CHAPTER 308: CHAPTER 221: DIVINE SIN_2

Harano had money, and with his engineering background, he never cut corners—none of that sloppy work. If you calculated the cost of a single rocket at market price, it’d be over 160 kan, really packed full of gunpowder. Just in terms of firepower, it was no less powerful than a modern RPG, though due to limited tech, the rockets were even bigger than missiles and pretty inaccurate.

Now, the power of money was on full display. The "Dragon King"—this large wooden oar-and-sail ship—sank outright after just two rocket hits. A bunch of debris from the ship also blasted high into the sky, now raining down onto the sea and surrounding ships like a downpour. Some of the wreckage even dripped with oil and burned, accidentally starting a few small fires here and there.

For a moment, the hundred-strong Water Thieves acting as the "anvil" were thrown into chaos, while the "Chita" burst out with its maximum potential. One hundred and eighteen oarsmen sweated buckets, forcing the "Chita" to a blistering speed of 4 meters per second—about the pace of a human jogging. But this already exceeded "Chita’s" theoretical top speed, pushing nearly 7 knots. After all, you couldn’t expect too much from a lumbering Great Anzai Ship; reaching this speed was plenty impressive.

The "Chita," in this rare show of agility, stormed ahead with two massive streams behind it—over sixty Kozabune charging after—unstoppable, crashing straight into more than forty big and small ships of the Water Thieves. The close-quarters battle, nearly inevitable in any Middle Ages sea fight, had erupted.

At this point, the "Wanjin Rockets" no longer needed aiming—the area was packed with enemies, just load and fire. Harano stopped bothering with the launch crew, took the short-handled iron cannon from Ah Qing, and started silently loading ammo. Meanwhile, Ah Man—in full bamboo armor—rushed ahead, knife in hand, shouting at the Internal Guard Team to raise the arrow-proof bamboo curtains and get into position, not caring that Ah Qing was actually the team’s commander.

Though honestly, no one needed reminding. The Wanjin Army wasn’t some ragtag band relying on Harano alone. They were a tightly organized force with strict discipline—every officer and sergeant had clear duties. The iron gunners, as the core of the defense, had fought countless bloody battles on land, with veterans making up over 70% of their ranks and plenty of combat experience. The Wanjin Army, originally a city defense force, wasn’t afraid of any Japan Middle Ages opponent when it came to holding the line.

Yeah, they called it a sea battle, but it was really just a siege on water.

The "Chita’s" deck towered above the surrounding ships, armed with bulwark-like side panels and semi-enclosed firing ports. The Water Thieves couldn’t just hop aboard—they’d have to clamber up. The Wanjin Navy could shoot down with relative safety, and tactically, it was hardly any different from defending a city wall.

If anything, the fort was just a bit shorter—but a low wall was still a wall.

From the start, the "Chita" was built to be a "sea fortress"—designed to be surrounded. Otherwise, why bother making it so bulky and slow? To avoid leaking tech secrets, they could’ve just built a few hundred nimble Kozabune, used fire attacks and boarding, but then casualties would be out of control. The Wanjin Army had generous disability and death benefits; unless forced, Harano didn’t want to spend that kind of money.

The "Dragon King’s" bow was blown apart, plunging headlong into the sea. Even if it wasn’t fully sunk yet, it was essentially finished. But the Water Thieves hadn’t lost their fighting spirit—or more accurately, were being forced to fight. With enemies charging right into their midst, even without orders, they’d attack instinctively, let alone with Mizuno Shichiro having already given commands.

At the same time, as its path was blocked and scraping against other ships, the "Chita’s" speed dropped instantly. The Kozabune trailing behind successfully closed the encirclement and began attacking. However, since Mizuno Shichiro ordered them to capture this "Golden Ship" if possible, they didn’t immediately unleash their usual fire attacks. Instead, they tried to take out the "Chita’s" oars, aiming to disable its movement before finishing the job.

A dozen or so bold Kozabune pulled right up, using long poles to break the bamboo curtains protecting the ship’s oars.

Just then, the previously tense and silent "Chita" suddenly rang with the shrill whistle of a Bamboo Whistle. From both sides and the firing ports, neat volleys of white smoke erupted—a hail of lead shot creating a deathtrap of firepower, sweeping right across those Kozabune. Anyone bold enough to poke at the bamboo curtains got special attention, shuddering under the impact of the powerful shots.

If not for the flying blood and inhuman screams, you’d have thought they were performing some strange street dance.

Right after, the Flamboyant cannons on deck and below decks opened fire too.

Harano had managed to make these primitive cannons as well, and since these weren’t secret post-modern tech—back in 1517, the Ming Dynasty already had records of Flamboyant cannons; by 1522, the Ming Navy had captured over twenty of them at the Xin Hui sea battle. By the Jiajing years now, Great Ming had not only fully equipped them, but also rolled out more than thirty varieties.

Since Great Ming already had them, of course Harano would use them, though he wasn’t a metallurgy major and had nothing to do with gun casting or chemistry. Even understanding how these primitive cannons worked, he ran into all sorts of headaches making them—a ton of problems still weren’t solved.

For example: at first he tried using the clay-mold casting method common in modern times to make the barrels (mother guns), but the result was shoddy quality—the barrels came out rough, airtightness was terrible, and they just didn’t work well.