Chapter seven hundred and seventieth meeting the enemy
A hint of joy flashed in Taniguchi Kenji's eyes.
In order to retaliate against the Tang Dynasty, Soga Ezo ordered Ichiro Oda to lead five thousand troops and go to the Tang Dynasty.
He was not so arrogant that he thought he could do anything to the Tang Dynasty with only five thousand men. Instead, he asked Oda Ichiro to go to the Tang Dynasty to plunder, let the Tang Dynasty know how powerful Fuso was, and forced the Tang Dynasty to agree to send Tang envoys to the Tang Dynasty.
Tang Xuexue.
After receiving the order, Oda Ichiro was a little hesitant, not knowing where to attack from.
Although Soga Ezo told him that Datang did not establish a navy, but what about after landing?
As a senior general of Fuso, he had some knowledge of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and he could be wiped out by randomly sending ten or twenty thousand soldiers.
However, the words of his subordinate Kenji Taniguchi made Oda Ichiro choose to disembark from the Quanzhou coast.
Taniguchi Kenji once escorted an envoy from the Tang Dynasty who was sent to study in the Tang Dynasty. However, he encountered a strong wind on the way and the boat he was riding in was overturned by waves.
Kenshi Taniguchi was very lucky, so he carried a wooden board and floated to Quanzhou with the waves.
After Kenshi Taniguchi was rescued by fishermen in Quanzhou, he spent some time recovering from his injuries in Quanzhou, so the situation and location of Quanzhou was very clear.
Although Quanzhou is very poor, Oda Ichiro just wants to complete the mission of Soga Ezo as soon as possible and then retreat.
This is why Ichiro Oda immediately ordered to intercept the Tang fishing boat when he heard it was discovered.
He was worried that the news would be leaked, so Datang sent reinforcements.
"The general has received the award. It is an honor for me to work for the general," said Taniguchi Kenji.
Oda Ichiro was very satisfied with Taniguchi Kenji's attitude and said with a smile: "The credit is the merit or the demerit. When I get back, I will naturally ask the minister for credit for you."
Oda Ichiro hesitated for a moment and asked: "Quanzhou really doesn't have as many troops as you said?"
Kenshi Taniguchi felt a little disdainful in his heart. He really couldn't understand how such a timid person like Oda Ichiro could be appointed as the commander-in-chief.
Although he despised Oda Ichiro in his heart, Taniguchi Kenshi did not dare to show it, but smiled and said: "General, don't worry, the Tang Dynasty has a vast territory. Although it has a large number of troops, there are also many places for defense. In addition, the Tang Dynasty has never paid attention to the sea area.
Therefore, there are no troops stationed in Quanzhou at all."
Oda Ichiro was relieved and just about to say something, Matsubara Hidenori walked in and said: "General, the fishing boat turned around and ran away immediately when it found us. Because it was too far away, it could not intercept it."
Oda Ichiro's expression changed and he said, "In this case, wouldn't our whereabouts be exposed?"
Kenshi Taniguchi smiled and said: "General, don't worry. If you find a fishing boat here, it means it is not far from the Tang Dynasty. Even if they report it, we will have completed the mission and retreated by the time reinforcements arrive."
Oda Ichiro's expression softened a bit and he said, "Give me the order to speed up and prepare the soldiers for battle."
…
Because it is very hot at noon, there is no need to train at noon.
Liu Rengui finished his lunch and was about to take a rest. The commander of the soldiers came in and saluted: "General, the scouts sent out came back and said that the enemy was found on the sea more than a hundred miles away. There were probably hundreds of ships. The specifics are
How many people don’t know.”
"Where's the man? Come see me quickly!"
He set up the scouts to train them first, not because he had foresight and knew that someone was going to attack Datang from the sea.
The commander of the soldiers went out quickly and brought Wu Liang in.
"Wu Liang, commander of the third corps of the small scout battalion, comes to see the general." Wu Liang saluted with some excitement.
Liu Rengui waved his hand and said, "You discovered the enemy? Tell me the details."
"yes."
Naturally, Wu Liang would not be stupid enough to say that they didn't take it seriously when they were on patrol and discovered it accidentally.
Instead, they were patrolling the sea seriously and discovered a group of ships. They used their binoculars to see soldiers wearing armor and holding weapons on the ships, so they came back to report the situation.
"Have you ever seen clearly what those people look like?" Liu Rengui asked.
"Back to the general, there is no difference between those people and the Han people." Wu Liang thought for a while and said.
Liu Rengui frowned slightly. There were many people around the Tang Dynasty who looked similar to Han people.
People from countries like Silla, Baekje, and Goguryeo all look similar to Han people.
As far as Liu Rengui knows, the appearance of Fusang people is not much different from that of Han people.
This made him unable to tell which country's army came from the sea.
"Apart from this, are there any other discoveries?" Liu Rengui asked.
Wu Liang was a little scared at the time and didn't look carefully at all, but he couldn't say this to Liu Rengui directly. He thought about it carefully and said: "Because the distance is too far, I didn't observe carefully, but their warships are very small, compared with ours."
The fishing boats used for fishing are not much bigger."
When Liu Rengui heard this, he relaxed a lot. The other party's ships were lagging behind, and his own were only large ships, so there was nothing to worry about.
Although those ships are not suitable for long-distance voyages, there is no problem in offshore operations.
When it comes to water battles, the focus is on warships. As long as the warship is stronger than the opponent, it will be useless even if the opponent has more troops.
However, Liu Rengui's men were all new troops. To be on the safe side, Liu Rengui sent out the entire scout battalion to find out the news, and also ordered people to go to the Quanzhou government office for help.
Although Quanzhou's soldiers and horses are also very weak, they are still stronger than those under him who have never even been on the battlefield.
Although those county soldiers had never been on the battlefield, they had done things like suppressing bandits, and they had seen blood.
Liu Rengui ordered the army to be gathered, distributed equipment, and prepared for war, waiting for news from the scouts.
"General, the other party has about 500 ships and about 5,000 people. It will take about an hour to arrive at the port."
An hour later, the scout returned the information.
Liu Rengui was shocked when he heard that the opponent had five hundred warships. He only had more than a hundred ships under his command.
But when he heard that the other party only had 5,000 people, Liu Rengui felt relieved.
You must know that the large ships in his army can normally carry hundreds of people. If there are 500 ships, wouldn't there be hundreds of thousands of people?
But the other party had only 5,000 people in 500 ships. You can imagine the size of their ships.
Although the opponent only had 5,000 men, and his number was twice that of the opponent, his men were all new soldiers and could easily be defeated, so Liu Rengui's expression was still a little solemn.
Liu Rengui hesitated for a while and chose to place the battlefield at sea.
The opponent's ship is small, but he has dozens of large ships under his command, which gives him an advantage on the ship.
The building boat is named because the boat is tall and wide at the front, and looks like a building.
The tall ships were too tall to collide with those small boats, let alone those equipped with shooting poles.
Liu Rengui also had another consideration in choosing to fight at sea. Even if the soldiers were afraid, they would have nowhere to escape, and it would not be easy for them to be defeated. It could also serve the purpose of training troops.
"Woo~"
The trumpet sounded, and the soldiers boarded the ship with excitement and anxiety.
The ships parked in the port left the port in an orderly manner.
It can be seen that Liu Rengui's training during this period is still very effective. As for his combat effectiveness, it needs to be tested on the battlefield.