Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1042 Tang Ship Incident ([-])

The fleet of the Ming army set sail from Yang Fan in Sagami Bay. Ten giant ships braved the wind and waves in front of them.

Most of the ten gunboats have their own names. The seven ships of the Guangdong Navy are mostly named after the names of various prefectures in Guangdong, while the three gunboats of the Donghai Navy are named Yan Yingyuan and Chen Mingyu. , Feng Houdun, and the ship that is full of strength is the Yan Yingyuan.As for the ten lucky boats, their names are simpler. Depending on the source of the navy, they are often followed by numbers A, B, C, D. For example, the two lucky boats of the Guangdong navy are called Guangjia and Guangc respectively.

Ten gunboats were breaking through the waves ahead. These giants were invincible and irresistible on the sea.

"Mandu Governor! The front is the Osumi Strait. After the fleet enters, they can directly rush into Kagoshima Bay and approach the Shimadzu's residence city, Hushou Maru!" On the ship tower of the Yan Yingyuan, a pilot who is familiar with Japanese water patterns , report to Manda Zhuang.

He was full of strong words, and sure enough, he saw a big island appearing on the sea, and a strait appeared between the big island and the land, so he took a telescope and observed the strait. More than 100 small black spots appeared on the sea level.

Man Dazhuang was taken aback for a moment, and then sneered. He put down the binoculars, then looked back, and saw that Yu Fangqi's ship, Guangzhou, had already hoisted the flag of "Enemy Ship Found" on the main mast, and began to fly towards him. Yan Yingyuan's name leaned over.

"It's the Satsuma Navy!" The soldiers on the mainmast put down their binoculars and began to shout.

Seeing this, Man Dazhuang scolded with a smile: "You actually came here to block us. It seems that our whereabouts have been notified to the Shimadzu family by the shogunate!"

"It doesn't matter whether you inform us or not. The Shimadzu family doesn't know how powerful our army's gunboats are. They came to stop them, but they just put in a bid to sell their heads!" Xu Junsheng said.

While speaking, the alarm bells sounded on all the ships of the Ming army. In an instant, all the sailors ran out of the cabin to take their positions. The gun windows on both sides of the ship were opened by the gunners. The gunners quickly completed the filling, and the cannons were pushed back to their positions. , the muzzle of the black hole stretched out over the side of the ship.

Man Dazhuang deeply agrees with Xu Junsheng's words. It's not that he is arrogant, but that the equipment of the two armies is too far apart. "The Satsuma clan chose this place with painstaking efforts, but they are still too naive to rely on the terrain to deal with us." .”

Said that Man Dazhuang picked up the binoculars again and looked into the strait. There were more than 100 warships lined up like a wall, paddling towards them.

With 150 warships, the water army of the Satsuma Domain can be said to be dispatched in full force.

As the main figure of the Shimadzu family, Taduro Shimadzu, coupled with his previous experience in intercepting missions, will command the Satsuma water army to fight the Ming army fleet.

His boat was a huge Anzhai ship, fifteen feet long and three feet wide, which was half the size of the Ming army gunboat. The Shimadzu family wrapped a layer of iron on the board, borrowing from the famous name of the Warring States Period, Jiugui Jialong. The iron-clad ship is said to be invulnerable.

The iron-clad ship is similar to the turtle ship in North Korea. The parts that leak out of the water are all covered with iron sheets, so the center of gravity is very high, which is not conducive to long-distance sailing on the sea. A little lower, you can drive out of Kagoshima Bay and into the sea.

The ship was called Toranomaru, and Tadaro Shimadzu was wearing gorgeous armor and sitting on the deck. Because there was no mast, the Satsuma army discovered the Ming army fleet after the Ming army fleet discovered them.

"General の Ming Army が Warship を See you!" A samurai with the Shimadzu Family Maruyuki flag on his back reported to Taduro Shimadzu who was sitting upright.

Hearing that the fleet of the Ming Dynasty was discovered, it seems that the news given by the shogunate was not wrong. Shimadzu Tadaro turned serious, waved the fan in his hand, and commanded: "Get ready to meet the enemy!"

On the warships of the Satsuma navy, the iron cannons wearing bamboo hats rushed to the side of the ships immediately.

Japan's iron guns are matchlock guns, which are very refined. At this time, because of the war in China, a large number of craftsmen from the Tang and Song Dynasties traveled to Japan, not only bringing China's forging technology to Japan, but also bringing the Tang and Song Dynasties The spirit of craftsmen to keep improving.

The Mo Dao and Ming Guang Jia of the Tang Dynasty, and the Bu Ren Jia, Heng Dao, and God Arm Bow of the Song Dynasty are all extremely sophisticated equipment, and it is rare to hear that there are quality problems. Craftsmen, which lowered the enthusiasm of craftsmen, did not learn well in the Ming Dynasty, because the Song system lasted for a hundred years, so they could only learn from the system of the Yuan Dynasty, and continued to include craftsmen in the craftsman register, resulting in no enthusiasm for craftsmen at all, and frequent quality problems. It was a rare situation in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Although Japan is poor in resources, the forged equipment, whether it is a samurai sword or an iron cannon, is very sophisticated. This is because of the lack of resources, which makes the Japanese cherish resources more. The spirit of a craftsman.

The iron cannons forged by Japanese craftsmen caused a lot of trouble to the Ming army during the Battle of Korea.

However, although the Japanese matchlock guns are powerful, they basically have no artillery, and their artillery technology is far behind that of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Warring States Period and later duels between the Eastern and Western armies, there were very few artillery pieces in Japan. During the Warring States Period, only Otomo used the "National Beng", a large musket like a small Furang machine, to deal with the Shimadzu, and then Tokugawa Ieyasu in the summer of Osaka. The battle used "big tubes" to bombard the Osaka castle tower.

Neither the "Guobeng" nor the "big tube" can compare with the artillery of the Ming Dynasty. Most of the warships of Shimadzu's family have no artillery, only some Da'an house ships are generally equipped with two "big tubes", and the smaller ones are three pounds. The larger guns can barely be counted as six-pound guns, while the gunboats of the Ming Dynasty were equipped with a large number of twelve-pound guns, and even ten eighteen-pounder guns were equipped on the full-sized boats. The gap is too big.

In fact, matchlock guns have been introduced to Japan for more than 200 years. As long as Japan has a little groping, it must be able to manufacture cannons. However, this country is too poor in resources. Most samurai still use bamboo as armor, and it is difficult to popularize matchlock guns. Let alone making cannons that burn money.

The huge gap in national power between the Ming Dynasty and Japan was beyond Japan's reach.

There are 150 warships in the Satsuma domain, and there are almost no artillery on them that can pose a threat to the Ming army.

Tadaro Shimazu dismantled the six twelve-pound red cannons and more than 20 large and small cannons from the captured Fuchuan, and installed them on several larger warships. , but artillery shooting requires training, especially for sea attacks, which requires the gunner to have super gun skills.

The six heavy artillery, the only ones that could pose a threat to the Ming army, were installed on the ship, but they were just for appearance.

"The captain's fleet is about to enter the strait!" The soldiers of the Ming army on the mast watch shouted again.

Although it is a strait, its width is not narrow. Man Dazhuang looked at the black spots that could be seen with the naked eye, sneered, and shouted loudly: "On the flag, Guangzhou, Qiongzhou, Gaozhou, Zhaoqing, and Huizhou are going to Turn the rudder to starboard, Chen Mingyu, Feng Houdun, Wenzhou, and Leizhou follow Bendu's ship and turn to the left, line up in a horizontal formation, and the side guns are aimed at the enemy ships, ready to fire at any time."

Man Dazhuang paused for a moment, and then said: "The two wings of the gunboat outflank, Guangjia, Guangyi and other ten lucky boats, the front is used as bait, and the whole army is ready to fight!"

Man Dazhuang's order was conveyed. After receiving the flag, Yu Fangqi on the Guangzhou ship immediately led the five gunboats and began to sway the rudder to the right, and Man Dazhuang's boat also sailed to the left with the other four gunboats. , The entire fleet was immediately divided into three pieces.

Looking at the formation, the Ming army woven a pocket to hold all the Shimadzu's navy.

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(End of this chapter)