Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 259: Summer Battle in Osaka (V)
Seeing hundreds of Guan ships rushing towards their fleet like a group of mad dogs, everyone on the Chongmingsha fleet, from Li Guozhu on down, was extremely shocked!
What? You guys really want to die?
Although he was indeed startled, Li Guozhu quickly regained his senses: "Send the order, continue the turn, the ships that have completed the turn do not need to wait for the flagship's order, they can open fire on their own!"
Following Li Guozhu's order, the Ming warships continued to turn. After a warship completed its turn, it began to fire. As time went on, more and more warships opened fire.
The two sides spotted each other at a distance of about 20,000 meters, and then adjusted their formations to gradually approach each other. When they were about 10,000 meters away, Fujido Takatora ignored Yagyu Kanbei's request and directly ordered his Guanfu ships to launch a collective charge.
As mentioned above, the Kanbune was used by Japanese coastal daimyo in the 16th and 17th centuries to track down merchant ships passing through, collect taxes or rob them. The only advantage of the ship is that it is fast! How fast is it? With the oars and sails, if the wind direction is right, it can theoretically reach about 18 knots - of course, this speed cannot be sustained, because the strength of the oarsman is limited, and it will not last too long if the oarsman paddles with all his strength.
In short, 18 knots is about 33 km/h. Theoretically, at a distance of 10,000 meters, 20 minutes is enough to rush to the opponent.
But, these short 20 minutes became Fujido Takatora's lifelong nightmare.
When the Guan ships started charging, the Ming ships on the opposite side also gradually turned and started firing. However, the range of the muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons of this era was limited. Even the largest 24-pound cannon on the Beizhili class had a maximum range of only 3,000 meters, and the effective killing distance was within 1,500 meters.
So, at the beginning, the ships' progress was very smooth.
However, when the Guan ships approached the Ming fleet at a very high speed, they felt the horror of large ships and huge cannons in the era of hot weapons.
When the distance between the two sides was about 3,000 meters, more than 60% of the Ming army's warships had completed their turn. In one round of salvos, at least 50 145mm bombs flew into the air, then fell from the sky with a huge whistle, and hit the sea heavily.
Although 5,000 meters is the limit of effective killing by 145 shells, its accuracy can only be relied on faith. But at this time, the Japanese army has 500 ships charging collectively. No matter how dispersed they are, the density is still quite amazing.
Therefore, there was no cross-fire. Three out of the fifty shells directly hit the target!
Such a huge shell hit the Guan ship which had no protection and weighed only ten tons... It was of course a "hit-the-knock" without any suspense.
"Londato?!" In the rear, at the Dai'an residence, through the telescope, he saw that the three ships of his side were suddenly restored to the state of sampans. Fujido Takatora's big chin almost dropped to the ground: "This, how can the artillery of the Ming Dynasty be so powerful?!"
This really can't be blamed on people's lack of knowledge: when Todo Takatora fought Yi Sun-sin in the Korean waters, both sides mainly used muskets to shoot at close range. Even if there were cannons, they were only three-pound cannons, and at most six-pound cannons. Moreover, the cannons at that time had to be fired with open flame fuses, which was not easy to use in the humid air at sea...
And the Tokugawa family's own newly built navy? How could you, a daimyo like Fujido Takatora, know the details of this?
"Let's charge!" He was surprised at the Daian residence in the rear, but the Japanese commander at the front did not hesitate at all: there was still a distance of more than 3,000 meters, and if they rushed faster, it would only take more than ten minutes.
However, as the distance between the two sides got closer again, not only the 145mm cannons on the Ming ships, but also the 130mm and 90mm secondary guns began to fire one after another and gradually hit the targets.
Ten minutes later, when the remaining 300-odd Guan ships rushed to within one thousand meters of the Ming ships, they were mercilessly shot by countless 90mm guns on the Ming ships !
Small-caliber cannons have a shorter range, but they can be reloaded quickly! These small-caliber cannons were originally designed to deal with enemy boats that attempted to attack closely.
Therefore, on the bloody road of 10,000 meters, although some ships were hit in the first 9,000 meters, the number was really not too large. After entering the range of the Ming ship's 90mm gun, the number of Japanese ships hit began to increase rapidly.
Moreover, compared to the previous cannons that were basically hit with one shot, the Guan ships hit by 90mm shells would not fall apart unless they happened to hit the midship - which made the other surviving Guan ships able to see the miserable state of their comrades! This was a fatal blow to morale!
Gradually, one Guan ship turned around, and then countless Guan ships turned around. The group of mad dogs that had come like a tide and covered the sky and the earth before the war suddenly scattered!
"Clang!" The telescope fell powerlessly on the deck. Fujido Takatora, who was already 61 years old, seemed to have aged 20 years in an instant. He turned around with difficulty and said to his retainer, "Raise the flag for Lord Yagyu in the rear. The command of this naval battle will be transferred to him. Everything is up to him."
"Hi Yi!"
Looking at the flag sent by the Fujido fleet, Yagyu Kanbei, who was in charge of the new large ship "Yamato", felt a toothache.
The number of new ships he had was only one-third of that of Li Guozhu, so his chances of winning were slim. In his expectation, his fleet would first bear the enemy's firepower, entangle the enemy, and then let the Fujitang fleet attack from the side and rear - this is clearly a tough bone for me to chew, and you take the credit! Senior Fujitang!
Unfortunately, not only did they not appreciate it, but they also deliberately blocked his fleet in the previous sea lion charge, so he couldn't even go forward to provide artillery support...
"…Hey, signal Lord Sado-no-kami and ask him to lead the remaining Ataku ships and ironclad ships to move to the southwest. The Ming army has another fleet behind its main force. Lord Sado-no-kami, please help us destroy this fleet and solve our worries."
The messenger quickly climbed up the mast to signal with a flag, but the adjutant beside him said with an unwilling look on his face: "Sir, the old thief Fujitang defeated all the Guan ships in one fell swoop, and now we have to face the morale-boosting Ming fleet. Do you agree to this?"
"Shut up! Is that what you think you can call Lord Sado-no-kami?" Looking through the telescope at the fleet of ships that were still being hit by the artillery of the Ming army during the retreat, Yagyu Kanbei said with a heavy face, "Now is the time for battle. We can talk about it after we have settled our personal grudges. Well, if Lord Sado-no-kami and I can both survive."
