Watching the sunrise on the sea, he will always feel the width of the world and the insignificance of people, even as the prince of a country, he can't help but have that feeling of looking at the ocean and sighing.

Under the whole world, it is not the king's land, the shore of the land, and the king's ministers, but such a vast and boundless sea, can it really be owned by a single country and a king? He had studied geography with missionaries, so he had a very clear idea of how big the "world" was, rather than being ignorant like the ancients.

However, this question may not be able to be answered in his lifetime.

But he also knew that, as his father said, it was enough for one generation to do a good job for another.

"As long as my family works hard for the country from generation to generation and expands for the country, one day, all the seas in the world will be set foot by the warships of the Han Dynasty, and all countries will be afraid of the Han Dynasty. Where the dragon flag goes, it is the national frontier of the Han Dynasty! With this thought, his spirit became more and more excited, and he looked up at the dragon flag fluttering on the mast.

After the establishment of the Han Navy, after some internal debates and trade-offs, the style of the military flag was finally selected - the blue background gold coiling dragon, the blue background symbolizes the ocean, and the golden dragon with teeth and claws entrenched everywhere is naturally the sign of the Han Navy.

The flag on the mast was wiped every day, so now it fluttered and sparkled in the wind, while the flag was a huge white sail, swollen in the sea breeze, giving him endless power for the battleship he had set foot on.

And next to the battleship he was, the warships that were a little smaller, but still carrying many huge cannons, were also full of sails, and they formed a large sea fleet, sailing unstoppably.

The fleet was also assembled at the port of Tientsin as planned, and immediately after receiving instructions from the Council of State, the officers of the Navy of War and Administration worked through the night to draw up plans, and then communicated with the various fleets to assemble all the surface forces at their disposal.

This fleet was the elite force of the Northern Fleet, which had been cruising between the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea on weekdays, so it was transferred to the port of Tientsin to assemble and transport the prince to Goryeo, and they were only part of the escort fleet that was scheduled to attack Japan.

By the time the entire fleet assembles at the port of Pusan, as planned, and heads for Japan, it will be the largest and most impregnable fleet ever assembled in this ocean.

In East Asia at least, there are no naval forces that can compete with this fleet—perhaps even if they combined.

Just as the crown prince was standing on the deck and watching the rising sun and thinking about it, unexpectedly a few footsteps sounded behind him. He interrupted his thoughts and turned to look back.

Sure enough, there were three people who came, the first was a young man and his attendant Zheng Sen, and the two people who followed were not trivial, one was the presidential consul of the army in this expedition to Japan, Zhao Song of the newly promoted Xingyang Bo, and the other was the marshal of the Han Navy, the commander of the Northern Fleet, and the commander-in-chief of the navy Langya Hou Cai De.

In order to watch the sunrise, the prince got up very early today, but in order not to disturb these two important officers of the army and navy, he ordered his attendants to inform them only after they woke up, but these two senior officers are professional soldiers who have been in the army for a long time, so they got up very early, so when the prince was still unsatisfied, Zheng Sen had already attracted the two of them.

"The minister greets His Royal Highness the Prince!" After coming to the prince, the two army commanders bowed respectfully and saluted the prince.

"Two of you are exempt." The prince waved his hand indifferently.

He turned back again, and took one last look at the sun that had turned from red to golden in the distance, and then turned back and looked at the two generals solemnly, "Regarding this expedition, I have something to ask the two of you, and I ask you to give me advice. ”

"The minister knows everything!" The prince's words did not surprise the two generals, and they immediately bowed down.

They are the commanders of the army and navy for this expedition, and the prince will definitely come to ask them any military questions, and they have been preparing for it a few days ago

Then the prince took a step and led the two men to his lounge.

The warships of the Han Navy are roughly divided into two kinds, one is a fast and agile cruiser, this kind of ship has a simple structure, small size, and few guns, but the advantage is that it is fast and numerous, and can perform general tasks such as reconnaissance and clearing pirates and cruises.

The other kind is naturally a large battleship battleship with a huge volume and a lot of guns, the speed of this kind of battleship is relatively slow, but the power of artillery fire is very huge, and it is used to fight a decisive battle with the enemy's maritime military forces, they are the foundation of the Han navy, and perhaps the main tool used by the Han to seize absolute sea supremacy in East Asia. The rules for the command of the battleship were very strict, and the order was based on the mountains of the country, which meant "suppressing the sea".

The battleship that the prince was riding on was a battleship, and it was the flagship of the Northern Fleet, the Songshan, one of the largest warships in the Han Dynasty. The battleship was so large that it looked as impressive as its name on the sea.

Its deck was divided into three tiers and carried more than 90 cannons in total, some of which were the largest naval guns. The ships and guns are all made by the best craftsmen of the Han Dynasty under the supervision of specially hired Western engineers, and it can be said that every inch embodies the painstaking efforts of the entire navy, which is the pride of the navy. As soon as it got out of the water, it became the flagship of the Northern Fleet.

Basically, the treatment of naval officers and men is proportional to the size of the warship, and the larger the warship, the more attention it is to the navy, and there is more space to store supplies, and there will be more space for living. As the flagship of the Northern Fleet, the officers and men on the battleship Songshan have the highest living conditions in the navy, not only have a special space for officers and men to rest, but even have a special VIP reception room on the deck on the first floor for the convenience of important people.

As soon as the prince came to the Songshan, of course, the navy did its best to ensure the prince's life, he was arranged in the best VIP reception room, and he could eat the best standard meals every day.

The prince led the two generals to the lavishly decorated room, and then politely invited them to sit down.

"Marquis Langya and Uncle Xingyang, both of them are the commanders of this expedition, and they each command the officers and soldiers of the landing navy, so whether this major event can succeed depends on the sincere cooperation of the two." After they sat down, the prince said politely, "My father sent me to the rear of the town, saying that I would be in charge of everything, but both of them know that I am the first time to do things for the country, and I am young and I don't understand many things, so I don't want to be smart and overstepping, so I can only ask the two of you to contribute more to the country and fight this battle, so as not to worry my father." It's all up to the two of you. ”

Seeing that the crown prince was so self-aware, the two senior officers breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts. To tell the truth, they are all people who have been in battle for a long time, and they have already accumulated a lot of experience in all kinds of battles, and what they are most afraid of is not that they can't defeat the enemy, but that they are afraid that the prince will be young and conceited and intelligent, and as a result, he will blindly command and cause trouble for himself. Now that the prince understands things so well, they are relieved.

"Your Highness, we will naturally be loyal to the king, and we will never disappoint the emperor or your highness." Langya Marquis Cai De immediately expressed his attitude, "Since receiving the order that day, the navy has been waiting for the whole day, preparing all night, and they all want to fight this battle. ”

"That's very good." The crown prince nodded, "Although I don't know much about military affairs, the most important thing for me to fight a war is to work together and be sincere and united." I have absolutely no doubt about your loyalty and bravery, but the conquest of Japan requires both the army and navy, so the cooperation between the army and navy is particularly important, and there must be no negligence. My father asked me to come to the town this time, that is, to unify the military orders between the army and navy, so that you don't communicate well with each other, but have a disagreement......"

After hearing these words, the two generals were a little worried in their hearts, although the prince was very polite on the surface, but when he mentioned His Majesty several times, it was obvious that he wanted to show his unquestionable authority to the two people.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, we only know how to kill the enemy and serve the country, and we have no other ideas. He is also full of respect for his colleagues in the Navy, and there will never be any suspicions. Zhao Song hurriedly said.

"When you are on the battlefield, the most important thing is to make a decision, so I will not interfere with your command, let alone your specific handling of the officers and soldiers below, I just want to help you fight the battle well and meet your logistical needs." According to his previous thoughts, the prince made his decision, "So I don't have any other requirements for you, as long as each of your military orders must be made and a copy will be recorded for me, and I will combine them into a book for safekeeping." ”

This is of great significance.

In the military system of the Han Dynasty, the wartime commander of the army either made his own decisions and issued orders, or selected one of the recommendations of the senate officers as a military order to command the battle, and these military orders were to be recorded by a special person except for the army and navy officers at the front through the heralds, and then filed by the military council after the war.

This is done in order to sum up combat experience and facilitate the use of these military orders to train reserve officers in the martial arts academy in the future, so that they can know in advance how to deal with emergencies during the war, and second, to record the war process and clarify the rewards and punishments of the generals.