Gapado Island is very close to Jeonra Island. If you sail north for four or five miles, you will reach Songaksan Mountain, the southernmost tip of Jeonra Island.

Jin Ke and Wang Rulong hurriedly unfolded the map of Jeonra Island and its surrounding waters seized from the Korean navy. The map clearly marked the locations and names of Jeonra's one pasture, two counties, three cities, nine towns, ten naval bases, and even twenty-five beacon towers and thirty-eight smoke towers.

Moreover, it is a full Chinese version, without even Hangul annotations... This is because the map is a top-level military secret and only mid- and high-level military officers can see it.

"Because this place is less than 500 miles away from the Japanese pirates' lair, we have put a lot of effort into the garrison arrangements on the island." Wang Rulong pointed at the map and introduced to Zhao Hao: "There is a beacon tower on this Songyue Mountain, and there is also a naval battle station at the foot of the mountain. According to Park Chengyin, there are seven or eight ships and more than a hundred naval soldiers."

"How can we fight off the invaders with such a small number of people?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but be a little surprised.

"First, they are just as bad as the Ming Dynasty's garrisons in terms of empty pay." Wang Rulong explained, "Second, they have already made an agreement with the Japanese pirates. If we station too many troops here, it will cause trouble."

"Hmm." Zhao Hao nodded in understanding, and then asked, "Is it a threat to us?"

"No, they just set off a smoke screen on the day of the naval battle, and there has been no movement since then. No ship has been sent out to check." Wang Rulong said with deep regret. He wanted to capture more prisoners to speed up the construction progress on Gapo Island.

"Is it difficult to take it down?" Zhao Hao asked, touching his chin.

"It's not difficult." Wang Rulong explained hurriedly: "I have observed in the past few days that the coast on Tamra Island is flat and there is almost no strategic location to defend. We can land anywhere." After landing, naturally no one can stop us.

"Then forget about it for now." Zhao Hao waved his hand casually and said, "Let's go around the island clockwise."

The ship was equipped with a clock, so Wang Rulong naturally knew what clockwise meant. He quickly ordered the ship to turn the rudder and hoist the sail, heading northwest along the ocean current.

After sailing for a few miles, we saw a small city.

Wang Rulong told Zhao Hao that it was the county seat of Dajing County.

The ten-foot-high city wall was made of volcanic stone and looked square and neat. However, no matter how Zhao Hao looked at it, he felt that this thing without arrow towers and parapets looked more like a wall, and it had no anti-theft function.

Even the wall of the manor outside the capital that the princess gave him was not as good as it.

"This thing can be blown down with a few shots." Wang Rulong said contemptuously: "This kind of straight up and down wall is most afraid of artillery fire. It was eliminated during the Song Dynasty."

"Maybe it's because the Japanese pirates don't have artillery." Zhao Hao smiled and said, "Apart from the military perspective, the location of this county is still good."

Jin Ke nodded and said, "It's next to the sea and the surrounding area is very flat, very suitable for living."

Zhao Hao nodded. He saw that there were also residential areas outside the county town, and farmers were working in the fields. Some people discovered their boats and ran towards the county town out of fear.

"This is the second most prosperous place on the island." Wang Rulong pointed to a bay in front of him and said, "There is a natural harbor here, but it's a little small. But we have cement, so we can transform the reef outside into a breakwater, making this place a many times larger shelter."

Sheltered harbor is very important because Jeju Island is famous for its strong winds. Typhoons hit every year, and without a sheltered harbor, the losses would be too great.

"So, Brother Wang likes to make this our first piece of territory on the island?" Zhao Hao asked with a smile.

"Everything is up to you, young master." Wang Rulong said hurriedly.

"Well, we are just brainstorming, not a formal meeting, so we can speak freely." Zhao Hao said with a smile: "Besides, we must listen to the opinions of your Coast Guard when choosing a site, right?"

"Then I will venture to share some thoughts for your reference." Wang Rulong then continued, "As long as we set up artillery positions on the reef and form crossfire, it will be enough to prevent any invaders from returning. So from a defense perspective, the conditions here are very good, and only one squadron will be enough."

"Hmm." Zhao Hao smiled and nodded, and said to Jin Ke: "Then how about we use this place as a stopover for future fleets to resupply and trade goods?"

"Very good." Jin Ke said seriously, "This is on our main route, and the straight-line distance to Gapa Island is only about 10 miles, so we can keep an eye on each other."

"Okay, that's settled." Zhao Hao clapped his hands happily, as if he had already taken this place into his pocket. He continued to look at Jeonra Island through the telescope, wanting to see if there was anything else worth attacking.

The weather was fine and there was nothing blocking the view. You could see from the beach all the way to the lush Hallasan Mountain in the distance.

However, to his disappointment, after the fleet left Dajing County for about ten miles, there was no village or farmland to be seen.

If he hadn't seen the county town just now, he would have thought this was a deserted island.

"This island is too big, and there are too few people. Most of them are slaves and exiles, so they need to be centralized for easy monitoring." Wang Rulong explained:

"Park Sung-in said that the population of Tamra Island is concentrated. More than 70% live in three cities and nine towns... that is, in the garrisons. The remaining 20% ​​to 30% of the population either raise horses at the foot of Halla Mountain or fish by the sea, but the fishing villages are also scattered on the north side of the island."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded. This was easy to understand. The north was close to the North Korean mainland. Jeju City was also over there, so it was normal that there were few people here.

"In fact, the Joseon Dynasty set up two counties in the south to make the population on the island more evenly distributed, but the effect was mediocre. The Dajing County we saw just now is in a better situation, with about 10,000 people, while Jingyi County in the east has only about 7,000 to 8,000 people. Fortunately, the untouchables have no freedom, otherwise these few people would have run away."

Wang Rulong may seem rough, but he is actually very meticulous. Knowing that Zhao Hao was planning to attack Danluo Island, he did a lot of homework beforehand. A fourth-rank general cannot be obtained just by being brave.

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded. He also knew that Jeonra Island was a famous place for exile. Joseon, the Mongols, and even the early Ming Dynasty all liked to exile criminals here.

Especially in the past hundred years, the struggle between the Yangban class in the Joseon Dynasty was fierce, and the losers were often exiled to Jeju Island with their entire families of thousands of people, leaving the number of official slaves on the island at more than 20,000.

In addition, there are more than 10,000 descendants of prisoners exiled from Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty... Among these people are Han, Mongolian and Semite people. They are collectively called "exiles" by the people of the Joseon Dynasty. Like official slaves, they are also untouchables who have been supervised and enslaved for generations.

There are less than 50,000 people on the island in total, and the number of untouchables is nearly 40,000. The remaining less than 10,000 people are the officials who manage the untouchables, the troops stationed on the island and their families, and the merchants, veterinarians and civilians who have immigrated from the mainland to do business.

Because the Mongols used Jeonra Island as a place to raise horses, they ordered the families of the exiled prisoners to serve as horse slaves to raise horses. When the Yuan Dynasty fell, there were still more than 40,000 Mongolian war horses on the island.

The King of Goryeo at that time presented all these war horses to the Ming Dynasty and promised to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty for generations. Only then did Emperor Taizu give them Jeju Island.

For two hundred years, Jeonra Island paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty with a large number of war horses every three years, and it became a famous horse breeding place. Naturally, horse traders and veterinarians came to the island to make a living.

Of course, some people used the identity of horse traders as a cover to engage in smuggling trade between China and Japan, which was the real reason for the vitality of Jeju Island. The great sea merchant Jin Xishan was such a case.

~~

Lunch was served on deck.

The guards set up tables, chairs and parasols on the shiny ironwood front deck.

After the meal, Qiaoqiao served tea, snacks and cut watermelon, and asked the three of them to sit down and chat slowly.

It has been seven or eight days since we left the mainland, and watermelon is the only fruit we can eat on the ship.

After Wang Rulong introduced the situation on the island, Zhao Hao handed them two slices of watermelon and also picked up a slice to eat with relish. "The oppression on the island should be very serious, right?"

"Of course." Wang Rulong nodded as a matter of course. "Official slaves farmed and raised horses for the government, doing all kinds of servant work, but they were not paid. If they were beaten and killed by civilians, they would just pay some money to settle the matter... and the compensation was not to their families, but to the government. Because all official slaves are the property of the government for generations to come."

"Then we shouldn't have any trouble finding a guide." Zhao Hao saw that the two were confused after hearing what he said, and spit out a few melon seeds and said, "It's people who are willing to join us and go against the Li Dynasty."

"That must be a lot." Wang Rulong laughed and said, "Jiang Bula has six or seven official slaves serving him at home. What he worries most is that if he is convicted, his wife and children will be retaliated by those official slaves in an instant."

"That's the Jiang Bula family. They are so unkind on weekdays." Zhao Hao wiped his hands with a smile and said to Jin Ke, "After we get to the island, we have to make a decision for those poor people."

"I understand." Jin Ke nodded, but that's all in the future.

~~

Jeju Island is very large, 150 miles long and more than 60 miles wide. It takes at least two or three days to go around the island, which is nearly 400 miles long.

Fortunately, the seabed of the waters off Jeju Island was flat, with no undercurrents or reefs, so the danger of sailing at night was not great. The fleet sailed overnight and arrived at the waters of Jeju Port at noon the next day.

This part of the sea is much more lively, with large and small fishing boats on the sparkling sea, and scattered fishing villages on the beach. There are almost naked female divers fishing in the water, which makes the security guards stare at them.

"Ahem." Young Master Zhao was too shy to look... unless the telescope had a higher magnification.

"Is our Right Envoy Park in here?" He looked past the divers and pointed at the naval port in the distance and asked.

"He should still be there." Wang Rulong was not very sure. He had been waiting for Park Youshi to send someone, but there was no news.

Even the Japanese sent envoys to try to redeem their family head, but Park Yu-shih was able to keep his composure and refused to contact the Chinese fleet at his doorstep.

"Since Mr. Park is so shy, let's take the initiative." Zhao Hao looked at the Jeju Port getting closer and closer and said, "Send someone to send him a message, saying that this young master invites him for tea. If he doesn't come, he will bear the consequences himself."

"Yes!" Wang Rulong responded and hurried to pass the order.

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