The Jeju Island battle plan was to focus on the naval fleet, and this time the navy finally had a chance to make a name for itself. Originally, the army also wanted to take a kick in this 'war of annihilation', but Sima Shu handed over the task of landing operations to the newly established Marine Corps on the grounds that the army was not suitable for amphibious operations.

The Marines are an outlier in the eyes of the Army officers, and in their opinion, fighting on land is the work of the Army, but now they are sticking a bar, how can they not annoy the Army?

This is also the reason why the army generals look at the Marines horizontally and vertically unpleasantly. However, no one could help it, with the emperor's backing, the Marines actually inflated like balloons. Today, the Marine Corps is directly under the leadership of the Privy Council, and after two years of development, the Marine Corps has a five-compartment Marine Corps, plus a total of 20,000 shore personnel.

It has become a brand new branch of the armed forces in addition to the army and navy.

Moreover, it is expected that with the increase in the number of cross-sea operations, the number of Marine Corps sorties will become more frequent and the number of troops will increase in the future. This can't be helped, the Marine Corps is indeed a special branch of troops that is more adapted to sea transportation and landing operations than ordinary land forces, at least they will not get seasick at sea.

Jeju Island is located at the entrance to the Korean Strait, which guards the passage of the Korean Strait and is also an important springboard for attacking the Japanese mainland and the Samhan Peninsula. In Sima Shu's future colonization plan, the capture of Jeju Island became the most important part of the whole plan.

The whole fleet took the 'Weihaiwei' as the flagship, with two No. 1 Fu ships and five No. 2 Fu ships as the main warships, and the whole team sailed on the sea in a wheel-like formation. They all sailed at a speed of 6 knots.

Behind the Second Fleet was the First Fleet, with Fukubune as the main battleship, and all the transport ships, which were loaded with marines and various military supplies.

Great Heavenly Venerable bless! Along the way, the fleet appeared in the Samhan Sea without danger, and two days later, when the sun rose and shone on the deck. In the distance, a large verdant island has emerged on the surface of the sea - it is Jeju Island

On the deck of the Weihaiwei, the lookout post reported: "10 nautical miles ahead of Jeju Island." ”

When Zhu Zheng, the governor of the Second Fleet, heard this, he hurriedly supported his waist with one hand and held a telescope in the other, looking at Jeju Island exposed on the sea in the distance. I couldn't help but be excited.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Achievements are only in the present day! Herald! Each ship shall abide by its own duties, and shall not go out without authorization, and those who violate the order will be killed! ”

"No!" The guards standing behind him hurriedly passed the order to the non-commissioned officer in charge of the flag, and through the other side passed it on to other ships.

The sea is calm. The surrounding sea is vast and blue. A large green island lies across the sea. Mt. Halla looms. As far as the eye can see, there is hardly a single boat in sight, only a few fishing boats. Seeing such a large fleet coming, they took refuge.

Zhu Zheng took a deep breath of the fresh sea breeze in the morning, and then looked at the huge fleet following behind him, and a sense of pride arose. Now that the navy is finally a little bit old, I think that at the beginning, he and a group of fishermen who had just put on the navy uniforms in Weihaiwei stared at all kinds of warships and new tactics It was really unbearable to look back.

During that time, Zhu Zheng led a group of admirals who had just been transferred from the army, holding the "Naval Drill Manual" and the "Naval Elementary Tactics Reader" compiled by the emperor himself. But now in retrospect, Zhu Zheng realized that it was this hard time that brought the Navy to where it is today......

Now he stood on the bridge, the dragon flag symbolizing imperial power and the fleet flag representing the Second Fleet fluttering on the mast of the Weihaiwei. Every time he looked up and saw two flags, he couldn't help but sound the words of the emperor before departure: "Zhu Aiqing, I hope that in the future, this ship can raise the flag representing yourself!" ”

Seeing that the fighter plane was mature, Zhu Zheng coughed majestically and gave an order: "Order all ships to prepare for battle." Heighten your observations! ”

After giving the order, he turned his telescope to Jeju Island, which was getting closer and closer.

The appearance of Jeju Island is very regular, almost oval-shaped. With the exception of a few places, there is no broken and rugged coastline, and terrain such as bays, capes, and headlands are very rare. Flat sandy beaches everywhere. At the center of the island is Mt. Halla, which is 1,190 meters above sea level. The whole of Jeju Island is a typical volcanic island.

Figuratively speaking, Jeju Island is like lava squeezed out of Hallasan Mountain and spread on the surface of the sea.

Although Jeju Island is the same size as the Shandong Peninsula, it has a subtropical climate due to the warm current passing through it, and the temperature drops to 0 degrees Celsius even though it snows in winter. Overall it's still moist and warm.

Winters here are warmer than in Shandong, with an area of more than 500 square kilometers to accommodate a large population, and fresh water resources are abundant. In the thirties of the twentieth century, the island maintained a population of almost 200,000 under extremely underdeveloped conditions. In the 21st century, Jeju Island has a permanent population of 550,000. Not counting the large number of migrants who travel to the island every year, the carrying capacity of the island is extremely potential.

The voyage of the fleet was directed towards Seongsan in the northeast of Jeju Island. Because Jeju Island is a volcanic island, it does not have a natural harbor with good conditions, especially the shelter from the wind. After repeated investigations, the Navy Staff Division finally chose the landing site in Chengshan.

Although the conditions of Shiroyama are relatively average, the port is surrounded by the Ushijima barrier in the northeast and the Seongsan in the southeast, which can not only shield the wind and waves, but also place forts on it to control the entire port. The Department of Naval Staff believes that it is appropriate to locate the naval military base here in the future.

The fleet headed east of Jeju Island, and the lookout post shouted, "There is a beacon fire!" ”

Even without reporting from the lookout, Ju Zheng saw black smoke rising from the island, black smoke rising from the small islands around Jeju Island, and then, east of Jeju Island, in the direction of Seongsan, black smoke also rose into the sky.

Although the state of Hu on the island is weak and has few people, it is also equipped with thousands of troops, and in the past two years, with the continuous patrol and training of the Dajin Navy in this sea area, the people on the island have been on alert.

"Send out the scout ship!"

Immediately after that, the Cangshan ship, which was in charge of the reconnaissance mission, began to conduct a comprehensive reconnaissance of Jeju Island, and in addition to discovering that the islands had lit alarm fires one after another, there was no interception by the naval fleet.

According to the information obtained from the outpost, Zhu Zheng judged that the naval divisions near Jeju Island were very weak and could not take the initiative to go to sea to intercept them, and they mainly relied on the defense troops of each island to resist the defenses, so they would not cause much hindrance to the landing operation.

"Ready to land."

The entire fleet was guided by the Cangsan boat in front of it, so the fleet could safely and boldly pass through the islands and reefs around Jeju Island and head straight for Seongsan.

Across the street from Shiroyama is Ushijima. A natural mooring is formed in the middle. If a fort is set up in each of these two places, it can effectively defend the harbor. The disadvantage is that the mooring area is limited and the shelter is not large. Only a small number of vessels can be berthed. The overall mooring and shelter conditions are not good.

Zhu Zheng shook his head after observing: "It's a pity, this place can't moor the Grand Fleet." Alas, this alone will greatly affect the strategic value of Jeju Island, and if there is a port like Weihaiwei here, it will pose a strategic threat to Samhan and the Wa Kingdom. ”

Jeju Island is among the typhoon influences and has always been known for its "strong winds". The island lacked a good natural haven, and it was difficult for large fleets to anchor safely, so the naval landing in Jeju was chosen to start in late autumn and early winter.

According to the battle plan, the Second Fleet covered the landing of the two Marines in the area of Pheseong Mountain, while the First Fleet and the First Fleet assembled in the sea east of Jeju Island and stood by as a reserve force for the campaign.

The main fleet under Zhu Zheng's hands consisted of the "Weihaiwei" fourth-class battleship and five No. 1 Fu ships, and a total of 6,000 marines from the hatchback who landed in advance, and nearly 50 Fu ships of various types were used as landing ships to follow the main fleet in action.

The sea was calm, and after discovering the indigenous forces on the island, the main artillery of the fleet was four nautical miles from the eastern sea of Jeju Island, and the whole fleet began to turn due east, and in the oppressive atmosphere before the war, this fierce fleet began to approach the predetermined landing site to implement fire coverage.

All of a sudden, the eastern part of Jeju Island was filled with heavy artillery fire, and the flames of shell explosions could be seen on the sea for miles away, and the Second Fleet launched an attack at the scheduled time.

"Order the Marines to attack!" After the artillery attack, Zhu Zheng issued an order for landing operations.

The local indigenous soldiers on Jeju Island ran away under artillery fire, and the battle was over before it even began. When the Marines landed on Fangshan, there was no one on the entire ground except for the honor guard discarded by the defenders. When Marine Governor Wang Wei landed on Jeju Island, the entire island was under the control of the Marine Corps.

The lord of Hu State in the island state surrendered, and Wang Wei did not embarrass the other party too much, but only instructed him to let him move to the Central Plains. The lord of Zhou Hu did not dare to resist, and obediently led the concubine to board the fortune ship and prepare to go to Dajin.

The battle for Jeju went well, mainly because the enemy was too weak. In this actual battle, the Dajin Navy dispatched a total of 160 ships of various types, mobilizing 30,000 troops, of which the two main fleets of the navy were all dispatched.

This is also the first time that the Navy and the Marine Corps have cooperated in an operation, and after all, the actual combat is different from the exercise, although the degree of motivation is very low, but in any case it is also a real battle.

Zhu Zheng, who had been waiting for news on the deck of the flagship 'Weihaiwei', finally put his mind at ease after receiving the military information that the operation was successful, and commanded such a huge fleet for the first time, which kept him in a state of high tension.

"The herald left some soldiers to settle Jeju Island and guard against Samhan! The rest of the fleet is ready to evacuate after delivery! (To be continued......)