Seeing that some of the Japanese pirates' warships had turned around and fled, Qi Jin sneered. How could it be so easy? He turned to the messenger and said, "Small ships, chase after them. Don't let them escape."
The flag signal was quickly sent out, and the small ships on both sides suddenly turned their bows.
The sails were adjusted, and the rudder began to turn. In the lowest cabin, dozens of men began to step hard on the pedals under their feet. On both sides of the hull, dozens of pairs of paddles slowly rotated.
At first, nothing happened, but when the sails were adjusted, the warships flew directly in the direction of the Japanese pirates.
Maintaining a slanted course, the side cannons fired at the fleeing Japanese pirates. Although the accuracy was much worse when moving at a fast speed, the cannoneers of the Ming Army were all fed with cannonballs. Firing the cannons while moving at a fast speed was an important part of their training.
Kuki Yoshitaka looked at the warship of the Daming Navy in front of him in horror, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot.
"No!"
Kuki Yoshitaka's warship was instantly hit by four or five cannonballs. The explosion instantly blew up Kuki Yoshitaka's warship. Kuki Yoshitaka and Fujitō Takagi were directly killed in the sea.
The naval battle was over quickly. More than 200 of the more than 300 warships of the Japanese pirates were directly sunk, and more than 80 were captured.
All the Japanese pirates on the warships were suppressed. Then, Qi Jin ordered the army to go straight to Tsushima Island.
At dusk, the Daming Navy successfully arrived at Tsushima Island.
On Tsushima Island, the Japanese pirates were part of the fourth Japanese pirate army, Shimazu Yoshitaka.
The Japanese pirates were mainly stationed in two places, one was Tsushima Island, and the other was Pusan Harbor. The Japanese pirate navy on Tsushima Island had been destroyed. Kuki Yoshitaka and Fujitō Takagi were both killed in battle.
The Wokou pirates who were stationed on Tsushima Island had lost their source of support.
Qi Jin looked at Yu Zhigao, who had once again returned to his side, and said with a smile, "The island is about to be seized. Aren't you going to the front line to try?"
Yu Zhigao curled his lips. "If I go, Luo Shangzhi will fight me to the death."
"He's been holding it in for the past few years. Now that there's a war to be fought, he still wants me to get involved?"
Luo Shangzhi was from Yuyao, Zhejiang, a general of the Qi Family Army, and a descendant of Luo Binwang, one of the Four Heroes of the early Tang Dynasty.
He was valiant and skilled in battle formations. He was the admiral of the Royal Navy Marine Corps.
At this time, Yu Zhigao did not want to offend Luo Shangzhi.
"If you don't want to go, I'll give the order. It's going to be dark soon. We have to reach the island before that!" Qi Jin said with a smile. He then turned to the orderly beside him and said, "The First Fleet, start firing."
The battle to seize the island could be said to be a good fight, but it could also be said to be a bad fight.
It was easy to fight because the tactics were simple. Cover the area with artillery fire, then charge forward.
It was hard to fight because there were not many places to land on the island, and the places that could be landed would be heavily guarded by the other party.
Qi Jin and Yu Zhigao did not have the time to look for a landing point around Tsushima Island. They directly chose the port that the Japanese pirates had built on Tsushima Island. To put it bluntly, they had to fight.
In any case, the Japanese pirates' navy was gone. The Japanese pirates on Tsushima Island could not stop the Daming Navy at all.
Following Qi Jin's order, the seven main ships of the First Fleet lined up. The side cannons faced the dock and opened fire. The target was the camp of the Japanese pirates. No matter what, they had to fight first.
The roar of the cannons soon resounded through the dock. Explosions suddenly occurred on Tsushima Island, and flames rose to the sky.
With the support of the artillery fire of the First Fleet, small boats began to be lowered from both sides of the ship. The hull was very slender and was not equipped with cannons, but it had four paddles.
There were 40 members of the Ming Army sitting on each boat, and every one of them was ready for battle.
As more and more boats were released, more than 200 boats were released. After landing on the surface of the sea, the boats shot towards the beach like arrows. Luo Shangzhi sat in one of the boats, expressionlessly looking at the soldiers who were rushing forward.
The small boat rushed to the beach and stopped. The Ming Army, who had long been prepared, jumped from the small boat and rushed toward the camp of the Japanese pirates.
The 40 members of the Ming Army on each small boat formed a group. There were shield soldiers, gun soldiers, and spearmen. They had practiced their tactics countless times and were unusually skilled.
On the warship behind, Qi Jin looked at the Ming Army rushing forward and ordered, "Ship carriers, move forward!"
The battle on land was lackluster. After the ten thousand Great Ming Imperial Navy troops rushed forward, the Wokou pirates, who had been dizzy from the bombardment, had no way to organize a resistance and were directly beaten into a sorry state.
The ship carriers behind also quickly moved forward. Countless members of the Ming Army swarmed down and rushed toward the island.
The moon was in the middle of the sky, and the shouting and killing on the island completely stopped. Tsushima Island, the most important island between Korea and the Japanese Empire, had changed hands.
The Daming Navy had officially occupied Tsushima Island, and the next target of the Daming Navy was naturally Pusan.
When the Daming Navy took over Tsushima Island, the Ming Army in Kaesong had also begun to march toward the Bijukan.
In the camp, Qi Jiguang pointed to a place and said, "Here, we are going to march. This is the most dangerous place. If I were a Japanese pirate, I would definitely ambush here."
Li Chengliang and Zhang Weixian looked in the direction Qi Jiguang was pointing. It was a place called Sharstone Ridge.
The terrain of this place was complex and densely covered with mountains. It was very suitable for ambushes and blocking battles. More importantly, it was the only way to Korea's capital, Seoul, so it must be opened up.
"Grand Marshal's words make sense!" Li Chengliang nodded and said.
"In any case, Sharstone Ridge is a place that the Japanese pirates must guard. Moreover, it is not a good place for an army to spread out. If the Japanese pirates want to fight us, they must do it in Sharstone Ridge. There is no other place to choose."
In fact, in history, the Japanese pirates had a fierce battle with the Daming at Sharstone Ridge.
There were many records about that battle, and there were all kinds of different opinions, but one thing was certain. The Japanese pirates had won that battle strategically.
Although they failed to achieve the strategic goal of annihilating Li Rusong's Ming Army, they delayed the Ming Army's attack, causing Li Rusong's strategy of going straight to Korea's capital, Seoul, to completely fail.
Li Rusong had to change his strategy after the war. He used a surprise attack to burn the Japanese pirates' granaries in Yulongshan, forcing the Japanese pirates to retreat from Seoul.
This time, both sides once again set their eyes on Sharstone Ridge.
"I'm afraid there will be casualties here!" Li Chengliang looked at Sharstone Ridge on the map and said hesitantly. His eyes were flickering.
Zhang Weixian said with a smile, "Why don't you let me try?
When we were in the Royal Martial Arts Lecture Hall, we specially learned how to deal with this kind of situation. Let us be the vanguard! "
Although Li Chengliang was unwilling, he also knew that this battle was not easy to fight. If Zhang Weixian wanted to fight, then let him fight!