On Jiajia Island, stationed here is the guardian Zongziguo.

Zong Ziguo is just a small master, and there are only dozens of warriors under him, and it is because of his weakness that he will be sent to this small island where birds don't, and hundreds of people in the whole clan mainly rely on him to take the warriors out to sea to plunder for a living, and these people are one of the Japanese who often haunt the coast of the Ming Dynasty!

It's just that now the Japanese are not easy to be, although Zhu Yuanzhang did not send troops to attack the Japanese before, but he established a strict coastal defense, and set up many guards and cities along the coast, which made the life of these Japanese invaders even more sad.

Just when Zong Ziguo was worried about the rations of hundreds of people in the whole clan, the warriors under his command hurriedly came to report.

"Chief, a ship is coming from the sea! Big, big boat! (Thoughtful author translated Japanese into Chinese)

The samurai gestured as he spoke, his expression was so exaggerated that he even felt that his arms were not enough to describe the enormity of the ship, and he jumped on the spot in a hurry.

Zong Ziguo's face changed, although he didn't know how big the ship this warrior described, but looking at his expression, he knew that it must be far beyond what he usually saw.

Most of the boats they usually saw were small boats taken by the Japanese who went to sea, and the large ships were only available to the regular sailors of the shogunate or the territorial kingdom of Goryeo, and of course, the Ming kingdom, which was even farther away.

"Gather your men and follow me to have a look!"

Zong Ziguo hurriedly stood up and shouted hurriedly.

"Yes!"

The samurai agreed to come down and hurried to call someone.

The island was not large, and soon dozens of samurai gathered and came to the edge of the island with Zong Ziguo with their swords in hand.

On the distant sea, a huge figure slowly emerged, as if it was a ship drilled out of the sea.

Although it is far away, Zong Ziguo, as a widow who has been roaming the sea all year round, can easily judge the size of this ship, which is probably enough to be huge!

Zong Ziguo's eyes widened in shock, his face full of disbelief.

A huge ship is unheard of!

At this time, he did not know that this giant ship was made of steel, and if he did, he would be even more horrified.

On the ironclad ship, Tang He, after watching the island, also made the same decision as Li Wei, ordering the fleet to slow down and approach the island.

Hundreds of ships of the whole army then adjusted their direction and sailed to this small island of Zhijia.

Hundreds of ships slowly approached, and Zong Ziguo and his warriors on Zhijia Island saw more and more clearly, this was obviously an extremely strong regular sailor, especially the huge ship in the front, like a small hill floating on the sea, huge beyond their imagination.

His warriors were also panicked and anxiously asked him:

"Chief, what are we going to do?"

Zong Ziguo's face was pale, and he was both shocked and frightened in his heart.

He knew that such a powerful fleet of sailors would definitely not be something they could resist, and the top priority was to quickly report for help.

"Hurry up and inform the clansmen to hide, and hurry up to report to Dazaifu, so that the Lord of the Inquiry can quickly gather soldiers and horses to resist!"

With such a powerful fleet, he doesn't have to guess that he knows that it must be the Ming Dynasty, except for the Ming Dynasty, other small countries cannot have this strength.

"Yes!"

The samurai, who was lucky enough to be hit to report the news, said yes and quickly turned away.

The other samurai were not so lucky, there were wives and children on the island, and they could not escape for a while, they had no way to retreat, and could only watch nervously as the huge fleet of sailors slowly approached.

On the bow of the ironclad ship, Li Wei and Tang He had already seen through the telescope these sword-wielding would-be robbers.

"That's it?" Li Wei cut off disdainfully and ordered: "Lu Tang, let the soldiers below come out to practice their guns!" ”

"Yes!"

Lu Tang was ordered to turn around and leave.

After Li Wei finished giving the order, he looked at Tang He beside him, and asked with a look of sudden realization: "General, what do you think?" ”

Tang He glanced at him: "You've finished giving orders, why are you still asking me what I'm doing?" ”

"Well, if the general thinks it's wrong, I'll immediately withdraw the order."

"Hmph, let's do it, but pay attention to keeping people alive, we have to inquire about the situation in the Wa Kingdom first." Tang He snorted coldly.

"Good!"

Li Wei agreed softly.

A moment later, Lu Tang mobilized a team of soldiers to come to the deck and stand by in front of the ship.

When the ironclad ship approached within a mile, Zong Ziguo and the others felt a terrifying sense of oppression, and these usually fierce and heroic warriors were like a few ants in front of this giant ship.

Zong Ziguo, who was nervously watching, didn't know that at this time, they had already entered the range of the muskets of those soldiers on the ship and had become a live target!

On the ship, Lu Tang gave an order, and then a banging gunfire rang out, and Zong Ziguo and those warriors on the shore were all startled, followed by a few screams.

"It's a firebolt, run!"

Zong Ziguo screamed in horror, turned around and ran back.

The terrain on the shore was flat, and they had nowhere to hide, so they had to flee back to the mountains to find a place to hide.

The samurai also reacted to his shout and ran after him up the mountain.

Bang bang bang......

"Ahh

Gunfire rang out one after another, and the hit rate of the rifled muskets increased a lot, especially the volleys fired in formations, and several people fell to the ground after each shot.

In just a few dozen steps from the shore to the mountain, nearly half of the dozens of warriors under Zong Ziguo died.

Zong Ziguo and the others, who fled back to the mountain, hid behind the rocks, their faces full of horror.

"Chief, what kind of firearm is this, how did you fight so far!" The samurai beside him asked with a trembling body.

"How do I know, I've never seen this kind of firecrackle before!"

Zong Ziguo's face turned pale, although the Wa Kingdom did not have a firecracker, but they had also seen it when the Yuan Dynasty attacked in the past, but that kind of firearm was very different from what they encountered this time, and the range and power were far less, they just felt that the distance was still far away before they realized the danger, and they were caught off guard.

When Lu Tang ordered the guns to be released, Li Wei also stared at these widows on the shore, and when he saw them hiding in the mountains, he immediately frowned.

Although there were only a few dozen of the Japanese who appeared just now, no one knew if there were other brigades of soldiers and horses ambushed on this island, and if the army was allowed to land hastily, I am afraid that they might encounter an ambush.

You know, there's a spy Lin Xian on the ship!

Tang He also saw this situation, and opened his mouth to give an order, but Li Wei had already suddenly shouted: "Order, let Lin Xian lead a team of men and horses to land, and take these people down for me!" ”

After speaking, he turned his head to look at Tang He again: "General, what do you think?" ”

Tang He opened his mouth, but he could only swallow back the order he was about to give, and glared at him unhappily.

In fact, the order he wanted to give was similar to Li Wei's, that is, to let the team go ashore to test first.

The military order was issued, and Lin Xian was used as a wayfinding stone, leading more than 100 people to take the lead in landing on the shore.

Zong Ziguo's face was ugly, and because of the deterrence of the muskets on the ship, they didn't dare to run out to stop these Ming troops, so they could only watch them come ashore.

Lin Xian's face was also not good-looking, Li Wei let him go forward clearly to use him as a bait to test the enemy's reality, although he was dissatisfied in his heart, but the military order was like a mountain and could only lead the team to land cautiously.

Although he has contact with the Japanese people, it is limited to a small amount of correspondence, and he does not know how the Japanese will arrange him after they get the news, and ordinary Japanese people do not know him as an "undercover agent", and no one will be polite if they really fight.

Sokogo hid behind a rock, and the samurai watched him, waiting for him to give the order to attack or flee.

After being silent for a moment, Zong Ziguo gritted his teeth and said: "The Ming army is invading, behind us is our own family, whether we live or die, we must resist desperately!" When the Ming army approaches, you will kill it with me!" ”

The samurai looked at each other and said yes.

Although they knew that they would die if they resisted, they had given the order, and now that Zong Ziguo had given the order, their faces showed a look of determination.

Lin Xian led people to surround them from the place where they were hiding, and when they got closer, Zong Ziguo took the lead in shouting and jumped out from behind the stone!

"Kill!"

Bang bang bang......

"Ahh

The gunshot rang out, followed by a scream, Zong Ziguo and these warriors held their swords high, extremely brave, but before they could get close, they were killed and disabled by the muskets of the Ming soldiers.

Zong Ziguo himself was shot in the body, and the sword fell to the ground.

Lin Xian waved his hand impatiently, and asked people to arrest these widows who were lucky not to die, and then led people to continue deeper.

The area of this Zhijia Island is not large, and he quickly found the village where Zong Ziguo's clansmen lived, but at this time, the people in the village had already disappeared after getting the news, Lin Xian led people to search, but did not find it, so he withdrew back first.

On the boat, Lin Xian escorted Zong Ziguo and others up and returned to Li Wei.

"Master Hou, the island has been explored, in addition to these dozens of widows, there are also some widows living there, but they should have gotten the news and hidden, if you want to find it, you need to send more people."

Lin Xian arched his hand.

After Li Wei listened, he looked at the other generals beside him, and these generals also nodded lightly, and Li Wei hummed lightly.

Then he looked at Zong Ziguo and the others, these people were still shouting after being escorted onto the boat, and Li Wei couldn't understand their bird language, so he said, "Go and call the general affairs to come over and interrogate these people." ”

"Yes!"

One of his subordinates took the order and took the general with him a moment later.

The general thing is the translation, and after his translation, Li Wei finally figured out what these people were shouting.

"Master Hou, they are accusing us of violating their homes for no reason, and they want us to let them go."

Li Wei glanced at these people in surprise: "These robbers still have the face to accuse us?" ”

"Don't worry about this, ask him about the situation of the Wa Kingdom first!" Soup and Dao.

"Yes!"

According to Tang He's instructions, the general asked Zongziguo and the others about it, but they were only small people, and they didn't know much about the situation of the Wa Kingdom, only some of the guardian daimyo of the Kyushu region, and the officials appointed by the shogunate to explore the problem.

Tang He couldn't help frowning after hearing this, according to this Zongziguo, there are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in Kyushu alone, although the Ming army has the advantage of firearms, but they also have the advantage of home field, and this battle may not be too easy.

Seeing that Tang He was silent, Li Wei asked, "General, are you done asking?" ”

Tang He came back to his senses and nodded: "Hmm." ”

"That's good!"

Li Wei turned around and said to these widows: "Don't you want me to let you go?" Well, you can put on a little show for me, and if the performance is good, I'll let you go. ”

The general translated his words.

Zong Ziguo and the others were overjoyed, if they could live, of course they didn't want to die.

Zong Ziguo asked out loud, "What do you want us to perform?" ”

Li Wei said lightly: "Just give me a seppuku performance to commit suicide." ”

Tongshi was stunned, and only after a while did he react and translate the words to Zong Ziguo.

Zong Ziguo was dumbfounded, and then scolded!

Co-author Li Wei didn't plan to let them go.

Li Wei pursed his lips with a sneer, seeing that they were unwilling to take the initiative to perform, he had to let Lu Tang help them and stab them one by one.

Dealing with these Japanese invaders, Li Wei did not send people to the island to search for those Japanese people who were hiding, as the so-called soldiers are fast, and now there are Japanese people who have gone to Kyushu to report the news, if they wait for these Japanese soldiers and horses to converge, it will be more difficult for them to fight, rather than wasting time here, it is better to land in Kyushu as soon as possible.

Tang He and Li Wei agreed on the same page, and nodded when Li Wei asked "what do you think" after Li Wei gave the order.

The army set out again, and half a day later arrived at Matsuura, where it found a suitable landing position and landed.

I don't know if the Japanese army has not reacted yet, or the location where they landed is remote and undiscovered, until the army successfully carried all the baggage and equipment, and there was no shadow of the Japanese army.

After camping, the three main generals Tang He, Li Wei, and Hu Hai, as well as other generals, gathered to discuss the matter.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's rest for one night, and tomorrow we will immediately march to Hizen, and when we occupy Hizen, we can quickly march to Chikugo, occupy the pontoon bridge here, and cut off the army reinforcements of the Japanese people in the east, and we can take Chikuzen Dazaifu in one fell swoop!"

Tang He said, pointing to the rough map of the Wa Kingdom.

There are nine reishi countries in Kyushu in the Wa Kingdom, which are Hizen Higo, Chikuzen Chikugo, and Toyozen Bungo, as well as Hinata, Satsuma, and Osumi.

The place where the Ming army now logged in was Hizen in the west, and then to the north and Chikugo to the east.

If you occupy the pontoon bridge after Chikugo according to Yuwa's plan and cut off the reinforcements of the Japanese people in the east, then you can directly take the Dazaifu in Chikuzen!

Dazaifu was the most important political center in Kyushu, and it was here that the shogunate sent to administer Kyushu was the subject of exploration.

If you close the Dazaifu and slaughter this Kyushu exploration problem, then the daimyo of Kyushu will be a plate of scattered sand without a leader in Kowloon, and they can be broken at that time.

"The general's plan is very good, I agree!"

Hu Hai nodded lightly after listening, this is indeed a good strategy.

But Li Wei frowned slightly.

Tang He's idea is to compete with the Japanese army for time, whoever takes this pontoon bridge first, the other party will fall into passivity.

Normally, the Ming army sent troops quickly, and at this time, the Wa State should have just gotten the news, according to his strategy, as long as the Ming army moves faster, it will definitely be able to seize the opportunity.

But Li Wei knew that there was still Lin Xian in the Ming army, maybe the Wa State had already received the news that the Ming army was coming, in that case, they would arrange it in advance, and even expected that the Ming army would seize the dangerous place of the pontoon bridge and set a trap in advance.

"I don't agree." Li Wei opened his mouth to object.

Tang and Hu Hai were surprised.

"Why?" Tang He asked.

"Someone on that island has already reported to Dazaifu that there are already people who have reported it, and I think they will not ignore this kind of dangerous place, and they will immediately send troops to guard it, and even set a trap for us."

Li Wei didn't directly say anything about Lin Xian, but thought of a separate statement.

However, his statement was not convincing at all, and Tang and Hu Hai did not think so.

"Jiangduhou is too worried, even if the Japanese people have already received the news, it will take time to deploy troops, we just need to act quickly, and we will definitely be able to get ahead of them."

Hu Hai explained aloud.

Tang He also nodded in agreement.

Li Wei's eyebrows were furrowed, and he was a little hesitant in his heart.

He didn't talk about Lin Xian's affairs because in the secret letter that Lu Tang handed him before, Chen Su gave him a somewhat vicious idea, that is, he hoped that he could use Lin Xian's affairs to make a difference.

After the matter is completed, Chen Su will take the opportunity to impeach the ministers in Beijing, and then Tang He will inevitably be recalled for questioning, and the command of the army will naturally fall into his hands.

(End of chapter)

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