Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 349: The Decisive Battle on the East China Sea (VI)
At 2:20 p.m. on February 15, 1618, in the center of this huge battlefield that was more than ten kilometers wide.
"Boom, boom, boom."
The rumbling of the cannons, mixed with the creaking sound of wooden boards being shattered by shells, and the screams of people that filled the ears or were faintly heard. The 40 Hi-class warships led by Yu Zigao and Inukai Touji had been fighting with the Japanese-Thai coalition forces led by Tokugawa Yoshinao and Chanrak for more than three hours.
"Huh~ How many casualties did this column have?"
"Reporting to the commander, six of our warships have withdrawn from the battle line. Among the six that have withdrawn, the captains of three of them have already issued the order to abandon the ships. The remaining three will probably be there soon. As for the fourteen ships still in the battle line, at least four of them will withdraw after the next round of artillery battle!"
"Where is Commander Inukai?"
"Commander-in-Chief Inukai's battle line is getting farther and farther away from us. Now we can no longer see their flag signals through the lookout."
"Hey, how many casualties did the Japanese pirates who fought against us suffer?"
"It has been confirmed that we have sunk five of the Japanese pirates' forty second-level warships, and ten of them have withdrawn from the battle. Uh, only two of the Japanese pirates' thirteen first-level warships have withdrawn from the battle. Marshal, please forgive me, the Japanese pirates' artillery is really accurate, at least 10% more accurate than ours. Therefore..."
"This, I really feel ashamed towards the Crown Prince and the country."
After a long sigh, Yu Zigao looked at the gauze on his shoulder that had been stained red by the fresh blood, and his eyes became determined: "What is the distance between us and the Japanese pirates' battle line now?"
"Four hundred meters. Both sides have maintained this distance and fired two rounds of artillery fire."
"Send flag signals to the gunners of this ship and the following ships. After this round of shelling is completed, all will switch to chain shells! Then this ship will take the lead and turn again to cut inward 15 degrees, no, cut inward 30 degrees, and try to shorten the distance between the two sides to within 300 meters in the next round!"
"Marshal! This, this won't do! Our warships are shoddy to begin with, and it's already very difficult to get here. If we get closer, yes, then the chain shells' hit rate will go up, but our chances of getting hit will also go up a lot! In this way, we may not be able to hold on!"
"Hmm..." Yu Zigao nodded silently and took out his pocket watch. "It's 2:23 pm now. I think the fleets of Li Shuai and Yan Shuai will . If we don't use chain bullets to knock down the masts of the Japanese pirate fleet before they show up, these Japanese pirates will probably scatter and flee after our main force arrives at the battlefield. By then, this battle will lose its meaning."
" Marshal, this is reasonable, but your safety?"
"Nonsense~" Yu Zigao smiled and said, "First of all, as the son of Yu Long, how can I ignore the overall situation for my own safety? Then let's talk about our Funing Town. Since the crown prince became regent, have we lost a pound of military pay? Can bully us like before? So, both in public and in private, we should all fight for our lives! I really can't care about my personal safety."
"Marshal, that's the truth."
"Follow the order."
“…As you command!”
Following Yu Zigao's order, the Ming fleet turned around again and headed straight for the Japanese fleet. Soon after, the leading, already badly damaged Ming No. 1, suddenly turned inward 30 degrees and headed straight for the Japanese battleship Yamato.
“Kusome! Is the commander of the Ming Dynasty crazy? He actually wants to shorten the artillery range? If so, let’s grant their wish!”
At this time, Yagyu Kanbei, who was in charge of commanding the specific battle, was qualified to say this.
The two sides fought for more than three hours and were very familiar with each other's situation. In general, after such a long battle, Yagyu Kanbei found that his ships' ability to withstand attacks was better than that of the other side. What surprised him even more was that his artillery today really performed beyond their level. The hit rate reached an astonishing 15% when the distance between the two sides was 500 to 600 meters. And this hit rate continued to rise as the distance between the two sides narrowed.
"Thanks to Amaterasu's blessing, we have such a high hit rate, but the generals of the Ming Dynasty dare to close the distance again. Well, this time we will finish them off once and for all!"
So Yagyu Kanbei also ordered his helmsman to cut inward 30 degrees. When the warships of both sides crossed each other again, the distance between them quickly narrowed to less than 300 meters.
"Hanat~!"
"Fire~!"
As the gunners of the Hiichi and Yamato roared almost at the same time, the cannons of the two ships also began to roar.
Crack, crack~ After all, the distance was too close, and there was a bonus of Pojun. So in this round of Yamato's salvo, 35 cannons of various calibers fired, and 12 shells directly hit the Sun No. 1.
"Be careful, Marshal!"
A dark shadow came at lightning speed, and the guards beside Yu Zigao quickly pushed him , and then a series of teeth-grinding bone fractures were heard. When everyone came to their senses, they found that the guards had disappeared. And where was Yu Zigao?
The crowd followed the blood trail left by the shell in great grief and anger, only to find that Yu Zigao's left hand was gone, and a piece of broken wood had penetrated the old general's chest. As for the old general himself, he had fainted after suffering such a huge injury.
The guards took a breath and quickened their pace. They quickly surrounded Yu Zigao, and then the medical soldiers on standby on the deck hurried over to bandage Yu Zigao.
"what to do?"
"What should we do? Follow the Marshal's orders! For the gun positions that have not been destroyed, continue to load chain shells! Shoot at the subsequent enemy ships! Until our ship disintegrates!"
"yes!"
After completing a round of shelling, the wounded Hiichi and Yamato quickly passed each other. When the soldiers of Hiichi fought desperately for the serious injury of their commander and the imminent disintegration of their ship, Tokugawa Yoshinao and Yagyu Kanbei on the Yamato were both stunned.
"Chain bombs? Well, does the Ming fleet have no shells? Why are they firing chain bombs at this time?"
Of course, there was a reason why Tokugawa Yoshinao said this.
First of all, the distance between the two sides is so close that even for a sailing warship, it is equivalent to hand-to-hand combat. In this case, the enemy is still bombarding your hull with solid bullets, and you dare to take this round of artillery fire for nothing. Just to use chain bullets to slow down the opponent?
The point is that it is useless to slow down my speed! You are so weak, and you have been beaten by me. So what if you slow down my speed? At most, I can't catch up with you.
Wait, you can't catch up? Are you going to retreat?
That's not right. Seeing that the Ming fleet is clearly at a disadvantage but is fighting to the death, they shouldn't just retreat like that, right?
Wait, I seem to have missed something just now? You only have this much strength... What if the Ming Kingdom has more than this strength?
As if to verify Tokugawa Yoshinao's idea. When the Yamato crossed with the remaining 14 warships of the Ming army's Yu Zigao battle line, the lookout shouted with a trembling voice: "At 12 o'clock, a large number of Ming warships appeared due north of our ship... no less than 30 first-class warships!"
