Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 345: The Decisive Battle on the East China Sea (Part 2)
Through telescopes and lookouts, the Japanese side naturally discovered the Ming fleet when it was still ten kilometers away.
"Hmm, the leading four ships? Are the enemy planning to divide their fleet into four battle lines to fight us?"
Seeing Yu Zigao's formation through the telescope, Tokugawa Yoshinao muttered to himself for a while and couldn't help but smile : No matter how the Ming commander arranged the troops, there was only one formation on his side.
This is a joint fleet of three countries, so naturally it can only fight in three battle lines.
"Signal our allies. Our Japanese fleet is in the middle, Siam is on the left, and Spain is on the right. Our army will form three lines and directly insert into the three gaps formed by the enemy's four lines of battle."
Following Tokugawa Yoshinao's order, the Three Kingdoms Allied Forces quickly deployed and formed three battle lines.
From right to left, the first row is the Spanish Manila Fleet, which includes 17 1,200-ton first-class battleships and 33 600-ton second-class battleships.
The second column is the Japanese fleet, which includes 13 first-class battleships and 40 second-class battleships of 700 tons.
The third column is the Siamese fleet, with 20 first-class battleships and 47 second-class battleships.
There are a total of 50 first-class battleships and 120 second-class battleships.
After the Three Kingdoms' joint fleet completed its battle line, facing the Ming fleet coming at high speed from the opposite direction, it did not hesitate to insert itself into the three gaps formed by the four battle lines on the opposite side.
At 11:00 am on February 15, the starboard side of the Japanese battleship No. 1 fired the first shell towards the Japanese Yamato, which was about to cross the river. The decisive battle in the East China Sea between the four countries officially began!
Since the four battle lines on the Ming side were two kilometers apart, after the Combined Fleet inserted itself into three gaps, it unconsciously maintained a distance of about one kilometer from the Ming warships on both sides.
This distance was, of course, within the maximum range of a muzzle-loading smoothbore gun. But the distance was too far, and the shells basically could do nothing except hit the sea and fry fish. So after the first two ships of both sides fired their guns, the commanders of the battle lines immediately issued new instructions.
"Order, our ship turns 30 degrees northeast and have the warships in this column follow!"
The old but strong Yu Zigao gave the order first, and then the warships in his row quickly turned from the 12 o'clock position to the 1 o'clock position.
At the same time he gave the order, Inukai Toji, who was two kilometers away, also gave the order tacitly: Our ship turns 30 degrees to the northwest!
The commanders leading the two first-level battleships all had the same idea: since you dare to come in, let's use the advantage of our two rows of first-level battleships to sandwich the opponent's row of battleships, and concentrate our fire on attacking the Japanese fleet first!
From the moment he led his own fleet close to the enemy fleet and saw the four battle lines of the enemy fleet through the telescope, Tokugawa Yoshinao knew that he was in big trouble: his fleet was caught in a pincer attack by the enemy's forty first-class battleships!
However, this configuration was agreed upon in advance, so no one else can be blamed. What we can do now is, of course, to get out of this fatal gap as quickly as possible. After the next turn, we can make adjustments based on the battlefield situation.
The Japanese fleet wanted to speed up its passage, but the Siamese and Spanish fleets next to it made completely different choices.
"Order, I turn 30 degrees to the southwest!"
"Sir, the two main battleships of the Ming Dynasty in the distance are encircling our friendly forces. Should n't we turn southeast and go to support the Japanese?"
"No, no, no, Fernando. Right now, there are 30 second-class battleships to our west. We can completely rely on our firepower advantage to destroy this fleet first, and then turn around to support our friendly forces."
"Your Mightiness?"
"Follow orders!"
"...Yes, as you wish, sir."
The Spaniards obviously wanted to be lazy, so Alfonso led 50 of his own warships to chase after Wang Mengxiong's detachment of only 30 second-class warships. On the other side of the battlefield, the Siamese commander Chamla made a choice that was completely opposite to Alfonso's.
"Order, my fleet is divided into two columns. 20 first-level battleships turn 30 degrees to the southwest. Second-level battleships turn 30 degrees to the southeast!"
"Yes, sir!"
So, with the latest orders from the commanders of each battle line, the seven battle lines that were originally basically parallel began to change one by one.
At this time, on the westernmost side of the battlefield was a detachment led by Wang Mengxiong, the Lieutenant General of Funing Town of the Ming Dynasty. As a naval commander who had fought for many years along the coast of Fujian with Yu Zigao, Wang Mengxiong was not surprised but delighted when he saw the Spaniards pressing towards him: "Hahaha, these bastards are all pressing towards me? Great, this way, the pressure on the Marshal will be reduced!"
Of course, Lao Wang, as a veteran general, was not stupid at all. Although he said this, he also quickly issued an order: "This battle line will turn to the northwest first to increase the distance from the enemy ships. Then try to pull the enemy battle line away, the farther the better!"
At the easternmost side of the battlefield, watching the Siamese battle line, which had been stretched out very long, split into two lines, and then more than forty second-tier battleships approached them, the commander of the easternmost battle line of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Guozhen, who was also a senior naval commander in Funing Town, made a decision similar to Wang Mengxiong's: the battle line turned northeast, using 30 battleships to pull away the enemy's more than forty (47) second-tier battleships - this was still a profit for the Ming Dynasty.
So the entire battlefield was quickly divided into three major areas.
On the west side, 50 Spanish warships (including 17 first-level warships) were chasing and confronting the 30 second-level warships led by Wang Mengxiong.
On the east side, the Siamese's 47 second-class battleships were facing the 30 second-class battleships led by Sun Guozhen.
In the middle of the battlefield, two lines of 40 first-class battleships led by Yu Zigao and Inukai Touji faced off against 13 first-class battleships, 40 700-ton second-class battleships, and 20 first-class battleships of Siam. In these four lines of battleships, Tokugawa Yoshinao's battleships and Inukai Touji's battleships were both sandwiched by the enemy.
“Boom boom~!”
Yu Zigao's battleships did not stop firing while turning slightly. When his ship, the Sun No. 1, approached the Japanese fleet by about 800 meters, it slowly began to miss targets.
"Very good, come closer! No more... no good!"
When the old commander was sitting on the command platform and watching the impact point of his own ship getting closer and closer to the enemy ship, he seemed to be full of fighting spirit. But suddenly, he felt a black sky above his head!
"No way? It's a straddle?" After a moment of shock, Yu Zigao came to his senses: "How far is our ship from the nearest enemy ship?"
“700 meters!”
"The damn Japanese pirates' cannons are so accurate!"
As soon as Yu Zigao finished saying this, he felt a shaking under his feet. There was no doubt that the ship had been hit!
"Where was it hit?"
"Marshal, there is a hole in the middle of the second-floor gun tower below the deck. The exact number of casualties is unknown. But it will not affect navigation."
"Okay, let's adjust the shooting parameters, brothers, and keep firing!"
And on the other side.
"Kōfō-dono, the Mutsu behind us has hit the enemy flagship!"
"Yoshi! We have to work hard too!"
"Hi Yi!"
It seems that this talent is really not fake, and it is worth it for me to risk my life to board the ship in person.
Just when Tokugawa Yoshinao was feeling very relieved, he suddenly felt a shake under his feet.
"Well, it seems that the Ming Dynasty's gunners are not vegetarians either."
As both sides scored hits, tens of thousands of guns on hundreds of warships began to spew out thick smoke more violently. The sea and sky, which were originally boundless, suddenly became filled with smoke and the sound of cannons. The battle began to become more intense!
