naval guns increased significantly.

Boom! Boom!
Shells flew out of the gun and shot towards the Vietnamese warships.

At the same time, each ship in the Tang army fleet also sent out the rocket sampans on board.

These sampans, equipped with rocket launchers, rushed towards the Vietnamese fleet at a high speed.

Trying to stop the Vietnamese fleet from approaching!

"Damn it, the Tang people sent out rocket sampans."

"Quick, the fleet continues to speed up and aim the cannons at the Tang army's sampans. Hit them hard!"

Suji yelled at the top of his lungs.

One shell after another was fired at the Tang army's rocket sampan on the sea.

Gao Hua stood on a rocket sampan, skillfully adjusting the rocket launcher in front of him.

"quick!"

"Hurry up!"

Gao Hua shouted at the top of his voice, and his soldiers rowed faster.

With a loud bang, a shell landed on the sea a few meters away from the sampan he was commanding.

The moment the shell hit the water, water mist filled the air and waves spread out in all directions with the point where the shell landed as the center.

The surging waves directly overturned the sampan where Gao Hua was.

The sampan was upside down on the sea, and the Tang army sailors fell into the water, struggling on the sea.

Fortunately, they all knew how to swim, so they didn't fall into the water and sink.

Although the Vietnamese army's artillery could not hit the Tang army's warships, they could still hit these sampans.

To put it bluntly, when firing a cannon at a sampan, it is not even necessary to hit the sampan. As long as the shell lands near the sampan, the waves created can capsize the sampan.

After several rounds of bombardment, a considerable number of Tang army's sampans were lost.

Of course, the Vietnamese army was in a worse situation.

The Vietnamese naval guns could not hit the Tang army's large ships and could only hit the sampans, but the Tang army's naval guns could hit the Vietnamese army.

After several rounds of shelling, two more Vietnamese armed merchant ships and six or seven other small boats were sunk.

Broken planks and corpses were floating on the vast sea.

The scene is shocking!

Finally, the distance was shortened to within the range of Tang army's rockets.

"The enemy has advanced 200 meters. All units, please pay attention and fire!"

The next moment, a whooshing sound was heard. Rockets broke through the air one after another, drawing arcs in the sky.

Then, like a meteor falling to the ground, it shot towards the Vietnamese fleet.

An explosion sounded immediately, and the shock wave was raging, as if it was going to destroy everything.

After a round of rocket fire, a large area of ​​the Vietnamese fleet on the sea was cleared.

Seeing this scene, the remaining Vietnamese ships were frightened and dared not move forward.

Suji's ship was hit by several rockets, and large holes were blown out on his ship amid the explosions.

The smoke is billowing!

Even he himself was blown away and struggled to get up from the deck of the ship, with a buzzing sound in his ears.

"Damn it!"

"These damn Tang people!"

"I must kill them all, I must!"

But no matter how much he cursed, he couldn't change anything.

The Tang army's rocket sampans began to prepare for the second round of salvos.

Seeing this, Su Ji had no choice but to order the navy to retreat and preserve their strength in order to fight again.

But would the Tang army let them evacuate so easily?

The fleet pressed forward and began the pursuit.

"Everyone, get ready for the second salvo!"

"put!"

Phew! Whoosh!

The sound of breaking through the air continued to sound.

The second round of rocket salvos was fired again towards the Vietnamese navy.

A rumbling explosion followed.

The Vietnamese navy was swept away again and suffered heavy losses. Many large and small ships were blown to pieces and turned into pieces floating on the sea.

Many Vietnamese sailors fell into the water and struggled in the sea, but their fleet completely ignored these soldiers and just fled.

The soldiers who fell into the water were left to fend for themselves in the sea.

The Tang army's fleet chased after them. The sailors on the sampans put down their oars, aimed their guns at the Vietnamese sailors struggling on the sea, and then pulled the trigger.

Snapped! Bang bang!

Crisp gunshots rang out, and bloodstains appeared on the blue sea.

The struggling Vietnamese sailors were shot dead one by one, and their floating corpses floated up and down with the waves.

The Tang army soldiers who fell into the water were rescued.

Gao Hua climbed onto a sampan, gasping for breath.

"Damn it, I was just trapped under the ship and almost died on the battlefield."

"grass!"

Xu Sheng, who was standing by, heard this and said with a smile.

"Lao Gao, brother, I saved your life this time."

"Are you going to treat me to a drink later, brother?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Hua agreed without hesitation.

"Drink, you must drink!"

"Once we get into Hanoi, let's go to a bar and get drunk!"

As he spoke, Gao Hua took a rifle from Xu Sheng, pulled the bolt, aimed at a Vietnamese soldier on the sea, and pulled the trigger.

With a bang, the Vietnamese soldier was shot dead instantly.

Only then did Gao Hua put away the gun in his hand and let out a long breath.

……

The Vietnamese navy was defeated all the way and fled from the battlefield.

Escape inland along the Red River.

The Tang fleet wanted to pursue, but was blocked by the Vietnamese artillery.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, the Tang army fleet had to retreat temporarily in order to avoid casualties.

"Commander, the Vietnamese navy has fled back inland along the Red River. I wonder what our army should do next?"

Fang Haiyang asked.

According to his plan, in this battle the Tang army should first knock out the Vietnamese navy, then send land forces to land, and then attack by both land and sea to capture the artillery position.

But now an accident happened.

After the Battle of the Gulf of Tonkin, although the Vietnamese army was defeated and fled, it was not annihilated.

This meant that the Tang army's combat plan was stuck between the two steps of annihilating the Vietnamese navy and then sending land forces to land.

Of course, even if the Vietnamese navy could not be completely wiped out, the Tang army’s plan could still go forward.

However, what if the Vietnamese navy comes out from the Red River to join in the fun when the Tang army’s land forces land?

This is not fun!
Zhang Guoliang on the side immediately expressed his opinion.

"Commander, I think that even if the Vietnamese navy was not completely annihilated, it should have been frightened by our Heavenly Soldier Fleet."

"It is highly likely that they don't have the guts to leave the Red River estuary again and come to provoke our fleet."

"Please give the order, Commander. I am willing to lead our Marine Corps to land and capture the Red River Fort."

Zhang Guoliang had been a member of the Tang Dynasty for some time, but he had not been able to achieve any achievements.

Now that he has finally got the opportunity to lead troops into battle, he is naturally eager to show himself.

After listening to what Fang Haiyang and Zhang Guoliang said, Chen Yucheng couldn't help but look calm.

After a moment, he finally spoke and made a decision.

"Our Marine Corps will immediately prepare for landing operations and support our fleet in capturing the artillery batteries."

"As for the Vietnamese navy..."

"Send someone to keep a close eye on the Red River estuary. As long as the Vietnamese navy doesn't leave the Red River, we'll leave them alone."

Chen Yucheng knew that continuing the stalemate was not a solution.

Therefore, make a decisive decision, take some risks, and attack the artillery first.

As long as the artillery position can be taken down, the Vietnamese navy will be like a turtle in a jar.

It was not difficult for the Tang army fleet to capture them.

As for what to do if the Vietnamese navy comes to block the Tang army’s landing?
Well, they have to get out of the Red River Mouth first.

The Tang army fleet is not just for decoration!
That's why Chen Yucheng made this decision.

(End of this chapter)