Chapter 1651 Ironclad Ship

When Zhao Hao learned that the Savior Plan was successfully completed, he had just finished inspecting Wenquanjin, Lightning Island and Zhenyuan Island, and was wandering in Sakai City, Japan.

He came to Sakai City for two purposes this time. One was to witness the armistice and peace agreement signed between the Oda army and the Ikko clan; the other was to help Zhao Shizhen marry his beloved Oda Shi as the elder of the male party.

Compared with ten years ago, when Zhao Hao led the newly formed Coast Guard fleet to conquer Kyushu and defeated the Mori navy in the Kanmon Strait, the situation in Japan's Warring States period has undergone tremendous changes.

Simply put, these ten years were the process in which Oda Nobunaga fought against many heroes and broke Nobunaga's encirclement three times.

The first time was in the fourth year of Longqing, 1570 AD, the first year of Genki in Japan.

After Nobunaga went to Kyoto, he soon fell out with the general he supported, Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Ashikaga Yoshiaki, unwilling to be a puppet like the emperor, secretly contacted those daimyo whose interests were damaged by Nobunaga's going to Kyoto, such as the Asakura family, the Miyoshi family, the Rokkaku family, etc. Honganji Hōnyo also launched the Ikko Ikki, and together they formed the first encirclement of Nobunaga.

The two sides fought fiercely for half a year, and finally Oda Nobunaga won a decisive victory in the Battle of Anegawa, severely damaging the core of the encirclement, the "Asakura Asai Coalition". But Nobunaga also paid a heavy price. His brothers Nobuharu and Nobuoki and his important minister Mori Yoshinari died in the battle. Both sides were temporarily unable to fight again. Later, under the mediation of other forces, the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement, and the first encirclement was resolved.

Two years later, the Tiger of Kai, Takeda Shingen, finally had time to respond to the invitation of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and his brother-in-law Akitachi, and led an army to Kyoto to attack Nobunaga.

Takeda Shingen lived up to his reputation and defeated the Tokugawa-Oda coalition in the Battle of Mikatagahara. The Takeda family gained great popularity and many daimyos responded. This was the second encirclement of Nobunaga.

However, just as the Oda army was losing ground, Takeda Shingen suddenly died of illness, and the Takeda army had to withdraw to Kai.

The most threatening opponent was gone, and Nobunaga immediately stood up again, personally leading 30,000 troops to surround Odani Castle where Asai Nagamasa was located. Then he surrounded the point and attacked the reinforcements, and defeated the Asakura army that came to rescue. Nobunaga took advantage of the victory to pursue, and Asakura Yoshikage committed suicide.

Then Odani Castle fell and the Asai family was destroyed. Two months later, the Oda army destroyed the Miyoshi clan. In December, Matsunaga Hisahide surrendered. The second siege of Nobunaga ended with Nobunaga's victory.

Two years later, the Tokugawa-Oda coalition defeated the Takeda army and became completely invincible in the world. The complacent Oda Nobunaga gave up the position of head of the family to his son, regarded himself as the "man of the world", and acted more and more domineeringly.

The following year, in 1576, the last hope of the whole village, Kenshin Uesugi, who was as famous as Shingen Takeda, finally led an expedition to the west to attack Nobunaga at the request of Yoshiaki Ashikaga. Mori Terumoto, Ishiyama Honganji, Hatano Hideharu, Kishu Saiga clan and other anti-Nobunaga forces also responded, and this was the third encirclement of Nobunaga.

Uesugi Kenshin, known as the god of war, really performed well and defeated the Oda army in the Battle of Tetorikawa. The daimyo who were forced to surrender to Nobunaga rebelled one after another, and the situation was once again favorable to the anti-Nobunaga side.

However, sometimes we have to admit the existence of "destiny".

After finally clearing the obstacles to entering the capital, Uesugi Kenshin issued a general mobilization order for the Kanto expedition in the first month of last year, and decided to go to Kyoto to fight a decisive battle with Nobunaga after the snow in Echigo melted.

However, on March 9, before he was about to go to battle, Kenshin Uesugi suddenly collapsed in the toilet and lost consciousness. It is said that he had a cerebral hemorrhage due to excessive drinking, and he died...

Because Kenshin was unmarried and childless, and died suddenly in his prime, the Uesugi family fell into civil strife after his death and completely withdrew from the stage of hegemony.

Nobunaga, who relied on God's help to overcome a major crisis, was finally able to free up his hands to deal with the few remaining threats.

After the heroes died one after another, the only ones who could pose a threat to the Oda family were the Mori family and the Ikko clan led by Hidetaka.

~~

Compared with the internal conflicts and the wavering Mori family, they should obviously focus on dealing with the Ikko clan, which is united and ready to die.

The Ikko sect is a Buddhist sect that developed from the Pure Land sect, also known as the Jodo Shinshu sect.

They preach that there is no need to understand Buddhist scriptures or participate in complicated temple rituals. One only needs to join the Ikko sect and recite the slogan "Namo Amitabha" from time to time, and one can enter the Western Paradise after death.

Just like the Wuwei Sect that was popular in the Ming Dynasty, this simple method of practice and easy-to-obtain achievements were widely believed by the lowest class of people.

Moreover, the Ikko sect was legal in Japan, so its power expanded very quickly. Not only did it have its own territory, but it also had its own monks and soldiers. They built the Ishiyama Honganji Temple in Osaka as their base.

Osaka is less than a hundred miles away from Kyoto, with a flat land and a wide river connecting the two regions. It has always been the most prosperous Kinki region in Japan.

The Ikko sect took advantage of this unique geographical location to continuously expand its territory and increase its population. At the same time, it continued to build trenches and forts to protect the city. When the Dharma Lord Hōnyō was in power, Ishiyama Honganji had become an astonishingly huge city with eight streets, a port for trade, and an area of ​​dozens of square kilometers.

Moreover, Xianru was keen on politics and was good at establishing alliances through marriage. He became a brother-in-law of Takeda Shingen and ordered his eldest son to marry the daughter of Asakura Yoshikage. In this Warring States period, he was an absolute local tyrant.

How can I allow others to snore beside my bed? How could Oda Nobunaga, who intended to conquer the world and unify the country, tolerate the existence of such a powerful force in his territory?

Therefore, he pressed Honganji step by step, first using the excuse of insufficient military funds to force temples and shrines in Kinai to donate. Then he demanded that a castle be built on the territory of the Ikko sect in Osaka. Finally, he directly demanded that Honganji's forces completely withdraw from Osaka.

Finally, Kenshin could no longer bear it and led the Ikko clan to join the first encirclement of Nobunaga, and became the main initiator of the next two encirclements.

Not only did he lead his monks to fight the Oda army head-on, he also ordered his believers in various countries to revolt, which was called "Ikko Ikki".

He widely publicized that Nobunaga was an enemy of Buddhism to strengthen the fighting spirit of the believers. He also claimed that under the order of the Dharma Master, chanting "Namo Amitabha" and fighting against the enemy of Buddhism and dying was a shortcut to ascending to the paradise.

These propaganda made the Ikko sect followers particularly fearless and brave in battle. Moreover, they were inexhaustible, emerging from everywhere in succession, making it difficult to defend against them, and caused great losses to the Oda army.

The two sides fought bloody battles intermittently for eight years, and the so-called "Ishiyama Battle" ran through every Nobunaga encirclement. Oda Nobunaga's army also surrounded Ishiyama Honganji several times, but each time they gave up halfway because of rescue or tension in other battlefields.

This time, Oda Nobunaga sent out an army of 60,000 and built a fortress, vowing to besiege Honganji until the end of the road and the moment when they would open the city and surrender.

While preparing for war, Kenshin hurriedly sought help from outside, but there were fewer and fewer people who could save Honganji, and in fact only the Mori family was left.

Nobunaga was well prepared. He ordered Hashiba Hideyoshi to deploy troops in the western border to block the Mori army's route for support from land.

However, Honganji is backed by the Seto Inland Sea, has a port in the city, and can also receive continuous support from the Mori family in terms of personnel, materials, and military supplies by sea, making the Oda army's siege warfare ineffective.

Therefore, if they want to completely cut off Honganji's support, they have to use the navy to strangle their lifeline at sea.

However, after ten years of continuous cleanup by the Tamra Garrison, there are no longer any naval forces on the waters of the three Japanese islands...

So how did the Mori family support Honganji by sea?

Naturally, he would do as Old Wang of Jiuzhou did and pay the Tamro Chamber of Commerce’s fleet for transportation.

Over the past ten years, the Tamra Chamber of Commerce has made a fortune by monopolizing Japan's sea routes and doing business with the warring parties.

The arrogant Oda Nobunaga had long been displeased with them. And that damn coast guard actually dared to issue a "three-ban foreign policy" against Japan. They really didn't take him, a commoner, seriously, did they?

So several years ago, Oda Nobunaga ordered his naval commander, Kuki Yoshitaka, to build and train a powerful navy in the inland rivers of Ise Province.

Three years ago, when Nobunaga's third encirclement was just beginning, Kuki Yoshitaka led a powerful fleet consisting of more than a dozen Ataka ships and two hundred Seki ships and Kobaya ships, and broke into Osaka Bay, attempting to besiege Ishiyama Honganji from the sea.

However, upon hearing the news, Zhu Jue, commander of the Tamra Garrison, immediately dispatched the Garrison's main fleet to join the Kyushu Water Police Fleet and resolutely attacked the illegal Japanese navy that violated the "Three Bans on Foreign Ships Order". The two armies engaged in a fierce battle at the Kizu River mouth in Osaka Bay.

Although the warships of the Tamra Garrison were the oldest among the three major coast guard districts and could not be compared with the Souji Strategic Fleet, it was still easy to deal with the Oda navy that did not even have artillery.

After a day-long fierce battle, the Coast Guard fleet wiped out the Oda navy and lifted the maritime siege of Honganji Temple. Only Kuki Yoshitaka escaped with his life.

How could Oda Nobunaga, who had suffered a defeat, give up easily? He immediately ordered Kuki Yoshitaka to supervise the construction of ten special large ships in Ise Okawachi Castle. These were the famous "iron-clad ships".

The ironclad ship was ten feet long, with a load of 1,500 dan, and was powered by 60 oars. It was equipped with 3 large guns, 24 medium guns, and 68 small guns. The so-called large guns were oversized matchlock guns, more than two meters long, with muzzles as big as eggs. They were actually small cannons that could fire "arrow fire sticks" to burn enemy ships.

The most amazing thing is that the hulls of these ships are covered with thick iron sheets, so that shells will bounce back when they hit them. This is a countermeasure that Kuki Yoshitaka came up with after witnessing the terrible power of the Ming army's artillery.

These ten earliest ironclad ships in the world had 7,000 crew members and were called the strongest warships on earth by Oda Nobunaga.

Last June, the seven ironclad ships set sail for the first time and encountered the patrol squadron of the Takashima Police Station at the entrance of Edo Bay.

The squadron's escort ships and speedboats fired Xuande cannons, but they were unable to penetrate the armor of the Japanese ships. Instead, they were killed by the large cannons and arrow fire sticks on the enemy ships.

Seeing that the enemy outnumbered us, the cruise squadron had to withdraw from the battlefield.

The victory in the first battle boosted the morale of the Oda navy, who firmly believed that they were invincible! Kuki Yoshitaka was also known as the "Hideyoshi of the Sea" and was extremely popular.

Soon, the ironclad ships arrived at Osaka Bay and took control of the Kizu River again, cutting off Ishiyama Honganji's maritime lifeline.

ps. Write another chapter~~~

(End of this chapter)