nashuaworldcup Chapter 423: One Battle to Become Famous
Chapter 423: One Battle to Become Famous
Shi Ying picked up a samurai sword and walked towards Shimazu Mitsuhisa. However, the ground was covered with kneeling samurai, blocking his way. He didn't bother to ask them to move aside, and simply kicked them aside. The kicked samurai didn't dare to utter a sound, but quickly got up and knelt to the side to avoid blocking his way.
Having just killed many people, Shi Ying had already calmed down. Seeing these cowardly Japanese kneeling before him, he found them repulsive and simply swung his sword down, killing them one by one. One after another, the samurai in front of him fell to the ground.
Seeing that even surrendering would result in death, the Satsuma samurai became agitated. Though they remained silent, they all glared at Shiki with hostility. Many more turned to look at Shimazu Mitsuhisa, hoping that their lord would give the order to rise up in resistance. These noble samurai could face death calmly, but they could not be humiliated like this.
But they were disappointed. Shimazu Mitsuhisa did not give the order. Instead, he shouted, "All the samurai of my Satsuma Domain must not resist the heavenly army. This is a tribulation that Amaterasu has given us."
The samurai were dumbfounded. They had to absolutely obey their lord's words, even though it seemed very unreasonable.
Shi Ying slaughtered the dozen or so samurai blocking his way like a butcher, then walked alone to Shimazu Mitsuhisa. Under the watchful eyes of nearly a thousand Satsuma Domain samurai, he held his katana to Shimazu's neck and said contemptuously, "Whether it was your order or not, whether these Japanese are your direct subordinates or not, what happened in the castle must be explained, and you must pay the price!"
Shimazu Mitsuhisa showed no intention of resisting. If it weren't for the knife to his neck, he would have kowtowed and admitted his mistake. He simply replied in a trembling voice, "I will leave everything to your discretion and have no objection."
For a moment, Shi Ying had the thought of killing the Japanese pirate leader, but then he remembered that since the general had used this guy as a pawn, he might still have some use. If he killed him rashly, it might ruin the general's plan. Seeing that the guy obediently surrendered, he took the opportunity to sheathe his sword.
“Very well, have your men lay down their arms and surrender. They will be taken out of the city as our ‘prisoners.’ If they resist, kill them without mercy. As for these ronin…”
Shimazu Mitsuhisa quickly replied, "These guys are disobedient and despicable. You may do as you please." When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Right now, it's good enough if you can protect your own subordinates. You don't have time to deal with these ronin.
The surviving ronin, upon hearing that Shimazu Mitsuhisa had so heartlessly abandoned them, began to curse in the Kyushu dialect. Had it not been for the intense battle that had exhausted them, they might have already drawn their swords and attacked.
When the Qiongzhou soldiers saw that their defeated enemy still dared to make noise, they raised their bayonets and stabbed several of the loudest ones to death, and the cursing immediately stopped.
Shi Ying looked around and noticed that some villagers were hiding behind their doors in nearby houses, watching the commotion. He realized that the entire county was probably watching how the Qiongzhou camp would deal with these "Japanese pirates." He thought to himself, since he had already taken action, he might as well make it as quick as possible. So he ordered, "Behead all the ronin and take all their heads with you!"
Not many of the ronin could speak Chinese, but many could understand it. Upon hearing this, they gritted their teeth and got up, unwilling to surrender and ready to fight to the last.
The Qiongzhou soldiers, already on high alert, saw the ronin struggling in their death throes and thrust their bayonets at them. The ronin, already outmatched, were now even more demoralized and outmatched. As the bayonets extended and retracted like tongues, one ronin after another fell into pools of blood.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa's eyes darted around. These ronin were doomed anyway, so he might as well use them as stepping stones to salvage some goodwill in front of the Qiongzhou camp. He drew his katana and roared, "These Kyushu bastards defied the orders of the heavenly army of the superior nation and deserve to die! Samurai of the Satsuma Domain, use your swords to cut off their heads, lest you sully the swords of the heavenly army!"
The samurai obeyed their lord's command, drawing their swords and rushing towards the exhausted ronin, raising their blades to strike. The ronin, their eyes bloodshot with rage, could not believe the Shimazu clan was so despicable, and they roared and swung their swords in resistance.
The Qiongzhou soldiers stared in disbelief as the Satsuma samurai, even more eager than themselves, clashed with their own comrades. Since someone else was doing the work, the soldiers naturally preferred to save their energy; they silently stepped back a few paces, enjoying the sight of the Japanese slaughtering each other.
One side was exhausted, while the other was a fresh force. The result was predictable: the samurai quickly subdued the ronin and beheaded them.
This group of "Japanese pirates," who had wreaked havoc throughout Taizhou and Zhejiang and shocked the court, was cleanly and efficiently dealt with by the Qiongzhou camp within two hours. The people of the city poured out of their homes to watch the thousands of Japanese pirate heads being transported by horse-drawn carts, and then spat, threw eggs, and vegetable leaves at another group of "captured" to vent their resentment.
The samurai of the Satsuma Domain felt wronged. They thought to themselves, "We did try to stop these dead guys. Even if we joined in the looting later, we didn't rob ordinary people. We were only targeting officials. Why should we bear all the blame?"
As the head of the Shimazu family and the future daimyo of the Satsuma Domain (his father, Shimazu Tadatsune, was still alive, only the position of family head had been passed down), Shimazu Mitsuhisa enjoyed special privileges. He donned the uniform of a Qiongzhou soldier and mingled among the ranks, avoiding the wrath and humiliation of the people alongside his subordinates. He was grateful that he had pulled back from the brink and not turned against the Qiongzhou Camp; otherwise, he might now be a severed head paraded through the streets on a carriage.
The heads and prisoners traveled north from Linhai County, eventually joining the main force anchored at the coast. Along the way, they passed through prefectures and villages ravaged by Japanese pirates. The streets were deserted as everyone who had suffered at the hands of the pirates rushed to witness this spectacle. When they saw with their own eyes the lifeless heads of the pirates who had killed their relatives and stolen their property, they felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Originally unknown on the mainland, the Qiongzhou Camp became famous overnight after this trip to Taizhou, making the whole world aware that the Ming Dynasty had another army with outstanding combat power after Qi Jiguang's army.
After the First Battalion rejoined the main force, Liu Ye listened to Shi Ying's report on the events and couldn't help but feel a lingering fear. If he had arrived a moment later and failed to stop the ronin's atrocities in time, this self-directed "anti-pirate" drama would have been a disaster, and he would have become a sinner in history for personally opening Pandora's box of Japanese pirates. Fortunately, the situation was still under control and hadn't deteriorated to the point of no return.