Rise From Eight Hundred

Huangpu River in the early morning.

This is the most important water system in the south of the Yangtze River.

It is no longer as prosperous as it used to be.

The fishing boats and cargo ships that used to come and go have long disappeared.

On the wide river surface, there is only the slowly rising fog and the undercurrent hidden by the white fog.

Three black shadows appeared in the fog.

From far to near, you can see that it is not an ordinary ship. The high-raised gun muzzles on the bow prove their identity, warships!

Warships flying the sun flag.

Or to be more precise, they are gunboats rather than warships.

Three gunboats belonging to the 11th Squadron of the Third Fleet of the Japanese Navy.

But don't think that gunboats are just small scumbags. The reason why the Japanese Navy is still equipped with more than a dozen gunboats when it has large ships such as aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, destroyers, and minelayers is because it takes into account the needs of fighting in inland rivers within China.

Because of the shallow draft in China's inland rivers, the freeboard of these gunboats is very low, so they are commonly called "wooden clogs boats". Therefore, the Japanese Navy's inland gunboat team is also called the "wooden clogs fleet". Its hull structure is large and its endurance is long. Because there are many places in China's inland rivers with turbulent water, the engine group horsepower is also large enough to maintain a high speed of more than 10 knots even when going against the current.

The three Toba-class gunboats that came from the confluence of the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River into the sea are the best in the inland gunboats equipped by the Japanese Navy.

The design blueprint of the Toba-class gunboats is basically copied from similar ships of the British Empire, but the Japanese have carried it forward and made it have a larger size and a more powerful engine group.

The total length of the ship is meters, the width is 8.23 ​​meters, the normal displacement is 250 tons, and the draft is 0.79 meters.

The power system is two ship-type coal-fired boilers driving two reciprocating engines for three-axis drive, with an output power of 1,400 horsepower and a maximum speed of 15 knots.

The weapon system is equipped with a double-caliber gun and 6 6.5mm machine guns, with a crew of more than 60 people, and the commander on the ship is also a major.

Such a gunboat can maneuver freely in the center of the river and launch artillery attacks on enemies within 3,000 meters on both sides of the river. Throughout the Patriotic War, this type of gunboat has always been the main force of the Japanese army to control large inland rivers such as the Yangtze River in China.

Even in the future, after the Japanese army was forced to surrender, these gunboats abandoned by the Japanese army have been in service with the Chinese army for more than ten years after the end of the war.

Such a big guy, let alone three ships, is also daunting.

Otherwise, Yanagawa Heisuke knew that he was about to kneel down, and the navy sent three small gunboats, and the words "Navy Malu" must have been hung all over the world!

The Japanese vice admiral was actually very considerate. The reason why he didn't send a thousand-ton destroyer was mainly because he was not familiar with the Huangpu River waterway. After all, if a destroyer with a full draft of more than three meters ran aground, it would be a hassle to rescue it.

However, the Japanese underestimated the Chinese, just as the Chinese didn't expect the Japanese to be so stingy.

The three big guys gradually emerged from the mist, and Tang Dao, who was hiding in a forest 300 meters away from the river, was also slightly stunned.

This was quite different from his imagination that the Japanese should send a fleet led by at least a light destroyer!

Three small gunboats, wouldn't it be a waste of his efforts to persuade two lieutenant generals for most of the night, and to find an ambush site with six cavalry companies and an artillery battalion!

In order to give the Japanese a hard time, Tang Dao persuaded Lieutenant General Wu to agree that he brought four 37mm rapid-fire guns, ten 150 large-caliber mortars, and six Oerlikon 20mm single-barrel machine guns.

Moreover, he decided to personally serve as the commander of the Big Stick Plan.

The two lieutenant generals probably also wanted to see how the world-famous commander of the Four-Line Battalion commanded in the field, so they agreed without even symbolic resistance.

That's how it is in the army. You can tell whether it is a mule or a horse by pulling it out for a walk. No matter how good your mouth is, it won't work unless you have work to do. The Battle of the Four-Line Battalion was a battle with an excellent geographical location and a brave heart, so tactics actually took a back seat.

Of course, Lieutenant General Wu had no intention of testing Tang Dao. Isn't this a time for training?

He hoped to give the Japanese army a head start as Tang Dao said, and directly gave Tang Dao the highest command authority. Six cavalry companies and a mixed artillery battalion that were withdrawn had to obey his orders.

The result, that's it?

"Damn it, Yanagawa Heisuke is not heroic at all! Just use this little bit of broken copper and iron to fool people?" Tang Dao frowned and talked to himself.

He remembered that in the past, the Japanese had sent two light destroyers and five or six gunboats with great pride. Otherwise, the theater command, which received the request from the 67th Army to bomb the enemy ships, would not have asked the air force, which had suffered heavy losses, to come to assist.

The 127mm main guns on the bows of the two Fubuki-class destroyers were really terrible. With one shot, a house and the people inside were turned into powder. The 67th Army, which was unprepared and engaged in a defensive battle, could not watch 30,000 people being consumed in the artillery battle, and was forced to send two infantry brigades to the field to fight the Japanese army, resulting in the death of two major generals on the spot and the loss of more than two-thirds of the two infantry brigades.

But why did they send three small gunboats at this time? What made Tang Dao depressed for a short time was not that he did not catch the so-called big fish, but that the current battlefield situation seemed to be deviating from the original historical trajectory.

Tang Dao was talking to himself depressedly, but the two majors beside him, who were also observing the river with binoculars, looked at each other in confusion at his words.

This guy just proposed to use cavalry and artillery to attack the Japanese naval ambush on this river bank. There is always no shortage of bold people in the army.

But where does this shabby metal come from? Didn't you see it was a gunboat? The high-rise 80mm cannon is much more powerful than the 75mm mountain cannon. The more than 50-meter-long hull is covered with steel plates. Our mortars and machine guns don't talk about whether they can hit others accurately, they just hit them. Going up, how effective it will be depends on the actual combat effect.

The 67th Army had fought a battle with the Japanese in North China, but that was on land. It was the first time that they used cannons to hit warships that were running extremely fast in the middle of the river like they were doing now.

The cavalry major and artillery major who accompanied Tang Dao to observe the battlefield looked at the three gunboats cruising in the river with great power, and they felt completely unsure.

In the end, Tang Dao was not good at it, and he directly disliked the warship sent by the Japanese for not being strong enough.

If the military chief of staff hadn't specially introduced Tang Dao to several of their school officers before coming here, they would have felt that Tang Dao was a rookie.

But no matter what they thought, or whether the three Japanese gunboats were powerful enough, Tang Dao had already raised the big stick that he had prepared for a long time, and there was no reason to put it down again.

"Ten minutes later, all the artillery in the artillery battalion attacked the Japanese ships according to the previously formulated battle plan; in the cavalry battalion, except for one cavalry company left to guard the eight-kilometer perimeter, the remaining five cavalry companies were arranged according to the previous arrangements. Is there any problem with establishing a blocking position at the selected location to prevent the Japanese infantry from landing?" Tang Dao ordered as he watched the Japanese gunboat formation becoming slower and slower, seemingly looking for a landing site.

"No problem!" The artillery major nodded and accepted the order.

The main attacker was the artillery. Naturally, their position was the first to be selected. It was located behind the hills. According to Deputy Director Tang, it was a natural anti-slope fortification.

The artillery major didn't quite understand what anti-slope fortification was, but he knew that no matter how powerful the Japanese naval guns were, it was really not easy to hit behind the hills, unless they could turn the cannons into mortars and attack them behind the hills. Shells were falling from the sky.

"That's okay with me, that's right." The cavalry major hesitated slightly.

"If you have any questions, just ask, Commander Gong, you've wasted thirty seconds." Tang Dao frowned.

Failure to do so will undoubtedly reduce efficiency. As a commander, he must curb this momentum.

"That's right, Commander Tang, do you have a specific time to stop the enemy? Otherwise, when the Japanese fighter planes come, no one here will be able to leave."

The cavalry major battalion commander was obviously a little suffocated. He simply called Tang Dao Si Xing Battalion's official position, which meant that they were all battalion commanders, so you don't need to be so condescending.

"Japanese plane?" Tang Dao seemed not to hear the small thoughts of the major cavalry battalion commander. He looked at the mist still rising in the river and said with a faint smile. "I'm sure they won't come for at least an hour and a half. However, since Battalion Commander Gong is worried, I will give you time. Within an hour, regardless of the outcome of the battle, we will pack up and leave."

"yes!"

Although I don't understand how Tang Dao calculated the one and a half hour time, since Tang Dao gave him a time limit, it at least gave him face as the commander of the cavalry battalion of the special agent regiment directly under the 67th Army Military Headquarters.

The cavalry major stopped competing.

Of course Tang Dao was not just talking about random time calculations.

The aircraft carrier of the Japanese Navy is still on the sea 90 kilometers away from Songjiang. When it receives a request for help, it will fly here. At the speed of a propeller fighter, it will take 15 minutes to fly.

Furthermore, what about the shamelessness of the Japanese gunboats? As soon as the war started, he requested reinforcements from his own fleet headquarters. He didn't want his face to be swollen when he returned! It would probably take at least half an hour for them to call for help after their noses were bruised and their faces were swollen.

Of course, what's more important is that it is now seven o'clock in the morning, there is heavy fog on the river, and the sky is extremely gloomy. Is it possible that the sea is calm and the sky is clear? When Japan’s Hainan Airlines had all-weather pilots!

Tang Dao remembered that during the Jinshanwei Landing Battle and the later stage of the Songjiang Battle, Japanese navy fighter planes arrived at around 10 o'clock to participate in the battle. This already showed that the weather in the early mornings these days was not suitable for aircraft to take off.

As for the Army Airlines, haha, let’s not mention that their airport is further away. Based on the coordination ability of the Japanese army, navy and army, once they coordinate and communicate well, they will probably have lunch!

"Boom!" A 37mm rapid-fire cannon hidden in the hilly woods fired.

The first battle of the Songjiang Defense War officially started.

But it's not in Songjiang City, but on the banks of the Huangpu River.