Shimazu Mitsuhisa did not think that his ship was small, he was only satisfied that his side had many ships.
The large army of soldiers and horses cut through the waves and moved forward indomitably, and various intelligences were successively passed back.
While the Xia army was working hard to detect the movements of the main force of the Japanese fleet, the Japanese were doing the same thing.
This time the battle zone was in the triangle between Jeju Island, Tsushima Island and the Goto Islands. After all the ships on both sides were spread out, there was almost no fog of war.
"Lord, Xia's navy came from the northwest, with a total of nine large ships and seventeen small ships."
Hearing this amount, Date Hidemune was puzzled.
"Do the people of Xia have only this kind of power? How can they stop our progress?"
Shimazu Mitsuhisa also looked puzzled.
"The Xia Kingdom definitely has more warships than these, but I can't guess what the general opposite is doing."
Date Xiuzong was a little worried.
"Will Xia's warships appear in other directions?"
Shimazu Mitsuhisa thought for a moment and slowly shook his head.
"The number of Xia's warships is far less than ours. If they dare to divide their forces, they will be lucky."
Even so, he was a little more cautious and quickly sent a message to Kato Tadahiro on the left and Mouri Mitsuhiro on the right, asking them to be careful.
As the distance between the main forces of the two sides got closer and closer, the small boats that had been fighting fiercely on the battlefield began to move to both sides to avoid it.
Everyone knows that when the main force fights, small boats like these will definitely become fish in the pond.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun is shining, the view is the best.
The sentry on the flagship of the Xia army's first column shouted.
"Enemy troops were found, numerous in number, 13,000 meters away!"
The more accurate measurement tools gave Xia Jun enough time to respond.
Zuo Hua immediately ordered.
"Order all ships to follow the flagship and turn due south."
The first column began to turn slowly on the sea, drawing a curved arc.
After driving about two miles further south, the Japanese fleet began to appear in sight.
At the same time, Mitsuhisa Shimazu also received rewards.
He tried hard to stand higher and observe the situation on the other side. However, with the naked eye, he could only see a sparse fleet of ships on the other side of the sea slowly turning towards him.
"What are you doing, Xia Ren?"
In this era of East Asian seas, except for the Xia Kingdom Navy, no one understood the importance of linear arrays and seizing the prefix T. Therefore, Shimazu Mitsuhisa was completely confused about the tactics of the Xia Kingdom Navy.
"Tell the second column that when our column completes its shelling, it will follow closely behind to seize the position."
Zuo Hua saw the endless warships on the opposite side through the telescope, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He began to operate at high speed, and passed on the orders one after another.
On the last ship of the first column, the messenger waved the flag toward the rear.
The second column is about five miles behind them, and the semaphore can be easily received through the telescope.
Zhang Keda also kept issuing a series of orders.
"Pay attention to the operations of the first column and report any situation immediately. Tell each ship to keep a distance and check the artillery. If anyone has a problem, military law will be dealt with."
After fighting for so long, the main forces of both sides finally met.
Although he didn't know what Xia Guo's navy was up to, Shimazu Mitsuhisa felt that with his numerical advantage, this battle would be won.
"Send the order for the whole army to attack and destroy the Xia people!"
The order to attack spread far away through the sound of horns, and the originally silent Japanese fleet suddenly burst out with thunderous shouts. The Japanese warships at the front stretched out their wooden oars, and at the same time the sails dropped.
The Japanese customs began to speed up.
As long as they are close to the Xia Navy, with their numerical advantage, victory will definitely belong to them.
On Zuo Hua's warship, the combat staff has been reporting data non-stop.
"The distance is three thousand five hundred meters... three thousand meters... two thousand five hundred meters..."
The warships of the first column have completed their maneuvers. Zuo Hua's lead ship has almost sailed over the head, and the stern of the ship is slowly starting to move towards the Japanese fleet.
"Report, distance is 1,500 meters."
Zuo Hua found that he had to turn back to observe the situation of the Japanese fleet, and he couldn't help but feel very upset.
"Hurry up and send a signal to the second column to stop firing. Otherwise, many artillery pieces will not be used."
At this time, the situation of the first column was like a fully drawn bowstring. Only the most bulging position could fully face the Japanese warships. Like Zuo Hua's ship, it had actually gone too far.
This was also the first naval battle and I was inexperienced, so I made such a mistake.
Fortunately, Zuo Hua was young and didn't have any idol baggage. When he realized something was wrong, he immediately reminded others.
"Report, one thousand meters away!"
This data stimulated the nerves of all Xia soldiers.
Zuo Hua knew that the time had come.
"fire!!!"
All the fast-moving warships in the first column trembled suddenly, and then a large sheet of white smoke completely enveloped the entire column. Dozens of flaming shells came out of the white smoke and hit the Japanese fleet.
past.
There are so many Japanese ships that there is no need to carefully aim. Just give the distance data and fire directly.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa had been staring at the battle at the front. He was not surprised when he saw Xia Guo's warship firing. On the contrary, he laughed.
"These Xia people are indeed cowards. What's the point of firing from such a distance?"
Before he finished speaking, he looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Xia Jun's artillery shells were as fast as lightning and almost invisible to the naked eye. With a devilish roar, they smashed into the formation of the Japanese fleet.
More than a dozen warships were directly hit.
The expected big hole did not appear, instead there was an earth-shattering explosion. Even the larger Anzha ship was torn apart on the spot and disappeared out of thin air with a rolling fireball.
Not only that, the blown wood exploded in all directions, even piercing through other nearby ships.
Although the damage was not enough to cause other ships to sink, it did bring disaster to the people on board. Many Japanese soldiers turned into blood gourds, completely staining the deck red.
In addition, dozens of shells missed and fell into the water.
But even so, it still caused huge harm to the Japanese people.
Because Xia Jun's artillery shells falling into the water did not just create a splash of water, the huge impact force could still touch the firing pin, thereby detonating the explosive.
The powerful kinetic energy pushed the seawater to roll violently in all directions, pushing all warships within ten meters off course.
Even if the helmsman on the ship tried his best to maintain it, it was of no avail. He could only watch in horror as the bow of the ship tilted to one side and collided with other ships.
This alone caused the complete destruction of more than ten Guan ships.
Sea water poured into the cabin crazily, and it was obvious that it could no longer be saved.
"Nani?"
Shimazu Mitsuhisa and Date Hidemune were dumbfounded and felt cold all over.
The battle was beyond their imagination from the very beginning.