Liu Rengui was very surprised and couldn't help but ask: "The situation in the waters of Binggang is top secret. How did Gao Duhu find out?"
Gao Biaoren said proudly: "The two years I spent in the Japanese slave country were not in vain. I got to know many powerful people."
"Many of these people have long been dissatisfied with Soga Ezo, so naturally they happily sold information to us."
Liu Rengui's heart moved and he immediately asked: "How powerful are these people?"
How could Gao Biaoren not know what he meant and said with a smile: "It's big, big enough to accomplish what you want to do."
Liu Rengui said with a smile: "That's good. But we'll talk about this later. Now let's deal with Su Wo Rulu and his navy first... How were their camps built?"
Gao Biaoren said: "I don't know the specific situation very well. I'll let my subordinate Captain Wang Hu tell you. He personally led people to conduct the investigation, and he has a clearer understanding."
Liu Rengui immediately knew what he meant, which was to let Wang Hu participate in this battle on behalf of the Donghai Protectorate.
Speaking of Gao Biaoren, the Protector of the East China Sea, it was a bit miserable, so Li Shimin gave him a force from the Zhechong Mansion, which was a combination of land and water.
This small amount of troops was barely enough for him to maintain the situation of building Purple Island, explore the surrounding islands, and bully the natives on the Ryukyu Islands.
There was nothing we could do against the Japanese people and the Ezo people to the north.
If you want to conquer the Wonu Kingdom, you can only cooperate with the East China Sea Fleet.
Military merit was the most important thing in the Tang Dynasty. This military operation was of huge scale and military merit was definitely indispensable.
As the Protector, he must seek the welfare of his subordinates, otherwise the Protector will not be able to sit still.
Asking Wang Hu to come forward to introduce the enemy's situation is actually a statement of attitude.
When the tasks are assigned later, Wang Hu and others must be involved.
Liu Rengui would naturally have no objection. Although the main force for this operation came from the East China Sea Fleet, Gao Biaoren had key intelligence.
In the future, he wanted to carry out some operations on the Japanese island, and he also needed Gao Biaoren, the guardian, to take the lead, so the two sides were actually on an equal footing.
It is a cooperation between the two parties, so it is appropriate to give some credit to the other party, otherwise it will not be easy for him to get along in the East China Sea in the future.
After all, the entire East China Sea is strictly under the jurisdiction of the East China Sea Protectorate. Don't look at the fact that Gao Biaoren currently only has a small area like Chikushi Island under his jurisdiction.
When the Wonu Kingdom and the Ezo people are conquered, the entire East China Sea islands will be included in his management, and he will become one of the top feudal officials in the Tang Dynasty.
It is necessary to have a good relationship with him.
So Liu Rengui said: "Where is Captain Wang? Call him over."
Gao Biaoren said: "Just outside the door, Governor Liu can just call him."
Liu Rengui ordered someone to call him in.
After a while, Wang Hu came in and saluted the two of them: "I've met the Protector and I've met Governor Liu."
Gao Biaoren said: "Tell Governor Liu about the layout of Su Wo Ru Lu's camp."
Wang Hu also knew that whether he could participate or not depended on this fate, and said: "Well, Su Wo Rulu's camp is not far from the harbor. The joint camp built with earth, wood and thatch stretches for several miles."
He drew on the sand table the location of the joint camp of Su and I and the deer army, marked all the roads, and the deployment of troops.
Liu Rengui quickly had a clear understanding of the situation there. After thinking for a while, he asked: "Is the land heavily guarded?"
Wang Hu shook his head and said: "The Suwo family has great power in the Wonu Kingdom. It controls the government, abolishes and establishes kings without any rival."
"Su Wo Rulu is not worried about someone attacking them from the land, so the guards are not strict. It is more to prevent people from accidentally entering this place..."
Liu Rengui said: "Then if I ask you to lead a group of troops to sneak over from the land and set fire to the camp everywhere, will you dare to go?"
Wang Hu was surprised. In fact, he also came up with this idea based on the actual situation when he was scouting the enemy's situation.
Blocking waterways on the water and setting fire to ships, and coordinating on land to burn joint ventures, can easily defeat Su Worulu.
These days, he has been quite complacent about this, and has even been prepared to make this proposal after meeting Liu Rengui.
If you show your military talents, you might be able to be reused.
Unexpectedly, Liu Rengui just listened to his introduction to the enemy situation and immediately came up with a better way.
This is called a true general. No wonder he became the commander-in-chief of the East China Sea Fleet in a short period of time.
The little pride in his heart immediately disappeared without a trace, and he said with admiration:
"Captain Liu is Gao Ming, and I am willing to serve as a pawn."
Liu Rengui was very satisfied with his attitude, but he was afraid that the troops of different affiliations would not obey the command, which was why he asked Wang Hu to launch an attack from land.
The provincial government and the navy did not cooperate well, which actually affected the direction of the war.
However, he did not give the order directly. After all, Gao Biaoren was sitting next to him. If he wanted to formally mobilize the other party's people, he had to say hello to them first.
So he said: "Gao Duhu, what do you think?"
Gao Biaoren smiled and said: "You are the commander-in-chief in this battle. You can just give the order directly on what to do without asking me."
"Then I'm not welcome." After thanking Liu Rengui, he said with a solemn face: "Wang Hu obeys the order."
Wang Hu bowed and said: "The end will be here."
"I order you to lead a battalion of troops to march overland and approach the enemy camp in ambush. When fire breaks out at sea, set fire to the enemy camp everywhere."
"Remember, your purpose is to create chaos. Don't engage in battle with the enemy easily. Your priority is to save your life."
Wang Hu took the order loudly: "Here."
Then he saluted the two of them and exited the cabin, got on the boat and headed towards his headquarters.
Liu Rengui called the messenger again and said:
"Send an order to General Cai Yang and order him to lead half of the troops to block the water channel on the right side and not let a single enemy ship escape."
"Here." A messenger went to give orders to Cai Yang on the other boat.
"Order the entire army to prepare brimstone, kerosene, rockets, fire ships and other items, and follow my orders to set fire to enemy ships."
"Here."
The entire fleet woke up completely, and everyone began to prepare for the war under the command of their superiors.
The fleet moved slowly towards Hyogo Port. The journey that usually takes more than half an hour to complete took a full two hours this time.
First, a small boat came over and brought news that Wang Hu had taken people ashore and lurked towards the agreed place.
Liu Rengui looked grim and ordered the reconnaissance team to clear out the enemy patrol boats outside the port.
He himself led half of the warships to follow him to the left channel, and the other half of the warships, led by Cai Yang, headed to the right channel.
It's close to dawn at this time, which is when the sky is at its darkest and when people are most sleepy.
In the port of Hyogo, a patrol boat was floating on the water. The five patrol officers on the boat were all lying on the deck and fast asleep, unaware of the quietly approaching small boat in the distance.
Soon the small boat came next to the patrol boat. It was Datang's reconnaissance speedboat.
I saw a few strong men wearing special leather clothes, holding short knives in their mouths, sliding from the speedboat to the water, and quietly swam to the side of the patrol boat.
They wear water ghost clothes made of sea otter skin, so they won't get frostbite even if they stay in the sea for a while in winter.
No matter how long it takes, it won't work. After all, humans are not sea otters.
A few people gently scratched the side of the boat, communicated with each other with eyes and gestures, and quickly formulated a plan.
Two of them each stretched out a hand to hold it together, and another person swam beside them, holding the side of the boat with both hands, and stretched out his foot to step on their joined hands.
The three of them exerted their strength at the same time, and the man quickly left the water and jumped onto the boat, but the boat did not shake much.
When they got to the boat, the person quickly climbed down on the board and waited for a while to see that the other person was still asleep before taking action.
He first asked a companion to come up, and together they hunched over and tiptoed to the heads of the sleeping five people.
They took off the daggers they were holding in their mouths and winked at each other. One of them covered his mouth and the other stabbed his heart with the knife. As for why they didn't cut him... He who stabbed his heart would die the fastest.
In this way, the two of them quickly defeated five enemies.
Afterwards, they pulled their companions onto the boat, put on the enemy's clothes, and rowed the patrol boat into the harbor.
Along the way, we encountered two more patrol boats. One of them also had all its crew members lazy and sleeping, and was easily dealt with.
There was a man on the other boat keeping watch, but he was unprepared for the Tang Army scouts who were also driving a patrol boat, and was easily approached and dealt with.
Afterwards, the journey was smooth and we entered the harbor directly.
Behind them, a huge fleet quietly followed in.
Standing at the bow of the boat, Liu Rengui couldn't believe that things would go so smoothly, and he also despised Su Wo Rulu to the extreme.
He was found in his lair and didn't know it. He dared to say that he had the ability to lead an army. The small Japanese slave country just didn't know it.
But at the same time, it also reminded him that he must do a good job in patrolling in the future and must not follow in the footsteps of the other party.
In fact, this was really an injustice to Su Wo. It was not that he was unprepared, but that he did not expect that someone in his family would actually sell the waterway.
First of all, Hyogo Port at this time was a very remote place. Historically, it was not developed until Kyoto was moved to Tokyo during the Nara period.
He hid the navy here without anyone noticing. Even within the Wonu Kingdom, only some senior officials knew the specific location.
Secondly, the outlet area of Hyogo Port seems to be vast, but in fact most places are either densely covered with reefs, or the water level is too shallow to pass large ships.
It also took him a long time to figure out the situation in the nearby waters, and he also lost many ships and lives.
Don't say that the Tang Dynasty didn't know that they trained an army here. Even if they knew, they wouldn't be able to get in.
If you dare to rush in rashly, the complicated water conditions will also cause your opponent to suffer a lot.
However, in front of the inner ghost, all this became a decoration.
The outlet to the sea was successfully blocked, and more than a hundred small boats and sampans were put into the water from the large ship. All of them were fire ships, and they were filled with flammable materials.
There was a crew member on each fire boat. Following the order, they sailed in groups of three or five boats to the Japanese slave ships docked at the dock.
More than three thousand warships, large and small, and fishing boats and sampans docked at the pier in an orderly manner, like rows of vegetable beds.
It can be seen from this point that Su Wo Rulu is indeed not a straw bag, and military discipline is relatively strict.
However, this also gave the Tang army an opportunity. The fire ships kept passing through the gaps specially left, and soon penetrated deep into the ship array.
After parking the fire boat and lighting the prepared incense, these Tang soldiers rowed back in groups of three or five in a stolen Japanese slave navy boat.
This was also planned in advance. After sending the fire ship to the appropriate location, steal the enemy's boat and return.
There is gunpowder underneath the incense. When the incense burns out, it will ignite the gunpowder and ignite the surrounding tinder, causing the entire ship to catch fire.
But this time it was not so smooth. Not all the fireships could be delivered to the predetermined location quietly, and many groups were discovered.
But the problem came, it was too dark and the Japanese slave soldiers who discovered the fire ship were not sure what they saw.
In addition, he had never experienced a real war and lacked the due vigilance. He only shouted warnings loudly and did not dare to directly step forward to intercept.
The men who were driving the boats of the Tang army were prepared to sacrifice before they came, and ignored them at all. They rowed the boats inward with all their strength, and plunged into the Japanese slave fleet, took out the flints and lit the fire boats directly.
This was also agreed upon before coming here. They would steal the boat back without being discovered. If they were discovered, they would light the fire boat as their primary goal. If they died, their military merits would be received by their families.
The ignited fire ship instantly turned into a big fireball. The fire was blown by the sea breeze and ignited the surrounding ships.
That's not all. There is also a wooden barrel on the steamboat, which contains strong fire oil.
The fire burned violently, the wooden barrel exploded with a "boom", and the fire oil splashed everywhere...
"It's on fire, it's on fire, put out the fire quickly." No one needed to warn anyone, the Japanese people knew what was going on, and the entire harbor fell into chaos.
It was just that the incident happened suddenly, and except for a few witnesses, most people only thought it was a fire and did not realize it was an enemy attack.
Even if I heard someone yelling about an enemy attack, I just thought they were frightened and yelled randomly.
However, they soon realized that something was wrong. There were too many fire points, and new fire points appeared one after another.
Even if they no longer believe it, they still know that they are being attacked by the enemy.
Watching the fire ignite on the fleet deck in the distance, Liu Rengui looked grim and asked: "How many people are back?"
The deputy general replied: "Only forty-nine people came back, and there are still one hundred and one people who have not returned."
Liu Rengui's expression remained unmoved, but he punched the side of the ship with his fist and said: "Send the order to attack and avenge the brothers."
The lieutenant general was shocked. If he continued to wait, someone would definitely come back. Marching at this time was almost equivalent to giving up on the remaining people.
But the fighter plane was fleeting, and it was impossible to give up the entire war just to wait for dozens of people. He did not hesitate, turned around and conveyed the military order downwards.
"Dong dong dong!!!" The war drum sounded, which was the signal to launch a general attack. All ships began to press forward according to the battle plan.
Archers stood on the side of the ship one after another, and the logistics staff ran back and forth to bring bundles of rockets.
Someone lit the brazier again...
The ship moved forward slowly.
"Everyone... get ready." At this time, the herald shouted angrily.
All the archers looked solemn, picked up a rocket, lit it in the brazier, put it on their bow and got ready to shoot.
"Sixty degrees to the front left, shoot."
"Whoosh..." Sparks flew out from the ship in the sky and fell to the target in the blink of an eye, igniting ships one by one. Occasionally, a few miserable screams could be heard.