On September 7, the sixth year of Tensho (1578), at 4:00 noon, north of the Naruto Strait, aboard Anzai Fuyang's flagship.
"Your Highness, how long do we have to hold back?" Anzhai Fuyayasu's adjutant reported to Anzhai Fuyayasu with a heavy face. At the same time, he pointed to the battle situation in the Naruto Strait to the south, "The big guns of the Red Leaf Fleet are too powerful. The young master has suffered heavy losses. Hurry and block.
I can’t stand it any longer.”
"You must block it even if you can't. This is the death order I gave to Quan Zi." An Zhai Dongkang said extremely decisive words in a relaxed tone, "It's not yet time."
Yes, it's not that time yet.
He glanced at the sun in the sky and then at the sea currents under the boat. The salty sea breeze kept blowing on his dark cheeks and ruffling the hair on his temples. Such movements and feelings seemed to him like
He has experienced it countless times, starting from the first time he sailed in the Seto Inland Sea forty years ago. He has been in the Seto Inland Sea for half his life. Every plant and tree here, a white cloud, a wave, a rock,
He is so familiar with everything. He can judge the weather just by the saltiness of the sea breeze, he can sail a boat in dense reefs with his eyes closed, and he can know the direction of tomorrow's wind just by looking at the sky. This is not relying on any scientific and advanced methods, but
It relies on tradition - a sea-seeking man who has been wandering for most of his life has inherited hundreds or even thousands of years of knowledge and experience from countless sea-seeking ancestors who have also been wandering for most of their lives, and he has verified it with his own daily knowledge and experience.
A power acquired over countless generations.
This is the power of tradition, powerful enough to fight against all challengers of the new era.
The Awaji Navy's hundreds of years of accumulation in this sea area will never lose to the new powerful ships and guns of the Momiji Fleet.
"Did you know that the currents in the Seto Inland Sea do not flow into the Naruto Strait from the Kii Channel every day during the day?"
Anzai Toyasu raised his head with his hands behind his back, wondering whether he was talking to himself, talking to Itami Yasuki, who couldn't hear, or talking to gods who could hear.
"Perhaps one year, two years, three years, or even ten years and a hundred years, the ocean current will not change during the day."
The sun was a bit dazzling, and Anzhai Dongkang squinted his eyes.
"But at noon today, the current will reverse."
"This is an anomaly that can only be witnessed once by several generations of seafarers. It is a secret passed down from generation to generation of the Anzhai family. It was just for today's sea current that I arranged all this and prepared for this decisive battle."
He slowly lowered his head and closed his eyes to feel the subtle and invisible changes in wind direction and sea breeze salinity. The passage of time seemed to have stopped for him. At that moment, he seemed to have been standing there for thousands of years, experiencing the entire
The entire history of the Kataseto Inland Sea, day and night, the ebb and flow of the tide.
The current flowing towards the Naruto Strait gradually slowed down, slowed down again, and then stopped. Then, the current reversed, moving in the opposite direction, pouring back from the Naruto Strait into the Kii Suido. What followed was also followed by
The wind direction changes with the sea current. The southeast wind stops and the north wind starts.
The moment Anzhai Dongkang suddenly opened his eyes, sharp murderous intent burst out.
"ignition."
·
"What's going on with this sea breeze? What's going on with this current?"
Yasuki Itami watched the sails on the mast gradually stop and even swell in the opposite direction; he watched the sea current under the boat gradually stop, then surge in the opposite direction, and gradually become turbulent. He was surprised and could not believe himself.
s eyes.
"It's daytime...it's noon." Itami Yasuki felt dizzy and dizzy, holding his forehead in disbelief, "How could..."
He forced himself to calm down, for the courage of the army, he could not panic. No matter how experienced the officers in the army were, they would definitely panic when they saw the countercurrent. If he was confused, the army would be in trouble.
He swallowed, took another look at the Hongye Fleet's current position, and suddenly felt that something was wrong.
The Red Leaf Fleet has now penetrated deeply into the narrow Naruto Strait, and it seems a bit crowded in the strait. The instantaneous headwind and countercurrent caused the fleet's formation to be scattered to a certain extent, and turning and turning in the countercurrent will also change.
It was very difficult.
If at this time...the Awaji water army attacks with fire.
Such a terrible thought came to Yasukyo Itami's mind, but he immediately put it down.
"With this sudden change in sea currents and winds, no one could have imagined that it would be impossible for the Awaji navy to prepare for a fire attack in advance. Just now they were against the wind. Who would prepare for a fire attack when the wind is against the current?"
While Itami Yasukichi comforted himself in this way, he stared blankly at the flames that instantly shot up to the sky north of the Naruto Strait. He could tell at a glance that the number of arson ships was estimated to be hundreds.
Taking out one-eighth of the ships and setting them on fire...is Anzhai Dongkang going crazy?
·
"Something bad happened!"
As the captain of Kiimaru, Motoshin Abe has been commanding the troops to rush forward. The fleet commanded by Nobuyasu Anzaya has been defeated by him and is about to be expelled from the Naruto Strait. However, the sudden countercurrent and headwind hit
His schedule was disrupted, and then he saw the Awaji navy ships in front of him desperately spreading to both sides, and a large number of arson ships rushed towards him. They lit the flammable materials on the bows, and the brisk ships were moving downstream.
It gallops like a runaway horse in the wind.
"Quickly retreat!" Abe Motoshin immediately ordered the fleet to evacuate. The huge Kiimaru tried to turn around with the concerted efforts of the sailors. However, under the countercurrent and headwind, it was too difficult and too slow to turn the giant ship around. The sailors
Already beyond their capabilities, when they saw those arson boats rushing towards them with great force, they all became confused for a moment. Kiimaru struggled in the water for a long time, but couldn't turn the corner. Abe Motoshin rushed to the bow of the boat,
He watched helplessly as three arson boats rushed over.
"Fire! Fire!" Abe Motoshin hurriedly ordered the iron gunner and the artilleryman. However, because Kiimaru was turning, all the shells fired were inaccurate. Although the iron gunner's close attack knocked down a group of arsonists on the ship.
People, but the arson boat still followed the wind and hit Kiimaru.
Abe Motzen closed his eyes in despair, and then heard a "bang" from the hull. He looked down and saw that the bottom and sides of the ship were already in flames.
"Quickly put out the fire!" Abe Motoshin immediately ordered the sailors to use the fresh water stored in the cabin to put out the fire. Abe Motoshin personally went down to the cabin to direct. However, the sound of collision gradually came, and there were more and more fire places on the ship, and the flames
It even crossed the side of the ship and burned to the deck. The north wind continued to blow, causing the fire to spread throughout the ship.
"Fire out! Fire out!" All the soldiers on the ship stopped attacking and began to put out the fire with their clothes, tools and all the tools they could find. However, the fire became more and more intense.
"Don't stop! Evacuate quickly!" Motozen Abe saw that some sailors who were rowing and sailing were also joining in the fight to put out the fire, and he was so angry that he jumped to his feet, "Row the boat! Manage the sail! Let's go back!"
"The fire has reached the mast!" An officer on the deck ran towards Motoma Abe in panic. He saw that the raging fire was engulfing a auxiliary mast. If the mast was burned down, the ship would lose power. Motoma Abe
He immediately led a group of people and carried the little fresh water left to put out the fire, but was defeated by the flames and rolling heat waves. When the disgraced Abe Motoshin took another look at the whole ship, the fire had already ignited everywhere.
,Unable to control.
"Abandon ship." Abe Motoshin gave the order helplessly, watching helplessly as this time-consuming and costly battleship gradually came to an end. There were already three destroyers approaching Kii Maru, trying to rescue the crew. However,
However, the sailors in Kiimaru's cabin could not bear the fire and thick smoke, and fled from the cabin one after another. There was only one usable sail left. Kiimaru had almost lost control and was being blown by the wind.
Three destroyers to the south.
"Control the direction! Don't hit them!" Motoma Abe had just led a group of people to jump onto the destroyer when he saw Kiimaru's hull coming sideways and crashing into the destroyer. He was powerless to stop it, so he
I could watch helplessly as the two destroyers that could not escape were filled with weapons and set on fire.
The brisk arson boats shuttled through the sea, ramming into ships that had not yet been set on fire. The captains of those ships tried to fire cannons to prevent the arson boats from approaching, but because the strait was too narrow and crowded, many shells hit friendly forces instead.
The chaos was even more aggravated. The fire rode the wind, and the wind assisted the fire. The ships of the Red Leaf Fleet collided with each other, and a large number of ships were set ablaze one after another.
"Launch the boat! Launch the boat! Drop anchor to block the arsonist ship!" Some captains tried to use the same method they used to deal with the arsonist ship in the naval battle two years ago, but the wind was too strong. Even if the small boat blocked the arsonist ship,
The fire will also ignite the small boat, and then follow the wind and ignite the large boat behind it.
Itami Yasukiki watched helplessly. In the narrow Naruto Strait, the crowded Momiji Fleet became the best target for arson. The fire spread rapidly in the fleet with the wind. Itami Yasukiki immediately ordered all fleets to disperse and head toward the south.
Road to evacuate. However, in panic, many recruits hurriedly scrambled, making the fleet's formation even more chaotic. Kii Maru, which was originally rushing at the front, had already ignited a raging fire. No matter how the sailors put out the fire, it was of no avail and it had sunk into the ocean.
, many cruisers and destroyers were set alight around them, and nearly a quarter of the Hongye fleet's ships had been set alight.
"Failed." Yasuki Itami commanded the ships to evacuate quickly. Many ships with lighter fires escaped while extinguishing the fire, and also tried hard to avoid friendly ships. Collisions that occurred from time to time would cause another ship to suffer. And those ships
The sailors on the ships that had been burned beyond saving took small boats to escape, and some who could not escape in time were even forced to jump into the sea. In this chaos, the Awaji Navy's arson ship continued smoothly and quickly.
Rushing in. The Hongye fleet did not dare to fire cannons because they were worried about friendly forces in the rebel army, so they could only use muskets to block the arson ship.
"It's okay. After escaping from the Naruto Strait, we immediately dispersed and evacuated. The Awaji navy couldn't catch up with us in the open sea." Koyama Masama's face was already pale at this moment, but he still did not forget to remind him, "When the time comes, we will make a comeback.
Victory or defeat is unknown.”
"Yes." Itami Yasuki nodded reluctantly. He simply wasn't in a very forward position just now. If the flagship was set on fire, the command system would be completely destroyed. He turned to look at the exit of Naruto Strait. As long as he rushed from there,
It's safe to go out.
However, he was once again dumbfounded as he watched the retreating ships at the front suddenly begin to hoist their flags - "The road ahead is blocked".
"How could there be an enemy?" Itami Yasukichi was stunned for a moment before reacting, "Could it be the enemy ships that were defeated before and anchored? They gathered together and started to resist? Then just defeat them again!"
However, after Itami Yasukichi ordered the ships to explain the situation, the semaphores of the ships ahead became very strange. Itami Yasukichi was not at ease and could only order the fleet to make way for his flagship so that he could go ahead and take a look. Wait for him to quickly
After driving to the end of the queue, he finally saw the situation in front of him clearly——
The ships that had just anchored and were waiting to die gathered together at some point - they tied each other up with iron ropes prepared at unknown times, forming three iron ropes, and then all anchored, completely blocking the retreat.
die.
"Human shield." This thought immediately came to Yasuki Itami's mind.
Anzai Toyasu wanted to use these 200 ships as human shields to seal off the south exit of the Naruto Strait, while more than 100 arson ships sailed in from the north exit, attacked from the north and south, and burned the entire Momiji Fleet to death in the narrow Akashi Strait.
But if the fire spreads, no one with these iron ropes or boats can escape, and they will all be burned down.
Including the Awaji Navy that had been sunk before...even if the Awaji Navy were to win this battle, they would lose half of their ships.
"His Royal Highness Anzhai Dongyasu..." The corner of Itami Yasuki's mouth twitched a little, and he smiled dryly with a bloodless face, "Thank you for your respect."
"Send the order, the ships in the south will break through the iron rope formation with all their strength! Then the ships in the north!" Itami Yasukichi was afraid that the flagman could not hear clearly, so he walked to him personally and shouted at him, "The last row of ships in the north are all in the Akashi Strait.
Come across, connect end to end, and everyone anchors! We also build a wall, sacrifice a large row of ships, and block all the arson ships to the north! Push out the safe space in the south! If any ship is burned, then
Make up for it with a new boat!”
"All troops! Must obey orders!"
After receiving instructions from Yasuki Itami, the remaining ships of the Momiji Fleet stopped one by one and could not escape. Instead, they worked hard to turn the corner and put the ships across the waterway of the Naruto Strait. The arson ships were set on fire one by one.
It crashed into these ship walls and set these big ships on fire. However, the big ships did not avoid or give way. Instead, they dropped anchor one by one and blocked the place. Even though the ships were ignited by the fire, they did not retreat even one step.
·
"They are also crazy." Anzhai Fuyang's smile became more relaxed after seeing the actions of Hongye Fleet, "My plan has sent nearly half of my subordinates to hell. And the person opposite also has
With the consciousness of sending his subordinates to hell."
"Order 50 more ships!" Anzhai Dongkang ordered in a deep voice, "Burn them! Don't hesitate!"
"I'll give the order again. If the ships in the south can't be stopped, I'll light the ships on fire and create a wall of fire in the south!"
"Why haven't you given the order yet?" After seeing some hesitation from the flag bearer, Anzhai Dongkang frowned and urged.
"Your Highness, look over there -" the flag bearer pointed blankly to the northeast - the direction of Iwaya Port.
Fuyayasu Anzhai looked in the direction of his arm and saw smoke rising around Iwaya Port, and a faint roar could be heard.
"Is someone in Hongye Fleet crazy? Are you going to force your way through the Akashi Strait?" Anzhai Fuyayasu was stunned when he saw this, "Isn't this a suicide attempt?"
"It is impossible for anyone to pass through such an artillery array, not even a giant ship like the Kawachi Maru of the Hongye Fleet..." Anzhai Fuyayasu recalled the report sent by Tokawa Icun yesterday, "There are enough artillery shells in the fort, and there are still
Chapter completed!