Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

There were thunder and lightning and strong winds.

The sails on the ship were blown full.

Then, raindrops as big as beans fell from the dome without reservation, quickly creating ripples on the sea.

White fog rose from the sea, quickly covering everyone's vision.

Looking around, everything around was white.

The deck was in chaos at this moment.

Some people ran under the eaves of the boat to shelter from the rain, some were busy packing up their weapons, and some stood in the wind and rain with their arms open to let the wind and rain wash over them.

For a moment, there was constant noise on the boat.

Zhang Yunxiu returned to the cabin early and sat on the large camphor wood bed covered with a brocade quilt.

With a burning gaze, he admired the heavy rain outside the cabin window. It was raining heavily, the waves were rolling, and the raindrops fell on the sea, making a clattering sound.

But it was soon drowned out by the sound of waves.

"It's finally time to start. Whether it succeeds or not, the fate of the fleet will all depend on the next few days." Zhang Yunxiu clenched his fists and gritted his teeth secretly. "If it succeeds, this battle will be the moment when Toyotomi Hideyoshi will establish his own reputation."

As the main force of the Japanese navy, Mori Terumoto can be defeated.

The rest is not a big deal.

Even Toyotomi Hideyoshi no longer had any resistance at sea.

The cool sea breeze mixed with cold rain hit Zhang Yunxiu's face, and he immediately felt more energetic.

"This rain came at the right time. My warships were not affected much by the wind and waves, but Maori Huiyuan's warships were definitely affected by this heavy rain."

As the battle went on, the gap in strength between the two sides, which was already there, became even greater.

"Mr. Zhang, are you asleep?"

A delicate voice was heard.

Zhang Yunxiu recognized the voice of Chiyoko Otomo and was startled. He thought to himself: This woman, why is she looking for me when it's already dark? No. If they are alone, it would be bad if something goes wrong.

"I'm taking a rest. Let's talk about it tomorrow if there's anything." After a few seconds of silence, Zhang Yunxiu's voice came out.

"Oh, then you should have a good rest." Outside the door, Otomo Chiyoko felt a mixture of loss and joy. She replied softly and left quietly.

Go back to your bedroom.

Chiyo Otomo's hair was wet by the rain, sticking to her neck and cheeks, making her look even more cold and melancholy.

Mrs. Otomo hurried forward, picked up the towel, and gently wiped her sister.

"How is it? What does that mean to you?" Mrs. Otomo asked with a smile.

"What else can I do? Mr. Zhang is a good man, not as dirty as my sister-in-law thinks." Otomo Chiyoko wrinkled her nose and reached out to grab the towel from her sister-in-law. "He is humble and polite. How could he let me stay in the same room with him alone?"

Mrs. Otomo pursed her lips and secretly criticized Zhang Yunxiu for not being a man.

Such a beautiful woman was delivered to his doorstep for him to taste, but he showed no mercy to her and even acted as if he was keeping her at a distance.

After these few days of contact, she felt more and more that the strength of the Ming Dynasty was unfathomable.

Just this one sea-going fleet shows that the Ming Dynasty has a strong foundation. If it were the entire Ming territory, how powerful would it be?
Mrs. Otomo found it hard to imagine.

"Hey, Governor Zhang is young and handsome. If you can marry him, you will have a backer, and our Otomo family will also have a backer." Mrs. Otomo giggled and teased her sister half-jokingly.

Chiyoko Otomo blushed, tilted her head, bit her lip and whispered softly: "Mr. Zhang only treats me as a sister, and, and he already has a wife, who is much prettier than me."

"For men, what's the big deal about having more women?" Mrs. Otomo curled her lips and said nonchalantly, "Look at your father and your brother, they have three or four concubines. For men, the more women, the better."

When Otomo Chiyoko heard this, she felt a little impulsive in her heart.

Suddenly, she was startled.

Could it be that I really like him?
Impossible, he is almost ten years older than me, if he likes someone, he likes mature women. In his eyes, I am probably just a short little sister who can help him translate.

"Actually, this is quite good. I always feel an inexplicable sense of security around him."

Chiyoko Otomo smiled sweetly.

Mrs. Otomo, who was standing by, shook her head, and took her sister into her arms, and advised as a person who had experienced it: "Silly girl, if you really like him, you must take the initiative. When a man meets a proactive woman, his resistance is zero."

"Sister-in-law, I've already told you that Brother Zhang is not that kind of person." Otomo Chiyoko puffed up her cheeks and said angrily.

"Hmph, what do you mean he's not that kind of person? Take off all your clothes, snuggle into his bed, and do nothing. Then see if he's interested or not." Mrs. Otomo was full of disdain.

Otomo Chiyoko's cheeks flushed and she tilted her head down, not daring to answer.

A pair of watery eyes, sparkling with a different kind of luster.

It rained heavily for three days in a row.

On the morning of the third day, the heavy rain gradually subsided. The sea was covered with thick fog and the air was cool. The patrol ships at the front of the fleet were searching the nearby waters as usual.

Suddenly, the sound of a warship breaking through the water came through the thick fog.

Take a closer look.

In the vast fog, the outline of the warship was looming.

"Here it comes, finally here!" an officer shouted.

"Hurry, hurry, send a signal to the Governor." A companion next to him shouted.

"Hahahaha, I've waited for so long, and finally I got to see these beasts."

"It's time for me to make achievements and sleep with Japanese women."

Rumble.

With a cannon shot, a burst of colorful light suddenly appeared in the white sky.

People on both sides looked up.

Zhang Yunxiu on the deck was overjoyed, and immediately issued an order: "Order the First and Second Fleets to advance to meet the enemy, the Third Fleet to the left wing of the Japanese fleet, and the Fourth Fleet to remain as a reserve, ready to support the battlefield at any time."

"Also, go inform the Portuguese to fight me to the death. If I lose, no one will satisfy their demands."

"Yes." Several messengers left immediately.

Then, there was a commotion in Zhang Yunxiu's fleet.

Some people were wiping the cannons on the ship with excitement on their faces.

Some people ran barefoot to the bow, looked into the distance, and asked hurriedly: "Has the fighting started? Has the fighting started? Where are they? Where are they? Where are the Japanese pirates?"

A famous general then gave orders:
"First Fleet, follow me forward!"

"Second Fleet, target is right in front, forward!"

"Third Fleet."

With shouts, the ferocious beasts that had been hungry and thirsty for a long time gradually woke up. In an instant, the waves were flying, and seagulls were circling in the sky, making sharp screams.

In the mist.

Mori Terumoto was standing on the main ship. When he heard the noise outside, he frowned unconsciously: the fog raid tactics that he had carefully planned were actually cracked by the Ming army.

But he recovered quickly. The Mori family's navy dominated the Sea of ​​Japan, so how could they be timid just because they were discovered by the enemy?
"Kameda-kun, come here."

"Hey!"

The one-eyed dragon Kameda Taro walked forward quickly with a flattering look on his face.

Maori Terumoto nodded, turned his head and looked at Kameda Taro, pointed to the sea ahead and said with a smile: "Kameda-kun, watch out, today is the day when my Maori family's warships will defeat the Ming army."

"The family head is wise and brave. This time he will surely defeat the Ming army in one fell swoop." Taro Kameda sneered secretly in his heart, but praised with a smile.

"You said that the Ming coalition has thousands of warships. Is that true?" asked a general next to Mori Terumoto.

"I saw from afar that an area of ​​sea was full of warships." Although Kameda didn't know what Zhang Yunxiu was thinking at first, he had no choice but to do as he was asked to fully state the strength of the fleet.

After he finished speaking, he understood.

Mori Terumoto was stubborn and self-righteous. When he heard that there were so many warships on the opposite side, he immediately realized that this was a tactic of the Ming army to confuse the enemy.

So, he immediately decided to go and fight the Ming army to the death.

The generals under his command were not as optimistic as Maori, and vaguely felt that the Ming army was not that simple.

Originally, Mao Li had already concluded the matter, but now when he heard someone asking about it, he frowned and said, "Fujii-kun, Kameda-kun, you are too cautious. I think Kameda-kun mistook your fishing boat for a warship!"

Taro Kameda smiled innocently, and the general named Fujii frowned and concentrated, with a hint of worry in his eyes.

The rest of the generals remained silent, each thinking about their own affairs.

Mao Li Terumoto looked around and waved his hand, saying, "Okay, everyone return to your positions. The Ming army is about to enter our artillery range. I hope you will fight bravely and defeat the Ming army."

"Hi!" Everyone bowed in unison.

Soon, the generals on the main ship dispersed, leaving only a few generals such as Kameda Taro and Mori Terumoto.

The warship advanced forward for ten minutes.

Gradually, the sun pierced through the clouds, set from the dome, and dispersed the mist on the sea. Maori Terumoto's vision gradually became clear, and he saw tall warships lined up neatly in the sea ahead.

It was so dense that it almost blocked the wide sea surface.

The muzzle of the gun, as thick as half a bucket, was pointed straight at them. The warm sun shone on it, emitting a heart-pounding cold light.

"Gudong." Mao Li's throat moved, and he swallowed hard. He asked Kameda Taro excitedly, "Is this the fleet of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Hi." Taro Kameda bowed and became more determined in his decision.

"So many, so many! If my Mori family had such warships, why would we be afraid of Toyotomi Hideyoshi." After saying this with envy, Mori Terumoto's eyes turned cold, he drew out his sword, and launched an attack on the Ming army.

"Hi Ya Ku, Hi Ya Ku. Hi Ya Ku."

"Give me the duck!!"

As soon as the flag bearer waved, the Mori warships sped up and rushed towards the Ming fleet at full speed. Many of these people's ancestors had plundered the southeast coast and believed that the Ming Dynasty was just a show.

With such large warships, the Ming army could certainly not exert even one tenth of their power.

If I could take it back, even if it meant making sacrifices, I would think it was worth it.

There was no wind on the sea at this time, so even if the Mori family was moving at full speed, the speed was still not fast. Soon the two armies were only three kilometers away from the other side, and two kilometers away.
On the main ship, Zhang Yunxiu could even clearly see the ferocious expressions on the Japanese pirates' faces.

"Governor, the enemy ships are within our firing range." A messenger shouted immediately after the warship entered two thousand meters.

"Wait a little longer, wait until they get three miles away, then let them fire."

"Yes!"

One thousand eight hundred meters.

1,700 meters
One thousand six hundred.

"fire!"

Zhang Yunxiu waved his hand fiercely, and the flag bearer immediately waved the red flag, and the flags of the warships in the front row immediately flew. Zhang Yunxiu had equipped flag bearers on almost every warship, and as long as the flag bearer on the main ship waved, the flags would fly.

The flag bearers on the remaining warships also waved their flags.

Soon, all the soldiers on the warships received the order.

"Rumble"

All they heard was a series of loud noises, like thunderclaps, which startled the Japanese pirates who were still moving on the sea.

"It's so far away, can their cannons reach it?"

You know, the range of their cannons is just over a mile. They have never seen or even heard of a cannon with a range of three miles.

He simply couldn't believe that there was such a powerful cannon in the world.

While the Japanese pirates were stunned, red-hot lead bullets shot out from the smoke, drew a perfect arc in the air, reached the highest point, and then suddenly fell down, hitting the Japanese pirates' fleet heavily.

"Bang bang bang."

A scream immediately rang out from the Japanese pirate warship.

A raging fire was burning on the deck, and thick smoke billowed from the ship, forming a black cloud that almost completely blocked out the sunlight in the area.

The boat was already in chaos.

Some were hit by shells and died on the spot.
Some were knocked to the ground by the aftermath of the shells, shaking their heads with a face covered in dirt. Others had their legs blown off, half dead, and fell to the ground groaning in pain.

At this moment, they were sure that the Ming army's cannons had a very long range.

Rumble.
After two more rounds of artillery fire, a cloud of white smoke rose in front of the Ming army.

The pungent smell of gunpowder filled the air.

After three rounds of shooting, more than ten Japanese warships were sunk and as many as thirty were damaged.

"Charge forward, charge forward, fight back, fight back." A Japanese pirate general drew his samurai sword and pointed it forward under the gunfire. "Hey, hey, rush to the front of the Ming army, or we will all die!"

boom!
A shell landed in the man's side, and the aftermath of the explosion knocked him to the ground.

When he stood up, his face was covered in dust and dirt.

"Mr. Sanjo, the Ming army's artillery is too fierce. We can't resist it." A deputy general bent his body to avoid the artillery fire and hurried to the side of the Japanese pirate general.

"Baga, Mr. Matsumoto, it's just the beginning and you want to retreat?" The general's face was full of anger, and he grabbed the man's neck and shouted.

"boom."

Another shell landed in the sea in front of him.

The high sea water soaked their heads and faces.

The man called Matsumoto wiped his face and pointed to the sea ahead and said in a crying voice: "Look, the Ming army's artillery fire never stops. Our warriors can't get through at all."

Sanjo heard the voice and looked in the direction Matsumoto was looking.

I saw flames shooting out from the vast white smoke.
Shells were fired mercilessly from the smoke.

"Baga, how could this happen?"

"Look, Sanjo-kun, the Ming army on the flank is moving behind us." Matsumoto shouted in fear. (End of this chapter)