 Courbet followed up this success on 1 March by locating "Kaiji", "Nanchen" and "Nanrui", which had taken refuge with four other Chinese warships in Zhenhai Bay, near the port of Ningbo.Courbet considered forcing the Chinese defences, but finally decided to guard the entrance to the bay to keep the enemy vessels bottled up there for the duration of hostilities.A brief and inconclusive skirmish between the French cruiser "Nielly" and the Chinese shore batteries on 1March enabled the Chinese general Ouyang Lijian, charged with the defence of Ningbo, to claim the so-called Battle of Zhenhai as a defensive victory.