"How could this happen?!" The three of them looked at the miserable scene in disbelief. It turned out that their judgment was wrong. The Ming army did not fall asleep at all, but had been waiting for them!
But at this time, there was no need to think too much. They had to deal with the Ming army for more than a day or two. They knew they would suffer like this again if they didn't take advantage of the opportunity for the enemy to reload and approach!
Fortunately, it takes a while for the Ming army to reload and shoot. As long as they approach quickly, they don't have to take a second hit.
The three of them beat the war drums in unison to keep moving forward. The leaders on each ship also knew that if they turned around at this time, they would be shot again. Instead, they moved forward as quickly as possible and rushed in front of the Ming army. It was safe.
They shouted hoarsely, urging the sailors to row with all their strength, and the Japanese archers and throwers took up their positions again, waiting to enter the shooting range.
However, when they were twenty feet away from the Ming army, they were hit by another round of artillery fire.
Amidst the spray of fire, earth-shattering volleys of artillery exploded in the bay again, and this time the Ming army fired grapeshot and shotgun shells. Each gun sprayed dozens or hundreds of projectiles as large as eggs and as small as grapes, and hailstones.
Like smashing into the Japanese troops who were already close in front of them.
The damage caused by this round was ten times greater than that of the previous round. The rows of Japanese warships that rushed forward were directly beaten into a sieve, and almost no one was standing on them. Those who were holding bows and arrows and carrying sulfur jars
The Japanese soldiers were directly wiped out by the regiment, leaving only corpses riddled with holes, falling into the water like dumplings.
The sailors rowing in the bilge, still unaware of what was happening above, continued to row the small morning boat forward without any officers or soldiers...
Including the first round of bombardment, the Kyushu Navy had lost more than 200 ships.
But don't be too surprised, because most of the more than 200 Japanese boats are small boats. The so-called "small boat" is the abbreviation of small boat. The word "zao" means fast in Japan, so "small boat" is
I praised the characteristics of this kind of boat, it is small and fast.
Moreover, Japan lacks hardwood, so it can only use softwood such as pine and fir to build ships. It also habitually cuts corners, and the thickness of the ship's planks is not one-third that of the Ming Dynasty warships.
Under such close fire, the hull of the Kyushu Navy was like paper and could not provide any protection at all. To make matters worse, their shipbuilding technology was still stuck in the ancient times, and they were all made of the most primitive wooden planks nailed together.
, there is no keel, no watertight cabin, and no structural strength at all.
Of course, there are advantages, such as fast maneuverability brought about by extreme lightweight. Of course, it not only drives fast, but also sinks quickly...
Moreover, the cost is low, and many, many more can be built. Therefore, even if two hundred ships were sunk, they were still overwhelming, like a swarm of bees, surrounding only one Ming army warship for ten or so, throwing at the Ming army from all directions.
Clay pots filled with sulfur were fired at the same time.
The little bits of fire like locusts illuminated the sea and sky in orange.
At the same time, the death squads standing on the "illegal building" were carrying escalators with iron hooks, preparing for a boarding battle.
However, the Japanese army's first weapon, the fire attack, was of no use.
Because the Ming army also knew their tactics, they had already put in place adequate protection. Each warship had four layers of outer protection: one layer of broken net, one layer of rawhide, one layer of wet quilts, and finally a hanging
An urn is surrounded by water. Arrows cannot enter it and fire cannot burn it.
Sand was sprinkled on the deck of the ship, and all the buildings on the ship were wrapped and covered with soaked cotton quilts. There was also a special fire prevention team, carrying water hoses and mops, standing ready on the deck in case a fire broke out somewhere.
It can be extinguished immediately. It is not afraid of Japanese fire attacks at all.
This is a major matter related to one's own life. No one dares to slack off. Under the concerted efforts of the Ming army officers and soldiers to protect them, not a single warship caught fire...
The Japanese troops who were preparing to join the battle also encountered trouble. Even if their ships were built with "illegal buildings", they were still more than ten feet shorter than the Ming army's warships.
The Ming army attacked from top to bottom, just like defending a city, and naturally had the advantage. They used fire blunderbuss, muzzle blunderbuss, and bows and crossbows on the bow and stern towers to attack the Japanese army crazily, causing constant damage to the Japanese naval forces on the surrounding warships.
Kill.
The Japanese were also impatient. They had no time to care about anything else. They had only one idea in their mind: quickly attack the Ming warships and start a hand-to-hand battle!
But the broken nets stretched by the Ming army around the side of the ship with poles caused a great obstacle to them. Although the net ropes were in tatters, they made it impossible for the Japanese army to put ladders on the side of the Ming army's ship.
Seeing the hook hooked on the net rope, some Japanese soldiers hurriedly tried to climb up, but with a sneer, the rope and the ladder fell into the sea. Naturally, the people above also dropped their dumplings...
They had no choice but to use the hooks on the ladder to pull down the broken netting ropes to clear a place for the ladder. But the broken netting ropes were like spider silk. When one piece was pulled off, there was another piece. It was not that easy to clean.
.
But the stubborn Japanese army struggled with this thing. After making great sacrifices, they cleared a piece of shipboard where a ladder could be built.
Just as I started climbing, I saw a row of small windows suddenly opened in the belly of the Ming army's warship, and thick muzzles poked out one by one.
The two sides were close at hand, and the Japanese officers and soldiers climbing up could clearly see the ferocious expressions of the Ming gunners from between the muzzle and the gun window, as well as their actions of lighting the fuse of the artillery with a match rope.
Amidst the sound of sparks, time seemed to have frozen.
The Japanese army watched in despair as the fuse burned out, the artillery spewed out fiery snakes, and fired the shotgun shells against their faces.
Before they even had time to feel fear, their bodies were torn into pieces, and the pieces of flesh and remains mixed with blood rained down into the sea.
This round of direct shooting by the Ming army instantly cleared the Japanese troops around the ship. Their obsession with letting them board the ship for hand-to-hand combat could only be postponed for a while longer...
In fact, what about boarding the ship? There were so many Japanese troops that there were always many lucky people who had built ladders or hung hooks and climbed onto the Ming warships without being shelled.
However, the soldiers of the Ming army who were waiting in full formation had been waiting for a long time. They guarded all the key passages on the ship, formed formations with spears and shields, and blocked the Japanese soldiers who boarded the ship.
The gunners also held spears and even cannon sticks to help their colleagues drive the Japanese troops back into the sea.
Although the Japanese navy was brave and their number far exceeded that of the Ming army, the number of people who could board the ship was always limited. The number of people on the deck was at an absolute disadvantage. As soon as they boarded the ship, they were driven into the sea by the tightly guarded Ming army.
The law has a firm foothold...
When the artillery on the lower deck of the Ming warship roared again, the surrounding Japanese warships were cleared again. The Japanese troops on board lost the support of follow-up troops and could not escape the fate of being annihilated. Some people even jumped into the sea to survive, but they forgot that they