It took about 3 minutes for the Hawk to turn, but in these 3 minutes, it was hit by 2 200mm shells, 13 155mm shells, and 12 130mm shells. Almost all the buildings on the deck of the ship were blown out of recognition except for the command room. More than 70% of the carrier-based artillery were destroyed by artillery fire. More than 10 holes of varying sizes were blown open from the side of the ship on the right.

Since the Hawk is a protective cruiser, there is no vertical armor installed on the side, as long as a shell hits the side, a gap will basically be exploded. Three holes are located near the waterline, and the dome armor of two holes is exploded, and a large amount of sea water pours into the cabin. Although the Hawk's command room is protected by heavy armor and is not damaged, the entire warship has basically lost its combat effectiveness. Moreover, although the power system of the warship has not been damaged, the draft has exceeded nearly half of the depth, so the speed can only be maintained at 12 knots, and the soldiers and sailors on the ship are busy drainage and rescue.

Seeing that the Hawk had lost its combat effectiveness, the warships of the People's Army concentrated their artillery fire and launched a fierce bombardment on the Gibraltar behind.

At this time, Gibraltar was turning. In the battle just now, Gibraltar was not damaged because the Hawk was blocking it in front of him. However, after Hawk completed the steering, Gibraltar was completely exposed to the artillery fire of the People's Army.

The firepower of the warships of the People's Army was fully launched and violently bombarded the Gibraltar. The Gibraltar experienced all the entertainment that Hawk was just now. Although the Gibraltar also opened fire and fought back, it was helplessly outnumbered. Of course, the firepower of a warship could not compete with the more than 10 warships of the People's Army.

The battle lasted less than 2 minutes, and the USS Gibraltar was shot more than 20 times, one of which 155mm shells hit the USS Gibraltar's * launch tube, detonating, causing a shocking explosion. The entire warship ignited a fire and began to sink into the water, while the soldiers on the ship jumped into the sea and fled.

Both large cruisers suffered heavy blows, one was injured and the other was sunk. The remaining six warships were destroyers of about 1,000 tons, so they were naturally not opponents of the People's Army Navy. As a result, they were sunk one after another. The two destroyers surrendered to the People's Army Navy. Although the Hawk withdrew from the battle and fled from the battlefield, due to the sharp reduction in speed, they were caught up by the Jinan and Tianjin, and were eventually sunk.

The entire naval battle actually ended in only 40 minutes. Eight British and French warships, six were sunk, two surrendered, and another 318 British and French soldiers were captured. The Bijing People's Army Navy had two armored cruisers to escort the formation. Of course, it had an absolute advantage in the British and French fleets, which were mainly two protective cruisers.

After the British and French fleets were eliminated, the transport fleet caught up and joined the fleet, sailed into the estuary of the Yangtze River, and headed straight against the river. Then it was divided into two groups, led by the Jinan and Tianjin, the 4th Cruiser Squadron, the 3rd Destroyer Squadron, and the 2nd Marine Division to attack the Shanghai Port; Luo Yue led the 2nd Destroyer Squadron, two inland fleets, the 1st Marine Division, and the 1st Reservoir Regiments into the Huangpu River and attacked the Concession.

After the fleet entered the Huangpu River, it first moored at the dock of the Shanghai New District. The Shanghai New District is located in the north of the public concession, at the intersection of the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River. This section of the river is wide and deep. After the development of the Shanghai New District in recent years, the construction and facilities of the dock are relatively complete, and can moor merchant ships of ten thousand tons. Therefore, it is naturally no problem to moor these thousand-ton and hundred-ton warships.

At this time, the district mayor of Shanghai New District, Li Songchen, the commander of the security regiment Ouyang Wen, and the officials of Shanghai New District were already at the dock to welcome the arrival of the People's Army. When Luo Yue got off the boat, Li Songchen first greeted him and said, "General Luo, long time no see."

The time travelers occupied Tianjin when they first got ashore. At that time, the East China government had not been established. Li Songchen and Luo Yue worked together for a while. Later, the East China government was established, but Li Songchen remained as mayor of Tianjin. Luo Yue moved to various places, but the two had met several times, so they had a deep friendship. This time, the East China government decided to attack Shanghai, and Li Songchen also played an important role. It was Li Songchen who guaranteed that after the People's Army occupied the Shanghai Concession, the Shanghai New District could ensure that the order of the Shanghai Concession was restored in a short period of time and the East China government's control in the Shanghai Concession. When the military working group decided to launch the offensive campaign, Li Songchen was also appointed as a member of the Shanghai Theater Logistics and Management Committee.

Luo Yue said: "District Mayor Li, I will trouble the Shanghai New District Government this time."

Li Songchen smiled and said, "It is our obligation to assist the People's Army in combat."

At this time, Ouyang Wen also came over to salute Luo Yue and said, "Report to General Luo, we have received the order. During this period, the Shanghai New District Guard Corps obeyed the orders of the Marine Corps."

Luo Yue nodded, bowed and said, "Captain Ouyang, we also need your cooperation this time."

Li Songchen said: "General Luo, the command center has been prepared, let's go over and talk first."

Luo Yue also knew that it would take some time to disembark the army and equipment, and it would be useless to stay at the dock now, so it would be better to go to the command center first, at least to settle himself in, so he said, "Okay, go to the command center first."

The command center is located in the northwest of the Shanghai New District, about 5,000 meters away from the public concession. It turned out to be a large courtyard with an area of ​​about 20 acres, with a total of more than 20 houses and a construction area of ​​more than 5,000 square meters. It turned out to be a new production base built by the clothing factory of Yang Yuxin, Jiang Yi and others. The civil engineering project had just been completed. Because the war broke out, the project could only be temporarily stopped. When it learned that the East China government was going to launch a battle to attack Shanghai, Yang Yuxin, Jiang Yi and others took the initiative to change this factory building into the command center of the People's Army. After Ouyang Wen inspected the factory facilities, he also believed that it was very suitable as a command center. It could not only garrison troops, but also store materials. So he first dispatched a company to station the factory building and carried out a simple transformation.

The combat command room is about 100 square meters, and there is a sand table model for Shanghai area in the middle, and there are 4 maps of varying sizes and proportions. Although the People's Army also has areas in Shanghai, the sand table is of course more intuitive than the map, and the map provided by the Shanghai New District is also more detailed and complete. A long conference table is placed in front of the sand table, and behind it is Luo Yue's lounge and office. In addition, the Shanghai New District has also prepared some materials for the People's Army, which can ensure the consumption of the People's Army in the early stages of the war.

These were made by Li Songchen, Ouyang Wen, and the intelligence department. After Li Songchen replaced Yang Yuxin as the mayor of Shanghai New District, he not only continued Yang Yuxin's route to develop the economy, but also strengthened the infiltration and influence of social and cultural aspects in Shanghai, because Li Songchen's vision was much further than Yang Yuxin. He knew that the East China government would occupy Shanghai sooner or later, so of course Li Songchen did not have to worry about military issues, but how to manage the occupation was to ensure that Shanghai rented the area

Prosperity requires careful consideration and advance arrangement. This is not only for the development of the East China government, but also for Li Songchen himself. After all, once the East China government occupy Shanghai, the Shanghai New District Government will inevitably manage the Shanghai area in advance. If you do well, you will likely be promoted from the mayor of the Shanghai New District to the mayor of Shanghai. This will undoubtedly add a strong mark to Li Songchen's political resume. After all, in modern times, Shanghai has had a very special position in China's politics, economy, and culture.

So on the one hand, Li Songchen continued to develop the economy of the Shanghai New District, attract investment, and improve service quality. On the other hand, he also walked out of the Shanghai New District, actively participated in public activities in the Shanghai area and the concession, and exchanged and interacted with foreigners with reasonable and conciliatory, neither humble nor arrogant. He also helped the Chinese businessmen in the concession to safeguard their interests several times, and established a positive and glorious image of the East China government in Shanghai. At the same time, he assisted the personnel of the Ministry of Security to collect a large amount of intelligence, information, etc. related to the concession, and almost did the situation in the concession.

It turned out that the East China government had very positive interactions with students in Shanghai. After Yang Yuxin took office, he was not very concerned about such activities, so he basically handed over the staff of the Cultural, Education and Health Committee to pay responsibilities. The Shanghai New District Government only guaranteed material and funds. Li Songchen attached great importance to this work and often delivered speeches in schools and social activities in Shanghai. On the one hand, it attracted students and social personnel to pay attention to the East China government, and on the other hand, it also promoted the government concept of the East China government and guided Shanghai public opinion.

Before and after the East China government joined the war, it strengthened public opinion propaganda several times to determine legitimate reasons for the East China government's actions. Each public opinion propaganda was initiated from Shanghai, and the Shanghai New District played an important role in it. Therefore, although the East China government attacked Shanghai earlier than Li Songchen expected, Li Songchen also dared to assure the Qingdao Executive Yuan that once the People's Army captured the Shanghai Concession, he would be sure to restore the order of the concession in a short period of time, maintain the rule of the East China government, and maintain the prosperity of the Shanghai Concession.

Although Luo Yue did not know Li Songchen's plans, he was very satisfied with the preliminary work done by the Shanghai New District for the People's Army. In the afternoon, the soldiers had already got off the ship to rest and were downloading the supplies transported with the fleet. Moreover, news came from the fleet that they had successfully occupied the Shanghai port. Yu Mian Luo Yue also recruited group-level and above officers, recruited military meetings, and arranged combat plans and tasks.

In fact, Luo Yue had already thought about the combat plan, so he arranged it in front of the sand table: the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Division, the 2nd Regiment of the Reserved Regiment, entered the northern part of the Concession, entered the Laochengxiang area, and blocked the northern part of the Concession; the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Regiment of the 2nd Regiment of the 2nd Regiment of the Regiment of the Concession, blocked the western part of the Concession; the Huangpu River in the east of the Concession, and the fleet was responsible for blocking it; the northern part of the Concession was Shanghai New District, which was stationed and blocked by the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Regiment of the Shanghai New District, thus completing the encirclement of the entire Concession area, and a regiment was drawn from the 2nd Division to enter the area around the Shiliupu Wharf, and connecting Shanghai County.
Chapter completed!