Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 400: The Royal Army Lands in Incheon
On February 19, there was a light southwest breeze and a cloudless sky over the sea in Incheon.
At 5:20 a.m. local time, the lookout of the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Japanese army stationed here, standing on the lookout post, suddenly rubbed his eyes violently.
Countless masts suddenly appeared on the horizon between the sea and the sky, followed quickly by large groups of sails.
The Japanese lookout quickly rang the big bell beside him, and the barracks behind him quickly became noisy.
"Commander-in-chief, the pirates' lookouts have sounded the alarm. It seems these guys are more alert than the Siamese."
"Hahaha, it's too late to sound the alarm now, General Cao."
"I will be here in the end."
"I am not good at fighting, so I will hand over all the command to you. I will only be responsible for beating the drums and cheering for the soldiers in the back."
"Thank you, Commander." After saying this, Cao Wenzhao did not hesitate to give orders directly: "Signalman!"
"I am waiting for your orders here!"
"Order, first, ask our navy's Admiral Li Guozhu to lead the Beizhili-class battleships to the front and bombard the coastal defenders."
"Yes, sir!"
"Second, order the first to fifth rows of our troop transport fleet, except for this ship, to follow Admiral Li's warships. After our warships complete the first round of bombardment, the five rows of troop transport ships will head for the beach with full sails!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Third, order the sixth to tenth columns of our troop transport fleet to turn around. Follow the fishing boats of the Korean righteous people, go directly from the waters of Ganghwa Island to the mouth of the Han River, and then land on the south bank of the Han River! Lieutenant General Inukai Tsuyoshi, lead our Jinling-class battleships to follow."
"Yes, sir!"
"All subsequent troop transport fleets, fill the first ten empty rows, lower sails to half sail, and wait for my orders at any time."
"Yes, sir!"
As the flag signals from the command ship were transmitted, the huge Ming army fleet began to change its formation quickly and orderly.
At 5:35, Li Guozhu led more than 20 Beizhili-class warships and rushed to the coast first. Following closely behind them were more than 100 large Fu ships with hard sails. Each of the large Fu ships was filled with fully armed and tense Ming soldiers.
On the north side of this huge team, a fleet seemed to have detached from the main body, following the five small fishing boats of no more than 20 tons, and quickly sailed northward. Although most of the fleet was also large Fuzhou ships, in addition to the fact that the hulls of these Fuzhou ships were obviously smaller than those over there, the soldiers on the ships were also dressed a little strangely: some wore double-layer cotton armor, with a thin iron rod like a lightning rod on the top of the helmet, and a large helmet tassel. Some wore bamboo armor, but there were various kinds of flags behind them.
Yes, after repeated discussions and deliberations, especially the strong efforts of Chu Ying, one of the six leaders of the Jurchens. Cao Wenzhao sent out the first wave of troops: the Sixth Regiment, which had experience in beach landings in Siam, landed directly in Incheon under the cover of its own fleet. The 10,000 Jurchen troops and 2,000 Toyotomi troops, under the guidance of the fishermen at the mouth of the Han River in Korea, went upstream and landed on the south bank of the Han River.
At that time, Seoul, the capital of North Korea, was still very small and completely confined to the north bank of the Han River, so the city was sometimes called Hanyang. The Gangnam area, where housing prices skyrocketed in later generations, was still a stretch of mudflats along the river and large areas of farmland.
The main reasons for landing in Gangnam were twofold: first, to avoid facing the concrete fortress in Seoul, and second, to get behind the Japanese garrison in Incheon after landing.
At this time, a Japanese regiment was stationed here, and its commander was Yasukatsu Sakakibara, the son of Yasumasa Sakakibara, a general under Tokugawa Ieyasu. As a samurai with a family background, his reaction was not slow at all.
After the bell in the watchtower sounded the alarm, he jumped up in the big tent in the rear: he had been so alert since he was sent here to guard. Even when the news came from the front line that the main force of the country had been confirmed to appear in the Yalu River, he did not relax at all.
However, he did not relax, but he could not stop the soldiers from relaxing: the soldiers who had been sent from a prosperous place like Seoul to such a desolate mountain and wilderness and had been under high tension for several months, after hearing that the main force of the Ming Dynasty was in the north, their tense nerves suddenly relaxed.
So, at 5:20, the lookout raised the alarm, but the Japanese side did not send a signal flare until 5:40. And this wave of signal flares fell from the sky and completely extinguished, but no corresponding signal flares rose in the distance: now the signal fire could not be transmitted!
At forty-three minutes, under Kang Sheng's strict order, the signalmen of the Third Regiment fired flares again. This time, someone in the distance finally raised a flare in response...
Of course, in addition to urging the signalman to sound the alarm, Kang Sheng did not do nothing: the soldiers got up, distributed equipment, entered the trenches, and the officers of the various battalions and squads took their positions. But this was an army of more than 3,000 people. Some time ago, because they did not know the main attack direction of the Ming army, officers at all levels were stationed in the troops. Two days ago, news came from Seoul that a fight had broken out on the Yalu River. Many officers and soldiers lost . There was even a bold officer who took some soldiers out of the barracks last night to harm the local Korean people: It has been a long time since I last saw him!
The result of all this was that when the first batch of shells from Li Guozhu's fleet fell at 6:15, there were less than 600 Japanese soldiers entering the first trench!
The rumbling sound of the cannons stopped after a while. More than a hundred large Fu ships filled their sails and began to sprint towards the shore at full speed!
It was exactly 6:15, and the highest tide in Incheon arrived on time. The double blessing of wind and tidal force made the speed of these large ships reach more than 7 knots.
"Where are the cannons! Pull up our thunder cannons!"
Following a captain's shout, several soldiers on a Fu ship quickly pushed a simple large iron barrel over. Then several people fiddled with the bow. After that , a violent impact was felt under their feet. It turned out that the big Fu ship had successfully landed on the beach!
"Hahaha, the pirates' cannons haven't fired yet, so we won't be polite! Get ready, cover your ears, open your mouth wide, and fire!"
The gunpowder fuse hissed, and within a few seconds, a loud noise was heard from the bow of the Fujian ship, and then a fireball rose into the air and flew towards the Japanese trenches on the coast.
The Japanese trench was at least 500 meters away from the bow of the Fukusen, and the range of this "unscrupulous cannon" was only 100 to 200 meters. Therefore, this powerful shell did not hit the enemy's trench at all. However, when it hit the ground violently and exploded, the Japanese soldiers 300 meters away almost collectively felt a roar in their ears.
"Get off the boat! Assault!"
"The Ming Dynasty is mighty!"
More than a hundred Fujian ships dropped their cables almost at the same time, and then countless Ming soldiers dressed in yellow-green camouflage uniforms rushed down the ropes and began to rush towards the enemy's trenches.
…
Putting down the telescope, Cao Wenzhao once again shouted, "Notify our fleets of 25th to 30th, and have them come up first. Take advantage of the rising tide to pull up our artillery!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Is the person in charge of the communications ship here?"
"I am here."
"You can send a communication ship to Tianjin first. The news is just one sentence: the royal division has landed in Incheon!"
