Itakura Shigemasa, who was determined to defeat the Ming Dynasty navy with a hand-to-hand combat at sea that was most in line with the spirit of Bushido, looked at Matsukura Shigetoshi and said solemnly: "Matsukura-kun, I heard that among the ships in the North, headed by the flagship Dinghai,

, has the largest tonnage, the most powerful firepower, and the highest side of the ship, making it extremely difficult to capture. If we cannot engage in hand-to-hand combat on the Dinghai, but allow it to travel through the battlefield, it will be extremely difficult for our army to win. Therefore, the key to winning this battle is

The key is to capture the Dinghai! And the task of capturing the Dinghai is extremely dangerous..."

The Dinghai is a big ship, so there must be a lot of officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty navy on the ship, so it is naturally difficult to attack. Moreover, the Dinghai is tall, so if you use a small boat to get on board, you have to climb the hull, which is similar to attacking a city.

.The Ming army on the Dinghai can shoot down the cannons from a high position, or simply bombard it with deck guns. Therefore, the task of attacking the Dinghai is very dangerous, and is almost like death.

Did Matsukura Shigetsu not know what it was that Shigemasa Itakura meant? He was asked to take on this mission of narrow escape, but he was already waiting for sin. If he didn't behave well, he would still die when he returned to Japan, and he would die even more.

It's ugly...not only is he going to die, but the entire Matsukura family is also going to be involved!

Thinking of this, Matsukura Shigetoshi looked solemn and solemn, and said loudly: "In accordance with the Navy, please allow us Shimabara samurai to seize Ming Dynasty's strongest Dinghai for His Highness Kōkata!"

"Yaoshi!" Itakura Shigemasa nodded with satisfaction. Although this Matsukura Shigeuri is a waste, he is a very sensible waste... First he took the blame for His Highness, and now he takes the lead for the navy. If you are lucky,

If he survives, he can plead with His Highness the Duke for him, try to avoid his death penalty, and leave him a vassal worth more than 10,000 dan.

Thinking of this, he said to Matsukura Shigetoshi in an encouraging tone: "Go and select the 250 strongest Shimabara samurai...I will order the Izu to send you to the Dinghai ship at all costs!"

The Izu is a gunboat with a displacement of more than 200 tons. A warship of this level is not considered a battleship at all by the Ming Dynasty, and is not qualified to be included in the "66 Ship List" of Sanyo Sailors. However, in the "66 Ship List" of the Japanese Shogunate Navy

"Among them, there are many such ships, such as the Izu, Sado, Tsushima, Awaji, Shima, Hida, etc., all of which are gunboats with a displacement of about 200 tons.

In addition, because the two countries, Iki and Ezo, had too few stones and no extra money, they could not afford a Western-style gunboat, so they were exempted from the "General Shipbuilding Request". Therefore, Japan's sixty-eight kingdoms

Sixty-six Western-style warships were built.

Six small ships, including the Izu, Sado, Tsushima, Awaji, Shima, and Hida, had previously been left by Itakura Shigemasa in Aoniwa Bay to support the landing of Matsukura Shigeharu's headquarters. Matsukura Shigetoshi led the

The remnant soldiers also took the Aoniwa Bay where they fled. Among them, the Izu on which Matsukura Shigeuri was aboard was the last to leave the Aoniwa Bay. The Izu arrived at Pi Island, and the Ming Kingdom fleet came behind...

Needless to say, it must be the Ming fleet following the Izu!

The officers and men on the Izu were so careless and they naturally wanted to atone for their sins. Therefore, the task of attacking the Dinghai this evening could only be undertaken by the unlucky Izu.

But having said that, the Izu, with a displacement of just over 200 tons, is indeed suitable as a "kamikaze ship". Because this Western-style gunboat not only has soft sails, it is also equipped with long oars, so it can sprint hard when necessary. .Even if the mast holding the sail is broken, it can still sail at a relatively fast speed for a period of time.

In order to prevent the warship from being destroyed by the powerful firepower of the Dinghai, the sailors on the Izu also urgently carried out some "anti-sinking and fireproof modifications". First, they threw away all the gunpowder on the ship (except for the iron gunners who were preparing for a boarding battle. The gunpowder carried). Then the hull was fireproofed, and flammable ropes, sail gear and unnecessary luggage were reduced as much as possible.

After a simple transformation, dozens of warships from the Ming Dynasty's Beiyang Navy had already flooded onto the sea between Pi Island and the Korean Peninsula. The sea in this area was very narrow, so in history, the Qing army could attack from the other side three times. Korean Tieshan boarded a ship to attack Phi Island.

Logically speaking, this kind of terrain is unfavorable to the Ming Dynasty's Beiyang Navy, which has strong ships and powerful artillery. But now this Beiyang Navy is under the guidance of the Dutch Navy, and the Dutch Navy is very good at fighting in offshore settings, bays, and even inland rivers.

This is because the training level of the Dutch Navy is high, and the captains and sailors are particularly good at navigation, so fighting in melee waters with complex hydrological conditions is their best job.

In the historical Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch navy even rushed into the Thames and burned many British ships. The Battle of Downs was also fought in a narrow bay. Hans Postmann himself In his previous life, he also burned ten half-Chinese and half-Western-style warships that Zheng Zhilong had worked so hard to build in the bay of Xiamen...

Therefore, the current Admiral of the Ming Dynasty's Beiyang Navy, Hans Postmann, is not afraid of fighting the Japanese Shogunate Navy on narrow seas.

After discovering that the shogunate's fleet was hidden in the waters west of Phi Island, without any hesitation, he led all 66 warships from the south of Phi Island and rushed into the strait between Phi Island and Tieshan through the strong southwest.

The Japanese shogunate navy was also unambiguous. The 66 warships were divided into 11 columns and pounced on more than ten detachments of the Ming Dynasty's Beiyang Navy - the sea area in this area was narrow, and it was getting late now. It would get dark after a while. In addition, the T-shaped formation tactics that could maximize the power of the battleship's broadsides had not yet appeared. Therefore, Hans Postmann did not plan to form a formation for the artillery battle, but planned to win in a melee.

The Izu was in the same detachment as the flagship of the Shogunate Navy, the Musashi. One ship took the lead, and with all its oars and sails in full force, it swooped towards the Tadakai, which was as tall as a city wall.

Of course, the Dinghai did not avoid this small boat, and directly went up to it, wanting to have a close combat with it!

Matsukura Shigetoshi and Masuda Shiro Tokisada were both on the Izu at this time, but not on the upper deck, but on the lower oar deck. They were sitting side by side and trying to row an oar. Matsukura It was really hard work. As a noble warrior, he actually took the lead in rowing the oar.

But he couldn't do it without rowing, because the Izu was a small boat, and in order to accommodate Matsukura's 250 samurai, some of the sailors had to leave the ship, so the samurai had to do the oaring.

It was very hot inside the oar deck. Both Matsukura and Masuda were sweating profusely. Just when they were thinking about when they could open a window and let in the sea breeze, they heard a sound of "the sea is rocking and the ship is rocking".

"There was a loud noise, accompanied by the click of broken boards, and then the sea breeze and the choking smoke rushed into the oar deck that was supposed to be closed!

The Izu was hit!

At this moment, the oar deck was already a hellish scene. Many samurai oarsmen were hit by broken pieces of wood, and some were killed on the spot! Some screamed and wailed, struggling to crawl towards the stairs...

Matsukura and Masuda didn't care about these people. They stopped rowing and rushed towards the stairs leading to the upper deck with their samurai swords.

While going upstairs, they also felt that the ship seemed to have hit something and shook violently a few times - this must be a large ship approaching the Ming Dynasty!

Now it’s time for the Ming navy to see how powerful the Japanese samurai are!

"Kill me!"

"Shimabara Samurai...charge!"

The two men were also unambiguous. They shouted when they got on the deck. Then, regardless of the dead people lying on the ground or the bullets that were constantly being fired from the tall battleship that was close to the Izu, they just shouted forward.

Matsukura quickly found the rope ladder hanging on the hull of the Ming Dynasty ship, then put the unsheathed Odachi in his mouth, used his hands and feet together, and climbed up as the first one, then turned over vigorously, and was already standing on the ship

On the deck, he looked up and was stunned.

Because there was a row of armored sword players on the boat, and they were looking at him blankly, as if asking: Brother, why are you naked and not wearing armor, and you just come up with a thin knife? For cutting people.
Chapter completed!