The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 176: Battle of Jeju Island

After discussion between Duke of Min Zheng Haikang and Crown Prince Zheng Ruian, father and son, they determined the future investment direction of the Zheng family.

The Zheng family followed King Wu to a great victory in the Red Sea Operation. After tens of thousands of people from their family went out for a long time, they obtained a 10% stake in the Red Sea Mediterranean Canal.

The father and son of the Zheng family were full of expectations for the prospect of following the King of Wu.

Duke of Min, Zheng Haikang, then ordered that the soldiers and sailors who participated in the Red Sea campaign be collectively rewarded, and then given leave to rest.

After the Chinese New Year in the 42nd year of Xianning, they were gathered together again and trained with Zheng Ruian to recover their form.

At the end of January in the 42nd year of Xianning, Zhu Jianxuan's manifesto to punish the Qing invaders was delivered to Quanzhou.

After Zheng Ruian received the manifesto, he immediately went to find his father excitedly:
"Father, His Highness has already decided to start the Northern Expedition this spring. He may already be on his way!"

Zheng Haikang, the Duke of Min, took a look at the manifesto and immediately muttered in confusion:

"Why is His Royal Highness the King of Wu making such a fuss?"

Zheng Ruian said subconsciously:

"This shows that Your Highness is full of confidence and has decided to march north to the Central Plains in an open and aboveboard manner, without fearing that the Qing Empire in the north might be prepared.

"Your Highness has a large number of automatic rifles. If the Qing Dynasty concentrates its main forces, it will be just right to destroy them in batches."

The Duke of Min's thoughts were not in this direction:

"The Qing Dynasty doesn't matter. We are all going to die anyway. It's just a matter of time and method.

“But I think His Highness might want to resolve something along the way.

“If at this time, some vassal states that have long had ties with the north saw the news and did something immediately.

"What do you think the court or His Highness will do?"

Zheng Ruian seemed to understand:

"Catch the rabbit by the bush, and take care of a few vassal states at the same time?
"But no one would be so stupid as to attack your Highness's fleet and troops at this critical moment, right?
"Your Highness is now leading the Northern Expedition alone, and the main force of the imperial court has not moved.

"Which vassal state dares to collaborate with the enemy at this time? If they are caught by the imperial court, they can be directly withdrawn with reason and evidence."

Duke Min laughed dryly and said:
"From a normal human perspective, most people shouldn't be that stupid.

"But in reality... there are always people who don't understand...

"It doesn't matter to our family anyway. You can follow His Highness in the Northern Expedition. I, your father, will just wait and watch the show."

Zheng Ruian was skeptical about his father's judgment, but he had no hesitation about what he was going to do.

We will immediately begin to gather all the ships that can be mobilized and have them on standby at Quanzhou Port.

At the same time, steam patrol ships were arranged to patrol and wait near the strait, waiting to follow the King of Wu's northern expedition fleet when it passed through Fujian.

As a result, instead of waiting for the large fleet, the King of Wu specially arranged for a steam sailing ship to come to Quanzhou to rule Zheng Ruian.

Zheng Ruian was overjoyed when he received the news and made the decision without hesitation.

He immediately said goodbye to his father, took the large fleet out to sea, and waited for the arrival of King Wu's fleet in the Fujian Strait.

Now the three fiefdoms of the Duke of Min in the mainland, Fujian, Dongfan and Ryukyu, are regarded as one province, collectively called Fujian Province.

So this strait is also called the Fujian Strait.

On February 15, the 42nd year of Xianning, Zhu Jianxuan's fleet approached the Fujian Strait.

The Min Kingdom's fleet immediately went to join the group under flags.

The soldiers in charge of lookout and alert in the Wu fleet, seeing the large-scale appearance of the Min fleet, thought they had finally encountered the blind vassal state.

As a result, the communications ship sent by the other party directly expressed its willingness to join.

Zheng Ruian took a small fast steam sailboat to the Yingzhou where Zhu Jianxuan was riding, changed to a small boat and boarded the Yingzhou to meet Zhu Jianxuan.

Zheng Ruian bowed to Zhu Jianxuan:
"I am the son of the Duke of Min, Zheng Ruian. On behalf of the officials and people of the Duke of Min's mansion, I will follow your highness in the Northern Expedition!"

Zhu Jianxuan seemed very happy:
“Okay, then I will give you a task.

“I will dispatch eight Beihe-type steel warships to the Crown Prince’s command, and lead the traditional warships of the Duke of Min’s Mansion to act together.

“After our main force captures Jeju Island, we will rely on Jeju Island and Japan’s Tsushima Islands to completely block the Korean Strait from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of ​​Japan.

"The Qing navy was divided into two parts, inner and outer.

"I will lead the main fleet to first destroy the Qing navy in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, and then destroy the Whale Sea and North Pacific forces."

"This mission is very important and is the key to preventing the Qing leaders from escaping by water.

“Make sure nothing is left out.”

Zheng Ruian actually wanted to attack the Qing main force directly, but that was obviously the mission of Wu's new warships, and the King of Wu would not let him command the main force.

Now this mission is indeed very important outside the front battlefield.

Zheng Ruian bowed again very solemnly and agreed:

"I obey my orders."

Zhu Jianxuan nodded again, and then waited for the Min Duke's fleet to join the large fleet and continue sailing north together.

In Zhu Jianxuan's view, the Qing Dynasty would undoubtedly lose this battle.

Therefore, the battle on the battlefield itself is no longer the most important thing.

What you should consider specifically is how to maximize the results of the war and how to reduce the damage caused by the war.

And to capture or kill as many of the Qing ruling group as possible.

Therefore, it is very important to control key nodes on land and sea.

On February 19, the vanguard of the Northern Expedition Fleet, eight Beihe improved steel warships, approached Jeju Island 60 kilometers away. Here they directly encountered patrol boats of the Qing army's Jeju Island Navy.

At this time, Korea was a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty and was under the complete and deep control of the Qing Dynasty.

There were a large number of Qing Dynasty troops and immigrants stationed in Korea.

Today, Jeju Island is directly governed by the Qing court and is also an important stronghold of the Qing dynasty at the southernmost tip of mainland China.

Jeju Island guards the Korea Strait and is a key node for the Qing navy to enter and exit the Yellow Sea and the Whale Sea.

The Qing Dynasty stationed 30,000 ground troops and a main fleet here.

The news of Zhu Jianxuan's Northern Expedition, mainly the publicly circulated manifesto, had also been known to the central and local high-level officials of the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, the defenders and fleet of Jeju Island were in high spirits.

All the warships were divided into four groups, three groups patrolled in three directions of the strait at the same time, and one group took turns returning to the port for rest and repairs.

So when the Wu fleet arrived here, it immediately encountered the Qing patrol fleet.

After receiving the report from the lookout, the commander of the Wu vanguard fleet gave the order without any hesitation:
"Raise the battle flag, advance at full speed, destroy the enemy with all your strength, and fire freely!"

Although the officers of the Qing patrol ships did not know the power of the Wu Kingdom's new warships, they had to run away when they encountered the enemy and go back to report to the main fleet.

So the other side immediately changed direction and prepared to escape, while hoisting warning flags and firing intermittently.

Let companions in the distance know as soon as possible that there are enemies in this direction.

The Qing patrol team was a sailing ship, and they couldn't adjust their direction quickly at sea, but they were already very close to Jeju Island.

The Qing navy on Jeju Island was patrolling the nearby sea.

So before the Qing patrol ship was caught up by the Wu fleet, the nearest Qing main warship approached.

There are a total of twelve 1,500-ton battleships and twenty-five 1,000-ton frigates.

The total number is more than four times that of Wu's vanguard fleet at any time.

But this meant nothing to the Wu navy.

The cannon loaded with picric acid has an effective range of at least two kilometers. If you get close to it, you're waiting for death.

The Qing navy did not know this.

The Qing fleet discovered the Ming fleet and found that the opponent had only eight ships that were not very big, while they had more than twenty ships that were not small, so they immediately decided to fight.

The Qing fleet had no choice but to fight back. This place was too important to the Qing Dynasty. If it was controlled by the Ming Dynasty, it would be a big trouble.

About half an hour later, the distance between the two sides had been shortened to less than three kilometers.

The commander of this Qing fleet was named Niuhuru Woxing'e, the second son of Niuhuru Aligun, the first-class Guoyi Jiyong Duke of the Qing Dynasty, and the great-grandson of Niuhuru Ebilun.

Niu Hulu Woxinge held a telescope and observed the situation of the enemy fleet. He muttered to himself with some doubt and disgust:

"The Ming fleet's formation is so chaotic that there is no chance of forming a proper battle line.

"Did they find out that we have too many warships and are frightened?"

The subordinates around him immediately laughed:

"Haha, the Ming people really don't know how to fight..."

Wo Xing'e didn't laugh, but continued to observe the enemy:
"But why is this ship so strange? Why is there only one row of cannons? And there are only eight cannons on the side?
"Are these ships really warships? If the Ming Empire only had warships like these, it would be impossible for them to have the courage to attack the Qing Empire, right?
"What's going on with this King Wu? Could this be a bait? Have the patrols around discovered anything?"

As soon as Wo Xing'e finished expressing his doubts and questions, and before his subordinates around him could respond, flames spurted out from the muzzles of the guns on the opposite side of the ship.

There was also a continuous and dull sound of artillery firing on the sea.

Wo Xing'e was even more disgusted when he saw this scene:

"The two sides are still two kilometers apart. If we open fire at this distance, what can we achieve?"

Before Wo Xing'e could finish his words, a deafening explosion sounded all around him.

Wo Xing'e was startled and subconsciously lowered his head to avoid it, then turned to look in the direction of the explosion.

Wo Xing'e discovered that a warship traveling with him had been torn into several pieces by the sudden explosion.

The soldiers on the ship were screaming madly and jumping into the sea.

From inside the torn-to-shred warship, flames were spewing out from several cracks; it was the sight of the gunpowder burning rapidly.

Then there were several dull explosions, and the warship, which had already been broken into pieces, exploded again and completely turned into a burning ball of fire.

Wo Xing'e subconsciously wondered why these ships exploded at the same time.

However, the sound of artillery fire from the enemy warships opposite and the continuous explosions around made Wo Xing'e quickly face the reality.

"Those explosions just now were caused by our fleet being attacked by the enemy's shrapnel shells!
"But how can a shrapnel bomb be so powerful——"

When this thought appeared in his mind, the floor of the cabin where Wo Xing'e was suddenly torn apart by a violent explosion.

The blazing flames and surging shock waves burst out, and the entire warship where Wo Xing'e was located was torn into pieces just like his other companions.

Wo Xing'e suddenly felt a sharp pain in his body, and his whole body flew up along with a few broken wooden boards, with blood gushing out of his chest involuntarily.

Wo Xing'e felt unprecedented pain, but he was unable to do anything.

After rising to the highest point, his body fell again, hitting the wood of the rotten boat below like a broken bag, and tumbled into the cold sea.

Wo Xing'e was relatively lucky, as his consciousness had left his body before it fell into the water.

No need to suffer from suffocation.

(End of this chapter)