Daoguang ordered the eastern expedition to the Wa Kingdom, and appointed Yi Zhizu as the minister of the Imperial Mission, and arrived in Dinghai four days after the edict of controlling the sailors of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The emperor's edict is divided into two kinds: clearly issued and sent by the court, and the Ming is sent to the cabinet for issuance, and the newspaper is copied to the world. The court mail is handed over to the Minister of Military Aircraft to send to the generals of other provinces, the commanders, the governors, the Fu, the Qincha and other officials, which can be said to be a secret decree.

Daoguang's edict to the Eastern Expedition is the use of the court, but it is easy to know that no matter what the secret decree is not a secret decree, seeing that Daoguang ordered the Eastern Expedition, he summoned a group of battalion and regiment-level officers to read the edict in public, and circulated it to everyone to stabilize the morale of the army.

After seeing the edict with his own eyes, Mai Tingzhang and other Guangdong sailors and generals who had been hanging their hearts finally let go, and they were all excited, and now they can finally participate in the Eastern Crusade justifiably!

Feng Renxuan and other officers who were born as scholars also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and were ordered to levy, that is to be upright, and the division is famous, now they are not Yuan Qi group training, but the division of the imperial court's economic system, and they sent troops to recruit the Japanese state without authorization to start border provocations, even if they are victorious in the Eastern Expedition, it is inevitable that they will not be held accountable, and they will be implicated if they are content and have no good fruits to eat, not to mention any military exploits.

Yan Yangtian and other officers from Yuan Qiyi didn't care, whether they obeyed the order or not, it didn't mean much to them, even if they didn't follow the order, they would obey it.

Su Shun, Yi Zeng, Zai Zhao and other clan children are also relieved, these few days in the military camp is full of rumors that the navy is going to the east, and the east is related to the long-term interests of Yuan Qi, these days they can be said to be worried, for fear that Yi Zhizhi is not content to be ordered and send troops without authorization, after all, there is a precedent of sending troops to Annam without authorization, if this is the case, their situation will be embarrassing, do not obey the order, the days in the navy can be imagined, obey the order, how to explain to the imperial court? Now that they are finally good, they have not had the slightest psychological burden since they were ordered to go on the expedition.

Seeing the officers who saw the edict back, Yi Zhizhi said loudly: "Hurry up and prepare, the fleet will set out on an auspicious day." ”

The officers who were waiting to withdraw, Yi Zhixiang looked at the edict in his hand, shook his head slightly, Daoguang was also a little stingy, conquest of Annan, Prince Hui Mianyu is a general to control the military, government and civil affairs of several southeastern provinces, and now the Eastern Expedition to the Japanese State, but only gave him the title of Qincha, and controlled the four provincial water divisions, the gap between the two is not ordinarily large, but then again, Daoguang can appoint him as the commander of the Eastern Expedition, which is also rare.

Shurijo Castle - The capital of the Ryukyus Kingdom.

In the palace, Shang Yu, the eighteenth king of the Ryukyu Kingdom in his early thirties, stood outside the palace and looked at Dinghai in the northwest, his face full of melancholy. Ryukyu is a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and he, the king of Ryukyu, was the eighteenth year of Daoguang, and the Qing Dynasty sent the Hanlin Academy to revise Lin Hongnian, compile the master of the people's book as the main and deputy canonization envoys, and hold the edict of the imperial book to be canonized in the country.

Although Ryukyu is small and lonely overseas, it is a transit point for maritime trade in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, with developed commerce and trade, and is known as "Wanguo Jinliang", however, this is all old and old, in recent decades, Ryukyu's maritime trade is not as good as a year, he succeeded to the throne for several years, has reached the point of making ends meet, mainly from the exploitation of the Wa State, nominally the Qing Dynasty is the suzerainty of the Ryukyus, but in fact the Wa State can also be regarded as the suzerainty of the Ryukyus, and the Ryukyus have to pay tribute to the Satsuma Domain and the Edo Shogunate every year.

However, what worried him was not the finances, not the Wa Kingdom, but the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty Nanyang Navy actually wanted to use the Ryukyus to conquer the Wa Kingdom, hearing this news, he was worried for several days, not only worried that the Qing Dynasty would annex the Ryukyus by the false Dao of the Qing Dynasty, but also worried that the Wa State would blame the Ryukyus after learning the truth.

He can't afford to offend both sides, the Qing Dynasty is the suzerainty, it is a behemoth for the Ryukyus, although the Wa State is small, but it is the nature of a bandit, and it still forcibly occupies the northern five islands of the Ryukyus, forcing them to pay tribute every year, and the tribute to the Wa State is not comparable to the tribute to the Qing Dynasty, and the tribute to the Qing Dynasty is to make money, and to pay tribute to the Wa State, but it is a real tribute.

Although Ryukyu is isolated overseas, Shang Yu has always been extremely concerned about the coastal areas of the Qing Dynasty, the Qingying War, the Yuanqi regimental training, the Nanyang Navy, and the conquest of Annam, he is all clear, and it is precisely because of the clarity that he is worried, worried about the ambitious Nanyang Admiral, the Yuanqi treasurer Yi Zhicontent will not let go of Ryukyu easily, just think, the other party will not even let go of the Wa Kingdom, how can he let go of Ryukyu?

Joining forces with the Wa State, he didn't dare to think that it would be tantamount to luring the wolf into the house, and the Wa State would inevitably take the opportunity to annex the Ryukyus, if the Ryukyus were destined to perish, in comparison, he would rather be annexed by the Qing Dynasty, after all, compared with the Wa State, the Qing Dynasty was much more benevolent, besides, how could the national strength of the Wa State be compared with the Qing Dynasty? Even if you have to hug your thighs, you have to hug a thick thigh to protect the safety of the people of the Ryukyus.

Of course, it would be better to be the head of the chicken than the tail of the ox, if it can keep Ryukyu from dying, it is naturally the best, but Shang Yujue's hope is too slim.

At the beginning of May, the Nanyang naval fleet arrived at the port of Naha, the king of the Ryukyus, Shang Yu, led a group of civil and military ministers to the port of Naha to meet, after the red tape, it was naturally a grand banquet, easy to know that content was the first time to come to the Ryukyus, the most surprising thing for him was that the Ryukyus were actually dressed in Han clothes, it could be seen that it should follow the Ming Dynasty, which made him quite fresh, before, he only knew that Annam and North Korea were the Han family clothes, but he didn't expect the Ryukyus to be too, it seems that the Manchu hairstyle is extremely unpopular, Otherwise, all the vassal states would not have followed the Han family's clothes.

After the dismissal, Shang Yu invited Yi Zhishu into his study, the official language of the Ryukyus is Chinese, and the communication between the two is not barrier-free, and there is no need for translation, after sitting down, Yi Zhishu said directly: "This time I took advantage of the road to conquer the Japanese kingdom, mainly because the Ryukyus went to Edo every year to pay tribute and were familiar with the ....... sea routes. ”

Yi Zhishu had already sent someone to negotiate with Shang Yu before, and received a positive answer, saying this was just out of politeness, Shang Yu hurriedly said: "The envoy can rest assured, the ship, the guide, the sailor, the crew, and the interpreter have all been arranged, and they will be dispatched at any time." ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, "The prince of the county does not need to worry, this conquest of the Japanese State will inevitably make the Japanese State return all the five northern islands that forcibly occupied the Ryukyus, and there is no need to pay tribute to the Japanese State in the future, the Qing Dynasty, as the suzerain, failed to fulfill the responsibility of protection, and there was no strength before, but now that he has this strength, he will definitely not let the Ryukyus be wronged again." ”

The scale of the Nanyang Navy fleet, Shang Yu witnessed it with his own eyes this time, it was more powerful than he imagined, and the scale of the troops was also amazing to him, and listening to the tone of the other party's words, it seemed that he did not want to annex the Ryukyus, he couldn't help but be happy, and immediately hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Thank you to the envoy for the fulfillment, the envoy has the need, and the Ryukyus will definitely support the country." ”

The heart of annexing the Ryukyus, Yi Zhizhi is naturally content, but he is not in a hurry, with the current strength of the Nanyang Navy, the small Ryukyu is just a matter of words, there is no need to make extraneous branches in the conquest of the Japanese State, this time this time it is necessary to detour to the Ryukyus, for the sake of the route.

After one or two hundred years, almost no one in the Qing Dynasty knew about other port routes in the Japanese state, and the only safe way was to let the Ryukyuan people who had to go to Edo every year to pay tribute lead the way, and the Ryukyus had enemies with the Japanese state, so there was no need to worry about the Ryukyuan people making trouble.

He immediately smiled and said: "Ryukyu is a vassal state of my Great Qing Dynasty, and it is incumbent upon the Great Qing Dynasty to seek justice for the Ryukyu. ”

So easy to talk to? Shang Yu couldn't believe it, and groaned slightly, before he said: "Although Ryukyu is a small number of soldiers and few warships, it can also make up more than a thousand sailors, can you accompany the envoy to conquer the Japanese Kingdom?" ”

Seeing that their fleet is strong, the other party wants to use the guise of jointly sending troops in the hope of successfully recovering the five northern islands, and even in turn to occupy some islands of the Japanese country? Yi Zhixiang smiled secretly in his heart, he didn't care about letting the other party take advantage, and when he said with his jaw headed: "This is very good, but as soon as possible, in order to prevent leakage, the fleet will only be repaired in Naha for one day." ”

"The envoy can rest assured that he will definitely not delay the fleet's trip." Shang Yu said with a spring breeze on his face, and after a slight pause, he continued: "The Satsuma Domain of the Wa Kingdom has sent officials to monitor Shuri, and this king has all the people under control, and he also asks the envoy to deal with it. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhizhi smiled contentedly, and said in an indifferent tone: "Sacrifice the flag, all the Japanese people in Shuri Castle, including officials and merchants, all worship the flag!" ”

Shang Yu was shocked, and the other party had already sent someone to monitor the Japanese people in Shuri Castle!

In late May, the huge fleet of the Nanyang Navy suddenly appeared on the surface of the Uraga Sea at the mouth of Edo Bay, and when the news reached Edo, the city was shocked, and the enemy fleet actually drove directly to the gate of Edo! Edo Castle, which had been peaceful for more than 200 years, was at a loss at all at this moment, and its first reaction was to pray, to pray to the heavens and the gods, that the heavens and the gods would blow another hurricane and send all the hateful invaders to the bottom of the sea.

In Edo Castle, the shogunate, the twelfth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Iekei, who was in his early fifties, said angrily: "Western warships? Which country is it from? Anglia? ”

The young old man Abe Masahiro said in a deep voice: "Along with the enemy's fleet, there are also the flag of the Ryukyus and the flag of the Qing Kingdom, not England, it should be the Qing Kingdom!" ”

"Qingguo?" Tokugawa Iekei said in astonishment: "Qing has a huge fleet of Western warships? ”

Masahiro Abe lowered his head and said, "The Qing Kingdom fought with England, and I heard that many Western warships were captured. ”

Qing country's fleet? Tokugawa Ikei was a little distracted for a while, although he had been closed off from the country for a long time, but Japan was not ignorant of the outside world, and the Japanese government and the opposition were extremely concerned about the war between the Qing and the British, and they all knew a little about the outcome of that war, the British fleet crisscrossing the southeast coast of the Qing Dynasty, and the situation of the Yuanqi regiment training to defeat the British army in Guangzhou, Baoshan, and Zhenjiang.

After a while, he spoke: "Is it Yuan Qi's fleet?" ”

Abe Masahiro was silent for a while before he said: "It should be the fleet of the Qing Kingdom, the great treasurer of Yuanqi is content, he is the first-class viscount of the Qing Kingdom, and he is the admiral of the Nanyang Navy." ”

If it is Yuanqi's fleet, it is nothing more than trade, and if it is the fleet of the Qing State, it is to ask Japan to submit to the Qing State! Tokugawa Iekei was in turmoil for a while, more than 50 Western warships, hundreds of supply ships, how many troops do you have to have? At least 120,000 troops must be needed, this is a Yuanqi regimental training that can defeat the British army that even the Dutch are afraid of, how to resist with only the 60,000 or 70,000 direct banners and family members in Edo?

On the flagship deck of the Nanyang Navy fleet, Yi Zhizu handed the telescope to Su Shun beside him, and said, "Look, this is Edo Bay, and the general's palace of the Japanese shogunate is in front of Edo Castle." ”

Yi Zeng was very surprised and said: "The capital division of the Wa Kingdom was actually built by the sea? ”

"Edo is not the capital of the Wa Kingdom." Yi Zhizu explained: "The Kyoshi of the Wa Kingdom is called Kyoto, and it is not near the sea, but although this Edo does not have the name of Kyoshi, it has the fact of Kyoshi, and it is the real political, economic, and cultural revival of the Wa Kingdom, in which the shogun is the actual ruler, and the emperor of the Wa Kingdom is just a deaf ear - ornament." ”

Su Shun smiled: "So, let's go straight to the Yellow Dragon?" ”

"That's right, go straight to the Yellow Dragon!" Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "We want to force the Japanese to submit at the lowest cost, and it is naturally best to be able to surrender without a fight, if they are not interested, then we have to let them see the strength of our Nanyang Navy." ”

Seeing that Yi Zhi's content was high, Su Shun hurriedly asked, "How many troops does the Wa Kingdom have?" ”

How many troops did the Wa Kingdom have? Yi Zhizhi couldn't answer, after all, the time for collecting intelligence on the Wa Kingdom was a little shorter, and the Wa State had been in seclusion for a long time, so it was not ordinarily difficult to collect information, but fortunately, the Ryukyus had some understanding of the situation of the Wa Kingdom, but it was also very vague.

After a slight sigh, he said: "The Wa Kingdom has been in retreat for 200 years, and outsiders cannot spy on the specific situation of the Wa Kingdom, I heard that the population of the Wa Kingdom is about 30 million, and there should be two or three hundred thousand standing troops, but it is already the limit that Edo can have 100,000 people. ”

"One hundred thousand?" Yizeng gasped.

"What, scared?" Yi Zhishu glanced at him and said with a smile: "The Japanese Kingdom has been peaceful for two hundred years, not to mention 100,000, it is 200,000, and it is not the opponent of our 20,000 navy." ”

Of the 20,000 navy, 10,000 are recruits, Su Shun secretly thought in his heart, if he really wants to fight, he is afraid that these recruits will not be useful at all, and the only thing he can count on is the 10,000 veterans of the Yuanqi regiment, but the 10,000 veterans of the Yuanqi regiment have been in battle for a long time, and even the British army, which is known as the first power in the West, has been defeated several times in a dignified manner, and will you be afraid of these Japanese who have not experienced a battle formation for 200 years? He immediately smiled and said: "What the military gate has seen is that once a war starts, it will inevitably be devastated!" ”

"Yes, you have to have faith." Yi Zhizu nodded slightly: "The nascent navy, for the Qing Dynasty, every naval officer and soldier is a baby pimple, as the governor of Nanyang, how can this lord easily let you get into danger?" I might as well tell you clearly that Yuanqi regimental training never fights uncertain battles, and the same is true of the Nanyang Navy now! (To be continued.) )