Chapter 197: Eastern Expedition to Japan (I)

It is not accidental that the sudden increase of Japanese pirates in Hongwu's 26th is directly determined by the domestic situation in Japan. If the scope is smaller, it is directly related to the war situation on Kyushu Island in Japan. The northern part of Kyushu Island was originally the territory of the Ouchi family. The eldest son Yoshihiro Ouchi accepted the enthronement of Emperor Komatsu of the Northern Dynasties last year and officially became the guardian of Kyushu. However, after receiving the support of the Nagato Kingdom, Fumaki Kikuchi, who occupied the Nagato Kingdom, began to attack the Ouchi family in October last year. The Kyushu civil war broke out. After several months of fierce fighting, Yoshihiro Ouchi retreated step by step. Currently, only two territorys of Himemaki and Iki Island are retained. Most of the other Kyushu are occupied by Fumaki Kikuchi.

On the other hand, Yoshihiro Ouchi sent people to ask for help from Ashikaga Yoshiman, and at the same time sent his subordinates to plunder the coast of the Ming Dynasty to obtain war resources. Therefore, after February, the number of Japanese pirates on the coast of the Ming Dynasty suddenly increased, which is why.

On April 20, 20th year of Hongwu, a Ming fleet composed of more than 60 military ships appeared on the vast sea of ​​Japan. In this fleet, there were two giant treasure ships, one was the flagship Wei Zheng, the other was the main warship Lushun, and the other was the Fu Ship Warship, transporting 32 giant foreign ships, transporting troops and various supplies, which were like an ancient aircraft carrier battle group, sailing towards the Japanese archipelago.

At the bow of the Wei Zheng ship, Li Wei, wearing a military uniform, looked into the distance with a cliff-eye. After two years, he came to Japan again. This time was very different from the previous time. As the general of Liaodong and the governor of the Ming Navy, he had greater power. He even represented himself. Yes, this was his long-planned plan, so he blurted out when Yao Guangxiao proposed the strategy of foreign war and avoiding danger. For this eastern expedition to Japan, he prepared a full six months, including the most advanced flintlock rifle and new artillery he invented; including the most powerful naval military ships of the Ming Dynasty, and two of the five treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty appeared in the war team; including the 20,000 most elite army, and three thousand war horses.

The significance of the Eastern Expedition to Japan is not just to attack Japanese pirates, but to attack Japanese pirates is just an excuse. Li Weizheng's real purpose is very clear, pointing directly to the silver of Japan. The reason why he did not take action last time was to wait until today and fight for himself. He did not have the time to accumulate and develop slowly in Liaodong. Just as Japan received a large amount of compensation from the Qing Dynasty at the end of the 19th century and made its national strength soar, he also needed to get a large amount of silver from Japan to make his Liaodong strength improve by leaps and bounds.

Just when he left Liaodong, the shadow of the "Feng Fu case" had begun to appear. The Lan Yu case in history did not break out, but the "Feng Fu case" broke out. This proves that the Lan Yu case will inevitably happen. Without Lan Yu, there will be white jade and black jade. Zhu Yuanzhang would find an excuse to cleanse these old military leaders who hold military power. In Fengyang, dozens of generals of the marquis were detained, including Zhu Yunwen's uncle Chang Sheng. These people will be cleaned without exception. In Li Weizheng's view, this was Zhu Yuanzhang destroying the Great Wall himself. Perhaps in Zhu Yuanzhang's view, he killed a group of hidden dangers that would threaten him.

Lan Yu also got his wish in Guizhou. Everyone in the Ming Dynasty was in danger. Everyone was staring at Fengyang's "Feng Fu case" and Guizhou's Lan Yu, but no one paid attention to him. This was what he hoped. If he was Zhu Yuanzhang's absolute authority on land, then in this blue sea, even if Zhu Yuanzhang had three heads and six arms, he could not control him, let alone he was terminally ill.

"Husband, it's very windy on the deck, let's go back to the cabin!" The person who spoke was Li Weizheng's concubine Yao Ji. The reason why she followed the army was because she was the only Japanese-speaking person around Li Weizheng. She would serve as Li Weizheng's translator. Although Japan is her mother country, she has been married to Li Weizheng for two years, and to a large extent she has regarded herself as a native of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Yao Ji's heart was also extremely complicated. She was about to return to her hometown, but at this moment she felt that the homeland she had been missing had become so strange. Her heart was empty and there was no sorrow of being "close to the hometown". She only had an inexplicable loss in her heart. Which country is she from?

Li Wei was gently hugging her shoulders, pointing to the large group of seagulls in the distance and smiling: "There are too many seagulls, which also means that the land is coming soon. Are you happy to have finally returned to your hometown?"

"I don't know, I don't even know if my father still remembers my daughter."

"Of course he will remember, and if he forgets, I will remind him." Li Wei was looking up at the same blue sky, his heart full of passion and ambition.

"This time, I'm going to make Japan tremble under my feet."

The fleet had been traveling for another two hours, and suddenly the ringing sounded loudly on the mast of the treasure ship, and one looked over the mast and shouted: "Land! Land! I saw Land."

Li Wei was raising his eyes at a distance, and he also saw a long black line appearing in his sight. He suddenly recognized it. This was Tsushima Island in Japan.

An hour later, a huge fleet slowly docked on Tsushima Island, and a large number of Ming troops began to land. According to the plan, the Ming Navy will occupy Tsushima Island and build it into a naval base. Tsushima Island is located between Goryeo and Japan, only two days away from both countries. It is a springboard from Goryeo to Japan. In addition, Tanluo Island will also be another base, but it is not time to occupy it yet.

Tsushima Island is an outer island of Japan. There are thousands of fishermen living on the island, and there is also a thousand-man garrison of Ouchi Yoshihiro. Ouchi Yoshihiro's territory is not much, only Himemaki and Iki are left. Therefore, he attaches great importance to the vast Tsushima Island and sent his confidants to guard the island.

The sudden arrival of the Ming Navy shocked the garrison. Some people wanted to take a boat to report the news, but the report ship was less than two miles away from the sea and was sunk by the artillery of the Ming army warship.

Before the one thousand garrisons could organize effective resistance, they were surrounded by 10,000 Ming troops. After an hour of confrontation, they put down their weapons and surrendered, becoming the first batch of prisoners of war in the Ming army's Eastern Expedition. Then, the Japanese captain was taken to the treasure ship to question.

The captain of the Japanese army was Yamada. It happened that he was stationed on Iqi Island two years ago and had met Li Weizheng. He also knew Yao Ji. Captain Yamada was taken into the cabin. He was stunned. He couldn't believe his eyes. The Ming officer two years ago was back, and the young woman in an exotic dress next to him was the eldest lady of the Akatsuki family?

"I seem to have seen you." Li Weizheng said with a smile.

Yao Ji also recognized the Japanese captain, one of Ouchi Hiroyoshi's close friends, but she did not show any joy in the old friend and calmly translated for Li Weizheng. Captain Yamada, who was extremely surprised, immediately saluted and said, "I saw him when the general came to Iki Island two years ago."

"Then I'm an old friend!"

Li Weizheng smiled and turned to Yao Ji and said, "Tell him that the Ming army came to Japan this time mainly to do business with the Northern Dynasties and sell a batch of weapons to the Northern Dynasties. Last time we did business with the Southern Dynasties, we did not make any profit."

Although Captain Yamada was a low-level official, he also knew that the reason why the Ouchi family was defeated by the woman named Kikuchi was because she had three thousand Ming army muskets in her hand, which had a great advantage in the war. If the master could also obtain such advanced weapons, he would probably turn defeat into victory.

He was suddenly excited. He didn't expect that since the Ming army was here to do business, what would he bring so many troops to do? He said in a trembling voice: "If the general is willing to sell firearms to my master, we will be grateful."

"This can be discussed, but you can tell me the current situation in Japan first. Before doing business, I want to understand the general situation in Japan in the past two years."

Perhaps it was because Li Weizheng had a deal with Yoshihiro Ouchi last time, which made the captain Yamada have a fixed mind. Li Weizheng was still here to do business this time. He had no doubts, so he explained in detail what happened in the past two years in detail, and finally said: "That Kikuchi Fenga was supported by the Southern Dynasties and was named the post of Dazai Shaoer of Kyushu. Her master was beaten by her and she was defeated step by step. Now only the two places of Himemaki and Iki are left. The situation is extremely critical. Please help us."

After listening to the translation of Captain Yamada, Li Wei suddenly felt absurd. Didn’t he behave strong enough? He couldn’t tell that he was already a prisoner? Li Wei Zheng shook his head and said to Yao Ji: “Tell him that I am here to help the Ouchi family, but I want to know the number of troops of Ouchi Yoshihiro and Kikuchi Fenga, so I can decide what kind of countermeasures to take.”

Yao Ji never wanted to mention the surname Danei. This surname reminded her of the painful past that she couldn't bear to look back on, but she also knew that her husband was asking for important information, so she pressed the pain that had just arisen back into her heart. But when she said the word "Danei", her heart suddenly felt relaxed. The stone that had been pressing on her heart for a long time disappeared. The surname "Danei" no longer had any impact on her. Only then did she realize that the matter was not big. It depends on whether you dare to face it. If your husband doesn't care, what else did she care?

Yao Ji was extremely calm and translated Li Weizheng's words accurately, as if she had nothing to do with the big family.

Captain Yamada did not doubt it either. He thought for a while and said, "My master now has 8,000 people left, including ours, there are 2,000 people on Iqi Island, and 5,000 people in the country. I don't know very well about the number of Kikuchi Fengya's army. I heard that there are about 20,000 people."

"Very good! You cooperated well." The smile on Li Wei's face disappeared, and he said coldly: "From now on Tsushima Island, I have taken over. You thousand people must work hard. After the war is over, I will let you go back to your hometown to reunite with your relatives."

Captain Yamada was stunned after listening to the translation, and after a long time he stuttered, "I don't understand...what the general said."

"Do you want me to repeat it again? From now on, Tsushima Island has been occupied by me. You are all my prisoners of war." After that, Li Wei waved his hand and ordered his personal soldiers to take him out. Captain Yamada suddenly became anxious. He croaked and shouted, and he could still hear his screams from afar.

Li Weizheng immediately found Chen Wanli, who had been promoted to commander-in-chief of Lushun Guard, and gave him a few words of advice.

Chen Wanli bowed and bowed, "As for the order!" and turned around and hurried away.

Li Wei was walking out of the cabin. At this time, a thousand households in charge of defending Tsushima Island hurriedly came to obey the order. Li Wei was instructing him: "You must build a military city for me on this island, but you don't have to do it. All projects will be completed by prisoners of war. Your mission is just to keep an eye on them. Anyone who dares to make trouble will kill me!"

"I will obey the order!" Qianhu agreed, but he hesitated a little, "But our language may not be able to understand."
Chapter completed!