Xu Jun's fleet sailed along the coast of Japan, and in early September, crossed Yiqi Island in the eastern part of Tsushima Island and entered the waters of Kitakyushu. Han Tong, commander of the Jiaolong Army, became the leader of the fleet.

This is the first large-scale maritime expedition of the Central Plains dynasty! The court made a lot of preparations over the past few months, but obviously lacked experience.

Some Han people, Goryeo and several Japanese merchants who are familiar with the East China Sea all say that there may be a typhoon here in summer and autumn! It is late autumn now, and Han Tong can only hope for luck. The typhoon season has ended... Because the court really can't wait for winter, Xu Jun from Shijianbao is unclear, and if there is no reinforcement, he can only sit back and wait for him to die!

The fleet consists of more than 100 ships of all sizes and sizes, carrying about 6,000 new soldiers from the Jiaolong Army. Most of the troops came from the former Southern Tang Navy (the Southern Tang surrendered troops were first under Liu Renzhan's troops, and in the past two years, the Southern Tang Army had been organized into a guard).

The experience of these naval armies was limited to combating rivers such as the Yangtze River and Huai River, but compared with most of the soldiers from Central China, they were water-free and adapted to shaking ships. Therefore, the imperial court gave up the establishment of the imperial guards into the Jiaolong Army, and organized the guards from the Southern Tang Dynasty into the imperial guards (the Jiaolong Army was organized as the imperial guards).

The composition of ships is relatively complex. Half of the ships are just light boats (the combination of the big food ship and the Central Plains sting boat), and nearly half are Goryeo ships, as well as the requisitioned merchant ships to purchase and requisition as much as possible. Among them, there are only three large ships, Mulan ships!

Since last year, the imperial court has built a large number of warships in the Jiangning Shipbuilding Floor, but due to the scale of the dock and the scarcity of craftsmen, the construction speed is slow. I have only built dozens of light boats and three Mulan ships... The Mulan ship is mainly restricted by the lack of large docks.

Hantong's ship is a large Mulan ship with a displacement of more than 3,000 yuan (displacement is about 3,400 tons), with a crew of nearly 200 people, 24 thousand kilograms of copper cannons, divided into two sides and one layer of naval cannons.

The three large ships are the main warships of the fleet, and dozens of other light boats are also warships; Goryeo and pointed merchant ships are difficult to serve as the main warships, and mainly transport supplies and soldiers, and can also engage in close combat on the sidelines.

The light boat crews are thirty to fifty people, and one team of ten people. The highest military general on the ship is the military envoy (the number of naval troops is changing from the ordinary army). The hull is too thin to use the main copper cannon... But there are always methods. Guo Shao and the officials and craftsmen in Zaojiafang have developed a small cannon that can be used in small boats: mother-child cannons.

The gun body is iron, and the "inner liner" is made of copper. After the gun is fired, you can immediately change the inner liner and fire again. Therefore, the fire rate is far higher than that of the copper cannon... but the technology is limited, and the fit and sealing are not very good, so the range is very close and the power is far less than that of the copper cannon. The mother and child cannon is light in weight, and one cannon is only more than 100 kilograms, so there is no problem in putting it on a light boat.

On the flagship, Lu Duosun, the envoy of the Guest Province, also serves as the supervisor of the Jiaolong Army. He is in the cabin of the central army. There are winds and waves on the sea, and even the big ship is swaying. Lu Duosun is a little uncomfortable with the sea route, especially when he reads the words and feels dizzy and vomits.

He calmed down and quickly wrote a line of words on the paper: On the sixth day of the ninth month, the dark tide was northward and the southeast wind was windy.

Black tide is a kind of warm current. The flow of water in the ocean. Because the ocean current is dark in color, it is called Black tide.

Lu Duoxun felt that writing was difficult, so he immediately put the brush down and opened the bamboo curtain on the window. He immediately saw Han, who was wearing Rong armor, standing on the bow deck with his legs spread apart, and his body was very steadily as the ship swayed.

The sea breeze blew Han Tong's red cloak, and it rustled in the wind like a banner. He had been standing there motionless for a long time.

Han was stunned by the fact that this person was not good at making friends and talking with others, but Lu Duosun could feel that his heart was like the bumps of the waves... This was an unknown pioneering. Sometimes Lu Duosun was very crazy and radical when he thought about it. Thousands of soldiers, carrying fleet supplies that consumed huge treasury, were traveling for the first time, and the risks were difficult to describe.

On the vast sea here, all the rules are different from the familiar land.

Perhaps, only Guo Shao can have the courage to make such a decision, and only the founding king has such power and prestige.

The last time I met before leaving Beijing appeared in Lu Duosun's mind, Guo Shao's hot eyes and anticipated eyes, he said it would be feasible, and people in the world always dare not take the first step from the road that no one has walked!

There is also a compass on the table next to Lu Duosun, which is similar to a tool for feng shui. This thing can point the direction... but it is easy to make mistakes with this thing alone. The East China Marine Palace has two other methods to assist routes:

First, try to rely on the land coast as a reference. The method is to bring a few Koreans and Japanese as guides to make the language accessible and send people to the shore to inquire about the place to find out the general location.

Secondly, it depends on a civil servant from Si Tianjian.

Just as Lu Duosun thought of this, a civil servant with gray temples walked in. Lu Duosun clasped his fists and greeted politely: "Can the senior supervisor still stand the storm on the sea?"

"It's good, it's good." Gao Shouzhen, the supervisor, said calmly.

From the Tang Dynasty to the Xu Dynasty, civil officials were basically all vain officials, but one kind of official is an exception, that is, the officials of Sitianjian. Once people like Gao Shouzhen entered Sitianjian, they could no longer serve in other yamen, nor could they resign at will; the sources of officials were mostly hereditary... Perhaps this kind of civil officials who could observe the phenomena of the celestial phenomena made the royal family feel mysterious. After all, everyone still believed in the gods, so they had to control them more strictly to prevent the soldiers from becoming wild.

Gao Shouzhen has a skill. In addition to being able to revise the calendar and observe the celestial phenomena at night, he is very familiar with stars. He can observe the directions and heights of various stars through his eyes to estimate the directions and heights.

Xu Jun used several methods and tried to drive near the sea on land to ensure the course.

At this time, Han Tong outside the cabin also came in. The three civil and military officials greeted each other and sat down in different places. Lu Duosun took the lead and said: "The black tide is heading north and the south wind blows. If the Japanese army intercepts the fleet in front, it will be very beneficial to us."

After hearing this, Han Tong nodded with a stern face: "Lu Jianjun's words are reasonable."

Lu Duosun's title of military supervisor was just a dispatch. In fact, his main official position was the cabinet assistant, the envoy of the provincial government... And the military supervisor was talking about it, as if he was a person who monitored and complained at any time, and he suddenly became distant. Han Tong was annoying, and that was the case. Any random sentence was always inexplicably unpleasant!

Han Tong said casually: "The march is just like this. Before the war begins, try to make the right time, place, people and people, and then attack the weak with strong force."

Gao Shouzhen said little, but at this moment he touched his beard calmly and said, "No wonder General Han is not as famous as Shi Qianfeng."

Han Tong disagreed and said, "But I am worried that the Japanese army will not want to fight me against the wind and water. They have at least two ways. One is to hide the main force in the Kitakyushu Xiaguan waterway (the strait between Kitakyushu and Honshu); when my main force goes north, exits the waterway and pursues the upper wind and water direction. The other is to circumnavigate Island and pursue our fleet from the south, and you can also master the benefits of the smooth wind."

Although the sea is vast, the fleet does not sail at will. Generally, there are relatively fixed offshore routes. Otherwise, there may be more risks such as reefs, lost directions, unknown weather changes, etc. Therefore, in the Japanese Sea, you must intercept and find large fleets, with traces to follow.

Lu Duosun said: "If the Yu army makes way for the channel, we can only sit and watch our troops approach the reinforcement Shijian Fort."

Han Tong shook his head and said, "No! At this time, naval battle is the place to decide the outcome, not the length of time. If the Japanese army can defeat our fleet, the fall of Shijian Fort is just the length of time; otherwise no one can stop the punishment of Japan!"

After hearing this, Lu Duoxun pondered and said, "What General Han meant is that the army would not bother with the long road, nor would it care about the rush of warplanes?"

Han Tong frowned and said, "In my opinion, this is indeed the case. If you want to defeat your opponent, how can you act impatiently? You must try your best to benefit yourself!"

...However, Han Tong was just a general, and he often had inaccurate guesses about other things. This time he guessed wrongly.

A few days later, someone suddenly entered the cabin near the sea of ​​Japan and reported: "An enemy ship was found on the north side!"

Han Tong had just gotten up, and when he heard the news, he immediately asked: "How many ships are there?"

The man said, "I don't know very well, there is fog on the sea!"

Han Tong immediately said: "Hurry up and the whole army prepares for war!"

"Get orders!"

Soon, a rapid drum sound came from outside. Soon, the drum sound of this rhythm seemed to be contagious. The big drums were beating on the warships around. For a moment, the drum sounded and the atmosphere suddenly increased.

Han Tong took the helmet from his personal soldiers and put it on, tied up the leather buckle, walked onto the deck, and then climbed up the stern of the boat along the wooden ladder. The soldiers on the deck accelerated, and shouted and clamored.

Han Tong's palm was held on the wooden railing with patterns, looking at the scene in front of him. The vast undulating sea was shrouded in the wind, and there was indeed a dark shadow of a ship in the distance.

"Order the ships to slow down, with the warships in front and the baggage behind to rectify the formation!" Han Tong gave another order.

The triangular red flag on the flagship changed its quantitative characteristics, and the messenger blew a horn to remind other ships. It was the first time that Daxu formed a large army of troops at sea. He absorbed some of the original military orders from the Hu Ben Army to convey rules and laws, and the flag language was one of them. However, for the time being, simple military orders such as attack, retreat, and waiting in a row were only issued.

Military orders are not needed, and ships will keep a good distance from the flagship. Hantong's flagship is very eye-catching. One is the hull is large, and the other is the big flag of the Dragon Army, with a yellow dragon-shaped pattern with the words "Da Xu" written on it.
Chapter completed!