Chapter 139: Mission to Japan (IV)

Fujiang Island is the largest island in the Kyushu Sea. It has many springs on the island and forms several rivers. Its abundant water sources and easy-to-moor coast make it the best place for passing ships to replenish fresh water. Like other islands, there are thousands of fishermen living on Fujiang Island, who make a living by fishing.

On this day, the fishing boats still went out to sea as usual, but the fishermen on each fishing boat seemed very nervous. They turned back toward Fujiang Bay from time to time. At this moment, there were more than 200 large and small ships moored on the sea surface of Fujiang Bay. This was the wolves preparing to participate in the hunting. They were waiting for the information sent by several reconnaissance ships cruising on the sea.

On a tall building boat, Ouchi Kenhei was nervously looking at the sea in the distance. He was about thirty years old and was very fat. It was rare to have a sea next time. But this time he personally boarded the ship to participate in the interception. This was certainly the order of the elder brother, but Ouchi Kenhei also knew that the elder brother was just looking for excuses to seize his fleet. If the interception failed and he was not on the boat, the elder brother would take away more than 300 ships from the elder brother's family with the excuse of missing the opportunity to fight, thus losing his only maritime advantage.

This time, he was intercepted and dispatched a total of 120 ships and more than 2,000 people, while the remaining 100 ships were composed of three families, Koga, Shimazu and Kondo. Although the three families had slightly fewer ships than a few months ago, this was their last family. Ten days ago, the main ships of the three major families had left Nagasaki and went to the coast of Ming Dynasty to look for opportunities.

They have been waiting in Fuejiang Bay since yesterday afternoon, but until now, it is noon and they have not seen the shadow of the Ming ship. Ouchi Kenhei was a little nervous. Fuejiang Island is the only way south. Did the Ming ship discover something?

At this time, Shimazu Kenichiro, the eldest son of the Shimazu family, slowly walked to Ouchi Kazuhei and said, "Ouchi, I suspect there is a traitor among us."

"What do you mean?" Ouchi Kazuhira was stunned.

Kenichiro Shimazu said, "It's very simple. The Ming cargo ships are transported to the Southern Dynasties. Shikoku Island where the Kondo family is located is already the territory of the Southern Dynasties. I heard that the Kondo family is very close to the Southern Dynasties. Last time, they even let the silver ships of the Ming princes go, but now how do you come to participate in the interception of the cargo ship? Ouchijun, don't you think it's very strange?"

One sentence reminded Ouchi Kenhei that this time the Kondo family only sent ten small boats, only more than one hundred people, and Yusumi Tanaka claimed that he was sick and did not come, so there seemed to be some problems here.

"What should you do if you want?"

"It's very simple, kill their people and take their ships away, and you can't let them ruin our actions."

"This..." Ouchi Kasuhira hesitated. After all, this was just a speculation and no real evidence. Moreover, the Koga family and Shimazu family have always been hostile to the Kondo family entering Kyushu. Now the accusations of Shimazu family cannot be said to be without prejudice. As a result, offending the powerful Kondo family, I am afraid that several uncles in the family will be dissatisfied with them. After all, the Kondo family only entered Kyushu after they were approved by them.

"Or I'll let them cut off their backs and not let them participate in this operation."

As soon as Ouchi Kenhei finished speaking, someone on the boat suddenly shouted: "Sir, here you come!"

Everyone looked at the bay together and saw two patrol boats flying towards the bow, with red flags hanging on the bow. This was the news of the Ming Dynasty cargo ship. Ouchi Kenhei, who had been waiting for nearly a day and a night, no longer cared about the Kondo family's problems. He immediately ordered: "Everyone gets on the boat and is ready to set off!"

The Japanese pirates resting on the island boarded their respective ships, pulled up the stone anchors and sails, and were ready to wait. The patrol boat was getting closer and closer. Ouchi Kenhei suddenly discovered an abnormality. The few people on the patrol boat all looked panicked, as if something big happened. Ouchi Kenhei couldn't help but suspicion in his heart, rushed to the bow and shouted: "What's wrong?"

"Guardian, the Ming Dynasty ships changed their sailing and headed towards Nagasaki Port. They had a large number of military ships guarding them."

Not only Ouchi Kasuhira, everyone was shocked, and Kenichiro Shimazu even shouted: "Guardian, Nagasaki Port cannot be misunderstood, we must go back quickly."

Shimazu's family has heavy goods in the dock warehouse Litun, but now there is no precaution, so why is he not in a hurry?

"Don't be anxious! Don't be anxious!" Ouchi Kenhei felt dizzy and his legs were weak. He swallowed dryly and ordered a little weakly: "Everyone set sail immediately and block Ming Dynasty ships in Nagasaki Port."

More than 200 ships of various types set out together, rushing out of the bay and chasing towards Nagasaki Port.

From Fukuei Island to Nagasaki, the fastest ships take one day and one night. Ouchi Kenhei received reports from patrol ships along the way from time to time and found that about one hundred Ming ships were sailing in front of him, including an extremely huge giant warship. The combat power of the Ming army should not be underestimated. Ouchi Kenhei also calmed down from the initial panic. He re-evaluated the operation. Judging from the composition of the Ming army's fleet, cargo ships and escort ships accounted for half of each, but the elder brother gave him a

However, his information did not explain this, and the elder brother ordered him to intercept him personally. What does this mean? Ouchi Kenhei's back couldn't help but feel cold. He had already realized his elder brother's sinister intentions. After the second brother Yingyi was driven out of the country of Nagamon, the elder brother's next one should be his. Fortunately, he still wondered what he would do every day, but he didn't realize that the elder brother had actually taken action. He was going to let himself die at the hands of the Ming army and kill people with a knife.

Ouchi Kenhei's idea of ​​intercepting Ming Dynasty cargo ships gradually faded. He is now considering how to escape from this crisis, but the Ming army ship has already hit Nagasaki. If he doesn't go to rescue, he will still be caught by his elder brother and take away his power. After thinking about it, he can only take one step at a time. The key is to save his life in the possible fierce battle.

At noon the next day, more than 200 Japanese pirate ships involved in the interception rushed back to Nagasaki Port. Nagasaki Port is located in a narrow harbor about twenty miles long. It is surrounded by Takashima, Okino Island, Nagasaki Peninsula and other archipelagos, surrounded by mountains and seas. It is the best natural harbor on Kyushu Island. Fifty years ago, the Himemaki Guardian built Nagasaki Castle here, and it is also the second largest city in Kyushu area except Monshi Castle.

Feiqian Country is a barren place, and almost all the people here rely on the sea for their livelihood. Since ancient times, it has been a place where pirates gather. With the rise of local Japanese forces and powerful families, these sporadic pirates were organized and gradually formed the Japanese pirates in history. It is precisely because of this that the coastal areas of Kyushu have become the base camp of Japanese pirates since the Yuan Dynasty.

"Roar back to the port and wipe out the Ming ship!"

Ouchi Kenhei issued a combat order at the entrance of the harbor. More than 200 warships rushed into Nagasaki Harbor with great momentum, but Ouchi Kenhei changed to another small boat and quietly fell behind. He had already realized the strategy of the Ming army. The Ming army must have hid in the harbor, waiting for their return, but he could not say that he needed someone to fight with the Ming army. The brigade of ships went further and further away, and gradually disappeared from Ouchi Kenhei's vision.

"Get back and leave here!" Ouchi Kenhei whispered an order, the boat turned its head and headed towards the central part of the Nagasaki Peninsula like an arrow. There was a horse farm not far from the sea, with more than twenty war horses.

But as soon as the boat was around an island corner, Ouchi Kenhei was suddenly stunned. They stood up and looked up at the top in disbelief. They saw an extremely huge sea giant warship suddenly appear in front of them. Their boat was like an ant at its feet.

Kenhei Ouchi suddenly opened his mouth wide. He saw an arrow shot from the top, as fast as lightning. It was too late to hide. With a "punch", the powerful arrow shot through his head. Kenhei Ouchi screamed and turned over and fell into the sea. The big ship slashed the waves and instantly knocked over the boat, crushing it ruthlessly under his huge body.

The treasure ship passed through the strait and led thirty warships to cut off the Japanese pirate ship's retreat and quickly surrounded Nagasaki Port.

The naval battle in Nagasaki Fjord has become fierce. The battle between twenty Ming warships and more than 200 Japanese pirate warships is in full swing. Guns and cannons are rumbling and white smoke rises on the sea. This is the most elite fleet of the Ming Dynasty. It is strong ships and cannons, and it is invincible. The fleet has formed an inverted "Eight Characters" formation, and it is like a big fishing net. It uses the turn of gunfire to shatter the Japanese pirate warships entering the net.

But the advantage of the Japanese pirates is their flexibility and rich experience, especially the numerous small boats. They shuttled between the Ming army's large ships, shooting rockets at the Ming army's large ships. Countless water-proficient water ghosts sneaked into the bottom of the ship, drilled the bottom of the ship with sharp blades, or bombed the ship with gunpowder, and flew onto the big ship with long ropes and hooked claws. Japanese pirates in black climbed up like monkeys, but became living targets for the big ship opposite. Arrows were like rain, guns and cannons were dense, and screams came one after another.

The biggest threat to the Ming army warships was the water ghosts who sneaked into the sea. They were not afraid of digging ships, but were afraid that they would use gunpowder to bomb ships. During the long-term battle of the Japanese pirates, the Ming army stationed in Fujian invented a powerful weapon to deal with Japanese pirates. This is a large net installed at the bottom of the ship with dense barb blades on it. Once the water ghosts who sneaked into the bottom of the ship were entangled or hooked, they would undoubtedly die. Unfortunately, today's Japanese pirates and water ghosts encountered such net hooks, and from time to time, they were filled with red blood.

The waves were rising and falling, the waves stirred up white foam, and broken wood and corpses were floating everywhere on the sea. The war was extremely fierce. Although the Ming army's warships were sharp, there were too many Japanese pirates' warships. They entangled lions like wolves and took advantage of the situation to take advantage of the situation and took a fierce bite. The sails of the two Ming army's lucky ships were ignited by rockets, and a raging fire was ignited. One of the warships' gunpowder compartments were ignited and exploded violently. The ship disintegrated instantly. Dozens of Ming soldiers were blown to pieces and fell into the sea.

The Qianhu Yang Fan commanded the twenty warships of the Ming army to fight. He fought against Japanese pirates on the coast of Shandong many times and was very familiar with the Japanese pirates' tactics. He ignored the Japanese pirates' boats and focused his firepower on dozens of large ships. He commanded calmly, and the fleet always maintained its formation, and the two armies fought in a stalemate.

"General, the ship of the commander-in-chief appeared." A lookout officer discovered the fleet on the distant sea.

Yang Fan immediately ordered: "Ship the fleet to change its formation and block their way to escape."

Following the flag-speaking order, the Ming army warships began to change their formation, and the inverted eight-shaped shape stretched toward the two wings, gradually lined up in the narrow fjord, blocking the road for the Japanese pirate ships to enter the port. Three miles away, the giant treasure ships on the sea appeared, and behind it were thirty black warships. They accelerated their speed and rushed towards the panicked Japanese pirate warships with a storm.

On March 10, 2009, the Ming Weihaiwei Navy, who traveled to Japan, encountered more than 200 Japanese warships in the waters of Nagasaki Port, Kyushu, Japan. The Ming army used the narrow terrain of the Nagasaki Seaway to attack Japanese pirate ships in front and back, and won a great victory with strong ships and powerful artillery. The Japanese pirates were wiped out. More than 3,000 Japanese pirates, including the country's guardian of Ouchi Kenhei, were buried at the bottom of the sea. However, the Ming army also lost three warships, killing and injured more than 100 people. The Ming army immediately withdrew from the Nagasaki Seaway and escorted the Ming cargo ship to continue to march south...

This naval battle that happened in Nagasaki was far-reaching. On the one hand, it was the first time that the Ming Navy fought on Japan. Although it was not large in scale, it marked the gradually changing the defense-oriented strategy of the Ming army against Japanese pirates to both attack and defense. The sharpness of the Ming army's artillery and warships made the Japanese pirates frightened, and the arrogance of the heavy blow to Japanese pirates, greatly alleviating the Japanese pirates' invasion on the coast of the Ming Dynasty;

On the other hand, due to the death of Hinaki's guardian of Ouchi, Yoshihiro Ouchi took over Hinaki and Nagasaki Port naturally, and the Kondo family also became the largest family force in Nagasaki Port. In this way, the situation in Kyushu, Japan was subtly changed...

While the Ming Navy was intimidating the foreign land, a severe drought occurred on the Shandong Peninsula. From last autumn to the present, the Dengzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou Prefecture, and Jinan Prefecture on the Shandong Peninsula had not yet rained. The autumn drought and the winter drought continued to spring drought, causing the rivers to dry up, the land to crack, and most of the winter wheat to die, and the roof was leaking and raining overnight. In early February, a locust plague suddenly broke out in Qingzhou Prefecture. The overwhelming locusts devoured everything. The woods, grasslands, and the dying seedlings were all swept away. The locust plague began to spread to Laiyang County and Zhaoyuan County in Dengzhou Prefecture. In the spring of the 24th year of Hongwu, the rice price surged, and a stone of rice finally sold for ten taels of silver.

Shandong governor Han Weiping urgently asked the court for help. Zhu Yuanzhang urgently ordered the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue to be the Shandong Xuanfu envoy to inspect Qingzhou Prefecture, where the disaster was the worst. He also ordered the governments in Shandong to open warehouses and release grain, and all counties and prefectures to build porridge sheds to provide relief to the victims.

The disaster in Penglai County was also extremely serious. Not only did the people in this county have a shortage of food, but a large number of hungry people fled from Zhaoyuan and Laiyang also poured into the county where Dengzhou Prefecture was located. On the one hand, the Dengzhou Prefecture Prefecture Prime Minister Zhao Liangcheng ordered other officials to organize disaster relief in various places in Dengzhou. On the other hand, he stopped releasing grain in the official warehouse, concentrated the limited grain, and set up ten relief porridge relief sites in Penglai County, making porridge every day to distribute hungry people.

In the evening that day, it was almost dark. Yang Magistrate of Penglai County came to the small square in front of the prefect's office with a worry, looking for the prefect. This was also a relief porridge site. Although the porridge that was cooked today was almost gone, the team was still long, and everyone was holding a small black wooden sign. The prefect Zhao Liangcheng was leading three yamen runners to provide relief porridge to the hungry people.

Before the small square, Yang Magistrate heard Zhao Liangcheng's scolding from afar, "No! Absolutely not. You have received the porridge this morning and noon, so you can't receive it for the third time."

Magistrate Yang seemed to have heard the child's pleading and the persuasion of the yamen runners again, but Zhao Chengliang's attitude was still very firm. When he got closer, Magistrate Yang was stunned. He saw Zhao Chengliang's eight-year-old second son holding an empty bowl and begging his father, "Dad, please give me another bowl, just a little bit."

"Sir, just give the child a small spoon! Just a little bit, is that OK?" The yamen runner next to him also asked.

"No!" Zhao Liangcheng looked at the sky with a blue face and said coldly: "My family is like ordinary people. They cannot have any special things. He has already received one of them."

"Mr. Zhao is a little unkind." Magistrate Yang walked over and put his shoulders on the child, sighed and said, "It's okay if we adults are hungry, but the child is thin. How can he resist hunger? People's hearts are full of flesh. Ask the people behind him, can you give the child some porridge?"

He suddenly turned around and shouted to the people: "Dear fellow villagers, our magistrate donated all his salary and grain. The family has no rice. His child is hungry and wants to drink a little more porridge. Everyone asks if he can give it to the child."

"Sir, just give me some!"

"Sir, we can understand your difficulties, but he is your child!"

The people persuaded him one after another. Zhao Liangcheng looked down at his son. He touched his son's thin little face again, his eyes suddenly turned red, and he finally nodded and said, "Okay! I'll give you one of my father's portions. You have to give some to your brother and sister when you go back. You can't drink it alone, do you know?"

The yamen runner immediately served a bowl of porridge for the child. He glanced at his father timidly and carefully took the bowl of porridge back.

County Magistrate Yang felt extremely heavy, so he whispered to Zhao Liangcheng: "I don't know if sir, I want to discuss something with you."

"Okay!" Zhao Liangcheng handed the long spoon to the yamen runners and kept saying: "Let's go to the yamen to talk."

The two entered the back hall. It was already dark. Zhao Liangcheng lit a lamp. The light was dim and faint. He sat down and sighed, "I got the news today that there was a tragic situation in Qingzhou. Although the imperial court had food transported, it was still too little. Even Jinan Prefecture was not enough. Even if it was transported to the local area, it was the first thing to ensure that the army used food, and then it was the people's turn. Alas!"

"Sir, I don't understand why the court cannot transport more food. Shandong has suffered repeated disasters in recent years. Can you really expect local official warehouses?" Yang Magistrate Yang was a little angry.

"The court also has difficulties. Last year, the food in Zhejiang and Fujian were almost all stored in the disaster in Guangdong. The Yellow River broke its dam in Henan, so it was used to use the official grain from Fengyang to provide relief. At the beginning of this year, people in Shanxi migrated on a large scale and also needed a lot of grain. I heard that the military rations in the border were tight, and the emperor was preparing to transport the food in the capital from the sea, so the court really couldn't get out the food, so we could only let us put the grain in the official warehouse on the spot. However, the rice in Penglai County could only last for ten days to provide relief porridge. I have written a report to the governor Han for help. I guess Mr. Han could not do anything about it."

Zhao Liangcheng buried his face in his hands, and his heart was extremely painful. There were more than 100,000 hungry people in Penglai County waiting to be fed. Once the food was cut off, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"It really doesn't work. I'll discuss with the army to see if they can borrow some."

"Sir, let's go! Commander Li and Deputy Lai Qianhu are not here. Penglai Institute is now the one named Bao. How could he borrow food to us? As for Weihaiwei, they still want to borrow food from us!"

Speaking of this, County Magistrate Yang hesitated and said, "Sir, I actually thought of a solution. I'm here to discuss it with you."

Zhao Liangcheng stood up with a 'tween!' and asked anxiously: "Tell me quickly, what's the solution?"
Chapter completed!