"Drive", "drive", "drive".

On the official road leading to Nanzhili in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the hooves sounded like thunder, and more than 100 soldiers of the Ming army frantically whipped the war horses under the seats, and galloped towards the south.

Along the way, whether it was officials, scholars, traders, dart masters, or even the Ming soldiers and post guards who summoned the news, as long as they were not blind or did not know how to read, they all hid to the side in fright, because many of the more than 100 Ming soldiers had order flags on their backs.

What "eight hundred miles of urgency", "Qin ordered to pass the decree", "solemn avoidance", etc., people who know the words know that this is the team sent by the emperor to pass the decree, and it is also a particularly urgent kind, who dares to stand in the way!

Zheng Zhihu was quite depressed at this time, because as soon as the emperor heard that Dongying was going to send troops to forcibly occupy the only port near the Ryukyu capital in February, he immediately ordered the celebrant to take people to 800 miles to expedite, change horses without changing people, and rush to Fujian to deliver the decree.

The emperor's meaning is to let them ride to Fujian, he doesn't dare to sit on a boat, besides, Zhang Bin also explained, don't let outsiders know that they have a fast amazing steamer for the time being, Zheng Zhihu can only abandon the boat and ride a horse, escorting Fang Zhenghua all the way to the south.

The post stations along the way did not dare to slack off, that is, they were offered as ancestors, food and shelter were the best, and the horses were prepared for them early, they just had to eat, sleep, and hurry.

The problem is that it's too cold this day, it's the New Year's moon at this time, the cold wind is biting, Zheng Zhihu feels that his nose is about to be blown off.

Fortunately, the further south he went, the higher the temperature, and after entering the Nanzhili realm, he felt that he finally had a little heat on his body, and he was no longer like in the north, and his whole body was numb from the cold.

At this time, the temperature in the east has gradually warmed up, and Zhang Bin has already received the news from the sea, the emperor has ordered him to send troops to clean up the Satsuma Domain, and he is nervously preparing for the expedition.

At this time, countless grains and grasses are gathering in Jilong Harbor, the last ten Weiyuan battleships produced last year have also been launched, the officers and men of the naval division are practicing nervously in the inland waters of the Taijiang River, and the Qi family army is also on the way back to Dongfan.

On this day, it was already the time for Zhang Bin to promise the Ryukyu envoy to give a reply, and Lin Dehong, the purple scarf doctor of the Ryukyu Kingdom, came early to ask for a meeting, and this time Zhang Bin met him in the study.

Lin Dehong still lay on the ground as soon as he entered the study and begged: "Your Excellency, please send troops to save Ryukyu." ”

Zhang Bin smiled bitterly and said: "Lord Lin, get up, the official didn't say that he would not send troops." ”

Lin Dehong thought he was perfunctory, because he had been secretly observing in Dayuan City for the past few days, and there was no sign of sending troops here at all, if the governor was unwilling to send troops, Ryukyu would be saved.

He still lay on the ground and pleaded bitterly: "Your Excellency the Governor, Ryukyu has always regarded the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain for more than 200 years, and has been paying tribute and being obedient to the abnormal, please be merciful and save the Ryukyus." ”

Zhang Bin shook his head helplessly and said: "Isn't this official waiting for the emperor's will, as soon as the holy decree arrives, this official will immediately send troops." Lord Lin, don't worry, the holy decree is coming soon. ”

This is becoming more and more like a perfunctory, Lin Dehong is lying there in despair, not knowing what to say.

Seeing this, Zhang Bin thought about it, and simply got up and said: "Lord Lin, the official is afraid of you, let's go, the official will take you to Fuzhou to receive the order, so as not to worry about you here." ”

When Lin Dehong heard this, he immediately raised his head and said excitedly: "Lord Governor, is what you said true, is the emperor's will really coming?" ”

Zhang Bin stepped forward and helped him up, and said warmly: "Of course it's true, let's go, let's go to Fuzhou together and wait, the team that passed the decree is estimated to be able to arrive in Fuzhou in two days." ”

After that, he beckoned Zhang Cha and others to come over and make arrangements, and ordered someone to invite Lu Xiangsheng over, and then rushed to the port with them.

At this time, the ten newly launched Weiyuan battleships had slowly approached the port dock, seeing such a huge battleship, Lin Dehong trembled with excitement, he finally believed that the Governor had plans to send troops, these ten giant ships alone were enough to deter the Satsuma Domain, he had never seen such a large battleship in Dongying, half the size of the battleship had never been seen.

Zhang Bin directly took Lu Xiangsheng and Lin Dehong to Fuzhou on the Weiyuan battleship, and then arranged to receive the order.

Zhang Bin is ready to organize a grand event to receive the order, one is to show the momentum of the Ming Dynasty in front of the envoys of the Ryukyu State, and the other is to let the people of Fuzhou City see that he, the governor, is going to Ryukyu to expel the Japanese and show the prestige of the country.

The place to receive the order was set outside the north gate of Fuzhou City, and he ordered someone to clean the open space outside the north gate early, and found the smoothest place as soon as possible, and threw on the red carpet on the ground, and specially recruited four guards near Fuzhou to guard Wantun.

The next day near noon, the north gate of Fuzhou City outside the flag display, the voice of the people is boiling, 10,000 guards directly from the city gate along the official road to discharge a few miles away, neat, immense, on both sides of the official road is gathered hundreds of thousands of ordinary people.

Reading out the holy decree, this matter, few people have seen it, the people of Fuzhou City who know the news have almost rushed over, the entire north of Fuzhou City is simply a sea of people, how far the guards are discharged, how far the people are discharged, on both sides of the official road, the places where people can stand are crowded with people who come to see the excitement.

Zhang Bin took almost all the officials in Fuzhou City to stand neatly on the side of the red carpet and wait, he was ruthless in order to put on a scene, Fuzhou City went up to the left and right political envoys, down to the Jiupin officials, as long as they could come, all of them were pulled over by him, and hundreds of officials were pulled over by him.

Lin Dehong stood behind Zhang Bin, stunned and dumbfounded, you must know that there are only dozens of officials in the entire Ryukyu Kingdom, and there are only more than 1,000 soldiers, this governor, just pulling the civil officials of Fuzhou City over is hundreds, just recruiting a few guards at random is tens of thousands of soldiers, you know, he can manage dozens of cities in the two provinces, dozens of guards, how many civil and military generals and how many Ming soldiers under him!

The lively people scared him even more, and there were not so many people in the whole Ryukyus, and at this time he was truly convinced of the rumors left by his ancestors: the strength of the Ming Dynasty was enough to rely on the Ryukyus.

Not long after, there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and the team that passed the decree finally arrived, Zhang Bin hurriedly raised his hands and pressed down, and the original discussion like rolling thunder actually subsided with his pressure, and after a while, the entire north gate was as quiet as usual when there was no one!

Fang Zhenghua was also taken aback at this time, although Zhang Bin had already asked people to wait at the nearest post station, telling him that the scene of receiving the order would be relatively large, but he didn't expect that the scene of receiving the order would be so big, the people lined up for several miles, and there were crowds of people everywhere, and this meeting was the first time he had seen it.

However, he was used to announcing the decree, and as soon as he saw the red carpet in front of him and the waiting officials, he instantly entered the state.

There were still more than ten steps away from the red carpet, so he raised his hand unhurriedly, and ordered the eunuchs accompanying him to turn over and dismount with him, arrange his robes, put out the guard of honor, and then took out the holy decree, held it high above his head, and said loudly: "The holy decree has arrived, and Zhang Bin, the governor of Fuguang, has received the decree." ”

With a "bang", Zhang Bin immediately knelt on the ground with hundreds of officials, and then the surrounding people also knelt down one by one.

Fang Zhenghua immediately stepped forward with the holy decree, stood in the middle of the red carpet, slowly unfolded the holy decree, and recited it aloud.

At this time, the people around didn't even dare to come out, and they all held their breath and listened carefully, and Fang Zhenghua's shrill voice almost spread throughout the audience.

The meaning of the holy decree was to condemn Dongying's invasion of the Ming Domain's Ryukyu Kingdom, and at the same time ordered Zhang Bin, the governor of Fuguang, to lead an army to drive away the Dongying invaders.

The people present finally understood that it was the vassals of the Ming Dynasty who bullied the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor asked the governor to fight the Japanese invaders.

After the holy decree was recited, Zhang Bin took the lead in shouting long live from the mountain, and then, the officials, guards and ordinary people present shouted with the mountain, and the momentum instantly soared into the sky, beating the Japanese invaders, and no one did not support it!

Lin Dehong was already excited at this time, this scene, this momentum, the governor was really going to send troops, otherwise, he would not be able to explain to the emperor and the people present.

However, what made him strange was that Zhang Bin did not send troops immediately after receiving the holy decree, he first accompanied the eunuch to have a good meal, and then entertained him to rest for a night, and the next day he respectfully sent the family away, and then took him to live in the Dusi Yamen, and there was no movement!

What does this mean?

Seeing that it was about to be February, Ryukyu was more than a thousand miles away from Fuzhou, and he floated on the sea for more than ten days before he floated over.

Lin Dehong was anxious like an ant on a hot pot, begging every day, begging every day, but the Governor kept telling him to wait, wait, wait, wait.

Finally, when there were three days left before February, Zhang Bin directly ordered someone to greet him and set off.

Or those ten huge ships, except for the governor's personal guard and the governor of Fujian, there were no others, and the group actually set off like this!

Lin Dehong began to beat the drum in his heart again at this time, these ten giant ships are indeed mighty, and there are indeed many artillery pieces on them, but there are more than ten warships in the Satsuma Domain, and they have more foot soldiers, just like this, ten giant ships in the past, can they be beaten away, what if they want people to send thousands of foot soldiers to land, these ten giant ships will be killed by 3,000 Ming troops, the last time the Satsuma Domain invaded the Ryukyus, there were 5,000 foot soldiers alone, if they want people to go ashore, can they still fight?

Of course, Zhang Bin couldn't rush over with these ten Weiyuan battleships, the reason why he was waiting in Fuzhou was waiting for news from Yu Chenglong and Qi Jiajun, anyway, the Dongfan Guard was almost ready, as long as Yu Chenglong arrived with Qi's army, they could set off, so he was not in a hurry at all.

Just when Lin Dehong thought that Zhang Bin would just take ten giant ships to support the Ryukyus, the fleet walked but suddenly turned south, and then drove in the direction of Dongfan, at this time Lin Dehong really wanted to cry without tears, look at the speed of this giant ship, if he didn't stop all the way, he could still reach Ryukyu Island in two or three days, but people suddenly turned a corner and went back to Dongfan!

He didn't dare to urge the governor at this time, everyone said that he had sent troops, and you were still urging him, and he made them angry, and suddenly he didn't go again, and it was over.

The fleet didn't travel long, and arrived at the Dongfan Guard Chicken Coop Harbor before it was too late that afternoon, Lin Dehong was strange again, the city of San Salvatore at the entrance of the Chicken Coop Harbor was obviously different from the castle of Geranza, this is definitely not a big man, why did the Governor come here?

He didn't doubt it for long, and after entering the Chicken Coop Harbor, he understood, my God, the Chicken Coop Harbor was already full of warships at this time, and there were more than 60 of them as huge as the Weiyuan Battleship, and there were more than 200 wheels, neatly arranged there, just like the soldiers waiting to go out!

It turns out that this is the case, it turns out that the governor has already been ready, and it turns out that there are not only ten warships on the expedition, but more than two hundred, this strength, it is enough to directly bulldoze the Satsuma Domain, and it is not a matter at all to hold Ryukyu Island!

At this time, he was finally relieved, what the ancestor said was indeed right, the strength of the Ming Dynasty was enough to rely on Ryukyu.

Zhang Bin didn't stay in the Dongfan defender for long, he just took Lu Xiangsheng, Lin Dehong and a group of guards to get off the boat and chat with Yu Chenglong, Qi Yuangong, Chen Hui and other generals for a while, and then boarded the Zhenyuan cruiser as the flagship, waved his hand, and decisively ordered: "Go!" ”

Twenty Zhenyuan cruisers, fifty Weiyuan battleships, and two hundred wheels lined up in a neat queue, slowly sailing away from Jilong Harbor and heading east to Ryukyu.

If you want to say that the border of the Ryukyus, it is actually more than 200 miles away from the east, but the Ryukyus is a long and narrow archipelago, stretching for more than 2,000 miles, and its main island, the Ryukyu Island, is just in the middle of the archipelago.

The huge fleet sailed for a day and a night, and did not arrive in the waters near the Ryukyus until about midnight the next afternoon, and seeing that the Ryukyu Island was about to arrive, Zhang Bin suddenly ordered the fleet to deviate from the course and sail north, what does this mean?

Lin Dehong was not surprised at all at this time, here, he was already familiar with it, the direction of the fleet was his hometown in the Ryukyus, Kume Island, that is, Naha Tang Ying, Kume Island was less than 100 miles away from Naha Port, he thought that Zhang Bin was going to stop here for a while, and asked him to inform King Shangfeng to come to Naha Port to greet him.

The governor of the Ming Dynasty is the envoy of the Celestial Empire, and the king of the vassal country must at least kneel at the gate of the capital to greet him, and this time the governor has brought a large army to support, and His Majesty the King has walked an extra twenty or thirty miles, and it is not too much to come to Naha Port to greet him.

Naturally, the Governor could not be allowed to speak up about such a matter, so he took the initiative to go up and begged the Governor to send a fast boat to take him to the port of Naha, so that he could inform His Majesty that he had come to meet him.

When Zhang Bin heard this, he was obviously stunned for a moment, but he still let a wheel come up and sent Lin Dehong to Naha Port.

Actually, he didn't mean this at all, he wanted to leave most of the warships in the west of Kume Island, hide his strength, paralyze the Satsuma Domain, and let them send the main force over to fight with him, and cripple the Satsuma Domain!