After all, the Datang Navy did not go to completely conquer Fusang this time, but the main purpose was to exterminate the local pirates and maintain the security of the Fusang route and trade interests.

If it was to conquer Fuso, even if it was only Kyushu Island, then they would not send only more than 20 ships and no more than 1,000 marines, but hundreds of ships, at least tens of thousands of troops.

So they didn't choose to go to Kyushu Island, not the southernmost Osumi Peninsula, but just the Osumi Islands, and even the initial target was not an entire archipelago, just one of the islands: Yakushima.

The Osumi Islands are across the sea from the Osumi Peninsula, the southernmost tip of Kyushu Island, and Yakushima and even one of the two larger islands in the Osumi Islands belong to the territory of Osumi Province, and Osumi and Satsuma are both territories of the Shimazu clan, so nominally speaking, this place also belongs to the territory of the Shimazu clan.

However, it is interesting to note that the military and political officials in the Ryukyu Prefecture have learned that the Shimazu clan is now unable to completely control Osumi Province, especially the Osumi Peninsula and the Osumi Islands, which are under the de facto control of the Hefu clan.

The Shimazu clan has been trying to pacify the Osumi Province for many years, destroy the Liver Fu clan, and recover the Osumi Province, in addition to occupying the Liver Fu clan of the Osumi Province for the enemies of the Shimazu clan: North Satsuma, they are now more focused on pacifying the North Satsuma, and for this reason, they also purchased a large number of ordnance from the merchants of the Tang Empire, and they were also the first to purchase various ordnance such as arquebuses, plate armor and Tang Dynasty waist knives produced by the Tang Empire.

And it was used in the battle of KitaSatsuma!

At the same time, in order to stabilize the Osumi country in the south, they also commissioned a marriage between the family and the liver Fu clan.

However, everyone knows the determination of the Shimazu clan to recover Osumi Province, and the marriage between the two sides is just a stopgap measure, and even the Liver Fu clan is also contacting the Ito clan of Hyuga to fight against the Shimazu clan.

In other words, the actual and nominal masters of the current Osumi Province are not the same, and they are still hostile to each other, and although there has not yet been a large-scale war, according to the current situation, war can break out at any time.

In this kind of backdrop, the military and political officials of the Ryukyu Prefecture felt that taking one of the islands in the Osumi Islands as a supply port should not be a big problem, at least it would not cause a backlash from the Shimazu clan, and as for the Osumi Province, the military and political officials of the Ryukyu Prefecture had been looking at them for a long time, and this time the seizure of one of the islands in the Osumi Islands was also for the purpose of suppressing Osumi Province.

Because although the Osumi Province also traded with the Tang Empire, they preferred to go off the rails, and they were very unhappy with the trade between the Tang Empire and the Shimazu clan, not only providing a hiding place for a large number of pirate gangs, but also their own samurai were involved.

However, the sea area controlled by Osumi Province is also a necessary place for trade from the Tang Ryukyu Prefecture to Fuso, and half of the merchant ships attacked by pirates from Datang to Fuso trade took place in this sea area.

In this case, you don't wonder why the military and political leaders of the Ryukyu Prefecture went to Osumi Province to fight piracy, and they are also preparing to seize the Osumi Islands.

The Ryukyu Prefecture is not far from Fuso, and the routes are all fixed routes, and the Ryukyu Fleet came to the Osumi Islands smoothly, and as soon as you enter the waters of the Osumi Islands, you can basically feel that there are many pirates in the waters here.

Along the way, one of the advance frigates had already spotted at least five pirate ships!

Why was it judged that they were pirate ships, because as soon as they saw the fleet of the Tang Dynasty, they immediately fled!

For these scattered pirates, the generals of the Ryukyu Detachment are also not very interested, they do not plan to play hide and seek with them on the sea this time, they want to go straight to the Yellow Dragon.

Take Yakushima Island in the Osumi Islands first, and then use it as a base to launch an attack on several ports on the Osumi Peninsula that are inhabited by a large number of pirates!

That's what they thought and did, so a few days later, when their fleet appeared on Yakushima, when the Fuso people on the island were surprised by the sheer size of the Tang Empire's fleet and couldn't figure out why they came, the fleet of the Ryukyu Detachment completely blocked their small port.

There is no need to say hello, this is a war, this is a war against bandits, and there is no need to pay attention to any rules with pirates, so after the fleet blocked the port, some warships directly began to shell!

Although it was only a part of the battleship, the number of guns fired still reached hundreds!

The fire coverage of hundreds of guns almost completely shattered this small port, and then the transports began to send small boats, full of landing forces ready to land!

This day is April 18, the eighth year of Xuanping, and this day is a day worth remembering in history!

Because this is the day when the army of the Tang Empire first landed in Fusang!

The Ryukyu detachment arrived outside the port of Yakushima at about 8 a.m. that day, and they moved quite quickly, launching a full-fledged landing operation at about 11 o'clock at noon that day.

In order to cover the landing force, the two frigates even risked running aground, close to the shore to cover and prevent the Fuso people on land, no, it was the pirates who blocked the beachhead of the landing marines.

However, despite being cautious in action, Rear Admiral Feng Qirong, the commander of the Ryukyu detachment and the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression operation on the western coast of Fuso, was very calm.

The necessary caution is just for unnecessary surprises, but this does not mean that there is no confidence in taking this Yakushima.

Before the war, the navy had already learned through the intelligence gathered by the Military Intelligence Department and merchants that the actual ruler of Osumi Province, the Liver Fu clan, was busy guarding against the Shimazu clan, and the main military forces were concentrated on the Osumi Peninsula, and did not pay much attention to the defense of the Osumi Islands, an overseas territory.

Well, even if the Liver Fu clan of Osumi Province draws all the sea and land forces over, it is impossible to be the opponent of the Ryukyu Detachment, there is only one Liver Fu clan, there are not even a few big ships, and there are even fewer guns, and the Ryukyu Detachment has absolute confidence in controlling the sea power.

The ground battle is a little troublesome, because the number of troops is too small, and the total number of marines is only a thousand people, if it is a decisive battle of several thousand people, it will definitely be no problem, but the key is that this kind of decisive battle is not to say that you can fight if you want to, and people are not stupid, they can not run, and then resist in other places.

When the marines of the Navy disperse their forces, then it will be more troublesome.

In order to avoid trouble, Feng Qirong did not plan to divide his troops, first take Yakushima, and then take the Tanegashima next to him by the way, then he could basically declare the completion of the control of the Osumi Islands.

In the future, as long as the navy is there, it will be impossible for the opposite Osumi Province to cross the sea to recover the Osumi Islands!

Once the Osumi Islands are under control, they will be able to strike at several Fuso ports on the Osumi Peninsula and elsewhere.

And after fighting these ports, Feng Qirong did not say that he planned to control them for a long time, and it was best to harvest some loot if he could get some compensation.

As for completely controlling a certain place after landing on Kyushu Island, the navy has no intention of doing so for the time being, or the empire has no such plan for the time being.

After Feng Qirong sent the marines to land, although he was still concerned, he was actually unable to control the actions of the landing force, although he was the commander of the detachment, but he was a very pure admiral, and he knew nothing about ground combat.

The commander of the landing force was Major Zhang Linong, commander of the Fifth Marine Battalion.

Major Zhang Linong was sitting in a small boat at this time, and the boat was jolting on the sea, but he was standing firmly at the bow of the boat, with no signs of unsteadyness, and he would not get seasick or anything.

After all, he is different from those landlubbers in the army, although he is a general of the ground forces, he is a serious naval officer, and he is from the maritime academy directly under the navy, but unlike other naval officers, he studied the navigation department, the ship administration department, the naval artillery department and other serious subjects of maritime operations, but he studied the land warfare department.

While other naval officers were learning how to sail and conduct naval battles, he was learning how to conduct ground combat, how to conduct line operations, infantry artillery coordination and other tactics, and most of the content was no different from what the infantry students of the martial arts school on the army side learned.

Of course, there are still many differences in details, such as they pay more attention to landing operations, and gang jumping operations are also subjects they must learn.

So the Marine Corps officers in the Navy, they say they're Navy officers, but in fact they don't know how to control warships at all, but if you want to say they're Army officers, they're serious Navy officers.

At this time, Zhang Linong's boat had already arrived at the shore, and after arriving at the shore, he directly turned over and got off the boat, and jumped directly into the sea water almost half a person high, despite the fact that the long leather shoes on his feet were soaked in the seawater.

At the same time, he was still shouting: "Quick, go ashore!" ”

"Lift all the guns and ammunition, don't soak in the water!"

Although Zhang Linong had already said many times before the war about the precautions for landing, and the soldiers under his command were all veteran marines, and the tactical movements during the landing were quite standard, Zhang Linong still had to say it loudly.

Because their main weapons were flintlock pistols and shotguns, and if the gunpowder was soaked in water, it would be very bad for the battle, and he was not willing to put the guns without them, and then fight the bayonets with the damned Fuso.

No, before the war, the officials at the top repeatedly emphasized that they were not going to fight the Fuso, nor were they going to launch any war of conquest, they were going to suppress pirates, and after the war report was sent back, the report of the Tang Dynasty on this matter should be that my heroic and invincible Tang Navy recently launched an operation to exterminate pirates in the northern waters of Ryukyu Prefecture, and the results were outstanding, conquering and seizing a number of pirate bases, including the Osumi Islands.

The Tang Dynasty is an empire that is invincible in benevolence and righteousness, and the Tang Dynasty is a royal division to protect the interests of the people, not an invading army.

So, we can't say anything about the Fuso anymore, but about pirates!

So once again he shouted loudly: "Quick, get ashore and line up, take out the pirates!" ”