I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 22 Hengyu Island

At Xiaowang Mountain on the east coast of Ningde City, Dai Chongxiao, the commander of the Central Army of the Governor's Office, pointed to an island in the sea in the distance and said, "General Qi, that is Hengyu Island."

Qi Jiguang, commander-in-chief of Zhejiang and leader of the Zhejiang army aiding northern Fujian, was dressed in armor and staring at the island.

"General Dai, I heard that the island is more than ten miles from the coast and has a dangerous terrain. When the tide is high, it is a vast ocean, but the water is shallow and long, and ships will be stranded; when the tide is low, the road is blocked by silt, and it is difficult for people to walk?"

"Yes. It is very difficult to attack Hengyu Island by sea or by ship, so the Japanese pirates used it as a base and built arrow towers, stone forts and wooden forts along the coast. Then they often took small boats to bypass from the east and go ashore to harass northern Fujian."

“How many people are there on the island now?”

"There are more than 300 real Japanese, 700 to 800 Japanese, and more than 800 civilians, both men and women, captured."

"Have you figured out the times of high tide and low tide in Hengyu Island?" Qi Jiguang turned to ask his general Wang Rulong.

"I've figured it out. The tide starts to ebb at 1:00 a.m. and lasts until noon. The tide starts to rise at dusk in the afternoon and lasts until midnight."

Qi Jiguang continued to ask: "Have the maps of Hengyu Island been drawn?"

"It's been drawn." replied General Wu Weizhong.

"Have you contacted the Marine Patrol?"

General Chen Dacheng replied, "The contact has been made. Admiral Lu sent Vice Admiral Zhang Han to lead the second detachment of the naval patrol from Taizhou and arrive in two days. They will anchor far away first, and as soon as they get the signal, they will immediately weigh anchor and set sail southward and line up in the ocean off Hengyu."

"That's good, let's go back." Qi Jiguang glanced at Hengyu Island where smoke was rising from cooking fires, then turned and left.

When they arrived at the central camp, Dai Chongxiao went to settle his subordinates, while Qi Jiguang gathered his subordinates to discuss how to advance and annihilate the enemy.

General Zhang Jian suggested: "General, I think we should set out tomorrow morning when the tide is low and defeat Hengyu Island in one fell swoop. After all, there are only 1,000 Japanese pirates, and we have 6,000, plus 1,600 Fujian troops, which is more than enough."

Wang Rulong and Wu Weizhong also echoed: "General, General Yu is in the south, cooperating with the First Squadron of the Patrol Navy to capture Nan'ao Island in one fell swoop, beheading more than 500 people and capturing more than 600 people.

We can’t afford to be left behind.”

Qi Jiguang knew what his subordinates were thinking.

Yu Long and Qi Hu, people always compare Yu Dayou with themselves.

In comparison, he had a closer relationship with Hu Bingbu, the commander-in-chief of the anti-Japanese campaign. With his intentional or unintentional care, he had achieved much more military merits than Yu Dayou in the past two years.

In the first half of the year, he was sent to Guangdong to provide assistance.

It is the most difficult thing to provide assistance to the guest troops.

Fighting in a foreign land, you are unfamiliar with the place. You won't get much credit, and you may end up taking the blame.

Yu Dayou was holding his breath, and Minister Hu knew this, so he took advantage of the great victory in aiding Guangdong to recommend him as the commander-in-chief of Fujian, putting him on the same level as himself, in order to appease him.

But how could he let go of the anger in his heart so quickly?

They took the initiative to take action on Nan'ao Island and won the first victory in Fujian's anti-Japanese campaign.

He finally vented his anger, but his subordinates held their breath.

Qi Jiguang glanced at the generals and said in a deep voice: "The suppression of the Japanese is a serious matter and we cannot afford to act rashly. This is our first battle in Fujian and we cannot be careless. We must eradicate all the evil.

Without the navy blocking them in the open sea, the Japanese pirates on Hengyu Island will flee by boat. We must wait for two more days for the warships of the Second Squadron of the Patrol Navy to arrive."

The generals looked at each other, helpless, but still indignant in their hearts, "General Hu is biased. He immediately sent the first squadron of the patrol navy south to cooperate with Tan Fu and General Yu.

The second team assigned to us was making excuses and delaying the arrival of the fighter. "

Qi Jiguang shouted, "Nonsense! The Coordination Office sent people to Tuen Mun, Guangdong, to contact the Portuguese there. They used huge profits to lure them to hire a sailing ship with dozens of crew members, and also bought 20 large and small muskets and hired more than ten musket-handling instructors.

Admiral Lu was waiting for these ships and instructors, so the second squadron was not formed. Now we can set sail south. I believe these are already in place, and the combat power will be much higher than that of the first squadron. What do you have to complain about? "

One general complained: "What is there to learn from the barbarians? We have to wait for them to arrive before we march south. Without them, can't the navy fight?"

Qi Jiguang scolded them, "You are arrogant and self-righteous. Haven't we suffered enough in the past? We looked down on the Japanese pirates in the past, but we suffered defeats one after another. Westerners are ignorant of the principles of saints, but they can sail thousands of miles and use their sharp firearms to destroy strongholds and walls.

Our great empire is like a vast ocean, embracing all rivers. No matter who has strengths, we must learn from them and make up for our weaknesses, so that we can defeat the enemy."

The generals looked at each other and responded in unison: "We will remember this."

At noon the next day, Qi Jiguang received the news.

"General, the second squadron of more than 60 warships of various sizes have anchored 90 miles north of Hengyu Island, awaiting orders." "Good!" Qi Jiguang stood up, pumped his fist and shouted happily, "Call all the generals to discuss matters."

"Yes!"

Qi Jiguang spread the map of Hengyu Island on the table and began to deploy his subordinates.

"Captain Zhang Jian!"

"My subordinate is here!"

"You lead your troops to guard Dongqiangpu and advance to Jinchuifu."

"Yes!"

"Commander-in-Chief Zhang Yue."

"My subordinate is here!"

"You lead your troops to station at Shibi Ridge, and Zhang Jian's troops will form the left and right wings to prevent the Japanese pirates from attacking our flanks. At the same time, be careful to prevent the Japanese pirates from escaping on shore."

"Yes!"

"Daidos!"

"I'm here!" Dai Chongxiao replied.

"You will set out from Dongshanpu with the surrendered soldiers as your guide. I will lead the main force and also set out from Lantian with the surrendered soldiers as your guide. Chen Dacheng, Wu Weizhong, Chen Ziluan, and Tong Ziming!"

"We are here!" the four of them answered in unison.

"The four of you will each lead your own troops and sneak to the shore of Lantian tonight. When the tide recedes tomorrow morning, each unit will form a mandarin duck formation and wade across the beach to attack Hengyu Island."

"Yes!"

"Yesterday I issued an order to each unit that each person must gather a bundle of grass or hay. Have all of them gathered it?"

"To reply to the general, according to cross-checks by various departments, all soldiers and officers collected a bundle of weeds, which meets the standards."

"it is good!"

"Today at 1:15 pm, the whole army will have dinner, and at 2:15 pm, the whole army will rest. Tomorrow morning at 3:15 pm, the whole army will get up and have breakfast. At 2:15 pm, the whole army will reach the designated position, and as soon as the tide recedes in the morning, they will immediately go ashore and attack."

"Yes!"

"Send someone to contact the Second Squadron of the Naval Patrol, and ask them to weigh anchor and sail south tonight, and to line up off Hengyu Island in the morning."

"Yes!"

After the deployment was completed, Qi Jiguang said in a deep voice: "This battle is our army's first battle since entering Fujian. Soldiers from all units must work together and fight bravely. Otherwise, you will be punished by military law!"

"Yes!"

Silent all night.

By three o'clock in the morning, the four thousand Qi family soldiers were ready and lined up in the wilderness only two or three hundred meters away from the coast.

The 1,600 Fujian troops led by Dai Chongxiao were ready to go on the other side.

Time passed by little by little, and the sea and sky in the east became brighter little by little.

Finally, it seemed as if a giant opened its eyes between the sea and the sky, revealing a thin layer of orange and red light.

Not long after, the red sun showed half of its head, turning the indigo sea and sky pink.

The soldiers had no time to pay attention to the beautiful sunrise; they just stared at the sea.

"The tide is out!"

When the news came, everyone was excited.

A quarter of an hour later, the sun came out completely and the tide receded completely, revealing the long mudflat between the coast and Hengyu Island.

Qi Jiguang decisively ordered: "Attack! Kill the Japanese pirates!"

(End of this chapter)