Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 279 Burn the shipyard and kill the craftsmen!

Rising Dragon.

Baoguang Palace.

King Li Hao of Annan, also known as Li Sicheng, was on the verge of collapse after reading the battle reports from the front line.

"How can this be good, how can this be good!"

Li Sicheng had a sad face and a sobbing tone in his voice: "Duobang City has been breached by the Ming army. The elephant soldiers are in disarray. The main force of the Ming army is only two rivers away from Thang Long!"

"My two lords, you are my king's most trusted ministers. Please think of a solution quickly! Think of a solution!"

Li Sicheng was so frightened that he lost his mind and cried to Ruan Chi and Ding Lie.

At this moment, Ruan Chi and Ding Lie felt no more relaxed than Li Sicheng.

They never expected that the Ming army's offensive would be so swift and fierce. In just a few days, they had fought all the way from Xuanhua Prefecture to Duobang City.

Of course, the most important point is that the two documents they sent to the Ming Dynasty fell into the sea and they did not receive any feedback at all.

Ruan Chi sent a letter for help to Zhang Peng, but Zhang Peng simply ignored it.

The situation in Jiangnan is now tense, and he himself is just a weakling, and he has neither the energy nor the ability to interfere in Annan's military and political affairs.

Zhu Youtang did not even look at the letter of surrender sent to him. He directly asked the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department to burn it along with those useless documents.

What a joke! You, Annan, took the initiative to send troops to harass the border of the Ming Dynasty. Do you think you can surrender just because you want to?
How can there be such a cheap thing in the world?

This is a war of national destruction. What Zhu Youtang wants is to completely destroy the entire Kingdom of Annan!
"Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has shown no willingness to negotiate. I'm afraid this matter will not end well!"

Ruan Chi, the Minister of the Secretariat, had a worried look on his face, feeling a little regretful.

If we had not participated in the internal strife of the Ming Dynasty and had not sent troops to harass the Ming Dynasty's borders, would things have not come to the current point where they cannot be reversed?
General Ding Lie, however, slammed the table in front of him angrily.

"Your Majesty, all the troops that can be mobilized near Thang Long have been transferred to Thang Long."

"There are a total of 100,000 soldiers and horses, and the Ming army on the opposite side has less than 100,000. Let's just fight the Ming army!"

"The Ming army has been fighting continuously and is already exhausted. In addition, they are fighting in other countries and are not familiar with the terrain. We can take advantage of our rest and defeat the Ming army and get them out of Annan!"

The high pressure for many consecutive days seemed to have made Ding Lie lose his mind. He even shamelessly clamored to have a decisive battle with the Ming army in Thang Long.

Unfortunately, Ruan Chi still had his wits about him, and he quickly spoke out to stop him, "Absolutely not!"

"The Ming Dynasty has captured Xuanhua Prefecture and Duobang City in succession, and its morale is at its highest now. We must not confront them head-on!"

"In war, the first blow is a strong one; the second blow is weaker; the third blow is exhausted."

"We should first avoid the Ming army's sharp edge, fight a war of attrition with them, and wear down their logistics supply. This is the best strategy."

Ruan Chi's wording was very tactful, saying that they should avoid the sharp edge first. In fact, it was because the Annan army's hard power could not defeat the Ming expeditionary army.

If Annan dares to deploy all its troops, it will have a final decisive battle with the Ming army today.

Then Wang Yue would be able to capture Li Hao alive tomorrow and take him to the capital to be executed.

"In my opinion, Your Majesty can temporarily leave the palace, take the army, and go to the western capital of Thanh Hua to avoid the sharp edge and plan for the future."

Nguyen Chi suggested that Li Hao flee Thang Long and hide in Thanh Hoa, the Western Capital.

Upon hearing this, Ding Lie just clenched his fists and had no intention of refutation.

If they wanted to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army, it would just be an angry remark and a pretense of showing off their power.

When it really came to the critical moment of deciding action, even he felt that the right thing to do was to run away as soon as possible.

Li Sicheng had long since given up wanting to stay in Thang Long. When he heard Ruan Chi suggesting escaping, he quickly agreed: "Okay, okay, let's evacuate Thanh Hoa quickly. It's best to leave now!"

"Take the troops and head to Thanh Hoa immediately!"

Li Sicheng shouted loudly, extremely anxious, and wished he could leave this dangerous place as soon as possible.

Ruan Chi and Ding Lie looked at each other, bowed their heads and saluted: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Therefore, Baoguang Palace was tidied up as quickly as possible.

That night, Le Si Thanh, Nguyen Chi, Dinh Lie, with an army of 100,000 men, as well as the civil and military ministers of Annan, set out from Thang Long and quickly fled to the western capital of Thanh Hoa.

……

Minzhou.

Fuzhou Prefecture.

Fuqing County.

The night falls and the moonlight is low.

A group of more than 130 people took advantage of the night and arrived near the Fuqing Shipyard.

This group of people were short in stature, but most of them carried a long and narrow Japanese sword that was only slightly shorter than their height.

Needless to say, these people must be the Japanese pirates secretly kept by Zhang Peng.

The Japanese pirates were mostly Japanese warriors who had lost their land.

Because they have no land and wander around, they are also called ronin.

Some ronin, by chance, boarded a ship sailing eastward and came to the Ming Dynasty, where they became Japanese pirates.

Some of those who were doing well still carried their own samurai swords, while some who were in really dire situations even pawned their own samurai swords.

Under Zhang Peng's command, this group of Japanese pirates lived quite well.

"Start now, and burn the big ships!"

After the leader gave an order in Japanese, the Japanese pirates nodded heavily and then jumped towards the Fuqing Shipyard nimbly.

The leader of the Japanese pirates was none other than the man who had bargained with Zhang Peng in his house before, named Matsushita Kurang.

Among this group of Japanese pirates, there were more than twenty people who moved extremely agilely and almost blended into the night.

Looking at the movements, he is actually a ninja from the Iga school!
Ninjas developed on the basis of the samurai class. They were another type of spies who specialized in confidential matters and were much rarer than samurai.

After these ninjas sneaked into the Fuqing Shipyard quietly, after a while, thick smoke suddenly rose and the Fuqing Shipyard was ablaze with fire!
"Oh no! There's a fire! There's a fire in the shipyard, come and put out the fire!"

The local garrison soldiers on guard were so frightened when they saw the fire so close that they immediately screamed.

But the next moment, a Japanese sword suddenly pierced through his body, blocking his scream in his throat.

"Uh uh...you..."

The garrison soldier turned around with difficulty and saw clearly the masked Japanese pirates behind him.

But the next moment, his eyes went dark and he suddenly lost all sound.

These Japanese pirates who set fire to the shipyard were so bold that not only did they not run away after setting the fire, they even stayed behind to assassinate those who were on guard against the fire!

Fortunately, his scream still woke up everyone who was sleeping.

The craftsmen and soldiers sleeping in the factory were surprised. Some of them fled in panic, but some of them were concerned about the shipyard and took the initiative to fetch water to put out the fire.

Fortunately, the shipyard was built on the bank of a river with a slow flow of water, making it convenient for craftsmen and soldiers to fetch water and put out the fire.

But when the three craftsmen came to the river with buckets, ready to fetch water to put out the fire, two fully armed ninjas suddenly rushed out from under the originally calm river surface.

They held kunai in their hands and threw them hard at the craftsmen who came to fetch water!

"Ugh..." The kunai accurately hit the throats of the two craftsmen. They died in vain without even making a sound.

After two craftsmen fell, the last craftsman was frightened by the scene before him. After letting out a heart-wrenching scream, he turned around and tried to escape.

But a ninja had already leaped forward lightly and used the kunai in his hand to cut the craftsman's throat cleanly and neatly, splattering hot blood all over the ground.

After killing the three craftsmen, the two Japanese ninjas picked up their kunai and quietly disappeared into the dark night to continue hunting other unarmed craftsmen.

On the other side, those ronin warriors were also killing people in the already chaotic crowd.

These Japanese pirates not only set fires, but also kill people!
"Kill them all! Kill all these craftsmen! Kill one craftsman and you'll be rewarded one tael of silver!"

Matsushita Kurang, panting, whispered in Japanese to the Japanese pirates around him.

The samurai sword in his hand was already stained with blood, and the number of craftsmen and guardsmen who had fallen in his hands exceeded one hand.

These Japanese pirates not only wanted to set fire to the Fuqing Shipyard, but also burned Zheng He's treasure ship which had been almost built.

We also have to kill all the shipbuilding craftsmen to prevent Zhu Youtang from building any ships that can sail to the West!
Such means are really too cruel and brutal!

The high price of one or two taels of silver deeply stimulated these desperate criminals. They gripped their samurai swords tightly, greedily rushed into the chaotic crowd, and slashed indiscriminately!

Suddenly, there were screams.

“Ahhhhhh!!! Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead!”

"There are Japanese pirates! The Japanese pirates are attacking! Help!"

"Run! The Japanese pirates are killing people! The Japanese pirates are killing people!"

"..."

Because the Japanese pirates took advantage of the chaos to commit crimes, the already chaotic situation became even more terrifying.

Many craftsmen and garrison soldiers who had originally intended to put out the fire lost interest in putting out the fire when they encountered these vicious criminals chasing them, and they only cared about escaping frantically for their own lives.

Matsushita Kurang shook off the blood on the knife in his hand, sheathed the knife skillfully, and rushed into the chaotic crowd.

Matsushita Kurang quickly approached a fleeing craftsman, grasped the hilt of the sword, drew the sword from its sheath, and prepared to use an instant high-speed sword-drawing attack to chop off the craftsman's head with one blow.

歘!
Matsushita Kurō successfully drew the sword from its sheath, and the blade slashed towards the craftsman's head at an extremely fast speed.

The knife was incredibly fast. The craftsman had already seen the knife coming towards him. His brain reacted, but his body could not.

The craftsman could only show a look of horror and despair as he watched the knife coming towards him, but he had no way to do anything and could only wait to die.

At this critical moment, a cold knife attacked Matsushita Kurō's samurai sword at a faster speed.

With just a slight flick, the knife in Matsushita Kulang's hand was deflected, saving the frightened craftsman.

Matsushita Kurang was greatly surprised. He never expected that there would be such a skilled fighter among the Ming army.

"Who?!"

Matsushita Kurang looked carefully and found that the person who had deflected his fatal blow with a light blow was just an ordinary-looking young man wearing a pointed hat, white leather boots, and a straight uniform.

"Excuse me, sir, what is your name?!"

Matsushita Kurang's face was solemn. He raised the samurai sword in his hand solemnly and was extremely alert.

He believed that he had been immersed in swordsmanship for many years and his skills had reached a superb level.

Anyone who can easily resolve his attack will definitely not be an ordinary and unknown person.

At the very least, he should be a master who has been famous for many years.

Knowing the other person's name is the minimum respect a warrior can show to his enemy before a duel.

However, Matsushita Kuroo's inquiry did not receive any response.

Because his opponent was just an ordinary guy in the Western Factory.

When the Western Depot's officers investigate cases, they never do anything fancy, pretentious, or inexplicable.

The only thing they care about is chopping off the head of anyone who resists their investigation!

The Western Factory guard said nothing, and without even pausing, he charged towards Matsushita Kulang's facade with the whistling knife in his hand.

"How brave!"

Matsushita Kulang saw that the Western Factory guards ignored his questions and just kept attacking.

This feeling of being ignored made him extremely angry.

The samurai sword in Matsushita Kurang's hand also slashed fiercely at the Western Factory guards, determined to make the Western Factory guards pay a terrible price for ignoring his behavior!

The Western Factory guards responded calmly, and with their swords and slashes, they neutralized all of Matsushita Kuro's attacks and firmly gained the upper hand.

Matsushita Kulang became more and more frightened as the battle went on. Not only could he not gain any advantage in the hands of the Western Factory guards, he was also firmly suppressed by them.

His heart sank and he began to think about retreating.

Although Zhang Peng’s money is good, the most important thing is to have the life to spend it.

"Look at the sword!"

Matsushita Kulang shouted loudly and slashed horizontally like lightning, intending to force back the Western Factory soldiers and then withdraw from the battle circle.

But the Western Factory guard did not retreat but advanced instead. After blocking the horizontal slash with his knife, he quickly approached Matsushita Kuro with the knife in his hand.

The two knives made clanging sounds and even produced sparks.

The moment they got close, the Western Factory guard quickly drew his sword and chopped vertically. Matsushita Kulang was extremely frightened and quickly took two steps back, but it was too late.

The sharp long sword chopped down, and Matsushita Kulang let out a shrill scream!

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!"

Matsushita Kurō's right hand, which was holding the samurai sword, was chopped off at arm length by the Western Factory guards.

Blood gushed out, and Matsushita Kurang's arm fell to the ground, still tightly grasping the samurai sword in his hand.

Matsushita Kulang retreated in embarrassment. The wound on his right hand was in unbearable pain. His face turned pale instantly and cold sweat broke out all over his body due to the pain.

Almost at the same time, a large number of Japanese pirates were intercepted and killed by the Western Factory soldiers.

Screams and screams came from the mouths of the Japanese pirates who attacked the Fuqing Shipyard.

Matsushita Kurang looked around and found that many Japanese pirates had been killed on the spot!

"Withdraw! Withdraw!"

Matsushita Kulang cried out in shock, no longer caring about burning the shipyard or killing the craftsmen. He turned around and ran, only wanting to save his own life.

After Matsushita Kuroo's exclamation, the Japanese pirates who attacked the Fuqing Shipyard also began to flee in panic.

Of course, the Western Factory guards would not let them escape. They picked up their swords and chased after them, vowing to kill all the Japanese pirates.

Before Matsushita Kulang could run two steps, a soldier from the Western Factory suddenly rushed forward.

Just like the Western Factory guard who had just fought with him, he looked ordinary, but the cold knife in his hand was as fast as lightning.

Matsushita Kurang only heard the sound of wind in his ears and subconsciously closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw his headless body collapsing!

(End of this chapter)