Mukai Tadakatsu carried out a comprehensive refurbishment of seventy-four Galen battleships, and replenished ammunition, armor, water, and food. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

At the same time, he also used the shogunate's sailor's small hayafune, and if the two sides got entangled, the fireboat would still be very useful.

During his waiting, more than 300 warships of all sizes, including the Sendai Domain, Tosa Domain, and Satsuma Domain, came to gather.

Only the Satsuma clan brought three 200-ton Nanban merchant ships and more than 20 warships renovated from vermilion ships, which also showed the shogun Satsuma's all-out attitude and support for the country.

In fact, the Satsuma Domain was the most disgusted with the Lockdown Country, because most of the taxes in the domain depended on sea trade, but fortunately, they still had Ryukyu in hand, and the sea trade was not cut off.

On the eighth day of the ninth month of the 10th year of Kanei, drums and trumpets sounded in Edo Bay, and the shogun came to see off the fleet that was about to go out for a decisive battle against the Ming people.

Tokugawa Iemitsu, Ii Naotakaka, Doi Toshikatsu, Sakai Tadashi and other people came to the military port wharf.

The bay was now filled with warships from all over Japan, but of course the most powerful were the Nanban warships, especially the fifteen four-hundred-ton warships purchased from the Netherlands and five five-hundred-ton behemoths.

Tokugawa Iemitsu and others presided over the ceremony of sacrificing the sea to the gods, offering tribute, and with the blessing of the great god Manwang Hachiman, they won the battle.

After the festival was completed, the sailors began to sail away from Edo Bay, and immediately all the flags of the daimyo family crests were raised, and the shouts of the sailors resounded throughout the bay, and one after another the ships began to set sail and sail towards the mouth of the bay.

Tokugawa Iemitsu stood on the water gate for a long time, looking at the most powerful fleet in the history of Japan, and began this gamble-like naval battle, this time in a bid to free up the results of years of financial tightening of the shogunate. If the battle was defeated and the Shogunate was destroyed, the Shogunate would not be able to rebuild the Sailor in the short term, and more seriously, the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate would be shaken.

Mukai Tadakatsu just waited for all the warships off the coast of Edo Bay to sail out and form a group, and it took more than half a day to continue sailing. That's a joke, it's already evening, and so many battleships sailing at night are almost like committing suicide.

Therefore, the fleet actually drifted in the sea off Tokyo Bay that night and waited for dawn, until dawn came, and the whole fleet began to sail westward.

Li Hu commanded the Jeju fleet, consisting of 45 cruisers, 5 Sui-class warships, 35 Tang-class warships, 25 Song-class warships, and 35 clippers, and had been counting the stars in circles around Iki Island for more than ten days.

For the possible counterattack and retaliation of the Japanese state, the Breaking Army Naval Division made sufficient preparations, but the Breaking Army Naval Division did not mobilize all the warships. At the very least, the Shidao sailor had to ensure the passage of Dengzhou Water City at any time, so the Shidao sailor only supported the patrol ship.

The Beihua Naval Division, which was tasked with patrolling and protecting Sado Island, had to patrol the southern part of Beihua Island to prevent the Shogunate from rushing to Sado Island from the east through the Southern Strait of Northern China, and they did not send warships to support the Jeju Naval Division.

Therefore, this war mainly relied on the strength of the Jeju Naval Division, which had more than 10 clippers, more than 20 patrol ships and more than 30 Galen merchant ships. All the other warships are gathered here, and perhaps they are not the most numerous. But in terms of strength, they are the most powerful fleet in the Far Eastern Seas.

As for the enemy of the shogunate sailors, the Military Intelligence Department of the Broken Army has obtained accurate information from the anti-bone boy of the Choshu Domain, and there are about sixty or seventy Galen warships, among which there are also large ones, which are said to be battleships with fierce firepower.

Li Hu is full of confidence in this big victory. His efforts were to make the cost of victory less expensive, and if it was a disastrous victory, it would be too unworthy.

At the beginning of the afternoon of this day, the clippers in front reported that the shogunate's naval division brigade was swarming out of the Seto Inland Sea, and there was still more than a day to go.

Li Hu immediately ordered all the captains to be summoned to his flagship, the Yue Fei.

It took half a day. These captains have just gathered here, after all, there are too many ships, covering the sea in a radius of more than ten miles, and it is not easy to pass the signal flag, plus the captain changes to a small boat.

"Captains, you are all the old men of the sailors, since the beginning of the army from Shidao, you have been a member of the sailors, and have seen the heyday of my broken army sailors from a dozen ships to more than 200 sea ships now, everyone has gone from a poor boy who knows nothing to now is in charge of a boat, and there are many rewards every year, hundreds of subordinates are respected, and the family is rich without worrying about food and clothing."

Li Hu looked around at the more than 100 captains who crowded the wide deck of the Yue Fei,

"Who gave you these fame and fortune, don't forget, it was Lord Zhao Lie who promoted us from the micro end, including the military households who were just poor earlier, and they can have today's majesty and dignity, and they will be grateful to Lord Zhao."

Li Hu arched his hand to the west, and everyone respectfully bowed to the west.

"Today, Lord Zhao sent an order, this battle is won and undefeated, and it is necessary to completely annihilate the Japanese Shogunate Naval Division, so that this place and the Seto Inland Sea will become the place controlled by my Broken Army Naval Division,"

Li Hu looked at his subordinates with blazing eyes,

"What the adults want is a big victory, and what they want is the annihilation of the Japanese Naval Division, tell the general, can you do it later."

"Big win, big win." The crowd shouted.

They are all elite sailors who have experienced the previous wars with the Spanish, Dutch, Japanese and Korean people in the past seven or eight years, although there have been small setbacks on this journey, they have never suffered major defeats, and they are extremely confident and yearn for victory, which is the biggest difference between them and other soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

"Okay, come out, Ben will go into battle with you and others, and after the defeat of the Japanese people, Ben will set up a wine for you and others to celebrate." Li Hu said heroically.

Everyone saluted together, turned around and disembarked one after another, and went to prepare.

Lan San stood on the bow of the Shi Wansui, looking to the east, in front of him were more than ten patrol ships opening the way, and behind were the main battleships of the Tang class surrounded by patrol ships, the fleet was huge, which made Lan San feel excited.

From a Tao boy with a fishing village to the captain of the main battleship today, Lan San is really satisfied.

As the main force behind the patrol ships, the Sui-class battleships were the main force in front of the Tang-class battleships, and the purpose was to disrupt the enemy's formation, so that the Tang-class battleships could rush directly into the enemy's formation.

Lan San also knows that the errand of the Sui-class battleship is the vanguard, and the responsibility is heavy.

"First mate, you must make good contact with the upper deck and the artillery deck, and you must be familiar with the artillery deck when picking heads and turning." The main side road behind the opposite side of the blue three.

The first mate, who has always been silent, bowed down to receive the order.

"Boatswain, you have to take care of the three mainsails, and whether our ship can flexibly charge the formation and shell is up to your work." Lan San said with a smile.

The boatswain also smiled and received the order.

"You can prepare for war at any time, although in the past naval battles, there were few side battles, but this time there are too many warships, and you can't rely on gang fighting, so you must be fully vigilant in a battle." The head of the Blue Three Pair of Fire Guns and Spearmen and Axe Men commanded.

Several people agreed.

Everyone had their own duties, and only Lan San was left in the bow of the ship, and he looked east with a telescope in his hand, but there was still no trace of the enemy.

Of course, he is not the outpost, and there are more than a dozen scouting clippers in front of him.

Putting down the binoculars, Lan San looked at his subordinates who were busy and nervous, and at this time, the sound of cannons sounded somewhere in the east.

Lan San hurriedly looked in the direction where there was still no trace now, and said in his heart.

Zhang Huan is now the captain of the 500-ton Tang-class battleship Duan Zhixuan, and he is checking the situation of the artillery on the artillery deck at this time.

The Duan Zhixuan had just replaced five guns, three 24-pounder long-barreled guns, one 24-pounder Tiago gun, and one 36-pounder Tiago gun.

Zhang Huan came here to specifically ask the gunners about the situation of mastering the artillery, and received a positive reply from the soldiers.

"The captain can rest assured that after several drills and test guns, the gunners on the ship are already familiar with it, and the accuracy is not bad as before." Qian Er, who was slightly blessed, bowed and said.

"Well, this time the lord has already spoken, and it is necessary to completely annihilate the opponent, and then you must fight harder." Zhang Huan said with a smile.

There was a faint murmur outside, not very real to hear when the gun windows on the lower deck were not opened.

Zhang Huan's heart moved, and he hurriedly crossed the cabin where the crew lived on the first floor from the gun deck to the upper deck.

"Captain, it seems that there is a cannon sound from the east, and I don't really hear it." The first mate said to Zhang Huan.

Zhang Huan nodded and picked up the telescope to look at the east, and there were a large number of sails of his own warships, and he couldn't see anything, which was too normal, after all, these were dozens of warships, blocking each other, and the mainmast of each warship was tall, and the sails were puffed up to shade the nearby sea, and it was almost impossible to see ahead.

Zhang Huan saw the shadow of the Shi Wansui almost in the forefront, and the thought flashed in his heart was that Lan San didn't know what he was doing, after all, he was his brother-in-law.

Thinking of the word brother-in-law, Zhang Huan grinned, both of them often quarrel because of this, after all, they are each other's brothers-in-law, so when should they have what to say, this is a difficult problem.

In the end, the two old men spoke, and when they arrived at Zhang Huan's house, Lan San was Zhang Huan's brother-in-law, and when they arrived at Lan San's house, Zhang Huan was Lan San's brother-in-law.

Thinking of the upcoming battle, Zhang Huan was eager to try, he became the captain of the Tang-class battleship in his twenties, and the promotion was not unpleasant, but he was not satisfied, he also wanted to become the captain of the largest battleship, the Song-class battleship, which was a behemoth.

Zhang Huan has been promoted before, each time because of military merits and not other aspects, this time Zhang Huan is also full of hope, I hope this time can be another special attack, first here, Zhang Huan can't help but think of the Japanese but don't be too resistant, otherwise how to make meritorious service is a problem.

Thinking of the Song-class battleship, Zhang Huan leaned on the side of the ship and looked northwest, and a few miles away, Yue Fei's figure stood tall.

He hung Li Hu's general flag above, the black Li character was straightened by the sea breeze, and the slender figure of 800 tons was as majestic as a hill.

Zhang Huan was looking at Yue Fei reluctantly, boom, boom, there were three cannon shots in a row, Zhang Huan hurriedly looked to the east. (To be continued.) )

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