When he heard that Akiichi Ozaki took the lead, killed dozens of people, and captured the Void Fortress in one morning, Doi had some illusions like a dream.

Before he saw the shogunate flag fluttering on the city wall, he never imagined that this fortress, which was so majestic that people had no determination to take it at all, would be captured by only two legions and less than a thousand troops, and even the Kuril waiting in the rear, the two Nakajo legions did not play any role except for the accident of pressing the formation.

Thinking of this, Doi's brows couldn't help but wrinkle, and he felt a little uneasy in his heart.

But now was not the time to think about that, he had to act like Top Gun to inspire Terazawa Tentaka who had come with him to the Void Fortress.

Terazawa, who was parallel to him along the way, did not show much joy. After launching an offensive on all fronts, not only did the loss of personnel greatly exceed his expectations, but also the logistical pressure should not be underestimated.

"Every day, people eat horses and chew, and the boats that go out to fish are wiped out by the Song navy, and it is very difficult to reserve grain and grass now." Terasawa said, "At this rate, our army's grain and grass will be eaten for half a month at most." ”

Doi's face remained unchanged, and he said lightly: "I will write a letter to the Great General, requesting that a batch of grain be mobilized as soon as possible." ”

Terasawa sighed softly and didn't say anything more.

After entering the castle, Nakajo Sail, who was stationed in the fortress, hurriedly stepped forward to report and handed over the letter that Ozaki had left for him to Doi.

Doi opened the envelope and asked, "What about Ozaki-kun?" He captured the Void Fortress and deserved to be rewarded for his great deeds. ”

Nakajo Sail said, "Ozaki-kun was injured in the battle, and Yakushi thought that he could not continue the battle, and he had already gone down the mountain before. ”

Doi froze slightly, nodded noncommittally, opened the letter and read it, and then handed the letter to Terazawa: "Ozaki-kun said in the letter that the one who guarded Void City was the first warrior of Saga, Yao, who offended the general sent by the Song people, so he was driven here and deprived of most of the defenders. ”

"I heard that the Song general's surname is Li, and he is a nobleman in their country, and he is only in his twenties, and he is also a fool who doesn't understand war." After reading the letter, Terazawa said with a smile, "With him killing the general in front of the battle, in order to avenge personal revenge; and abandoned the Void Fortress, allowing our army to occupy it easily, and then we knew that this person was just a soldier on paper. ”

"With such children in charge of the army, the defeat of rebellion can be expected."

"It's just... So how long is Yaxiong, but who is it? Why haven't I heard it before? ”

Doi didn't care about that. He smiled hehehe, and said to Terazawa: "Terazawa-kun, the Void Fortress has been lowered, and there is no threat to the middle line. ”

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More than 100 kilometers away, the main force of the Pacific Fleet departing from Hirado Port had already discovered the Shogunate Combined Fleet (Note 1).

Lieutenant Commander Qian Ran, who commanded the strongest fleet in the Western Pacific, finally had the opportunity to take command of a fleet of two old battleships and six destroyers, interspersed with a number of Dongjiang and Japanese naval vessels used to transport troops, and compete with the navy of an independent country.

However, although he said that, in fact, when Lieutenant Colonel Qian observed the enemy on the opposite side through a telescope, he did not have the heroic spirit of "fighting when he sees the enemy."

"What the hell, is that the Japanese Navy? It looks like there's only one Ataka boat, which is a bit of a threat. He put down his binoculars and turned to the person next to him, "Kazuo Kuroshima, are you sure we didn't meet armed fishermen or the Coast Guard?" ”

Kazuo Kuroshima hurriedly said: "My lord, this is the Japanese navy, and the flag is the combined army of the Ando Navy, the Sagami Navy and the Tango Navy." ”

Qian Ran raised his eyebrows, and looked at Shang Kexi, who was operating the boat.

Shang Kexi looked at the sea from the corner of his eye, turned his head sideways and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Major, these broken ships are the symbol of the Japanese navy, they don't have such a good ship as ours..."

"I've heard that the Japanese Navy is pretty powerful." Qian Ran still didn't realize that Japan only had a "navy" and no "navy", and his mouth was full of trains, "What, isn't there a decisive battle between Mr. Shima Tong and Yi Sun-sin during the war tomorrow?" ”

"Uhhhh Yi Sunsin knew that every time those incompetent Korean bureaucrats saw the huge ships of the Western Pacific Fleet, they would always talk about Yi Sunsin's destruction of the Japanese navy. But what kind of person is Lai Dao Tong, Major Shang really doesn't know, how can he have so much energy to memorize the Japanese names that twist the tongue, and if he has that thought, it is better to think about whether Dolgon has slept with Huang Taiji's wife.

Kazuo Kuroshima on the side had no choice but to speak: "My lord, that's... Rookies pecking each other...", he added with a blush, "It's all broken ships fighting each other, and they can't get on the table." ”

Qian Ran nodded and didn't say anything more. Now that the situation in the telescope is very clear, those small ships of the Japanese Navy look very panicked, and they feel a sense of hesitation that they don't know whether to fight or run, and they don't know if there is a trap.

Seven or eight kilometers away, the middle-aged man sitting in the cabin of a closed ship remained motionless, allowing the sailors outside the cabin to scream and run.

The door of the ship was suddenly pushed open, and a samurai who was fully dressed on the ship walked in in a hurry, and knelt down opposite him: "My lord, the fleet of the Song people is here, and there are many big ships, bigger than the Ataku ship that Yasuyuki Mizaki is riding!" ”

The middle-aged man smiled and took a sip of the teacup on the table, and said with a faint smile: "That should be the battleship of the Song people, I have seen it in Liaodong before." ”

The samurai boldly raised his head and looked at the young man opposite, and said in a deep voice: "My lord, Misaki has raised the decisive battle flag and asked us to prepare for battle, you think we should..."

"Fighting? What to take to fight? Take the life of Yasuyuki Mizaki's pirate bandit? The man sneered a few words, stood up from behind the low table, waved his hand, and said, "You go out and tell the sailors to retreat immediately, and let Misaki himself lead people to die, the Maori navy can't be wiped out like this." ”

"Hi Yi." The samurai immediately stood up and saluted, and then went out in a hurry to convey instructions to run.

The man walked to the window and looked out of the stick-propped window, the corner of his eyes still twitching a few times at the sight of the giant ship in the distance.

"Niang Xipi, what is there to do in this kind of battle, just surrender directly." Even though he has visited the warships of the Ao and Song Dynasty at close range several times in Liaodong and Ryukyu, the behemoth that has gradually become clear still deeply imprints the coercion into the hearts of the middle-aged people, "Our ships add up, they must not be as heavy as the tonnage of the Zhenyuan!" ”

At 13:17 p.m. on May 2, the old Mamoru of the Choshu clan fled with Nobuyoshi and led the Choshu Domain's naval army, and tore down the flag when he ran away - it is rumored that Yasuyuki Misaki scolded him on the spot for keeping the time of the incense stick of the incense.

At 13:40, the first battle of the Kyushu Naval Battle (also known as the Battle of Himejima) broke out.

At 14:20, the first battle ended, and the destroyer Hailar River of the Song Army was hit by a fireboat and was slightly wounded. The combined fleet of the Japanese shogunate was completely destroyed, and Yasuyuki Misaki sank with his ship, but was later confirmed dead.

Note 1: "The Shogunate Combined Fleet" is a general term for the Japanese naval forces at that time, because all the Japanese naval forces we encountered at that time were composed of two fleets or more. We use specific references with prefixes such as "Kyushu", "Honshu", or the commander's last name to distinguish them.