The warships of the fourth column moved into firing positions one after another, delivering firepower to the Japanese fleet one by one.
The Japanese ships were arranged very compactly, so the Xia Navy did not need to deliberately aim and could just fire towards the opposite side.
It was obvious that heavy losses had been suffered in the front, but the Japanese were also famous for their stubbornness. They did not know whether life or death would change, so they continued to charge forward.
Therefore, under every fire attack, Japanese warships were damaged. They were either destroyed or damaged, and their combat effectiveness was completely lost.
On the whole, the Japanese are still in a passive position of being beaten.
However, because more than thirty gunboats were moved to the front, they had a certain ability to fight back.
However, the poor artillery skills of the Japanese people caused great trouble to the Xia Navy.
If the Japanese were able to fire a salvo of artillery, then based on their artillery reloading speed, they could basically only fire one salvo, and then they could only watch the fourth column fly away.
However, because the Japanese were unable to fire volleys, the order of firing was messy and the intervals were long.
This resulted in that when the fourth column passed horizontally, there were always ships within the range of artillery strikes.
The third to last Haicang ship was in bad luck. It was hit directly in the back by a cannonball, and the entire command platform was flattened.
What's more serious is that the rudder was broken. The ship immediately lost its direction and began to spin on the sea.
This scene made the Japanese people very excited, and dozens of ships rushed towards this direction.
The officers and soldiers of the Xia army on the Haicang ship were struggling to save themselves. Looking at the Japanese rushing towards them at great speed in the distance, they tried to adjust the sails and fired guns non-stop.
If you can't escape from the battlefield, it would be good to kill one more enemy.
The ship from Haicang came up behind.
"What's going on? Can you still leave?"
On the damaged Haicang ship, all the surviving officers and soldiers had tears in their eyes.
"The captain died and the rudder was broken. You go quickly, we will cover you."
"What nonsense are you talking about? When can our Xia army abandon our comrades?"
While talking, several thick ropes with grappling hooks were thrown over, firmly hanging on to the damaged Haicang ship.
Isn't the rudder broken?
Isn't it impossible to adjust the course?
Then let your comrades help!
Dragged by friendly ships, the damaged Haicang ship finally found its direction and picked up speed again.
Seeing the situation here, the last Haicang ship took the initiative to reduce its speed and desperately used artillery to attack the rushing Guan ship.
It wasn't until this moment that the Xia Navy's breech-loaded cannon fully demonstrated its rate of fire.
In the eyes of the Japanese, there was clearly only one ship firing cannons on the other side, but the cannonballs kept hitting their heads in a continuous stream.
The leading ship was penetrated by artillery shells, and the huge explosion wave stagnated all the ships behind it, forcing them to slow down to avoid it.
When they went around, they could only see the Xia navy dragging the damaged Haicang ship far away.
Just when they were still about to give chase, the sound of panicked horns filled their eardrums.
The Japanese looked to the northwest in surprise.
As a result, we saw another formation of Xia Kingdom's fleet rushing towards them.
"It's the fleet that appeared before. They've circled back."
That's right, the fleet that reappeared in front of the Japanese this time was the first column led by Zuo Hua.
After the first column completed the first wave of attacks, it drew a large circle on the southwest sea and circled to the rear of the fourth column.
As a result, the entire Xia Navy was like a stone mill, spinning clockwise in the nearby sea area.
When each column turned to the front of the Japanese, it completed its fire attack.
It was through this fighting method that the Xia Navy established a continuous output, causing great trouble for the Japanese.
By this time, Shimazu Mitsuhisa had completely understood the intentions of the Xia Navy.
"Send the order, attack with the whole army, spread out the sea. I will make their formation unable to operate!"
To deal with the rotating formation of the Xia Kingdom Navy, Shimazu Mitsuhisa came up with a way to crack it.
That is to no longer maintain the distribution of front, rear, left and right, but to order all warships to form a horizontal array, regardless of priority, to attack together.
More than a thousand warships, once stretched horizontally, will form a vast cross-section. In this way, the Xia Navy's point-to-point defense will inevitably lose its effectiveness.
At this point in the battle, the Japanese suffered heavy losses and were already holding their breath. After receiving Shimazu Mitsuhisa's order, all the warships immediately began to change their formations, like a black line pressing towards the west.
It's just a pity that Shimazu Mitsuhisa woke up too late.
Although the Xia Navy's array was still rotating, each rotation actually represented a retreat. At this time, the distance behind the North Korean coastline was less than ten miles.
In other words, they don't have much room for conversion.
If that's the case, then you can only use all your killing moves.
"Order all ships to use rocket launchers!"
Each ship of the Xia Navy is equipped with twelve rocket launchers.
The only difference is that large ships will be equipped with two doors, while small ships will be equipped with one door.
Rocket launchers are different from artillery in that they do not have much recoil, so these old-fashioned sailing ships can fully withstand them.
The only thing you need to pay attention to is to place the rocket launchers well to prevent the strong tail flame from igniting your own ships.
More than thirty rocket launchers were fired almost simultaneously, and a large orange-red dot suddenly appeared in the sky, speeding towards the Japanese fleet.
"what is that?"
The strange and brilliant scene makes Japanese people intoxicated.
It's a pity that this beauty will harvest their lives.
The rockets directly covered a huge area of the sea. Whether they hit the warship or fell into the sea, they all exploded violently.
The damage effect of hitting a warship is no worse than that of artillery shells, one shot at a time.
The damage caused to the Japanese warships by falling on the sea was much more serious than the cannonballs.
Because the Navy version of the rocket contains not only collodion explosives, but also petroleum extract.
Xia Guo Military Industry's research found that once this kind of oil burns, it cannot be extinguished with water. Even on the water, it can still burn violently.
This kind of sharp weapon will undoubtedly have devastating effects when used in water battles.
This is it at this time.
As the rockets exploded, the sea where the Japanese fleet was located immediately burst into flames that spread endlessly.
All Japanese warships in this area were quickly set on fire.
All Japanese people were frightened.
With their knowledge, they couldn't figure out why fire could burn on the water. Moreover, the bottom of the boat had long been soaked by sea water, which could not stop the spread of flames.
The burning range caused by the rockets was several miles wide, and there were at least more than 500 Japanese warships surrounded in it.
At this time, all the ships were on fire. Let alone a surprise attack, they were unable to even save themselves.
On some of the warships that began to shake, Japanese soldiers desperately jumped into the sea, hoping to survive.
However, as soon as their bodies touched the water, they were immediately ignited by nearby flames.
Especially the surrounding sea water was extremely hot, turning them into fat meat that kept rolling in the boiling water.
On the tragic battlefield, the rich and strange smell of meat made both the enemy and ourselves want to vomit.
Seeing this scene, even the Japanese who were not harmed completely collapsed.