The heavy fog dissipated, and the Sea Trade Alliance fleet was like a giant tooth shark with its mouth wide open, putting the Japanese navy fleet under its fangs.
In fact, if we talk about the number of warships alone, the Sea Trade Alliance fleet is smaller than the Japanese fleet, but it cannot stand that there are no small ships among them. For the Japanese Navy, armed transport ships are undoubtedly huge ships, and their mansions are not that big.
However, armed transport ships are only basic ship types in the Sea Trade Alliance fleet. As the number of pure warships in service in the Jinghua Liangyang Fleet gradually increases, when Jinghua internally measures the expected investment in a certain naval battle, the main consideration is how much it will invest. Pure warship.
In this naval battle, Gao pragmatically invested a total of fourteen pure warships, including the flagship "Dongchang" second-class battleship and two third-class battleships "Changning" and "Changding". It can be said that the Beijing Fleet's Seventy to eighty percent of the core combat force has already gone into battle.
At this time, the Japanese navy was already in a panic, surrounded on all sides by what they regarded as giant ships, and their numbers were not much less than theirs. This situation is countless times worse than when I faced Yi Sun-shin in the past.
Takatora Toudo and Anji Wakisaka were both stunned. It was difficult for them to decide whether to fight desperately or to break through with all their strength.
Toudo Takatora originally wanted to say that the only way to survive was to break through with all his strength at this time, but then he thought about it, and his reputation under Taiko was not very good. If he took the initiative to say that he should break out at this time, it would be more difficult to survive in the future. , so he said first: "The brave will win when we meet on a narrow road, I think... The enemy in front of us has three unparalleled giant ships. Our army must concentrate all our efforts to defeat them in order to boost the morale of the army and win over the enemy's morale!"
When he said this, it happened that the "unparalleled giant ship" headed by "The Enemy in the Face" began to turn, revealing the three-deck cannon on the side string. There are more than forty Jinghua No. 1 cannons on one side string alone. The black holes of the muzzles seem to be rotating slightly, like the molars of a gluttonous beast before devouring its prey.
Takatora Toudo's heart trembled when he saw it, he swallowed unconsciously, and looked nervously at Anji Wakisaka, fearing that this man's brain would twitch to indicate that he agreed with what he just said.
Wakisaka Anji did not notice Toudo Takatora's nervousness, because he himself was completely stunned by this giant ship.
How could there be such a huge warship in the world? Isn't this a sea city? There are so many cannons on the city wall that they need to be placed on three floors? How long can our warships hold out in front of it?
Countless thoughts flashed through Anji Wakisaka's mind in an instant. It wasn't that he was timid, but that the "Dongchang" had completely surpassed his cognition, making him feel as frightened as a man in front of a god, and he couldn't bear the thought of fighting. The courage to fight.
To say how much larger the "Dongchang" is than the armed transport ship, in fact, it is not that exaggerated in terms of data alone. The armed transport ship is 1,600 materials, while the "Dongchang" is 4,000 materials. The tonnage difference is 2.5 times.
4,000 materials is roughly equivalent to the displacement of 2,000 tons in later generations, which is actually very small in Gao's pragmatic impression. However, there is no comparability between wooden warships and iron warships in terms of size. The size of the "Dongchang" is not equivalent to the various frigates with a displacement of 2,000 tons in later generations. The former looks too huge.
Coupled with its Western-style multi-deck guns, with more than 40 muzzles pointing in one direction at the same time, it would certainly have a huge psychological impact on the naval generals of this era.
Although Anji Wakisaka was born in the Army, he has worked in the Japanese Navy for several years so far. He has formed a simple but correct understanding of water warfare: the bigger the ship, the stronger it is, and the more cannons, the more powerful it is!
In short, the "Dongchang" is definitely not something that the Japanese navy can handle, especially since the Japanese navy's artillery is obviously smaller than the opponent's artillery, so I'm afraid it can't even do "the ants kill the elephant" ——Not to mention that they are now a herd of elephants.
Wakisaka Anji was very conflicted. He was indeed not afraid of death, and he wanted to follow Toudo Takatora's words and order a head-on battle. However, his reason told him that this would simply be a suicide and would ruin this large fleet. North Korea's naval fleet was even unable to take the land division back to Japan.
If the naval army was defeated alone, Wakisaka Anji could grit his teeth and admit it, but if it led to the complete destruction of the land division in North Korea, then this responsibility was really not something he could bear.
Among the Japanese army there were not only many elite members of the direct lineage of the Toyotomi family, but also the Daimyos of the Western Kingdom who were close to the Toyotomi family. If all of these people were buried in Korea, it is conceivable that there would be huge waves in Japan.
The Daimyos of the Eastern Kingdom claim to be from the land of samurai, and they are originally a group of people who are most likely to disobey the rule. In addition, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Date Masamune and others are all careerists. Once more than 100,000 elite warriors are all lost, In North Korea, does the Toyotomi family still have the capital to shock the world?
Perhaps the Toyotomi family will still be the most powerful daimyo even then, but if the relatively deferential daimyo of the Western Kingdom no longer support it, then the Toyotomi clan, which ranks among the best in the world, may be attacked from both the east and the west. No one can predict where this situation will eventually lead.
After all, Anji Wakisaka is a veteran of the Toyotomi family. He knows that his honor and disgrace depend on Toyotomi. Once Toyotomi is defeated, what will happen to him? Therefore, although he felt deeply ashamed, he still had to sigh and said: "Your Highness Todo, I'm afraid it will be difficult to win this battle."
When Toudo Takatora heard Wakisaka Anji say such weak words, he immediately knew that he was unwilling to fight head-on, but he still pretended not to know and asked: "Then does Wakisaka-dono have a clever plan?"
Wakisaka Anji shook his head, gritted his teeth and choked out a sentence: "There is a saying in the Tang Dynasty: If you keep the green hills, you won't have to worry about running out of firewood. I think today's battle must be a trap by the Ming army. Although fighting to the death can save your reputation and mine, But it will definitely ruin His Highness Taige’s great cause of conquering North Korea. For the current plan, we can only concentrate all our forces to break out in the same direction."
A big stone fell in Toudo Takatora's heart, but he said: "Since His Highness Wakisaka said so, I cannot ignore the overall situation. Please ask His Highness Wakisaka to command the breakout operation. I will give you my full support and I will definitely obey."
Although the words sounded nice, in the final analysis, they just put all the responsibility on Wakisaka Anji, which Wakisaka Anji can naturally see. However, at this time, the two third-level battleships "Changning" and "Changding" on the opposite side had also begun to turn. He had no time to care about this, so he nodded silently, walked to the command position, and ordered a breakout to the south.
It stands to reason that the south side is not the weakest side of the Ming army's encirclement, because there are also several giant ships larger than armed transport ships on the south side. However, Anji Wakisaka knew that although there was no threat from giant ships heading east at this time, there were fifteen armed transport ships of the Ming Army to the east, and the overall strength was not weak.
Of course, this is not the most critical issue. The most critical thing is that although the encirclement is still relatively large, it is not enough to give the Japanese naval fleet time and space to make a temporary U-turn. If you do this, you are likely to be beaten before completing the turn, which is absolutely unacceptable.
What about the south? The Ming fleet in the south has six second-class cruisers and five armed transport ships, a total of eleven battleships. Relatively speaking, the second-level cruisers are the weakest among the fourteen pure warships of the Ming Army. Each ship costs 2,000 materials, which is only slightly larger than an armed transport ship.
Anji Wakisaka's eyesight is not bad, and he can see this at a glance. Based on his understanding that "the bigger the ship, the stronger, and the more cannons, the more powerful", this line is obviously the most suitable breakthrough direction - and for the Japanese navy In other words, turning left is much easier than turning around.
After the order was issued, the Japanese navy began to turn left. However, the flag language of the Japanese navy only had a very simple meaning. The understanding ability of the generals on each ship was different. In addition, the training level of each ship was also inconsistent. Therefore, the direction of this turn was Not very good performance.
The Japanese army's turn was not only fast and slow, but also caused various chaos during the turn. Because it was turning left, the left wing part turned faster, but as the distance between the ships became closer, a collision occurred; the right wing part had to reach a longer distance during the turn, so the speed was too slow and it could not get into position. .
If they were sailing normally, this would not be a big problem. They would just spend more time organizing their formation. However, what they lacked most at this time was time. How could they have a chance to form a team?
Wakisaka Anji was extremely anxious and was hesitating whether to lead the center and left wing to attack first without waiting for the formation to be formed. Takatora Toudo had already seen his hesitation and shouted: "We can't wait any longer, we must be quick!"
Wakisaka Anji didn't care whether Toudo Takatora's words were reasonable, so he had to immediately order the entire army to attack.
However, when they turned, the Ming Army's southern formation had already guessed their intention. Unlike them, the Ming Army had a plan for possible reactions to the Japanese navy, so they immediately began to turn - but naturally it was not Instead of getting out of the way, we should approach the enemy sideways and start shelling.
At this point, you can see the difference between professional and unprofessional. Although the six Jinghua second-class cruisers specializing in combat were larger than the Japanese ships, their turning processes were surprisingly consistent and their speed was also fast. Soon they were as wide as mountains and blocked the path of the Japanese navy. The five additional armed transport ships were also not slow, and they also formed a horizontal line in cooperation.
Since the Japanese ships had begun to rush in as fast as possible at this time, the eleven warships of the Ming army began to fire volleys freely, that is, they did not need to wait for orders and fired volleys at the enemy according to their own ship's situation.
Jinghua's naval guns have always been designed and manufactured according to the idea of long and heavy guns, and their range has always been very long, but the accuracy at long distances is naturally not high. But at this time, the Japanese naval forces were rushing towards them, and they were in a relatively dense formation. Therefore, in the first round of salvos, they actually scored several chain bomb hits, and two Japanese ships were hit. The mast was broken, and the speed of the ship suddenly dropped beyond recognition.
However, the Ming army had no time to celebrate, but began to reload nervously, and soon after fired a second salvo. This time, the effect was better. About seven or eight rounds of chain bombs were hit. Two of them still hit the mast of the Japanese ship, and the rest fell on various parts, causing various damages to the Japanese ship that was hit, including many Deck crew injury.
The most coincidental chain bomb swept across the bridge of a Japanese navy ship, cutting off the command room on the spot. No one in the command room could find the whole body, and all the bodies were cut by the chain bomb. Broken parts status.
The morale of the Japanese army has been severely hit, but because there is no other way to go now, even if the morale is bleak, they can only risk their lives and continue to move forward. At this time, there were several "iron-armored" armed transport ships of the Japanese navy that responded with several rounds of artillery fire from the Ming army with their bow guns, but unfortunately none of them hit.
Of course, there is no way to hit. The warships of this era moved at full speed. The ups and downs of the bow were much greater than the hull. Moreover, they only had a few rounds of artillery shells now. This was not a scenario where the Ming army fired hundreds of rounds in one salvo. It was possible to hit. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the probability is close to zero.
Anji Wakisaka's heart gradually sank, and he began to doubt whether such a collision could really succeed. In other words, even if there were indeed ships that could rush out, how many ships would there be in total? But the Ming army obviously didn't have so many ideas, they just implemented it according to the plan.
Just when Wakisaka Anji was anxious, he suddenly heard a huge shelling sound from behind the flagship. It turned out that the three battleships in front of the Chinese army had entered the effective range and began to launch artillery attacks diagonally towards the back of the Japanese navy.
The rapidity of the Ming army made Wakisaka Anji even more anxious, and he kept urging to speed up. Unfortunately, under the influence of the Ming army's increasingly powerful artillery fire, the Japanese naval forces became slower and slower.
Anji Wakisaka felt cold in his heart. He already had the worst premonition, but he just didn't dare to show it. He still ordered anxiously, but unfortunately, the surrounding Japanese ships no longer even had time to pay attention. The formation began to disintegrate, and each ship gradually began to fight on its own.
At this time, the northern front of the Ming Army also approached, and they also began to turn diagonally and launch artillery attacks. The first-class cruisers on the northern front had more firepower than those on the southern front, and soon caused a lot of damage to the Japanese navy.
After the mast of his own flagship was also broken by a chain bomb, Anji Wakisaka finally recognized the reality: he could not run away.
Takatora Toudo was even more devastated than him. He held onto the railing with his hands to support his weak legs, and asked: "Your Majesty Wakisaka, what should we do now? The mast has been broken and there is no way out."
Anji Wakisaka gritted his teeth and said: "Then fight to the death until the last one is shattered!"
Todo Takatora opened his mouth, then closed it helplessly, walked towards Wakisaka Anji, and said: "It is a life worthy of being able to serve His Highness Taikaku together with His Highness Wakisaka."
Anji Wakisaka nodded without doubting that he was there, and was about to draw his sword to give the final encouragement to the entire ship, but Takatora Toudo suddenly punched him hard.
Wakisaka Anji was unprepared, and Toudo Takatora punched him right in the face. Wakisaka's vision turned black, and he fell to the sky. The last thing he heard was Todo Takatora sighing: "There is no benefit in dying like this."
Wakisaka Anji's soldiers were shocked. After they realized what they were doing, they were about to come over and grab someone, but saw Todo Takatora wave his hand and say, "I'm saving your lives!"
All the soldiers were stunned. They had already heard Todo Takatora's loud order: "This battle has been lost. There is no need to make unnecessary sacrifices. Send the order: hang the white flag!"
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "o Shangshu Ling", "First Login", "Yun Fuyue Yu", and "soviet2003" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
ps: circle, sixty.
