The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 816 The Turbulent Times on the Peninsula (Part 1)

Silla as a kingdom no longer existed. The Sui Dynasty established the Jincheng Grand Protectorate to effectively govern the Silla region, which was divided into seven counties, each with a magistrate, a county seat, and a registrar.

The warehouse was filled with mountains of wealth and resources, all of which would be transported back to Luoyang after the other two kingdoms were destroyed.

In addition to wealth and material goods, a large amount of real estate was seized, including more than five million acres of land belonging to nobles.

According to the previous plan, all the captured land would be distributed to more than 20,000 Han Chinese people who had been tricked into becoming slaves by the Silla people.

While these people who were deceived into coming to Silla were certainly unfortunate, on the other hand, they did the court a great favor by helping the Sui Dynasty relocate more than 20,000 households ahead of schedule.

The imperial court would certainly not send these 20,000 households back to the Sui Dynasty. Instead, they would be resettled on the spot, given land and houses, and their social status would be improved. In particular, those who could read and write would be promoted to county officials or hired as teachers with high salaries.

Currently, Luo Shixin has been appointed as the Grand Commander of Jincheng, Han Xiaoji, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, has been appointed as the Chief Secretary, and Li Kuangzhi, the Military Advisor of the Liaodong Commandery, has been appointed as the Military Advisor.

Li Kuangzhi served in the Liaodong Governor's Office for a long time and was fluent in Silla, which was useful in governing the local people.

After the Grand General's Office in Geumseong gradually stabilized, Luo Shixin's focus shifted to Baekje.

Destroying Baekje has become his next target.

However, Baekje was well aware of the Sui army's intentions and knew that it would inevitably be the next target. After the fall of the Silla capital, King Mu of Baekje, Buyeo Jang, immediately sent envoys to Goguryeo in an attempt to form an alliance with Goguryeo to jointly deal with the Sui army.

However, with 20,000 Sui troops stationed to the north of Goguryeo, Goguryeo dared not make any rash moves. If it dared to collude with Baekje, it would inevitably be attacked from both the north and south by the Sui army and be the first to be destroyed.

Chancellor Yeon Taejo believed that this was a strategy by Baekje to divert the trouble northward, attempting to make Goguryeo a scapegoat for Baekje. King Yeongyang Go Won immediately declined Baekje's request for an alliance.

Buyeo Jang knew that Goguryeo would not ally with him, so while sending envoys to Goguryeo, he also sent Crown Prince Buyeo Uija to Japan to seek help.

Baekje and Wa have always been very close allies. Many members of the Wa royal family came from Baekje. Wa is currently in the Asuka period. The emperor is the first female emperor, Empress Suiko, who is assisted by Prince Shotoku. However, real power is in the hands of the powerful minister Soga no Umako.

Although the power struggle between Empress Suiko and Soga no Umako was intense, they were completely united on the issue of invading Silla. In the 20th year of the Kaihuang era, Empress Suiko, under the pretext of assisting Baekje, sent an army of 30,000 to invade Silla. Silla was eventually forced to cede territory and sue for peace, giving up all the islands east of Silla to Japan.

When Empress Suiko learned that the Sui army had occupied Silla, she was eager to take action again. She believed that this was an opportunity to seize Silla. As long as she cooperated with Baekje's 50,000-strong army to drive the Sui army out of Silla, Japan could establish itself on the peninsula. More importantly, once the Sui army was defeated, Japan would be qualified to stand on equal footing with the Sui Dynasty.

Empress Suiko then reached an agreement with Soga no Umako, and sent Prince Tamura with an army of 40,000 and more than 1,000 warships to Tsushima Island, ready to launch an attack on Silla at any time.

Inside the military headquarters, Luo Shixin and several civil and military officials were discussing countermeasures. In addition, Pei Shiqing, the prefect of Tongchuan County who had just arrived from the imperial court, was also participating in the discussion.

Pei Shiqing had been sent as an envoy to Japan in the fourth year of the Daye era and had a good understanding of the situation there, so the emperor sent him to the Annam Peninsula to assist in the war.

Pei Shiqing laughed and said, "The Japanese wars are completely different from ours. A war with a few thousand people is considered large-scale. Usually, it's a war with a few hundred people. They use ambushes, sneak attacks, and all sorts of other methods. They don't deploy troops on a large scale like we do. Often, a nobleman leads a team of dozens of servants. They fight in various ways. Simply put, if they win, they swarm in; if they lose, they scatter."

They had no long weapons, only swords and bows and arrows. The bows and arrows were made of bamboo and wood, with a maximum range of only seventy or eighty paces. The Japanese soldiers had an advantage: they were desperate and fearless, which was why they were able to defeat the Silla army.

"What about naval warfare?" Fei Qingnu asked. Pei Shiqing smiled. "Naval warfare and land warfare are actually the same thing. The characteristic of Japan is that there are small families, above which are large families, above which are lords, above which is the king, and above the king is the emperor. When it comes to conscription, it is usually the eldest or second son of a small family who goes to war with dozens of servants. A ship often carries dozens of people from a small family. They love to wage war and can plunder rich spoils. For example, when Japan attacked Silla in the twentieth year of the Kaihuang era, the whole country went crazy. Thousands of families from all over Japan went to war, and those who went to war made a fortune. I estimate that this time it will be even more fanatical."

"They would be so enthusiastic about fighting the Sui army?" Luo Shixin found it hard to believe that the Japanese would be so arrogant.

Pei Shiqing smiled slightly and said, "The rulers know that they are fighting against the Sui army, but the various families below them do not. They think that they are fighting against Silla again and believe that their chance to make a fortune has arrived."

"What kind of warship?" Fei Qingnu continued to ask.

"The warships aren't large, around a thousand shi (a unit of dry measure). They're very maneuverable, and the soldiers are packed tightly together, with thirty or forty people crammed onto each ship. Sixteen row, and the others use bows and arrows. Although their arrows don't have a long range, only seventy or eighty paces, they've been trained since childhood, so their archery is very accurate. But I'm a little worried..."

"What is Magistrate Pei worried about?" Luo Shixin asked.

“When I was on a mission to Japan, a supply ship with a capacity of 5,000 koku was left in Japan due to accidental damage. I was worried that Japan would build a replica of this large ship.”

Fei Qingnu laughed and said, "My lord, there is no need to worry. Our scouts have reported that they only saw warships with a capacity of about a thousand shi, not large ships with a capacity of five thousand shi."

Pei Shiqing breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'm relieved. Actually, after I came back, I consulted the Shipbuilding Bureau. The Shipbuilding Bureau officials said that the ship did not use a keel, but the latest watertight compartment technology, and used very difficult techniques such as tenon joints and stern seams, which the Japanese could not possibly learn."

Luo Shixin then looked at Fei Qingnu and asked, "General Fei, how do you plan to fight this battle?"

Fei Qingnu said calmly, "This subordinate will not give them the chance to go ashore, nor will he give them the chance to retreat."

Luo Shixin nodded, "I'm entrusting the Japanese army to you."

..........
That morning, as the war drums sounded, more than a thousand Japanese warships emerged from the 82-Ura of Tsushima. The Japanese warships weighed about a thousand koku each, and were long and narrow with high side decks, resembling long wooden boxes with two sails.

As Pei Shiqing described, a ship was crammed with forty or fifty people, sixteen of whom rowed while the others carried bows and arrows. Thousands of ships raced across the sea, creating a spectacular sight as the 40,000-strong army charged toward Silla, three hundred miles away.

Japanese soldiers are generally very short, between 1.4 and 1.5 meters tall, and look like eight or nine-year-old children.

The height of Japanese people is also determined by their race. Their ancestors were small black people from the islands of Southeast Asia who traveled a long distance to Japan.

Although there were improvements in the middle, such as Xu Fu taking three thousand boys and girls, and a large number of Silla and Baekje people to Japan, which eventually formed the Japanese people a thousand years ago, they are still very short. Their appearance and skin color are very different from the little black people on the islands of Southeast Asia, but the bloodthirstiness and ferocity in their bones have never changed.

The war drums thundered across the sea. The following afternoon, about a hundred miles from the coastline of Silla, hundreds of warships suddenly appeared on the sea. Each warship weighed around ten thousand koku, and was enormous. Each warship was equipped with paddle wheels, and with waves splashing, their speed was no slower than that of the enemy.

Twenty thousand Sui soldiers were armed with crossbows and carried wooden-handled fire bombs on their waists. Each large ship was equipped with forty arrow and fire bomb carriers, and flying fire cannons were also ready.

The massive size of the Sui army's warships startled the unsophisticated Japanese soldiers. However, as the war drums beat louder and louder, their bloodlust was ignited. They raised their bows and arrows, shouted and drew their bows, and many soldiers even took ropes, preparing to climb onto the ships.

A fierce naval battle is about to break out.

(End of this chapter)