The Loach Speedboat was a kind of reconnaissance boat equipped by the Use, with one helmsman, eight rowers, two scouts, and two archers. This type of boat has a slender hull, a shallow draft, eight pairs of oars, and is very fast.

The commander of the Uno Coast Guard could not see the changes in the size of the Tang fleet during the day, and how could he identify it at night?

It turned out that the fleet of the Tang Army had been anchored in Osaka Bay for some time, and the Japanese people had a general understanding of the size of the fleet, and the fleet of the Tang Army was mainly divided into combat ships and support ships, and the support ships mainly included troop carriers and material supply ships, which were clearly different from combat ships.

The support ships are tall and have a round bow, and the combat ships are slender and have a pointed bow. Visibility is poor at night, but it is easy to identify the difference, because the position and number of lights on it vary depending on the type of ship. It is difficult to distinguish the distance during the day, but it is easy to distinguish as long as you look at the difference between the lights at night.

The Tang Army's support ships were originally less than ten, and as long as you can see that the number of support ships exceeds this order of magnitude, you will know whether the Tang Dynasty has increased its strength.

However, the position of the support ships is generally in the middle and back of the fleet, and there are combat ships on the periphery to escort them. If the scouts of the Japanese slave kingdom wanted to see clearly, they had to cross the cordon formed by the warships. On this cordon, in addition to the large combat ships of the Tang Army, there will also be yachts patrolling back and forth in the middle. This is an extremely dangerous mission, and once discovered, it is absolutely life-or-death.

The commander of the Wano Kingdom was named Jiro Imai, who was born into a declining slave-owning family, and his family was originally well-known in the Tokoku region, but after being conquered by Soga Irishika, he became a tribesman of Soga Irika. He had attended a private school, was cultured and ambitious, and wanted to restore the glory of his family.

During the period when Su I was in charge of the government, he speculated in the camp, curried favor with one of Su I's retainers, and became the commander of this border guard. After the death of Su I, in order to stabilize the government and the opposition, the empress and others did not purge the people left behind by Su Ilu, so he continued to hold this position.

However, Imai Jiro has read history, and he knows that today's Japanese slaves are worried about domestic and foreign troubles, and the empress and others are forced by the situation to temporarily retain the people who have entered the Suga system, and once the situation is eased, it is only a matter of time before they are purged.

Imai Jiro understands that his only way out is to be loyal to his new master. If you want to gain the trust of the new master, you must pay the vote, that is, you must make a meritorious service. Therefore, he decided to take the risk and go to reconnoiter the intelligence of the Don fleet.

In order to get the attention of his superiors, he went to reconnoiter the matter of the Tang fleet, reported it to his superiors, and got the approval of his superiors.

At midnight, they quietly marched to the anchorage of the Tang fleet, and by one o'clock in the morning, they could already see the sail battleships of the Tang Army anchored on the sea.

Jiro Imai and the others stopped and carefully observed the pattern of the activities of the Tang Army patrol.

The patrols of the Tang Army, in order to avoid misunderstandings, all had torches on the boats, and the trajectory of their movements was easy to identify.

After observation, they found that the patrol was moving opposite each other between the adjacent ships on alert duty, and there would be a gap of about half an hour after the two patrol boats met.

Imai Jiro waited for another hour, and after confirming the activity pattern of the Tang Army patrol, he made up his mind and commanded the Haiqiu reconnaissance ship to sail towards the Tang Army cordon.

After driving for about 40 minutes, Imai Jiro and others saw a large number of Tang military ships moored on the sea, and judging from the lights of the ships in front, they were all combat ships. Those support ships are right behind these combat ships.

However, the interval between these combat ships was very small, and patrols passed by from time to time, and although it was night, there was a moon in the sky, and there was still a certain degree of visibility. If they wanted to pass through the middle of these ships, it would be impossible not to be detected.

Jiro Imai thought about it for a while and made a bold decision.

He commanded, "Light the torches." ”

It turned out that he found that the more he got to the core, the more lax the Tang Dynasty's defenses became. When the patrol boats were moving, they didn't communicate with each other. It's no wonder that in the dead of night, everyone is too lazy to communicate with each other. And no one would have thought that the spies of the enemy army would dare to come here to die.

This is typical of dark under the lamp.

Imai Jiro and others lit torches and swaggered through the ships of the Tang Army. Sure enough, no one paid attention to them.

Suddenly, a patrol boat came not far ahead, heading towards the Loach Provincial reconnaissance ship of Jiro Kanai and others.

The hearts of Jiro Imai and the others all rose to their throats.

Jiro Imai forced his composure and whispered, "Don't be afraid, keep the speed the same, and continue to row forward." ”

Soon, the Tang Army's yacht sailed over, ignored Imai Jiro and the others, and sailed over less than five zhang away from them.

Jiro Imai wiped a cold sweat and secretly rejoiced. Now, he was emboldened, directing the reconnaissance ship to move on.

Behind the dense combat ship area, you can see many tall support ships of the Tang Army moored. Although it was nighttime, there was more than one light on each ship, which was easy to identify.

Without counting, Imai Jiro saw that those tall support ships were not less than ten of the original, at least more than 20.

The Don army increased its strength.

For this situation, Imai Jiro is both happy and worried. I am glad that I have detected important information about the Tang Army. The worry is that the Tang army has increased its troops on a large scale, and a major war seems to be inevitable.

All he had to do now was to return to the shore safely and report to his superiors.

Jiro Imai ordered the bow of the ship to be turned around and return along the way it came.

In contrast to the cautious and trembling minds when they came, in order to get out of danger as soon as possible, the oarsmen used their strength to speed forward.

Jiro Imai and others passed through the group of ships of the Don Army smoothly and left the area where the combat ships were moored.

At this moment, an observation post on a sail battleship noticed that the trajectory of Jiro Imai and the others was somewhat abnormal, deviating from the normal patrol path of the patrol ship. He immediately shone a light on Jiro Imai and the others, signaling them to stop and be examined.

The battleships of the Don Army were equipped with searchlights. This kind of searchlight is made of oil lamp as the light source and uses the principle of mirror reflection and concentrating. Although it is not comparable to the searchlights of later generations, it can also illuminate a distance of about 200 paces.

"Oops, found out." Jiro Imai was most worried.