Chapter 531: Boat Approaches Flying Bird

"Kill the bandits? Get rid of the traitors?"

Inujo Mita Kuwa looked confused, and almost subconsciously asked back:

"Your Majesty ordered me to discuss with the King of Japan about leasing the naval base, why did you start a war?"

"If my Tang Jianer is injured, I will die without hesitation.

Li Shi𪟝 raised his eyebrows. The fluent and elegant language of the Japanese envoy always surprised him, and at the same time he would be amused by the words of the Japanese.

Just like this time, is the phrase "will die without hesitation" used in this way?

But he was not interested in correcting it, just shook his head and said:

"As you said, the Soga clan is domineering and the King of Japan is weak, so this matter is difficult to accomplish."

"Instead of bowing down and enduring humiliation to please others, it is better to go directly to Japan and get rid of the Soga clan."

Inujo Mita Kuwa was shocked, and almost instantly fell to the ground and hugged Li Shi𪟝's calf and cried:

"General, do you despise me for my incompetence?"

"If the general makes a mistake, I will die without hesitation. ”

This was a real cry, the tears were all over Li Shi𪟝's favorite boots, making his eyebrows jump wildly.

Seeing that the Tang general didn't say a word, Inujo Mita Kuwa had to turn over and kneel down:

"If the general is determined to destroy the Japanese pirates, I will ask to be the vanguard!"

"As long as I am still alive, the Japanese pirates must not hurt the general at all!"

Li Shi𪟝 was furious, and kicked Inujo Mita Kuwa over:

"When you were seventeen, you joined the army and defeated Wang Shichong, and when you were eighteen, you defeated Wang Deren again."

"At twenty-five, you were named Duke of Tanglai and given the surname of the country. It has been twenty years since you pacified the four directions."

"What veteran generals in Japan can stand up to a fight? They actually underestimated you! "

Inuugami Mita Kuwa didn't quite understand what the Duke of Lai said, but he could still understand what he meant.

He endured the pain in his body and kowtowed repeatedly:

"I am all thinking about the general, why underestimate him?"

"The Soga clan has tens of thousands of private soldiers to be invincible. Now the general only has four huge ships, how can he fight? "

Li Shiqi looked back and saw that behind the current ship, there were three ships with vague outlines.

One five-tooth ship and three four-tooth ships can carry 3,000 people. If the space occupied by food and sailors is removed, there are less than 2,000 soldiers who can fight.

This is the upper limit of the troops that the Denglai Navy can mobilize. If there are more, it may cause panic in Baekje, which may make the situation on the Korean Peninsula even more confusing.

After Li Shiqi and Liu Rengui arrived in Denglai, they spent two months to roughly sort out the situation in the East China Sea based on the information they had explored and the records of later generations. The biggest feeling was "chaos"!

The four countries in the East China Sea, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and Japan, all wanted to get involved in the Korean Peninsula.

Among them, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, which were already on the Korean Peninsula, have been fighting intermittently for more than 200 years. During this period, the three countries have They had formed alliances with each other, but in the end, they all turned against each other as expected.

In addition, the Japanese country, which had a narrow land and wanted to take over the peninsula, made the situation on the peninsula more complicated.

But looking at the lessons of later generations, we know that Goguryeo did not obey the king, Baekje was indecisive, Silla was harboring evil intentions, and Japan was ambitious, and none of them were good people.

In this case, Liu Rengui proposed a "subtraction" strategy, and the first step was to kick out the troublemakers, which was naturally Japan.

So Inukami Otagi and his party came into Liu Rengui's sight. In the end, Li Shiqi reported to Li Shimin and received the order of "acting at his own convenience", so he summoned this group of Japanese envoys to enter Japan.

In this case, it is natural that not many troops can be led, which is also the source of Inukami Otagi's worries.

But Li Shiqi did not think so:

"They are just slaves raised by the powerful, not worth calling soldiers. "

The Duke of Lai of the Tang Dynasty was too lazy to explain to Inugami Ota.

As a veteran general, Li Shiqi had his own criteria for judging soldiers. In his opinion, with such a poor and narrow country like Japan, it was impossible to train real soldiers. At best, they were just a group of slaves with simple weapons.

No matter how many slaves there were, they were still slaves, and no matter how few elite soldiers there were, they were still soldiers. They could not be compared at all.

Seeing that the Duke of Tang was so determined, Inugami Ota did not dare to say more, for fear of making the Duke of Lai unhappy and kicking him again.

Touching his waist that was about to break, Inugami Ota grimaced in pain, but a little hope rose in his heart:

As expected of the Duke of Tang and the general of the upper country, he almost killed me with one kick, which was really powerful!

Could it be that the domineering Soga clan was really not in the eyes of the general?

The four ships silently anchored at the opposite island, and then the two All the sailors and soldiers rested or replenished their food and grass. After the rest, the four warships regrouped and set off.

Liu Rengui had a blank expression on his face. Li Shiqi was right. More than 2,000 soldiers were mobilized for this trip, and countless food and grass cans were consumed. Even the four warships were specially loaded with the latest magnet water needles made by the general supervisor. Such a big move was not for him to hesitate.

Moreover... stroking the magnet water needle with both hands, Liu Rengui also felt a little relieved: with this thing leading the way, at least he could return safely.

The long magnet needle was painted red and was extremely eye-catching, and there were stone pieces as thin as cicada wings on both sides of the real thing. This was the magnet water needle.

This thing was placed in a transparent glass ball, which was filled with 70% water. The red needle was supported by the stone piece and floated on the water. No matter how the glass ball turned, it would always point to one direction unswervingly and steadily, indicating the direction for the sea ship on the vast sea.

Because the direction was clear and the huge ship sailed very fast with the help of wind, Inujo Mitasaki's return journey was much faster than the journey to the destination.

However, as he got closer to Asuka where the King of Japan was, Inujo Mitasaki became more and more uneasy.

He saw that General Liu's face was getting colder and colder, like the ice and snow on Shengyue Mountain that never melted.

Duke Lai was also getting harder to see, but every time he passed by the cabin, he could hear the sound of sharpening knives, which seemed to be scraping against his heart, making him shiver.

The Tang warriors on the ship also became less and less talkative, and only those envoys who returned with him and did not understand the elegant language were still chattering, and they were still imagining what name to send their children to Chang'an, the country of the upper country, to study and learn the elegant language, so as to get rid of their identity as Japanese.

The only one who seemed to have noticed him, Master Huiri, also appeared less and less on the deck, but the chanting in his cabin became louder and louder.

Inugami Odenku did not hide in the cabin. Instead, he tried to stay on the deck as long as he could. He wanted to see with his own eyes what the Duke wanted to do, and if possible, he would defend the safety of the Duke of Lai with his life, so as to protect his house in Chang'an and the unused enrollment quota.

So he watched the four huge ships slide into the Nagato Pass at a rapid speed as if they were protected by Susanoo, and the Japanese defenders on both sides did not seem to react.

There were also people on the shore nearby, shouting and running to chase, but of course they could not catch up at all, but he also saw more people kneeling on the spot and touching the ground with their heads.

Ha, this is the Japanese, Inugami Odenku laughed in his heart.

Nagato is the most important pass guarding the Japanese inland sea, but it was ignored by the Tang ship and swaggered in.

But Inugami Odenku forgot that this Nagato was where he pointed out to Liu Rengui.

He also told Liu Rengui in detail that after entering the inland sea from Nagato, he needed to go south and close to the shore, because although it was closer to go directly west to Asuka, this sea route was full of thousands of islands, which was quite inconvenient for large ships.

Liu Rengui listened to these suggestions and went west into the inland sea until he saw the land. Then the fleet turned south and began to sail north along the shore.

On the left were continuous mountain islands and on the right was the vast sea. The four giant ships adjusted their sails and glided along the shore with the help of the offshore wind, like an arrow from a string.

After sailing for another two days, Liu Rengui in the cabin judged from the water needle in his hand that the direction of the fleet's sailing had now changed to due north. Did that mean that the fleet had entered the inland sea again?

Sure enough, soon after, Inugami Mita-kuro on the deck shouted:

"Meikoto-ura! We can see Meikoto-ura! Next to it is Kii!"

Liu Rengui carefully put the water needle away and went to the deck.

Before leaving Kyoto, he visited Pei Shiqing several times and listened to Pei Shiqing's stories about Japan again and again.

In addition to the customs, etiquette, language, etc. of Japan, Pei Shiqing occasionally talked about the scenic spots near Asuka where the King of Japan was located. The most worth mentioning one is Mingguang Port. It is said that there is a sparkling view here when the sun rises in the morning. The nobles of Japan like to take a boat to leave Asuka and pass through Kii to enjoy the scenery here.

Perhaps because it is winter, Mingguang Port in front of him is not as magnificent as Pei Shiqing said. The dry grass is rolling and it looks bare. This makes Liu Rengui look at Inugami Mita Shovel: How can you recognize it even if the scenery is so shabby?

Inugami Mita was confused, but he still asked carefully:

"General, the Kii side seems to be unaware of where we came from, so the navy gathered and blocked the Kii Road."

"Please release a small boat, I can go over and explain the situation, so as not to lose courtesy."

Liu Rengui looked up and saw two small hills protruding to the north of Mingguang Port, a sea route in the middle, and a small island on the sea route. A bunch of small boats were gathering on both sides of the island, which looked easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Pei Shiqing told him that after Kii, there was an inland sea, and Asuka Castle where the King of Wa was located was located on the plain east of this inland sea.

Hearing Inugami Ota Kuwa's request, Liu Rengui pondered for a moment before answering, and Li Shi's voice sounded beside him:

"Ki? What a crappy name, why not rename this place Sanchongshan in the future."

Inugami Ota Kuwa smiled apologetically and was about to explain when he heard the Duke say indifferently:

"Don't bother so much, punishing the bandits is like putting out a fire and there is no time to delay."

"Listen to my order, raise the full sail and ram them!"

Inugami Ota Kuwa's eyes widened immediately, and he hurriedly dissuaded: "General, don't do that!"

But the officers on both sides saw that General Liu did not object, and immediately passed the order down, and the messengers standing on both sides of the bow also waved flags and passed the order to other ships.

So the four giant ships started moving again, the wind blew the sails, and the sails carried the ships, making the speed faster and faster.

At this time, even if the envoys did not understand a single word of elegant language, they could sense that something was wrong from the situation. They immediately started to chatter, causing the samurai next to them to draw out their swords a few inches, so the group of envoys immediately fell silent.

Ignoring Inugami Mita's dissuasion, Li Shi continued to give orders in an orderly manner:

"The fleet should shrink and form a formation, raise the baton outside, prepare kerosene, and string the crossbows ready to fire. If the bandits try to stop us, we can do whatever we want."

For the Japanese guarding the Sanchongshan Pass, many of them were already scared before they even made contact.

As the four large ships got closer and closer, the hulls that came into view became larger and larger, until they were as big as mountains in front of us, and there was no intention of slowing down at all.

The small boat was shattered upon contact, and the large boat was overturned by the aftermath of the giant ship. The hundreds of boats gathered here were swept away like clouds in the sky encountering a strong wind.

Some of them threw weapons at the giant ship out of desperation, only to be met with a more violent counterattack from the giant ship that seemed to be a god. Huge boulders fell from the sky and smashed those ships that wanted to disobey into powder.

There was no decent resistance from the enemy ships, which made the Denglai naval division suddenly lose interest. He didn't even want to waste kerosene and crossbow arrows, but just used a few free shot sticks to deter the problem.

After sweeping away the clouds, the fleet officially entered the inland sea, and here, a conspicuous settlement came into everyone's sight, which was extremely conspicuous.

No order was needed, the naval sergeant began to adjust the direction and headed towards the bird.

"This is a good place, easy to defend but difficult to attack."

Li Shi looked around and clicked his tongue.

The concave shore and the curved island surround a calm inland sea. The passes formed between the two ends of the island and the shore are easy to defend and difficult to attack. The gentle terrain on the inner coast is suitable for building a city, which is a treasure land.

"It seems that even Yi Di knows that the city should be defended with danger."

This inland sea is not big. Liu Rengui stretched out his arm and roughly calculated that it was only a hundred miles from east to west and more than seventy miles from north to south. Such a distance could be reached almost instantly for a giant ship.

Thanks to the calm conditions in the inland sea and the fact that Sanchong Mountain smashed the Japanese navy into pieces, the Denglai Navy's offshore landing went quite smoothly.

Li Shi𪟝 stepped on this land, stepped hard twice with his boots, as if to confirm the authenticity, and then started to command the giant ship to "unload" with confidence.

First of all, the elite soldiers from the first three ships came down one after another. Without too many instructions, some people automatically started to level the land, some collected dry firewood, and the cooks began to bury pots to make rice.

The last press boat carefully tried its best to get closer to the shore, and the horses were carefully transported from the boat. The horses that looked like they were wilting on the boat began to slowly regain their energy after they stepped on the ground.

The healthy soldiers who had disembarked earlier came over and took away their horses respectively. They took them aside and tried to groom, care for and feed the horses, trying to get familiar with them in a short time.

What was finally delivered to the shore were boxes of armor, weapons, and even horse protective equipment, which were unpacked and distributed by others.

Inugami Odasui was naturally unwilling to get off the ship. He lay on the side of the ship and watched with his own eyes as the group of Tang people ate and drank, and helped each other put on their armors. The layers of armor were divided into layers for legs, arms, and inner and outer layers. Wait, it seems to be extremely solid and cannot be broken by ordinary weapons. He seems to understand what the Duke said before, "Slaves are not worthy of being a soldier."

Li Shijiu, who had eaten and drank enough on the shore, put on his armor and mounted his horse with the help of his bodyguards. There were light crossbows and sabers hung on both sides of the saddle, and he raised a long spear into the sky:

"Good boys, follow me!"

The cavalry raised their spears, the infantry raised their swords, and amid the sound of gold and iron clashing, the elegant voices of the Tang Dynasty shouted in unison:

"Wan Sheng!"