Looking at the sudden change in Qi Shaobao's demeanor, Zhao Hao said in disbelief, "You are all pretending. How can you say that? You have confused me."

"Ahem..." Qi Jiguang started coughing again, his old face flushed red. This time it was not because of his lung disease, but because he was embarrassed to expose himself.

But since the truth had already been revealed, he had no choice but to speak frankly. He coughed to calm himself down, asked Zhao Hao to take his seat again, and then left the table to apologize.

"Young Master, please do not kill the younger generation." How could Zhao Hao dare to accept Qi Jiguang's gift? That would shorten his life. He quickly stepped aside and signaled Zhu Jue to help the old hero up.

After sitting down again, Qi Jiguang sighed and said, "The reason why I performed so poorly just now is because I don't want to come out again. I feel that it is meaningless to do anything."

"How can it be meaningless? Shao Bao is a peerless general and a hero of the Chinese nation! Even if the Ming Dynasty turns to dust, your achievements will remain immortal and will forever strengthen the soul of the Chinese nation!" Zhao Hao said generously:

"The young guard should have known this long ago. The original soul and backbone of our Coast Guard all came from the young guard's inheritance!"

Qi Jiguang glanced at Zhu Jue, revealing an expression of infinite emotion, and said, "Who would have thought that twenty-three years ago, the court expelled three generals that they didn't care about at all, but under the command of the young minister, they created an incomparably glorious legend!"

"But there are more than just these three." Zhao Hao laughed and said, "There are also Macron, Ma Yinglong, Tong Zigong, Xiang Xuehai, Xin Fei, Rong Sheng, Haierge, Haierdi, Ge Li, Meiling, Ximen Qing, Pan Jinlian... Until now, all the generals of our Coast Guard are from the Qi Family Army."

"Haha, it's true..." Qi Jiguang touched his neck and laughed non-stop. His vanity was greatly satisfied, and he felt a chill on his body. He thought to himself, don't just pluck the wool of a sheep.

But to be honest, there are very few generals from Qi's army who have joined the Coast Guard in recent years. First, Qi Jiguang consciously cut off the supply of talents to the Coast Guard. Second, after Qi's army was transferred to the north, they were all cavalry and infantry generals. They were no longer suitable for the Coast Guard profession.

Moreover, the Coast Guard has now established four major police academies and a special command academy to train police officers whose comprehensive qualities are far superior to those of the generals of the Qi Family Army... This is normal. The most solemn tribute to greatness is to surpass greatness!

It would be truly sad if after more than 20 years of continuous reforms on the basis of Qi's Army, the result was still worse than Qi's Army.

But then again, the reason why Qi Jiguang was unwilling to come out of retirement was not only because he was disappointed by the emperor, but there was a deeper reason, which was that his understanding of the Jiangnan Coast Guard far exceeded that of other civil and military officials.

Isn't this nonsense? The entire top of the Coast Guard is led by him. How could he not understand...

Qi Jiguang, a military genius of the highest caliber, possessed a strategic vision and judgment that transcended his time. He was well aware that the Coast Guard had formed a huge "generation gap" with the Ming army, including his Qi Family Army.

Ironically, even the term "generation gap" was told to me by my former subordinates.

The huge generation gap existed not only in the power and quality of weapons, but also in morale, training, command, military thinking, logistics and other aspects related to war. There was an insurmountable gap, which even Qi Jiguang could not make up for.

In Qi Jiguang's view, once the two sides went to war, the Ming Dynasty would undoubtedly be defeated.

Perhaps he could lead Qi's army to win one or two battles with brilliant strategies and superb command, but that would be irrelevant to the overall situation and would not change the outcome of the war.

The saddest thing is that the Ming emperor and his ministers are completely unaware of this, and will not give themselves this opportunity...

But asking him to join the Jiangnan Group and lead the army to fight against the imperial court was absolutely impossible.

Qi Jiguang's ancestor Qi Xiang surrendered to Emperor Taizu in the 13th year of the Yuan Dynasty. He followed him in his campaigns as a personal soldier, made many contributions, and was finally killed in the battle to pacify Yunnan.

In order to thank Qi Xiang for his contribution, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed his eldest son Qi Bin as General Mingwei and appointed him as the assistant commander of Dengzhou Guard, a title that was hereditary!

It has been two hundred years since this long-term meal ticket was passed down to Qi Jiguang. If this is not called the emperor's grace for generations, what is it?

Therefore, although Qi Jiguang suffered all kinds of grievances and injustices, he never slandered the emperor and the court, let alone resorted to violence.

But if the target is the three islands of Japan, that is another matter.

As long as it is not a civil war and as long as they can directly attack the Japanese invaders, Qi Jiguang does not mind participating in the war as foreign aid. By the way, he can also observe from close range how the Coast Guard fleet achieves absolute suppression with its miraculous hot weapons.

~~

Everyone is a smart person who can understand the elegant meaning of the music, so naturally they would not dwell on the question of why Qi Jiguang was unwilling to come out of seclusion.

After removing the banquet and replacing it with Penglai's specialty, Mother-in-law Tea, Qi Jiguang began to discuss the technical issues of attacking Japan with Zhao Hao.

"I know a little bit about Japan. I know that they have been fighting wars for generations, and they are known as a nation of soldiers. There are many people with sharp muskets, excellent armor, and high martial arts skills." After a pause, he continued:

"Moreover, the terrain is mainly mountainous and hilly, and there are many castles. The Mongols crossed the sea to attack Japan twice, but both times ended in failure."

"It's not that I want to boost others' morale and destroy my own prestige. It's that in every battle, you should think about defeat before thinking about victory." Qi Jiguang said seriously:

"You know, at that time, the Mongolian army was far superior to the Japanese in terms of combat power and tactics. According to the Japanese historical records we seized in the southeast, after the Yuan army landed, the two armies first fought in the field. The Yuan army lined up in teams, and when someone approached, they split in the middle and surrounded the two ends, shooting arrows like rain, and the long-handled spears could penetrate the gaps in the Japanese armor, and they could quickly destroy them."

When talking about war history, Qi Jiguang glowed as if he had suddenly become twenty years younger.

"The Yuan army had light armor, was good at riding horses, was strong, did not care about their lives, was brave and free, was good at advancing and retreating, and had artillery to help. The generals commanded from high ground, beat drums to advance and retreat, and acted according to the drums, killing the Japanese army and defeating them! They could only retreat to the city and the mountains to defend."

"Although the Yuan army completely suppressed the Japanese army in the field battle, the Japanese pirates were very tenacious in their fighting spirit. They relied on the city fortresses and rugged mountains to resolutely resist, causing considerable losses to the Yuan army. The Yuan army was unable to break through the rugged terrain and enter the hinterland. In addition, the fleet encountered a typhoon, so the first attack on Japan could only be defeated and retreated."

"Seven years later, Kublai Khan organized the second attack on Japan. Because the Japanese had already taken precautions and built a series of defense facilities such as fortresses at possible landing points, coupled with the encounter with a bigger typhoon, the threat caused this time was not as great as the first time." Qi Jiguang reminded Zhao Hao in a deep voice:

"Even if the Coast Guard fleet is invincible, we must never be careless in landing operations."

"Yes, and two years ago, the Japanese chieftain Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan and ended the long civil war. He can mobilize the whole country's troops to fight us." Zhao Hao nodded and said with deep conviction: "His battle-hardened army is much more powerful than the weak Kamakura shogunate back then."

"That will be even more difficult." Qi Jiguang shook his head and said, "Crossing the sea to launch an expedition is a taboo in military strategy. Young Lord, you should be cautious."

Although he would never betray the Ming Dynasty, he also did not want to see any mishaps happen to the Coast Guard Fleet. This was not only because this army was inextricably linked to him, but also because this army was the embodiment of his lifelong ambition of "I don't want to be a noble, but I just want the seas to be peaceful"!

"The young master's worry is very reasonable." Zhao Hao took a sip of the fragrant mother-in-law tea and suddenly smiled slyly: "But what if it's not us who are crossing the sea for the expedition?"

"Uh..." Qi Jiguang was stunned and said, "Are you talking about Toyotomi Hideyoshi's expedition across the sea?"

"Not bad." Zhao Hao nodded with a smile.

"That's not a waste, is it?" Qi Jiguang laughed, pulling his beard together. "If the Japanese dare to come across the sea, I can chop them all up and feed them to the turtles without the need for the Coast Guard Fleet to show up! In fact, I don't even need to show up. Li Chengliang's son can deal with the Japanese."

After twenty years of military reorganization by Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, the Ming Dynasty now had several powerful troops.

"But how is that possible?" Qi Jiguang shook his head and said, "With the Coast Guard Fleet here, the Japanese can only sigh in despair."

"Then what if I withdraw the Coast Guard fleet to the south?" Zhao Hao said casually, holding his pipe in his hand: "In fact, our fleet has rarely appeared in the waters of Japan since eight years ago."

"Yes." Zhu Jue nodded and said, "According to the commander-in-chief's instructions, we disbanded the Kyushu Water Police Bureau and several police stations under its jurisdiction. Now there are only the Onsenzu Water Police Station that protects Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, the Zhuangyuan Island Water Police Station that protects Sado Gold Mine, and the Zhenyuan Island Police Station that assists in the defense of Ainu Island."

"The two bureaus and the first institute only have some old ships from more than a decade ago, and the number is just enough." Zhu Jue introduced: "The public statement is that the group is now fully focused on the south and has given up on Japan. Eight years have passed, and they have long believed this statement."

"You were preparing to attack Japan eight years ago?" Qi Jiguang was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth.

"It's been more than eight years." Zhao Hao glanced at Zhu Jue and said with a smile: "When the Coast Guard Fleet was established, we swore that we would definitely fight to the Japanese and capture them alive..."

Suddenly remembering that Oda City was already his nephew's wife, he coughed and said, "That emperor."

"It's just that the timing has not been right, and we have more dangerous enemies to face, so we can only make some preparations and wait for the right time to come." Zhao Hao slowly took a puff of his pipe and said:

"Because we have always had a judgment that no matter whether it was Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hideyoshi who unified Japan, after completing the great cause of unification, the next step would be to attack Korea!"

"The reason is simple. Because the Li Dynasty has been peaceful for a long time, the civil officials are at ease and the military officials are idle. The court is deeply involved in factional struggles and political corruption is utterly rampant. The military has become dregs. It's like fat meat placed in the mouth of a hungry wolf. How can it resist eating it?"