After the first large ship passed, the second warship with the hull number '202' slowly sailed in front of the review ship.
At the bow, the captain with two silver stars on his helmet suddenly drew his command sword and shouted, "Salute!"
The coast guards, wearing the same standing collar capes, quickly raised their rifles on the deck, pointed their bayonets straight up to the sky and saluted. The queue seemed to have instantly grown half a meter taller, and the bayonets were like a forest, breathtaking!
On the stern deck of the Wuwei ship, the guests of the Joseon Dynasty were so shocked that they were speechless. Those thousand-ton warships could only make them sigh that the Celestial Empire's shipbuilding technology was still there. But such a strict military formation and a majestic military appearance made them truly feel the terrifying strength of the Tamra Garrison.
Their king’s ceremonial procession is not as neat and majestic as this one.
Zhao Hao seemed to want to surprise them enough today. After ten thousand-ton ships passed by, a five-masted warship that was obviously larger slowly sailed in front of everyone.
This huge ship with the hull number '101' was so tall that the people on the reviewing ship standing on the high poop could only barely see the pairs of black military boots on the deck.
Park Sung-seong's eyes widened as he saw that the warship was obviously over a thousand tons in weight, and its shape was quite different from the Dafu ship. It was exactly the same as the Wuwei ship they were on, only much larger.
He was not mistaken. This was also a Wuwei ship, and a Wuwei ship with a capacity of ten thousand hu!
The so-called "Wanhu Wuwei Ship" was exactly the large Wuwei Ship that Mr. Zhao had been dreaming of. Hu was a unit used in Guangdong to measure the size of ships, which was approximately equal to 1,500 liters, or about 500 tons of displacement.
These large-sized Wuwei boats not only consume a huge amount of materials, but also take a long time to build...mainly because the hardness of ironwood is too high, and drilling and decomposing it are extremely time-consuming.
But each of the ten thousand hu Wuwei ships was an invincible weapon that could roam the Chinese seas. It had always been monopolized by the sea lords, and even the government troops could not get it. No matter how rich Mr. Zhao was, he could not buy it. It was pure luck that he got this one. It really fits the saying "You can't find it even if you search everywhere, but you can get it without any effort."
At this time, Wang Rulong, Chief of Staff of Tamra Garrison and Commander of the Coast Guard, stood solemnly at the bow of the ship No. 101, with a golden star on his helmet shining brightly in the morning sun. He drew out his gilded command knife and led the coast guards standing on the slope to salute the review ship solemnly!
After the giant Wuwei ship passed, ten thousand-ton large Fu ships followed. Behind the large Fu ships, there were also several medium-sized Wuwei ships and armed sand ships, as well as various speedboats, ships and other small boats, which were countless.
Park Sung-seong calculated that Master Zhao's fleet had more than a hundred large and small warships. Both in quantity and quality, it was enough to crush the navy of the Joseon Dynasty, not to mention the navy of Japan's local armed forces.
~~
After the inspection, the warships adjusted their sails and rudders, and lined up in a clockwise direction to the other side of Ushio Island.
The huge warships were indeed slow in their movements, and Ushi Island was indeed quite large. It was not until nearly noon that the fleet on review lined up neatly in a straight line on the sea east of Ushi Island. The large ships were connected head to tail, with their right side facing Ushi Island, while the medium-sized Wuwei ships and smaller boats faced Ushi Island with their bows.
The Wuwei ship, which served as the review ship, also sailed to the southeast of Ushi Island and re-anchored with the fleet facing Ushi Island.
Chengshan Port is indeed the most suitable place for a military port on Jeonra Island. Thanks to Udo Island, the sea is much calmer than other places. At least it is incomparable to New Port.
Young Master Zhao turned around and smiled at the officials and businessmen of the Li Dynasty: "Are you all tired? Be patient for a while, and it will end after watching the finale performance."
Without waiting for anyone to respond, he gave Jin Ke a deep order: "Go to the next step!"
Jin Ke stepped forward again, drew his sword and gave the order. "The bombardment drill begins!"
Amid the majestic sound of trumpets, drums rumbled again, and the guards distributed telescopes to the guests.
The people of the Li Dynasty had never seen this thing before, so they fiddled with it curiously and placed the tube in front of their eyes, imitating Master Zhao's behavior.
"Ahhh, why did Ushijima jump on my face?!"
"What a divine skill of the Celestial Empire, it actually allowed Ushijima to live!"
"Why did my cow run so far away?" Of course, there are also many cases of people holding it the wrong way.
~~
Not to mention the people of the Li Dynasty who were making a fool of themselves here, just the fleet on parade in the distance had already prepared the naval guns on their ships.
No longer the mixed cast iron cannons of the past, all of them have been replaced with bright yellow bronze cannons!
Especially those thousand-ton sea-going ships and ten-thousand-hu Wuwei ships, because their hulls were large enough to withstand the recoil of the broadside guns, they all installed ten bronze cannons on the starboard side. Together with the bow guns of those small and medium-sized ships, there were a total of 300 cannons of different types, aimed at the coastal stone walls of Niu Island two miles away.
The stone wall stands abruptly on the seashore like a city wall, as high as 20 to 30 meters. It is the famous landscape of Niu Island in later generations, the 'Houhai Stone Wall'.
At this time, on the side of the stone wall facing the sea, large circles were painted with white lime, and it had obviously become a target for the shooting.
In a moment, the gunners finished loading and raised the red flags one after another. When all the warships were ready, Wang Rulong, on the flagship ship Wanhu Wuwei, ordered Chu Liuxiang in a deep voice: "Fire!"
First-class police officer Chu Liuxiang, who had been specially promoted again, lit the fuse of the cannon!
The moment the roar sounded, the rest of the guns on the flagship also fired at the same time. The Wuwei ship shook noticeably, but soon stabilized.
The rest of the warships followed suit and fired. Three hundred cannons roared at the same time, and the rumbling sound was earth-shaking!
Although the officials and businessmen of the Ly Dynasty who were watching the cannon firing were several miles away, they were still caught off guard by the earth-shaking power and were frightened to death. Many of them sat down on the ground.
Although Mr. Zhao was prepared, his eardrums were still hurt. He opened his mouth to protect himself, but felt that this would damage his image. He suddenly had an idea and burst into laughter:
“Hahahahahaha!”
That wild and evil look was forever engraved in the hearts of every Li Dynasty person. It was really terrifying...
The cannon was scary, but Young Master Zhao was scarier. Oh no, it seemed that the cannon was scarier, because they were shocked to find that the stone wall of Houhai, which was like a fortress, was hit by countless whistling shells and was full of rocks! It did not bounce the shells away according to their common sense.
The reality is that every shot would create a large hole, and in a blink of an eye the stone wall would be riddled with holes.
Moreover, the firing rate of those cannons was incredibly fast, and they could fire a shot almost every few breaths, allowing them to truly experience what it meant to have shells pouring down like raindrops!
The bombardment lasted for three minutes. In just three minutes, the fleet fired nearly three thousand shells, half of which hit the stone wall. When the bombardment stopped and the smoke and dust settled, everyone in the Li Dynasty was stunned to see that the Houhai stone wall had collapsed by more than ten feet long and several feet wide...
From Li Mushi and Pu Youshi to the Li Dynasty sea merchants, everyone fell into a long silence. They dared not imagine what it would be like if these shells were poured into Jeju City.
No one would be stupid enough to think that the walls of Jeju City are stronger than the stone walls of Houhai, right?
Seeing their dumbfounded looks, Mr. Zhao raised a charming smile. He believed that these people of the Li Dynasty would never forget this scene in their lifetime. No matter what decision they made regarding Jiangnan Group in the future, today's scene would appear in front of them.
Jin Ke's mouth twitched twice, thinking that Tong Zigong had gone a bit too far.
Even if the newly cast bronze cannon was extremely powerful, it would be sheer wishful thinking to want to destroy a stone wall more than ten meters wide with only more than a thousand solid iron bullets.
It was because he followed the young master's instructions... Oh no, it was General Jin himself who felt that the educational effect should be more obvious, so he asked Tong Zigong to drive the labor camp to tamper with the stone wall in advance - it was nothing more than drilling holes, lighting fires, and pouring water.
After all the trouble, the stone wall looked unchanged from a distance, but in fact it was already riddled with holes like frozen tofu. How could it withstand the baptism of artillery shells?
~~
Of course, Master Zhao went to such great lengths not just to intimidate these Li Dynasty officials and businessmen, but to perform for a more important target.
Of course, it can also boost the morale of the troops, strengthen the confidence of the soldiers in the bronze cannons, and enter the next battle in the best condition. These long things called bronze cannons are orange in color, shining golden in the sunlight, like the weapons of the gods.
In fact, countries did continue to call bronze cannons brass cannons until the 1840s, when they changed to the correct name, but ironically, bronze cannons were about to be eliminated by then.
However, in the 16th century, bronze cannons were the best cannons, especially in the navy, because although copper was softer than iron, bronze with tin was stronger than iron, could better withstand the shock of firing, and last longer at sea.
It is even easier to beautify and decorate... Don't laugh, the last point is also very important. In the artillery circle, there is also a saying that appearance is justice. The bronze cannon, which looks like an exquisite work of art, can boost morale and shock the enemy's courage better than the stupid, big, black and rough iron cannon. It has always been a symbol of sea power for European powers!
All the bronze cannons on the ships this time were cannons cast by Jiangnan Group itself!
my country has a long history of copper smelting, and the bronze casting technology accumulated over thousands of years has reached its peak. Whether it is the mold casting method or the lost wax method, it is completely out of the question. When it comes to copper casting, the Europeans are just a group of younger brothers.
There is nothing special about making cannons nowadays, and the melting point of bronze is much lower than that of iron, so it is not difficult to cast. It can also be melted down and recast, which is much simpler than making a gun. Any master who can cast a bronze bell can cast it.
As for why a bell-casting master was used instead of a mirror-casting master or a bronze vessel-casting master, it was simply because the latter lacked experience in casting large items.
The reason why the government troops always used iron cannons instead of copper cannons, and the underground arsenals widely spread across Fujian and Guangdong never manufactured copper cannons, was simply because they were "too expensive."
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