Although the idea of ​​annexing the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty is indeed a bit far-fetched.

But the problem is that in another time and space, the Satsuma Domain had already set an example for him!

In the 34th year of the Wanli reign, after several years of planning, the lord of Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Iehisa, decided to capture Ryukyu, the pearl of the sea, in order to monopolize the only way for Japan to trade with the Ming Dynasty and consolidate the Shimazu family's position in the newly established Tokugawa shogunate.

The reason that Satsuma claimed to have invaded Ryukyu was that Ryukyu did not bear the military expenses of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, but the Shimazu family paid for it. Now Ryukyu still "arrears and refuses to repay", so they came to collect the debt... There is no more ridiculous excuse than this.

At first, the Satsuma clan only planned to capture Amami Oshima, but because it was too easy to capture, they regained the confidence they lost in the Korean battlefield, and they followed the Ryukyu Islands all the way to Naha. In five days, they captured Shuri Castle, captured King Shoning and more than 100 princes and officials, and then withdrew their troops back home.

There is certainly nothing to praise about attacking a weak country like Ryukyu, but their subsequent actions can be regarded as a model of Eastern colonialism.

First, they brutally killed Zheng Yu, the three officials and leader of the Kume samurai clan who resisted stubbornly, and massacred Kume Village with blood, wiping out all the pro-Ming forces.

Then they promoted pro-Japanese officials represented by Ong Jisong to high positions. At the same time, they sent officials from Satsuma to Ryukyu to measure and distribute land, draw clear borders, set taxes, and establish official offices on the islands to supervise trade and taxation between the Ryukyu islands.

At the same time, Shimazu Iehisa brought King Shōning to Edo to meet Shogun Tokugawa, and after obtaining full authorization to handle Ryukyu affairs, he took him back to Kagoshima. There, King Shōning was forced to sign the "Okitsu Fifteen Articles" with Satsuma, recognizing Ryukyu as a vassal state of Satsuma, and the monarch and his subjects swore to be loyal to Shimazu forever, and only then was he released.

Afterwards, Shimazu Iehisa sent a group of samurai to release King Shoning back to Ryukyu, but left his son and the descendants of princes and ministers in Kagoshima, on the one hand as hostages, and on the other hand brainwashing them with Japanese culture to make them grow into pro-Japanese factions.

After returning to Shuri, King Shoining still could not escape the surveillance of Japanese samurai and was forced to stay in the palace. He appointed a Japanese monk in Ryukyu as regent. Since then, Ryukyu has completely become a puppet regime of Satsuma Domain.

As the trade center of East Asia, Ryukyu could not hide the news that the royal city was captured. Soon, the King of Korea, who had experienced the same thing, wrote a letter to express his condolences. Ryukyu also quickly sent people to report the incident to their suzerain country.

However, what is intriguing is that, whether they were reporting to the Kingdom of Korea or to the Ming Dynasty, they only described the incident as a Japanese invasion in which the king was abducted. They also lied that after a huge ransom was paid, the Japanese pirates released the king. They never mentioned the fact that Satsuma's transformation and control of the Ryukyu Kingdom after the war and that the Ryukyu royal family and the imperial court had completely become puppets.

They didn't even dare to mention the names of Satsuma Domain and Shimazu Family!

The main reason at first was of course the fear of retaliation from the Japanese. The Shimazu family had already stated that if the news leaked out, the Ming navy would first massacre Shuri Castle and then retreat to Kagoshima.

After the initial tense and hostile stage, the Ryukyu princes gradually got used to this state. Although they were puppets, they still had the people to exploit!

Those pro-Japanese interest groups would even help the Japanese to cover up their lies in order to dispel the Ming Dynasty's suspicion that Ryukyu was controlled by someone, so as to avoid the cancellation of the tribute.

As a result, throughout the Ming Dynasty and even the Qing Dynasty, Ryukyu played the role of one woman serving two husbands, and everything was peaceful...

After careful research, Zhao Hao concluded that it was entirely possible for him to puppet the Zhongshan King regime and completely control the Ryukyu Islands. Moreover, as long as the method was appropriate, the backlash and sequelae caused would be far less than that of the Satsuma Domain.

Although invaders and bullies are shameful, in this age of navigation where the strong prey on the weak, those who only care about their own reputation while not seeking benefits for future generations are completely hypocritical and are the eternal sinners of the Chinese nation!

Zhao Hao had already made up his mind that even if he would be nailed to the pillar of shame in history and reviled by future generations as an ambitious man, executioner and public enemy of mankind, he would let his descendants reap the benefits of this wave and let them rely on their ancestors for another 500 years!

In this way, I will not let myself down in this world...

Just let him be the evil one.

~~

Zhenwohao, in the large conference room.

"So we need to be strategic and make the Ryukyu people afraid to complain to the Ming Dynasty!" Wang Rulong loudly announced the battle plan drawn up by the General Staff, "Originally this was difficult, but the Ryukyu King Shang Yuan led his army to attack the Oshima Island, giving us this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Therefore, the General Staff formulated this plan to seize the opportunity to capture the Ryukyu King and his 3,000 royal troops, and named it "Operation Yellow Bird"!"

"The key to 'Operation Yellow Bird' is to capture Shang Yuan and his main force. This is why we didn't attack the defense-less Shuri Castle." Wang Rulong said in a deep voice: "Because as long as we capture Shang Yuan and his main force first, the princes and ministers of Shuri Castle will naturally surrender. Otherwise, we don't need to do anything, the chieftains of the various islands will hear the news and take revenge!"

"But if we attack Shuri Castle first, King Sang Won and his army outside will become a huge uncertainty. It would be fine if they fight their way back to Shuri, but if they flee to the Ming Dynasty or the Joseon Dynasty, it would cause a huge incident. Even if they flee to Japan, it would become a big hidden danger. So after deduction, the General Staff decided to trade tactical difficulties for strategic initiative!"

Then he straightened up and suddenly raised his voice and said, "I am giving this order in the name of the commander of the Tamra Garrison's special southbound fleet!"

All the police officers immediately sat up straight, not daring to breathe, waiting for the commander to give orders.

"102, 103, 104, 201, 202, 203..."

Following Wang Rulong's powerful voice, the commander whose ship number was called immediately stood up like a spring and raised his head to wait for orders.

"You will serve as the front-line blocking cluster. Follow the pilot boat to sneak into Kinkuhama near Amami Bay tomorrow night and wait for orders!" Wang Rulong said, pointing to the last battle map of "Operation Yellow Bird" with a thin wooden stick.

On this map, even the water depth and mountain height in the Amami Bay area are marked with contour lines, which obviously could not have been drawn up on the spur of the moment.

But it was impossible for the General Staff to guess in advance that the King of Ryukyu would personally lead an expedition to Oshima, right?

It can only be our colleagues in the General Staff Office who have done their homework so hard on a daily basis and have completed the huge war zone surveying and mapping work quietly... They are really working so hard, it's really shameful.

Looking at the map, Amami Bay is shaped like a human figure. The long and thick left stroke is the harbor where the Ryukyu warships are moored. The short and thin right stroke is Kinkuhama where the first-line cluster is preparing to hide.

Because there is a mountain over 300 meters high in the middle of the V-shape, you cannot see Kinkuhama from Amami Bay.

"After arriving, you must lower the boats overnight and land the Marine Corps!" Wang Rulong then gave the order in a deep voice: "Wu Da!"

"Here!" Wu Da, the captain of the Marine Corps, stood at attention immediately. He was over 1.9 meters tall, half a head taller than Brother Gao. With his muscular body, his physique alone was enough to make him stand out from the rest of the army.

Unfortunately, in the Coast Guard, I can only be a lowly person...

"After you land, you must quickly seize Hill 101 and eliminate any possible Ryukyu scouts to prevent the whereabouts of the frontline group from being leaked in advance!" Ma Rulong ordered him, "After the Ryukyu King and his army board the ship and set sail, you must send a signal and quickly go down the mountain to seize Amami Bay to prevent the Ryukyu King from retreating to the island! Amami Island is ridiculously large, with many mountains and dense forests. If he escapes into the mountains, it will be troublesome."

"I understand!" Wu Da responded, suppressing his excitement.

"Wu Da, you have a very important role this time and the task is also the most difficult. Do you have the confidence to complete it?" Ma Rulong asked loudly.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Wu Da answered three times in a voice twice as loud as his, making the police officers' ears buzz.

This is the roar of the lower class against the higher class!

After Wu Da sat down, Ma Rulong ordered the captains who stood up: "Once you receive the signal, immediately head west at full speed, block the inner bay entrance, and force the Ryukyu warship to land!"

"What if they don't surrender?" asked Haierdi, captain of Ship 102 and commander of the front-line interception cluster, in a deep voice.

"What kind of bullshit is this? This is a war!" Wang Rulong rolled his eyes at him and said rudely, "Fire at all warships that come within range, and kill them all!"

"Understood!" Haierdi said loudly.

"The width of this bay is 1,100 meters." Wang Rulong opened his mouth, pressed his thumb and index finger against both sides of the bay, and said in a deep voice: "I gave you 33 warships, and only five ships can slip through the net at most. Can you do it?"

"Don't worry, only three will be exposed at most!" Haierdi said confidently.

"Okay, then let's set three. If you add one more, I'll report you and take away a star!" Wang Rulong pointed at the three silver stars on Haierdi's chest with a small wooden stick.

"Then let's do as you say, five." Haierdi immediately became timid and whispered, "I'm looking forward to getting a gold star soon, not a single one can be missing..."

"Hahahaha!" There was laughter in the conference room.

"What are you laughing at? Of course we will be lenient with the enemy if we issue a military order." Haierdi quickly argued to his comrades who were making a fuss.

~~

"301, 302, 303..." After the first group sat down, another group of police officers whose names were called stood up.

"You are responsible for the second-line blockade mission. Form a second-line blocking cluster at the mouth of Amami Bay. If any ship escapes the blockade of the first-line cluster, it will be your mission!" Wang Rulong ordered in a deep voice: "If the first-line cluster can complete the mission, then you can't let any ship out."

All of these warships are medium-sized black-tailed ships with flexible steering and hard hulls. You never know when they might collide with each other.

"What if they can't?" asked Xin Fei, commander of the second-line cluster.

"That possibility doesn't exist." Haierdi said.

"Even if they can't, your mission remains the same. Don't let any Ryukyu ship go out!" Wang Rulong gave a firm order.

"Yes!" The captains responded in unison.

Although he had issued a death order, Wang Rulong still arranged three lines of blockade clusters and ordered them to take on the task of blocking the outer sea. Starting tomorrow, no ships would be allowed to approach Amami Bay.

If a Ryukyu ship can break through the second line of blockade, they will have to go...

In a word, we must kill them all at once!

p.s. Just two updates.