"Oh? What is this for?" Kotsu Shohei was puzzled by the movements of the Shimizu navy's ships ahead, and shook his head in confusion, "Does the Shimizu family's child not even understand the basic principles of naval warfare? Ueno Mamoru (Shimizu) Tsunayoshi himself is a celebrity in naval battles, but he didn’t teach his children anything? Even though they are still young, they are already in battle after all, so they shouldn’t be so careless..."
Except for one inconspicuous Guan ship left behind, all the other ships of the Qingshui navy slowly sailed away from the coast, giving up the key waterway and heading towards the open sea. Japan's common naval vessels - Anzha-bune, Kanbune and Kohabune - are not conducive to sailing in the open sea, but are more suitable for movement in rivers, bays and inland seas. Taking the initiative to abandon the inland sea and move towards the outer sea is equivalent to cutting off an arm.
Moreover, as long as the Imagawa family's Suruga navy pursues them, they can block the Shimizu navy's retreat to the coast and force them to take the open sea back to Izu - it is estimated that many ships will fall behind due to wind, waves, sailors' fatigue and other factors. And was captured by the Suruga navy.
However, if the Suruga Navy does not take action immediately, the Shimizu Navy will be able to contact the ocean current from east to west if it advances a little further, and drift all the way back to Izu - then the Suruga Navy will not be able to catch up, and will lose the opportunity to destroy Shimizu. military opportunity.
"Go and pursue them." Imagawa Yoshimoto also discovered the foolish actions of the Shimizu navy, and immediately gave instructions to Kotsu Shohei on the neighboring ship, "Don't let them go after you worked so hard to lure them."
"This is to lure the tiger away from the mountain." Takeda Harunobu immediately protested, raising his hand to point to the only remaining Sekigawa ship of the Shimizu Navy in front of him, "They are going to use a large force to lure away the Imagawa family's fleet, and then use that Sekibune ship to attack Your flagship, attack both of us."
"There is only one Kanbune, why should he?" Imagawa Yoshimoto had no scruples in letting his flagship Anzha-bune drift westward towards the Kanbune.
"Even so, you shouldn't take the risk." Takeda Harunobu wanted to knock out Imagawa Yoshimoto and take over the command himself.
"They are the ones who took the risk." Imagawa Yoshimoto waved his hand, and more than 200 Imagawa family members poured out of the cabin of the Anzha ship, led by Himura Umoha and Akai Kurotaka. They and the horsemen behind them all had an iron cannon in their hands. They quickly approached the side of the ship and squatted down to take cover. They lined up in two rows and started loading.
"Iron cannons? Those that Sakai Town bought? When did they arrive? Have you already been deployed in the army?" Takeda Harunobu was immediately shocked when he saw this batch of iron cannons, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It hasn't worked yet. If it doesn't work, you'll have to pay for it. The reloading is too slow. I'm afraid I can only fire one shot in a battle." Imagawa Yoshimoto joked a few times, then pointed at the iron artillery team and said, "But if it's a water battle, there won't be this problem. There will be a leisurely reloading time. When the two ships meet, we will fire the iron cannon and they will fire the arrows. Our ship is still higher. Who do you think will win?"
"No wonder you are so rare and confident." Takeda Harunobu finally relaxed and leaned against the mast. "Speaking of which, do you plan to imitate these iron cannons? Figure out a production process yourself, so that you don't have to worry about it in the future. Don’t you have to spend a lot of money to buy it?”
"Can I imitate this by myself?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was opened to new ideas. After being stunned for a while, he asked: "Can we make something like the Nanman people?"
"What's wrong with this? We all have two eyes and two hands. Aren't the Nanman better than us?" Takeda Harunobu shrugged his shoulders matter-of-factly and pointed to the iron cannons in the distance, "Find a few Take it apart and study it carefully to see what raw materials it is made of. Then pick a few clever craftsmen and let them try it."
"It doesn't feel very reliable. Let's talk about it later. There must be a secret recipe for such a magical thing. Instead of copying it yourself, it is better to buy the secret recipe directly from the Nanman people or their master craftsmen." Imagawa Yoshimoto weighed it for a moment. Still shook his head, "And we also need to see how effective it is in actual combat. It may not be easy to use. If it doesn't work, why would I spend so much effort to imitate it?"
While the two were talking, the distance between the Suruga Navy flagship and the Shimizu Navy's Kanship gradually narrowed to within a stone's throw, but Takeda Harunobu no longer felt nervous. The Imagawa family's flags have been loaded and fired, and they are leaning on the side of the ship one by one, waiting for the two ships to meet, to stand up and pull the trigger. But something that surprised Takeda Harunobu
Yes, there was no one on the deck of the Qingshui Shuijun ship.
Before he could think about it, the two ships had already met.
"Let go!" Himura Hiroyuki shouted, and the Imagawa family's bannermen immediately stood up, took out their dark iron cannons, pointed them at the Hojo family's ship a few feet away, and simultaneously pulled the triggers.
The moment the fire flashed, they were surprised to find that the opposite ship also flashed fire.
·
"boom!"
The violent roar of the iron cannon exploded on the open sea, and gunpowder smoke rose up with it. The two naval forces engaged in the battle in the distance were stunned for a moment and looked at the Anzha and Guanfeng ships along the coast. ——I saw that both ships were like big chimneys, with smoke constantly billowing and blown away by the sea breeze.
"Mom? The Imagawa family also has iron cannons?"
At this time, Oto Nobuki, who was leading the iron artillery team on the Kansai ship of the Hojo family, was almost blinded by the roar from the opposite side. He himself was born in the Kii Kuni Nerai clan and began to serve the Hojo family during the Hojo Uzuna era. Not long ago, when he went home to visit relatives, he discovered that Kii had begun to spread a novelty called "iron cannon", so he brought one back to Sagami, which immediately attracted the attention of Hojo Genan, the mastermind behind the Hojo family.
Under the instructions of Hojo Genan, Oto Nobuki secretly purchased 50 iron cannons through his connections with the public, and formed an army, commanded by Oto Nobuki. This battle was their first battle. Hojo Genan planned to take advantage of the return of Imagawa Yoshimoto and Takeda Harunobu by boat to use the iron artillery team to hit the Imagawa family's Suruga navy during the boarding battle, thereby assassinating Imagawa Yoshimoto and Takeda Harunobu. Takeda Harunobu.
Who would have thought that the Suruga navy of the Imagawa family also had iron cannons?
Hojo Genan, who was originally sitting in the cabin, could not sit still after hearing the roar that was far greater than 50 iron cannons. He ran out of the cabin in panic and came to the deck. The sea breeze blew away the gunpowder smoke and the blood stains on the deck - under the extremely close fire, more than a dozen of the Hojo family's iron gunners had fallen in an instant.
"How is that possible..." Hojo Genan stood there in disbelief, and turned his gaze to the Suruga Navy's Anzai ship - he saw more than a hundred iron gunners who had finished shooting retreated and reloaded.
"The Imagawa family has twice as many gunners as we do..."
Hojo Genan's sighs of emotion stopped abruptly.
Because more than a hundred new iron gunners suddenly walked out from the side of the Suruga navy's house ship - they raised their already loaded iron cannons and aimed them at the unsuspecting Hojo army on the deck.
It's four times!
"boom!"
·
"What the hell? The Hojo family also has iron cannons?"
At this time, on the other side of the Suruga Navy Anzhai ship, the Imagawa family was also shocked. The situation before them was unexpected - but the good thing is that they obviously have much more iron cannons than the Hojo Army.
Although Imagawa Yoshimoto was also surprised, after all, the situation was still under control, so he methodically directed the two iron artillery teams to take turns loading and firing - the length of the Anzha ship did not support more than 200 people standing on the side of the ship at the same time. , can only take turns.
The volley fired by more than 50 iron gunners of the Hojo family just now caused 5 casualties to the Imagawa family's bannermen. It seems that the accuracy of the iron cannon is really not good. Of course, it may also be because of some bumps on the ship, so the fire was fired. Not allowed. However, the numerical advantage still exists - the Hojo family's side obviously fell more than twice as much, and they were even more suppressed after the second round of volleys from the Imagawa family.
Takeda Harunobu, who was next to Imagawa Yoshimoto, was even more surprised at this moment, grinning from ear to ear, and stood there for a long time. He even turned a blind eye to Imagawa Yoshimoto's gesture telling him to squat down to avoid being hit by stray bullets.
"He is a mountain man after all..." After Imagawa Yoshimoto secretly slandered regional discrimination, he personally pulled Takeda Harunobu behind the mast.
·
"Retreat! Retreat!"
On the other side, Hojo Genan had no regard for his personal image and was shouting hysterically instructing the sailors to turn around. Anyone who finds that the only trump card he relies on is also available to his opponent and has more of them will be mentally shattered.
"Master!" At this time, Oto Nobuki
He also crawled on the deck, avoiding the flying projectiles, while crawling towards the cabin where Hojo Genan was, "What about the main army in the outer sea?"
"Let them escape individually and wish for their own happiness. How much they escape counts!" Hojo Genan cursed fiercely. This time, he used the Qingshui Marine Army, which he had worked so hard to rebuild, as bait just for this blow from his iron cannon - who would have thought that this blow would end at the beginning.
·
On the evening of September 4, the Thirteenth Year of Astronomy (1544), Sagami Bay.
The Suruga Navy captured more than 20 ships of the Shimizu Navy. Of course, the two clumsy Anzha ships could not escape. Shimizu Tsunayoshi himself moved to a small boat and escaped as soon as possible - the newly rebuilt Shimizu Navy The army was injured again in an instant, and no one could recover for more than a year.
"It feels like the effect is pretty good." Imagawa Yoshimoto looked at the ships captured and controlled by the Suruga Navy and the sailors of the Shimizu Navy who were tied up in rows - although these results have nothing to do with the iron cannon. But no matter what, the lethality and suppressive power shown by the iron cannon in the crossfire just now were quite impressive.
"Will I still trick you?" Takeda Harunobu, who had taken a fancy to Tiepao and recommended him in advance, patted Imagawa Yoshimoto on the shoulder while drawing a pie for him, "I won't lie to you, really. And I think , it is absolutely feasible to imitate an iron cannon, you might as well give it a try. To put it bluntly, this iron cannon is just a pair of iron lumps put together, and it is not a magic weapon or a divine weapon."
"You just want to use the Imagawa family's financial resources and manpower to conduct research, and then give Kai a copy of the results." Ginkgo complained coldly to the side.
"Don't tell us so clearly. We are all one family. The Imagawa family's governor is my brother-in-law, and the future governor will also be my son's cousin. We are all one family!"
