I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1021 Divine Fire Crow Settles Down
When the Ming army arrived, when the new dragon flag was planted at Odawara Castle, and when the sailing ships that blotted out the sky appeared in Sagami Bay, the Japanese samurai knew clearly that the Ming army had truly come.

Odawara Castle is a mountain castle with only two gates, the first being the Tokiwagi Gate.

This wooden gate is the main gate of the Honmaru. The Honmaru castle tower is built on Mount Hakone. Compared to the Ninomaru Castle, the Honmaru is more than 60 feet higher. Moreover, after a hundred years of renovation, it is difficult to climb. Even if you manage to climb up, you will still have to face a 30-foot-high wall.

The wall, three zhang high and more than six chi wide, allowed warriors to run and escape quickly, and to move between dozens of arrow towers for defense.

Outside the Tokimono Gate is the Tokimono Bridge, which only allows six people to walk side by side. Even after crossing the bridge, one still faces a barbican. Once across the bridge, one must be met with arrows from the three walls of the barbican.

Nimaru Castle also has another gate, Tokiwa Iron Gate.

This iron gate is the only passage in and out of Odawara Castle. Once it is closed, it is virtually impossible to break through from the front. Even if countless casualties are suffered and the iron gate is captured, entering the mountain castle would still mean facing countless winding mountain roads, arrows, and traps.

The city has twenty-two wells and granaries that can store five years' worth of grain.

It was a typical Japanese mountain castle. Even the Ming Dynasty, with its countless siege cannons, would have needed to be the first to charge into the enemy lines to pry open this tough nut.

The mountain fortresses built in a short period of time by the Japanese invaders were already quite troublesome, but the mountain fortress in front of us, which had been built over hundreds of years, truly lived up to its name as the most fortified fortress in the world.

Lacking sufficient firearms, the Japanese were helpless against this mountain fortress; such a sturdy city could only fall from within.

On the sixth day of the ninth month of the twentieth year of the Wanli reign, the Tokiwa Iron Gate, which had been closed for two years, slowly opened, and a donkey cart slowly appeared. There were no weapons on the cart, but it was adorned with a dragon flag and a seven-star flag. It moved slowly forward, and on the cart was an envoy sent by Hojo Ujimasa.

This was the wisdom of the Hojo clan for survival. Whenever a powerful enemy came to the city, they would close the city gates and wait for the enemy to attack for a period of time. When they found it difficult to conquer and the enemy's charge began to falter, the Hojo clan would open the iron gates, send envoys, and offer fine wine, delicacies, and valuables to persuade the enemy to retreat.

This is about giving each other a way out, one of the survival wisdoms of the Japanese Warring States period. There's no need to suffer too many casualties or fight to the death. If too many people die here, it gives others a chance.

By sacrificing tens of thousands of samurai to capture Odawara Castle, one would suffer heavy losses, and other daimyo would be drawn in and attack.

The Hojo clan's envoy was a single man, quite short, less than five feet tall, dressed in extremely fine clothes, wearing a tasseled crown, earrings on both sides of his face, and a light blue robe. Unlike the Confucian robes of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese robes were secured at the collar with a single sash. Below the robe were shinkan, which were trousers with lantern-like legs. He wore white socks, but no shoes or clogs.

The rule that envoys are not killed in war also applies to Japan. The envoy's donkey cart will only be allowed to disembark when it reaches the enemy's commander-in-chief. Not wearing shoes signifies his determination not to run away or turn back.

This outfit is actually somewhat similar to that of the scholar-officials of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and the Tang Dynasty, but not quite. As Wan Shihe said, he has not learned three parts of human mannerisms, but seven parts of animalistic nature are deeply rooted in his mind. He has learned it, but not completely, and has not mastered it.

The messenger arrived at the enemy camp and met with the enemy commander, Tadashi Sakai.

Tadatsugu Sakai was one of the Four Heavenly Kings under Tokugawa Ieyasu, and also Tokugawa Ieyasu's chief retainer. He was 66 years old this year. Due to an eye disease, his eyesight had begun to decline. He had not yet gone blind, but he was no longer able to lead troops into battle.

After the envoy presented fine wine, delicacies, and valuables, he stated Hojo Ujimasa's request for the withdrawal of his troops.

"This attack has been going on for two years. Since Your Excellency withdrew your troops, only 30,000 men have been left to continue the attack. These 30,000 men are not capable of taking Odawara Castle. The Ming Dynasty's dragon flag has been raised over Odawara Castle, and the Ming army has reached Sagami Bay. If the general insists on continuing the attack, I'm afraid there will be heavy casualties. I urge the general to be cautious and leave this place." The envoy's attitude was very respectful.

Tadatsugu Sakai is a very capable fighter. If they can reach a truce and make peace, it would be a good thing for both sides.

Xiong Tingbi was aware of and permitted the dispatch of envoys by Hojo Ujimasa.

The Hojo clan also had its own plans. Neither Ujimasa nor Ujinao really wanted to fight, because Toyotomi Hideyoshi might use this as a pretext to launch a larger-scale invasion, plunging the Kanto Plain into endless war.

Xiong Tingbi was willing to let the Hojo clan give it a try because he was certain that they wouldn't give up so easily; if they could back down, they would have done so long ago.

“I cannot make such a decision.” After a long silence, Sakai Tadatsugu said with emotion, “The Hojo clan has always been a traitor since Oda Nobunaga. They have never submitted to Oda Nobunaga, nor to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, nor to you, sir.”

"Now that you have chosen to submit to the Ming Dynasty, do not be a fickle and treacherous person. A traitor is a villain and will not be tolerated anywhere."

The Tokugawa samurai all addressed Tokugawa Ieyasu as "Lord" or "Your Highness," etc. Sakai Tadatsugu did not respect Toyotomi Hideyoshi because he was a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, not Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Out of respect, the Hojo clan's envoy also addressed Tokugawa Ieyasu as "O-jin," which means "patriarch."

"Thank you for your guidance, General. But General, is there really no room for negotiation?" The envoy had not expected that there would be no conditions and only refusal.

Previously, Hojo had anticipated that Sakai Tadatsugu would make exorbitant demands for a large sum of money before retreating. So, he negotiated little by little, finding a mutually acceptable condition, giving some goods to make the enemy withdraw.

If we don't even discuss the terms, how can we even negotiate this deal?
“I cannot retreat.” Sakai Tadatsugu sighed again and said in a low voice, “Please return, envoy.”

The envoy couldn't understand Sakai Tadatsugu's attitude. Sakai Tadatsugu clearly knew that fighting was not an option and even intended to retreat, so how could he say that retreat was impossible? The envoy wanted to talk some more, but Sakai Tadatsugu saw him off.

Sakai Tadatsugu could not retreat because of his disloyalty in his choice back then, which meant that although he was one of the four great kings of the Tokugawa family, he could never gain Tokugawa Ieyasu's complete trust.

When Oda Nobunaga, the great demon king, was conquering the country, he betrothed his second daughter, Tokuhime, to Matsudaira Nobuyasu, the eldest son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. This marriage alliance between the two families strengthened their cooperation.

When Tokuhime, the second daughter of Oda Nobunaga, visited her family, she accused her husband Matsudaira Nobuyasu and her mother-in-law Lady Tsukiyama of secretly colluding with the Takeda clan in an attempt to rebel!

Oda Nobunaga was furious. After investigating, he discovered that Tokugawa Ieyasu's wife, Lady Tsukiyama, was indeed secretly colluding with the Takeda clan. Oda Nobunaga then ordered the execution of Lady Tsukiyama and his son-in-law, Matsudaira Nobuyasu.

Tokugawa Ieyasu could not bear Oda Nobunaga's humiliation and attempted to resist, contacting the Imagawa and Takeda clans in an effort to rebel against Oda Nobunaga. At this critical moment, a division arose within the Tokugawa clan, with one faction advocating resistance and the other advocating compromise with Oda Nobunaga.

Tadashi Sakai was among those who advocated compromise.

When the shogun wanted to kill the head of the family's wife and eldest son, Sakai Tadatsugu, as a retainer, actually thought that he should compromise to avoid conflict, which laid the foundation for distrust later on.

Tadatsugu Sakai had a lot of unspeakable suffering.

His initial statement of compromise came entirely from Tokugawa Ieyasu's instructions, not from his own will.

It was Tokugawa Ieyasu himself, the patriarch, who, in order to preserve the alliance with Oda Nobunaga and maintain the peace of the clan, prompted Sakai Tadatsugu to make such a statement.

But now that Oda Nobunaga is dead and Tokugawa Ieyasu has become the chief scribe of the Five Elders, holding a high position, he cannot afford such a stain.

This responsibility rests solely with Tadashi Sakai.

That's why he was assigned to this place to carry out this useless task. The Ming Dynasty needed to kill some people to establish its authority, while Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu needed some samurai to die to prove that they had tried but failed.

A pawn to be sacrificed, and one that must die.

"At the request of Yuan Zheng and Yuan Zhi, I allowed you to send envoys. You only needed to withdraw your troops, why did you have to come here to die?" Xiong Tingbi felt extremely uncomfortable.

The feudal system in Japan and the feudal system in the Ming Dynasty seem to be completely different.

In the eyes of Yuan Zheng, Yuan Zhi, Sakai Tadatsugu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and others, they did not care about the lives of those 30,000 samurai.

The power of Ming Dynasty firearms had already been demonstrated during the burning of the capital.

Even from the most pragmatic perspective, the decision Sakai Tadatsugu should have made was to withdraw his troops and preserve his strength, rather than commit suicide.

But this bizarre thing just happened, and Sakai Tadatsuji refused to even talk about it.

After pondering for a long, long time, Xiong Tingbi understood the root cause of his discomfort: the Japanese poor, common people, and even the samurai were completely numb and lacked personal will and self-will.

The will of these Japanese nobles, daimyo, and court nobles is their will.

The Ming Dynasty was not like that. The fact that tenant farmers swarmed into the cities of Nanjing Zhenwu Camp, Hangzhou Luomu Camp, Ninghua, Ruijin, and Ningdu counties, forcing the county officials to issue land equalization certificates and reduce rents, all proves that even the tenant farmers of the Ming Dynasty were not so apathetic.

Whether it was the emperor or the ministers, they at least kept saying that the people were the foundation of the state and that a stable foundation ensured national peace. No matter what they thought or did, they at least said it.

However, judging from Xiong Tingbi's interactions, the Japanese are not like that; the Japanese seem not to express their dissatisfaction.

Those uprisings by the common people were more like a performance. They gathered tens of thousands of people, but all they could do was petition these officials. Then the organizers would commit suicide to atone for their sins.

This is not a rebellion at all; it's just a performance.

"Since you refuse to leave, then die here." Xiong Tingbi said no more and began preparing for battle.

The war has begun again. The Ming navy is on standby, and three thousand troops from the Ming capital garrison are quickly deployed to Odawara Castle.

Soon, on the ninth day of the ninth month, the sound of drums resounded, and Sakai Tadatsugu gave the order, and the samurai launched another charge towards Odawara Castle, whose iron gates were wide open.

The Ming soldiers filed out, and soon 1,800 men were in formation, arranged in three rows of 600 men each, forming a three-section attack line. This was completed in just half an hour.

The sound of drums shook the heavens, and the horns swept across the entire battlefield. Countless seabirds on the shore flapped their wings and flew towards the horizon.

The Tuanlong flag and Xiong Tingbi's ceremonial flag waved continuously atop the city wall, as orders were rapidly issued, and the sophisticated killing machine began to operate.

The first thing to resound throughout the battlefield was the nine-pound cannons. A total of forty-seven nine-pound cannons began to roar. The exploding shells were propelled out of the cannon barrels by the explosive gunpowder, drawing graceful arcs in the air before exploding with a bang above the heads of the Japanese samurai.

The caltrops in the exploding shells, propelled by the gunpowder, were scattered towards the charging Japanese soldiers, blooming into flamboyant flowers of blood.

Blood blossoms bloomed on the battlefield, then disappeared in the torrent of charging soldiers. After several rounds of bombardment, the roar of artillery ceased, and only deafening roars continued on the battlefield, with shouts of battle filling everyone's ears.

Beneath Odawara Castle, ballistae were pushed out one after another, their strings gradually tightening as the mechanisms turned. A total of 120 ballistae were ready to fire, and divine fire crows were placed on the strings.

"Level the crossbow formation." Xiong Tingbi lowered his telescope; the enemy had already entered the range of the Divine Fire Flying Crows.

"Release." Xiong Tingbi re-estimated the distance and ordered the horizontally positioned Divine Fire Flying Crow to launch.

The banners fluttered incessantly, the drums beat faster once more, and several messengers stood beside the drums, waving colorful flags and relaying orders to the battle lines. The crossbows, laid flat, aimed at the charging Japanese soldiers. Triggers were pulled, the flint on the bellies of the "Divine Fire Flying Crow" crossbows rubbing fiercely against the flint on the crossbow carts, igniting the fuses. Streaks of fire shot from the crossbow carts, flying towards the distant Japanese soldiers.

The Imperial Academy of Natural History had a failed attempt when Zhu Zaiyu tried to power a glider by mounting an iron horse on it and even asked the emperor for one million taels of silver to build a wind tunnel specifically for improving the glider.

The project failed because Zhu Zaiyu had determined that the calorific value of coal and the thermal efficiency of the iron horse were simply insufficient to meet the requirements for flight.

However, the project was not a complete failure. At least the Ming Dynasty developed many empirical formulas and improved the appearance of the Divine Fire Flying Crow, allowing it to fly farther and more stably.

The Divine Fire Crow, about the length of an arm, has become more rounded and slender. Its two slanted wings provide balance and lift, while the triangular tail rudder prevents it from being affected by the wind.

The previous Divine Fire Flying Crow could not maintain stable flight. After being released, it mostly followed the wind and was more suitable for setting fires, such as burning down Kyoto. However, its instability made it unsuitable for use as a battlefield weapon. Now, this shortcoming has been remedied by the scientists.

They traded range for stability and more gunpowder, increasing lethality.

One hundred and twenty Divine Fire Crows soared into the sky with sharp whistles, sometimes high-pitched and sometimes low-pitched. Two minutes later, the second batch of one hundred and twenty crows took off, the whistles echoing in the air. The third and fourth batches of Divine Fire Crows were released wave after wave.

The divine fire crow, released for the first time, finally flew over the charging Japanese. The Japanese looked up in terror. The whistle drew everyone's attention. The fuse of the crow had burned out, and the flames had burned into its abdomen. Explosions followed one after another. Oil and white phosphorus, along with the divine fire, splashed onto the charging Japanese formation like ink.

When kerosene and white phosphorus fell on the Japanese, they would ignite fiercely, completely disrupting their charge. Screams rose and fell as the Japanese rolled on the ground, but to no avail. The reason why the Divine Fire Flying Crow was called "Divine Fire" was because this kind of fire was difficult to extinguish once it got on them.

A nauseating aroma of roasted meat wafted from the battlefield. The Japanese soldiers, now ablaze, rushed towards the sea, but fell to the ground midway, lifeless, while the flames continued to burn silently.

This is not the end, but the beginning. The second round, the third round, and countless rounds of crows will follow one after another.

Braving the raging flames, the Japanese continued their charge towards the Ming army's formation. Finally, they reached 150 paces, entering the range of the Tiger Crouching Cannon. As the Tiger Crouching Cannon began to roar, the Ming soldiers started loading their weapons, preparing to meet the advancing Japanese charge.

At 120 paces, the Pingyi guns began to fire frequently.

At eighty paces, the first rank of musketeers pulled the trigger, striking the flintlock with their hammers, swishing the flint and steel to ignite the priming powder inside the musket. The priming powder burned into the barrel, igniting the propellant, and the lead bullet shot out with the help of the gunpowder.

As the third rank of musketeers pulled the trigger, the first rank of musketeers had already finished loading their weapons. Smoke billowed across the battlefield, and with each volley of gunfire, nearly a hundred Japanese pirates fell to the ground, their blood blooming on their foreheads, shoulders, chests, abdomens, and limbs.

Each sharp whistling sound of lead bullets slicing through the air mercilessly reaped the lives of the Japanese pirates.

Like stubble on wheat, the Japanese pirates fell one after another on their way to victory.

The Japanese ultimately failed to break through the Ming army's musket formation. When they were about sixty paces away, they could no longer advance and finally stopped charging, beginning to scatter.

"Change formation, cavalry battalion, advance!" Xiong Tingbi continued to issue orders.

The three-row line formation quickly transformed into a marching column, and in the gaps between the columns, cavalrymen appeared one by one. A total of eight hundred cavalrymen reined in their horses. The grim atmosphere on the battlefield did not disturb the warhorses; on the contrary, it excited them quite a bit.

The drumbeats intensified again, and the cavalry began to walk slowly, then quickly, and then charged forward, their hooves thundering.

"Kill!" Countless shouts of battle shook the heavens and pierced through the clouds, carrying towards the far distance.

The cavalry knew their duty was to drive and harass, while the real killing was left to the infantry in the column. The cavalry drove the Japanese pirates into the line of fire like they were herding sheep.

Life is so cheap on the battlefield.

Three thousand men against thirty thousand enemy troops—the elite soldiers of the Ming capital not only suppressed the enemy's charge but even began to pursue and kill them relentlessly.

The war is drawing to a close, and the outcome is already decided.

The pursuit didn't stop until dusk. The 30,000 Japanese pirates who charged left behind tens of thousands of corpses. The Ming soldiers, in teams of three, finished off the pirates on the battlefield to prevent any from being missed.

Finishing off an enemy is a good habit that has been around for a long time. Three people in a team can prevent the enemy from launching a desperate counterattack.

On the seventh day, the battlefield was completely cleaned up, and 1,400 Japanese pirates were captured, including the enemy's commander, Sakai Tadatsugu.

Sakai Tadatsugu will board the ship with 140 Japanese pirates and return to the Ming Dynasty to prove his achievements in this battle.

The Ming Dynasty had a strict definition of "annihilation": eliminating 90% of the enemy's manpower; completely destroying the enemy army; and causing the enemy to lose all will to resist and the ability to regroup and fight.

If any one of these three definitions is met, it meets the standard for total annihilation.

Xiong Tingbi used three thousand men to fulfill his promise and annihilate the invading enemy, depriving them of their ability to regroup. They could only flee in disarray towards the rear. He did not pursue them. His main purpose in coming to the Kanto Plain was to occupy the area and try to bring Japan under his rule in his own way.

Xiong Tingbi was not proud of the outcome of the war. He believed that the overwhelming superiority of firearms over cold weapons made victory a matter of course.

The Ming army suffered 77 wounded, including 7 seriously wounded and 3 who died. The Ming army lost 24 lives in this battle. Their remains will be cremated, and their ashes and identity plaques will be buried in the Martyrs' Shrine in Xishan.

When Xiong Tingbi was writing the victory report, he hesitated a bit. In the end, the first sentence he wrote in the report was: "The one who wins well has no one to fight with; the one who fights well will be punished."

These two sentences, the former from Lao Tzu and the latter from Mencius, mean that those who are good at defeating enemies do not easily engage in battle; those who are warlike, who only use force, and who take pleasure in killing, should be punished more severely.

This phrase, which Qi Jiguang often told all the elite soldiers of the Beijing Garrison, was the second core principle of the Ming Dynasty's Beijing Garrison after reporting to the emperor and saving the common people. In military strategy, it meant that even if one wins, one should not be proud of it; even if one attacks, one should not be strong; and one should strive to achieve the way of the king.

Like Qi Jiguang, a skilled warrior does not enjoy war. The more adept a general is at fighting and winning, the less he should be blinded by arrogance and the more he should always maintain a deep respect for the battlefield.

Xiong Tingbi was young and ambitious. He even made a grand vow to change the current situation in Japan and make Japan truly stable, but he was never arrogant.

After writing this sentence, Xiong Tingbi wrote a detailed battle report about his experience in this war.

"Li Da Dang, why does His Majesty favor me so much?" Xiong Tingbi asked with a puzzled expression as he handed the battle report to Li Yougong.

He felt he was nothing special, just a cowherd, but he knew that since he was ten years old, when His Majesty saw him, he had received His Majesty's absolute favor. Even when he became king and tyrannical in Japan, His Majesty seemed to tolerate it.

“His Majesty is eager for talented people.” Li Yougong gave a very standard answer, which was reasonable, but it seemed a little insufficient.

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty." Xiong Tingbi smiled, his smile as bright and sunny as the Emperor's, much like Emperor Wu of Han's favoritism towards Huo Qubing, without any particular reason.

"Sakai Tadatsugu wants to see you." Li Yougong himself had also written a battle report. He would set sail with the navy back to the Ming Dynasty, just in time for the Tianjin naval review in October.

The annual naval review held in Tianjin in October is one of the two annual reviews held by the Ming Dynasty in spring and autumn. Its main purpose is to demonstrate the loyalty of the navy, and this loyalty needs to be witnessed by His Majesty.

Xiong Tingbi nodded and said, "Let's meet him."

Sakai Tadatsugu was a defeated general, but he fought the battle somewhat haphazardly. Xiong Tingbi had to personally ask Sakai Tadatsugu why he wasn't afraid.

Sakai Tadatsugu, with disheveled hair, wearing a plain robe and shackles, looked at Xiong Tingbi's imposing figure and the clean-shaven eunuch beside him. Sakai Tadatsugu's expression was extremely complicated.

"I wish I were a citizen of the Ming Dynasty." Sakai Tadatsugu looked around for a long, long time before sighing and uttering this inexplicable sentence.

Xiong Tingbi frowned and said, "It seems that you have a compelling reason for not withdrawing your troops."

"I was loyal to you, but you abandoned me for the sake of your own pride." Sakai Tadatsugu began to tell his story.

After Tokugawa Ieyasu killed his wife and eldest son, he began to gradually distance himself from Sakai Tadatsugu. From that time on, Sakai Tadatsugu fell into confusion. What exactly is loyalty?
After Xiong Tingbi fully understood the reason, he shook his head and said, "Your king is not a wise and virtuous ruler."

A wise and virtuous ruler would not allow his loyal subordinates to be placed in such a dilemma. Clearly, Tokugawa Ieyasu shifted the blame onto his subordinates.

Your Majesty would not do that. When you issued the order to ban the abandonment of wasteland, it was because Your Majesty was wrong. Your Majesty admitted your mistake, swallowed your words, and did not make anyone bear the blame.

No one in the world is perfect. Your Majesty has never intended to create a celestial being who is "different from ordinary people." Your Majesty also makes mistakes, has your own joys and sorrows, and sometimes makes some naive moves in politics. Your Majesty will only regard those setbacks and mistakes as the road ahead.

"Sigh." Sakai Tadatsugu sighed and said no more. Three days later, he boarded the ship and was sent to the Ming Dynasty as spoils of war.

The naval review scheduled for October could not be held as planned because the Bohai Bay began to freeze in October, which delayed the review. The freezing period in the Bohai Bay is only one and a half months, but with the change in weather, this freezing period has been extended to two months and may even continue to increase.

Li Yougong led his fleet to disembark at Jiaozhou Bay, which was still an ice-free port. On October 17, Li Yougong returned to the capital with the prisoners of war.

Zhu Yijun allowed Li Yougong to rest for a day, and the next day he received Li Yougong in the Wenhua Hall.

Li Yougong entered the hall, holding up Xiong Tingbi's victory report, prostrated himself, and said in a voice that resonated throughout the palace: "Your Majesty, I have been ordered to supervise the army. General Xiong Tingbi of Edo led three thousand imperial troops in a fierce battle against thirty thousand Japanese pirates at Odawara."

"Our Ming Dynasty navy arrayed itself at Sagami Bay, its nine-pound cannons shattering their advance, its divine fire and flying crows burning their formation, and its muskets firing in rapid succession to break their courage. After a day of fierce fighting, it beheaded over ten thousand and captured more than fourteen hundred bandit leaders, including Sakai Tadatsugu. Our own army lost twenty-four men. This battle shook the Japanese nation, terrified the Japanese pirates, and made the East Sea tremble with fear. All admired the might and virtue of the Holy Emperor, and the heavenly army fought swiftly."

Zhu Yijun said with a very serious expression: "The fallen soldiers are all heroes of our Great Ming Dynasty. According to regulations, the Crown Prince should escort their coffins into the Martyrs' Shrine. The Ministry of War and the Five Military Commissions should be aware of this and ensure that the widows and children of the martyrs are well cared for, so as not to dampen the fighting spirit of the soldiers."

Zhu Changzhi, Qi Jiguang, and Zeng Shengwu stepped forward, bowed their heads, and said, "Your subjects obey the decree."

"Your Majesty, I request that this battle be included in the 'Records of the Ming Army's Eastern Expedition' and the 'Records of Heroes of the Eastern Expedition'." Gao Qiyu stepped forward, bowed his head, and requested permission. His intention was to continue building the Ming Dynasty's philosophy of victory, which was a philosophy of victory based on true winning.

"That's only right." Zhu Yijun granted the Ministry of Rites' request.

"Your Majesty is wise." Zhu Changzhi, Qi Jiguang, Zeng Shengwu, and Gao Qiyu bowed their heads and returned to their posts.

Zhu Yijun looked at Shen Shixing and asked with concern, "Has the master's illness not improved yet?"

(End of this chapter)