The Xu fleet sailed along the coast of the country, and in early September crossed the eastern island of Tsushima and entered the waters of Kitakyushu. Han Tong, commander of the Jiaolong Army, became the commander-in-chief of the fleet.

This was the first large-scale maritime expedition of the Central Plains Dynasty! The imperial court had done a lot of preparation for months, but it was clearly inexperienced.

Some Han Chinese, Koreans, and a few merchants who are familiar with the East China Sea say that there may be typhoons here in summer and autumn! It's the end of autumn, and Hantong can only hope for luck, and the typhoon season is over...... Because the imperial court really can't wait for winter, the situation of the Xu army in Iwami Fort is unknown, and if there is no reinforcement, you can only sit back and watch it!

The fleet is composed of more than 100 large and small ships, loaded with about 6,000 new soldiers of the Jiaolong Army, most of whom come from the original Southern Tang Dynasty Navy (the Southern Tang Dynasty surrendered troops under Liu Renzhan first, and in the past two years, the military power of the generals has been withdrawn, and the southern ** has been organized into a guard).

The experience of these naval forces was limited to fighting on the Yangtze River, Huaishui and other rivers, but compared with most of the soldiers from the Central Plains, they were water-sensitive and adapted to rocking ships; Therefore, the imperial court gave up the inclusion of the forbidden army into the Jiaolong Army, and incorporated the guards of the Southern Tang Dynasty into the forbidden army (the Jiaolong Army was established as the forbidden army).

The composition of the ships was more complex, with half of the ships being light ships (a combination of the Great Shoe and the Central Plains Pointed Bottom Ships), and the other nearly half were Korean ships and requisitioned Pointed Bottom merchant ships as much as possible. Among them, there are only three big ships, the Mulan!

Since last year, the imperial court has been building a large number of warships in the Jiangning shipyard, but the construction speed has been slow due to the size of the dock and the scarcity of craftsmen. Rushing to work day and night, dozens of light ships and three Mulan ships have been built recently...... The Mulan was mainly constrained by the lack of a large dock.

Hantong's ship is a large Mulan ship with a displacement of about three or four hundred tons, with a crew of nearly 200 people, 24 copper cannons, and one layer of naval guns on the left and right sides.

Three large ships are the main warships of the fleet, and dozens of other light ships are also warships; Goryeo ships and sharp-bottomed merchant ships were difficult to serve as the main warships, mainly transporting supplies and soldiers, and could also engage in melee combat.

The light boat carries 30 to 50 people in a city, 10 people in a team, the highest military envoy on board (the number of sailors and ordinary troops has changed), the hull is too thin to use the main copper cannon...... But there was always a way, Guo Shao and the officials and craftsmen of the armor workshop concocted a small cannon that could be used in small boats: the sub-mother cannon.

The body of the gun is iron, and the "inner tank" is cast in copper, and after the cannon is fired, it can be immediately replaced with the inner tank and fired again. Therefore, the rate of fire far exceeds that of the copper cannon...... It's just that the technology is limited, and the fit and sealing are not very good, so the range is very short, and the power is far less than that of the copper cannon. The weight of the sub-mother cannon is light, one is only more than 100 catties, and there is no problem at all when placed on a light ship.

On the flagship, there is also Lu Duoxun, the guest envoy, who is also the supervisor of the Jiaolong Army, and he is in the cabin of the Chinese army. There were winds and waves on the sea, and Rao was a big ship swaying, and Lu Duosun was a little uncomfortable with the sea, especially when he was reading and writing, his head was dizzy, and he felt vomiting.

He froze and quickly wrote a line on the paper: On the sixth day of the ninth month, the Kuroshio tide is northward, and the southeast wind is blowing.

The Kuroshio Current is a warm current, the flow of water in the ocean, and it is called the Kuroshio because of the dark color of the ocean current.

Lu Duosun felt that it was difficult to write, so he immediately put down the brush, opened the bamboo curtain on the window, and immediately saw Han Yuyan, who was dressed in armor, standing on the bow deck with his legs crossed, his body swaying with the ship very steady.

The sea breeze blew Han Tong's red cloak and rattled in the wind like a flag, and he had stood there motionless for a long time.

Han was not good at talking to people, but Lu Duosun could feel that his heart was like the bump of the waves...... It was an unknown frontier, and at times Ludosun was crazy and radical to think about, the first voyage of thousands of soldiers and supplies with a fleet that cost the national treasury enormous, and the risks were difficult to describe.

In the vast sea here, all the rules are different from the familiar land.

Perhaps, only Guo Shao can have the courage to make such a decision, and only the founding monarch can have such power and prestige.

Lu Duoxun's mind came to mind the last meeting before leaving Beijing, Guo Shao's hot gaze and expectant eyes, he said that it must be feasible, the world always dare not take the first step from the road that no one has walked!

There is also a compass on the table next to Lu Duoxun, similar to a tool for reading feng shui, which can point in the right direction...... But it's easy to make mistakes on this thing alone. There are two other auxiliary routes in the Eastern Naval Administration:

First, try to rely on the land and coast as a reference, and the method is to bring a few Koreans and say himself as guides, so that the language can be communicated, and send people to the shore to inquire about the place to find out the general location.

Second, rely on a civil official who is a celestial supervisor.

Just as Lu Duosun was thinking of this, a civil official with gray temples walked in, and Lu Duosun hugged his fists and greeted politely: "Can the senior eunuch still withstand the wind and waves at sea?" ”

"It's good, it's good." The official position is Gao Shouzhen, who is a supervisor, said calmly.

From the Tang Dynasty to the Xu Dynasty, civil officials were basically liuguan, but there was one kind of official who was an exception, and that was the official of Si Tianjian. A person like Gao Shouzhen, once he entered the Si Tianjian Prison, he could no longer serve in other yamen, nor could he resign at will; The source of officials is also mostly hereditary...... This kind of civil official who can observe the heavens makes the royal family feel that they have mysterious abilities, after all, everyone still believes in God a little, so they must be more strictly controlled to prevent the soldiers from wandering into the wilderness.

Gao Shouzhen has a skill, in addition to being able to revise the calendar and observe the sky at night, he is very familiar with the stars. You can observe the direction and height of various stars with your eyes to estimate your position.

Xu Jun made good use of several methods, and tried his best to drive on land and near the sea, so as to ensure the course.

At this time, Han Tong outside the cabin also walked in, and the three civil and military officers saluted each other and sat down separately. Lu Duosun was the first to say: "The Kuroshio is to the north, blowing a southerly wind, if the army intercepts the fleet in front, it will be very beneficial to us. ”

Han Tong nodded with a straight face when he heard this: "Lu Jianjun is reasonable. ”

Lu Duoxun's title of superintendent is only to send, and his most important official position is actually the auxiliary minister of the cabinet and the envoy of the guest province...... Moreover, the prison guards hung their mouths, as if they were the ones who monitored and complained at any time, and they were suddenly divided. Han Tong is annoying, that's it, any sentence is always inexplicably not pleasant!

Han Tong said casually: "The marching formation is nothing more than this, before the war, try to make the time and place favorable to yourself, and then attack the weak with the strong." ”

Gao Shouzhen said very little, but at this time, he touched his beard indifferently and said: "No wonder General Han is not as famous as Shi Qianfeng." ”

Han Tong disagreed, and said: "But this commander is worried that the army is unwilling to fight against me when the wind and water are against me. They had at least two methods, one was to hide the main force in the Shimonoseki Suido of Kitakyushu (the strait between Kitakyushu and Honshu); Wait for our main force to go north, and then go out of the waterway, and pursue in the direction of the upper wind and the water. The second is to detour Kyushu Island and pursue our fleet from the south, so that it can also take advantage of the tailwind. ”

Although the sea is vast, the fleet does not sail at will, and generally has a relatively fixed offshore route, otherwise it may encounter reefs, disorientation, unknown weather changes and other risks. Therefore, there are traces to intercept and find a large fleet in Benhai.

Lu Duoxun said: "If the army gives way to the channel, we can only sit back and watch our troops approach to reinforce Iwami Fort." ”

Han Tong shook his head and said, "Definitely! At this time, naval battles are the decisive place of victory and defeat, not the length of time. If the army can defeat our fleet, the fall of Iwami Fort is only a matter of time; Otherwise, no one can stop the great punishment of the country! “

Lu Duosun listened and groaned: "What General Han means by saying that the army will not be troublesome about the long distance, and it will not care about the urgency of the fighters?" ”

Han Tong frowned and said, "From the point of view of Ben Shuai, a wise move is indeed so. If you want to defeat your opponent, how can you be in a hurry? You have to do everything you can to your advantage! ”

…… However, Han Tong is only a military general, and his guesses about other things are often inaccurate. This time I guessed wrong.

A few days later, in the early morning, on the waters off the coast of our country, someone suddenly entered the cabin and reported: "An enemy ship has been found due north!" ”

Han Tong had just gotten up, and as soon as he heard the news, he immediately asked, "How many ships are there?" ”

"I don't know, it's foggy on the sea!" ”

Han Tong immediately said: "Hurry the drum, all arms for war!" ”

"Order!"

After a while, there was a rapid drum sound outside, and soon this rhythm of the drum seemed to be contagious, and the big drums were beaten on all the warships around, and for a while the drums rang out, and the atmosphere suddenly intensified.

Han Tong took the helmet from his own soldier and put it on, fastened the leather buckle, walked up to the deck, and then climbed the wooden ladder to the stern of the ship. The soldiers on the deck moved faster, and the shouts were all around.

Han Tong's palm rested on the patterned wooden railing, looking at the scene ahead. The vast undulating sea was shrouded in a layer of mist surging in the wind, and the dark shadow of a ship loomed in the distance.

"Order all ships to slow down, with the warships in front and the baggage behind, and straighten out the formation!" Han Tong gave another order.

The triangular red flag on the flagship changed its quantitative character, and the herald blew his horn to alert other ships. It is the first time that Daxu has formed a large force battle formation on the sea, absorbing some of the military orders of the original Tiger Ben Army to pass on the rules and military laws, and the flag language is one of them; However, for the time being, only simple military orders such as attacking, retreating, and waiting in battle can be issued.

Ordinary people don't need military orders, and the ships will keep a good distance from the flagship, Hantong's flagship is very eye-catching, one hull is very large, and the other is hung with the banner of the Jiaolong Army, with a yellow dragon-shaped pattern and the word "Da Xu" written on it.

While waiting for the armaments to be warned, Han Tong kept an eye on the movements of the enemy ships in front of him. He was really a little puzzled: Is it really the main force of his country's naval army? The opponent's main general is also too happy, so he simply finds it and works hard, such an opponent really makes Han Tong more worry-free, anyway, it is harder than a fist!