At the same time that Zhang Fei launched a decisive battle against Xiahou Yuan in Wancheng, the flames of war were constantly rising on an island country in the eastern sea that claimed to be a sacred land. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoIt's just that this war is different from the brawl between the small countries on their own island that is called a joint war when the armies composed of dozens or hundreds of people fight each other, and this time it can be regarded as a real war: after the Jiaozhou Navy Division led by Gan Ning took control of the large and small Ryukyus, they went directly north and landed on the south coast of Kyushu Island, one of the "sacred land" island countries, and began to conquer the people on these islands.

While the conqueror will inevitably face resistance from the vanquished, this time it seems to be different. After Gan Ning had no choice but to follow Li Sheng's orders to massacre the people of the island, the revolt on the island declined. The revolt stopped, and those who had been fierce became obedient after seeing hundreds of heads fall to the ground. One by one, they all humbly prostrate at Gan Ning's feet, kissing Gan Ning's feet passionately like a dog.

"Go to ......" Gan Ning really couldn't stand these despicable patting horses, kicked them away, and returned to his ship "Xingba" full of disgust.

This is a huge ship with a length of 30 zhang, a width of 10 zhang, and a height of 7 zhang. Although the name is still the same as the first ship of the Changsha Navy Division, it is very different inside. At that time, the "Xingba" was only a river boat, and it could only operate on the river. Although the wind and waves on the Yangtze River are not small, compared to the current sea, it can only be regarded as pediatric. At this moment, the "Xingba", which exists as the flagship of Ganning, is the first general-class naval ship of the Jiaozhou Naval Division, and it is a warship that exists purely for combat. It was equipped with 16 trebuchets, 64 bed crossbows, and four bronze heavy guns of the latest type, and could carry 450 sailors, including 368 sailors, 32 sail operators, 46 wheelmen, and 4 helmsmen.

At present, the entire Ganning Army is composed of these 20 general-class naval ships, 60 county-level frigates, and 200 ships. Under Gan Ning's planning, the sea ship existed purely as a combat ship, and there was not much food and fresh water stored on the top of the sea ship, but a large amount of ammunition and combat materials were stored. Therefore, although the sea ship is large, it does not have the ability to go to the sea; As for the frigates, they were a kind of fast and careful armed warships, twenty zhang long, five zhang wide, and five zhang high, and they looked completely shrunken sea ships from the outside, but on the inside, they did not have as many attack power and weapons as sea ships. Armed with only thirty-two bed crossbows and two bronze guns, they were a type of warship capable of carrying out long-distance raids at great distances. Although it is inferior to sea ships in terms of attack and defense, it is much stronger than sea ships in terms of speed and combat time. In terms of tactical arrangement, they exist as an important supplement and important escort to the sea vessels; The ship, on the other hand, is a cargo ship with a large belly and a round waist and is only equipped with eight bed crossbows on the deck, which is a ship that serves as the logistics supply of the whole army. Of course, these ships will also be used to transport troops when necessary. Just like Gan Ning's current battle to conquer Wajima.

Yes, Wajima. For this island country, which is called the land of the sunrise by the locals, Gan Ning has his own name. Of course, such a title was not invented by Gan Ning himself, but a name given by Li Sheng directly to this land on the map.

"Wajima, Wa people? Oh, the lord really aptly calls the people here. People are short for widows, and people are appointed for widows. Zhongda, look at these people, all of them are short and obscene, and they really deserve the title of Japanese people. Returning to his cabin, he sat quietly for a while, looking at the blue sea on the other side of the cabin, Gan Ning's heart calmed down like never before, but he smiled and said to Sima, who had been constantly reviewing information on the other side of the cabin.

Hearing Gan Ning laugh like this, the group of dwarves in the port, Sima Yi smiled faintly, this little man was full of disdain, thinking that he also had the same thoughts as Gan Ning about these people. However, his smile was just a casual smile and fleeting. After that faint curl of mouth, he directly took out a piece of information from his arms and put it in front of Gan Ning: "Xingba, I think our battle here may have to stop temporarily." The lord has more important tasks to be accomplished. ”

"Oh? What is it? Gan Ning didn't look at the information directly, but just let it still be there, and asked Sima Yi with interest: "Alas, I said Zhongda." You also know that I am illiterate. So don't embarrass me, just tell me about the lord's orders and the current situation. We've been working together for years, and I know you're not going to lie to me. ”

"Okay." Sima Yi nodded helplessly, but he straightened his face and said in a deep voice: "The order given to us by the lord is that the whole army will return to Xiaoliuqiu and wait for the notice from the lord to enter Jianye. ”

"Entering the construction industry? It's not a joke, is it? Could it be that the lord is already planning to start a war with Soochow? Gan Ning was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Sima Yi in surprise.

"Let's talk about going to war." Sima Yi nodded vaguely, he saw Gan Ning's still puzzled gaze but smiled slightly and said, "The situation in Middle-earth has changed a lot. Sun Quan had betrayed the alliance of the three families in Jiangnan and was attacking Liu Bei with all his might. Right now, Liu Bei is only afraid that he is about to be destroyed. Although after this, in order to digest the new territory and make up for the consumption of the war over the years, it is unlikely that either Sun Quan or Cao Cao will fight openly with the lord in the short term, but the lord is still a little relieved about this. The lord wanted to form an alliance with Sun Quan, because he was worried that he would end up like Liu Bei, so he planned to let us go to Jianye for a while, and also scare Sun Quan. It's a tough trial, and it's a challenge for you and for me. After all, there have not been many troops in recent years, and the opponents they have attacked are only small countries with garbage, so they can't exercise much combat power at all. ”

"That's just as well." Gan Ning nodded understandingly. Since joining Li Shengjun and being appointed as the commander of the Jiaozhou Naval Division, Gan Ning has rarely participated in battles because of the need to build an unprecedented navy. It was not until this year or two, when the ships had been built and the various adaptation training of the sailors had been completed, that he led his army to fight several battles: the Lion City in World War I, Luzon in World War II, and the Japanese Island in World War III. Although a lot of people were killed, the combat strength of this army did not pass any dangerous tests because the enemy was too weak. In his opinion, he and his men were still only sailors who could control warships, not sailors. Therefore, he seemed to have the idea of using Jiangdong to test the combat strength of his army as Sima Yi said, and he agreed very much.

“…… Although Jiangdong's sailors did not come to the sea to turn around, they can be regarded as sailors who have experienced actual battles, and they are definitely much better than those broken ships in the Wa Kingdom. Gan Ning thought, but there was a look of longing: "It seems that we have to do our best this time." He said.

"All your might? If you really go all out, I'm afraid that the lord's inheritance will be ruined by you. Seeing Gan Ning's excited appearance, Sima Yi sighed deeply and poured cold water directly on Gan Ning's enthusiasm.

"Uh...... What do you mean by this? Hearing Sima Yi say this, Gan Ning couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed, and asked with concern.

"The lord means to attack Jianye, to show Jiangdong that we have the strength to balance them, so that they don't think that with a naval army, they can dominate all the way along the Yangtze River. However, since we also have no intention of going to war with Jiangdong head-on, we just want to force Sun Quan to form an alliance with us through a battle to promote peace. Therefore, we can beat Sun Quan, but we can't beat them too badly. If we go all out to attack Sun Quan as you said, with our strength here, I am afraid that we will be able to completely destroy the Jiangdong Naval Army. At that time, Cao's army went south and directly destroyed Jiangdong, but it was not the situation we wanted to see. Sima Yi understood Li Sheng's intentions very thoroughly, and when he said that he was going to get up at this moment, he was also very in Gan Ning's ears.

"I see." Gan Ning nodded, the light in his eyes flickered, and a bit of confidence appeared on his face again.

"That's good." Sima Yi nodded, and then asked Gan Ning: "How do you plan to solve the matter here?" ”

"Aren't you all responsible?" Gan Ning irresponsibly pushed all the matter to Sima Yi: "In addition to taking all the seaships of the class with me, I will only take away half of the county-level frigates and ships." Although our strength at sea will be weakened a lot, do we still need too much strength in the face of those damn sampan fleets here? As for the men and horses on land, I will take only half of them, and the remaining 5,000 will be given to you. I think with the strength of these 5,000 troops, even if there is no way to develop here, it will not suffer too much. Our task now is to occupy this island first, and then use this island as a base to occupy this entire 'Japanese land' step by step. ”

"Is this necessary? In a barbarian land, the struggle of dozens or hundreds of people is called a battle, which is simply rubbish. I don't know why the lord values these places so much. Sima Yi was a little puzzled by the three strategic goals issued by Li Sheng: "The places we have attacked over the years have been nothing but land, and grass in addition to trees. Although the place under your feet is slightly better, it is still much worse than the southern wastelands of Middle-earth. ”

"There's land, a big no-man's land, gold mines, silver mines, saltpeter, timber, that's all we need. Besides, although the people here are a bit rubbish, it is not bad to use these people as slaves under our absolute force guarantee. Anyway, they were slaves in the first place. Gan Ning said with a sneer.

"Well...... Wouldn't it be too cruel? Sima Yi looked at Gan Ning's suddenly gloomy appearance, swallowed his saliva a little unaccustomedly, and asked puzzledly. "This is what Confucianism has always taught, although Sima Yi himself doesn't believe in this very much, but he is used to it, and it will be a little difficult to change it if he listens to it too much."

"How can cruelty be? As long as we show some cold-bloodedness, and then show some kindness appropriately, and let them know that it is better to be slaves with us than to be ordinary commoners, and that they have nothing to do but be slaves, they will probably rush to be slaves. Zhongda, although in terms of intrigue and intrigues, I can't compare to you. But it's your first time going to sea, and you still need to accept more of these iron-blooded things. Remember, it's completely useless to do anything to outsiders. If we want to show kindness, it must be if we are able to inherit our iron will. Only those who have strength can get our goodwill, and others can only obey our orders. Gan Ning put down his words with a serious face.

"This is also ordered by the lord?" Sima Yi listened to Gan Ning's words, and heard a lot of dogmatic existences from them, and immediately understood that a large part of them was not Gan Ning's own thoughts, but what others told Gan Ning. With Gan Ning's identity, who else would dare to tell him this and let him remember it so humbly? Except for Li Sheng, there seems to be no second person.

"Of course......" Gan Ning nodded naturally, and then said a topic about Li Sheng as if he was talking about an interesting story: "It seems that the lord is very disgusted with these people around us, and he has said that he wants to kill them all." Especially for the people on this island, the lord has said more than once that he will cut off their children and grandchildren. The lord once said that the creatures on the island were untamable beasts, and even if they were to be subdued by the strength of the island, they would immediately pretend to be a faithful dog to please you when they found themselves in a vulnerable position, just like the men who crawled up to me today to kiss my feet. But this is only temporary, when they think they are strong, they will bully you at will, even if you have not offended them, even if you have given them countless benefits, they will forget. The lord told me that we should be vigilant and vigilant against these people around us, and that we might as well hand over to them some of the Confucian poetry and teaching, but we should never give them our own craftsman's skills, art of war, and so on. They are beasts, and they are beasts that know how to learn and use tools, and before they have fully obeyed our commands, they will only become more rampant tools of resistance in their hands. ”

"Oh? How could the lord have such an idea? Is this too ......? Sima Yi was pondering how to sigh these words, but he saw Gan Ning's gaze turn around, and that burning gaze contained a killing intent, which made him very uncomfortable. Sima Yi frowned slightly, but relaxed again. He knew that this was the "national policy" set by Li Sheng, and there could be no change in it, and Gan Ning was so aimed at himself, it was nothing more than hoping that he would not say anything more.

"Forget it, the lord can do whatever he wants. These are outsiders anyway, so why should I give them compassion? Sima Yi thought about it, nodded, but said: "Please rest assured, Xingba, I know what I should do here." Even though I only have 5,000 troops at the moment, I can guarantee that when you return, it will be a different story.

"Hehe, then I'll wait and see." Gan Ning smiled, but he was very satisfied. Although he didn't know why Li Sheng asked him to ask this Sima Yi for more advice, he also asked him to pay more attention to this Sima Yi, and reminded Sima Yi from time to time, but he still complied. As a general of the navy that Li Sheng values, he is undoubtedly loyal to Li Sheng.

"You can rest assured. I'm not going to give these guys good fruit to eat. Xingba, if it's a water confrontation, I'm not as good as you. But on this land, you may not be able to expand your territory. Sima Yi smiled gloomily, and his cold appearance made Gan Ning feel a sudden burst in his heart. He looked at Sima Yi's eyes that flashed with this inexplicable light, and understood in his heart that this Mr. Zhongda was afraid that he was calculating something again at this moment.

"Someone might be unlucky again." Gan Ning gloated maliciously, but he didn't care much in his heart: first, these people here are the most hated by Li Sheng, the lord, and he will not worry about what consequences may be caused; Second, with Sima Yi as a person who reassures him, he no longer worries about anything. Sima Yi has a lot of ideas, which Gan Ning has a deep experience, and Sima Yi's performance in the past few years has made him regard Sima Yi as a person who is on the same level as Kong Ming's military division and Pang Tong's military division.

After arranging for three days, and then handing over all the matters related to the attack on Wadao to Sima Yi, Gan Ning returned south with his army. Because it was the end of October, and the northwest wind was already whistling, under the action of the huge wind, the warship was moving very fast, and in only six days, the fleet had already arrived at Xiaoliuqiu.

At this moment, Xiaoliuqiu, in addition to the nearly 10,000 inhabitants of the island, has become a complete barracks. Not only did the number of soldiers and horses on the island increase to 30,000, but even the number of ships in the harbor increased to 600. Countless figures are running on the huge island, and countless grains and grass materials are being carried here, which is a busy scene of the approaching war.

Although he received the news from Sima Yi that his lord was about to take action against Soochow, and although he already knew that the starting point of this action was in Xiaoliuqiu, but he had not really seen it with his own eyes, Gan Ning still couldn't imagine how huge the current arrangement was.

"It's dispatched, so many men and horses, plus my warships here, don't say that I just want to teach Dongwu a lesson, even if I kill it like this and destroy Dongwu." Gan Ning thought so, but shook his head gently, a little strange in his heart: "The lord is like this, it's really a bit big." ”

But having said that, Gan Ning doesn't have much of an opinion on this. He also understands that Li Sheng will be so overkill: when facing a heavyweight opponent who is famous and difficult to lose in a few years, how can he be careful and cautious.

"As the Lord always said to us, even if the enemy is a rabbit, we must treat it as a tiger." Inadvertently, Gan Ning thought of this.

It was already mid-November back in Xiaoliuqiu, and Gan Ning had received the latest information about the world: Liu Bei had been destroyed - in Xiao County, the combined forces of Cao Cao and Sun Quan had strangled Guan Yu; In Linying, Liu Bei, who was seriously injured, vomited blood and died when he learned the news of Guan Yu's killing; In Wancheng, Zhang Fei launched a near-suicidal attack on Cao Cao's army for the sake of his old promise. Now Wancheng is occupied by Cao Cao, Sun Quan has Huainan and Xiyang, and the only one still controlled by the "Liu Bei" army Xiangyang, with the demise of Liu Bei, Zhang Fei's advice and Liu Bei's successor Liu Feng dedicated it to the lord Li Sheng, in exchange for the lord's promise to protect the rest of Liu Bei's army. To this end, Li Sheng sent Changsha's Pang Tong army into Xiangyang, and then confronted Cao Cao's army in the south and Sun Quan's army in the west. Cao Cao and Sun Quan, who formed a short-lived alliance due to the occupation of Xiangyang, seem to have had thoughts against the lord.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Gan Ning looked at this information but frowned very quickly, "How did the lord arrange this?" He spoke out to inquire about the envoy who had come here, Zhang Song, who had been appointed by Li Sheng as the new division of the Jiaozhou Legion. I don't know when it has become a common practice for Li Shengjun to take the state as the leading general of the army with a military division by his side, except for people like Pang Tong and Sima Yi who are themselves military advisers, from Nanzhong to Hanzhong. Although Gan Ning could feel that the lord did this with a little bit of the intention of supervising the army, it was a fact that the army had become easier to lead, and he had become more reassured.

"Although Cao Cao and Sun Quan are both powerful together, the lord can't back down, and he doesn't want to back down." Zhang Song, who had an ugly appearance, had a glint in his eyes and said such a thing.

"How so?" Gan Ning asked: "Cao Cao and Sun Quan are much stronger than us at the same time, and a temporary retreat is nothing. ”

"Nothing? That's just the general opinion. Zhang Song shook his head: "The importance of Xiangyang, I know you even if I don't say it." It turned out that Xiangyang was in the hands of our closest ally Liu Bei, and we could bear it somewhat, but now that Liu Bei is dead, whether it is in the hands of Cao Cao or Sun Quan, we can't bear it. It is impossible for Liu Bei to attack us, but with the ambition and strength of Cao Cao and Sun Quan, it is very possible. Once Xiangyang fell into their hands, Shiyuan's room for maneuver north of Jingzhou was very small, and Jiangling could be captured by Cao Cao and Sun Quan at any time, and once Jiangling lost it, the connection between Jingnan and Jiaozhou and Yizhou would be cut off, which was an unacceptable problem for us. As far as the lord himself is concerned, it is simply unacceptable to surrender the city without engaging the enemy when the enemy's army arrives. And for now, even if Cao Cao and Sun Quan come together, we have enough means to deal with them. We must fight a battle with Cao Cao and Sun Quan, use the war to prove our strength, and let all those who despise us learn a lesson, only if we defeat the enemy, then we will be truly regarded as a powerful force by the people of the world. ”

"Is that so? In other words, this battle is a crucial battle for us? Gan Ning looked at Zhang Song: "In that case, what is the lord's arrangement for this battle?" ”

"Strategically, Sun Quan is to promote peace, and Cao Cao is mainly to win and win Yong." Zhang Song squinted his big eyes and said Li Sheng's arrangement with a smile: "In general, it is to defend the east and fight for the west: the so-called east attack is based on your naval army, enter the Yangtze River, and approach Jianye to threaten Sun Quan; The middle guard is the task of Pang Tong's military division, which is to keep Xiangyang by all means; As for the western dispute, it was to attack Cao Cao's Hanzhong expeditionary army under the condition that Cao Cao attacked Hanzhong first, and fought for Guanzhong according to the situation. Of course, fighting for Guanzhong is only what can be done in the most optimistic situation. Neither the lord nor Cao Cao nor Sun Quan thought that now was the time for the final battle. So the battle will be fierce, but it won't last long. ”

"Then the part I'm responsible for is how to approach Jianye and give Sun Quan a big surprise?" Gan Ning raised his eyebrows.

"Well, that's pretty much it. Anyway, what the lord asks you is to weaken the ability of the Jiangdong Navy as seriously as possible. Of course, there is a question of degree in the middle, which you need to grasp yourself. Zhang Song told Gan Ning very clearly: "I am not proficient in water warfare, so it all depends on you." ”

"I understand, from Zhongda to you, isn't everything like this?" Gan Ning smiled helplessly, and then asked, "When did the battle start?" ”

"It's going to be a little while." Zhang Song replied with a smile, with an inexplicable glint in his eyes: "As you know, there are still many lip service things that need to be completed before the war. Although it is impossible to avoid a war with Cao Cao and Sun Quan, things are still very important to say before this. In Changsha, General Zheng Ping had a tight headache. Zhang Song said that the corners of his mouth curled slightly, revealing a trace of helplessness: "Seeing the enemy's constant provocation in front of his eyes, he obviously has the ability to destroy the other party, but he is asked not to attack, this kind of depression is not something that everyone can bear." ”

"That's right." Gan Ning smiled understandingly: "It seems that I am more relaxed here." But I'm really looking forward to the day when the war begins. Gan Ning looked at the sky outside the window leisurely.

"How?" Zhang Song was puzzled.

"Hehe, I want to see what kind of expression Sun Quan had before our fleet came to the city. You know, the two most powerful weapons on our ship haven't been used once. ”

"Oh......?" Zhang Song was surprised and puzzled for a while, "What kind of weapon is Gan Ning talking about?" He didn't know, because under the protection of Li Sheng, the development of Li Sheng's Jiaozhou Navy has always been out of confusion, not to mention outsiders, even Zhang Song himself doesn't know what kind of weapons Gan Ning's Navy is equipped with nearby. He only knew what Li Sheng had told him, that the strength of the water army in Jiaozhou was piled up with money - and that was right. Although he was curious, since Gan Ning didn't say it, Zhang Song didn't dare to ask.

In this way, the matter of Xiaoliuqiu was settled, and the preparations were all sitting in an orderly manner, and everything was to be said after the negotiations between the three parties broke down. For Gan Ning, it was a matter for the lord and the military advisors, and he didn't need to pay so much attention to it at the moment in Xiaoliuqiu, he just needed to do his own thing well and wait for the order. Of course, while waiting, he couldn't help but wonder how the three parties, Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and the lord, who had an intricate relationship, talked about it during the talks.

"I guess, I won't be like I used to be the boss, slapping the table and glaring at each other when I didn't say a word. The people in charge of the negotiation should be Confucians, maybe not like this. Gan Ning thought. Sometimes he would involuntarily have some malicious thoughts in his heart: "What does it look like when they slap the table and stare at them?" Wouldn't it be hilarious? For this, Gan Ning seems to have some expectations.