Chapter 219: It’s Over, We Fell for the Trap!
In this era, the navy and water bandits were one and the same, with most water bandits pledging allegiance to a certain Daimyo before becoming part of the official navy.
The Masamune Family was like this; originating from ordinary provincial folk, they seized Odakiyoshi Castle in the Kazusa region (present-day Mobara Castle) during a period of internal strife within the Satomi Family. They then integrated the local Hyakushu water bandits (the bandit forces around Hyakushu Castle) and, after assisting the current head of the Satomi Family in securing the position of head of the family, they transformed into the Satomi Family’s naval force.
Subsequently, with the support of the Satomi Family, they further unified the water bandit gangs around the Boso Peninsula, seizing control of the sea area between the Boso Peninsula and the Izu Peninsula, becoming one of the pillars of the Satomi Family.
The current head of the Masamune Family is Masamune Tokitada, around thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old. He sat on his flagship, the “Dragon King Maru,” gazing from afar at the “Yuan Ye Navy.” He estimated there were over twenty warships, slowly departing the sea area near Shimoda Port to gain better maneuverability.
He paid no mind to this, only looking enviously at the “Chita.” It was his first time seeing such a magnificent large Atakebune ship. Although its size was not much larger than his “Dragon King Maru,” he wondered how many Kan of money had been melted into it. The hull was covered with brand-new copper sheets, reflecting the sunlight. Amidst the golden light, a hint of dark green occasionally flashed, exuding an extraordinary air of wealth, truly deserving of the description “inhumanly extravagant.”
This ship should belong to him; it would be most fitting as his personal vessel.
At this moment, an attendant Samurai boarded the deckhouse and reported indignantly, “Your Highness, they have refused to leave the Izu Sea, and our envoy was even slapped a few times.”
“Then they are truly seeking their own demise!” Masamune Tokitada grinned and turned to give an order, “Get moving below, let these fellows from Ise Bay see how formidable our Masamune Family is!”
They also had informants in Shimoda Port and had already ascertained that the Wanjin Navy only had about twenty warships, with the rest being cargo ships. With a five-to-one advantage, they could declare victory right now.
…
On the “Chita,” Yuan Ye had just rejected the suggestion from A Qing and Yu Da to seek refuge in port. Having lived in this era for seven or eight years, he had grown accustomed to life here and had witnessed too many deaths, becoming somewhat numb to life and death.
At least, he didn’t care as much as before, and at the same time, he was well aware that in this world, there was no way to conquer the world without taking risks.
Especially as the first generation leader, he should always lead by example, to strengthen the fighting will of his subordinates and maintain his authority.
In turbulent times, no one respects a coward, and one cannot be a leader without taking responsibility and risks.
Besides, he had confidence in the “Chita,” and the naval weapons he had prepared had not yet been tested in combat. He also needed to command them personally.
A Qing and Yu Da, unable to dissuade Yuan Ye, looked worried. A Man, however, was unconcerned. Due to her poor martial arts talent since childhood, she had instead practiced swimming diligently. She could escape dozens of miles down a river even after suffering severe injuries. Now, she had no fear. The “Chita” had not yet seen combat and seemed like a new invention Yuan Ye had whimsically created. A Man was also somewhat worried if the ship could actually fight, but if it couldn’t, it was fine. Even if it sank, she was confident she could swim ashore with Yuan Ye and A Qing.
As for whether others lived or died, she didn’t care much. Human life was cheap in this era. As long as Yuan Ye could return to Wanjin alive, they could recruit more people with money; it wasn’t a big deal.
She directly sent Yu Da away and, with A Qing, followed Yuan Ye to the deck to prepare for battle. Seeing Yuan Ye directing the inner guard to move a large number of pointed rocket projectiles and launch frames from the sealed compartments, she curiously asked, “Can this thing really work? Wasn’t it very difficult to aim during the last test?”
“It’s difficult to aim a single one accurately, so I plan to launch twelve at once. As long as the enemy is numerous enough, the hit rate per volley should be sufficient,” Yuan Ye said casually while personally measuring the wind speed and directing the inner guards to erect the launchers.
He had developed the primitive “casting propellant charge” technique, which involved selecting high-quality black powder, using high-quality natural pine resin as a binder, mixing it into a paste with a certain fluidity, and then slowly heating it. It was then poured into a mold layer by layer at an extremely slow pace, avoiding air bubbles as much as possible.
After several days of natural cooling and solidification, it was removed from the mold, polished, and trimmed to the required specifications. It could then be filled into rocket projectiles to serve as fuel for flight.
As for the rocket projectiles, that was even simpler. Yuan Ye’s rocket projectiles were essentially tin tubes with flight control devices—even simple iron tail fins and bamboo balance rods counted as flight control. The warhead was even easier; since the target was ancient wooden ships, it was also filled with black powder. To facilitate its detonation, a certain amount of combustion agent, such as pine oil, was added.
The fuse was a nitrated time fuse, similar in principle to a matchcord, but it burned faster.
Simply put, this was a simplified, miniaturized version of the “Congreve rocket,” with a range of about 2 kilometers. Its drawback was its difficulty in aiming, with a very large dispersion of impact points, requiring quantity to compensate for accuracy.
Indeed, rockets existed in ancient times. The Song Dynasty’s “Thunderclap Fire” could fly over 300 meters propelled by gunpowder, and the Ming Dynasty’s “Swarm of Bees” could fly over 500 meters.
Foreign countries also had them, such as the prototype of the Congreve rocket, the “Indian bamboo rocket,” which used bamboo tubes filled with propellant charges for launch. It was said to fly over 1500 meters (data questionable), and by the time the Congreve rocket was formally developed, its range was about 2500 meters. It was widely used during the Napoleonic era and the War of 1812.
This thing might seem a bit crude by modern standards, as modern rocket projectiles have guidance systems, and various combustion and propellant agents are advanced, easily reaching over a hundred kilometers. However, Yuan Ye felt it was basically sufficient for the mid-16th century. The current production capacity made rocket projectiles slow and expensive to manufacture, and extremely dangerous.
He couldn’t create a vacuum, making it difficult to avoid air bubbles during casting, resulting in a very low yield of good products. The danger of heating gunpowder was even more self-evident; only strictly trained workers could operate it, and even then, accidents still occurred. Over ten people had been injured or disabled since production began. Furthermore, he had to deal with technical secrecy issues, so only the “Elderly Death Squad Factory,” which was a one-way entry, had the production qualification. Therefore…
He had been developing this process for over a year and had conducted four or five corrective test firings, but the ammunition reserve was only over six hundred rounds. This was incomparable to Britain during the Napoleonic era, which could ruthlessly deploy twenty to thirty thousand rounds to bombard Denmark. They had the foundation of the Industrial Revolution and national production, whereas he was secretly manufacturing them in a hidden factory, making comparison impossible.
At the same time, to save money and improve the yield, he also reduced the length and volume of the propellant charges, causing them to fly much shorter distances than rockets from the 18th and 19th centuries.
However, for dealing with a group of historically unknown pirates, it was certainly enough. After all, in this era, few weapons could hit targets beyond 2000 meters, and wooden ships certainly couldn’t withstand the detonation of gunpowder.
These over six hundred rocket projectiles were the confidence Yuan Ye had to come and open up a trade route at this time. As for whether they would be effective in actual combat… he had only fired at floating targets, not at ships manned by living people. Whether they would be effective in combat was something he would test against the Satomi Navy.
Of course, even without the “casting propellant charge” black technology and the “Wanjin rocket projectile,” he would still dare to confront the Satomi Navy. The Wanjin Navy was not an army that relied solely on him. Strict discipline, high salaries, long-term stable training, and general respect in society, coupled with a small number of Falconet cannons and a large number of various matchlock guns, gave them the foundation to defeat a larger force.
Yuan Ye chatted casually with A Man for a bit, then silently prepared the rocket launchers. At this moment, bamboo whistles sounded continuously on the “Chita.” A large number of matchlock gunners, adapted from the Wanjin Army, erected copper-plated gunwales along the ship’s sides as cover, lit their matchcords, prepared their pre-loaded cartridges, and were ready to fire a volley.
The sailors also armed themselves, some with matchlock guns, others with bows and arrows, some carrying gunpowder barrels, or simply holding sabers and spears, ready to initiate or defend against boarding combat. Even though they hadn’t fought much, under Yu Da’s long-term training, they appeared quite elite.
The bamboo-framed sails were lowered, and the shouts of the rowers could be heard through the hull onto the deck. The “Chita” suddenly accelerated, and under the command of naval officers like Yu Da, it took the lead, cutting through the wind and waves, charging straight towards the Satomi Navy’s largest ship, the “Dragon King Maru,” with seven or eight Kan-sen ships and over ten Kobaya ships.
The “Dragon King Maru” had also long since lowered its sails and was prepared for combat. At this moment, without hesitation, it immediately… turned around collectively and fled eastward.
…
With the Wanjin Navy and the Satomi Navy about to engage in battle in the Izu Sea, the Hojo Family, as the host, could only watch, which was undoubtedly a sorrowful situation.
Kasahara Yasuhisa and other Hojo Samurai stood on the watchtower of Shimoda Port, gazing at the two fleets on the distant sea preparing to ignite blood and fire. The clear weather allowed them to see this, and they felt this sense of sorrow.
Especially for Kasahara Yasuhisa, this feeling was particularly strong. After all, the Kasahara Family was the leader of the Hojo Family’s “White Guard,” originally responsible for naval warfare. However, in a naval battle eight years prior, the Hojo Navy was completely defeated, losing its maritime dominance. It had now been reduced to a “coastal defense force.”
Indeed, the Hojo Family’s combat formations were organized into “Five-Color Guards.” The Yellow Guard excelled in positional warfare and city defense; the Red Guard was a mixed cavalry and infantry force, emphasizing mobility; the White Guard was responsible for naval and water combat, but now, with no foothold at sea, they were also transitioning to land forces; the Black Guard was responsible for sieges and also favored sneak attacks; and the Blue Guard was the Hojo Family’s intelligence unit, similar in nature to the Oda Family’s “Kyōdan-shū” or Wanjin’s “Life Preservation Style.”
Now, Kasahara Yasuhisa, as a member of the younger generation of the Kasahara Family, although he hadn’t been at sea for a long time, still possessed basic naval combat skills and was familiar with the tactics of his old rivals. Seeing the Wanjin Navy charging directly towards the Satomi Navy’s flagship, while the Satomi Navy’s flagship retreated instead of advancing, leading the Wanjin Navy in a chase, he couldn’t help but blurt out in a hurry, “This is bad, the Yuan Ye Family doesn’t know how to fight naval battles; they’ve fallen into a trap.”
When fighting water bandits, one cannot chase their large ships. Their primary means of attack is the Kobaya ship. Now, the Wanjin Navy is chasing the “Dragon King Maru.” As long as the “Dragon King Maru” lures the Wanjin Navy into a downwind position, the Satomi Navy’s Kobaya ships, relying on their speed and maneuverability, can circle around to an upwind position, use the wind to their advantage to launch an assault with “Rokuro” attacks, or even use fire ships for a direct ramming attack. At that point, the Wanjin Navy would face certain death.
Almost all the Samurai present in Shimoda Port were from the “Hojo White Guard.” If this were in “Taiko 2,” everyone would have one or two naval combat skills. Someone immediately agreed, saying, “The Yuan Ye Family’s navy is indeed incompetent. They shouldn’t have fought this battle; we had already agreed to let them enter the port.”
Naval warfare is not like land warfare; it’s not so easy to defeat a larger force with a smaller one, let alone when the Satomi Navy has over a hundred ships, more than five times the number of the Wanjin Navy.
Even if the Satomi Navy didn’t use fire attacks, a simple boarding combat with overwhelming numbers would be enough to annihilate the entire Wanjin Navy.
“What a shame about that fine ship. That was the Yuan Ye Family head’s flagship, wasn’t it? So magnificent…”
“It will belong to the Satomi Family from now on! These fools, they came and didn’t help at all, but instead gave the Satomi Family a batch of ships!”
The Hojo Samurai felt that the Wanjin Navy was finished and that it was unlikely they would inflict significant losses on the Satomi Navy. In their frustration, their words were not kind. As they were there, agitated and worried about the Satomi Navy becoming increasingly difficult to resist, they suddenly saw commotion erupting in the nearby port, with the clamor growing louder and louder.
