The battle was critical, Mizuno Shichiro took a desperate gamble and directly ordered the Sato water pirates to launch a fire ship attack.
Soon, seven small boats on the windward side of the "Chita" were directly set ablaze, carrying fierce flames, under the control of a few warriors willing to die, using the last of their sail power to charge straight towards the "Chita".
However, it was not actually the best time to execute the fire attack strategy.
"Chita" had firepower far beyond that of battle ships from the Japan Middle Ages, with the Iron Cannon and Flamboyant guns making it impossible for anyone to stand on the small boats around it. Even if surrounded, its movements were somewhat restricted, but its oars were mostly intact, maintaining a certain level of mobility. Googlᴇ search novel✶fire.net
Under such circumstances, it was difficult for the fire ships to stick closely to it and ignite it quickly.
Moreover, the "Chita" was also wrapped in a thin layer of copper, enhancing fire resistance at least by 500% compared to wooden ships. In the end, the "Chita" shrugged off three of the seven fire attack ships via bumps and shoves, with the remaining four only damaging a dozen of the "Chita’s" oars and burning some of its outward-hanging protective bamboo curtains.
As for the copper plating that got splashed with oil, it couldn’t catch fire at all. Even with the help of oil, the flames couldn’t spread up to damage the ship’s body, and the small fire was soon extinguished by the sailors on the "Chita" using seawater.
The "Baked Jade" and "Baked Fire Arrows", originally meant to accompany the fire ship attack, were also ineffective. These rudimentary gunpowder weapons, modified from the "Iron Branding Iron" (original designed during the Northern Song Dynasty in "Essential Military Classics"), were actually just ceramic containers of gunpowder.
The former was mostly manually thrown, with a range of just a few dozen meters, and anyone daring to throw it must be prepared for inevitable death.
The latter, although it could be launched via devices like trebuchets with a range reaching hundreds of meters, had poor accuracy and low explosive power, rendering it unlikely to cause significant damage even if it hit the "Chita"—the Wanjin navy also had strict discipline and rigorous training, making small fires incapable of causing any disturbance, and the fire could not spread before it was extinguished.
Meanwhile, any ship daring to counterattack with "Baked Fire Arrows" would immediately be discovered by the Wanjin lower-grade officers and non-commissioned officers, and subjected to concentrated attacks—even if at a considerable distance and without direct shooting angles, seasoned non-commissioned officers with rich Iron Cannon experience would organize several or even a dozen Iron Gunners to launch crossfire strikes for forced suppression.
Yes, the Iron Cannon is also a cannon, capable of crossfire and arc attacks, albeit with lower accuracy and power, but this can be compensated by experience, certainly sufficient to deal with unarmored water pirates.
As for the "Sato Water Ghost Squad’s" submarine sabotage attempt...
The "Chita" could still move, making underwater sabotage unsuitable, and the "Chita", being the first trial-type "Great Anzai Copper Ship", spared no expense, even its bottom was covered with copper (for ensuring ship longevity and corrosion prevention). Several water pirates, growing up by the sea with exceptional swimming skills, painstakingly cleared the barnacles and shells off the bottom of the "Chita", only to find a color far from wood. They were bewildered, with one bursting a lung and choking on water, drowning himself while blowing a stream of bubbles, effectively suffocating himself.
The copper-bottomed ship wasn’t impossible to sabotage, but it was extremely difficult to follow a moving ship underwater, let alone peel off the copper layer to carve a large hole...
If each of them were given an air tank, there might be some hope; relying solely on lung capacity was pushing human limits.
After diving into the sea, the "Sato Water Ghost Squad" fell silent, not even detected by the "Chita", and systematic fire extinguishing was organized, with lower-grade officers and non-commissioned officers organizing continuous fire strikes.
For a moment, "Chita" carried some residual fire on its hull, yet its might grew more prominent, rampaging through the Sato navy’s fleet as if a deity descended, becoming utterly unstoppable.
Of course, if the Sato navy was willing to sacrifice thousands of lives to destroy all the "Chita’s" oars, they could possibly trap "Chita" in the ocean, but the Sato navy was composed of four major and dozens of minor factions of small water pirate bands, excelling in fighting favorable or evenly matched battles, with some battle prowess, but in fighting against odds...
They were unlike the heavily armored warriors of the Imagawa and Matsudaira families of the past who had the courage to launch a desperate strike; "Chita" was also not alone, as over twenty Wanjin navy vessels initially avoiding battle to guard against fire attack returned in a wide circle, beginning to attack the Sato water pirates from the perimeter.
Especially the Customs Ship where Mizuno Shichiro was, instantly selected as the primary target for attack, clearly the new flagship given its signaling and flag communication—capturing the king naturally meant capturing the leader first.
At this stage, apart from "Chita", the Wanjin navy consisted of ordinary wooden sail and oar warships, lacking substantial naval warfare experience, but adhering to Wanjin military’s established strategy since its founding, long-range firepower was always excessive. Approaching the Customs Ship where Mizuno Shichiro was, they began concentrated fire with Iron Cannon and Flamboyant, within tens of seconds, reducing the Customs Ship to a mess of wood splinters with numerous holes, sparking several fires.
The water pirates on the Customs Ship didn’t hesitate, either falling dead on the spot or jumping into the sea like dumplings, showing no signs of resistance.
Mizuno Shichiro, worthy of being a veteran water pirate, excelled in survival, diving into the sea ahead of everyone, surfacing on a different ship within two minutes, escaping danger once again.