Good morning Daming

Chapter 1111: Contented Jiang Qingzhi, Unsatisfied Ashikaga Yoshiteru

On the Japanese coastline in late spring, several small fishing boats are heading towards the open sea.

On a fishing boat was a father and son. The father said, "Recently, the lord told us not to go out to sea. What are you afraid of?"

The son, who looked to be about 18 or 19 years old, said as he steered the boat, "He must be worried that someone would escape."

My father nodded. "Recently, the Lord's people have been spreading rumors everywhere, saying that they are going to deal with some great enemy. There is no great enemy around, really."

"Dad, we're lucky we weren't taken away."

"Yes! Fortunately we were not at home that day, otherwise..."

Several small fishing boats approached each other, talking about the recent inexplicably tense situation.

"Our taxes have also increased, and the excuse is to resist a powerful enemy. Where is the powerful enemy? I think it must be that there are treacherous ministers around the lord."

"Yes! It's not easy to fish every day. If we increase taxes, won't this force us to go out to sea and become pirates?"

When talking about going out to sea as pirates, these fishermen all have hope in their eyes.

"Hey! Those pirates used to come back often, why don't they come back now?"

"They say the Ming navy is clearing out the enemy. They are having a hard time."

“Some people also say that they were wiped out.”

"The Ming navy is just a bunch of wimps. They are just bragging!"

"If there is no other way out, we will go and join them."

"It is said that there is money everywhere on the Ming side, and those Ming women are so beautiful. I can't help it just thinking about them..." A young fisherman's face flushed, with greed in his eyes.

"Yeah! Last time they came back they talked about the Ming women. They said the more they struggled, the happier they were."

"That makes me want to go right now."

Everyone was breathing heavily, and at this moment, someone shouted, "What is that?"

Everyone looked up and saw the shadowy shadow of a ship appearing in the distance.

"Yes... this is a merchant ship!"

"There are more behind, many more..."

"What a big boat!"

There were more and more boats in the distance, and the fishermen were dumbfounded.

"What a big ship! Could it be the Portuguese coming?"

"There's a big flag on it, who can read?"

"I only know a few words. Let me take a look... that is..." A fisherman stretched out his hand to build a canopy in front of his eyes, "It seems to be... grass? No, I don't know this word. Let me take a look at that flag. It seems to be..."

"What is it?"

"That's what you said!"

"It seems to be...Ming, the word Ming, it's the word Ming!"

"Ming? What Ming?"

"It's Ming!"

"It's the Ming people's fleet!"

"Run."

"Why are you running? We are not pirates!"

"Their boats are coming, run!"

More than a dozen small warships flexibly rushed out of the fleet, and after the sails were adjusted, the speed suddenly increased a lot.

Soon, several small fishing boats were surrounded.

On the deck, there were several cannons aimed at the small fishing boats, and several rows of soldiers were holding flintlock rifles ready to fire. A group of infantrymen were holding swords and guns ready to jump on board at any time.

"Kneel down, kneel down quickly!"

The fishermen knelt down tremblingly.

The warships came closer and all the fishermen were taken away.

"Ask questions!" someone said.

There was no need for torture; the fishermen told everything they knew.

A warship turned around and flexibly approached a large ship behind it.

The ship was very big, really big... There was even a horse on it, and someone was riding the horse back and forth.

"Shitou, it's almost there!" Sun Bu Tong said angrily, "This horse was not killed by the wind and waves, but you rode it to death."

Sun Chonglou dismounted, and a general flag officer boarded the ship. "I have news to report to you, Lord."

Jiang Qingzhi came out, accompanied by Prince Jing, Xu Jie and others.

"Greetings, Lord." The general flag saluted and said, "The Japanese said that the daimyo here has been conscripting men for more than a month, saying that they want to expand the army and prepare to fight the enemy. In addition, a lot of taxes have been added."

Everyone looked at each other, and Xu Wei said, "The Japanese fell into the trap set by the Lord."

Xu Jie nodded, stroked his beard and said, "If the enemy troops were scattered, it would be difficult to clean them up. Now that they are huddled together, it is good. If we defeat them in one battle, the outcome will be decided!"

This was a move that Jiang Qingzhi had been planning for a long time. He nodded and said, "The only person who can integrate the forces of all parties in Japan is the shogun of the shogunate. The current situation in Japan is just like the Three Kingdoms period, but Ashikaga Yoshiteru is not the leader of the Yuan alliance, and he does not have a large army."

Jiang Qingzhi smiled, and that confident look caught Xu Jie's eyes. He couldn't help but sigh, thinking that if he had been able to make friends with Jiang Qingzhi in his early years, there would not have been all those subsequent troubles.

But it's not too late now.

After this battle, Jiang Qingzhi's prestige will be at its peak, while Confucianism will be in the dark.

It’s great that Confucianism has emerged!
Xu Jie smiled and said, "That's perfect. If the leader is weak, then the other lords below will not be able to form a united force. This gives us a better chance of winning this battle."

"Lord Xu's analysis is good!" Jiang Qingzhi nodded, and Xu Jie smiled and said, "I followed the army to the sea this time. Last time I listened to Chang Wei Bo's lecture to the generals, one of the words benefited me a lot."

Du He and others secretly criticized Old Xu for being shameless. He flattered people so blatantly, but he was better than us.

"When two armies fight, or when commanders fight each other, it all comes down to trying to figure out people's minds. Whoever can figure out the opponent's mind will win. I have come to this conclusion simply by trying to figure out people's minds."

Does Lao Xu have a talent for using troops?

This thought flashed through Jiang Qingzhi's mind. Now that Xu Jie was considered a traitor by Confucianists, he could be used.

"Master, I'm willing to be the vanguard!" Du He stepped forward to ask for the order. After the Northern Expedition, Du He chose to lie low, as he felt that he was too popular. Seeing that Du He and Jiang Qingzhi had less contact, the outside world speculated whether there was a conflict between the two.

Until that night!
Du He still remembers the scene at that time.

In the candlelight, Hu Zongxian stared at him intently and asked, "If Lord Bo is in deep crisis and needs Lord Hou to help, would Lord Hou dare to do it? Would he be willing?"

It’s easy to guess who the person is who could put Jiang Qingzhi in such a deep crisis and cause Hu Zongxian to visit him in the middle of the night.

Du He’s answer was straightforward.

"Someone, bring us armor and weapons!"

He looked at Hu Zongxian with a sharp gaze, "Where is Lord Bo? How many troops are guarding him? Have you contacted the Tiger Guards?"

On the third day, someone from Xin'an Lane came and invited Du He to have a drink.

Du He was drunk after drinking so much that he started crying like a child and said he was sorry to Jiang Qingzhi.

Jiang Qingzhi just smiled.

Don't expect everyone to be loyal to you. Du He chose to stand by him without hesitation at that time, which can be said to be the most kind thing he could do.

People shouldn't be too greedy.

Jiang Qingzhi said: "Wait."

"Uncle, what are you waiting for?"

"Wait for the first battle."

Everyone then remembered that Jiang Qingzhi always attached the most importance to the first battle, saying that if they won the first battle, they would have an 80% chance of winning the next battle.

"The enemy should be hundreds of miles away!" Du He said.

"Who said it was a land battle?"

"That was... a naval battle?"

"make!"

Jiang Qingzhi said calmly, and everyone stood in awe.

"The navy will attack from all sides. Whenever they see a ship, they will either capture it or...sink it! In ten days, I will make this sea area a bathing tub for the Ming Dynasty!"

"Leader!"

The fleet then dispersed, with the main force still following Jiang Qingzhi, and the remaining warships divided into two teams, spreading out to the left and right, clearing out the enemy along the way.

The main force docked, the soldiers disembarked, and immediately began adaptive training.

"Use war instead of training, and order the guards to clear the surrounding areas."

Jiang Qingzhi stood on the top of a small town that had just been captured, looking into the distance.

The Ming army then launched a cleanup operation.

"Are you trying to alert the enemy?" Xu Wei asked.

Jiang Qingzhi nodded, patted the top of the city wall, and said, "Once Ashikaga Yoshiteru learns of my landing, I am sure he will first send his navy to test our strength. Then he will attack us with his army."

As expected, Ashikaga Yoshiteru had the same idea as Jiang Qingzhi. After learning that the Ming army had landed and did not encounter the divine wind, he sought consultations with the daimyo and prepared to unify the navies that had been assembled before the war to attack.

After two days of arguing, an agreement was finally reached, and hundreds of so-called warships of various sizes set off.

Ashikaga Yoshiteru immediately led the army to set off.

Some people suggested that they could wait for the Ming army to attack them, but Ashikaga Yoshiteru rejected the idea. He said, "If we allow the Ming army to attack us all the way, who can stop us along the way?"

Most of the Japanese army is currently assembled here. If we ignore it and allow the Ming army to kill us all the way, who will compensate for the losses along the way?
The daimyo whose territories were on the Ming army's marching route agreed, and after some debate, they finally set out.

……

Five days later, the Japanese navy encountered the Ming army squadron.

After seeing hundreds of enemy ships, the five ships turned around and ran without hesitation.

At the bow, the general cursed: "Damn it, there are so many boats, ants can bite elephants to death, hurry back."

The Japanese naval commander was overjoyed and encouraged his troops, which greatly boosted their morale.

"Destroy the Ming navy and cut off their retreat."

Once the Ming people’s water routes were cut off, their food supply would also be cut off.

As early as two months ago, the shogunate issued an order for all places to fortify their defenses and clear the fields, that is, to collect all edible things.

The credit goes to me!
The Japanese naval commanders excitedly urged their subordinates to hurry on.

On the third day, when the Japanese saw several Ming army scout ships, they were overjoyed, thinking that they were sending their heads off.

"accelerate!"

They ran head-on into the main force of the Ming army.

The vast fleet stretched as far as the eye could see, with its sails blocking out the sky.

The enemy general looked at those ridiculously large warships, then looked back at his own small boat. He shuddered, but then shouted, "We have more people!"

Yes!

Isn't naval warfare just a competition to see who has more people?

When the Ming army's warships began to turn one after another, the Japanese people couldn't help but cheer, thinking that the Ming army wanted to escape.

After aiming the side at the enemy ship, the window opened, revealing the muzzle of a gun.

"ignition!"

Boom boom boom!
The guns were fired one after the other... This was to prevent the vibrations of the salvo from damaging the structure of the ship.

Although the old craftsmen in Longjiang patted their chests and said that this was the most solid warship they had ever built in their lives, Jiang Qingzhi still chose to be cautious.

Each shell either hit the enemy ship or fell into the water, creating waves.

Almost all the enemy ships that were hit suffered the same fate: they sank.

The small boats were sunk one by one amid the roar of artillery fire, and the Japanese panicked.

They were so panicked!
"It's that invincible fleet!"

Amid the screams, everyone remembered the huge fleet that had made the whole world tremble.

(End of this chapter)