Sui Dynasty: I, Yang Guang, am both scrupulous and stable

Chapter 306 The wind calms down
Li Jing received Yang Guang's letter. Faced with Yang Guang's request to attack with warships, Li Jing first felt a little pressure, but then he only felt excited.

Because this was the first naval battle in the Sui Dynasty, there were no documents to follow. How to fight and how many troops to fight, there was no previous experience, and all those who came after him would follow the example of him, the first person to fight a naval battle. experience of.

This made Li Jing feel a little excited.

Li Jing immediately began to sort out the current situation of the warships.

"There are 5 new warships, each with a maximum of 200 soldiers, and 10 artillery escorts. There are 15 old warships, with a maximum of 115 soldiers each. These are the 20 warships in Weihai now. Although the shipyard is stepping up Construction, but if we need to launch an attack in a short period of time, it is estimated that these ships will be available.”

Li Jing couldn't help stroking his palms: "Twenty warships, not counting supplies, can carry up to 20 people. This trip is not too much. It must take seven days, including seven days of military rations and follow-up needs. The supplies can’t hold so many people, so it seems like they have to go in two trips.”

"Moreover, after the warships have passed by, we now have no clear idea of ​​their port conditions and cannot dock at will. This will waste a lot of time. If someone discovers them, the effect of the surprise attack will be much less effective."

The long supply line was the most troublesome time for Li Jing. After the brief excitement, reality gave him many difficulties.

When he was at a loss what to do, Li Jing suddenly thought of something and said to his subordinates: "Didn't we find a group of water bandits some time ago? What are their identities?"

"There are also Japanese people, Korean people from Silla and Baekje, and they are also from the Sui Dynasty. Based on the clues, a total of 72 people have been captured, 20 of whom are from the Sui Dynasty. These bandits are waiting for opportunities on the sea. Watch Wherever there is meat to eat, rush there and plunder it, because the Sui Dynasty was prosperous, so most of them are around the Sui Dynasty."

Li Jing frowned slightly: "Bring their leader up."

The leader was quickly brought up. He was a thin, middle-aged man. He didn't look like the leader of such a big gang, but he was.

Now this man has been beaten up quite a lot. Bandits and water bandits like this will usually be beaten severely if they are caught.

This group of water bandits had been running rampant in this area for a day or two. If they hadn't happened to run into the Sui Navy who were practicing before, they would have been unable to catch them in this vast sea for even longer.

Li Jing dispersed the irrelevant people and left his cronies behind, then asked: "What's your name?"

"Grass...grass people, Wu Fang."

Li Jing took his confession and snorted coldly: "Wu Fang, from Zhuojun, you have quite a lot of crimes. After I arrested you, the people around you who were robbed by you were so indignant that they wanted to arrest you and cut you into pieces." It’s a relief.”

"My lord, my lord, this is an injustice. Many of the things here were not done by me. They are all false accusations."

"False accusation? Many of your subordinates have confessed to your crime, and you still say that you are unjustly accused?"

Wu Fang was unable to defend himself for a moment, and immediately kowtowed: "Sir, spare your life, spare your life, the common people have just gone astray, the common people are willing to ride for you, and are willing to serve you."

A water bandit like Wu Fang has a very quick mind. He did the job of robbing houses and getting rid of a lot of the things he robbed, so he got to know some powerful people. Now that he was being interrogated alone, he instantly understood that it was the young man in front of him. He has to do things by himself, this is what keeps him alive.

"I don't like people who kill people and steal goods."

"My lord, there is cheating, but there is no murder. At most, some houses were burned down, and the civilian women were raped by my subordinates. I didn't do it, I definitely didn't do it. I don't have the ability, sir."

Li Jing looked at the charges, and it seemed that this group of people had indeed not committed any murder, and it was precisely because of this that the government did not make great efforts to arrest them.

The local government has a limited amount of armed forces, and catching water bandits and pirates is a troublesome matter. If no lives are lost, it will often be left alone.

This is also where Wu Fang is smart. He understands the government's style of doing things, and the robbery locations are very scattered. If he wants to catch them, the government in several places will have to unite.

Li Jing then asked: "How many remaining members of the party do you have now?"

"No, sir, you have captured them all."

"If you don't tell the truth, you will be dead. There are so many foreigners in your gang, and they were all caught along the coast of Sui Dynasty? Do you think this is credible?"

Wu Fang wanted to continue to deny it, but the people around Li Jing came over with their swords drawn, so he was frightened and confessed directly.

"There are still seven or eight of us on the island. In order not to attract attention, we have been hiding on the island for a long time, pretending to be fishermen."

"Island? Where is the island?"

"It is located on the sea, between the Sui Dynasty and Silla Goguryeo. Except for brave fishermen, most people dare not go there. Neither the Sui Dynasty nor the Goguryeo court would go deep to catch it. In fact, it is also close to Goguryeo, but the Goguryeo The people don't have much money, and they don't have anything to grab during a robbery, so they don't go there often."

Hearing this, Li Jing was already happy. It is an island on the sea, and it is closer to Goguryeo. Normally no one would go there. Isn't it just our outpost supply station?

But he couldn't show it, so he said: "Ordinary people don't dare to go, how dare you go?"

"I have been fishing since I was a teenager, and I am well versed in the nature of water. Others are afraid of falling off a cliff or encountering a monster if they go too far into the sea. The feeling of being alone on the endless sea is really scary, but no one There are more fish wherever you go, so you won’t be afraid if you go a few more times.”

"Your accomplices are still on the island."

"I should be there... Sir, does this count as meritorious service for my crime? Can I be given a lighter punishment?"

Li Jing answered him very firmly: "Forget it, if the matter is true, I will discuss with the local officials and give you a lighter punishment."

"And how many people know about that island?"

"We are just a group of people. The island is very desolate. No one would go there. Occasionally, we have robbed smuggling merchant ships, so we don't dare to go there."

This made Li Jing pay more attention to this place. He immediately took Wu Fang to the port, boarded a warship and took a hundred people with him to set off for the small island Li Jing mentioned.

Wu Fang was escorted to the port. As he watched Li Jing order an elite team of 120 people to board the warship fully armed, everyone had the latest firearms, and there were several artillery pieces on the deck, he couldn't help feeling frightened. got up.

He had seen the power of firearms. When he captured them before, he beat them to death, but the artillery did not show its power. It was just that the iron lump was so big that it must be more powerful.

The warship slowly moved out, and Li Jing asked Wu Fang: "How long does it take for a ship like yours to go back and forth like this?"

"To reach the island, it will take about two days using our main ship."

"So fast?"

"Unless it's a violent storm, this sea is generally peaceful. I have a skill, which is stargazing and positioning. I've walked back and forth on this road maybe eighty times if not a hundred times. I've memorized all the routes. In my mind, I can sail at night, so I go faster than usual.”

Li Jing nodded and asked, "How does our ship compare to yours?"

Wu Fang looked at this big ship with some envy, with its huge sails, professionally trained helmsman, and well-coordinated sailors.

These are the things they are missing.The flatterer said: "Your boat is bigger and faster than ours."

"You go and guide the helmsman in the front in the direction of travel. I will reach the island within the time you said. If not, you will sink into the sea."

"Sir...Sir, I'm just talking about an approximate time."

Wu Fang shouted hurriedly, but Li Jing had already returned to the cabin.

Wu Fang was brought to the helmsman's side with his hands and feet tied, and went to guide the direction.

Li Jing's subordinates in the cabin asked him: "When we get to the island, what will we do with the bandits?"

"Catch the alive ones first, don't kill them, otherwise it will cause Wu Fang to resist. This old boy has something that will come in handy, so I have to keep it first."

There was not much wind and waves on the sea, and the ship was quite stable. Even Wu Fang, who was leading the way, sighed: "It takes the Sui Dynasty to have the money to build such a large and stable hull. We can't do it." "

In the evening of the next day, a small island appeared in front of him. Li Jing looked at it from a distance and began to visually assess how many people its size could accommodate.

As he got closer, he was delighted. The island was much larger than he expected, and Wu Fang and others also built a small port here. However, the port was too small and warships could not get there, so they could only use small boats. near.

Before everyone could take action, they saw boats quickly rowing out from the island and approaching the warship.

Then several hooks were thrown onto the deck, and with the squeaking of corners, seven people climbed up along the ropes of the hooks.

"Hey, uncle, the dragon has traveled across this sea for many years. Today you are passing by here. You should leave some money to buy your way. I will keep you safe..."

The people who jumped on the boat spoke for a long time as soon as they stood up. As they spoke, they took a closer look and saw a group of people holding muskets and pointing the black nozzles at them.

Wu Fang hurriedly shouted: "Er Tiao, kneel down quickly."

The man named Nijo saw his eldest brother on the boat and asked, "Brother, is this your new hijacked ship? What are these people doing with this pipe?"

His eyesight was not good, and he didn't see that his elder brother was being tied up.

砰

The soldier fired a shot into the air. Nijo and the others were so frightened that they immediately knelt down. The soldiers rushed forward and took him down.

Li Jing smiled awkwardly: "Are these all the people on the island?"

Wu Fang nodded.

"I originally thought that when I arrest people, I need to be more quick to avoid trouble when they escape, but I didn't expect this group of people to show up on their own. It seems that you are used to being domineering at sea. No matter how big the ship is, Dare to rob."

"My lord, sir, we are all working for a way to survive. Who can survive doing this unconscionable job?"

"But the guy I just saw looking at the blue waves... the waves... the dragons was very excited. He didn't seem to be forced by life at all."

Wu Fang glared at his short-sighted subordinates angrily, blaming them for daring to hijack such a big ship, but then he thought about it, he was originally here to catch them, but now he can only say that he has thrown himself into a trap.

"Sir, do they surrender themselves?"

Li Jing was almost amused by him. He ignored them and began to make arrangements to land on the island.

The boat docked. There were some simple houses on this small island. They were very simple and could accommodate about 50 to 7 people. This was where they lived temporarily. According to Wu Fang's confession, none of their people liked the living conditions. It's a small, backward island, but it must be guarded as a transit point for them to avoid pursuit and action. Therefore, the people change once a month, so a group of about 10-[-] people stay on the island.

Because there is no water source on the island, they must bring enough fresh water. They also dug a pond and various water tanks to store fresh water.

Li Jing looked at the simple but reasonable configuration of the island and said: "This group of people really intends to develop in this way for a long time. With a little modification, there should be no problem in operating this place as a transfer station for materials and personnel in a short period of time."

"Order four soldiers to build a lookout at the highest point on the island so that you can see farther. Let the soldiers move down the supplies and fresh water, start to level the land around it, cut down the wood, and start building houses and warehouses today. "

"Commander, let's start today."

"It's better to go quickly rather than later. We'll start today. As soon as the people get off, we'll return. In the following time, other warships will set off to transport things over."

Li Jing has high execution ability and does what he says.

Warships began to shuttle between the island and Weihai. Around the island, Li Jing also sent fishing boats to pretend to fish in this area to avoid ships approaching.

It took more than ten days to discover that no one came to this area at all, just as Wu Fang said.

By the way, Li Jing also asked Wu Fang to lead a trip to the vicinity of Goguryeo. Of course, he used a fishing boat when he got close.

In order to explore the most favorable landing terrain and the situation along the coast of Goguryeo, Li Jing sent many fishing boats and soldiers disguised as fishermen.

It is scattered and cannot attract attention.

……

In Youzhou City, Yang Guang received the news from Li Jing and fully recognized the plan written in Li Jing's letter.

Using the island on the way as a transfer station can greatly improve the transportation time of materials and manpower. When the message came over, it had already been implemented for one month. There were now 300 troops stationed on the island, and Li Jing discovered that, From that island, if you just want to send people to the nearest place in Goguryeo, you can use an ordinary fishing boat to go there.

In this way, transportation capacity can be increased on a large scale.

Yang Guang estimated that this island should be an island between the Liaodong Peninsula and North Korea.

Yang Guang said happily: "If Li Jing plans to launch an attack, he will send [-] soldiers ashore at once, directly pointing the gun at Lelang City (pingrang (I don't know whether to write))."

"Lelang City, as an important city in Goguryeo, must have a lot of guards, but once the city is taken down by a surprise attack, Goguryeo will have to face the crisis of being attacked from both sides, and our army has a city to rely on, which can provide a steady stream of supplies. "

Lai Huer laughed loudly at the side: "Your Highness, what if the other side intercepts our warship?"

"What else can we do? Let's blast them with artillery. If they are willing to fight a naval battle with us, then we are more than willing."

(End of this chapter)