Chapter 358: Battle of the Ryukyus

Cai Chang knelt down respectfully and said, "The grass people Cai Chang greeted the emperor, and the grass people are from Ryukyu. ”

"Well, flat body, Li Aiqing, Cai Chang, sit down and talk, Lu Aiqing, you also sit."

"Yes, thank you for your majesty."

"Cai Chang, you are a Han living in the Ryukyu Islands."

"Yes, the emperor, the grandfather of the grass people is a Penglai person, because of dissatisfaction with the rule of the Jin people, led more than 200 people of my Cai clan to the sea for thieves, and was expelled from the Penglai waters by the Jin State Sailors, after several twists and turns, my grandfather and father came to Ryukyu Island, and settled on the island, for 50 years, my grandfather and father led my people to fight a world on the island, becoming one of the five major forces on the island, and the only Han force on the main island of Ryukyu, now my grandfather has gone, my father is old, and the grass people are currently the head of the Cai family on the island, Although the generation of grass people are all natives of the Ryukyus, they always remember the teachings of our ancestors, we are the Han people of the Great Song Dynasty, and we are the descendants of Yanhuang with black hair and yellow skin. ”

"Okay, a good descendant of Yanhuang, Mr. Cai Chang, you said very well, although you are far away from your homeland, far away from your homeland, but the hometown complex in your heart is always the same, no matter where you go, you are all a member of my Huaxia family, I say that I will replace wine with tea, for the descendants of Yanhuang, I will give you a cup."

Cai Chang was moved: "Thank you for the emperor's gift." ”

"Mr. Cai, I have worked hard in a foreign land for many years, and I must have suffered a lot."

"Your Majesty, the grass people, the grass people,,,,,。" Speaking of this, Cai Chang couldn't help but leave a line of tears, and suddenly choked up,

I understand very well the feelings of people like Cai Chang, who have left their hometowns, compared to the people of later generations, the ancients paid more attention to local feelings, far away from home, and worked hard in a foreign land for 50 years, which has countless bitterness, the Cai family can gain a foothold in the Ryukyus, and it is naturally made up of countless painstaking efforts.

"Cai Chang, I said after I ascended the throne, although the people who offend me in the Great Song Dynasty, although they are far away, they will be punished, whether they are in the territory of our dynasty, or the Song people who are far away, they are all my people, and I naturally have the responsibility to protect them, I know that it has not been easy for you in the past fifty years, but everything will be fine in the future, the Ryukyu Islands, I have been designated as the first province of our dynasty overseas, if your Cai family is willing to return to the mainland to live, I welcome, if you are willing to stay in the Ryukyus to live, I also support, After all, the Ryukyus in the future will be the territory of our Great Song Dynasty. ”

I took a sip of tea and continued: "Cai Chang, since Li Beiyang recommended you to be the first envoy of the Ryukyu Province, of course I hope that you can take this responsibility, if you can make all the islanders in the Ryukyu Islands wear Hanfu and speak Chinese within a certain period of time, this is undoubtedly a merit of opening up the territory and expanding the territory, and it will definitely leave an important mark in my Chinese history, are you willing to do it?" ”

"Your Majesty, the grass people are willing."

For any ancient, it is a lifelong wish to be able to expand the territory of the country and leave a name in history, as an overseas Chinese living abroad, Cai Chang is of course no exception.

According to my original plan, I wanted Li Beiyang to support a local force in Ryukyu as the administrator of Ryukyu, but I didn't expect that there would be Han forces on the island, which naturally reassured me even more.

"Okay, Cai Chang, you come all the way to Lin'an, the road is tired, go down to rest first, Ming said that Li Beiyang will take you to the Ministry of Officials for assessment, if you are qualified, you will stay in Lin'an to receive training from various departments, by the way, look at the scenery of my Great Song Dynasty, and you can leave for Ryukyu in about half a month to return to Ryukyu and serve as the first envoy of Ryukyu Province."

"Yes, Your Majesty, the grass people are retiring."

After Cai Chang left, I asked, "Li Aiqing, I will dispatch a large army to suppress the pirate Zhang Xuan this time, so I don't have to worry about it." ”

"Back to Your Majesty, my sailor is well prepared, both in terms of numbers and equipment, it has a great advantage, all the soldiers are bound to win, and the morale is high, so naturally they defeated Zhang Xuan and his gang very easily."

"Well, about the process of your pursuit of Zhang Xuan at sea, I can read your battle report when I arrive, and you can tell me what happened after landing on the main island of Ryukyu."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Beiyang said, "When it was said, the minister led the sailors from Kume Island to the main island of the Ryukyu Islands to attack, the Ryukyu waters of the sailors were vulnerable, even Zhang Xuan's pirates were not as good, our army under an impact, it was defeated, after landing, the ministers and others found that the island was sparsely populated, and very backward, after asking a few locals who knew the Great Song language, only to roughly understand the situation of the entire Ryukyu Island, Your Majesty, the Ryukyu Island is divided into three small countries, from north to south are Shanbei, Zhongshan and Shannan, These three small countries plus the Cai family and the Shuntian family of the main island of the Ryukyus, are the five major forces of the main island of the Ryukyus, among the five forces, the Zhongshan country is the strongest, far more than the other four parties, followed by Shannan, and then Shanbei, it is the Shannan country that takes in the pirate Zhang Xuan, the Cai family's sphere of influence is roughly between Shannan and Zhongshan, the strength ranks fourth, and the relationship with the two places is very close, and the Shuntian family is located in the Putian area of Zhongshan, this family is the most powerful family on the main island of the Ryukyus in the past, It is only in recent years that with the rise of Zhongshan, it has gradually declined, and it is currently ranked at the bottom of the five major forces. ”

I interrupted, "There are so many forces in the land of projectiles, and this Ryukyu is a plate of scattered sand." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Li Aiqing, continue."

"The ministers landed from Shannan in the south of the Ryukyus, although the Shannan country has nearly 2,000 soldiers, but the equipment is inferior, there is no combat power, even if you add more than 1,000 pirates in Zhang Xuan's department, there are only more than 3,000 people, the ministers and others are in a hurry, and within three days they occupied the Shannan country's governance office Dali according to the division, and killed the stubborn Zhang Xuan in Dali City, the lord of Shannan surrendered, during the rest period of the Dali Division, it happened that the 5,000 soldiers of the Lin'an Military Region arrived in Dali under the command of General Zhao Bao, so the ministers and others joined forces, Set off to Zhongshan country, a day later, our army arrived at the northernmost town of Shannan country, the real wall, which is also the strength of the Cai family, the Cai family saw that we were from the army of the Great Song Dynasty, the head of the family Cai Chang took his son Cai Gong to take the initiative to come to the military camp of the minister, and the minister contacted, the minister and General Zhao Bao together with Cai Chang and the father and son talked for a whole half of the day, Cai Chang then promised to return to our dynasty, with the help of Cai Chang, the minister and others completely figured out the whole situation of the Ryukyu Islands, in the conversation, the minister saw that Cai Chang knew the book, quite knowledgeable, and I am after the Han peopleAccording to His Majesty's will, he intended to make him the administrator of the Ryukyu Province, so when the minister returned, he brought Cai Chang to Lin'an. ”

"Well, with the help of the Cai family, you have also gone a lot smoother."

"Yes, Your Majesty, then Cai Chang asked Cai Gong to lead a hundred direct disciples of the Cai family as guides, and went north with the army, and with the help of the Cai family, the ministers immediately led the army north, and soon eliminated the outer defenders of Zhongshan Kingdom."

"Li Aiqing, how many soldiers are there in this Cai family."

"Your Majesty, the strength of the Cai family is centered on the disciples of the Cai family, plus those who came to follow, there are about seven or eight hundred soldiers."

"yes, it's a lot."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Beiyang continued, "In the entire battle of the Ryukyu Islands, the only fierce battle is the battle of Shuri according to the Zhizhi of Zhongshan State, Zhongshan has a total of about 4,000 soldiers, and there are nearly 3,000 people concentrated in Shuri, although our army is superior in numbers, but the soldiers of Zhongshan State under the leadership of their lord Yingzu, carried out stubborn resistance, in the siege battle, the casualties of our soldiers reached as many as 500 people, fortunately, there was timely treatment of the military doctor with the team, so that the number of dead was less than 100, in order to avoid unnecessary casualtiesAfter discussing with General Zhao Bao, Cai Gong and others, it was decided to adopt Cai Gong's proposal, feint to attack the south gate, and the main army went around to the east gate, Your Majesty, the east gate of Shuri and the Shuntian clan Putian bordered, the young lord of the Shuntian clan, Shuntian ruthless happened to be a friend of Cai Gong, Cai Gong used the contradiction between the Shuntian clan and Zhongshan to persuade the Shuntian clan, therefore, our army was able to borrow Putian and came to the east gate of Shuri. ”

"Li Aiqing, is the Shuntian clan also willing to surrender to our dynasty?"

"Your Majesty, this point has been negotiated, the minister promised the Shuntian clan to let the head of his family serve as the deputy envoy of the Ryukyu Province, the young lord of the Shuntian clan, Shuntian ruthless and Cai Gong have been to our dynasty, both of them admire my Great Song Dynasty culture, and are willing to submit to our dynasty."

I complimented, "Well, well done." ”

Li Beiyang said: "With the help of the Cai family and the Shuntian clan, the minister and General Zhao Bao selected three hundred elite soldiers, disguised as Shuntian soldiers, Shuntian ruthlessly personally led the team, and defrauded the east gate where Shuri defense was the weakest, and then, the army ambushed outside the city gate smoothly entered Shuri, in the face of absolute power, the Zhongshan soldiers who lost the support of the city surrendered one after another, and the lord Yingzu saw that the general trend had gone, so he was captured, under the ruthless persuasion of Cai Chang and Shuntian, Yingzu promised to return to our dynasty, and then, our army went all the way north, and then barrier-freeAfter a slight resistance, Shanbei Province disarmed and surrendered, and so far, the main island of Ryukyu was occupied by our army. ”

Lu Xiufu said with a smile: "General Li won the first battle, which is gratifying. ”

Li Beiyang said modestly: "Lord Lu, that Ryukyu is just a land of projectiles, and the various forces on its island are fighting each other, so that the last general can easily win, which is not a great achievement." ”

"Later."

"Your Majesty, after clearing out all the forces on the main island of Ryukyu, the minister asked Cai Gong and Shuntian to ruthlessly reorganize the army on the original Ryukyu Island, selected 2,500 people from it, mixed with the army of our dynasty, and formed the Great Song Dynasty Ryukyu Reading Military Region, after consulting with General Zhao Bao, the minister and Cai Chang set off to return, General Zhao Bao guarded Shuri, responsible for the defense of the main island of Ryukyu, and General Gao Fei, the general under General Zhao, led 2,000 army, 2,000 naval divisions and 1,000 troops of the main island of Ryukyu to continue to the north and attack other islands."

"Li Aiqing, the first battle was won, and the prestige of my Great Song Dynasty army was played, I will take a credit for you, and after the Ryukyu Islands are all occupied, we will discuss the garrison personnel left on the island, Junshi, take the map of the sea area."

"Yes, Your Majesty."