On the battlefield, the sound of cannons was loud and smoke and dust were everywhere. However, not long after this real artillery battle began, the gunners on the Japanese warships discovered the problem. That is, the quality of the Ming Dynasty's warships, or the sophistication of the Ming Dynasty's artillery, was superior to their own.

Their own artillery could not reach as far as the Ming Dynasty's artillery, and when they finally managed to fire, it did not have much effect. Commander Man Kojima had naturally noticed all of this. He knew that this would not work, so he quickly gave orders to the fifty small gunboats that were not far from them to speed up and join the battle as soon as possible.

Kojima Mitsuru knew very well that it was impossible to win this battle by relying solely on twenty large warships. Now, he could only pin his hopes on the fifty small gunboats.

Although the gunboats are small, they cannot withstand numbers. As the saying goes, a good tiger cannot withstand a pack of wolves. Therefore, Xiaodao Man believes that as long as he can hold out until the fifty small gunboats join the battle, the advantage will still be on his side.

On Kojima Mitsuru's command ship, the flag officer also quickly sent out flag signals.

It was the first time for both of them to command a naval battle of this scale. Zhang Dingbian was a general under Gong Yu, and similarly, Kojima Mitsuru was also a general under Yamamoto. However, there were some differences between the two of them. That is, Zhang Dingbian was obviously much stronger than Kojima Mitsuru.

Kojima Mitsuru has reached his current position purely by relying on his connections, but Zhang Dingbian is different. He was a cavalry general before and has fought in countless battles over the years. Although this is also his first time commanding a naval battle, his research day and night and his decision-making before the battle are far superior to Kojima Mitsuru's.

Today, if Zhang Dingbian was replaced by Xiao Daoman, he would first not let his command ship go too far forward, and secondly, he would not let the fifty small gunboats be separated from their large warships.

And these two mistakes made by Kojima Mitsuru have obviously doomed his fate today, which is not going to be good.

Kojima Man underestimated Zhang Dingbian. Eager to make a contribution, he actually took the lead in the charge at the very beginning and ordered the warships to advance at full speed. The large ships, which were more than ten meters long, were naturally a little slow at the start, but their speed when sailing was several times that of the small boats. In other words, if a ship that was slightly larger than a fishing boat was forcibly installed with one or two cannons, how could its speed be fast? It would be really strange if it was not left behind.

However, there was actually no need for Kojima Man to specifically signal with flags to issue military orders, as those small gunboats were already moving at full speed.

On the other side, at Zhang Dingbian's place, although it was far away, he could still see clearly that on a warship in the distance, there seemed to be an ape-like object desperately waving a small flag in its hand.

Zhang Dingbian was afraid that his eyesight was not good, so he asked the people around him: "That ship, is that ship the Japanese command ship?"

A young general beside him took a closer look, and then said firmly: "Yes, that is the Japanese command ship."

After getting a positive answer, Zhang Dingbian hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Why is the Japanese command ship parked there? Could it be that it was damaged by us?"

The young officer beside him said: "It doesn't seem like it should be like this, but looking at the draft of that ship, it doesn't seem like it can't move."

Zhang Dingbian thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Forget it, don't imagine everything too complicated. Maybe the commander on the ship just had a brain cramp, so he stopped there."

"Right now, all the other Japanese warships are moving at full speed, but the command ship is parked there. This is tantamount to seeking death."

"Send flag signals, and when the Japanese fleet has rushed past the location of their command ship, our ships should approach as close as possible and sink it."

As for Kojima Mitsuru, he was still unaware of the danger. For a commander on the battlefield, how low was his awareness? He only saw his own warships passing by him one by one. They were indeed charging ahead, but then again, wouldn't his command ship also be left without protection?

As a command ship, the soul of the fleet, it must either place itself in a relatively safe place during wartime, or place itself under the protection of other warships.

However, Kojima Mitsuru did not do these two most crucial points, or perhaps he did not know what he should do at all.

In terms of fleet command level alone, he is far inferior to Nan Yun Zhongji who was thrown into the sea by Zhang Wuji.

The warships of the two sides were passing each other in an interlaced manner at this moment. Although they were called passing each other, they were actually very far away. However, this long distance was just within the range of the Ming army's artillery, and also within the range that the Japanese artillery could barely reach.

The two sides' artillery fire crossed each other, but it was only a burst. After being hit by a lot of artillery shells from each other, the Ming Dynasty fleet had the best time to execute Zhang Dingbian's order.

Because Kojima Mitsuru's command ship was clearly visible.

Kojima Man's mind was a little confused. With his current IQ, he had no idea what was going on. Everything was fine just now. Even if it wasn't fine, at least the situation was stalemate. But before long, the Ming army's warships seemed to be surrounding them.

This was not a good sign, and Xiao Quan quickly ordered: "Quick, fire the cannons, let our fleet turn around quickly and let them come to protect this general."

Kojima Mitsuru's orders came one after another, but just when the ape on the command ship's observation deck was about to wave the flag, a volley of cannonballs came crashing down.

This time, it was not just a hundred cannonballs attacking dozens of warships, but all of them were concentrated on Kojima Man's command ship.

More than a hundred cannonballs falling at once is no joke.

The lookout tower on Kojima Man's command ship was smashed to pieces immediately, and the Japanese man who looked like an ape on the lookout tower actually fell directly into the sea.

It was a vast ocean, and there was a war going on. If you fell into the water at that time, you would most likely not survive.

However, for the people on the boat, falling into the water may not be a bad thing, because at this moment, the scene on the boat is not much better.

Although the power of cannonballs is definitely not as strong as that of explosive gunpowder, it can still have a considerable impact when it hits the ship. Countless flying wood fragments directly penetrated into the bodies of the Japanese. The power of that thing penetrating into the body is much greater than the power of a sword directly hitting it.

Moreover, after this round of shelling, there were more than a dozen leaks on Kojimaman's command ship, and it was impossible to stop them.