The sailors on the ship originally thought that they were dead this time, but they didn't expect that they were just beaten and let go. That was so overjoyed! And they took this opportunity to carefully observe the fleet in the distance. Since the flags were all messy pirate flags, they thought it was a small number of Ming troops leading a group of pirates!
The noisy pirates who boarded the ship also confirmed their thoughts, so they felt that they had been robbed by a large pirate group! So after escaping with their lives, they immediately raised their sails and fled! And because their ship was empty and the speed was unbelievable, they might have even used their skills to keep the bottom of the box, for fear that these pirates would regret it!
Seeing their embarrassment, the soldiers in the fleet couldn't help but smile so happily! Liu Haojia looked at the ships going away and said, "Everyone will be on alert starting the day after tomorrow. The Shimadzu family's fleet may come at any time!"
Li Wenliang agreed and passed on the order, and the soldiers started gearing up after hearing the order. The monotonous days of sailing at sea were really boring, and they couldn't wait to prepare for a fight!
In fact, Liu Haojia was also preparing to fight against the Japanese navy. This time he brought three cruisers, just to have a collision with the Japanese navy, so as to test the combat effectiveness of the new warships! In order to allow the Shimazu family's navy to go out in full force, he just ordered all three cruisers to hide in the fleet. The Japanese ship should not be able to see the existence of the cruisers.
The reason why Liu Haojia did this was because he knew that the Japanese people also understood that this kind of Western ship was powerful, and it would be pointless if they were frightened so that they did not dare to leave the port!
After the fleet traveled for four days, judging from the chart, they were already very close to the coastline of Japan! Liu Haojia estimated for a long time and felt that the Shimadzu navy was very likely to appear today, so he ordered the entire army to prepare for war! After giving the order, all the soldiers, including the pirates, began to clear the deck and clear the artillery.
When the time was approaching noon, Liu Haojia saw the two pilot ships inflating all their sails and retreating quickly, and flagged "enemies encountered" from a distance! After the two ships returned to the queue, a large shadow of sails could already be seen on the sea level!
Liu Haojia looked through the telescope and saw a large fleet coming from a distance, especially ten giant ships. It seemed that the Shimazu family was out in force!
Seeing the giant ship Liu Haojia in the queue opposite, not only was he not worried, but he felt that he would win this battle because he knew the Japanese ships so well! In his opinion, those giant ships are just fake!
There are currently three main types of ships in the Japanese naval force: the Anzha-bun, the Seki-bun and the small morning-bun.
Let’s talk about Anzai Ship first. The bow of this kind of boat is square, unlike the Kanbune and Kobayone, which have a pointed bow in pursuit of speed. The thick shield that surrounded almost the entire ship to protect the crew from arrows and bullets was called the Soyakura.
Gaps and holes for easy shooting were left on the shield, allowing the protected combatants to use iron cannons or bows and arrows to shoot outwards. Moreover, during boarding battles, the shields were flattened to serve as springboards, allowing the samurai to rush to the enemy ships for hand-to-hand combat. However, the ship's own hull was very tall, and the enemy could not build a springboard for them to engage in boarding battles.
After removing the shield, we can see that the internal structure of the entire Anzha ship will be built with 2 to 4 floors depending on the scale, which shows its tallness and huge capacity!
Anzabune, like Sekibune, uses sails to obtain power when cruising. When fighting, the mast is lowered, the sails are furled, and power is obtained entirely by rowing. However, the huge hull is equipped with heavy protective measures and more weapons and personnel, so it has no speed at all!
Because the sails cannot be used during the battle, it depends on the cooperation of dozens of rowers, so it is still very flexible in a short period of time, but as time goes by, the crew will be exhausted and there will be no way!
As for the Kanfune, it is a medium-sized warship. The design idea is to improve mobility while taking into account defense. It is a simplified version of the Anzha Ship. The grooves on both sides are between 40 and 80. The weapons are large barrels and iron cannons, which are the main battle force of the navy and are also called "morning ships".
This kind of ship has a pointed bow and a slender hull. It uses plates as armor. The hull is light and has good maneuverability. "Kanfune" got its name because the daimyo and pirates at that time set up "customs" at sea strongholds to collect tolls from passing ships. They were able to catch up with tax-evading ships because of their faster speeds, which attracted attention.
It was used as a military ship during the Warring States Period. The "seki-bune" has rafters around it. In contrast to the armor of the Anzha-bune, which is thicker, the side of the seki-bune is thinner. Bamboo and other materials are often used to lighten the hull, making it a fast ship.
The "Small Morning Ship" is a small ship. The design idea is to give up defense and increase maneuverability as much as possible. The two daggers are equipped with less than 40 oars and are mainly responsible for reconnaissance and messaging. However, because of its lightness and flexibility, low cost and low technical content, it has become the mainstream ship of pirates and is often used in groups.
"Small morning boats" can be divided into iron gun boats, long-handled boats, odd boats, monojian boats, ban boats, military and food boats, etc. For example, an eight-hundred-stone ship is equipped with personnel. It is generally equipped with a hundred tanks, requires a hundred sailors, five bow helmsmen, and about a hundred musketeers. Combatants account for half of the total number. If sails are used as power, the number of sailors can be greatly reduced.
Beginning in the late Muromachi period, Japan's navy evolved into a hybrid ship fleet with the Atayabune as the core and equipped with more flexible and agile Kanfune and Kohayabune to share different combat tasks.
If you look at it purely in terms of body size, Ayafune is a battleship, Sekifune is a cruiser, and Kohayabune is a destroyer. Of course, I only differentiate based on body size, not combat function.
These types of ships look good, and like other ships, they are equipped with watertight compartments to deal with hitting rocks, leaking and sinking, but they have obvious weaknesses as warships! Just don’t use the keel! Therefore, this fragile hull is only suitable for coastal navigation and combat, and its ocean navigation capability is really limited.
Just like when Liu Haojia was observing each other, they themselves were discovered by the Shimadzu navy! They actually slowly spread out their formation and came forward.
When Liu Haojia saw the Shimazu ships moving, he smiled and said, "I can guess what formation these Japanese are using!"
Zhang Zhiyong stepped forward and joked: "Master Hou, what formation will these people use?"
Liu Haojia said: "Look, there are a total of ten Anzha ships here. The Japanese must have formed a horizontal formation with the Anzha ships as the core to entangle us, and then used Guan ships and small morning ships to circle around and attack."
Li Wenliang raised the telescope and looked at it for a moment and then said: "It seems that Mr. Jean was right! But the only error is that they seem to have set up a crescent moon formation."
