Just as Chen Jingke was planning for the future, in the sea thousands of miles away to the east, a huge fleet took advantage of the night and silently cut through the huge waves and sailed quickly towards the front.
This is a very large fleet, led by two ninety-meter giant ships, which are Datang's newly built fifth-level main battleships.
In fact, this was also a new attempt by the Tang Dynasty Navy, which devoted all its efforts to build these two large warships.
They are also the only two ships at the moment, and they are all here.
Speaking of which, it also has something to do with Chen Jingke. He often 'intimidates' Li Shimin, which makes Li Shimin always have a sense of crisis in the world beyond the sea.
It's just that Li Shimin's way to deal with the sense of crisis is not to ban the sea, but to build the most powerful navy to find and destroy the enemy.
Under his authority, the Tang Dynasty Navy developed by leaps and bounds, and the speed of building warships reached its maximum speed.
Here we have to talk about the heritage of civilization.
In ancient times, building warships required a reserve of wood, or special wood, because ordinary wood could not build large ships.
It's not enough if you have wood, it still takes time.
The chopped wood is placed in a cool place to dry, which takes twenty years.
Of course, you can also process it into wooden boards and then dry them in the shade, which can shorten some time, but the breakage rate is very high.
You must know that all precious wood is used in shipbuilding. Even the imperial court cannot afford such a high damage rate, so most of them choose to dry the whole log in the shade.
There is also a temporary method, heating and drying. The wood produced by this method has problems with the texture, and a ship will be scrapped in less than ten years.
Except for temporary needs, the drying method is generally not used.
Regarding wood, there was a very true cold joke in my previous life.
During the Age of Discovery, a certain European country planted a batch of oak trees in preparation for building its own navy.
Two hundred years later, in the 21st century, this batch of wood has finally matured.
Many people on the Internet are joking that the boat trees planted two hundred years ago in a certain country have finally grown and can be used to build ships.
It's funny to say it, but it's really sad to think about it.
So the ancient people were really not kidding when they said a century-old navy.
The advantage of Chinese civilization lies here, with a vast territory and various types of wood available.
Royal families in the past dynasties would hoard large amounts of wood, some of which were used to build ships, and some of which were used to build palaces... But no matter what the reason, it is a fact that the Central Plains dynasties hoarded a large amount of precious wood.
When a dynasty falls, these timbers will be inherited by the new dynasty.
Therefore, it is really not that difficult for the Central Plains Dynasty to build a navy. At least in terms of wood, there is no need to worry too much.
Especially Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, in order to conquer Liaodong, build dragon boats, and build palaces for himself, he hoarded a huge amount of wood.
By the Zhenguan period, all the wood could be used.
Li Shimin sent all the wood directly to the shipyard, and worked hard to build warships, and also to build new warships.
You can do all kinds of shipbuilding experiments as you like, don't be afraid of wasting wood, just worry that you won't be able to build the ship in time.
Under this situation, the shipwrights of Datang became more active than ever. With the ideas provided by Chen Jingke, they quickly mastered the method of building sea-going ships.
Thirty-meter battleships, fifty-meter battleships, sixty-meter battleships, until these two ninety-meter full-sail gunboats are in front of us.
Of course, a fleet cannot only have these two main warships. There are also eight 60-meter large warships and hundreds of 20- to 50-meter warships.
The only small boats under 20 meters are clippers exploring the waterway to gather information, and there are also twenty or thirty boats.
There was no light or sound in the entire fleet, only the sound of the hull breaking through the huge waves.
If military fans saw it, they would definitely exclaim how this is possible.
You must know that marching at night is inherently dangerous, and the navy's night march is even more dangerous.
In an era when there was no radar to distinguish the distance of friendly ships and islands and reefs, the navy's night travel was really a life-threatening situation.
But the army in front of me did exactly that.
Although the distance between ships can be lengthened for safety, resulting in a too loose formation, it is indeed a night march.
It can be seen that the commander of this fleet is not only outstanding in ability, but also courageous.
After sailing rapidly for half the night, the lookout hand standing on the lookout pole suddenly discovered a cluster of firelight on the dark water ahead, and the firelight seemed to be obscured by something, appearing and disappearing.
The lookout's hands, which were numb from the cold, silently counted the frequency of the looming firelight, his face showed joy, he said something to his partner and quickly slid down from the pole.
"Colonel, our army's horse detection signal was found in the southeast, ten miles away from here."
The captain immediately turned around and entered the cabin, stopped at the door of a cabin, knocked on the door and said: "General, there is an expedition from our army ten miles southeast."
"Squeak." The door was opened, and Liu Rengui, dressed in leather armor, walked out and said, "Let's go take a look."
Several people stood on the deck against the oncoming sea breeze. Liu Rengui took out his telescope and looked toward the southeast, and soon discovered the bright light.
"Send an order to the entire army to slow down and send a speedboat to inspect the situation."
He gave an order and three angry wind lanterns were raised.
When the surrounding ships saw the lights, they also raised three lanterns. More and more ships raised their signals, and when viewed from the sky, it looked like a sea of stars.
These are signal lights. Three lights indicate slowing down. They also serve as a reference for other ships so they don’t hit them.
After receiving the signal, the fleet suddenly came to life. Countless people ran out of the cabin and began to lower the sails, adjust the ship's speed, etc.
Such a big movement barely made much noise, and except for a few commanders, everyone else silently carried out the orders.
Behind the seemingly simple operation, it was figured out by the Tang Navy after countless trainings and at the cost of nearly a hundred warships.
A large ship sailing rapidly on the sea has extremely large inertia, so it is not easy to slow down.
When the speed really slowed down, it was already half an hour later, and the distance to the fire was less than a mile.
Soon a speedboat approached them, and several people climbed up the ladder onto the flagship. Among them was a middle-aged and elderly civil servant in his forties or fifties.
Seeing him, Liu Rengui hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Gao Duhu, why are you here like this? How can I explain to the saint if something goes wrong?"
Gao Duhu's full name was Gao Biaoren, and he was the governor of Xinzhou. Not many people know this person, and there are not many records about him in history, but the things recorded are worthy of everyone's admiration.
In the fifth year of Zhenguan, he went to Japan as an envoy and asked the then-reigning Emperor Shuming to kneel facing north to receive Li Shimin's imperial edict.
At that time, Japan already had a disloyal attitude. In its letters of credence to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it even appeared that the emperor of the country of the rising sun had met the emperor of the country of the setting sun.
Emperor Shuming would naturally not kneel down to receive an order.
But Gao Biaoren was also a man who was not afraid of death. He reprimanded him on the spot and refused to read the imperial edict.
Emperor Shuming was furious but could do nothing. He really did not dare to hurt the Tang Angel.
One didn't want to kneel down to receive the imperial edict, and the other refused to kneel down and I wouldn't read it, so the two became deadlocked.
This matter was dragged on for two years, and Emperor Shuming had to send someone to send his gift back to the Tang Dynasty.
At that time, Gao Biaoren was isolated and helpless, and his situation can be imagined. He only relied on the righteousness in his heart to support him.
To be honest, with the combat power of the navy of the Tang Dynasty at that time, the Japanese slaves really killed him, and the Tang Dynasty had no good solution.
He relied on his own will to withstand all the pressure, and finally escaped unscathed while preserving the face of the Tang Dynasty.
But this matter was always an unforgettable memory for him. When he learned that Datang wanted to build a navy and manage the East China Sea, he took the initiative to ask to participate in this matter.
Li Shimin built the Donghai Protectorate, and he naturally became the first Protector.
Liu Rengui has become the Commander-in-Chief of the East China Sea Fleet because of his military merits, and is directly under the jurisdiction of Navy General Li Xiaogong.
In recent years, almost all Tang Dynasty's various actions in the East China Sea were made by the two of them.
For example, the few indigenous nobles who opposed the feudal state of the Tang Dynasty on Zhuzi Island disappeared, etc.
And today they are going to carry out an unprecedented big move to completely eliminate Datang's hidden dangers in the East China Sea.
The Tang Dynasty occupied Zhuzi Island and wanted to establish a feudal state here, so the Wonu Kingdom was naturally unwilling to do so.
Previously, the powerful minister Soga Ezo sent his son Soga into Lu to conquer the Chikushi Kingdom, but was defeated by Liu Rengui.
But Soga Ezo will definitely not give up, and is quietly building warships and recruiting navy, intending to regain control of Chikushi Island.
Liu Rengui knew very well that he was fighting as a guest army. If the Japanese slaves were to prepare, it would be difficult even if he had the advantage of gunboats.
After all, the number of gunboats at this time was small, and the methods of use were still in the exploratory stage. Traditional naval warfare was still the main method of warfare for the navy.
After much thought, it was the best way to send troops in advance to destroy the opponent's navy before they were ready.
He first told Gao Biaoren his thoughts.
Gao Biaoren, who had long been dissatisfied with the Japanese slave kingdom, immediately agreed to his plan and helped improve the strategic and tactical plan.
After everything was planned, Liu Rengui told Li Xiaogong his plan, and as expected, it was approved.
Again, the first batch of five vassal states was a model created by the Tang Dynasty, and no problems were allowed.
Moreover, the Wonu Kingdom was very ambitious and had no respect for the Tang Dynasty, so it really should be punished.
Li Xiaogong was one of the few commander-level talents in the clan, so he naturally knew the principle of striking first to gain the upper hand.
Moreover, because he was close to Li Jiancheng before, he was marginalized after the Xuanwu Gate Incident.
After more than ten years, because Datang wanted to develop its navy, he was finally reused again because of his experience in naval warfare.
Under such circumstances, he naturally worked very hard to do the job well.
Not only did he approve the plan, he also gave full authority over the matter to Liu Rengui.
In order to ensure nothing goes wrong, the Navy's only two new 90-meter warships were allocated to him for use.
Liu Rengui immediately led the main force of the East China Sea Navy and rushed to the Japanese Nu Sea area day and night.
What he didn't expect was that Gao Biaoren, as the protector of the East China Sea, would take such a big risk and jump ship to come to him at night.
You must know that jumping off a ship is very dangerous, even during the day, let alone at night.
With the current weather, if you fall into the sea and wait to be fished out, you will freeze to death if you don't drown.
Hearing his concerned words, Gao Biaoren said nonchalantly: "Nothing, as long as the Japanese slave country is destroyed, no one can take away my old bones."
As he spoke, a gust of cold wind hit him and he couldn't help but shiver.
Liu Rengui said helplessly: "You... let's go to the cabin to warm up first."
The two of them came to the cabin together. There was a small stove burning brightly, and the temperature in the cabin was relatively high.
After roasting for a while and drinking a bowl of ginger soup, Gao Biaoren returned to normal, and then he couldn't wait to say:
"The people I sent have found detailed information about the Japanese slave army."
When Liu Rengui went back to ask for a fight, he stayed behind to spy on information.
Liu Rengui asked: "What's going on on the other side?"
Gao Biaoren took out a map and unfolded it, and said through the dim light in the cabin: "It's almost the same as before, the Japanese slaves didn't notice our actions."
Soga Ezo hid the navy it recruited in a sea area called Hyogo Prefecture. This place is a natural harbor and is relatively hidden and difficult to detect.
Liu Rengui knew this, but what he lacked was specific information, which was what Gao Biaoren had been spying on recently.
"This naval force has more than a thousand ships, large and small, including more than 3,000 fishing boats and sampans that have been collected, and has 50,000 soldiers. It is commanded by your old rival Su Ga Ruishu."
"Although Su Wo Rulu has a cruel temperament, he does have some ability to lead troops. After that, he practiced day and night without slacking off...give him a period of time, and he may really become a serious problem for us."
Liu Rengui said with a chilling air: "Then let him die. Isn't this exactly the purpose of our trip?"
Gao Biaoren also said in a cold voice: "This time we must break the backbone of the Japanese slaves and let them know why the Tang Dynasty is the supreme kingdom of heaven."
Then he hesitated for a moment before saying: "After learning more about the Japanese slaves' intelligence, I think the previous battle plan needs to be adjusted."
Liu Rengui was not surprised. Water is impermanent and troops are impermanent. It is natural to adjust tactics according to the enemy's timing and situation.
They didn't know the specific situation of the Japanese slaves before, so it was normal for the plans they made to have problems.
So he said: "I wonder what Gao Duhu has to say?"
Gao Biaoren said: "I don't take my opinion seriously. It's just a suggestion. Whether it is feasible or not depends entirely on Governor Liu's will."
"Although Hyogo Port is large, the Japanese slaves have more ships. More than 3,000 warships almost crowd the harbor."
"Once we block the exit, their numerical advantage will be unable to unfold. If we attack them with fire, we can destroy the enemy warships without any effort."
Liu Rengui questioned: "The entrance to this harbor is very wide. We probably won't be able to block them with our military strength. If we spread our troops too thinly, the other side will take advantage of them and defeat them one by one."
Gao Biaoren confidently pointed to the marks on the map and said: "This harbor seems to have many exits, but most places either have reefs or the water is too shallow to allow large ships to pass. There are only two waterways that can be freely entered and exited."
"As long as we block these two waterways, the Japanese navy will be the turtle in the urn. They will have no way to escape due to the fire."
"And at night, except for a few people guarding the ship, the rest will go back to the camp on the shore to sleep. By the time they know they are being attacked, it will be too late to run over from the camp to rescue the ship."
