Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 455 Permanent Decontamination
The winter wind howls, and the fire blazes fiercely.

The capital of Japan was ablaze, like a giant clump of dry grass.

The city was filled with howling and wailing, like a nest of little mice hiding in hay.

And at every exit of the capital, outside the leaping flames.

The Ming army's Xuanjia soldiers stood silently by, motionless, like a silent Stonehenge, guarding every gate of Naniwa Castle.

The firelight shone on them, reflecting a bewitching metallic sheen, bathing the raised "Ming" banner in a blood-red glow.

At the head of the procession, a dashing young general galloped on horseback, weaving between the various formations.

"Guard all exits! Don't let any fish escape!"
"Remember! Those with weapons are Japanese soldiers, those without weapons are well-trained Japanese soldiers!"

Xue Rengui personally issued the order.

The task of relaying orders did not normally require the Deputy Commander of the Jincheng Road Army to do it personally.

But that's what he wanted to do.

This order, when rounded up, is equivalent to "kill without mercy," which is equivalent to "massacre of the city," and would have been considered taboo even in ancient times.

But that's what he wanted to do.

There was no other reason than that they were slaughtering Japanese people.

His soldiers did not answer, but simply stared intently at the city gate.

In fact, the Ming army could faithfully carry out this order without the deputy commander-in-chief giving the order personally.

These soldiers from the disaster-stricken areas of Central China had originally planned to do this.

"Help! Help!"

Before long, several Japanese men, their bodies ablaze, fled the city gates, babbling and crying in their own language.

"put!"

A short command.

Arrows rained down instantly, hitting the fire-men with pinpoint accuracy.

The howling stopped abruptly, and the enemy collapsed to the ground like sacks, just like their city, silently licked by the flames.

After the last fireman fell, the Ming army immediately ceased their actions and returned to the silent darkness.

Such scenes were observed at various gates of Namba Castle.

Any living thing that escaped the burning city, regardless of who it was or whether it was human or animal, would be relentlessly hunted down by the Ming army.

Although it was still pitch black, Naniwa Castle itself was a giant torch, making everything and everyone visible.

Ming Dynasty archers could accurately kill their prey without even needing to light torches.

Following the archers were the infantry, poised to fill any gaps.

Following the infantry, there came the agile and mobile cavalry.

The castle was surrounded by three layers, making it as impenetrable as an iron barrel.

They guaranteed that no Japanese soldier, or "well-trained Japanese soldier," would escape their stronghold alive.

"The goal of razing the Japanese capital can now be achieved."

At the very back of the army formation, Li Shiji couldn't help but sigh.

He personally planned tonight's military operation that burned the Japanese capital to the ground.

First, have someone inside the city open the city gates and let in a small group of troops to set fires throughout the city.

Because most of the Japanese royal castles consisted of flammable thatched huts, and their layout was very cramped with the buildings packed tightly together, it would be almost impossible to extinguish a large-scale fire that broke out anywhere.

As the Japanese scattered and fled, the outer city wall became their final death trap.

Because of the city wall, in their panic, the Japanese would have no choice but to run towards the city gate, just like rats instinctively running out of their burrows after their nests have been burned.

This was exactly what the Ming army was looking for, saving them the trouble of searching for, driving away, and concentrating the enemy, allowing them to hunt down the target like a target.

It can be said that Li Shiji's strategy and tactics were quite simple and reasonable.

The Ming army's strong execution capabilities allowed this tactic to be executed almost perfectly.

It successfully resolved the pain points of chaotic military discipline and the constant escapes during the massacre.

This thoroughly implemented His Majesty the Emperor's supreme directive to "make the Japanese pay the price."

"An army with strong organization is particularly effective at massacring entire cities..."

As the commander-in-chief of this battle, even he himself felt fear towards the armed forces under his command.

Like a seasoned rider mounting a thoroughbred horse for the first time.

I was both amazed by its outstanding performance and in awe of its enormous potential.

A disciplined and elite army, compounded by national and personal grievances.

It can unleash a destructive force unmatched in this era...

"Phew... We can leave the massacre of the city to them without worry."

Li Shiji composed himself and rode away from the battlefield.

He didn't have much time to express his feelings.

The first phase of the strategy was executed very smoothly. The Japanese "Emperor" was captured alive, the ruling group was wiped out, and the Japanese capital was razed to the ground.

However, as mentioned earlier, this is only the first step.

Japan is not just about Naniwa.

The Japanese were not limited to the citizens of Naniwa.

In fact, Naniwa Castle is the most populous city on the archipelago.

However, the urbanization rate on the Japanese islands seems to be a bit too low.

The vast majority of the population is still widely distributed in rural areas.

Making the majority of these people "harmless" is a long-term, systematic, and complex project.

It would be impossible to accomplish this goal with only tens of thousands of elite Ming troops—they would gain nothing but drag themselves into a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly war.

That's why we brought this guy to the island.

"Minister Xue."

Li Shiji returned to the military camp and went to Xue Wanche's tent.

"The lair of the Japanese has been wiped out; now it's your turn to take charge."

Xue Wanche was holding an oil lamp and drawing circles on the map, pretending not to see the visitor.

Li Shiji's eye twitched almost imperceptibly, and he could only pinch his nose and utter a single sentence:
"Xue Shangjun, from now on, the battlefield will be entirely in your hands."

Xue Wanche immediately changed his expression and beamed with joy.

"Heh, no big deal, leave it to me, Lao Xue!"

You'd think this guy was hard to deal with, but if you held your nose, it wasn't impossible to communicate with him...

“Kii Province, which borders Naniwa Castle to the south, is a good point of entry. The terrain is relatively flat, making it easy to construct along the coast, and it is also close to our army.”

Xue Wanche didn't waste any words and took over the reins, immediately issuing instructions.

“We plan to use that place as a starting point to launch the ‘detoxification’ project.”

"General Li, I would like to trouble you to lead the troops to sweep through the area first."

As for the dishes that Brother Xue Wanche ordered, he acted as if he were no outsider at all.

Chief Steward Li Shiji actually accepted everything without question.

"Kii Province is just to the south, right? Good, once this matter in the capital is settled, we'll launch a full-scale attack immediately."

After saying that, he moved closer to Xue Wanche and began studying the map with him.

The map in Lao Xue's hand, although also a map of Japan, was somewhat different from the battle map. The map covered a larger area, encompassing a large part of the southeastern coast, and the details were much coarser than those of the battle map.

However, the map provides extremely detailed information about the terrain and topography, far exceeding that of military maps.

The locations of mountains and valleys, streams and rivers, and even underground water veins are all clearly marked.

These are all achievements made by the Ming Dynasty on the unseen battlefield.

This detailed topographic map is best suited for one thing.

"We'll start digging the irrigation canals and building the dams from here."

Xue Wanche pointed to the location on the map.

The Japanese destroyed the Ming Dynasty's water conservancy facilities, yet the Ming Dynasty is willing to rebuild water conservancy facilities for the Japanese in return. Our Ming Dynasty is truly too generous, too kind, and too ungrateful!

However, this water conservancy facility is a little different.

Ordinary water conservancy facilities are designed to allow freshwater to be discharged into the sea more effectively.

The facility that Xue Wanche and his friends were building was to allow seawater to flow back into the land more effectively.

The soil becomes salinized, making it impossible to grow food crops and support a large population.

Using ocean water conservancy projects was far more efficient and on a larger scale than the Romans spreading salt on Carthage.

And this is the core of Li Ming's plan for the "harmless transformation of the Japanese islands"—

They used every engineering means to destroy the agricultural base of the Japanese archipelago, depriving the entire archipelago of the economic foundation for developing an advanced civilization.

After all, wildfire cannot burn it all; the spring breeze will bring it back to life.

Simply pulling out and burning the weeds is not enough to eradicate the weeds on the island.

To solve the Japanese problem once and for all, the very conditions that give rise to it must be eradicated.

In fact, Li Ming used the same approach with other barbarian tribes as well as the Japanese.

However, since other barbarian tribes bordered the Ming Dynasty on land, they could be gradually integrated through large-scale immigration, strict grassroots control, cultural indoctrination, and economic welfare.

However, the Japanese islands are isolated overseas, making it almost impossible to effectively govern them.

Therefore, we can only switch to a more fundamental approach—

If you can't solve the problem, solve the people who created it.

"Okay, I'll organize the troops right away and advance south all the way to the sea."

Li Shiji had no objections whatsoever and followed Xue Wanche's "strategic plan" exactly as instructed.

According to His Majesty Li Ming's plan, the war against the Japanese pirates was centered around Xue Wanche's engineering team.

Li Shiji and the entire Jincheng Road Military Governor's Office were merely auxiliary.

The military can only carry out one-time, localized "depopulation".

Throughout history and across the world, there have been very few ethnic groups that were directly killed and exterminated by war.

To completely eliminate the threat posed by Japan to China, we still need to rely on forces other than military force.

"Row."

Xue Wanche really adopted the air of a commander-in-chief, nodding with feigned profundity before immersing himself in his work again.

"The water here is deep, and there used to be only one fishing port. We can allocate some people to expand it, so that military supplies will no longer need to land at Nagato and then be transported overland all the way here."

"There may not be enough civilian laborers, so we need to draw some second-line soldiers."

Li Shiji accepted all of Lao Xue's demands without question:

“Alright. The Japanese don’t really have much ability to resist on the battlefield, so there’s no need to commit such a large number of troops to the main battlefront.”

The two coordinated their respective tasks, and before they knew it, dawn was breaking.

Xue Rengui and Qi Biheli led their troops in response, reporting back to their two commanders:

"The enemy capital has been pacified."

These few words mean that Japan's largest city has been completely swept into the dustbin of history.

As for the fate of the tens of thousands of Japanese living in the city.

Li Shiji didn't even bother to ask.

Surrounded by layers upon layers of fierce and ruthless troops, a little mouse whose den is on fire has no chance of survival whatsoever.

If you're going to massacre a city, you have to do it cleanly.

They couldn't even let a fly fly out alive.

"Remember to clean up that ruin; I'll need it later," Xue Wanche said casually.

"Yes, sir." Xue Rengui and Qibi Heli replied very seriously.

Everything should be done with Minister Xue in mind.

…………

By the time the four generals finished discussing the next steps in the battle, the sun had risen high in the sky, and it was morning.

"Go back and rest. The troops need rest, and the general needs rest too, otherwise you can't command the war if your mind is muddled."

After Li Shiji's repeated urging, the generals who were obsessed with Japanese pirates... and the foremen reluctantly left the military tent and went back to rest.

As soon as they stepped out of the gate, they saw something novel...

To be precise, it was a prison van, and inside sat a man slumped over.

The man had fair skin and slender limbs; he was likely a high-ranking figure in Japan.

The man looked extremely haggard, covered in bruises from the beating, barely recognizable as a human. His forehead was also bruised and swollen, with dried black bloodstains remaining.

He stood motionless, listless, like a broken puppet. Amidst his disheveled hair, only his eyes remained wide open, gleaming with terror.

Upon seeing the four generals emerge, the man immediately shrank into a corner of the prison cart, muttering gibberish in a bird language.

Li Shiji frowned and looked at Xue Rengui and Qibi Heli with some resentment.

"Didn't we say we wouldn't leave anyone alive? Why are we still keeping one mouth to feed and wasting food?"

Xue Rengui glanced at his partner, presumably indicating that this was the other person's opinion.

Qibi Heli then stepped forward and reported:

"Chief Steward Li, this man is the Japanese chieftain, also known as 'Emperor Kotoku,' who is the instigator of all the sins committed to this day."

"In my humble opinion, we should follow His Majesty's orders regarding how to deal with this fellow."

For this loyal dog of imperial power, reporting to the emperor morning and night was the duty of a subject. The idea that "a general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders" was simply a foreign concept.

His old partner, Xue Wanche, also chimed in on his behalf:

"In the Ming Dynasty, there were countless people who wanted to eat his flesh and drink his blood."

“Killing him like this will only make the people of our country unhappy. Letting him get rid of his burden early would be too good for him.”

Since everyone said so, Li Shiji couldn't say anything more.

"Alright, let's send him back to Tangzhou like this."

So, the group, not wanting to give the Japanese chieftain another glance, returned to their respective camps.

Inside the prison van.

The humanoid creature that was once "Emperor Kōtoku" still huddled in the corner, its eyes blinking in terror, repeatedly muttering:

"I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong... It was so terrible, so terrible..."

After witnessing firsthand the Ming army's perverse and efficient methods of killing.

This emperor, who just half a day ago compared himself to the legendary emperors Yao and Shun, has gone mad.

(End of this chapter)