On the bridge of the Zhenyang, Admiral Li Haiping of the Second Fleet supported his waist with one hand and held a telescope in the other, looking at the rising sun on the sea in the distance. Suffering from the lack of ink in his stomach, he had to put down the idea of reciting a poem, and wanted to say something like "I will come to see my victory", but Zuihou only said: "Jeju Island has been an inalienable territory of our country since ancient times. ”

After saying that, he ordered without replying: "Write it down!" ”

The female orderly standing behind him hurriedly jotted down his words in a notebook.

After saying this, I didn't think it was very interesting, and I was about to think of another original sentence, the lookout post report: "10 nautical miles directly in front of Jeju Island". Quickly picked up the telescope and observed the sea.

The sea is calm, the surrounding sea is thousands of blue waves, the emerald green island lies across the sea, and Mt. Halla is faintly visible.

As far as the eye can see, there is hardly a single boat in sight, only a sporadic fishing boat, which has taken refuge when they see such a huge fleet coming.

Li Haiping took a deep breath of the fresh sea breeze in the morning, and then looked at the huge fleet following behind him, and a sense of intoxication arose. Now he is also a dignified fleet admiral. I think that at the beginning, he stared at Changhua Fort with dozens of naturalized civilian sailors, counted the stars at night to watch the moon, and fished and hunted during the day.

Although this period of time was difficult, it also mixed up enough political capital for him. And the extremely boring life also made him regain the momentum of the military academy and delve into the naval tactics textbook. Headed by Wen Desi, a group of former naval officers and naval enthusiasts in the Senate considered that the weapons and tactics of the new navy were different from the old time and space, and compiled a "Naval Drill Code" and a "Naval Elementary Tactics Reader" based on the British and German naval materials in the late 19th century, which were used as a textbook for training officers of the new navy.

Li Haiping is only a corporal in the navigation department in the PLAN, which is completely different from authentic naval officers like Chen Haiyang and Ming Qiu, in a sense, except that he will not get seasick when he gets on board. In addition to being more familiar with naval terminology and the situation on the ship, he is actually no different from a veteran naval officer like Li Di, who was born as a naval enthusiast. In terms of the depth of understanding of naval tactics and strategies, it may not be as good as these naval enthusiasts who talk about it on paper. Don't talk about it, just sails and the characteristics of naval tactics and equipment in the ironclad era. All the former PLAN naval officers are not as good as Wen Dehei, whose title of chief naval adviser is not just "the vanity of leadership".

After having enough qualifications in Changhua Fort, and the "speech" at the second plenary meeting was gradually forgotten by the "people's main faction", Li Haiping returned to Lingao safely -- he was encountering the shipbuilding and maintenance of the navy, and at the suggestion of Ming Qiu, the navy began to train middle and senior naval officers from among the veterans and prepare commanders for the new 845 and 901 types. As a "former professional soldier of the Navy," Li Haiping became a "fleet commander" who was given priority training.

Now he stands on the bridge and wears the rank of lieutenant colonel. His commodore flag fluttered on the mast of the Shock. Every time he looked up and saw this flag, Li Haiping's heart couldn't help but burst into flames -- in the Ao-Song Navy, there were only four people who had the right to hang the general's flag, and he was one of them.

Fortunately, he didn't listen to Lao Di's bewitchment and transferred to the marines. I really want to get mixed up with the marines, and now under the light of Shi Zhiqi, I am at most an infamous commander of the navy company - just like Lao Di.

He coughed with a pretense of majesty and gave the order: "Order all ships." Be ready for battle. Heighten your observations! ”

After giving the order, he turned his telescope to Jeju Island, which was getting closer and closer.

The appearance of Jeju Island is very regular, almost oval-shaped. With the exception of a few places, there is no broken and rugged coastline, and terrain such as bays, capes, and headlands are very rare. Flat sandy beaches everywhere. At the center of the island is Mt. Halla, which is 1,190 meters above sea level. The whole of Jeju Island is a typical volcanic island.

Figuratively speaking, Jeju Island is like lava squeezed out of Hallasan Mountain and spread on the surface of the sea.

Although Jeju Island is the same size as the Shandong Peninsula, it has a subtropical climate due to the warm current passing through it, and the temperature drops to 0 degrees Celsius even though it snows in winter. Overall it's still moist and warm.

Although the winters here are much colder than in Kaohsiung, they are at least warmer than in Shandong, and the distance to Longkou is much closer. The area of more than 500 square kilometers is enough to accommodate a large number of large mouths. Freshwater resources are also abundant. In the thirties of the twentieth century, the island maintained a population of almost 200,000 under extremely underdeveloped conditions. In the 21st century, Jeju Island has a permanent population of 550,000. Not counting the large number of migrants who travel to the island every year, the carrying capacity of the island is extremely potential.

Jeju Island's four-season subtropical climate is much healthier for immigrants than the sweltering and humid southern part of Taiwan. Refugees are concentrated on Jeju Island, and the chance of an outbreak of infectious diseases is much smaller.

Although the agricultural conditions on the island are not very good, self-sufficiency of tens of thousands of people is not a problem.

The decision to take Jeju Island was made in the first place. It is for the sake of using it as a transit point for immigrants. Now that the progress has been delayed for a month, although the former finger has not sent too much power to urge, Li Haiping still feels a heavy responsibility, and must complete the task of landing in Jeju and building a refugee camp as quickly as possible.

The voyage of the fleet was directed towards Seongsan in the northeast of Jeju Island. Because Jeju Island is a volcanic island, it does not have the conditions to have a natural harbor, especially the shelter from the wind is poor. The most Haode port is the port of Jeju, which is also the governing body of the Yi dynasty of Korea. The population is relatively dense, so it is not suitable as a starting base. The final decision was made on the landing site at Shiroyama.

Although the port conditions of Shiroyama are relatively average, the port is surrounded by the Ushijima barrier in the northeast and the Josan in the southeast, which can not only shield the wind and waves, but also place forts on it to control the entire port. The General Staff considers it appropriate to locate the main military base here.

The fleet headed east of Jeju Island, and the lookout post shouted, "There is a beacon fire!" ”

Even without reporting from the lookout, Lee Hae-pyeong saw black smoke rising from the island, black smoke rising from the small islands around Jeju Island, and then, east of Jeju Island, in the direction of Seongsan, black smoke rose into the sky.

Although the Great Library did not find the exact fortification measures of the Li Dynasty on Jeju Island from the materials, the Haitian had already known during its reconnaissance voyage to Jeju Island a few months earlier that the Li Dynasty had beacons on the main island of Jeju Island and the surrounding islands, and that there were naval ships stationed there: this place was only more than 300 nautical miles away from the Japanese and had been attacked by Japanese invaders in history. Moreover, at this time, it has been less than 30 years since the rebellion of Renchen and Ding You, and the Li Dynasty still retains a strong wariness of the Japanese capital. As the first line against Japan, this place is heavily guarded.

During their reconnaissance voyage to Jeju Island, the Haitian warships did not see the DPRK naval divisions intercepting them, except for the fact that they had lit alarm beacons one after another on the islands, so they judged that the DPRK naval divisions near Jeju Island were very weak and could not take the initiative to go to sea to intercept them.

Therefore, Li Haiping's order was very simple: "Sail directly to Chengshan." ”

Thanks to modern charts and the results of the Haeten's reconnaissance, the fleet was able to pass through the islands and reefs around Jeju Island safely and boldly, heading straight for Seongsan.

Soon, Chengshan appeared in Li Haiping's field of vision.

"It's like a big battery!"

Although Li Haiping had seen the appearance of Chengshan in countless photos and videos, he was still amazed when it actually appeared in front of the bow of the ship.

The whole city is a huge rock jutting out of the sea - as the name suggests, like a "city". But it's much bigger than the real city.

The main elevation of Mount Seongsan is 182 meters. At the top is a huge volcanic crater. The crater is 600 meters in diameter and 90 meters deep. Like a giant saucer, the bottom is flat. Seongsan is bordered by cliffs to the southeast and north, and only a lawn ridge is located on the northwest side, which winds its way to Jeju Island.

In the 21st century, it is a UNESCO Shijie Natural Heritage Site and a well-known tourist mecca, which many of the patriarchs have visited - Li Haiping has never set foot in it because he has always scoffed at the Empire of the Universe.

Now he looked at the surroundings of Joyama with the eyes of a naval officer.

Across the street from Shiroyama is Ushijima. A natural mooring is formed in the middle. A fort was set up in each of these two places to effectively defend the harbor. The disadvantage is that the mooring area is limited and the shelter is not large. Only a small number of vessels can be berthed. The overall mooring and shelter conditions are not good.

Li Haiping shook his head: "It's a pity, this place can't moor the fleet." ”

In terms of Jeju Island's geographical location, this disadvantage seriously affects its strategic value.

Jeju Island is among the typhoon influences and has always been known for its "strong winds". The lack of a natural haven on the island made it difficult for a large fleet of ships to anchor safely, so the navy's Jeju landing was carried out in late autumn and early winter.

Since the conditions are limited, it becomes unnecessary to carry out too much military construction here. It seems that the General Staff canceled the construction of forts in Shiroyama and Ushijima.

In the original plan, the navy was to build a coastal fort and install heavy fortified artillery on the top of Chengshan, but after assessing the terrain and the military potential of the Li Dynasty, the General Staff considered that it was not necessary for the time being, and it was doubtful whether it would be necessary in the future, and concluded that a fortified camp should be set up at the top of Chengshan and an observation post to conduct comprehensive surveillance of the nearby waters and the eastern part of the island. A lighthouse was built to mark navigation. To be continued)