The Japanese fleet was just a stone's throw away. On the deck of a sailing ship, a man in armor shouted loudly. His voice was unclear amid the crashing waves. Moreover, there was a general on the ship who knew a little Japanese, but he was only half-baked.
The ten generals beside him said: He seems to be announcing his own name, claiming to be someone from Jiuzhou, and coming to attack us.
After hearing this, Commander Wang saw that the enemy was standing on the deck without any cover, so he drew his bow and arrow without saying a word, aiming at the enemy. With a snap, the arrow flew out from the drifting ship, deflected a little by the wind, and hit the enemy's deck.
Oh my! The guy on the sailboat seemed very angry, waving the knife in his hand and shouting.
Commander Wang spat and cursed: Damn it, you are sick
The soldiers laughed loudly for a while. Before the laughter died down, the sound of bowstrings could be heard in the wind. The enemy soldiers were holding longbows that were more than half a person's height and shooting arrows one after another. Commander Wang and others looked up and saw arrows flying from the air. The Japanese bows had a short range and the arrows were hitting the sea below the side of the ship. Some arrows even hit the deck.
The soldiers of Xu's army did not fight back. Almost all of them were holding firearms, but they were out of reach at the moment.
The Japanese fleet chased and fired arrows at the same time, but the arrows shot randomly from a distance posed little threat to Xu's army. From time to time, the arrows happened to hit the soldiers, but everyone was wearing iron helmets and plate armor, so the falling arrowheads could not penetrate them and only made a clinking sound.
The enemy was approaching with the wind. When the ship slowly turned and faced the Japanese fleet on the port side, Commander Wang immediately ordered: Fight back against the enemy.
The actual leader of the troops was a captain, who then shouted loudly to direct the battle. Twenty or so men raised their firearms and fired a volley of shots at the shouts, and the deck immediately became filled with smoke.
After the explosion, everyone hurriedly loaded the weapons, and the direction of the ship gradually changed. Xu's army was too small to carry out the three-stage attack tactics, otherwise the firepower of each round would not be dense enough, and the lethality would be even worse. The firearms in the hands of the soldiers had to be fired in a dense volley to be lethal, especially on a drifting ship, where the accuracy was extremely poor and relied more on volleys.
Reloading was a slow process. By the time everyone was ready again, the Japanese fleet's vanguard was already 20 to 30 steps away. When the port side of the ship was facing again, Xu Jun immediately formed a horizontal line and opened fire. Screams could be heard from the Japanese ship. But the arrows did not stop. Xu Jun soldiers were constantly hit by arrows. The leather armor at the joints could no longer defend against the arrows, and there were casualties from time to time.
Seeing the enemy approaching, it was too late to reload, so some soldiers abandoned their firearms and fought back with bows and crossbows; some prepared to throw javelins.
The Japanese sailboat in the front threw out ropes and hooks one after another, hooking the side of Xu Jun's ship. There was no queue on the deck. Soldiers drew their swords to cut the ropes, while others aimed their crossbows at the Japanese ship and shot. The shouting on the sea gradually became louder, and arrows flew between the ships.
There were many Japanese ships, and after catching up, they quickly surrounded us from the left and right wings.
Many hooks and ropes flew over from the starboard side. Xu's soldiers shouted and deployed to the starboard side. They picked up their swords and began to chop and saw the thick hemp ropes on them. The arrows became more and more frequent, and screams were heard from time to time.
In less than an incense stick of time, the light boat was surrounded on all sides. The Japanese sailboat used the force to pull the hook rope and quickly boarded the light boat.
Wow! A Japanese was the first to board the ship, stabbing a Xu Jun soldier in the chest with a spear. With a metallic collision, the Xu Jun soldier reached out and grabbed the wooden pole of the spear. The metal friction between the spear head and the armor made people's teeth ache. As soon as the guy stepped onto the deck, he was stabbed in the head and screamed. Another Xu Jun soldier next to him stabbed him in the side with a dagger, and blood splattered all over his face.
But more Japanese soldiers came to the deck from all directions. The head of the army raised his steel knife and roared. The defense of the army on all sides had already been in chaos, but at this time they all responded in unison: The killing momentum remained the same.
More and more Japanese soldiers jumped onto the deck, and the narrow planks of the ship were in a frenzy. The decks gradually became red with blood as they engaged in close combat. The ship was shaking from side to side. Everyone was yelling and screaming, and it didn't seem like they were fighting at all, but rather they were struggling desperately.
The deck was in chaos, and the Japanese soldiers shouted and attacked the command cabin. Several of Wang's personal soldiers immediately rushed forward with swords and chopped, and two enemy soldiers screamed and fell off the wooden ladder.
A soldier was hit in the face by an arrow, and the knife in his hand fell down, slamming into the board, and his body fell sideways. The soldiers behind him immediately guarded the door and fought.
After a short while of the boarding battle, Xu's army was no longer able to hold on, as their forces were too thin. Commander Wang looked down and saw a soldier in full armor being pinned down by several men on the bloodstained deck, being stabbed hard with a samurai sword. The remaining soldiers were all injured, struggling and fighting in the chaos.
The situation is hopeless, what a pity. Commander Wang sighed as he looked back at the two generals protecting him.
The general said: Let's go down and fight
Commander Wang silently lifted up a few straw raincoats beside him, and suddenly several large wooden barrels were revealed. They were the gunpowder that had been moved to the deck to dry two days ago.
Upon seeing this, the generals put back their drawn swords and turned to look at Commander Wang.
Commander Wang opened the lid of a wooden barrel and picked up an earthenware jar filled with red-hot charcoal, a fire starter for the firearms soldiers.
He pulled out the cork from the earthen jar and shouted to the outside: Brothers, let's meet over there. Then he looked at the two people beside him and said: Goodbye, brothers.
The two generals knelt on one knee, clasped their fists and saluted, saying solemnly: "We bid farewell to General Wang!"
boom
In the Jinxiang Palace of the Imperial City of Tokyo, Guo Shao slammed the note on the imperial desk with one hand, and with a clang, the inkstone also fell to the ground. He was furious and said: This is too much, too arrogant
The eunuchs beside him were so frightened that they trembled all over and fell to their knees. Even the cabinet ministers working in the study hurriedly stood up.
Guo Shao's face turned pale, he took a deep breath and said: It is still a weak country, but it can still be so arrogant. If it becomes powerful, how can it be so arrogant
Lu Dosun and others walked behind the screen and bowed: "Your Majesty, calm down. When the Mulan ship is completed, we will ask Japan to be severely punished by our dynasty for this matter."
At this time, the Heian-kyō court still didn't know what had happened. Half a month later, the samurai leaders of Kyushu wrote to ask for merit, and the regent Fujiwara no Mitsuyori only then learned that a war had occurred on the west coast.
Ono Yoshifuru was also present and immediately bowed and said: "Minister of the Left, please understand that this matter was not ordered by me. I want to have some contact with the Kanto Samurai Group, but it really has nothing to do with Kyushu."
Fujiwara no Mitsuyori said nothing.
Ono Yoshifuru then said: This is because the attitude of the imperial court was not made known to all places in time. Previously, officials of the lower-ranking Xu State who colluded with foreign countries were killed, and now Xu State ships are wantonly invading Kyushu. Over time, conflicts are inevitable. The conflict between our country and the Great Xu will escalate. Minister Zuo, it is time to make a decision.
What Ono Yoshifuru said was not without reason. Once the sword was used, the situation would be difficult to control. At this time, conflict broke out again in Iwami Province.
The garrison at Shijianbao was short of food due to the inconvenience of sea transportation. Zhang Jiankui had no other options and sent a letter to a nearby village official, asking him to sell 200 dan of rice at a low price. However, the deadline had passed and the village official ignored his request.
At this time, Zhang Jiankui sent scouts to find out the situation in the distance, and then he brought more than 200 people and four copper cannons to the door of the manor owner. The cannons were taken off the cart and set up 20 steps outside the gate of the manor. The infantry's firearms were loaded and placed outside his door.
Finally, the gate opened, and a group of warriors with weapons came out first, followed by an old man. The old man stood at the door and said in Japanese: "We have a small plot of land and little food. We don't have enough food for our own family. We really don't have any surplus food to sell to your army."
Zhang Jiankui asked someone to translate: You guys call yourself a foreigner. If you keep making excuses, we will not be polite.
But the old man still said the same thing.
A military aide nearby said: These people are not without food, they are just afraid of being charged with aiding the enemy.
After hearing this, the general shouted: Stop talking nonsense with the bird people, just go in and grab them!
Zhang Jiankui touched his head, feeling a little embarrassed. After all, he was a warrior, so he didn't think much about it and simply said: "If you don't accept my toast, then I'll drink the wine and punish you. Fire your cannon."
After hearing this, the people nearby quickly covered their ears with their hands and saw the artilleryman took the charcoal to light the fuse. A moment later, there was a loud bang, the ground shook violently, flames flashed, and thick smoke rose.
An iron ball flew out from the flaming gun muzzle and knocked the old man at the door away. The huge crash was terrifying. Several warriors behind were also knocked to the ground.
The rest of the people at the gate stood there in amazement, and some of them backed away uncontrollably.
At this moment, there were sudden loud bangs and those people screamed miserably. Their torsos were pierced by lead bullets and blood splattered everywhere.
The Xu army infantry fired only one round of gunfire, and then a general drew his sword and said: Kill
The soldiers rushed in shouting and killed those who were still moving at the door. Then they rushed into the courtyard frantically.
The chaotic soldiers lost control of their positions once they entered the manor and killed everyone in it. But they dug deep into the ground but didn't find much food.
A general cursed that the people of Dongdao were too poor.
Zhang Jiankui was also very distressed. In the past, the materials transported by sea were mainly ammunition and weapons, and food was rarely transported. At that time, Gao Qi could help to prepare food and grass. Recently, there was an incident on the sea. There were very few ships of the Xu army to Iwami Province. If they did not prepare sufficient food early, they would starve to death if they were besieged in the future.
The military staff suggested: on the one hand, they should coerce and bribe other village officials to prepare military rations; on the other hand, they should consider attacking the county governors. The county governors in Iwami Province are poorly armed, so the government treasury must have rations.