Twenty-Seven Armed Junks Were Destroyed,
And The Thirteen That Escaped Were Burned The Next Day.
It was then
determined to follow up this success by attacking the headquarters of
Yeh's army at Fatshan, the place already referred to as being some
distance from Canton.
By road it is six and by water twelve miles from
that city. The remainder of the Chinese fleet was drawn up in Fatshan
Channel, and the Chinese had made such extensive preparations for its
defense, both on land and on the river, that they were convinced of the
impregnability of its position.
The Chinese position was unusually strong, and had been selected with
considerable judgment. An island named after the hyacinth lies in
midstream two miles from the entrance to the Fatshan Channel, which joins
the main course of the Sikiang a few miles above the town of that name.
The island is flat and presents no special advantages for defense, but it
enabled the Chinese to draw up a line of junks across the two channels of
the river, and to place on it a battery of six guns, thus connecting their
two squadrons. The seventy-two junks were drawn up with their sterns
facing down stream, and their largest gun bearing on any assailant
proceeding up it. On the left bank of the river an elevated and
precipitous hill had been occupied in force and crowned with a battery of
nineteen guns, and other batteries had been erected at different points
along the river.
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