Dragon Sea Empire

Zheng Jiong was about to send troops to Shuri, and the news almost made Chen Zhongji think he heard it wrong.

Zheng Jiong's more than 1000 Ryukyu Royal Guards are now the only fully organized Ryukyu troops with combat effectiveness on the entire Ryukyu Island, and now Zheng Jiong wants to take this army out of the tightly guarded Yaliangzuo Mori Castle Fortress, regardless of Naha's The Hirata Department of the Shimadzu Army was waiting behind him at any time, and went straight to the direction of Shuri regardless of the back, and went to the decisive battle with the enemy whose strength and combat power were several times higher than his own. This kind of behavior is seen by the leaders of the Chinese company's armed forces. It was an act of suicide.

"The Ryukyu Kingdom is a resort in the South China Sea, and Zhong Sanhan's beauty... the boat is the bridge of all nations, and the treasures of different products are filled with ten square temples," Chen Zhongji said slowly, Zhang Hai frowned and asked: "Jizai, where are you?" Say something, polite..."

"This is the inscription left by King Shang Taijiu of Ryukyu on the Wanguo Jinliang Bell in the royal temple more than 100 years ago. It means that Ryukyu is a prosperous place where treasures from various countries are accumulated. This treasure land will soon be taken by the Japanese," Chen Zhongji sighed.

Although Chen Zhongji is in charge of Ryukyu affairs, Colonel Kutley and Luo Aquan are the highest-ranking military figures present, Ji Zai still consulted them modestly: "Battle Commander Luo, Instructor Kutley, what do you think we should do now?" How about doing it?"

Kutley said succinctly: "To persuade the Prime Minister not to leave the castle, to defend the castle with their troops, and to be horns with the fortress of our Chinese business house, to guard the Naha Port area, waiting for changes,"

Luo Aquan is not good at strategy, he is just a super sharpshooter, so he just nodded and said: "I think Mr. Zheng will definitely lose in this battle."

Chen Zhongji sighed: "I think so too, I'll go to Wuliangzao Sencheng to see if I can persuade Master Zheng,"

Zheng Jiong sent his own guard captain to the business hall to borrow some rockets and cannons from the Chinese company to defend the city. A group of people from the Chinese company discussed it and sent Zheng Jiong in the name of supporting the Ryukyu Army. Twenty old-fashioned straight-rod rockets, and there are not many new-style Thunderbolt rockets, so they are determined not to borrow them.

In the evening, under the fiery red twilight, Chen Zhongji led more than 30 guard soldiers, drove a donkey cart, and pulled the rocket to Yaliangzao Forest City.

He originally wanted to persuade Zheng Jiong not to send troops to rescue Shuri for the time being, but the words of persuasion reached the ground, but he could not utter them. Most of the Ryukyu Royal Guards had already started to leave the city with torches, and they were standing at the gate of the city. In addition to Xie Mingqing Fang Zheng Jiong, who supervised the troops leaving the city, there was also Shang Feng, the heir of the Ryukyu Prince who was full of anxiety.

When Chen Zhongji was among the aristocratic families in Ryukyu, he had seen His Royal Highness many times. This His Royal Highness was only less than 20 years old. March quickly, my father is eager to see through your troops, how long will it take you to reach Shuri?"

It turned out that at the same time that the Shimadzu Army of the Hirata Department landed on Xiaohama yesterday, the main force of the Shimadzu Army, the Huashan Department, also easily defeated the Ryukyu Army stationed at Taipingqiao on the way to Shuri Castle. Chengjian Suozi was killed in battle on the cloud, and more and more relatives fought and retreated. They retreated to Shuri Castle last night, and the Huashan Department continued to move forward with basically no casualties.

The Taipingqiao defeat report was brought to Zheng Jiong's headquarters by Ryukyu heir Shang Feng himself at noon today.

Zheng Jiong once again followed in the footsteps of Beishan Warden. After receiving the report of Taipingqiao's defeat, he was filled with righteous indignation and led more than a thousand people from his subordinates to abandon the castle fortifications in Naha. Yamabe launches a surprise attack.

Before Chen Zhongji could persuade him, Zheng Jiong asked him to hand over the rocket to Xie Yuanshui, the captain of his guard. Xie Yuanshui would lead 100 old and weak soldiers to guard Yuwu Liangzuo Sencheng. In fact, Zheng Jiong had already given up on this move. The castle is gone.

Watching the long team of the Ryukyu Army disappear into the distant night, Chen Zhongji kept sighing: the illusion that the Ryukyu people could last a few more days was about to be shattered.

Chen Zhongji left behind two infantry guards of the Chinese company to teach the Ryukyu people how to use rockets, but Xie Yuanshui was very confident in defending the city. In order to express his gratitude, he also gave Chen Zhongji a lot of well-decorated and luxurious Indian clothes. He accepted it with a wry smile, and returned to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce worriedly. After the Portuguese expedition to Malacca in 1511, two or three Ryukyu trading ships came to Malacca every year and brought back a large amount of clothing produced in Bangalore, India. Ryukyu's overseas trade is prosperous, and this pile of impractical clothes is a symbol of Ryukyu's overseas trade.

For the next two days, the Hirata Department of the Shimadzu Army of Kohama was very quiet, and did not attempt to send troops to harass the Chinese Merchant Hall or Yaraza Mori Castle.

Chen Zhongji and others seized the time to strengthen the fortifications of the commercial hall, and dug a shallow ditch outside the east gate to serve as a moat. The entire Zhonghua Commercial Hall was roughly square, and the total length of the wall was nearly one mile, and each side was about 100 steps long. To the east of the walled city is the Naha Port City, to the north is close to the Naha River, to the west is the avenue and forest to Shuri, to the south is an open land, and across the open land is Yaraza Mori Castle, and the city wall to the north is close to the Naha River. It may be attacked; the west road is narrow and it is impossible to deploy troops. The most vulnerable are the south and east sides of the trading house. Therefore, the people of the Chinese company seized the time to dig ditches on the east and south sides of the trading house fortress and strengthen the city wall. , Dig deep and wide the reserved blasthole under the city wall, leaving only the last brick, which can be opened for shooting at any time...

Soldiers from the special battalion of Luo Aquan and Colonel Kutley did not like to do these unchallenging physical tasks. On the night when Zheng Jiong dispatched troops, they went out of the embassy overnight to perform a dangerous mission. Chen Zhongji discussed with Luo Aquan, Kutley and others After thinking about it for a while, I felt that if the Ryukyu Army was completely defeated, if the Chinese wanted to continue to fight against the Japanese, it would be justified. Therefore, all 80 soldiers from the special battalion were dispatched to secretly follow the Ryukyu Army Zheng Jiong who went straight to Shuri. The Ministry is waiting for an opportunity to save people. Regardless of the Ryukyu prince or Zheng Jiong, as long as one of them is still alive, no matter what the battle situation is, the Chinese can continue to fight against the Japanese pirates under the banner of Ryukyu orthodoxy.

Late at night on the third day when Zheng Jiong sent troops to Shuri, a brother from the special battalion ran back covered in blood.

After seeing Chen Zhongji, Zhang Hai, and Mai Yangtian, he drank a pot of water in one breath, wiped his mouth and panted and said, "Shopkeeper Chen, Boss Zhang, the Ryukyu Army has been defeated..."

Although the failure of the Ryukyu Army was not unexpected, everyone still sighed together.

"We have snatched the prince of the Ryukyu prince. Brother Luo and Instructor Ku are guarding him and are rushing here. It is estimated that he will arrive in two hours... Also, Instructor Ku asked me to tell everyone that the Japanese pirate Hiratabe of Xiaohama The main force should have already left the station,"

"What?" Chen Zhongji was very surprised: "We have been sending people to monitor the movement in the north for the past two days, why didn't we notice anything unusual?"

The brothers from the special battalion took another sip of water and said, "We don't know what's going on. Yesterday during the day, when Mr. Zheng's troops were fighting with the Japanese pirates, the Hirata Department that was originally in Xiaobin suddenly fell into Zheng Jiong's place. Appeared from behind the Ministry and attacked Master Zheng Jiong's team, "

After a series of victories, more than 2000 people from the Shimadzu Army's Kawayama Kudaka Division were negligent and rushed to the city of Shuri. They did not expect that there would be an attack from the Ryukyu Army in the rear. The soldiers in the city, and then Zheng Jiong came to attack them, and they were in a mess on the road for a while.

Obama's Hirata Department discovered something strange after Zheng Jiong went out of the city overnight. Hirata's army went to reinforce after hearing the news, and raided Zheng Jiong's troops behind the Ryukyu army.

Hirata intends to receive the first prize, and is not eager to support Huashan's attack on Zheng Jiong's more than 1000 people, but wants to wait for an opportunity to capture Zheng Jiong alive in the melee. The sudden attack hit the location of the Chinese army in one fell swoop, and Zheng Jiong Wuhua was tied up and placed in the army. The Shimadzu army suffered the most casualties in the service, the most since the invasion of Ryukyu. There were more than 300 casualties, but this was not enough to inspire the hearts of the Ryukyu resistance war. , On the contrary, at this time, except for Shuri Wangcheng and half of Naha Port, almost all important cities on the island have basically fallen. collapsed, the painstakingly arranged defense completely fell apart, and could only hide in the isolated city of Shuri, but the unscrupulous Shimadzu Army could gather its forces and tightly surround Shuri Castle. In the Second Ryukyu War, the defeat of the Ryukyu Zhongshan Kingdom was determined, and the war would end with the defeat of Ryukyu.

When Zheng Jiong was arrested, the main force of the Ryukyu Army led by him rushed forward to the front of the Huashan Department with only a few dozen guards around him. The Ryukyu Army did not even set up a guard post behind it, and there was no reserve team. The sudden appearance of the Satsuma soldiers completely caught the Ryukyu Army by surprise.

Zheng Jiong stood at attention, straightened his clothes, and silently asked the Japanese to lift him up. The eldest son Shangfeng beside him was also caught and was being tied up like a rice dumpling.

At this time, the soldiers from the Special Battalion of the Chinese Company Guard who had been sitting in the woods by the roadside and watching the tigers fight took action.

Among the 80 special soldiers, there are [-] sharpshooters who were hunters and sailors. They used accurate shooting to cover the other [-] rookies who attacked the Japanese pirates. It was completely dark at this moment, and the Hirata Department of the Shimadzu Army was standing still after the fierce battle. Resting, they chased the Ryukyu Army all the way, continued on the road, and after the fierce battle just now, they were already very tired. At this moment, they were all lying in temporary tents, even lying on the ground in the open air, all in a deep sleep state, and no sentries were set up.

As a result, it was the Japanese pirates' turn to be caught off guard.

In the chaotic crowd, Luo Aquan and others couldn't find Zheng Jiong, so they had to save the Ryukyu prince's son, and secretly evacuated the battlefield under the dark night and high wind.

After a while, Hirata's army realized that there were only a few dozen attackers. They were angry and chased them all the way regardless of the darkness.