Chapter 477 The culprit behind the scenes, unexpected changes
"Mr. Sakata, please jump into the sea to save yourself and return to Ryukyu to report to the general. I have failed to live up to your trust and brought shame to the Shimazu family."
On the flagship of a high-quality treasure ship of the Japanese pirates, the leader of the fleet, Jiro Kameda, spoke to Sakata, the strongest man in charge of the fleet.
He is the grandson of Taro Kameda, the head of the Shimazu family who disappeared seven years ago.
But six years ago, my grandfather Kameda Taro and the head of the Shimazu family, Shimazu Ichiro, led one of the family’s three main fleets to Diaoyu Island to carry out a secret treasure-hunting mission, but they never returned.
Jiro Kameda would never have imagined that the culprit who destroyed the main fleet of the Shimazu family was Li Dingguo, the commander-in-chief of the Restoration Army.
At that time, Li Dingguo happened to be in the right place and discovered the Shimazu family fleet that wanted to do something secretly in the Huangwei Island Harbor northeast of Diaoyu Island. Naturally, he would not show mercy and launched a surprise attack on the Japanese pirate fleet together with the Dajin, and wiped out the other side in one fell swoop.
The golden dragon egg located in the ancient sacred land on Diaoyu Island was also intercepted and seized by Li Dingguo.
Now, six years have passed, and the fleet he led to trade and smuggle with the Jiangnan families of the Ming Dynasty has once again unfortunately encountered the Fuxing Navy under Li Dingguo.
It has to be said that the bad luck of the Shimazu family continues.
Although the world environment changed drastically a few years ago and spiritual energy began to gradually recover, allowing many masters of the Shimazu family to break through their cultivation levels, it was obvious that the Renaissance Army was superior. The strength of this squadron alone crushed the Shimazu family's fleet in all aspects.
Their fleet is based in Ryukyu, not on the mainland of Kyushu.
Today, the Ryukyu Kingdom exists in name only, and the Ryukyu royal family is just a puppet of the Shimazu family.
The reason why the Ryukyu royal family was left alive and not exterminated was to confuse the public and cover up the fact that the Shimazu family secretly controlled the Ryukyu Kingdom, so as to avoid the wrath of the Ming Dynasty.
After all, compared with Japan, the Ming Dynasty still has its power and influence, which Japan cannot compare with. The gap in all aspects is too big.
If they completely angered the Ming Dynasty, especially if the interests of the aristocratic families within the Ming Dynasty were greatly damaged, even if all the daimyo forces in Japan were combined, they would not be enough to defeat them.
"Well, once the protective formation of the flagship treasure ship is broken, I will immediately jump into the sea and return to Ryukyu to report to the general."
Sakata nodded and agreed to Kameda Jiro's request.
Six years ago, the strength of the Shimazu family suffered a serious blow after the accidental loss of the two strongest masters of the Shimazu family, Shimazu Ichiro and Kameda Taro, one of the three major fleets of the family.
Fortunately, spiritual energy has been recovering continuously in the past few years, and the restrictions on practitioners by the rules of heaven and earth have become increasingly loose. With the help of the family's massive resources, the Shimazu family was able to quickly recover its strength and is growing rapidly.
"Rumble..."
At this time, the soldiers of the Fuxing Navy, who had blown up the Japanese pirates' thirteen medium-quality treasure ships, continued to launch a concentrated fire attack on the enemy's remaining three high-quality treasure ships.
Amid the rumbling sound of cannons, more than a hundred psychic cannons fired in waves, and dazzling psychic cannonballs landed accurately on the protective formation of the Japanese pirates' three top-grade treasure ships, causing waves of ripples and causing the light of the protective shields on the ships to dim rapidly.
The psychic cannons equipped on the Japanese pirates' treasure ships had a maximum effective range of only fifteen miles, and were completely unable to launch a counterattack against the Fuxing Navy. They could only passively take the beating and were unable to fight back, which was extremely frustrating.
"Crackling..."
After just three waves of concentrated fire from psychic cannons, the enemy ship's protective magic circle could no longer hold on and shattered!
"Seven Star Bagua Formation, activate!"
"Soldiers, follow me to attack the enemy ship and kill the pirates!"
The naval soldiers had already been assembled and were ready for battle on the ship. When Pan Jinghua saw that the enemy ship's protective formation was broken, he immediately gave orders.
Thirteen medium-quality treasure ships of the Japanese pirates were blown up before. It didn't matter if they were blown up, but the three high-quality treasure ships and the cargoes on board were worth the soldiers forming a formation to capture and seize.
Even though the quality of the Japanese pirates' treasure ships was the worst among their peers, the spiritual materials used to build them were very good and could be towed back to Jinzhou No. 1 Shipyard for dismantling and reconstruction.
You know, even a top-grade treasure ship is worth the same as a small city. The Renaissance Army advocates self-reliance, so Pan Jinghua would not miss this opportunity.
"hold head high!"
On the three top-grade treasure ships of the Fuxing Army that were ready for surprise attacks, the soldiers, under the leadership of several level five commanders, instantly transformed the divine beasts transformed by the military killing array into shape!
“Swoosh!”…
Three divine beasts, each over a hundred feet in size, leaped up together, flew over the sea, and sailed over the waves. In just a few leaps, they each rushed onto a high-quality treasure ship of the Japanese pirates that was in a mess.
"Qinglong goes to sea!"
"Xuanwu is frozen!"
"The white tiger roars to the sky!"
They transformed into three killing formations of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger and Black Tortoise mythical beasts, and as soon as they flew onto the deck of the enemy ship, they used their powerful killing skills to attack.
The Japanese pirates on the three high-quality treasure ships were not regular troops at all. They were just some warriors guarding the caravans. How could they withstand the killing array and magical attacks launched by the soldiers of the Restoration Army, who were far superior to them in terms of numbers and combat effectiveness?
"what……"
"Do not……"
In just one encounter, most of the Japanese pirates were killed by the killing array's magical power.
The remaining hundreds of Japanese pirates were almost killed after the three divine beasts flashed several times.
The reason why it was almost was mainly because Pan Jinghua ordered to capture some Japanese pirates alive for interrogation in order to find out the other party's background and have a clear idea of the situation.
Those Japanese pirates who dared to challenge the Restoration Navy, and the people behind them, have already met their doom.
If he gets the approval from the military, Pan Jinghua wouldn't mind leading the 200,000 soldiers of the First Fleet in Yuegang to launch a long-distance raid to wipe out the other side in one fell swoop, so as to prevent the other side from continuing to come to the coast of Daming for smuggling and trading, thereby disrupting the blockade plan of the Fuxing Army.
"Commander!"
After defeating the enemy, Pan Jinghua disbanded the army formation and ordered his soldiers to immediately deal with the aftermath. He looked up and saw a figure flying over nearby, reporting to him, "On this pirate treasure ship just now, there was a fifth-level pirate expert. As soon as the ship's guard formation was broken, he jumped off the ship and dived to escape successfully and disappeared."
The person who came was an early level five general of the Fusion Army's fleet, named Zhou Weijun.
He also could not have imagined that the Japanese pirates, who always took pride in dying in battle, would actually take the opportunity to jump into the sea and escape.
"never mind."
Hearing this, Pan Jinghua waved his hand and said, "Without a powerful formation to seal off the battlefield, fighting at sea is so annoying. As long as a Qi Refining Realm master wants to escape, it is difficult to stop him."
There were countless similar cases in the sea battles that the Fuxing Army had fought. Not to mention Pan Jinghua, even in many sea battles that Li Dingguo personally participated in, the enemy used this method to escape many times.
Unless Li Dingguo uses the sonic attack of the Chaos Bell to kill all the enemies on the enemy ship in one go.
Or Hongmei could use her natal artifact, the thirty-six Dinghai Divine Pearls, to set up an innate sea-covering formation to block off the battlefield space, thus preventing the enemy from jumping into the sea and escaping.
For example, the current Renaissance Navy squadron is cruising, so it is naturally impossible to kill all the enemy Qi Refining Realm masters who are determined to escape.
"Humph!"
Pan Jinghua then snorted coldly, "The monk may escape, but the temple cannot."
"Immediately interrogate the several Japanese pirates who were knocked unconscious on the ground and find out their origins!"
"Once we report this to the military headquarters, we may have to dispatch a large army to attack the enemy's lair!"
"By then, those Japanese pirates won't have such good luck."
He was well aware of the commander-in-chief's murderous intention towards the Japanese pirates, and perhaps this was an opportunity to go to war with Japan.
As for whether we can get the information we want from the Japanese pirate captives?
If anyone has such doubts, he or she is underestimating the magic of some unconventional techniques in the world of practitioners.
Under some unconventional techniques, whether you like it or not, once you are captured by the enemy, all the information in your brain is destined to be obtained by the enemy.
"Yes! I'll do it right away!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Weijun immediately took orders and left. Together with several Qi Refining Realm generals, they each carried two unconscious Japanese pirate captives on the deck and walked into a nearby cabin for interrogation.
The soldiers of the Fusion Army had just finished dealing with all the aftermath work, and the interrogation results were already out.
"The Ryukyu Kingdom has been secretly occupied and controlled by the Japanese daimyo Shimazu family?"
"This Japanese pirate fleet came from Ryukyu and is preparing to go to the dock of Jinling City to conduct smuggling transactions with the Duke of Wei's Mansion?"
After learning the interrogation results and the truth behind the scenes, Pan Jinghua said with cold eyes, "This Japanese pirate is indeed the same as what the commander-in-chief mentioned. He is always thinking about external expansion and has great ambitions!"
"The Shimazu family, a mere family, actually secretly occupied and controlled the Ryukyu Kingdom, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. They are simply seeking their own death!"
Over the past year, the Fuxing Navy has used various means to draw nautical charts of the waters surrounding the Ming Dynasty and collected a large amount of intelligence from various forces.
Pan Jinghua naturally knew the general situation of the Ryukyu Kingdom and was not completely in the dark.
The Shimazu family, one of the three major forces in Japan, actually took the road of maritime expansion one step ahead of the Restoration Army. This made the naval generals, including Pan Jinghua, very unhappy.
"I finally understand what the commander-in-chief said. The Ming court, which only knew how to fight among itself, missed the once-in-a-millennium great navigation opportunity. This is undoubtedly a pity and a pain."
Pan Jinghua sighed and said, "If this continues, until the seas surrounding the Ming Dynasty are completely occupied by various foreign forces, the Ming Dynasty will still be arrogant and self-centered. It is really sad and lamentable."
The Shimazu family, a mere Japanese daimyo, has already been ahead of the Restoration Army and has achieved certain results in its maritime expansion, which suddenly increased Pan Jinghua's sense of crisis.
"Zhou Weijun."
Pan Jinghua immediately ordered, "You must quickly sort out the whole process of this naval battle and the situation of the Japanese pirates secretly controlling the Ryukyu Kingdom, and report it to the military immediately!"
"If we don't stop the other side's maritime expansion as soon as possible, our revival of the navy's blockade of the southeastern sea will have a huge loophole, which is not conducive to the current situation."
"After all, the sea area along the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty is too vast. It is impossible to blockade it in all directions without any blind spots."
"In addition, the Duke of Wei's Mansion, which is seeking to engage in smuggling transactions with the Japanese pirates, should also remind the personnel of the Military Intelligence Department to pay close attention to it, so that the other party will not do something we don't want to see."
Pan Jinghua, who had easily won a naval victory, had no joy on his face. With a heavy heart, he began to return to Yuegang with the squadron and the spoils.
……
"The Commander-in-Chief."
Li Dingguo, who had returned to the Forbidden City from Jinzhou Port, was listening to the report from Wei Jinfan, the head of the Military Intelligence Department. "The Qin army led by Hong Chengchou, with 500,000 soldiers and a million military dependents, has crossed Shu after a long journey and has just entered Guizhou."
"They started a sweeping cleanup operation against the Tusi forces entrenched in Guizhou, and the action was quite significant."
"It seems that Hong Chengchou, this thorny enemy, wants to gain a foothold and develop in the Yunnan-Guizhou region."
"Hong Chengchou led the Qin army to flee far to Yunnan and Guizhou. Now he has avoided the front of our Fuxing Army. With his methods, it won't be difficult for him to quickly open up the situation in Yunnan and Guizhou."
"Accurate intelligence from multiple sources indicates that Hong Chengchou has become disloyal to the Southern Ming court and now neither listens to orders nor proclamations. He has become a de facto warlord, even worse than what the Guanning Army did back then."
"If it goes as expected, Hong Chengchou is destined to become one of the strongest enemies of our Fuxing Army in the future. He should not be underestimated."
No one could have imagined that Hong Chengchou would undergo such a huge transformation and decisively choose to become a warlord with his own troops.
"Commander-in-chief, according to reports from intelligence personnel lurking in Jinling City, the Beijing Camp led by Duke Wei and the Emperor's personal army, the Yongwei Camp, have both recently expanded their forces on a large scale."
Wei Jinfan changed the topic and continued to report in a serious tone, "The most bizarre thing is that Emperor Chongzhen, who has always been diligent in his work, has gone against his normal behavior and has not attended court for a full half month."
"After much investigation, our intelligence personnel have only obtained vague information that Chongzhen is in seclusion in the imperial city for cultivation. We cannot confirm it for the time being."
"All signs indicate that some unknown changes have occurred within the Southern Ming court."
The two pieces of news she came to report today were both unfavorable to the Fuxing Army, which made Li Dingguo frown slightly.
Emperor Chongzhen was in seclusion practicing and not attending court?
This joke is not funny at all.
Li Dingguo, who was well aware of Chongzhen's eagerness for quick success and instant benefits, could naturally guess that if no unknown changes had occurred, Emperor Chongzhen, who was famous for his diligence, would not have acted so out of character.
In addition, Hong Chengchou chose the path of a warlord, and the established history has been completely changed, which has caused Li Dingguo, who has been doing well in recent years, to feel quite a headache.
(End of this chapter)
