Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1727 Post-war Waves ([-]) Asahi Sea Battle
Thin morning mist enveloped Okpo Port near Geoje Island in North Korea. More than [-] customs ships, small morning ships and Anzhai ships were moored at the pier.A large number of Japanese troops in the port are transporting grain, grass and supplies to the shore, which is the main force of Japan's Second Load Fleet.Loading means transportation in Japanese, so this fleet is actually the second transportation fleet.

"Finally, we have arrived in North Korea. After several nights of rough seas, we can finally have a good night's sleep on land. After all, the governor Konishi and His Royal Highness Kato Kiyomasa may have reached the Yalu River by now. This little lotus packs up, and we have to work hard." Fleet commander Nagano Youhei thought to himself, looking at the busy soldiers in front of him, with a smile on his face.

"Look, what's that?" The shouts of several warriors on the shore caught his attention. Following the voice, Nagano Youhei tried his best to look up to the sea through the morning fog, and saw a row of Row black spots.

The black dot moves quickly, getting closer, getting closer!There is actually a huge fleet coming here, there are more than six to seventy ships, is it the enemy?Hasn’t the Korean Navy been wiped out by His Highness Gugui Jialong on Hansando Island?That's right, this must be the fleet of General Ryukyu Defender Kamei Tomoki coming from a long distance. [Note: Ryukyu's duty does not mean actual duty. ]
"Look, that flag is not ours, it's the Koreans, that's the fleet of the Koreans!" The soldiers screamed, and there was a sudden chaos on the pier.

Impossible, where did they come from?Nagano Youhei's hand holding the handle of the knife trembled a little. The sudden battle made him both shocked and excited.

"The North Korean army is nothing to be afraid of, everyone, don't panic, get on the boat quickly, and let us attack them!" Sure enough, it was the enemy who came!Well, look at me, Nagano Youbei, today's Yupuhai will definitely be the burial place for you Koreans!Nagano held his breath and shouted loudly to lead the crowd to board the ship to resist the battle.

The Korean warship braved the wind and waves, and headed straight for Yupu Port.On the leading ship stood a middle-aged man with a wide-brimmed tall hat, a white jacket and a black robe, and a long beard.Holding the arrow stack in his hand, with sharp eyes, he stared closely at the Japanese ships that were coming out of the turmoil in the port to meet them.This man was Yi Sun-shin, the general of the Joseon Navy and the envoy of Zuoshui in Jeolla Province.

Li Shunchen grew up in a poor family and ranked third among the four brothers "Xi, Yao, Shun and Yu". In the mid-year-old military examination, he was later promoted to a junior officer in the yamen.In the domestic chaos, he made many military exploits and accumulated rich combat experience. At the age of 17, he was finally appointed as the Zuoshui envoy of Jeolla Province.

Yi sun-shin has his sensitivity in naval warfare. When the Korean army still used swords, spears, bows and arrows as the main weapons in battle, he had already observed the armed transport ships of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance that came to North Korea for business, and found that guns and artillery would play an important role in future naval battles. The huge role in the game, and immediately learned it, and applied it to the warship.

It's a pity that North Korea's financial resources are limited. When they heard that it would cost at least tens of thousands of taels of silver to refit the fleet like the Daemyung fleet, the entire court lacked interest. Many people even ridiculed Yi sun-shin for wanting to make money from it.In the end, Yi Sun-shin could only piece together and refit a few ships, and because the warships of the North Korean navy were much smaller than the Jinghua armed transport ships, no one knows how their final combat effectiveness will be.

"General, Gyeongsang Youshui envoy General Yuan Jun sent a banner, please rest assured to attack, he will do his best to cover the general's rear, and vow to fight the invading Japanese pirates to the end!"

"Is that so, I hope so." Li Sunchen frowned slightly, snorted, and continued to watch the approaching enemy ship.

"The Japanese boat is clearly in the front. Even if the enemy really attacked from behind, General Yuan Jun would have turned around and fled first! If he hadn't been timid and timid to fight, how could the Gyeongsang navy lose so badly? Uncle, in my opinion ..."

"Huh?" Li Sunchen's face darkened, and he turned his head to look at his nephew Li Wan behind him.

Li Wan's heart trembled, and he quickly changed his words: "Yes, General!"

Li Shunchen's expression softened a little, and he said in a neutral manner: "These words are not what you should say, there are so many soldiers beside you, the enemy is at hand, don't disturb the morale of the army!"

Li Wan's heart trembled, he hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "The general will understand, please forgive me, general."

"That's all." Li Shunchen waved his hand and got back to business: "Look, the Japanese ships are in a chaotic formation, and they are obviously unprepared. We are rushing to attack Yupu today. We can attack with all our strength and wipe out the enemy in front of us! Listen to Li Wan." Order, order you to lead three Banwuchuan (the main Korean warships) to separate the pirate warships from the transport ships, if you fail, don’t come to see me!"

"Yes!" Li Wan agreed resoundingly, turned around and disembarked from the handsome boat, boarded his warship in a light boat, and quickly raised the tiger-headed flag that symbolized the forward assault. The main battle of the Japanese fleet with the flag of the flag.

The warships of the North Korean brigade spread out in a fan shape on the Yupu Ocean, and formed three rows behind the three forward ships, closely following them.

"It's a building boat? Damn it! Stop them!" Nagano Youhei yelled, standing on the highest point of the ship, commanding a dozen Japanese small hayafune to surround the three board house boats, and immediately fired arrows and iron cannons. Also fired frequently.

Nagano Uhei's ship is a large Antaka ship. The Japanese warship has been introduced in the previous article. There are basically four types: Kohayafune, Seki Ship, Ataka Ship, and Iron Armored Ship. Some armed transport ships of the alliance, but without the original artillery, can be regarded as castrated versions.

Due to the extremely slow speed of the Japanese-style iron-clad giant ships, they can only fight offshore, so most of the main warships going to North Korea are Anzhai ships, which are divided into three large, medium and small ships.According to some well-informed sources, there are also a batch of super-large Anzhai boats, which are "masterpieces that absorb the technology of the Tang Dynasty", so I don't know if it is true or not.

There are houses on the Japanese Anzhai ship, and there are watchtowers on the roof, and soldiers can stand on the watchtowers to fight condescendingly.The board house boat commanded by Li Wan is 30 meters long, has an archery tower, 200 soldiers, and 45 sculls; it is equipped with 38 large-caliber guns with an effective range of about [-] steps, and a large number of bows and arrows; The iron skin can resist arrows and firecracker bullets. The combat power and impact force are quite amazing in this era.

"The Japanese boats are coming up!"

"Listen to my order, fire the firecrackers on both sides, aim, and let go!" The Korean army's firecrackers are divided into "four-arrow and eight-arrow barrels", "heaven, earth, Xuan, and Shengzi" and so on. Gunpowder propelled to fire wooden arrows or rockets studded with iron fragments.

At this time, there was only a loud "boom", and two rows of red light shot out from behind the arrow stacks on both sides, and the besieged small Japanese warships suddenly screamed. "The musketeers charge the powder, and the archers cover!" Li Wan commanded the battle calmly.

"Fire all the iron cannons!" Nagano Youhei drew his sword and pointed it at the boat.Taidao is a typical Japanese sword with a relatively large curvature. The blade is about two or three feet long and expensive. However, judging from his surname "Nagano", it is not surprising that he can afford it.

As soon as he gave an order, thirty iron cannons (Japanese-style matchlock guns) on the Anzhai boat were fired at the ground. One slice seems to be of little use.

"Bastard, how can this go on like this, baked jade boat, rush up and fire!" Nagano Youbingwei ordered the two baked jade boats to meet them with semaphore.

As the name suggests, the Japanese baked jade ship is a warship equipped with baked jade, which is used to approach the enemy ship, and then the soldiers with huge arms throw the baked jade to burn the enemy ship-in essence, roasted jade is equivalent to a kind of throwing incendiary bombs.

"Keep a distance, destroy them first, and then attack the Japanese transport ship!" Li Wan ordered loudly.The sculls on the Korean Banwu warship shook together, and immediately left the Japanese baked jade boat ten feet behind.

"Listen to my order, fire the stern gun and let it go!" There was only a loud noise, and the Korean warship fired violently. The projectiles and flying arrows fell beside the fire-breathing boat, setting off countless water jets. To evade, the other two Korean warships assisting the battle also attacked from both sides.

"It's over, run as fast as you can!" The soldiers on the Japanese boat yelled desperately, and jumped off the boat one after another. The two baked jade boats burst into flames almost at the same time, and soon sank in the Yupu Ocean.

At this time, the brigade of Korean warships commanded by Yi Sun-shin had already joined the battle group. Twenty large wooden houseboats stormed ahead, and more than fifty ships and Baozuo ships (small and medium-sized warships) outflanked the two wings, firing guns, bows and arrows together. .The Second Transport Fleet of the Japanese Navy was unable to fight back in the face of the attack carefully planned by the North Korean army, and retreated one after another.

"Your Highness Youbingwei, the warships of the North Korean army are fierce and there are a lot of them. If we continue to fight like this, our entire army will probably be wiped out!" A general stepped forward and said.

"What? Do you want me to retreat? It's a joke. How can a dignified warrior be defeated by an incompetent Korean? I will never retreat!" Before the words fell, several wooden arrows fired by firecrackers hit the mast of the Anzhai boat and immediately ignited. A raging fire broke out, and the Japanese soldiers on board were horrified when they saw this, and ran around on the deck in a mess.

"Your Highness, the ship is on fire, what should we do!"

"Well, it seems... It is necessary for our army to make a strategic shift first, and it will not be too late to deal with the Koreans after rendezvous with General Kamei Fusaki's fleet!" Nagano Youbingwei said in a trembling voice with a pale face.

"Your Highness Youbingwei is wise! You, you, and you, hurry up and help His Highness transfer to the fast boat. Our army will return to the port at full speed and make a strategic move to the shore!" the general shouted wildly.

The Japanese fleet fought and retreated under the onslaught of the Korean naval forces. Injured Japanese ships continued to sink into the sea with flames, and the remaining ships retreated into Yupu Port in a hurry.

"General, we have won, and the Japanese soldiers have been defeated by us!"

"This is just the beginning." Yi sun-shin put down the binoculars and turned to the excited generals, "We need to cut off the Japanese supply line at sea. Only in this way will the inland Japanese army lose the food and weapons necessary for combat. Next One more step, we are looking for an opportunity to fight the main Japanese pirate fleet, I hope all the generals will advance and retreat with me, and fight to the end!”

"Yes! The general is mighty!" All the generals responded in unison.

Li Shunchen had a satisfied smile on his face. He looked at the wreckage of the Japanese ship floating around on the sea, and his heart was full of pride: "Kuki Jialong, I heard that you are the number one sea general in Japan. You are known as the Hideyoshi of the sea. Do you know where you are now? Come on, my turtle ship fleet is about to be completed, let us compete to see who other than the Celestial Navy can be regarded as the true hero of the sea!"

In the Battle of Okpo, from early morning to afternoon, under the command of Yi Sun-shin, the left water envoy of Jeolla Province, the Korean army fought bravely and won a complete victory, annihilating 26 Japanese ships, and none of their own ships were sunk.This battle was the first victory of the Korean army since the Imjin War. The Japanese army, which was invincible on land, finally tasted the taste of defeat at sea.

On August 29, the Korean and Japanese armies launched the second naval battle - the Sacheon naval battle.Yi sun-shin used his secret weapon "turtle ship" in the naval battle.Turtle ship is a kind of warship invented by the Koreans very early. The hull is equipped with a protective plate made of hardwood in the shape of a turtle shell, so it is called turtle ship.

Li Sunchen improved the structure and equipment of the turtle boat, and made the hull bigger, more than ten feet long and one foot wide.There is a top cover made of thick wood on the deck, and it is covered with iron plates, which can protect the water army on the ship from the projection of enemy firearms.

On the top cover and beside the deck, there are many sharp nails and iron hooks, so that the enemy dare not climb.A large dragon head is installed on the bow, with two large gun holes pierced through it, and metal pointed rods are installed at the head and tail, which can be used to hit enemy ships when necessary.There are 74 gun holes on the front, rear, left, and right sides of the hull, and the shooter can lie down inside and release firearms.There are ten large oars on both sides of the hull, all of which are rowed, galloping like flying.In addition, the hull is very large and can carry a lot of drinking water and food, which makes the turtle boat more suitable for long-term battles on the water.

However, the turtle ship is not really advanced in terms of its construction ideas. Just looking at the need for "ten large oars" of this kind of warship, it is known that it is too bulky and has to rely on oar power assistance.In fact, this practice of strengthening the old ship type as much as possible is itself a sign of technological stagnation.

In the Battle of Sacheon, the North Korean navy sank [-] enemy ships by driving turtle ships;
On September 33nd and [-]th, under the leadership of Yi Sun-shin, the North Korean army once again launched a series of fierce battles with the Japanese army in the waters of Dangpo, sinking the flagship of the Kyushu daimyo Kamei Izumo, and destroying [-] warships under Kato Kiyomasa;
On September [-], the fleet of the Japanese Navy named Tsutsuhisa Kuishima was wiped out, and Tsutsuhisa Kuishima was killed on the spot;

On September 39th, the Wakisaka Yasuji Navy was defeated in the naval battle of Hansando, and [-] Japanese ships were destroyed...

So far, North Korea's victory in the war has all been brought by Yi Sun-shin alone. However, the victories in these few naval battles cannot fundamentally reverse the overall situation of the war.Toyotomi Hideyoshi mobilized more than [-] ships in the first batch of fleets for this war in Korea, and the total losses above were less than [-] ships. How much can Hideyoshi be moved?You must know that most of the above losses were the smaller Guanchuan and Kohayaya ships, and even the loss of the Anzhai Ship was not large, only six ships.

At this time, the North Korean army had been retreating steadily, with heavy losses. The Japanese army's land offensive could be described as devastating. As a result, the Korean navy had fewer and fewer land bases to supplement its combat power. .

At this moment, Gao Yushi of Fa Yuan Triumph finally assembled in Yanqing Prefecture the imperial guards requested by the emperor, as well as a small number of troops from Tumed and Ordos, and began to go to the capital.What awaits them is not only a welcome of the emperor, but also the biggest triumph in the history of the Ming Dynasty! ——
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(End of this chapter)