Kojima Mitsuru's command ship slowly stopped, which really caused considerable confusion to the warships under his command.
In addition, we are now on a rough sea, and it takes time to issue orders by signaling with flags.
Kojima Mitsuru did not give his warships time to react, and the other warships did not know what Kojima Mitsuru wanted to do, so they slowed down one by one, obviously intending to stop.
This almost drove Xiaodaoman crazy. Two armies were fighting in the vast ocean, and they were still under the enemy's artillery fire.
I stopped because I'm the command ship, I can't let the enemy sink me. But who are you? You're the ones charging into battle. Why are you stopping? Are you looking for death?
Xiaodao Man shouted angrily: "Quick, signal with flags and let these bastards charge forward."
A Japanese man who looked like a monkey quickly climbed onto the observation deck of the command ship and waved the flag in his hand quickly. However, the third round of artillery fire by the Ming army had already begun. This round of artillery fire caused considerable casualties to the Japanese fleet.
Fortunately, the Japanese fleets that seemed to be slowing down also accelerated again.
The three rounds of artillery bombardment by the Ming army all achieved substantial results, but the Japanese army was just barely reaching their firepower range at this moment.
However, just like before, even though they were within the range, the cannons on their ships still had a limited range and could not cause any substantial damage.
Although it was Zhang Dingbian's first time to command a naval battle, he felt it firsthand that the commander of the opposing fleet was absolutely a waste, or at least, worse than himself.
…
In a blink of an eye, there were two more rounds of artillery fire.
It was not until two rounds of artillery fire that Zhang Dingbian gave the order again: "Send flag signals."
"Let the four warships on the left and right sides move forward, and let our five ships that are moving sideways make a gap for the Japanese fleet, so that they don't hit us. In addition, let our command ship move to the left, so as not to be hit by this group of Japanese."
The flag officer on the command ship quickly signaled with flags.
The ten warships also followed his orders and made way for the Japanese.
Up to now, Zhang Dingbian still has a certain advantage, but this advantage is difficult to form an overwhelming advantage, because it was only at this moment that he realized that it is still very difficult to sink an enemy warship.
After all, today's cannons only fire solid iron bullets. On the wooden warship, at most they can only make a few holes. The buoyancy of wood is very large, so it is extremely difficult to sink it.
With this tentative attack, Gong Yu intended to test the firepower configuration of the Japanese warships. At the same time, he also wanted to test how resistant their warships were, or in other words, to test whether his own warships were resistant to attacks.
At the Japanese port, Yamamoto Ningji was also watching all this. Gong Yu wanted to test him, but he didn't know that he was also testing Gong Yu.
In fact, according to Yamamoto Ningji's expectation, as long as he could sink five or six Ming warships, even if the fleet he sent out suffered greater losses, it would be acceptable.
At this moment, the location of the battlefield was not far from the Japanese port, but it was definitely not close either. Yamamoto Ningji could only see his own fleet breaking through the formation of the Ming fleet, but he could not see the rest so clearly.
"Yoshi."
Yamamoto Neiji was still happy. Although he couldn't see clearly what was happening on the battlefield, he was certain that his own warships, at least up to this point, had not suffered any damage. Without sinking a single ship, they had managed to break through the Ming fleet's defenses. If this wasn't a victory, what else could it be?
"Hey, Mitsuru Kojima, you won't be my trusted and beloved general."
Yamamoto was very satisfied with Kojima Mitsuru, but what he didn't know was that Kojima Mitsuru was a little confused at the moment.
He had never fought in a naval battle. Just as Longze had said before, their navy had hardly fought any wars in the decades since its establishment. Moreover, Yamamoto Ningji did not know the current battle situation, but he himself always knew it clearly.
His flagship had been hit by no less than twenty or thirty shells, and five or six of them had hit the ship directly near the horizontal line. This was a serious matter because water had already started leaking in those five or six places.
If the soldiers below had not blocked the leaks in time, the ship would probably be unable to move now.
In fact, there are several other Japanese warships that have the same problem as Kojima Mitsuru.
Wooden warships are indeed not easy to sink, but after being hit by shells and leaking, they also have another serious problem, which is that their sailing speed is getting slower and slower. In other words, the faster they sail, the faster they leak, so they have to control their sailing speed.
Of course, Kojima Mitsuru's command ship has already stopped. He cannot understand the mystery of this kind of thing unless he experiences it himself.
…
No matter what anyone says, whether it was the Ming army that voluntarily gave up its previous formation or Kojima Mitsuru broke through that formation, it did have a certain effect.
Because at this moment, the Ming army's fleet had been divided into two by the Japanese army's fleet.
The Japanese fleet had twenty large warships in the middle, while the Ming army's warships were on the left and right sides.
This is relatively good for the Japanese army, which had been under attack before.
Because no matter what, their artillery can finally fully demonstrate its firepower advantage.
At this point, there was no need for Mitsuru Kojima to give any orders. The cannons on both sides of the Japanese warships had already entered a state of continuous firing.
However, their advantage was still not as great as that of the Ming army. After all, the artillery on the Ming army's warships had a slightly longer range. Therefore, the Ming army still had the advantage, and it would not be a big deal even if they were hit three or five times by the Japanese army's artillery.
When Gong Yu was supervising the construction of these warships, he spared no effort. He placed three layers of fishing nets inside the entire hull.
The solid wooden planks and three layers of fishing nets did not show any signs of damage from the outside, but they were truly effective in terms of defense. This allowed the Ming army's warships to withstand the limited bombardment at a longer distance.
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