Kono Yoshiyoshi said in surprise, "My lord, why do you say that? ”

Birshan, Hisaka, said slowly: "Because I know your brother, he is not a stupid person. Moreover, before sending him to the Ryukyus, the governor talked to him in detail about his purpose and significance in the Ryukyus, so what must have gone wrong in the matter of him killing the family of King Shangfeng? ”

Yoshiyoshi Kono bowed and said, "Thank you for your trust!" I'm sure we'll defeat those hateful pirates this time and find out what's going on there? ”

Kayama Hisataka said, "The spies reported that King Shangfeng's palace was burned down, and King Shangfeng and Kono Kamiharu both died in the palace. This makes me very incomprehensible. With Kono's command ability, how could such a thing happen? ”

Kono shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, my lord. I can't figure that out either. ”

Hisakayama said, "Then forget it." If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. We'll find out sooner or later! What are your thoughts on attacking the Ryukyus this time? ”

Kono Yoshiyoshi bowed down and said, "Everything is up to your lordship's arrangement. ”

Hisakayama said: "The biggest problem with this group of pirates is the lack of ships. So the first thing I had to do was grab the dock. In this way, they can be blocked on the island and calmly exterminated. And the most difficult thing was to attack the enemy's camp. Once the dock is captured, the enemy will defend the camp with all its might, and it will be difficult to attack. ”

Kono Kamiyoshi said: "My lord, didn't we bring the two gates of the country to collapse this time? We can easily destroy their camp. Although they have a large cylinder, the large cylinder has a very short range. And I doubt they'll ever send the big tubes back to the ship? In that case, it would be much easier for us to fight! ”

Hisakama smiled and said, "That's right! We can easily step on them! ”

The fleet spent seven or eight days at sea, far from its own port. This fleet is basically made up of Japanese ships and seals. To be honest, Japanese shipbuilding technology is really not very good. Not to mention the small size of the ship, the shipbuilding is still built using the plank lap method instead of the Chinese splicing method. Therefore, although commerce and trade were developed at that time, maritime trade was basically monopolized by Chinese merchants.

While Hisataka Kayama was studying the map in the cabin, a samurai came in and said, "Your Excellency. Something is going on in the sea and you need to take a look. ”

Hisataka Kayama stood up and said, "What's wrong?" ”

The samurai bowed and said, "A Chinese ship has spotted us. At first we thought it was an ordinary merchant ship. But what we didn't expect was that he not only did not move away from us, but approached us. I suspect he might be the pirate's watchboat. ”

Hisakama Hisaka picked up the helmet and put it on and said, "Let's go, go and see." ”

After Hisakama stepped onto the deck, he saw a Chinese-style sea ship approaching slowly not far away. Kayama Hisakaka looked at it carefully and said, "Order four ships to flank him." I can capture the best. If he runs away, don't chase it. ”

Soon four ships split from the fleet. In the Middle Ages in Japan, pirates set up checkpoints on the main routes of navigation on the sea and collected tolls from incoming ships, and the ships they used as checkpoints were called "sekibunes" at that time. Because it was necessary to catch up with ships that refused to pay tolls, Sekibune was designed and built with speed in mind, and in the Warring States period, such ships were used as military ships.

The ship was really fast. Four ships surrounded the Chinese sea vessel. The ship also noticed that the ship was coming around him, and he drew an arc on the sea, and then he was far away.

Hisakama said, "It seems that this must be the sentry ship of the pirates." ”

Kono said, "It looks right! The ship's side was high above the water and it was empty. And he seems to be waiting for us specifically on this fairway. ”

Sure enough, the ship hoisted all its sails and headed south. The ship was very light, so it ran very fast, and slowly threw off the Shimazu family's fleet. This ship is the Jiyuan. Since two months ago, Liu Pei had arranged for three ships of the Jiyuan to take turns patrolling near the waterway to search for Shimazu's fleet. This time it was the Jiyuan on a cruising mission. He could easily see the huge fleet in the distance. So he quickly fled after a reconnaissance in front of him.

Kayama Hisaka stared at the Jiyuan in the distance and said, "Kono-kun, go and inform all the ships that they must guard against pirate attacks in the next few days. They will definitely not be willing for us to take back the Ryukyus, so they will definitely send a fleet to harass them along the way. ”

Kono Yoshiyoshi bowed down and said, "Hay! I arrange it in the next moment. ”

The matter was really said by Birch Mountain Hisataka, and a few days later, the three ships Jiyuan, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan appeared on the channel together. As soon as they appeared, they rushed towards the flotilla! Hisataka Kayama unhurriedly commanded the fleet to defend against the enemy. He sent 9 ships to expel them. And most of the fleet kept course unchanged and continued to move forward.

The nine ships surrounded them in a semicircle, like a large net. The three ships, with the Zhenyuan as the flagship, turned directly to the southeast and circled with the nine Guan ships. Well. Well, the fleet circled around and headed for the semi-circular pointed ship, which seemed to be the three of them intending to target.

But the ship was not stupid, and immediately lowered its speed. At the same time, the two ships on its left began to accelerate, trying to entangle the Jiyuan and them. But the Jiyuan was not fooled, gently pressed the rudder, turned a small arc a little to the left, and slid more than a hundred steps in front of the ship.

Just when those ships were about to change their formation and round up again, the Jiyuan, which was the first, suddenly opened fire! I only heard a loud "boom", and an iron ball swayed and flew into the air, heading towards the ship.

This cannon shot startled the Japanese people in the fleet! They guessed that there might be a big barrel on the enemy's ship, but they didn't expect that there would be a national collapse! Normally, it is true that large artillery cannot be loaded on the Jiyuan. But before leaving, Master Wu and they specially strengthened these three ships. So the deck of each ship is central. Able to place an 18-pounder gun. But only one can be placed. Any more deck would not be able to bear the weight of the guns.

It was indeed difficult for such heavy guns to be loaded on Chinese seagoing ships. In order to adjust the center of gravity, the gun had to be mounted in the center of the deck. This will have to be done by demolishing part of the ship's building. And when the cannon is fired, the hull will be slightly tilted. The most unfortunate thing was that the gun could not be reoriented yet, and the muzzle could only be pointed to the right side of the hull. In other words, the three ships of the Jiyuan could only fire at the enemy ships on their right.

The people of the Shimazu fleet were staring at the iron ball in mid-air to see if he would hit Seki. Sure enough, they were not disappointed, and the iron ball fell into the sea, stirring up a wave!

The Japanese people on the Shimazu fleet immediately cheered as if they had won the battle! But the cheers weren't over yet, and the Zhenyuan opened fire again! Unfortunately, it still missed. After all, this is what the accuracy of artillery looks like at this time, and it is all about faith that hits and misses. As a result, naval vessels can often only fire at a distance of two or three hundred meters. Even at this distance, a large number of shells will miss the target.

There was another cheer on the Shimazu fleet. However, the third cheer did not appear. Because one of the shots of the Dingyuan hit the ship! Cannonballs penetrate the board! However, the ship's building runs through the head and tail, and you can't see the situation inside at all, and you don't know what the outcome of the battle will be. But it's not going to be nice to think about!

At this time, the Guan ship that was hit also remembered the sound of iron cannons. But that's a retaliatory shot, the kind that doesn't make sense at all. Not to mention whether it can hit more than a hundred steps away, even if it hits, the lead has no power.

Several of the ships changed formations again. However, this time it was no longer the Half Moon Formation, but the Long Snake Formation. After trying to make contact as fast as possible, use the front ship to entangle the enemy ship, and the ship behind can wrap up the opponent's ship like a long snake. Lure the other party to the rescue. Then they will use their numerical advantage to surround the enemy layer by layer, and finally gather and annihilate them!