In the early morning of September 7, the sixth year of Tensho (1578), thick fog rose again around Awaji Island. But this time, it was not only the Awaji Navy that was hidden in the thick fog, but also the entire Momiji Fleet.
"The fog is too heavy and the enemy's situation is unknown. Don't act blindly." Standing on the bridge of the flagship Kawachi Maru, Yasuki Itami repeatedly adjusted the focus of the telescope, but still found nothing in the thick fog. The Momiji Fleet was currently wandering southeast of Iwaya Castle.
No enemies have been found yet in the sea area ten miles away.
"The last information yesterday was that the Awaji Navy surrounded the entire Awaji Island, but now it seems that their deployment has obviously changed." Itami Yasukichi turned back to check the chart, weighing the situation carefully, "The range of the artillery on Iwaya Castle
It’s very far away, and the Awaji navy cannot be close to the coast of Iwaya Castle. If you want to surround the entire island, you must move further to the sea - then we should be able to see their fleet here, but now we have found nothing."
"The Awaji navy may have withdrawn to the port of Awaji Island last night for repairs." Yasuki Itami traced the ports of Awaji Island one by one with his finger, "Iwaya Port in the north, Sumoto Port in the east, Fura Port and Shichi Port in the west
…There are only a few ports on Awaji Island that can accommodate a large number of ships, and I don’t know where they will be.”
"Let's wait for the fog to dissipate." Yasuki Itami frowned and glanced at the sky again, "His Highness has given me full command of the entire fleet. This is a decisive battle between the Momiji Fleet and the Awaji Navy. I must act with caution.
.And…His Highness’s plan…”
Soon after, at 4:08, the morning fog gradually dispersed. What greeted Itami Yasuki's eyes was an extremely empty sea - not a single Awaji Navy ship could be seen on the entire sea east of Awaji Island, even in the distance.
Everywhere in the port is empty.
"The siege has been withdrawn?" Yasuki Itami was a little confused, "If no one is left on the east coast, can't we just dock directly and pick up the reserve team in Iwaya Castle?"
"Sir, there is no one at Iwaya Port in the north, and the Awaji navy is not stationed in Iwaya Port." An observation scout quickly read out the information about the bonfire on Iwaya Castle, "Iwaya Castle can be seen very clearly."
"Sure enough." Itami Yasuki's expression became a little subtle. Although he had known it would be like this, he was actually not happy to see this situation - because in this case, Yu Qiuping's risky plan would be implemented.
"Even if there is not a single ship left in Iwaya Port, our fleet will not be able to pass through the Akashi Strait." Koyama Masama misread Itami Yasukiyo's expression and thought he was going to order the Momiji fleet to enter the Akashi Strait. "It's not like we can't pass through the Akashi Strait."
It is clear that there are so many forts and coastal defense heavy artillery around Iwaya Port, which are enough to sink any ship passing through Iwaya Port. Sending the fleet to the Akashi Strait will mean death. If 20 of our 80 ships can get through, it will be a blessing.
big."
"I know, I'm not a fool." Itami Yasuki nodded solemnly.
"Then do we want to pick up the two reserve troops and bring them back to the shore now?" Koyama Masama pointed in the direction of Iwaya Castle, "I originally planned to fight a fierce battle to rescue the siege. It's good that the Awaji Navy got out of the way."
"No, if we start picking people up on the shore and the Awaji navy suddenly rushes out, we will be doomed." Itami Yasukichi shook his head and retorted, "They are most likely lurking nearby."
"Furthermore, even if the two reserve units are taken away, it will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. Iwaya Port cannot be taken back. The Awaji navy can come back at any time to surround Awaji Island again. The defenders remaining on Iwaya Castle will still face crisis."
Itami Yasukiyo put down the telescope and put him into his arms casually, "Unless we abandon Iwaya Castle, but that is impossible. For the safety of Sakai merchant ships, we must control the Akashi Strait, and then Iwaya Port must be
Take it back with the fort."
"But Iwaya Port and the fort cannot be taken back, at least not from the sea. It will never be possible to rely on naval guns and coastal defense guns to bombard each other." Koyama Masama poured cold water on it very pessimistically, "We can only rely on land.
Go up and grab... But there is no way to break through the defense line on the land side. His Highness's "Yuqiu Art of War, Absolute Defense" ability, the defense system he planned is enough for us. And the commander there now is still that ghost
Shihe, we are even more helpless."
"For such an absolutely insurmountable fortress, the only method is to rely on long-term siege and deprivation of food." Itami Yasukichi took out the telescope from his arms again and looked in the direction of Iwaya Port. He looked at the rock-solid fortress.
The fortifications only sigh.
"But Iwaya Port is stuck in the Akashi Strait. If we want to block and siege Iwaya Port, we must block both ends of the Akashi Strait. We can only block the east side of the Akashi Strait now, but supplies can still be shipped in from the west. We want to
The west side is also blocked, but we can't pass through the Akashi Strait directly, so we can only walk around Awaji Island and run to the west side. But the Awaji navy will never watch us around Awaji Island, they will definitely
The Naruto Strait between Awaji Island and Shikoku Island is blocking us. The Naruto Strait is so narrow, and hundreds of ships will block it there. How will we get through?" Koyama Masama was very desperate about the situation in front of him, "Unless Awaji Water
The army was so stupid that they went to the outer sea to fight a decisive battle with us, and then were defeated by us and chased all the way across the Naruto Strait. Otherwise, how could we survive?"
"The Red Leaf Army is never afraid of difficulties." Yasuki Itami glanced at the Akashi Strait for the last time, with a complicated smile on his face, then turned to look south and said loudly: "Full sail, rush south across the Kitan Strait! Awaji
The navy must be hiding in the southwest of Awaji Island!" After receiving the order, the Red Leaf Fleet set sail and quickly moved south along the current.
·
"coming."
At this time, in the waters on the south side of Awaji Island, Anzai Toyasu and his Awaji navy were waiting in full formation. Sumoto Castle had already lit a bonfire and reported the movements of the Momiji fleet - heading south at full speed.
"They didn't forcefully break through the Akashi Strait." Anzhai Nobuyasu said with some disappointment after seeing the signal.
"They are not stupid, and no one in Japan is so stupid." Fuyayasu Anzhai nodded calmly, "The decisive battle is coming. The decisive battle to decide who owns the Seto Inland Sea is coming soon."
"Will we lose?" Anzhai Nobuyasu felt slightly uneasy because of his father's tone.
"I don't know, no one will ever know." An Zhai Dongkang's words were very serious, but his expression relaxed, especially relaxed, "But there will be results soon."
No one would have thought that the Miyoshi Army's desperate attack, which was almost a gamble on the fate of the country, was proposed by the always gentle, conservative and prudent Anzhai Fuyasu. If this plan goes wrong, not only will the Miyoshi family lose Harima, but even Harima will be lost.
Losing Awaji, losing the Awaji navy, and even the entire army was destroyed.
But An Zhaidong Kang persuaded his brothers against all objections and made them agree to his actions. His reason was simple——
"Now we still have a chance to fight Yuqiu Hongye. But if he continues to develop, we will not even have a chance to fight for our lives in the future."
Anzhai Fuyang has always been a very sober person. After Miyoshi Yoshihide's death, probably no one in the world realized more clearly than Anzhai Fuyang what kind of monsters the Yuqiu family and Yuqiu Hongye are. If the Hongye Army's army is powerful
If it is still understandable, the emergence of the Red Leaf Fleet was a wake-up call to the old forces in Japan. Who would have thought that that fleet, which had been created for several years, could actually defeat the Awaji navy that had been rampaging in the Seto Inland Sea for hundreds of years? Water
The army is not as powerful as the army, and it takes a long time to accumulate strength, but the Hongye Fleet relied on the unimaginable strong ships and cannons of Anzhai Fuyang to complete the leap.
"We can't give them any more time to develop, let them stop here." Anzhai Fuyang made up his mind. Every time they faced the Red Leaf Fleet, they would come up with new ships and new cannons. This rapid development
It was so amazing that the Awaji Navy couldn't keep up. They could only take advantage of the opportunity that the Awaji Navy could still rely on the strength accumulated over hundreds of years to destroy the Momiji Fleet.
This is not only a showdown between the Awaji Navy and the Momiji Fleet, but also a showdown between the Miyoshi family and the Uqiu family, and a showdown between old Japan and new forces.
Thinking of this, Anzhai Dongkang suddenly felt that the burden on his body was very heavy, but his mood became relaxed for no reason - this was not the state he should be in before the war began, even if he was a veteran of the military for decades. Before the war was about to start,
Anzhai Dongkang actually explored his own mentality with great interest - why is he so relaxed?
Maybe it's because he already knew the result?
·
"Your Highness! Enemy troops found!"
The sailor who climbed on the top of the flagpole shouted to Fuyayasu Azaya, disrupting his thoughts. The sailors and soldiers on Fuyasu Azaya's flagship immediately rushed to the side of the ship and looked towards the far east - on Awaji Island.
From the southeastern corner, a huge creature gradually emerged.
"It's the Kawauchi Maru!" Many Awaji pirates who had exchanged fire with this giant ship in the previous battle exclaimed, "This is a ship several times larger than our largest Anzai ship!"
"Oh my God." Even though Nobuyasu Anzhai had seen this huge ship before when the Red Leaf Fleet came to cruise the Akashi Strait, he could still feel the pressure coming face to face with it on the battlefield, "This can really sink
ship?"
However, I was surprised that the panic did not end there. Because just behind the Kawachi Maru, a second and third such a huge ship sailed out from behind the cape. The entire Awaji Navy samurai, pirates, and sailors
They all fell silent for a moment, unable to say a word.
"It has never been on a cruise before. This is a new ship." Only Fuyushiya Anzaka remained calm and looked calmly at the giant ship coming out from behind Kawauchi Maru. He didn't know that they were two newly added ships to the Hongye Fleet.
Giant battleships - Izumi Maru and Kii Maru.
As the Momiji Fleet turned around from the cape, the Awaji Navy was able to see the entire Momiji Fleet - 3 battleships, 20 cruisers, and 60 destroyers. Although the total number was only one-tenth of the total number of the Awaji Navy.
, but the firepower of the more than one hundred artillery pieces of this fleet was more than ten times that of the Awaji Navy.
Chapter completed!