Chapter 224: The Destruction of the Mori Fleet
Although they do not have layers of protection like the Ataka ships, large battleships can accommodate a large number of gun barrels on their relatively wide decks.

This type of cannon barrel that fires the Babao Dahua round does not need to consider the problem of recoil, and its light weight is enough to hold hundreds of them.

Of course, it is impossible to fire so many, otherwise there will be no place to put the enemy. However, there are still fifty of them. One round of salvo is enough to easily cover the area of ​​two football fields. Even if the range is not far enough, the deterrent effect is strong enough.

In addition, there are traditional artillery pieces. Considering the center of gravity, they are installed on the second deck. They are convenient and fast sub-guns. Each gun is equipped with eight sub-guns. Therefore, the density of firepower released in one breath is considerable. Any ship that dares to approach will have to face the warm hospitality of being washed in the face by artillery fire.

Compared to battleships that are mainly used for artillery fire, frigates, which are about 30 meters in length, focus more on speed and firepower density. Therefore, they are not equipped with heavy traditional artillery. Instead, they are equipped with portable cannons and musketeers. The dense firepower formed can make any enemy attempting a boarding battle regret their choice, and this is also the meaning of the existence of frigates.

Next is the destroyer, which is about 20 meters in length. It is faster, but the firepower density is insufficient, and it feels like scraping, so it is more suitable for entangling or driving away the enemy. When a real war breaks out, it still depends on battleships and frigates.

In addition to these three types of ships, because of the need to carry steam tanks, the territory specially transformed a batch of landing ships based on frigates, thus completing the war preparations.

Thousands of soldiers boarded ships, and the first to set off was the Otomo Castle fleet. They sailed towards the direction of the Mori family in a mighty manner, causing the Mori family's ships patrolling the nearby waters to run back like crazy.

It's impossible to fight. They're just a few small boats. They'll be capsized just by the collision.

What’s interesting is that when the Mori family hurriedly dispatched their fleet to block the enemy and even started a war, they found that the Otomo Castle fleet had turned a corner on the sea and did not continue sailing towards the Mori family’s territory. This put the Mori family’s fleet in a dilemma, not knowing whether they should fight or not.

Judging from the direction in which the Moroboshi family's fleet was sailing, it was obviously heading for Ezo Island, which was a very desolate place with mountains and volcanoes everywhere. It was completely worthless. Apart from forming an encirclement of the Mori family's territory, it had really little value.

Not to mention that stationing troops on Ezo Island seems to form an encirclement of the Mori family, but it also means that the powerful Moroboshi family has divided its troops. At that time, as long as the sea route is cut off, the Mori family will be able to destroy them one by one.

Therefore, the Mori family's fleet just kept a distance and escorted the Otomo Castle fleet to Ezo Island.

Unfortunately, the Mori family never imagined that the Moroboshi family actually had the spare capacity to build a new fleet.

The new fleet that came after circling behind the secondary island was emitting black smoke and immediately bit the tail of the Mori family fleet.

You know, in order to avoid being discovered, they deliberately chose to go upstream from the leeward side, which resulted in the Mori family not noticing the black smoke at all. By the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late. They no longer cared about saving energy and stretched out their oars to speed up.

"Mori family, times have changed." Fu Ji, wearing a cherry blossom kimono and holding a round fan, stood at the highest point of a battleship. After admiring the panic of the Mori family's fleet through a telescope, she said with a sneer.

This is both a verdict on the Maori family and a pride in one's own correct choice.

Now Fuji is the Minister of the Navy of the Moroboshi family. This fleet that can destroy a city and a country is commanded by him, so he is qualified and capable of saying this. "Order full speed ahead and catch up with Dad." After enjoying himself for a while, Fuji, who did not forget the main business, said to the messenger.

"Hi!" The messenger who received the order immediately raised a red pennant on the mast, which meant full speed ahead.

Now everyone is sailing against the wind, but how can human power compete with steam? As the distance between the two sides gets closer and closer, the Mori family simply gave up the plan to evacuate, and instead changed direction, from headwind to tailwind, taking advantage of the wind, and planning to launch a fierce attack on the Moroboshi family's second fleet. As long as they can penetrate the opponent's fleet, they will have room to advance or retreat.

"Avoid the attack of the Mori fleet and prepare to fire on the starboard side!" Facing the Mori fleet coming downwind, Fu Ji was not stupid enough to confront it head-on, but chose to change direction, and when passing by, she gave the opponent a surprise with her firepower advantage.

Although they were wondering why these strange ships emitting black smoke were avoiding them, the Mori family did not care about much. They had to seize the time to escape when the Otomo Castle fleet turned around and attacked their rear. Otherwise, they would be attacked from both ends and would suffer huge losses even if they could escape back. However, they did not know that this was exactly what Fuki wanted.

Fu Ji, who participated in the construction of the new fleet from the beginning, was very familiar with the capabilities of the new fleet. Therefore, she did not choose the traditional boarding battle, but tried her best to exert her firepower advantage.

When the two fleets were only a few dozen meters apart and were about to pass each other, the four battleships opened fire.

More than two hundred cannons opened fire at the same time. Even though most of them were fireworks firing at the Babao Dahua Lun, the scene was extremely terrifying. At least the Mori family had never seen it before and were stunned for a moment.

Even if they were not frightened, they would not have been able to dodge because the firepower delivered in one breath was too dense.

Although the hit rate of the artillery was not high, the distance was dozens of meters and the firepower coverage reached an astonishing 30%. For a time, the ships of the Mori family caught fire one after another, and the places hit by traditional artillery were pierced through the ship walls, allowing Tiedan to smash back and forth on the opponent.

However, the most terrifying thing was the Babao Dahua ship that had added sugar and rubber. The damage caused by the blooming sticky flames to the wooden ship was simply fatal. At least it was difficult to put out the flames with a bucket, not to mention that this was just the beginning.

The extremely high firing rate allowed the Moroboshi family to fire thousands of shells in one breath during the time they passed each other, and basically the Mori family fleet within the range was completely doomed.

Traditional Japanese warships had wooden walls and wooden buildings, and were only useful in boarding battles. Facing the flames falling from the sky, they were useless except for burning more vigorously.

However, Fu Ji had no intention of letting the enemy go. Under his command, the new fleet turned in a silky arc, and then under the combined effect of sails and steam, it not only bit the tail of the Mori family fleet, but also kept nibbling at it.

Finally, this brutal naval battle came to an end.

Before the Mori family's fleet returned to the Mori port, the entire fleet had become a burning wooden box on the sea. Countless Mori sailors and soldiers jumped into the sea in despair, trying to swim to the shore, but the samurai could not accept the reality and either jumped into the sea or committed suicide by disembowelment, allowing the Moroboshi family to firmly grasp the tail of victory and get a good start for the start of this war.

(End of this chapter)