The Spanish galleon in the distance came closer. Because the wind was in the wrong direction, Yang Fan's fleet moved slowly.
Yang Fan looked at the Spanish galleon and came closer. He walked out and went to the wheelhouse.
"Send a signal to warn the ship not to get too close to avoid collision," Yang Fan said.
There are not many ways to warn at sea. He won't hear you if you shout. He won't understand if you send a signal. The best way is to shoot.
A cruiser caught up from behind and cut sideways between the two ships to prevent the Spanish galleon from threatening the safety of the master's ship.
Then a bang was heard, and the cruiser Hengshan opened fire. It fired its cannon into the sky to warn the Japanese and Western ships trying to approach.
At this time, the top officer on the Date Maru was military officer Tadayoshi Nomura. This huge fleet attracted the attention of the Shogunate Navy as soon as it entered the strait. After all, the Korean War ended not many years ago. This great war in the last years of Wanli... almost
The shogunate navy suffered a total loss.
After the war, the shogunate once again built a large number of house ships on Tsushima Island. After all, after the defeat of Korea, they were also worried that the Ming Dynasty and Korea would cross the sea and attack Honshu Island. Therefore, in the twenty years after the war, they built a large number of
The Anzaku fleet is stationed in the Tsushima Strait, the choke point from the mainland to Honshu Island.
This time six such huge warships sailed into the Tsushima Strait, which immediately alerted the navy. During the heavy rain last night, the small morning boat responsible for patrol and reconnaissance took the risk of releasing carrier pigeons to notify the troops stationed on Tsushima Island to intercept them.
Nomura Tadayoshi had never seen such a big ship. The Spanish galleon weighed 500 to 600 tons, which seemed to them to be very large. But this white Western galleon that came in later had three in total.
Datemaru is so big.
Moreover, the side gun windows were densely packed, which made him panic. Although his ship was built in Japan according to the specifications of the Spanish galleon. The artillery also had forty French cannons. But
, when he saw the huge gun muzzle of the opposite cruiser, he was still so scared that his whole body became numb.
With a bang, a gun window in the middle of the ship opened fire. The deafening loud noise, coupled with the puff of thick smoke, startled the Japanese officers and soldiers on the Date Maru.
Their entire country does not have such large artillery. They worship the small and medium-sized Fran cannons as Guobeng. They have never seen artillery with such a large caliber and such power.
The Japanese warriors who drove this ship were a group of people with high status and outstanding martial arts skills. The sailors were also carefully selected. Their fathers had also experienced circumnavigation and passed on their skills and knowledge to them. They were very capable.
Arrogant and with a sense of superiority, they look down on the samurai on the Anzai ship. Their reaction speed is very fast.
Before they could follow the order of the Lord, they decided to fight back immediately. In their view, this was their Japanese waters. Not only did the other side not stop the ship for inspection, they also dared to fire at them.
Under the arrogance accumulated in daily life, they immediately aimed the twenty Fran cannons on one side at the Hengshan and opened fire.
These Fran cannons are all small Eagle cannons, and some are medium-sized Fran cannons. The maximum range is three to four miles, but there is no lethality at this distance. Generally, the concentrated fire is within a hundred meters. With this,
Ensure the penetration of artillery shells.
Although this kind of ship was built according to the drawings of the Spanish galleons, the Japanese were severely lacking in resources for weapons. They were short of copper and iron, and their technology for casting cannons was not good either.
Obviously, the Dutch and Spanish would not spread the technology of casting cannons to them.
Therefore, the artillery used on this Western ship is all kinds of. Because they were all pieced together by the shogunate. There are artillery pieces from the British armed merchant ship that sank in Nagasaki. There are also cannons that the shogunate pieced together from the treasury of various places. Big and small.
Different, performance varies.
However, some of the Fran cannons were naval guns purchased from the Macao Pugalau Gun Factory.
What fires on the side of this ship are these twenty copper Franco cannons, products of the Pugalau Artillery Factory. These cannonballs have a maximum range and can hit targets 1,500 meters or more.
At this time, the Hengshan was only 200 meters away, and more than a dozen medium-sized Franco cannon shells hit the side of the Hengshan.
The weight of these projectiles is about 8 pounds. The Franco machine gun is leaky, so the weight of the projectiles is generally not large.
These cruisers were built strictly in accordance with military ship standards. There is a cast steel rib every other foot. The outer ship plank is made of three layers of hardwood seamed together. It is a full foot and a half thick. It can block an 18-pounder gun.
The shot put hits directly at 100 meters.
These eight-pound shells cannot penetrate at all at a distance of 200 meters.
Japan, on the other hand, is lacking in resources and has basically no iron ore or copper mines in the country. They even use copper coins from the Ming Dynasty. Lead ore also needs to be imported. There are not many lead bullets on the ship.
If you can't fire a few rounds, you have to switch to stone bullets or fired ceramic bullets.
Dong Tianpeng, the captain of the Hengshan, was furious. These damn dwarf monkeys actually dared to open fire. He had just fired a cannon into the sky to give them a warning. He didn't expect these dwarfs to dare to fire back at him with live ammunition.
The master said that this is the high seas and we have the right to pass and sail.
"Eighteen guns on the port side, using spherical solid bullets, fired three rapid rounds, and opened fire immediately." Dong Tianpeng shouted.
The first mate quickly asked: "Do you need to ask the master for permission before firing?"
"We have been attacked. According to the regulations, the captain has the right to decide to open fire. Let's fight," Dong Tianpeng said.
Immediately, the order was issued. The port gun windows were pushed open one after another. The long barrels of dark cast steel heavy cannons stretched out.
Qian Fengxing was just about to scold those who fired the cannon without authorization, but he saw the three-masted sailboat opposite. All the portholes of the gun compartment on one side were opened, and the black muzzles of the guns were sticking out.
He knew that at this time, it was useless to say anything, as the other party was definitely going to fire back. He might as well start fighting.
Nomura Tadayuki: "All personnel were immediately prepared. Rush over and engage in artillery fire with them at close range. Only when our troops are close can we penetrate them."
Nomura Tadayoshi could clearly see the scene where the shells bounced off the side of the Hengshan. He understood that the opponent's ship was bigger, the guns were heavier, and there were a lot of them. There was no chance of winning in a fight.
However, he understood better that fighting at sea is not as good as on land. If the battle is defeated, there is no way to escape. The ship was sunk and all the people on the ship went to the sea to feed the fish.
Before Nomura finished speaking, he saw the 85-meter-long snow-white sailboat 200 meters away opposite, with a line of fire drawn on the side. Thick smoke and loud noises erupted from the muzzle.
Immediately afterwards, the shells made a sharp whistling sound and instantly hit the imitation Spanish galleon. Obviously, the shipbuilding technology and materials used by the Japanese were not as good as Yang Fan.
At this distance, the fifty-pound lead ball had huge kinetic energy. A pop-pop sound penetrated the hull. Nomura felt the hull beneath his feet violently tremble. Countless sawdust flew outwards as if they exploded. There was a scream.
The shells came from the gun cabin at the foot, penetrated the ship's plank, and knocked down a large number of gunners in the cabin.
This chapter has been completed!