Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 835 The bloody battle at Hakata Bay
"How could this happen?!" The three of them looked at the miserable scene in disbelief. It turned out that their judgment was wrong. The Ming army did not fall asleep at all, but had been waiting for them!

But at this time, there was no need to think too much. They were dealing with the Ming army for more than a day or two. They knew they would suffer like this again if they didn't take advantage of the opportunity for the enemy to reload and approach!

Fortunately, it took a lot of effort for the Ming army to reload and shoot. As long as they approached quickly, they wouldn't have to take a second hit.

The three of them beat the war drum in unison to keep moving forward. The leaders on each ship also knew that if they turned around at this time, they would be shot again. Instead, they moved forward as quickly as possible and rushed in front of the Ming army. Only then was it safe.

They urged the sailors to row with all their strength, and the Japanese archers and throwers took up their positions again, waiting to enter the shooting range.

However, just when they were twenty feet away from the Ming army, they were hit by another round of artillery fire.

Amidst the spray of fire, earth-shattering volleys of artillery exploded in the bay again, and this time the Ming army fired grapeshot and grapeshot. Each gun sprayed dozens or hundreds of projectiles as large as eggs and as small as grapes, and hailstones. Like hitting the Japanese troops who were already close in front of them.

The damage caused by this round was ten times greater than that of the previous round. The few rows of Japanese warships that rushed ahead were directly beaten into a sieve, and almost no one was left standing on them.The Japanese soldiers holding bows and arrows and carrying sulfur jars were directly wiped out by the regiment, leaving only corpses riddled with holes, falling into the water like dumplings.

The sailors rowing in the bilge were still unaware of what was happening above, and continued to row the small morning boat forward without any officers or soldiers...

Including the first round of shelling, the Kyushu navy had lost more than 200 ships.

But don't be too surprised, because most of the more than 200 Japanese boats are small boats. The so-called "small boat" is the abbreviation of small boat. The word "zao" means fast in Japan, so "small boat" is praised. As characteristic of this kind of ship, it is small and fast.

Moreover, Japan lacks hardwood, so it can only use softwood such as pine and fir to build ships. It also habitually cuts corners. The thickness of the ship's planks is not one-third that of the Ming Dynasty warships.

Under such close range shooting, the hull of the Kyushu Navy was like paper and could not provide any protection at all.What's worse is that their shipbuilding technology is still stuck in the ancient times. They are all made of wooden boards and nailed together. They have no keel, no watertight compartment, and no structural strength at all.

Of course, there are also advantages, such as the fast maneuverability brought about by extreme lightweight.Of course, it not only drives fast, but also sinks quickly...

Furthermore, the cost is low and many can be built.Therefore, even if two hundred ships were sunk, they were still overwhelming and swarmed up like bees. A dozen or so Ming warships surrounded only one Ming army warship, throwing clay pots filled with sulfur at the Ming army from all directions, and firing rockets at the same time.

The little bits of fire like locusts illuminated the sea and sky in orange.

At the same time, the death squads standing on the "illegal building" were carrying escalators with iron hooks, preparing for a boarding battle.

However, the Japanese army's first weapon, the fire attack, was of no use.

Because the Ming army also understood their tactics, they had already taken adequate protection.Each battleship has four layers of external protection.A layer of broken netting, a layer of rawhide, a layer of wet quilt, and finally a circle of water urns.Arrows cannot penetrate it, and fire cannot burn it.

Sand was sprinkled on the deck of the ship, and all the buildings on the ship were wrapped in soaked quilts and covered. There was also a special fire prevention team, carrying water hoses and mops, standing ready on the deck in case a fire broke out somewhere. It can be extinguished immediately.Not afraid of Japanese fire attack at all.

This was a major matter related to one's own life. No one dared to slack off. Under the concerted efforts of the Ming army officers and men to protect them, not a single battleship caught fire... The Japanese troops who were preparing to engage in a broadside battle also encountered trouble. Even if their ships were covered with The "illegal building" is still more than ten feet shorter than the Ming army's battleship.

The Ming army attacked from above, just like defending a city, and naturally had the advantage.On the fore and stern towers, they used fire blunderbuss, mouth blunderbuss, and bows and crossbows to attack the Japanese troops like crazy, causing constant damage to the Japanese naval forces on the surrounding warships.

The Japanese were also impatient. They had no time to care about anything else. They had only one idea in their mind: quickly attack the Ming warships and start a hand-to-hand battle!
But the broken net stretched around the side of the ship by the Ming army caused great hindrance to them.Although the net ropes were in tatters, the Japanese army could not put the ladder on the side of the Ming army's ship.

When some Japanese soldiers saw the hook catching the net rope, they hurriedly tried to climb up, but with a hiss, the rope and the ladder fell into the sea.Naturally, the people above also made dumplings...

They had no choice but to use the hooks on the ladder to pull down the broken net ropes to clear a space for the ladder.But those torn web ropes are like spider silk. If one piece is torn off, there will be another piece. It is not so easy to clean.

But the stubborn Japanese army struggled with this thing. After making great sacrifices, they cleared a piece of shipboard where a ladder could be built.

Just as I started climbing, I saw a row of small windows suddenly opened in the belly of the Ming army's warship, and thick muzzles poked out one by one.

The two sides were close at hand, and the Japanese officers and soldiers climbing up could clearly see the ferocious expressions of the Ming gunners from between the muzzle and the gun window, as well as their actions of lighting the fuse of the artillery with a match rope.

Amid the sound of sparks, time seemed to have frozen.

The Japanese army watched in despair as the fuse burned out, the artillery sprayed out fiery snakes, and shot the pellets close to the face.

Before they even had time to feel fear, their bodies were torn into pieces, and the pieces of flesh and remains mixed with blood rained down into the sea.

This round of direct shooting by the Ming army instantly cleared away the Japanese troops around the ship, and their obsession with letting them board the ship for hand-to-hand combat could only be postponed...

Actually, what about boarding the ship?There were so many Japanese troops that there were always a lot of lucky people who had built ladders or hung hooks and climbed onto Ming warships without being shelled.

However, the Ming army officers and soldiers who were waiting in full formation had been waiting for a long time. They guarded all the key passages on the ship, formed formations with spears and shields, and blocked the Japanese soldiers who boarded the ship.

The gunners also held spears and even cannon sticks to help their colleagues drive the Japanese troops back into the sea.

Although the Japanese navy was brave and their number far exceeded that of the Ming army, the number of people who could board the ship was always limited. The number of people on the deck was at an absolute disadvantage. As soon as they boarded the ship, they were driven into the sea by the tightly guarded Ming army.Still unable to gain a firm foothold...

When the lower artillery of the Ming warship roared again, the surrounding Japanese warships were cleared again.The Japanese troops on board lost the support of follow-up troops and could not escape the fate of being annihilated.Some people even took the initiative to jump into the sea to survive, but they forgot that it was the first month of the year...

(End of this chapter)