Li Ao stayed in Yingtian for many more days, and at the urging of the Uyghur Government's right-hand commissioner and other attachés, he set off to return home at the end of October.
The Daolu Division assigned him eight good evangelists from Shifang Jungle, led by Lu Zhiyu, the former supervisor of Shangyuan County. They will go to Goryeo to take over the evangelistic affairs.
Li Hong heard that Lu Zhiyu was a colleague of Abbot Zhao when he was preaching in Songfan, so he internally appointed him as the national preceptor of Goryeo, and the others would also serve as abbots of Taoist temples in the "four capitals" such as Kaesong, Ganghwa, Suwon, and Guangzhou.
Li Hong finally invested 50,000 taels of silver in the Emperor's Longqing Fund. Before leaving, the Emperor personally went to Yanziji Pier to see him off and told him that the sea was not peaceful recently. After leaving the Yangtze River, he must remember to go north along the coast and return to Beijing all the way.
Go somewhere else.
When asked when the pirates would be exterminated, the emperor told him calmly that it would only take a year and a half, so it would be very soon.
The two ships of the Goryeo emperor and his ministers arrived at Zhoushan, and the inspection fleet sent a squadron to escort them, two warships with a capacity of 500 yuan, six patrol ships with a capacity of 200 yuan, and eight fast ships with a capacity of 100 yuan.
The commander of the fleet is Master Refiner Wang Shouyu.
After meeting Shunhuai King Li Xiang, Wang Shouyu sent two monks to board the ship and took over control of the Goryeo official ship. The fleet would depart from Zhoushan and head north to Shandong. It would rest in Dengzhou for a few days and then pass by the temple.
The island travels to Liaodong, then goes south along the coast, enters Ganghwa Bay and lands ashore, returning to Wangjing.
The entire process is expected to take one month.
On November 8, the fleet passed Qianliyan.
On November 12, we entered Weihaiwei.
According to the plan, we should go west along the coast to Dengzhou, and cross the sea from Dengzhou via the Miaodao route.
But Wang Shouyu suddenly ordered the fleet to dock and stationed at Weihaiwei that night.
Wang Shouyu came to see Li Xi and communicated with him about the change of course: "In view of the fact that the Fengfu sailing method has been mastered by the fleet, I plan to trial a crossing route from Weihai to Jianghua Bay in your country. It is expected that the voyage can be shortened by ten days."
The general of the Guard who followed King Shunhuai into the Ming Dynasty disagreed: "Although this route is close, few people take it. Why? There are no islands or reefs on the hundreds of miles of sea route for reference or stopping, in case of celestial phenomena
There is no way to avoid the unexpected."
Wang Shouyu said: "That's true, but this is the past. During our army's drill last month, a wind speed boat successfully crossed the sea and mapped a precise channel. The whole journey is 760 miles. If we take this route, it will be the day after tomorrow at the latest.
The king can return home. Although it is a trial voyage, the king should know that I will never risk the king and the entire escort fleet."
Being able to shorten the hard work at sea by ten days made the Goryeo kings and ministers very tempted. After a brief discussion, they agreed to Wang Shouyu's arrangement. In fact, it didn't matter if they disagreed. The control of the fleet's navigation was in Wang Shouyu's hands, and Wang Shouyu was just being polite.
Just inform them.
After staying at Weihaiwei for two days, on November 15th, the convoy set off eastward and began to cross the sea.
This is the last window period for the Ming Dynasty fleet to trial crossing before the spring of this year or next year. After winter completely enters, the northerly wind will prevail, and this sea area will often be in a state of high winds and rough waves, and the danger of sailing will increase several times.
.This is also an important reason why the inspection fleet insisted on conducting this trial voyage. For this, the kings and ministers of Goryeo also expressed their understanding.
Although the north wind season has not yet completely entered, the sea breeze has turned obviously, and the wind is also quite cold. The Goryeo monarchs and ministers are hiding in the cabins without showing their heads.
The escort fleet did not carry precious flying magic weapons, and the Infinite Rosette and Cloud Lily followed the main fleet. Therefore, when observing the sea surface, they mainly used the sentry tower on the mast.
Based on past experience, the watchtowers of the two 500-mast warships with the highest masts were staffed by monks whose eyesight was far beyond ordinary people. They would make a "zero report" every moment to inform them of the surrounding sea conditions.
After a day of sailing, the ship was still safe and sound. Wang Shouyu frowned and decisively ordered: "Slow down the speed of the fleet to six tenths."
At the same time, at the joint meeting, Zhao Ran, Wei Chaozong, Tang Yaozu, Jiuniang, Lu Yuanyuan and others were also nervously waiting for the news ahead.
With a flash of white light, Zhao Ran received the flying talisman and immediately reported: "The ship has traveled four hundred and fifty miles, and there is still no trace of the enemy."
Yang Fuwen used a measuring ruler to draw another half-inch dotted line eastward on the huge map hanging on the wall.
Lu Yuanyuan stared at the map and murmured: "Is it possible that the pirates haven't received news about escorting the leader of Goryeo?"
Miss Ninth shook her head: "With such overwhelming reports, almost everyone knows it. It is impossible for the pirates not to know. Can they really endure it?"
Tang Yaozu shook his head and said: "Either the King of Goryeo or the escort fleet, no matter which target is of great value, how can you bear it?"
Amid the discussion, Zhao Ran received the flying talisman again: "The ambush fleet sailed ten miles in the same direction, without any trace of the enemy."
Yang Fuwen continued to draw and lengthened another dotted line a hundred miles northwest of the escort fleet by half an inch.
Ambush in the northwest, firstly, try to avoid being discovered by pirates, and secondly, when the escort fleet is intercepted by pirates, it can rush down by the wind and outflank it in time.
The tactic of setting up an ambush at sea this time was proposed by the former enemy headquarters composed of Chen Shandao, Lu Xixing, and Du Yangchen. It originated from a flying talisman exchange between Zhao Ran and Chen Shandao. Zhao Ran told Chen Shandao that the leader of the Kingdom of Goryeo had visited him.
Therefore, this strategy was quickly hatched.
The Daolu Department presided over by Miss Jiu also delayed the canonization edict of Li Xiang for half a month and publicized it in all journals.
For this ambush, the inspection fleet brought out more than half of its main force. In addition to the two warships, six patrol ships and eight sailing ships of Wang Shouyu's escort fleet, Chen Shandao's ambush fleet also gathered twenty warships.
Thirty patrol boats and sixteen sailing ships.
Although the number of ships is far behind that of the pirates, compared with the battle half a year ago, their strength has more than doubled! First of all, the ship types are all professional warships, with greatly increased protection capabilities.
, the equipment configuration of Fire Dance Dragon and Water Dragon Cannon is far superior to the former. Coupled with the retention of a large number of experienced manpower who survived half a year ago, and after four months of hard training, Chen Shandao believes that such strength is enough and
The pirates fought openly and openly.
What remained in the Songjiang camp were seven warships, fourteen patrol ships and dozens of speedboats. These ships were used to confuse the pirates, and Chen Shandao personally set up illusion arrays on some of the trestles.
In the distance, it looks like there are many masts and warships like clouds, as if the inspection fleet is still in the harbor.
All arrangements are made to wait for the pirates to take the bait.
Under Wang Shouyu's suppression, the original two-and-a-half-day voyage was extended to three-and-a-half days. The pirates did not appear as expected, which disappointed everyone.
But Chen Shandao was still waiting patiently. When Zhao Ran passed the news to him, he pointed out: "When you are most relaxed, it is often when the enemy appears, and you cannot relax your vigilance when returning. Such battles have been proven in the past.
."
Chen Shandao deeply agreed, but unfortunately when he asked Zhao Ran about any previous battles, Zhao Ran was vague and said that he couldn't remember clearly, so his intention of asking him to study it was in vain.
On November 20, after resting for two days in Kaesong, the escort fleet left Ganghwa Bay and returned to Shandong across the sea by the original route - it could no longer be delayed. The north wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the waves were getting bigger and bigger.
If you drag it on, the window period for crossing will be completely closed.
Everyone is staring at this channel, anxiously waiting for the pirates to appear.