The three naval battalions of Yuguan, Gukou and Dengzhou cobbled together 38 warships.

Now the fleet has sailed past Chengshanjiao and is beginning to enter the East China Sea.

Xia Chengting stood at the bow of the ship, watching the warship split the waves, and sailed all the way to the east under the traction of the drumming sails. The warship under his feet shook very strongly under the impact of the waves, but his feet did not move at all, and more than three years of sea life had allowed him to practice a good skill on the water.

"Expedition to Fuzhou!"

This is the order they received.

The imperial court built and trained these sailors for three years, and this was the first time that the long knives were unsheathed.

The morning sun is shining in the face, and the sky is still piled up with a large area of brilliant morning glow, and the sea surface of the waves is also dyed a brilliant red by the clouds, which seems to be more spectacular than the scenery in the sky. The red on the surface of the sea was surging with the rows of waves, crushed, and quickly restored together, and the glow flickering on the tip of the waves, at the moment of breaking, appeared particularly bright and brilliant, like a flame beating in the waves.

The Datang Navy Division has gone through many training trips to the sea, but the farthest is from the Bohai Sea to Jiaozhou and Haizhou on the coast of the East China Sea, and the fleet does not dare to leave the coast too far easily, for fear of losing course.

In October, the north wind was blowing on the sea, and the flags on the masts were playing with the sea breeze.

This section of the voyage does not need Xia Chengting to worry about anything, the three sailors of the Bohai Sea are already very familiar with this voyage, and it is good to sail on the coast of the Dengzhou Peninsula.

His ship "Tianjin" is 72 meters long, is the latest 1,200 materials (500 tons) of three-masted sail warship, in this world, is already a relatively large sea ship, in this sea area, this kind of warship, is the most powerful existence. In this fleet, there are eight such ships, and the other thirty will be one size smaller.

Each of these warships was equipped with more than 400 sailors, while the smaller ships were equipped with more than 260 sailors. The total number of personnel in this fleet exceeded 10,000, but the actual number of troops that could be put into operation was only more than 6,000.

The rising sun shone on the surface of the sea, sparkling, and occasionally fish jumped out of the sea. There were golden waves on the surface of the sea, and in such a morning, as the commander of the Tang Dynasty who commanded the naval division for the first time to conduct long-distance operations, Xia Chengting's heart had indescribable worries and a certain excitement.

"Chief, it's a tailwind now, the speed of the fleet is twelve knots, according to the current speed, at about ten o'clock in the evening, we will be able to arrive at the Jiaozhou Naval Division." Hu Yanrin looked at the chart in the cabin and reported to Xia Chengting.

Xia Chengting returned to the command room from the platform outside the cockpit, looked at the plan and said: "After we meet the Jiaozhou battalion, we will set off immediately tomorrow, and then go to Mingzhou first to see Wu Yueguo's attitude, mainly to demonstrate." After that, he went straight to the Minjiang River and attacked Changle Mansion. ”

"The sailors of the Min people claim to have more than 300 warships, and it is estimated that there will be a battle at the mouth of the Min River." Huo Ming on the side said with a smile, but everyone didn't take the Min people's sailors to heart.

Previous confrontation exercises have known that as long as the steam engine is turned on during battle, this new type of sail warship can simply crush the old warship, the only thing to worry about is that there are not enough shells.

When the fleet arrived at Jiaozhou Bay, the Jiaozhou Navy Battalion had already received the order, and it had already been prepared.

Early the next morning, when the fleet left Jiaozhou Bay, eight more warships were added, bringing the number to forty-six.

In this early winter, there was a heavy fog in the East China Sea, and the Tang fleet sailed in the dense fog for a day and night, and it was not until the next morning, when it sailed to the vicinity of the mouth of the river, that the dense fog on the sea dissipated slightly.

The lookout on the mast suddenly blew his whistle, and his hands were still waving the signal flag.

Huo Ming glanced at it and knew that it was the unknown fleet that had been spotted ahead.

After Xia Chengting received the report, he gave an order, and several warships started their steam engines and sailed towards the unknown fleet, ready to take a look.

That fleet actually had eight sea ships, which was already a relatively large fleet, and when he saw several warships coming towards him, this fleet actually dispersed, ready to scatter and flee.

At this time, the sailor of the Tang Dynasty thought that he had encountered a pirate ship, and he immediately became excited. Xia Chengting sent four more warships over, one of which pursued the escaping ship. At this time, the sea breeze was not strong, how could those sea ships escape the pursuit of the war ships, and it was only less than an hour before all the sea ships that escaped were captured and dragged back.

As a result, after the people were escorted over, the interrogation revealed that this was a Silla fleet that was going to Ku to trade.

Xia Chengting was angry when he heard this: "What the hell are you running when you see the Tang Dynasty sailor?" ”

The Silla merchant actually spoke Chinese very well, and although he had a strong Wu accent, he was still able to understand it.

The reply of this goods was that the sailors of the Wu State used a cyan flag, and they saw the red flag of the Tang army and thought they had encountered pirates.

"The sailors of Wu State are local garrisons, this is the banner of the Tang Army, I will remember it clearly in the future." Xia Chengting could only let these Silla merchants go after educating them, and said that they were welcome to trade in Dengzhou or Gukou.

In the afternoon, the Datang fleet sailed through the sea off Mingzhou.

The Wu Yue Naval Division actually sent more than 20 warships out, saying that they wanted to cooperate with the imperial court to crusade against Fujian.

Xia Chengting didn't know what this Wu Yue Sailor could help, but it was just that letting them see the battle of the Imperial Court Sailor also had a certain deterrent effect.

Fuzhou, Changle House.

In the middle of the night, the lights suddenly brightened in the newly built palace of the Fujian lord Wang Xi, and Wang Xi, who had not woken up from a hangover, was awakened from his dream and came to the Nine Dragons Hall wearing a nightgown.

The crown prince Wang Jiye, the prime minister Li Zhen, and the important minister Zheng Yuanbi were already waiting in the main hall, and everyone had a little panic on their faces.

"See Your Majesty." Seeing Wang Xi hurriedly coming in, several courtiers said together.

"Zhongqing entered the palace late at night, what happened?" Wang Xi was drunk, waved his hand, and hurriedly asked.

"The sailor urgently came to report, dozens of warships of the imperial court gathered in the sea off the Minjiang River in the evening, and several patrol warships of the navy were sunk, I am afraid that a big attack will be made soon!" Prime Minister Li Zhen was quite calm, and his tone was unhurried.

"Only a few dozen warships? Our navy has hundreds of warships, and more than a dozen giant building ships, can't it be resisted? Wang Xi asked.

"Your Majesty, those imperial warships carry artillery, the power is huge, more than two miles away, they can send out artillery stones, our warships are really irresistible." That Wang Jiye was also frightened and inexplicable, and he stubbornly prayed.

"Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, don't worry, the Majiang Water Village, the Tang Army is not easy to break." Du Chong, the overseer, said, "It's just that Na Jianzhou assassinated Shi Yanzheng, and he was not on good terms with His Majesty, so he needed to be guarded against voting for the imperial court." ”

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