In the eighth year of Tongzhi, August 9, 1869 in the Western calendar, Yilan, Taiwan.

In just a few months, Liang Jiajun built barracks, warehouses, training grounds and other facilities for the troops on a wasteland.

In this combat operation, the whole army of the Liang family army was dispatched, because Young Master Liang firmly believed that the battlefield was the best training ground; Only a few guards were left at the various bases of the Liang Jiajun, and the rest of the troops were transported to Yilan, Taiwan in batches; All of a sudden, there were only a dozen square kilometers of Yilan flat land in total, and people were buzzing; These soldiers are all young and bloody men, and they will inevitably be noisy together, so frightened that the Taiwanese natives hidden in the mountains and forests suddenly scattered, ran away without a trace, and never dared to appear near Yilan again.

At this time, Taiwan has not been developed, there are very few Han people on the island, and they are concentrated in the Kaohsiung area of Tainan, and there are some in Taipei and Keelung, there is no industry on the island, agriculture is not developed, the fields are mostly mountainous, and there are no people in the east of Taiwan, because the entire eastern part of the island of Taiwan is mountainous, and there are only three relatively flat small areas of mountains in Yilan, Hualien and Taitung; Like the mountains of Qiongzhou Island, these mountains are not yet ripe land and cannot be cultivated for agriculture, and preparations such as land leveling and ditching must be carried out to turn these mountains into farmland.

It was a long process to wait for the transportation of troops and supplies on the island, and Young Master Liang ordered the mountain soldiers and engineer troops to go to Hualien with their tools, and build an advance base in Hualien as well; In the future, we will take some labor from Japan to open up the wasteland, and use these two places to become self-sufficient in grain and vegetables, and also save the trouble of long-distance transportation.

After the defeat of Japan, the entire island of Qiongzhou will also be occupied. Because after the war against Japan, the strength of the Liang family army could no longer be hidden, and there were many foreigners in Ryukyu and Japan, and they would definitely be known to them; Since you can't hide it, you don't need to hide it, you have to show the edge that should be exposed, even if the Qing court knows about it, what can you do? Occupy Qiongzhou Island, the imperial court is estimated to be calm, and the Qing Dynasty does not have a decent navy, and it can't be fought across a strait, not to mention that Qiongzhou Island is a wild place for exiled prisoners, and it won't hurt if you lose the imperial court.

As for the labor force, there are many Japanese, and the Japanese are known for their hard work and hard work, so it is useful to let them come to Hainan to farm and cultivate the land.

The Liang family army will definitely continue to expand its army in the future, so what things do you need to raise soldiers? Nothing more than military salaries, food, weapons. So food supply is also very important; The more troops there are, the more food and materials they need, and it is very troublesome to buy them from Guangzhou alone, but now China's grain is a scarce material, which attracts people's attention, and it is easy for people to pinch the key points and be controlled by others when buying large quantities, and it is best to be self-sufficient.

It was not until the end of August that the troops and supplies would be delivered, thanks to the large expansion of the Liang family's fleet, and the transportation capacity had increased several times compared with before. These more than 70,000 people and horses all came by sea, which was also a great test for the logistics department of the Liang family, and Young Master Liang was also glad that he had a capable fifth uncle to help him wholeheartedly.

On September 1, 1869, Liang Jiajun's combat operations against Japan officially began.

The intelligence bureau and the special operations team set off first and went to the Ryukyus to conduct reconnaissance; Subsequently, the special task force divided into several groups and entered the Ryukyus by transport ship, and the special combat team was picked up in the Ryukyus.

After the special task force had monitored several key positions on the main island of the Ryukyus, the 2nd Brigade led by the 3rd Iron Bridge would set off under the escort of two wooden sail warships and officially begin the attack on the main island of the Ryukyus.

In fact, after the special mission was in place, with the strength of more than 4,000 people, they could take the Ryukyu Kingdom, but in order to let the Japanese on the island see the strength of the attacking force, the second brigade had to carry out a landing operation in a decent manner; However, fortunately, with the special task force as an internal response, there should not be many losses in this operation.

During this period, the navy will patrol the waters between Ryukyu and Japan, cut off Japan's intelligence sources on the Ryukyus, reconnoiter the actions of the Japanese navy, and ambush the periphery after the Japanese army departs, waiting for the right time to rush over to encircle and destroy the Japanese navy.

Therefore, the task of the navy is very heavy, at the beginning of the patrol, you have to fly the flag of the British navy, pretending to be British, anyway, there are also a large number of British naval instructors on those battleships, after the Japanese Navy and Army are dispatched, one battleship must be left to pretend to be a British battleship as a spectator, follow the Japanese fleet, and send a signal to the ambushed Liangjia naval fleet at the right time, so that they can carry out the encirclement action.

In the headquarters of the Yilan base, Commander Liang said to political commissar Liang Haowen: "Fifth uncle, the task of the navy this time is relatively heavy, so I want to command the operation on the navy side, and you will command the main force of the army."

Liang Haowen was very happy to hear it, he didn't have a turn to fight Vietnam last time, but he didn't expect to be able to command the main force this time, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was not good: "It's too dangerous for you to go to the navy warship, the navy is not as good as the army, and the shells don't have long eyes, so you should stay on land safely."

"Now how can the navy of small Japan have any strength, the key is that our navy is all recruits, even the deputy commander of the navy Liang Jianshe is also a recruit, all relying on those British instructors is not necessarily reliable, I still go to keep an eye on the point in person, for the sake of safety, I just bring more guard troops", Master Liang really wants to see what is going on in the current naval operations, after all, no one has ever seen naval battles in the nineteenth century.

Liang Haowen is not easy to object to this reason, he has never fought before, this time the battle is so big, it must be a lie to say that there is no pressure in his heart, in order to ensure the victory of the war, how can there be no risk at all?

"Okay, then you go and command the navy, bring two guard battalions over, and arrange some guards on each battleship, so that there is a good response."

"Huh? Won't it, with two guard battalions? Fifth uncle, we have a total of twelve warships, and we have to leave two in the port of Ryukyu, and we can't fit so many people on board, this is a battleship, not a transport ship."

"Well, then bring a battalion, no less" Liang Haowen insisted again and again.

"Okay, I've served you, alas, fifth uncle, you have to order the two warships left in the harbor, after discovering that the Japanese navy is coming, immediately evacuate and flee to the open sea, if the Japanese navy pursues, let them flee in the direction of our ambush, well, you can fight while fleeing, and try the strength of the Japanese navy."

"Okay, this is important, I'll give them orders."

Everything is ready, just wait for a fight!