Three days later in the morning, Lao Liu was awakened by the cheers of the soldiers.
Under the service of the young eunuch, he dressed neatly and came out of the cabin to check. He saw Wang Bi already outside and told him excitedly: "Your Highness, Japan has arrived."
"It's not there yet?" Lao Liu calculated the time and found that the distance was not enough.
"Those are the five islands off the coast of Japan. The sailors call them Wufeng. Seeing them means they are not far from Japan." Yu Tongyuan seemed to be always on the poop, guarding his fleet.
"Wufeng..." Lao Liu's mind was reminded that two hundred years later, the Wufeng captain named Wang Zhi was washed here by the ocean current after his ship crashed, and he established a short-lived maritime empire.
There is also Zheng Zhilong decades later. The maritime power in the late Ming Dynasty was entirely supported by pirates. If Fourth Brother and Zheng He knew about it, the coffin boards would not be able to hold it down.
~~
According to intelligence, the Goto Islands are now under the rule of the Uku clan.
The Uku clan is a famous navy family. Their Goto navy has been active in this area since the Genpei War. They are typical Japanese coastal powerful people. They have always been among the "Japanese pirates" that have gradually emerged since the Yuan Dynasty.
figure.
According to the predetermined combat plan, the five-island navy and its base should be annihilated as much as possible, with the goal of eliminating their maneuverability, and no landing operations should be carried out.
Because such a cunning Japanese pirate will never confront you head-on. When the army lands, he will hide in the mountains and will not fight you head-on. Moreover, under Japan's feudal system, there are so many soldiers that they invest too much in them.
The force is a waste.
So Yu Tongyuan sent a squadron of 400 small warships to look for the Five Islands naval forces to fight. However, they searched the coast of the Five Islands but did not find any enemy ships. Only a few simple docks and some docked on the docks were found.
fishing boat.
In the fishing village next to the pier, there was no one in silence.
The soldiers threw down the kerosene tanks, set them on fire with rockets, and burned all the docks and fishing boats. Observing that the buildings in the fishing villages were basically wooden houses, the soldiers fired some rockets at those small fishing villages. In the first month of the year, the northwest wind was dry.
The effect was surprisingly good, and the house was quickly set on fire, and the whole village was burned into a sea of flames.
It's a pity that there are no people in the village, not even any poultry or livestock.
Finally, the squadron found a somewhat decent camp in the northern harbor of Uku Island, the second largest island.
"This should be the home base of the Five Island Navy." Yu Tongjiang put down his telescope and said to Liao Dingguo on the side:
"Didn't you say that the Five Island Navy was a veteran Japanese pirate? How come they couldn't even build a city?"
"Building a city is a big project. It requires not only money, but also people." Liao Dingguo is responsible for collecting military intelligence and knows a lot about Japan's situation.
"All the men of the Yujiu family are working as pirates at sea. What are the thousands of old, weak, women and children left to do to build the city?"
Since it is not a stone city, but a wooden camp, there is nothing to be polite about. The Ming army used catapults to launch fire oil cans, ignited them with rockets, and set fire to the Yujiu family's camp...
There was still no movement.
"Are all people dead?" Yu Tongjiang asked curiously.
"They probably got the news and hid in the mountains," Liao Dingguo said in a deep voice, "But we can't take it lightly. Their Zhengxi General's Mansion has long issued a 'Mobilization Order for Foreign Police Forces'. It is estimated that the Five Island Navy is already there.
Under the unified command of Prince Huai Liang, we went to sea in advance to hide and wait for the opportunity to bite us."
"Yeah." Yu Tongjiang agreed with Liao Dingguo's judgment. During the pre-war training, the combat characteristics of the Japanese navy were introduced. Although their boats were small, because they used both oars and sails, they could sprint at a considerable speed in a short period of time.
Therefore, when attacking a large force with a small force, they would choose to approach the enemy ship as quietly as possible at night or in foggy weather with low visibility, and then suddenly rush to join the ship, using bows and arrows to cover the death squads for gang-hopping operations.
Therefore, even if there is a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and our naval forces, we may still suffer a loss if we take it lightly.
~~
After setting fire to the five islands, the Japanese conquest fleet continued northward along the ocean current, and the Japanese mainland soon came into view.
It is actually wrong to say mainland. After pre-war training, even Wang Bi now knows that Japan is a pure island country. There are three large islands, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku.
Right in front of us is Kyushu Island, the main target of this conquest.
According to intelligence, the power of Japan's Southern Dynasties has completely shrunk to the island of Kyushu. Even their emperor, under the strong pressure of the Northern Dynasty shogunate, had no choice but to leave the Yoshino Palace in Nara, cross the sea by boat and patrol west, and visited Dazaifu in Kyushu.
The so-called Western Inspection is actually an escape. He is worthy of being a good son of the Celestial Empire. He has learned all the bad habits of China...
Dazaifu is Japan's so-called Western Capital, a city built specifically for trade with China and North Korea. It has always been the political and economic center of Kyushu Island, and Prince Huairo's General's Palace for the Conquest of the West was also established here.
Therefore, the lowest goal of the Japanese conquering army is undoubtedly to capture Dazaifu. This is something that both the enemy and ourselves are well aware of.
The lofty status of Dazaifu in Kyushu determines that once it falls, both the Shogun's Palace and the Emperor of the Southern Dynasties will completely lose their authority and their rule will collapse overnight.
Therefore, the Japanese must defend Dazaifu with all their strength, and both sides know this well.
Therefore, Hakata Bay, where Dazaifu is located, became the main battlefield of this battle.
In fact, the main battlefield of the Yuan Dynasty's two previous attacks on Japan was also in Hakata Bay, but they didn't even see the city wall of Dazaifu...
~~
The fleet sailed two hundred and fifty miles northwest along the coast of Kyushu, and Hakata Bay was in sight.
Along the way, they did not encounter any resistance from the Japanese navy, not even the shadow of the Japanese fleet. Only a few speedboats peered and monitored in the distance. As soon as the Ming army's guard ship approached, they fled at full speed...
"It seems that Huairiang has completely given up on external defense and is preparing to complete his victory in Hakata Bay." Lao Liu looked at the open Hakata Bay in front of him and said in a deep voice.
"They used this kind of tactics in the previous two battles with the Yuan army." Yu Tongyuan was not surprised. "It seems that they will follow the prescription this time."
"That's right, Japanese slaves are notoriously stubborn." Lao Liu smiled and said, "They will definitely go all the way to the dark side."
To be cautious, Yu Tongyuan ordered the fleet to stop outside Hakata Bay, and then sent a squadron to explore the harbor first.
It was Yu Tongjiang who carried out the mission. He led four fast boats with a weight of 400 tons and sailed in from the mouth of the ten-mile-wide bay. A natural harbor thirty miles wide appeared in front of him.
The densely packed buildings in the port stretch for miles, and there are over a hundred trestles. You can see how prosperous this place is on weekdays. In fact, this is already the largest and most prosperous port in Japan in this era.
At this moment, Hakata Port is still as dead as the place where the Ming army went before. There are some scattered fishing boats docked on the pier, and there is still no trace of any army.
But the soldiers of the Ming army could no longer take it lightly. They clearly felt that the enemy was hiding not far away and was peeping at them fiercely.
