As soon as the fleet entered the harbor, Shi Shibiao made a slight observation, and then ordered in a deep voice: "The fourth-class battleships and auxiliary ships are stationed in various waterways in the harbor, and the other ships dock at the dock to land. //”

As the flag waved, the fourth-class battleships and auxiliary ships began to leave the team and went to the nearest waterway, and the second- and third-class battleships with large numbers of soldiers and supply ships carrying artillery and ammunition also sailed towards the dock.

On the flagship, Lin Wei glanced at Fu Anding and said with a smile: "Now it's time for our marines to play." ”

Fu Anding blinked his eyes and said puzzledly: "Lin Wei, be kind, when did you become a member of the Marine Corps?" ”

"Look at your childish look." Lin Wei smiled proudly and said, "How many people can you have in the Marine Corps?" ”

Shi Shibiao scolded with a smile: "Fu Anding, why don't you hurry up and command and dispatch troops and materials to land?" It's never too late to fight when you go ashore. ”

Fu Anding glanced at Lin Wei, left quickly, and went to command and dispatch various ships to dock, load and unload.

Yinxiang glanced at Lin Wei and said, "Fu Han came dryly, he didn't have his share in the naval battle, Lu Zhan always gave him a chance to make meritorious contributions, otherwise, he would have to be anxious with you." ”

"Hehe, the thirteenth master didn't say it, but I forgot about it, Fu Han has been staying on the recruit ship." Lin Wei chuckled and said, "However, don't worry about the Thirteenth Master, that guy will come to the door soon." ”

Shi Shibi also nodded, the thirteenth master said this to him, Fu Han has been in the Naval Academy, and finally came out once, he really wanted to give him a chance to make meritorious contributions, and he groaned slightly, so he ordered: "Landing on the shore is quite time-consuming, although Edo Port has become an airport, but it is to guard against the surprise attack of the Japanese people, Lin Wei and Fu Han each led a thousand people to go ashore to guard." ”

Seeing that they all had errands, Long Keduo couldn't help but be anxious, and I was also arranged by the prince to make war achievements. It's a good errand, and it's good to show merit and prepare when he returns to Beijing, but he doesn't dare to say this clearly. This is staring at Yinxiang with a hot face, he is not familiar with Shi Shibiu, so he can only ask the Thirteenth Master to help mention it.

Yinxiang didn't pay attention to him at all, you Long Keduo is not an idler, you are a negotiator specially arranged by Lao Fourteen, and you are worried that you have no chance to take credit, what are you doing here?

After Lin Wei left. Shi Shibiao smiled and said: "Thirteenth Master, Long Junmen, with the cover of the battleship artillery, there will be no problem at all in landing, the question is next, how to fight this battle?" What do you think about it? ”

Yinxiang pondered slightly for a moment before he said: "Since Edo Port is a person going to the port and air, it means that the Japanese country has been prepared. However, we didn't give them much time to prepare, and even if they did, they were very limited. At present, although there is a lot of artillery ammunition for the landing, there are also a lot of us, including 3,000 people from the Ryukyus and more than 20,000 sailors and crew members on the supply ship, which is enough to move all the equipment and ammunition ashore in one hour.

Eat at noon, and attack at noon. Edo is only five or six miles away, and it is half an hour to march with light artillery, so I suggest that we first set fire to Edo, and then return to Hong Kong to garrison it, and tomorrow morning. Fight again. ”

Long Keduo frowned and said: "Thirteenth Master, this is just our wishful thinking, since the Japanese people have already taken precautions, how can we be allowed to advance and retreat freely?" If you intercept it halfway and can't return to Hong Kong after dark, won't you be in danger of being in danger? ”

"It doesn't matter. Yinxiang said in a deep voice: "According to the normal situation, in the event of an invasion by foreign enemies, it is generally based on the city to defend it, and Edo has no city wall to defend it, and it is very likely to resist the enemy, but Edo's standing army is only about 22,000, and he still has to divide his troops to defend the city, and those who can be dispatched should be less than 20,000 troops. ..., besides, the marines are not only sharp in muskets, but also sharper in artillery, no one can stop them, and more importantly, there are many samurai in Edo, after half a day and one night, Edo is enough to temporarily organize tens of thousands, or even 100,000 troops, after all, we only have 6,000 people to land, do you want them to block twenty with one?

Today it is necessary to fight a battle, not only to defeat the 30,000 or 40,000 men they have formed improvisely, but also to burn Edo, so that they will not have time to calmly assemble and organize a large army, so that they can calmly enter Edo tomorrow. ”

Seeing Yinxiang's repeated insistence, Long Keduo couldn't help but be speechless for a while, and after a while, he said: "I think it's appropriate to fight steadily, fight again tomorrow, fight if you can, and return to the port if you can't. ”

Speaking of this, the two of them no longer argued, and looked at Shi Shibiu together, after all, the command is now in his hands, seeing the two of them waiting for him to express his position, Shi Shibi smiled slightly, and said: "The prince explained that he would rather not fight than lose, I am in favor of fighting steadily and sending troops tomorrow."

First, after several days of continuous sailing, many soldiers came ashore, their legs were weak, and it was really not suitable for immediate battle. Second, the port was a garrison, and it needed to be cleared, and an open area must be cleared, and then, according to the rules, camp, although the whole port was within the range of the battleship's guns, the gunners could not stay awake all night. Third, the various waterways in the port should also be cleared for time, so as not to give the Japanese people an opportunity to take advantage of it. ”

Hearing Shi Shibiao say this, Yinxiang couldn't help but be discouraged for a while, it seems that his idea of a quick decision is not supported by anyone, the command is handed over by his own hands, Shi Shibiu's prestige is still maintained, ask yourself, steady and steady, it is indeed a small risk, a little groaning, he said: "General Shi is the boss, naturally only General Shi is the first to look forward." ”

Hearing this, Shi Shibi's hanging heart finally fell to the ground, and he hurriedly clenched his fists and half-bowed: "Thanks to the love of the Thirteenth Master, since this is the case, Long Keduo listens to the order." ”

As soon as he heard that there was an errand, Long Keduo couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "Not yet." ”

Shi Shibiao said in a deep voice: "I order you to lead the Ryukyu Sergeant to empty the port house, and there are no obstacles within three thousand yards." ”

"No Order." Roncodo bowed.

After Shi Shibiao finished speaking, he looked at Yinxiang again, and said with a smile: "Thirteenth Master, I am sorry for you to sit in the flagship, and you have not arranged to camp ashore." ”

This old slippery head actually used this method to punish himself, Yinxiang couldn't help but smile slightly, and said: "General Shi is the boss, how can he move lightly?" I'll take care of the camping. ”

"Then there is the Thirteenth Master Lao." Shi Shibiao smiled like a fox.

The Qing navy camped in Edo Port? Hearing the report of the sentinel, Mabu Quanfang couldn't help but be surprised, it was only noon, and the Qing Navy was actually camped in Edo Port, what did they mean?

The Qing navy raided Edo with the intention of taking them by surprise, why did they occupy the port of Edo. But they stopped, could it be that the Qing people had secret agents, and they had already learned that they had gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and horses to wait for them? This is impossible, closed off for so many years. There are no Qing people in Edo at all, so how can there be spies?

After thinking about it for a while, he realized that there were still people in Edo Port who had not been evacuated, and they must have leaked the news.

Now what? Mabe's brow furrowed. Thinking silently, the entire Edo Port is within the range of the guns of the Qing warships, and it is impossible to attack the Port of Edo, their artillery is too dense, if you want to rush hard, I don't know how many lives will be needed to fill it?

After being silent for a long time, he said in a deep voice: "The Qing people want to be steady, which also shows that the Qing people have enough self-confidence. To be able to confront us head-on, we must disrupt their steps and not let them lead us by the nose. ..., the Qing people made it clear that they wanted to be steady. They stay in Edo Port and don't come out, how can they disrupt their steps? Night Raid? The brows of the room couldn't help but raise, and soon twisted again.

Jiu Shizhong said slowly: "The only way to do this is to attack at night!" ”

Mabu Quanfang shook his head slightly, and said, "The Qing navy has been camping since noon, and the Edo port has been cleared and heavily guarded, how can we easily attack at night?" ”

"I didn't think it would be easy." Jiu Shizhong said in a deep voice: "Organize death squads to attack at night from both sides of the water and land at the same time, and the land attack will attract their attention and artillery firepower. Once the battleship fires its guns, it can organize water spirits, swim into the harbor, and burn the ship with oil cylinders, and a large number of fireships will follow. As long as their warships are burned, the soldiers and horses on land will be rootless. Dead. ”

Mabe Quanfang nodded and said, "This plan is wonderful, but the strong attack on land must be realized, otherwise it will be difficult to attract their warships to open fire." ”

Jiu Shizhong nodded heavily: "China's art of war cloud, virtual is real, real is virtual. The attack on land is naturally as real as possible, and once we break through the defense line, we can also turn from virtual to real. ”

In Edo Port, Ryokeda, accompanied by Cheng Kezheng, a doctor of the Ryukyu Prefecture and Cai Wen, a doctor of the Ryukyu Prefecture, took three thousand Ryukyu soldiers along the densely populated streets and waved his hand and said, "Order the soldiers to demolish all the houses, and it must be completed before dark." ”

As soon as they heard this, Cheng Kezheng and Cai Wen couldn't help but be in a daze, and after a little hesitation, Cai Wen said tentatively: "Lord Long, how can so many houses be demolished and burned down?" ”

"Burn it?" Long Keduo's eyes widened, and he scolded: "These are all wood, you Ryukyuan people don't need to make a fire to cook?" At night, you have to burn a bonfire to prevent the Japanese from hijacking the camp, and you want the soldiers of the Ryukyu Prefecture to patrol all night? ”

As soon as they heard this, Cheng Kezheng and Cai Wen dared to say more, and immediately ordered all the soldiers to demolish them house by house, as soon as they received the order, the Ryukyu soldiers began to demolish them, although there were many houses, but most of the wooden houses in the port were simple, and it was not difficult to dismantle them, and three thousand people did it, and soon demolished a large area, and the people hiding in the house could not hide, so they had to run out.

When Cheng Kezheng and Cai Wen saw that there were still people, they were immediately overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered to force these free laborers to help, but Long Keduo raised his eyebrows and said: "Find someone who understands Japanese, and ask them if they have any soldiers and horses here, how many?" Ask me separately. ”

There were many Japanese in the Ryukyus, so there were also many Ryukyuan people who could speak Japanese, and soon, they learned the real situation from the mouths of the common people, and heard that there were more than 100,000 soldiers and horses gathered in Edo Port at that time.

I heard that Edo Port had gathered more than 100,000 horses before the fleet entered the port, Shi Shibiao's heart was also tight, Edo was able to temporarily organize 100,000 soldiers and horses in just over an hour? So by tomorrow, how many troops will they be able to muster? After a little muttering, he ordered: "Go and ask the Thirteenth Master, Lin Wei, Fu Anding, and Fu Han to come on board to discuss the military situation." ”

After speaking, he instructed Long Keduo to say: "Ask Cheng Kezheng and Cai Wen to bring a few gentry or merchants with status and insight to the ship, we must find out the reason, and by the way, understand the situation in Edo, know ourselves and the enemy, and not be defeated in a hundred battles." ”

After Shi Shibiu, Yinxiang, Long Keduo, Lin Wei, Fu Anding, and Fuhan gathered, Shi Shibi explained in detail what he had learned about Edo.

Unexpectedly, Yinxiang, Lin Wei, Fu Anding, and Fuhan were all unimpressed, Lin Wei first said: "We can come and go freely on the sea, if we can fight, we will fight, and if we can't, we will leave, so why worry." ..., Yinxiang said: "Don't look at the fact that they can gather 100,000 people in a short time, in fact, they are just a rabble, what I am worried about is that they will mobilize troops nearby to support." ”

"There's no need to worry about it." Fu Anding smiled and said: "This time the Marine Corps is quite well prepared, only the twelve-pound artillery has one hundred and fifty guns, otherwise, why should I find Fu Han to seconded recruits as porters, in the face of dense charges, it is conservatively estimated that a salvo can kill thousands of them, it is no exaggeration to say that tens of thousands of people charged, our musketeers have no chance to shoot at all." ”

So exaggerated? Several people couldn't help but stare at each other, and Fu Anding smiled and said, "This is the dean's theory, I haven't tried it." ”

"What about cavalry charges?" Roncodo asked eagerly.

"The cavalry will be worse than the infantry." Fu An said in a deep voice: "Encountering such a dense bombardment of flowering shells, the horses have already bombed the camp, and it is impossible to maintain the formation at all. ”

Long Keduo couldn't help but nod slightly, in this case, the men and horses would be extremely frightened, once the camp was bombarded, the cavalry running at high speed would collide and trample on each other, which would cause extremely terrifying casualties. After a moment's silence, he said, "There is also news that the kings of the Wa Kingdom, whose name is the Emperor, do not live in Edo, but in a place called Kyoto, where there are not many troops, and the size of the castle is also small, about 300,000 people. ”

Yinxiang shook his head and said, "The prince said that only landing in Edo is allowed, and the shogun of Edo is the real power of the Wa Kingdom, don't think about anything else, since we have so many artillery, we will fight in Edo and completely cripple Edo." ”

Fu Anding immediately said: "I agree, if we don't fight, we can't explain to anyone." ”

"I'm in favor of it too." Lin Wei followed closely.

"I'm in favor of it too." Fuhan also followed.

"Fighting, leaving without a fight, is degrading to morale." Shi Shibiao said in a deep voice: "The navy can't afford to lose this face, and the Qing Dynasty can't afford to lose this face." (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )