CHAPTER 303: CHAPTER 218: IT’S OVER, FELL INTO A TRAP!

In this era, navies and water thieves are essentially the same. Most water thieves pledged allegiance to some daimyo, and only then became formal naval forces.

The Mizuno family is just like this. Originally commoners, they seized the opportunity during infighting within the Satomi family to take Odaki Castle in Kazusa (today’s Ota Kichi Castle), integrated the local band of Hundred Heads water thieves (the pirate force around Hundred Heads City), and then helped the current Satomi family patriarch secure the position of Family Head. In turn, they became the Satomi family’s naval unit.

Afterward, with the Satomi family’s support, they further unified the water thief gangs around the Boso Peninsula, monopolized the sea area between the Boso and Izu Peninsulas, and became one of the Satomi family’s pillars.

The current head of the Mizuno family is Mizuno Shichiro, thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, sitting on his own flagship "Dragon King," peering at the "Nozawa Navy" in the distance—estimating about twenty warships, slowly leaving the waters near Shimoda Port to gain better maneuvering space.

He didn’t care about this. Instead, his eyes hungrily lingered on the "Chita." It was his first time seeing such a lavish Great Anzai Ship. Although not much larger than his own "Dragon King," who knows how many kan of coins were melted for it. The hull was clad in a new copper sheathing, reflecting the sun, gold shimmering with a hint of emerald—the very picture of extraordinary wealth. You could call it "obscenely rich."

This ship should rightfully belong to him. It would suit him perfectly as his personal vessel.

At that moment, a personal guard warrior ascended to the bridge, reporting angrily, "My lord, the other side refuses to leave the Izu Sea, and our envoy was even slapped a few times."

"Well, they’re really seeking death!" Mizuno Shichiro grinned widely and immediately gave his order, "Get moving below! Let these fellows from Ise Bay witness the might of the Mizuno family!"

They also had scouts at Shimoda Port and had found out: the Wanjin Navy boasted only about twenty warships, the rest were cargo ships. Outnumbered five to one, their own overwhelming advantage meant that, in truth, victory could be declared now.

......

On board the "Chita," Harano had just rejected A Qing’s and Yu Da’s suggestion to take shelter in the harbor. After living in this era for seven or eight years, he had grown used to its ways. Having witnessed too many deaths, he was already somewhat numb to life and death.

At least he didn’t care as much as before, and deep down he knew—there is no such thing in this world as winning everything without risking anything.

Especially as the first-generation founder, at any time, he ought to demonstrate personal courage, boosting his men’s resolve and maintaining his own authority.

In troubled times, no one respects a coward. Fail to shoulder responsibility, avoid risk—you can’t become a leader.

Besides, Harano had faith in the "Chita," and the naval weapons he’d prepared had never been tested in combat; he needed to command personally.

Failing to persuade him, A Qing, Yu Da, and the others wore worried looks. But Ah Man didn’t care at all. Since childhood, unable to master martial arts, she had turned to swimming, training so hard that even after serious injuries she could swim dozens of li downriver to escape. She was completely unafraid now—even if the "Chita" hadn’t seen combat and seemed an odd experiment of Harano’s, Ah Man still wondered if the ship could really fight. But if not, it didn’t matter. Even if it sank, she was confident she could dive and get Harano and A Qing safely to shore.

As for whether anyone else lived or died, she didn’t much care. In these times, lives were cheap. As long as Harano survived to return to Wanjin, he could just spend money to hire new people. Not a big deal.

She directly shooed away Yu Da, brought A Qing, and followed Harano to the deck to prepare for battle. Watching as Harano directed the Inner Guard to haul out a load of sharp-tipped rocket shells and launch racks from the sealed compartments, she asked curiously, "These things really work? Didn’t the last tests show it was hard to hit anything?"

"One at a time is hard to hit. That’s why I’m firing twelve at once. As long as enough are in the air, a single volley should be accurate enough." As Harano personally measured wind speed and directed the Inner Guard to raise the launchers, he replied absentmindedly.

He’d devised an original "casting pill" technique—carefully selected high-grade black gunpowder, mixed with quality natural pine resin as a binding agent, kneaded to form a paste of a certain viscosity, then gently heated and slowly poured, layer by layer, into molds—while minimizing bubbles during the process.

After several days left to cool and solidify, the rods would be removed, polished to fit, and then inserted into rocket shells as flight fuel.

As for the rocket shells, they were even simpler—Harano’s design was just a tin tube with flight control devices—simple iron tail fins and bamboo guide rods counted as "flight control." The warhead was straightforward, too: since their targets were ancient wooden ships, they were filled with black gunpowder and, for easier ignition, some extra accelerants—such as pine oil.

The fuses were simple timed igniters, similar in principle to match cord, but burning somewhat faster.

Simply put, this was a simplified, miniaturized version of a "Congreve rocket"—range about two kilometers, hard to aim, serious shot dispersion, and requiring salvos to make up for inaccuracy.

Yes, rockets date back to antiquity—Song Dynasty "Thunderbolt Fire" rockets could travel over 300 meters powered by gunpowder, Ming Dynasty "Beehive" ones over 500 meters.

Foreigners had them, too: for example, the prototype for the Congreve rocket—the "Indian bamboo rocket"—used a bamboo tube packed with a powder column, and it’s said these could fly over 1,500 meters (though the numbers are dubious). Once the Congreve rocket was finalized, its range was about 2,500 meters, and it saw mass use in Napoleon’s era and during the War of 1812.

This stuff seems dumb by modern standards. Modern rockets are guided, packed with all sorts of advanced propellants and boosters, easily firing over 100 kilometers. But Harano figured this kind of thing is enough for the mid-sixteenth century—for now, though, making rocket shells was slow, expensive, and very dangerous.

He couldn’t create a vacuum—so bubbles in the casting process were hard to avoid, causing a very low yield. The risks of heating gunpowder require no further explanation: only highly trained workers could do it, and even so, accidents happened all the time. Since production started, more than a dozen people had already been wounded or crippled. Furthermore, there was the issue of technological secrecy—the "old-death-warriors-only" factory, where no one left once hired, was the only place allowed to manufacture them, so...

It had taken him more than a year to develop this technique, with four or five test firings to correct problems, but the total stockpile was just a bit over six hundred rockets. Not at all like the British in Napoleon’s time, able to muster two or three ten-thousand-rocket salvos to flatten Denmark. They had the base of an industrial revolution and nationwide factories—he had to secretly build in a clandestine shop, not even comparable.

Also, to save money and increase yield, he shortened the powder column, meaning they didn’t fly nearly as far as eighteenth- or nineteenth-century rockets.

Still, for shooting at a bunch of historically insignificant pirates, this was definitely enough. At this time, no weapon could reach over two kilometers, and wooden ships couldn’t withstand an explosive blast.

This cache of six hundred rockets was the basis for Harano’s confidence in opening up the sea route at this time. Whether they would actually work in real combat...he’d only ever shot at floating targets, never at a moving enemy ship. The Satomi navy could serve as the perfect test.

Of course, even without high-tech like the "casting pill," even if he hadn’t made "Wanjin Rockets," he’d still be willing to face off against the Satomi navy. The Wanjin Navy didn’t just rely on him: harsh discipline, high salaries, long-term training, plus significant societal respect, backed by a few falconets and a mass of iron cannons—they already had what it takes to win outnumbered fights.

After a quick chat with Ah Man, Harano quietly readied the rocket launchers. At that moment, on "Chita," the Bamboo Whistle sounded repeatedly. Large numbers of former Wanjin Army iron gunners lined the sides, bracing themselves behind copper-plated shields, lighting their match cords and readying their Early Union Tubes, poised for a volley at any moment.

The sailors armed themselves as well, taking up either iron cannons, bows and arrows, or hauling out powder barrels, some simply with swords and spears, bracing for possible boarding, whether attacking or defending. Even if most hadn’t fought in real battles, long training under Yu Da made them look quite formidable nonetheless.

The bamboo-boned sails were already furled. The rowers’ chants and shouts echoed through the hull up to the deck. The "Chita," under the command of Yu Da and the other naval officers, suddenly surged forward, bravely riding the wind and waves, leading seven or eight Customs Ships and more than a dozen small kobaya straight at the Satomi navy’s largest "Dragon King."

The "Dragon King" too, had already lowered its sails early and was ready for combat. At this moment, though, with no hesitation—it... collectively wheeled about and fled east.

......

The Wanjin Navy and Satomi Navy were about to fight in the Izu Sea Area. As the host, the Houjou family could only watch, which was, it must be said, a kind of tragedy.

Kasahara Yasuhisa and other Houjou family Samurai stood atop Shimoda Port’s watchtower. With the good weather, they could see the two fleets in the distant sea, seemingly about to set the waves afire with blood. The feeling in their hearts was hard to describe.

Especially for Kasahara Yasuhisa—it was stronger than ever. The Kasahara family, after all, led the Houjou family’s "White Armor," originally responsible for naval warfare. But in a sea battle nearly eight years ago, the Houjou navy was utterly broken, their grip on the sea lost. Now they had been reduced to the "Coast Guard."

Yes, the Houjou’s battle organization used the "Five-Color Armor" system: Yellow for siege and defense; Red a cavalry-infantry mix, good for mobility; White specialized in naval and river battles—now, with no footing at sea, turned into ground troops; Black for storming castles and stealth attacks; while Blue was the Houjou’s intelligence unit, akin to the Oda family’s "Banquet Group" or Wanjin’s "Life-saving Group."

Now Kasahara Yasuhisa was of the younger Kasahara generation. He hadn’t been to sea for ages, but basic naval sense remained. He knew the old rival’s tactics well—and as he watched the Wanjin Navy charging straight for the Satomi flagship, and the Satomi flagship retreating, leading the Wanjin Navy on a chase, he became anxious and couldn’t help blurting out, "Damn, the Nozawa family can’t fight naval battles. They’ve fallen for it."

Fighting water thieves, you must not chase their big ships—the chief strike force is small kobaya boats. Now, with the Wanjin Navy chasing the "Dragon King," if only the "Dragon King" lured them into a downwind position, the Satomi’s kobaya, using their speed and agility, could swing upwind, use the wind to dash in, launch ceramic bomb attacks or even ram with Fire Ships. Then, the Wanjin Navy would be wiped out.

Those who could linger at Shimoda Port were almost all "Houjou White Armor" Samurai. In Taiko 2, they’d each have a couple of naval skills. Someone quickly agreed: "The Nozawa navy really can’t fight. They shouldn’t have taken this battle at all. We all agreed they could shelter in the harbor."

Naval combat isn’t like fighting on land—winning outnumbered isn’t easy. The Satomi have over a hundred ships, five times as many as the Wanjin.

Even without fire attacks, simply boarding and fighting by numbers would be enough to wipe out the Wanjin Navy.

"A shame about that fine ship. That’s the Nozawa family head’s flagship, right? So splendid..."

"It’ll be Satomi’s soon! These idiots, didn’t help us a bit, and now they’re just delivering ships to Satomi!"

The Houjou Samurai thought the Wanjin navy was done for—there was little hope Satomi would suffer much loss. Frustrated, they grumbled between themselves about how the Satomi navy was becoming unstoppable. But as they fretted, suddenly, chaos erupted at the nearby harbor—the noise quickly swelling.