Tibet

After Liaodong destroyed the Khitan, the Tang army made a series of adjustments and established the Liaoxi Governor's Office. Zhang Dian was appointed as the Liaoxi Governor, commanding an army of 30,000 people and administering Yingzhou and the lands of the Khitan and Xi people.

At the same time, the Liaodong Governor's Office was established, and Nan Jiyun was appointed as the Governor of Liaodong. He commanded an army of 20,000 people and governed the vast area from the Liaodong Peninsula in the south to the former Bohai Kingdom in the north.

But the war was not over. The Shiwei tribe and the Heishui Mohe tribe were still hostile to the Tang Dynasty, and Silla did not send an envoy to Chang'an to apologize.

In addition, the war against Japan has not stopped.

After the Liaodong War, all warships with more than 3,000 stones went south to Tamluo Island, and 50,000 troops were also stationed on Tamluo Island, led by Ma Lin.

At this time, twenty thousand-stone ships also arrived at Tamna Island from Quanzhou.

Ma Lin led his army to Tamna Island, originally to deal with Silla, but he received a personal eagle letter from the emperor, ordering him to send troops to occupy Japan's Kyushu Island and establish the Kyushu Governor's Office.

The battle of Silla was changed to next spring, and the operation against Japan was called Operation Late Autumn.

The Whale Sea is today's Sea of ​​Japan. At the turn of spring and summer, storms and huge waves often occur on the sea, but in autumn and winter it is relatively calm.

On the vast deep blue sea, a fleet of more than 300 large ships was sailing through the waves.

Li Chengshi, the naval commander of the Tang Dynasty, stood on the bow of the ship, looking at the vast deep sea with clairvoyance. Standing next to him was a middle-aged official. He was Yang Chengqing, the minister of the Bohai Kingdom who accompanied the Bohai Prince Da Yingjun to Chang'an.

Because he opposed the Japanese army's support for Beijing, he was demoted by the establishment and the King of Bohai to Anbian Prefecture, the most remote part of the Bohai Kingdom. Instead, he escaped the brutal massacre.

Li Ye had a good impression of him and thought he was dead, so he specially made him the governor of Bohai. When he heard that he was not dead, he directly made him the governor of Bohai.

This time, he temporarily served as Sima of the Tang Army Navy, and was also a guide and translator. He had traveled to Japan nine times with the Bohai Friendship Mission and could speak fluent Japanese.

He was originally very friendly to Japan, but the Japanese army massacred the Bohai Kingdom in Beijing and completely made him the Tang Dynasty official who hated Japan the most. His old mother, son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and married daughter all died tragically at the hands of the Japanese army. Only his wife, who wanted to take care of him and followed him to An Bien Mansion, escaped.

He said to Li Chengshi: "In our nine missions to Japan, we would go south along the coast, cross the Kyushu Strait on the Tsushima Island, detour to the south of the Japanese Island, and go all the way to Heian Kyo. This happened about five times. For the route, the other four departures were in autumn, when the Whale Sea was relatively calm. Our fleet crossed the Whale Sea, landed at Matsubara Port in Echizen Province in the north of Japan, and then walked two hundred miles along their official road to Heisei Kyo. ”

"Is it only two hundred miles away?"

Yang Chengqing nodded, "Japan is an island country, very narrow and long, and their capital is located in a relatively narrow area."

"But just now you mentioned Echizen Country?" Li Chengshi was a little confused.

Yang Chengqing laughed, "Today's Japan is equivalent to our Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Of course, it is just similar, not comparable. The princes in various places are called Lingzhiguo. In name, they obey the emperor, but in fact they separate their own kingdoms. The emperor wants to attack a certain princely country. , raised their arms, and other princely states responded by sending troops, also in order to rob the population of food and get a share of the pie. "

"How many troops does Japan have in total?"

Yang Chengqing shook his head, "I don't know about this. There are too many small countries and they are patchwork. I estimate that there are at most about 200,000 people. But that's not the problem. Japan's smelting and casting technology is too low, the temperature is not high, and the quality is very poor. They have iron blades, so each of their warriors has several swords. The main reason is that they are easy to break. They are too short in stature and do not have any long weapons. Their combat effectiveness is very poor. The general should have learned from this. "

Li Chengshi nodded. He had indeed seen the captured Japanese sword. The impurity content was too high and it was light and thin. It could be broken with a single blow using the Tang Army's horizontal sword.

"How many troops does their court have?"

"There are about 50,000 troops, but most of them died in Bohai Kingdom. To attack Bohai Kingdom, the navy army is mainly the army from Kyushu Island, and the army should be the imperial army. I estimate there are about 20,000 people at most."

Yang Chengqing only estimated that Li Chengshi didn't care how many troops the opponent had. This time he brought 30,000 elite naval troops, including 2,000 heavy armored infantry, which was enough to sweep across the Japanese archipelago.

At this time, the scout shouted from the mast: "We see land ahead!"

Li Chengshi quickly took out his clairvoyance and looked south, and sure enough he saw a faint black line on the land.

At the same time that Li Chengshi's navy was sailing towards Echizen State's Matsubara Port, another Tang army war fleet also set off from Tamna Island. This fleet included 20 ten thousand stone ships and three hundred three thousand ships. The stone warship has a total of 30,000 troops, of which 10,000 are naval troops and the other 20,000 are elite Tang troops. There are also a thousand cavalry inside. It is really inconvenient to carry war horses.

The entire Tang army was led by Ma Lin, deputy general Yang Qing, and chief historian Li Shoui. After the war, Yang Qing would serve as the first governor of Kyushu, and Li Shoui would become the chief governor, leading 5,000 troops to be stationed in Kyushu.

Kyushu Road belongs to Japan's Saikaidō and consists of eleven provinces including Hizen, Higo, Bunzen, Bungo, Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hyuga, Ohsumi, Satsuma, Tsushima, and Iki.

In addition, in Chikuzen Province, there is a branch of the Japanese capital called Dazaifu, known as the Western Capital of Japan. The target of the Tang army's troops this time was Dazaifu.

The fleet first arrived at the Kingdom of Tsushima, which was controlled by the Sou family, the largest family in the area. The head of the family, Zong Takemo, was named the daimyo of Tsushima by the court.

After the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Baijiangkou against the Tang Army, Japan was extremely panicked. It built a large number of fortifications on Tsushima Island and stationed two thousand troops for a long time.

However, the Tang army ignored Japan and allowed Japan to escape. However, these fortifications are still there and have always been Japan's main strategic location in defending Silla.

Last year's sneak attack on the Bohai Kingdom, the first batch of 20,000 Japanese naval troops to attack was actually the army of various countries in Kyushu Province, including the 2,000 troops on Tsushima Island. The Japanese army never came back after leaving. No news.

Ma Lin sat at the head of the warship, and the huge paddle rotated to push the warship forward.

This time, Chief Shi Li Shogyi brought several businessmen from Quanzhou. These businessmen have been doing business with Japan for a long time and have lived in Japan for several years. They have a good understanding of various countries in Kyushu and can speak fluently.

A middle-aged businessman named Wang Zhan said to Ma Lin: "General, ahead is the Kingdom of Tsushima, controlled by the three Zong brothers. The eldest brother Zong Wumao is the daimyo, and the second Zong Wang Qi is the warrior leader and a pirate in this area. Boss, if you refuse to trade, supply, or pay protection money to Tsushima, they will be hunted by them pretending to be pirates. Everyone knows that they are pretending to be pirates, but they have no choice but to accept their exploitation. ”

"How many troops does this Tsushima country have?"

"I heard that there are more than two thousand people and hundreds of ships, led by Zong Wang Qi."

At this time, the soldiers in front shouted that an island appeared in front, and Tsushima Island had arrived.

He had always been anxious about the famous Mingzong Zongwu Mao. This morning, he was drinking tea in the hall, and suddenly there was a sound of 'Dang! when! when! when! ’ Alarm bells.

Zongwu Mao was shocked and spilled the tea in his hand. He didn't bother to drink the tea, put on his shoes and ran out. As soon as he reached the gate, his third brother Zongnagase ran up and said: "Brother, there are many battles coming on the sea." The boat is coming with bad intentions.”

Zongwu Mao was very nervous and quickly ran to the northern harbor to check.

Tsushima Island is composed of two islands, so it is divided into Upper County and Lower County. Among them, the feudal castle is to the south of Lower County. It is also the largest natural harbor and is used to travel between the Tang Dynasty, Bohae Kingdom and Silla Kingdom. Sea ships trade and supply here.

If you do not trade or supply, you will have to pay protection fees. If the geese pass by, you must pluck them. It is up to you to choose how to pluck them. You can either buy their inferior and high-priced goods, accept high-priced supplies, or pay protection fees. , generally merchant ships will choose to supply.

Hundreds of stone castles were built with stones high up in the harbor, with trebuchets installed on them. If the enemy arrived, they would throw huge stones to prevent warships from docking.

In fact, the coastline of Tsushima Island is very complex, with dozens of natural harbors. If there are really enemy troops, there is no need to land in their vassal city, but directly at other seaports, and the army will march to the vassal city.

Therefore, the defensive stone fortress at the harbor of the feudal city was completely deceived.

However, the Tang army came towards their vassal city, and hundreds of warships appeared on the sea outside the vassal city.