Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 343 Japan
On the coast of Nagato, Japan, several returning fishing boats had just docked. The Japanese on the shore took the rope and were about to tie it to the pile when they suddenly stopped what they were doing and stared blankly into the distance.

"What are you doing? Why did you stop!" the people on the fishing boat shouted.

But the Japanese seemed not to have heard it and was still looking into the distance behind the boat.

The Japanese on the fishing boat seemed to have noticed something and turned around to look behind them.

A fleet appeared on the distant horizon, but it was too far away to see what fleet it was.

But there is one thing that is very strange. There is a huge suspended object hanging above each ship, making this fleet look extremely strange no matter how you look at it.

This is a fleet consisting of five warships, and above each warship is a complete Tianlong airship.

Wu Hou stood at the front of the flagship deck, holding binoculars in his hands and also looking at the opposite shore.

"We're here! Pass the order down. According to the map, first destroy several Japanese ports and all Japanese ships. Then act separately according to the plan and meet at the assembly point after completing the mission!" Wu Hou gave the order loudly.

His orders were conveyed by flag signals to the remaining four ships, each of which had a hundred artillery corps, or fifty guns.

In fact, the warships they were on could carry 500 artillery troops, but this time the artillery troops carried a lot of ammunition, so five warships were needed.

The five warships spread out, and the sound of the large steam engines could be heard far away on the sea.

This warship has two large steam engines that drive twin propellers as propulsion.

There are twenty gun muzzles on each side of it. Once fighting on the sea, either side can quickly fire terrifying firepower.

Of course, the artillery used by the artillery corps today is no longer the original 500-jin Portuguese artillery, but a new type of artillery weighing jin, with its power increased many times.

Wu Hou's flagship was heading towards a port. Driven by two large steam engines, its speed far exceeded that of contemporary warships.

"Flag signals came from the Tianlong airship, Japanese warships were spotted ahead!" the flag signal soldier reported to Wu Hou.

"We're lucky. We actually encountered a Japanese warship!" Wu Hou said happily upon hearing this.

He was not afraid of encountering Japanese warships, but was worried that if he did not encounter Japanese warships, the credit would be taken away by Wu Zicang who was following behind.

As for the threat posed by Japanese warships, the two sides are simply not on the same level.

"Send out the Tianlong airship and blow up the Japanese warships!" Wu Hou gave the order loudly.

The Tianlong airship received the order, separated from the flagship, and rose into the sky.

At the same time, the Tianlong airship began to accelerate and flew towards the target direction.

The Japanese warships have not yet discovered Daqian's warships. The main reason is that the Tianlong airship has the advantage of height, combined with the more advanced telescope, which enabled Daqian to discover the Japanese warships first.

When the Tianlong airship rose into the sky, the lookout on the Japanese warship also saw the Tianlong airship in the sky.

The lookout didn't know what was in the sky, so he shouted loudly downwards.

The crew members below looked up at the distant sky. The huge object was flying towards them.

Some crew members shouted and waved the long swords in their hands, believing that the long swords could drive away evil spirits, while others knelt down and prayed continuously.

The captain stepped forward and kicked the crew members, asking all the crew members to prepare for battle.

Whatever that thing is, it's always a good idea to be prepared for a fight.

This was the first time that the Tianlong airship appeared outside Daqian. It flew more than a hundred meters in the air. At this height, not to mention bows and arrows, even today's ordinary muskets could not reach this height.

The Japanese captain kept shouting orders, but as the Tianlong airship got closer, his voice became smaller and smaller.

The Tianlong airship was flying in the sky and could not be attacked. Most importantly, he had no idea what it was.

The unknown is an extremely frightening thing for people at sea.

The crew no longer paid attention to the Japanese captain's orders. The crew member who had taken out the long sword before now knelt down and prayed with the other crew members.

The Japanese captain watched the Tianlong airship come above the warship, and then he saw a black dot falling.

The black spot went from blurry to clear, and he seemed to see a light of fire on the black spot.

Finally he saw clearly what the black spot was. It was a round object with a strange tail at the back.

When they could see clearly what had fallen, it had already landed on the deck, making a hole in the deck and penetrating deep into the interior of the warship.

There was a loud bang, and then flames shot out from the explosion.

This is an incendiary bomb specially developed for the Tianlong airship. In order to make it more accurate when thrown in the air, a tail fin is added.

At present, this type of incendiary bomb is still timed to explode, that is, it is ignited before being dropped and then thrown down. Since the flying altitude of the Tianlong airship is almost fixed, the explosion time is still very accurate.

The most terrifying thing about incendiary bombs is not the explosion, but the flame. Ships of this era were still made of wood, and if an incendiary bomb exploded and caught fire in the cabin, it would be a disaster.

"Put out the fire quickly!" the Japanese captain shouted loudly, his voice became shrill due to excessive fright.

However, the flame used by this incendiary bomb is a chemical flame, which cannot be extinguished by water at all.

When the Tianlong airship in the sky saw the incendiary bomb hit the target, it did not fire another one and returned to the flagship.

They were well aware of the power of incendiary bombs; one hit was enough to destroy an enemy warship.

There is no need to waste incendiary bombs. This is a war to annihilate a country, and the ammunition in their hands should be used where it is more needed.

When the Tianlong airship was halfway back, the Japanese warship behind it ignited the gunpowder in the cabin, and the entire warship was reduced to pieces in the explosion.

The Tianlong airship returned to the top of the flagship and then began to descend, lowering ropes that were reinforced by the crew below.

The flagship continued to move forward. The battle at sea ended too quickly and was still far from the shore, so it did not alarm anyone.

Even if someone on the Japanese warship jumped into the sea and survived, it would be too late for them to swim to the shore. This time was enough for the flagship to reach the target port.

The sky gradually darkened, and the flagship approached the target port like a ghost in the darkness.

Just outside the port, the left side of the flagship was aimed at the estuary, and twenty gun muzzles were opened, revealing twenty new cannons inside.

Now is not the time to attack the port. What the flagship should do is to block the port and prevent any ships from leaving.

One hundred artillery troops reached the shore via the Tianlong airship, and they began to approach the target port from land.

The Tianlong airship also rose to a height of more than 100 meters and flew above the target port.

It can be said that this Japanese port is fortunate because they will witness the practice of coordinated operations by land, sea and air hundreds of years in advance.

The sun rises from the east of the coastline, and the Japanese who got up early are already busy.

"What is that in the sky?" A Japanese man looked up and saw the Tianlong airship, and exclaimed in surprise.

The rising sun was the signal for the attack, and the 100 artillery troops launched the attack first. The 50 new 1,000-jin artillery pieces had already been loaded with ammunition and aimed in the light of the rising sun.

Boom boom boom! The continuous sound of artillery fire blended into one.

Although there were only fifty cannons, it was the first time in Japan that fifty cannons were fired at the same time in this era.

The explosive bombs fell on the port and the large ships parked in the port. The Japanese were still paying attention to the Tianlong airship in the sky. A disaster more terrible than the Tianlong airship fell on them.

The explosive bomb landed on the shore of the port, and the buildings within the range were blown to pieces, not to mention the people. Anyone within the explosion range was killed.

The explosive bombs that fell on the ship caused huge holes to appear on the ship when they exploded.

There was a large ship docked here, with only a few Japanese left on board, and the rest had returned to the shore.

The holes caused by the explosion at this time were not something that a few Japanese could save, and they watched as large ships capsized due to the massive influx of water.

Until now, the Japanese in the port have not yet understood what is happening and have suffered a devastating disaster.

The one hundred artillery soldiers stopped firing shells. Wearing heavy armor, they put down their heavy artillery and rushed towards the port with spears in hand.

These are all nine-turn warriors, and their heavy armor cannot even be penetrated by muskets.

In this era, they are all invincible generals, and it is rare for each country to produce one or two of them in a century.

There are one hundred such nine-turn warriors gathered here.

They rushed into the harbor and began killing everyone they saw.

In the sky, although the Tianlong airship did not launch an attack, the flag signalmen on the airship kept conveying the observation situation to the Nine-Turn Warriors below, letting the Nine-Turn Warriors know the movements around the port.

It was a massacre. There were also fierce Japanese among the port, but when the Japanese swords in their hands collided with the spears of the Nine-Turn Warrior, the Japanese flew backwards with their swords, and their bones were broken when they landed on the ground.

Half an hour later, the port became quiet.

One hundred fully armored figures who looked like they emerged from the bloody water stood at the docking station in the port. They had retrieved the thousand-jin artillery.

The flagship slowly entered the harbor, pushed aside the small boat without any hesitation, and docked at the shore.

One hundred artillery troops returned to the flagship, and the Tianlong airship in the sky also descended above the flagship.

"This port is good. It cannot be damaged too badly. General Wu will need it later!" Wu Hou looked at the port in front of him and nodded with satisfaction.

The reason why only one round of artillery attack was to avoid damaging the port.

The subsequent ships coming from Daqian this time are all large ships and cannot dock at ordinary ports.

The flagship left the port and headed towards another destination.

The news that this port was attacked could not be concealed, but the flagship was fast enough to arrive at another port before the news reached it.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed before the Japanese battle reports were delivered to the Japanese Emperor.

The Japanese Emperor was still confused as he looked at the battle report in front of him.

"Who can tell me who attacked our port and where are our warships?" The Japanese emperor looked at several generals and asked angrily.

"No trace of the enemy was found. According to those who survived, a huge monster appeared in the sky, continuous explosions occurred on the ground, and finally a group of demons slaughtered everyone!" A general lowered his head and replied.

"Which country are they from? How many warships do we have left?" The Japanese Emperor did not get the answer he wanted, so he asked again.

"The only one with such strength is Daqian. All ports where warships can dock have been attacked, and no news about the warships has been received yet!" the general replied.

When the Japanese emperor heard Daqian's name, he was stunned.

He thought of the 10,000 pieces of cloth that he had ordered to be seized, which was a huge fortune, and made him happy for a long time.

I didn't expect Daqian to be so tough and start a war without even negotiating.

"Which general will go to destroy the enemy?" the Japanese emperor asked several generals.

None of the generals dared to speak this time. After receiving the battle report, they analyzed the enemy's strength.

So many ports were attacked and not a single enemy casualty was suffered.

Or in other words, this is not a war. Japan's ports are like targets, and how can a target hurt people?

"You are all veterans of hundreds of battles, so why don't you have the courage now?" the Japanese Emperor said angrily.

The war in Japan was not as grand as they recorded.

Wars in Japan were often like fights between two villages, and a large-scale war was considered a war involving more than a hundred people.

The Japanese Kingdom during this period had not yet begun to accept Western culture and knowledge, and was not much different from the previous Daqian.

Faced with epoch-making weapons of war, their resistance was powerless.

In the end, the Japanese emperor ordered three generals to lead their troops to fight the enemy. Why three generals? The main reason was that they didn't know where the enemy was.

The three generals set out in three directions, but they could not go too far away from the Japanese emperor to prevent the Japanese emperor from being attacked.

Under this order, the three generals actually led their troops to block the outside of the Japanese emperor and formed a defense.

On the sea, five warships gathered together. Their target was Iwami, where there was a huge silver mountain.

Five warships placed 500 artillery troops ashore at Iwami, followed by the Tianlong airship in the sky, and Iwami began to clear the cities one by one.

The five warships are the logistics bases, carrying large amounts of ammunition, food and fuel.

The artillery army's mission was to annihilate the Japanese and destroy all the cities they saw.

The cities of Japan had never encountered such an enemy. Few of their cities had stone walls, and most of them had wooden fences.

Sometimes the artillery corps' five hundred and ninety-turn warriors were too lazy to use their artillery. They brandished their weapons and rushed directly into the city, causing damage that was even no less than that caused by the artillery.

Wherever the five hundred artillery troops passed, there were almost no survivors.

There is no need to worry about slaves at this time. After Japan is completely destroyed and the follow-up army arrives, we can still capture surviving Japanese from all over the place. Those will be the slave miners.

Now the artillery army’s mission is to massacre. Cities are disappearing in their attacks, and they are too lazy to even collect property.

Anyway, even if these properties are taken away by the Japanese, they will return to Daqian's hands.

Since there were no living people, the battle reports from the front were not sent to the Japanese emperor in time. The territory of Japan was like being constantly swallowed by a big mouth, and the population on piece by piece of land disappeared.

(End of this chapter)