CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER 204: GREAT ANZAI IRON SHIP

That afternoon, Okabe Iyayama was invited to New Wanjin’s warehouse district.

The one who came to get him was a lavishly decorated four-wheeled carriage.

The carriage body was intricately carved, gilded and inlaid with silver, with craftsmanship showing in every detail. The horses were carefully selected Kiso breed, uniform in color, all excellent beasts, and each one worth a fortune. As for the coachman, he was exceptionally skilled, both in handling the reins and understanding the temperament of the horses—a retired veteran from Harano’s Internal Guard Team, who had fought in the Battle of Takeshige Manor. He switched professions to coachman because an injured knee made long journeys impossible.

Mm, this was a vehicle prepared by officials like Endo Chiyoda and Maeshima Shichiro, meant for flattering Harano and arranged for Princess Dog’s outings. However, since Princess Dog rarely left her residence, it gradually became the greeting car for entertaining important guests.

This luxury carriage rode extremely smoothly, mainly because the cement roads were perfectly even, making riding in a carriage no longer a torture, but instead an enjoyment.

Okabe Iyayama held a glass of sweet iced drink in his hand, feeling the speed of the vehicle, enjoying the slightly salty sea breeze blowing over him, and felt almost intoxicated.

People always have pursuits. When safety is not ensured, they seek strength. Once safety is secured, they pursue food and warmth. When they have enough to eat and wear, they pursue enjoyment, seek social status, seek respect from others, pursue the realization of life’s value...

All sorts of pursuits abound, but at this moment, as Okabe sat in the carriage, watching the police along the way direct other vehicles aside to let his carriage pass without a stop, he deeply felt the rise in his social status, and sensed the respect given by Wanjin...

A kind of social status that craftsmen should not possess in this era, a kind of special respect that craftsmen should not enjoy.

These were experiences he’d never had before.

Honestly, this level of treatment was a bit much. If it weren’t for his lack of martial arts skill, he’d almost suspect Harano planned to send him off to assassinate some big shot, just like the Crown Prince of Yan did with Jing Ke.

Or rather, by the morality of the current era, after enjoying this degree of respect and treatment for a few years, he’d be expected—without question—to go assassinate Harano’s enemies, not even considering his own life or death.

Okabe Iyayama’s mind wandered all the way, only snapping back when he arrived at the warehouse district.

Harano was already there, going over ledgers with warehouse officials. When he spotted Okabe, he hastily came forward to greet him.

This time, Okabe’s face showed no trace of bitterness; his "Your Highness" came from the heart, full of respect.

Harano was as considerate as ever, first showing concern for Okabe’s daily life and asking if there were any inconveniences. Once he got a "no," he turned to the main point—leading Okabe to look at the timber and politely asking, "Master Okabe, what do you think? Are these timbers suitable for making ships?"

Back when he’d forcibly landed on the Chita Peninsula, he’d already intended to build ships, but he was utterly ignorant when it came to shipbuilding. Whether modern or ancient shipbuilding crafts, he’d never touched them. Let alone laying a keel, raising a mast, and fitting planks; he couldn’t even build a small fishing boat without worrying it’d sink as soon as it hit the water, never mind a big ship over ten meters wide and more than twenty meters long.

As an engineering major, he believed in specialization. In terms of shipbuilding, even with his complete modern education, he never thought he could surpass the ancients—after all, before crossing over, the closest he’d been to a boat was a park rental. He was a true Northerner who avoided water if at all possible.

So, back then he’d only stockpiled a large amount of timber for air-drying and done nothing else. The Wanjin Navy had to figure out their own way to buy ships from outside. And as for bought ships, a 500-koku Customs Ship was as big as he could get, mostly overpriced second-hand merchant ships at that—good for hauling cargo at best, but in naval combat, little better than cannon fodder.

Now, after four years, his "Chief Engineer" was finally here. The dream of building "main warships" was within reach at last. However, he worried whether the stored timber was up to standard, so he asked Okabe Iyayama to take a look first.

"Most of it’s good wood, should be fine!" Though Okabe built shrines and pagodas, he was fundamentally a carpenter, a craftsman by family trade, accustomed to every type of wood since childhood. One glance and he could tell the species and storage time. After checking, he replied directly, "If Your Highness is just looking to build ships, this wood is more than enough—even thirty or fifty Customs Ships wouldn’t be a problem."

"I don’t only want Customs Ships. I want Anzai Ships too." Harano was relieved, knowing this would save much time in forming his navy, but he went on, "Or more precisely, I want a super-sized Anzai Ship to serve as the flagship of my navy’s fleet... Hmm, let’s try building one first, see how it goes. If the results are good, I’ll need four in the first batch."

Okabe wasn’t surprised—bigger was better, bigger was stronger, and obviously, Harano was not short on money. Of course he’d want to build big ships.

He immediately asked, "How big does Your Highness need these Anzai Ships to be?"

"A beam of at least 6.5 ken, length of 11 ken, and a capacity of more than 1,500 koku." Harano stated directly, "I also want the ship to be sheathed in a layer of copper and iron, for fire defense."

This was a direct copy of Oda Nobunaga’s "ironclad ship."

In the first Battle of the Kizugawa River, Kuuki Jialong led the Oda navy with over 300 Anzai Ships and Customs Ships to fight the allied fleet of the Mori navy, Muraoka navy, Noshima navy, Kureshima navy, and various Water Thieves in Osaka Bay (then called Nanbo Bay). In the end, Muraoka Takeshi, commanding "Bow-style Kodako Ships" and using "torch attack" tactics, used speed and fire to successfully burn all three hundred plus large and medium vessels to the ground. The Oda Navy was wiped out in a single battle.

This defeat left Oda Nobunaga helpless against Ishiyama Honganji Temple and forced him to settle other accounts first.

But Nobunaga couldn’t swallow the loss, so he ordered Kuuki Jialong to gather wood in Kishu Kumano and secretly build ships at Toba. After two years, they built six "Great Anzai Ships," the legendary "Oda Ironclad Ships"—said to be 21 meters long, over 12 meters wide, 1,500 koku displacement, and covered externally with 0.3 cm of "iron armor," able to repel baked fire arrows and ramming fire ships.

Of course, "ironclad ship" was a generous term; in reality, 0.3 centimeters hardly counted as "iron armor"—"iron-plated ship" would be more accurate.

But even "iron-plated ships" worked. In the second Battle of the Kizugawa River, the Oda Navy, bold in their fireproof vessels, blasted away with cannons and muskets, ultimately smashing both the Mori and Muraoka fleets—a worthy investment, money well spent.

So, with that precedent, Harano planned to skip a step and go straight for iron-plated ships, so he wouldn’t end up getting fried on behalf of Kuuki Jialong.

Of course, it couldn’t just be a copy; there had to be improvements. For one, iron rusts too easily—instead, copper was better for fire defense. That was what the Tokugawa Shogunate used on the Anzai Pill—the ship was sheathed in copper as an upgrade on the Oda iron-plated ship.

Now Harano planned to build his main fleet around "Wanjin Iron-Plated Ships"—essentially floating sea platforms with wooden fortresses clad in copper and iron on top. When meeting Water Thieves or other navies, they’d just fire cannons and guns—he had plenty of gunpowder; if one shot couldn’t sink them, he’d fire again. Ammunition was never an issue, he could waste as much as he liked.

Yes, the Anzai Ship’s design is similar to China’s Lou Ship—in essence, build a tower atop the hull, taking advantage of the height so enemies are forced to "storm a castle" at sea, yielding a great exchange ratio.

That’s how his medieval naval combat would have to be fought. He couldn’t really build a true ironclad, or soft-sail great ships—that would be too far ahead for Japan. Besides, he didn’t want to spread those technologies—he couldn’t even if he wanted to, and even if he had such ships, no one here could sail them.

In any case, what he had would suffice. At this point in time, the Age of Sail had just begun; historically, neither the Portuguese nor the Dutch had raided Japan yet. For "civil war," a few Great Anzai Iron Ships would be enough.

Harano explained his idea in detail to Okabe Iyayama, a little worried that, as only a part-time shipbuilder, Okabe might not measure up to the professional water pirate Kuuki Jialong and might fail to deliver. But after thinking carefully for a moment, Okabe mused, "Your Highness, are you thinking of building a Turtle Ship?"

"A Turtle Ship?"

"A type of Korean vessel," Okabe explained, "similar in design to Anzai Ships, but said to be wrapped with turtle-shell-like iron armor, covered in iron spikes, both solid and able to deter boarding attacks."

So the "iron-plated ship" wasn’t Kuuki Jialong’s original idea?

Or maybe it absorbed features from other designs?

Harano recalled the Japanese invasion of Korea, where, allegedly, Li Shunchen recreated Turtle Ships based on Board House Ships. But whether this "turtle" is the same as that "turtle" is debatable—Li Shunchen is hyped up in later Korean accounts as a famous general but is nearly absent in history books, and whether he actually invented the Turtle Ship is also unclear—Koreans can’t be trusted about this sort of thing.

Harano couldn’t make heads or tails of it—he really didn’t understand ships. He thought a moment, then just asked, "So, can you build such a Great Anzai Ship, Master Okabe?"

Okabe had never made one, so after some thought and seeing that Harano might be displeased, he hesitated, "The ship is rather large, but there shouldn’t be any big problem. I’ll make a small model for Your Highness to take a look at. But as for wrapping it in copper and iron... I’ll need to think about that."

"No problem, I’ll prepare the copper and iron sheets." Harano hadn’t figured out how to sheath a wooden ship in copper and iron or how to balance defense, structure, and speed, but didn’t mind at all, "We’ll work it out together when the time comes, do plenty of experiments, and spend more time if we have to."

Okabe hadn’t expected Harano to be so easygoing, and was instantly relieved. In terms of hands-on skill, he’d never been afraid of anything since he was small. Harano continued with other requirements—for example, he needed troop transports, and wanted medium and small warships of higher speed, hoping Okabe could suggest some ship types for him to choose from.

On this front, Okabe had no trouble at all. After a few more questions, he brought over paper and pen and started showing and sketching a kind of "horse boat"—a modified Customs Ship used by horse traders for crossing the sea with animals. With a bit of tweaking, it could serve as a troop transport, or even as a disposable landing craft for forced beach assaults.

As for combat Customs Ships and Kodako Ships, he drew several models and was happy to further optimize them per Harano’s wishes—like considering waterproof compartments and the like. Waterproof compartment wasn’t some cutting-edge tech—it existed in embryonic form in the Song Dynasty—and Anzai and Customs Ships just didn’t use them because of cost. Warships, though, didn’t have to worry about cost.

At least, Harano, being a crazy big spender, didn’t care about the cost—saving lives was more important.

If possible, he’d rather kill the enemies by throwing money at them.

For the moment, the two of them sat by their papers, mapping out the future "Wanjin Fleet"—one putting forward ideas, the other working out solutions. The mood was joyous and harmonious.