prosperous age

"Commander-in-Chief, Commander-in-Chief Otake's messenger has arrived."

On the Kuki Navy's flagship, a samurai entered the cabin and respectfully reported to Kuki Yoshitaka, who was seated in the main seat.

"Let him in."

Kuki Yoshitaka sat cross-legged, his hands resting on the back of his knees, looking quite relaxed.

At this moment, he was not wearing armor, but only casual clothes.

Upon arriving at Sado Island, he discovered that the situation was different from what he had expected; the seas surrounding Sado Island were already under the control of Ming Dynasty warships.

Clearly, the commander Otake he sent was defeated in the naval battle.

That was a force with hundreds of warships, while the Ming navy on the other side had only half that number of warships.

Okay, even if there were losses, it shouldn't have been such a crushing defeat. At the very least, relying on the port for defense would have been the right thing to do.

So, just as he was preparing to launch a full-scale attack on the Ming army near the Sado Island pier, a scout ship reported that a large number of Ming warships had appeared south of Sado Island, forcing him to abandon the attack on the Sado Island pier.

There were nearly a hundred Ming warships that arrived, but he didn't take them seriously.

This time, he brought the main force of the Kuki Navy, which has more than 700 warships, including more than 100 Atakebune alone, as well as six of the most powerful "monsters" in Japan. They had already shown amazing combat power in the previous battle against the Mori Navy in the Seto Inland Sea.

The name "monster" is well-deserved.

They could storm into enemy warships and fire cannons at enemy ships in all directions, instantly disrupting the enemy's formation.

Although Kuki Yoshitaka believed he had victory in his grasp, he was not so arrogant as to think he could easily defeat the Ming army.

Regardless, the Central Plains dynasties still exerted a bloodline suppression over Japan. Everything in Japan originated from the Central Plains, and the culture of the Central Plains influenced every aspect of Japan.

In fact, almost all the military books that daimyo study today are the chapter-style military books "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" passed down from the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, they also copied "The Art of War" and other military books, but those books were written in obscure and difficult language, and were not something that ordinary Japanese people could understand.

The advantage of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is that the language is straightforward. Even Japanese people who don't have much knowledge of Chinese culture can understand it as long as they can read Chinese characters and learn about the ancient Chinese methods of warfare.

Although the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is largely fictional, it does contain some logically plausible battles, such as the Battle of Guandu and the Battle of Yiling. The Battle of Red Cliffs also taught the Japanese navy how to use fire attacks at sea.

That is to use small boats to fill them with flammable materials, and then have the sailors charge towards the enemy ship and set it on fire.

Don't even think about trying to trick them into connecting the Atakebune. They must have seen the Battle of Red Cliffs; they won't be so stupid as to cripple themselves.

Kuki Yoshitaka believed in the Chinese people's fighting style, so he needed to contact the island to find out the reasons for Otake's defeat.

Only then could he devise targeted tactics to maneuver against the Ming warships and look for opportunities to defeat them.

Although the Japanese army lost the dock, it did not mean that they lost their ability to transmit messages.

In fact, Sado Island is not small, and there are many small bays around it. These places can hide small boats, a type of Japanese ship similar to a small wooden boat. They even hide several shoal boats.

That was the means of transportation that Commander Ōtake and Commander Arima prepared to escape when they had no hope of holding out on Sado Island.

Inside the cabin, the man sent by Commander Ōtake was a samurai by his side, whom Kuki Yoshitaka had met before.

At this moment, he knelt on the floor and told Kuki Yoshitaka about the battle between their fleet and the Ming army.

"Their ships have many large ships, and their combat power is no less than that of monster warships."

Moreover, their ships are extremely fast, making it difficult for our warships to catch up. So every time they launch their siege, they circle back and bombard us from the outside with massive attacks.”

"Wait, you mean their warships can sink a Sekisen ship with just a few shots, and only the Atakebune can withstand their cannon fire?"

At this moment, Kuki Yoshitaka's heart was in turmoil. Although he judged that the Ming navy must have a great advantage to come and believed that they could be defeated, otherwise, facing an opponent several times their size, the best way was to retreat before the battle began.

But the other side didn't; instead, they approached directly and confronted them.

This is to protect the Sado Island pier, and isn't it also a demonstration against the Kuki Navy?

At this moment, Kuki Yoshitaka was secretly relieved that they hadn't immediately started fighting after the Ming warships arrived, allowing him to learn such important intelligence.

"Yes, we lost forty ships, all of which sank after being hit by a few shots."

Our ship's cannons and arquebuses couldn't hook the enemy at all, so we could only take hits continuously.

The samurai hurriedly answered the commander-in-chief's question.

Kuki Yoshitaka understood why many of the Ming Dynasty's warships had low decks; he figured they were the main warships used by the Ming navy.

Conversely, the Ming warships, also known as Fujian ships, which he initially valued highly, did not seem to be the main force of the Ming army in battle.

This gave him a headache; he was well aware of the cannon's power.

But if the Ming navy had many cannons, according to current estimates, there would be at least forty of these cannon-laden warships in the Ming army's formation. How could they possibly fight such a battle?
He had only six monsters at most, and each ship had only four cannons.

It should be noted that before his death, the head of the clan, Oda Nobunaga, spent a huge sum of money to exchange thirty cannons from the barbarians and gave twenty-four cannons to the navy. He wanted to have the most powerful navy in Japan so that they would be able to defeat the Mori and Shimazu navies.

Although the Shimazu family had always lived on Kyushu Island, their naval strength was only considered average in Japan. However, there were many merchants in their territory who owned various types of ships.

The Shimazu clan's strategy was to have merchants maintain their own ships, but then requisition them during wartime, thus saving a lot of money and allowing them to have a reliable navy.

If the Ming army launches a full-scale attack, and the Kuki navy is defeated and loses its six monster warships, then the Kuki navy will not be entirely confident of crushing the Mori navy and the Shimazu clan.

However, at this time, Japan was facing an invasion by the Ming Dynasty. If he did not fight the Ming navy with all his might, the news would be detrimental to both him and his family.

It's likely that his family won't listen to his explanation when he gets back; they'll just make him commit seppuku as an apology.

Kuki Yoshitaka certainly didn't want to die, much less ruin his reputation with a crushing defeat.

Without their online army, what will the Kuki family have left?
The question is, how to gracefully exit the battlefield?
This is really a headache.

After sending someone out, Kuki Yoshitaka needs to think carefully about how to deal with the current situation.

Forget about fighting the Ming Dynasty's navy. Even if they threw in all six monsters, they would still be defeated.

If he goes back, he will definitely be punished by his family.

There are still 20,000 people on the island; that's the information he just received.

The garrison had 3,000 men, plus more than 2,000 naval troops, but the total number of men was less than 6,000.

The miners had already lost more than 2,000 men in the battle to defend the docks, leaving about 6,000 remaining.

And their families on the island number in the thousands.

Should we negotiate with the Ming Dynasty and lead them to evacuate?

Kuki Yoshitaka shook his head. The Ming people were clearly here to seize the Sado Gold Mine, and they wouldn't let these miners and laborers go.

"We must report everything here to Lord Hashiba as soon as possible so that he can make a decision."

Kuki Yoshitaka cried out in his heart in despair.

Yes, he once served Oda Nobunaga, but after his death, he chose to serve Hashiba Hideyoshi instead of the head of the Oda clan. The Oda clan's power had, in fact, fragmented, with each military commander having their own allegiance, but certainly not to the Oda clan.

Among them were those who sided with Hashiba Hideyoshi, those who sided with elders such as Shibata Katsuie and Niwa Nagahide, and even leaders who sided with Oda Nobutaka and others.

Now, in order to protect himself, Kuki Yoshitaka has chosen to explain the situation to Lord Hashiba and await his decision.

The Kuki Navy was his only asset in standing up to Lord Hashiba, and also an important force for Lord Hashiba in his struggle for family power. He believed that Lord Hashiba would not sit idly by and would definitely find a way to protect the Kuki Navy.

As for the current situation, we should make some concessions first and avoid fighting with the Ming navy.

With this in mind, Kuki Yoshitaka began preparing to write a letter to Kiyosu Castle, while simultaneously ordering his men to weigh anchor and use the cover of night to approach Honshu Island.

Even if something unforeseen happens, the cannons must be moved to land.

Those twenty-four cannons were the lifeblood of Kuki Yoshitaka.

As the night passed, Xu Qiaoan ordered his men to prepare a battle meal, intending to cripple the Japanese navy that day and solidify the Ming Dynasty's absolute dominance in the North Sea. However, he received news from the lookout post that the Japanese navy had disappeared.

Upon hearing the report, he hurriedly went up to the ship's deck, raised his telescope, and looked towards the Japanese naval barge where it had been stationed the previous day. Sure enough, the sea was empty, and there was not a single Japanese warship in sight.

"What tricks are these Japanese playing? They came, didn't fight, and just disappeared?"

Xu Qiaoan muttered to himself, then immediately summoned the Qing soldiers and ordered, "Immediately dispatch fast boats to patrol around Sado Island and search for the main force of the Japanese navy."

With this order issued, more than ten fast boats rushed out of the Ming army camp and headed towards the surrounding sea to search for the vanished Japanese navy.

"Sir, at the port, should we allow the Fujian ships to enter the harbor and let the soldiers disembark?"

At this moment, the military attaché came to Xu Qiaoan's side and asked in a low voice.

"Let them dock in an orderly manner, let the soldiers go ashore, rest for a day, and then immediately send troops to seize the island."

Xu Qiaoan did not forget the purpose of their trip: to occupy Sado Island and control its mineral resources.

As for eliminating the Japanese navy, although that was also their mission, it seemed insignificant compared to Jinshan.

Despite the apparent large number of ships in Japan, most of them are small Fujian-style ships with little combat capability.

Even their largest ship, the Atakebune, was only comparable to a large Fujian ship.

It's only close to, and slightly larger than a medium-sized Fujian ship.

If this had happened ten years ago, he would definitely have been worried and nervous for a while.

However, the Ming navy no longer employs the boarding tactics of the past, which required close-quarters combat on the sea.

The standard tactic of the Ming Dynasty navy is to inflict heavy casualties on enemy ships from a distance using artillery.

Although his subordinates were not yet proficient in using it, their training over the past two years had focused primarily on operating the cannons at sea.

He had already been in contact with Commander Sun and knew that the Japanese warships did not have cannons and their combat strength was negligible.

As long as they are not surrounded by the enemy and forced into a fierce boarding battle, the navy can use cannons to sink their ships one by one into the sea.

However, half a day passed and Xu Qiaoan still hadn't received any news of the discovery of the Japanese navy, which inevitably made him anxious.

"My lord, we have searched the area around Sado Island, but we have not found any Japanese."

Did they run away, or perhaps they went near Honshu Island, where there are some bays, and maybe they hid in those places?

The adjutant spoke.

Standing on the deck, Xu Qiaoan watched as the Fujian ships left the fleet and sailed into the harbor to load and unload supplies. He was actually more inclined to believe the brigade commander's guess.

Perhaps fearing the previous battles fought by Commander Sun, the Japanese pirates fled.

Or perhaps they didn't run far, but instead hid in a bay within the Japanese mainland.

"If I had known they would run away, I should have launched an attack on the Japanese navy as soon as I arrived yesterday."

At this moment, Xu Qiaoan said with some annoyance.

This is a real achievement, and it's no wonder that it slipped away like that. No one would be happy about it.

"Isn't it said that the Japanese are not afraid of death and would rather die in battle than live a cowardly life? How come I can't meet them?"

Xu Qiaoan said angrily.

"Sir, that might only be the case for a select few."

"Different strokes for different folks," and Japan is no exception; there are bound to be cowards who fear death, but they usually hide their true nature until a critical moment.

The adjutant smiled and flattered, "Besides, under your leadership, our East China Sea Fleet is so powerful that even if we gathered all of Japan's navy together, they probably wouldn't be able to defeat us. It's not surprising that they are afraid."

It's a pity that this achievement was wasted, but the fact that you subdued the enemy without fighting shows your wisdom and prowess, and directly scared the Japanese pirates away.

Right now, controlling this place would be a great achievement in the court.

We can stay here indefinitely; there's no need to go back.

The adjutant said to Xu Qiaoan meaningfully.

Xu Qiaoan glanced at the officer under his command and understood what he meant.

The Northern Route Army were Qi Jiguang's confidants. Even if he went back to Qi Jiguang's command and took orders, he probably wouldn't receive any orders at this point.

The capture of Iwami Ginzan was a matter for the Army, and had little to do with the Navy.

If there is any connection, it's that once they get the person ashore, their mission is complete.

It seems that only Sado Island requires a naval presence.

"I will write to Wang Jinglue and Qi Dashuai as soon as I get back, informing them of the current situation."

The Japanese navy is nowhere to be found, so we couldn't annihilate them all. We have no choice but to remain on Sado Island to ensure the mining of gold mines there.

Xu Qiaoan smiled, said something to him, then told the lookout to continue observing the surroundings before going down to the deck and back to her cabin to write a battle report.

Now it is wartime, and all actions must be carried out under the command of the rear commander and the general.

It's not wrong for me to send them messages myself, wait for orders, and stay on Sado Island during that time.

The imperial court wants the Sado Gold Mine and the Iwami Silver Mine. If the East China Sea Fleet can ensure the safety of the Sado Gold Mine, it will be a great achievement for him and his fleet. It's a sure thing that no one can take it away.

If it's too much trouble, let the South China Sea Fleet rob it; they're powerful anyway.

The East China Sea Navy has fewer than seventy gunboats in total. Apart from the squadron left behind and deployed to Jeju Island and Tsushima Island, the rest are already here.

Meanwhile, the South China Sea Fleet already has nearly a hundred gunboats, not including the forces in Luzon and Old Port.

The difference is huge. (End of Chapter)