Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 205: Daan House Iron Boat
That afternoon, Okabe Igen was invited to the storage area of Shinwanjin.

He was invited in a luxuriously decorated four-wheeled carriage.

The body of the carriage is finely carved, gilded and inlaid with silver, and the craftsmanship is evident in the details. The horses are carefully selected Kiso horses, with a uniform color, all of which are good horses. Each horse is worth a lot of money, and the driver is even more capable, with excellent driving skills and very familiar with the nature of horses - a senior Lang party member who retired from the Haranoi Guard Corps and participated in the Battle of Takeuchi-sho. He changed his job to become a coachman because he injured his knee and could not travel long distances.

Well, this is the travel vehicle arranged for the Dog Princess by internal affairs officials such as Endo Chiyo and Maejima Juichiro in order to curry favor with Hara, but the Dog Princess seldom goes out, so gradually this car became a concierge car for entertaining important clients.

This luxurious carriage runs very smoothly, mainly because the cement road is very flat, making riding in a carriage no longer a torture but a pleasure these days.

Okabe Yiyan was holding a glass of sweet ice drink in his hand, feeling the speed of the car and enjoying the slightly salty sea breeze blowing on his face. He felt a little drunk.

People always have pursuits. When personal safety is not guaranteed, they will pursue strength. After safety is guaranteed, they will pursue food and clothing. After food and clothing are guaranteed, they will pursue enjoyment, social status, respect from others, and the realization of life value...

There are many pursuits, but now Okabe Yiyan is sitting in the carriage, watching the police along the way directing other vehicles to make way so that the carriage carrying him can pass without stopping. He feels the improvement of his social status and the respect given by Wanjin...

A social status that should not belong to craftsmen in this era, and a special respect that should not be enjoyed by craftsmen.

These were things he had never experienced before.

To be honest, the standard was a bit too high. If he was not unfamiliar with martial arts, he might have suspected that Yuan Ye was planning to send him to assassinate some important figure, just like Prince Dan did to Jing Ke.

In other words, according to the moral values of this time, after enjoying such respect and treatment for a few years, he should have assassinated Yuanye's enemies without even considering his life or death.

Okabe Yiyan was lost in thought all the way and only came to his senses when he arrived at the storage area.

Yuanye was already waiting here, looking through the account books with the officials from the storage area. When he saw him coming, he hurried over to greet him.

This time, Okabe Yiyan didn't have any bitterness on his face, and he called "Your Highness" from the bottom of his heart and respectfully.

As always, Yuanye first showed concern for his life and asked if there were any inconveniences. After receiving a negative answer, he turned to the main topic and took him to see the wood. He asked politely: "Mr. Okabe, do you think these woods can be used to build ships?"

When he forcibly landed on the Chita Peninsula, he wanted to build a ship. However, he knew nothing about shipbuilding. He had never been exposed to the manufacturing technology of either modern or ancient ships. Let alone laying the keel, erecting the mast, and connecting the planks to build a large ship more than ten meters wide and more than twenty meters long, even if he was asked to build a small fishing boat, he was worried that it would sink after launching.

As an engineering student, he believed that everyone has their own expertise. In terms of shipbuilding, even though he had received a complete basic education, he did not think he could be better than the ancients. After all, before he traveled through time, he had to go to the park to take a boat. He was a typical northerner who would not get involved in water if possible.

Therefore, at that time he only stored a large amount of wood for drying in the shade, and did nothing else. He had to find ways to purchase ships for the Wanjin navy from other places, and the maximum amount of ships he could purchase was a Guan ship of 500 stones, and most of them were expensive second-hand merchant ships, which could only be used to transport things at most. In naval battles, they would most likely only result in casualties.

Now the "chief engineer" he had been waiting for for four years has finally arrived, and there is finally hope of building the "main battleship". However, he is a little worried that the stored wood is not up to standard, so he asks Okabe Yiyan to help him take a look.

"Most of them are good wood, there shouldn't be any problem!" Although Okabe Yiyan built shrines and pagodas, he was actually a famous carpenter. He inherited the carpentry skills from his ancestors. He had been dealing with various woods since he was a child. He could tell what kind of wood it was and how long it had been stored at a glance. He felt that most of them could be used. He said directly, "If Your Highness just wants to build a ship, these woods are more than enough. Thirty to fifty ships are enough."

"I don't just want a Guan ship, I also want an Ataku ship." Yuanye was relieved, thinking that it would save a lot of time for his navy to take shape, but he immediately added, "In other words, I need an oversized Ataku ship to be the main ship of my navy fleet... Well, let's build one first to see the effect. If the effect is good, I will need four in the first batch."

Okabe Yiyan was not surprised. These days, bigger means beautiful, bigger means powerful. Yuanye obviously has plenty of money, so he must build a big ship.

He immediately asked, "How big a houseboat does Your Highness need?"

"It must be more than six and a half rooms wide, eleven rooms long, and have a load capacity of more than 1500 dan." Yuanye made the request directly, "And I also need to cover the ship with a layer of copper and iron to prevent fire attacks."

He copied Oda Nobunaga's "iron-clad ship".

In the first battle of Kizugawa, the Oda navy led by Kuki Yoshitaka, with more than 300 Atakabune and Sekibune ships, fought against the combined fleet of the Mori navy, Murakami navy, Noshima navy, and Kurushima navy in Osaka Bay (called Nanwa Bay at that time). As a result, Murakami Takeyoshi mainly used bow-type small early-season ships and adopted the "Yi Yao" tactic, using small ships to defeat large ones, setting fire to all these more than 300 large and medium-sized ships, and the Oda navy was completely destroyed in one battle. This battle caused Oda Nobunaga to completely lose the ability to deal with Ishiyama Honganji, and he could only be forced to deal with others first.

But Oda Nobunaga could not swallow this humiliation, so he sent Kuki Yoshitaka to collect wood in Kumano, Kishu, and secretly build ships in Toba. It took him two years to build six "O-Ansatsubune", which is the legendary "Oda Ironclad Ship" - it is said to be 21 meters long, more than 12 meters wide, with a load capacity of 1500 stones, and covered with 0.3 cm "iron armor" on the outside to prevent roasting fire arrows and collisions with fire ships.

Of course, it is just called an "ironclad ship", but in fact 0.3 cm can hardly be called "ironclad", and it should be called an "iron-skinned ship".

But the "iron ships" were still useful. In the Second Battle of Kizugawa, the Oda navy relied on the fact that their large ships were not afraid of burning, and fired cannons and muskets crazily on the ships. In the end, they succeeded in crippling both the Mori and Murakami families. It was well worth the money.

Therefore, since there was a lesson learned from the past, Yuanye decided to take one step at a time and directly build the "iron ship" to avoid being burned to a crisp for Kuki Yoshitaka and suffering in vain.

Of course, we can't just copy it, we need to make some improvements on it, for example, don't make it into a "iron boat". Iron is too easy to rust, copper is better, it can also prevent fire attacks, just like the "Atakumaru" built by the Tokugawa shogunate, that boat is covered with copper, which is an improved version of the "Oda iron boat".

Now Yuanye plans to build his main fleet with the "Wanjin Iron Boat" as the core. Overall, it is equivalent to building an offshore platform and covering it with a wooden, copper and iron castle. When he encounters pirates and navy, he will fire cannons and guns to kill them - there is enough gunpowder, and if it fails to sink after one shot, he will fire again. He has plenty of gunpowder and is not afraid of wasting it.

Well, the shape of the Atakabune is similar to that of a Chinese tower ship. In essence, it is a ship with a building built on it, overlooking the enemy from a high vantage point, forcing the enemy to "attack the city" at sea to achieve an excellent exchange ratio.

His medieval naval battles could only be fought like this. He couldn't really build ironclad ships or long-sailed battleships. That would be too advanced for Japan. He didn't want to spread those technologies - he didn't know how to spread them, and he couldn't spread them even if he wanted to. Even if he was given a long-sailed battleship, he couldn't find anyone to drive it.

Anyway, it's enough as long as it is enough. The Age of Discovery had just begun during this period. Historically, the Portuguese and the Dutch had never attacked Japan. If they were just fighting a "civil war", having the "Oantaka Iron Ship" would be enough.

Yuanye explained his idea to Okabe Yiyan in detail. He was a little worried that Okabe Yiyan, a part-time shipbuilder, could not match Kuki Yoshitaka, a professional pirate, and would not be able to build it. However, Okabe Yiyan looked up and thought for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Your Highness, are you planning to build a turtle ship?"

"Turtle ship?"

"A type of Korean ship," Okabe explained. "It's similar in design to the Atakabune, but I heard that it's covered in tortoise-shell armor and has iron spikes on the surface. It's not only strong, but it can also prevent boarding attacks."

Wasn’t it that “Iron Boat” was originally created by Kuki Kakō?
Or have you learned from experience with other types of ships?

Yuanye recalled the Japanese invasion of Korea. It was said that Yi Sun-sin seemed to have restored the turtle ship based on the plank ship, but it was hard to say whether this turtle was the same as that turtle. Yi Sun-sin was highly praised in later generations and was regarded as a famous general in Korean history, but in fact he was basically not found in history books. It was hard to say whether he invented the turtle ship, as Koreans could not be trusted.

Yuan Ye couldn't figure this out. He really didn't understand ships. He thought about it and gave up. He asked directly, "Can Lord Okabe build such a large Antaku ship?"

Okabe Yiyan had never done this before. He thought for a moment but was still unsure. He was a little worried that Yuanye would be unhappy, so he said hesitantly, "The boat is a little big, but it shouldn't be a problem. I'll make a small sample for Your Highness to see later. But the copper and iron coating... I need to think about it first."

"That's no problem. I'll help you prepare the copper and iron sheets." Yuanye himself hadn't figured out how to cover the wooden boat with copper and iron, and how to balance the defense, structure and speed, so he said without any hesitation, "We'll study it together, do more experiments, and it doesn't matter if it takes more time."

Okabe Yiyan didn't expect Yuanye to be so easy to talk to, and he was immediately relieved. In terms of hands-on ability, he had never been afraid of anything since he was a child. Yuanye also mentioned some other needs, such as he also needed troop transport ships and some faster small and medium-sized warships, and hoped that Okabe Yiyan could provide some ship types as options.

Okabe Yi Yan had no problem with this. After asking a few more questions, he took out a pen and paper and, together with words and drawings, provided Yuanye with a "horse boat" - a modified Guan ship used by horse dealers, specially used to transport horses across the sea. Now it can also be used to transport troops, and can also be used as a disposable landing craft, capable of forcing a beach.

As for the Kanbune and Kobayashi ship used in combat, he also drew several types of ships and was willing to make further improvements according to Yuanye's requirements, such as considering issues such as watertight compartments - watertight compartments are not high-tech, and their prototypes had already existed in the Song Dynasty. The reason why Atakabune and Kanbune were not used was not only a cost issue, but cost was not a consideration for warships.

At least Yuanye, the big dog owner, doesn't consider the cost. It is more important to reduce the number of deaths.

If possible, he would like to use money to smash his enemies to death.

For a moment, the two of them looked at the paper and began to plan the future "Wanjin Fleet". One made requests and the other thought of solutions. The atmosphere was very harmonious.

(End of this chapter)