Four shells whizzed past the Antaku ship's tower and landed on the sea behind it, causing four high splashes of water.
The first shot missed all targets.
But it doesn’t matter, this book is used for artillery calibration.
The gunners pulled the ropes, and after the four gun carriages were restored to their original positions, Chu Liuxiang gave the order to padded the tails of the two Dafa Gong guns with 1 cm of sleepers and the two snake guns with 1.5 cm of sleepers, and then brushed the gun barrels to cool them down, and reloaded the gunpowder and shell fuses.
Three minutes later, the four bow guns roared and fired again!
At this time, the two sides were less than one kilometer apart.
The second round of four shells hit three of them. One of them tore a big hole in the sail, and the other two blasted two big holes in the front shield of the Antaku ship.
The southeast wind brought screams and cries from the Anzhai ship. It was obvious that the cannonballs had caused casualties after being fired.
"Not bad, very spirited!" Wang Rulong nodded in approval. This was not shooting at a fixed target. Being able to hit a fast-moving target at this distance made him worthy of being the artillery king of the Coast Guard Team!
At this time, the rest of the warships were not willing to lag behind and began shooting!
Not only the ten Wuwei ships in the first row, but also the modified warships in the second row opened fire. Although their ships were a little inferior, their firepower was not bad, and their artillery configuration was exactly the same as that of the Wuwei ships.
There is no way, who can blame Mr. Zhao for not having too much money? The ship type is the biggest obstacle to the firepower of the Coast Guard!
Eighty cannons roared at the same time, the sound was earth-shaking, and the rising white smoke enveloped the entire fleet.
Eighty shells whizzed towards the Japanese pirates' fleet, most of which fell on the sea, stirring up countless water columns!
But there were also about twenty missiles that hit the target. Any hit would have caused terrible losses to the Japanese pirates!
Because the decks of every pirate ship were densely packed with short, bald and naked pirates.
The pirates had almost no cannons on their ships, so they only had one way to fight, which was boarding. They didn't even have sails, and they sailed by oars. So even on the smallest "Kozao" ship, there were 14 to 30 oarsmen. As for the most numerous Kansen, there were 40 to 50 oarsmen. The number of oarsmen on the Ataka ship could even reach nearly 100.
This meant that they could only fight near the coast and could not sail far. But in a short period of time, the oarsmen rowed together and the burst speed was amazing. This was the only way to catch up with the enemy ship as quickly as possible and engage it!
In order to reduce weight and make the boarding faster, the guard plates of Guan ships are made of very light wood, and even bamboo is used instead. Not to mention the lighter Xiao Zao, the shells hit the soul and directly shattered the guard plates.
The flying wood chips caused considerable damage to the nearly exhausted Japanese pirates. Those who were injured in vital parts immediately lost their combat effectiveness.
Several shells penetrated the guard plate and landed directly on the deck, smashing several pirates to pieces on the spot. The pirates still had some strength left and jumped on the deck again. The pirates were so crowded together that they couldn't avoid it. Anyone who hit the big iron ball would have his hands and feet broken at best, or his head blasted...
Almost one shell could kill more than a dozen Japanese pirates...
Another shell directly hit the waterline of a Guan ship, tearing a big hole in it, and seawater poured into the hull without a watertight compartment. The pirates tried desperately to scoop water, but it was of no avail, so they could only jump off the ship to escape.
The most eye-catching Ataka ship was naturally the focus of the gunfire. However, the Ataka ship was a ship of the Japanese daimyo level, and its shield was relatively thick. Although it was hit with holes everywhere, it did not lose its protection.
~~
Three minutes later, the second round of salvos began.
The distance between the two sides was now less than 300 meters. This time the gunners did not use solid iron bullets, but instead switched to another type of grapeshot.
The so-called grapeshot is made by bundling dozens of pigeon egg-sized iron bullets into a bundle in a net bag. It looks like a bunch of grapes, hence the name.
As soon as the cannon was fired, dozens of iron bullets suddenly sprayed out!
Although grapeshot has a shorter range than solid bullets, it can instantly knock down dozens of enemy soldiers within a distance of two or three hundred meters. In naval battles, it can knock down a large number of enemy officers and sailors, thus paralyzing the enemy ship. Therefore, the mainstream tactics of the European navy at this time was to use solid bullets to destroy the hull from a distance, and use grapeshot to cause casualties at close range.
More than 2,000 iron bullets the size of pigeon eggs rained down on the Japanese pirates' warships. Whenever a warship was hit, the Japanese pirates on the deck fell into the water screaming like wheat being cut.
But even more terrifying firepower is yet to come!
At this time, the large Portuguese machine guns finally came into range, and the gunners were also using shotgun shells to sweep away everything in their path!
Moreover, the two sides were less than 200 meters apart, so basically he could just point and shoot without missing a single target!
In addition to being able to turn, the biggest advantage of the Portuguese gun is that it can replace the sub-gun's sub-gun!
The gunners had already loaded all their sub-guns while waiting to get into range. After firing one shot, they immediately changed sub-guns and fired again. It was basically continuous firing!
How could they bear this? Dense shotgun shells were sprayed on the pirates' ship continuously. The deck, which was full of people just now, was shot into a sieve in the blink of an eye. Not only were the people on the deck unscathed, but even many of the rowers below the deck died!
Screams shook the sky, and countless limbs and bodies of Japanese pirates fell into the water, and the blood quickly dyed the sea red.
The closer the Japanese pirates got to the Ming ships, the more tragic their casualties became. However, the pirates had no way to fight back except to row desperately.
Because none of the Kanbune and Kobane were equipped with cannons, only the Ataka ships were equipped with a few things called "big barrels" in Japanese. Rather than being cannons, those things were more like oversized matchlock guns. Although their length was quite impressive, unfortunately the caliber was too small and could only fit a grapeshot the size of a pigeon egg.
It's incredible that there aren't that many of these things.
You know, just five years ago, the Hirado Domain, to which the Mishima pirates belonged, had just been taught a lesson by the crossfire of two Portuguese warships. But the Japanese were stubborn and there was no way around it. They probably thought that installing heavy artillery on the ships would affect their speed and prevent them from launching the proud boarding battles as quickly as possible, so they never made any changes.
In addition, they only learned forging methods from the Tang Dynasty and did not learn casting methods at all, so they even had to use Yongle Tongbao copper coins. How could they master such advanced technology as cannon casting?
Therefore, facing the terrifying firepower of the Coast Guard, they could only grit their teeth and endure the huge casualties, rowing desperately to get closer, thinking that once they got on board, they could kill everyone and get back their money with interest...
~~
A dozen miles away, on the sea surface of Gapo Island.
Park Sung-in took ten Korean naval warships with their flags removed and lined them up with their backs to Jeju Island to prevent ships from both sides from escaping and harassing Jeju Island.
Little Park was wearing a military uniform similar to that of the Ming dynasty, pacing back and forth on the deck. He was very nervous, feeling that his elder brother was playing with fire, and if things went wrong, the Park family would lose everything.
He was walking around in circles when he heard a rumbling sound in the distance.
The general standing behind him heard the sound and looked up to the sky and said, "Hey, why is there thunder on such a sunny day?"
"What's thunder? It's artillery fire!" Park Sung-in rolled his eyes at him and pointed to the south, saying, "That's the Japanese pirates we have to guard against."
"How could the Japanese pirates fire cannons?" the captain asked in surprise, "Don't they just charge forward?"
"Maybe the party they attacked is defending themselves?" Park Sung-in said a little uneasily.
"Where could they be coming from?" The captain and the North Korean soldiers on the boat suddenly became nervous.
"Who knows? Anyway, they are not coming from a legitimate source. We just need to stay alert." Park Sung-in asked his men to prepare the artillery. The artillery of the Joseon Dynasty was modeled after the general artillery during the Yongle period, known as the "Tianzi Gun", with an effective range of up to 50 meters!
Seeing the "Tian Zi Guns" ready to fire, Park Sung-in and his men felt relieved.
Unexpectedly, at this time, bursts of dense artillery fire were heard from the south. The sound of artillery fire was continuous. At this distance, it sounded like firecrackers.
After listening to this, the captain changed his expression again and said, "There are hundreds of cannons here, right? Could it be the navy of the Celestial Empire?"
Park Sung-in was also terrified, and stammered, "How can the Celestial Empire's navy have so many cannons?"
The Celestial Empire Navy had only one large gong, six large Portuguese lances, and three bowl-mouthed guns on one ship. Even the warships of the entire Denglai Liaodong Garrison combined did not have such a powerful firepower.
Besides, they are all staying in the bay and can't come so far.
"Could it be that the sea lords from the south have arrived?" The commander thought of another possibility.
"Why would they come here three thousand miles away?" Park Sung-in shook his head decisively.
"Then where does it come from?" The captain was completely at a loss for words.
Park Sung-in had already figured it out. It was most likely the fleet of that damn Gangnam Company.
In the information that Manager Song provided to Park Chengxing, he still equated the Jiangnan shipping fleet with the fleet of the Sand Ship Gang. He told them that although the Sand Ship Gang had many ships, they did not have Fu ships or Wuwei ships. They were all sand ships that were not suitable for going overseas.
In terms of armament, the Shachuan Gang was restricted by the imperial court. They only had a few homemade guns and cannons with little power, and they mainly relied on bows and arrows and swords and guns for self-defense... It was not that Manager Song intended to trick them, but it could only be said that the delayed intelligence was fatal.
Park Sung-in knew from the sound of the cannon that he had stirred up a hornet's nest, and subconsciously wanted to take his men and flee. But then he thought, what was he doing here? If the Japanese pirates couldn't hold on and fled to the island, then his elder brother would be unable to explain himself.
After thinking it over, he ordered the general: "Hurry up and go to the island to light the beacon!"
The commander immediately ordered a red flag to be raised and a cannon to give warning. Soon after, the beacon tower on Gapo Island lit up the signal smoke.
Columns of smoke rose into the sky. Soon, the beacon fire on Songak Mountain, the southernmost tip of Jeonra Island, was also lit.
"Yu Hou, shall we leave?" asked the captain.
"Brother asked us to stay here, how dare we disobey military orders?" Park Sung-in sighed, looking like he was doing his duty.
The general couldn't help but secretly admire that although Xiao Pu was younger than Da Pu, he looked more like a competent officer.
He thought that Park Sung-in asked him to light the beacon to notify the military and civilians in Jeju City and the main force of the fleet so that they could take precautions early.
Little did they know that Park Sung-in was actually performing for the Chinese fleet. With the artillery fire not far away, it would be too fake if the North Korean naval outposts did not react.
Doesn't that make it clear to others that they are in cahoots with the Japanese pirates?
P.S. Still two updates. This kind of naval battle requires verification of almost every detail, which is too laborious and difficult to write. I will finish it tomorrow!