The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 260 Burning Heart
"Miyamoto Family Elder! Last year, I passed through Nagasaki and heard from Ming merchants occupying outlying islands (see Note 1) that the Kaiyuan Army is unparalleled in combat power, and Ping Liaohou is so brave and invincible that even Huang Taiji, the old Yihaci (Nurhaci), is no match for him. Now, if you rashly declare war on the Ming without the feudal lord's orders, I'm afraid it would be inappropriate!"

"rude!"

"If they dare to kill Musashi, they're enemies of the Hosokawa clan! Kill them all, and who will know? Fire!"

The family elder drew the sword from his waist and slashed at the Hosokawa warrior who was trying to persuade him, but was held back by several people around him.

The warrior dodged a few steps and said helplessly:

"With greed for wealth in the front and anger and fury in the back, the Hosokawa family is about to face disaster!"

The family elder was furious. He waved his hand to push away several samurai who were trying to stop the fight, pointed his sword at the Japanese gunners, and ordered them to fire.

Miyamoto Katsunari's third son was just attacked by the despicable and insidious Ming people and unfortunately died in the duel.

The family elder saw with his own eyes that Musashi was cut into two pieces by the goose-feather sword, the upper half of his body fell on the deck, and his eyes were still blinking.

It can be seen that Musashi still has many memories for this world.

The murder of my son must be avenged.

"Sink the Fu ship!"

Five Japanese gunners quickly raised their torches and lit the fuse behind the propellant tank of the Portuguese cannon.

The surrounding samurai and ronin took a few steps back and looked up at the damaged Fuchuan twenty steps away.

The French machine guns at the rear of the Fu ship were ignited at the same time, and they were still fighting a desperate battle.

"Boom! Boom!"

Five three-pound iron balls hit the bow of the Fujian ship close to the sea surface, leaving several shocking holes on the deck and splashing wood chips like raindrops.

Two iron bullets were fired from the stern of the Fu ship and hit the port side of the Zhuyin ship, but they were blocked by the thick baffles and did not cause any damage.

The mast of the Fu ship was severely damaged, and holes were smashed in the port side and stern by shells.

The sailors who had rowed hard half an hour ago were now mutilated corpses, floating quietly at the bottom of the cabin.

The Fukken before them was completely incapacitated. In front of the well-armed red seal ship, the battered Fukken became a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

The two ships were only ten steps apart. At this distance, the red seal ship didn't even need to aim; it could hit the target just by firing.

"Aim for the bottom of the cabin! The Ming people are hiding inside!"

The Miyamoto family elder stood behind the falconet, waving his samurai sword vigorously, urging the gunner to fire as quickly as possible.

The Japanese gunners quickly cleaned the gun barrels and replaced the solid iron balls with chain bullets.

The so-called chain bullet is an iron chain tied to two iron balls, which usually have spikes on them, similar to a mace.

Within twenty steps, the chain ball has even more terrifying lethality. On the battlefield, as long as the soldiers and horses are hit by the chain ball at close range, a large number of them will be wiped out.

With a deafening sound of gunpowder explosion, five chain balls whizzed towards the bottom of the Fu ship. The iron chains easily broke through the riddled cabin wall and swept towards the crowd hiding in the bottom of the cabin with unstoppable force.

The stairs to the bottom of the cabin were instantly cut off by the high-speed flying chain ball.

A terrible howl was heard from the bottom of the cabin. The people who were hit were immediately cut into pieces. Wood chips and human flesh flew everywhere and fell into the waist-deep sea water. The sea water under the stairs was dyed red with blood and flesh, like hell.

On the deck of the red seal ship, the Miyamoto family elder carefully watched the results of the bombardment, witnessed the chain balls rampaging in the bottom of the cabin, looked at the shattered human bodies floating on the sea, and did not miss any details of the bombardment.

"Keep firing! Bring us the red-haired barbarian's wine!"

After three rounds of artillery fire from the red seal ship, the sea surface was covered with white mist from burning gunpowder, and the Miyamoto family elder clearly heard the sound of the keel of the Fukufu ship cracking.

"Crack!"

The precarious port side finally couldn't bear the heavy deck and cracked into a gap more than one person wide.

The surrounding sea water seemed to be boiling, rushing into the bottom of the cabin.

A dozen ant-like figures were floating in the gaps at the bottom of the Fu ship's cabin.

Standing on the deck in the biting cold wind, the white-bearded Katsunari Miyamoto raised a tall glass and poured a cup of blood-red liquid into the sea.

The mellow wine from the distant Red Haired Barbarians' homeland quickly drifted across the sea.

"Musashi, your father has avenged you!"

The Miyamoto family elder stood patiently on the deck, waiting for the Fukusen to disintegrate and sink.

He took a large bow from the warrior next to him and kept shooting arrows at the Ming sailors who were struggling painfully in the sea.

Even after no one else floated to the surface of the water, the family elder still felt uneasy and ordered the sailors to use hooks to probe the side of the ship.

"Check carefully, be careful they are hiding under the red seal ship! Don't miss a single one!"

Katsunari Miyamoto put away the expensive wine glass, feeling the pleasure of revenge in his heart, and turned back to the bottom of the cabin.

There is endless sea water all around. Miyamoto Katsunari believes that if someone falls into the water in such cold weather, their body will be frozen in just half an hour, and there is no possibility of survival.

Even if the God of Sunshine came down, he couldn't save these damned Ming people.

Suddenly, a sailor's panicked shouting came from behind.

"Lucky ship! Turtle ship! Skull flag!"

There was a panic on the deck, and the sailors fled in all directions like horses that had been blown away.

Miyamoto raised his telescope and looked into the distance.

Two miles out to sea, twelve massive ships hoisting black skull flags braved the wind and waves, charging towards the Japanese red seal ships. The naval guns mounted on either side of the ships were even larger than the giant red cannons. Under the fluttering black skull flags, a fully armored officer, surrounded by soldiers, also peered in through a telescope.

"It doesn't look like the Ming navy, nor does it look like the Koreans. Look!"

The Korean interpreter put down his telescope, his face pale, and looked at Miyamoto Katsunari, his body already trembling:
"Kai... Kaiyuan military uniforms! He, they are Liu Zhaosun's men!"

The old body of the Hosokawa family elder seemed to be hit by a lead bullet and swayed in the wind.

"The country collapses! The country collapses!"

Suddenly, the samurai and ronin on the deck who were in a panic cried out in unison.

Like muffled thunder exploding beside my ears, white smoke rose from the side of the giant ship.

Three fifteen-pound iron balls burst through the smoke, whistling towards them and slamming heavily into the sea on the port side, sending up huge columns of water that splashed down from the sky onto the red seal ship.

Miyamoto Katsunari was drenched in sea water, and the bone-chilling cold penetrated the family elder's skin, making him terrified.

~~~~~
"Ningyuan is a mere place where China's survival depends. If Ningyuan is not defended, in a few years, my parents and brothers will all be wearing long hair and left-side robes!"

March 2, the first year of Chongzhen.

Dusk falls on the Ningyuan West Gate City Wall.

Wang Zaijun, who was injured in his left arm, pushed away his personal soldier who came forward to support him, pointed his finger at the widening gap in the city wall in the distance, and shouted loudly to the surrounding Ming troops.

"Liu Zhaosun has surrendered to the barbarians, no different from an animal. He just massacred Hetuala and Guangning, and the next one is Ningyuan! I am honored by the emperor's grace, I eat the emperor's salary, and I will die for the emperor! I swear to live and die with Ningyuan! I will never reconcile with the thief Liu!"

In the first year of Chongzhen, Ping Liaohou betrayed the Ming Dynasty, colluded with Mongolian and Jurchen foreign tribes, and Korean rioters, attacked Liao and Shen, occupied Guangning, and led hundreds of thousands of rioters to besiege Ningyuan.

The barbarians in Liaodong and Liaoxi all called him "Tian Khan". Liu Zhaosun's betrayal of his country and his devotion to the barbarians made the upright gentlemen of the Ming Dynasty extremely angry, and Wang Zaijin was one of them.

After the Liaodong Governor said this, he tore off a corner of his battle robe and wrapped it around the bleeding wound on his left arm. He pushed his personal guards away, reluctantly lifted a stone under his feet, and staggered towards the city wall.

Zu Dashou, who was standing nearby, immediately raised his arms and shouted:

"Wang Jinglie personally carried stones to block the city wall. How can we, as soldiers, retreat? If you are a man, follow me! Kill the thief Liu!"

After saying that, he also picked up a stone and trotted after Wang Jinglie. Two servants behind him hurriedly went up to protect him. Seeing that there was no one around, Zu Dashou said angrily in a low voice:

"You blind thing, get out of the way! There's no army here. Come back and protect me after we're over there!"

The two commanders' exemplary actions greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers defending the city.

With someone taking the lead, the large number of defenders huddled in the city wall bravely stepped forward and rushed towards the gap in the city wall.

The defenders quickly filled the gap dug by the Kaiyuan army with bricks, stones and wood carried on their shoulders and backs.

Not only that, they also killed more than a hundred foreign Mongols who had rushed into the city.

A black tiger flag that had just been raised on the top of the west gate was chopped off by Zu Dashou with an axe.

The servants held up their shields to protect Marshal Zu. Zu Dashou smiled at Wang Zaijin, who was standing on the city wall.

"Wang Jinglue, the Liu rebels have attacked the city several times, but were always repelled by our army. Their morale has been greatly reduced, and they are almost at the end of their strength."

Wang Zai Jin, escorted by standard-bearers, walked past corpses one after another. He looked at the broken Kaiyuan military flag and the defeated foreign rebels under the city, and sighed deeply.

"Master Zu is right. Although the Liu bandits have a large number of people, they are mostly a motley crowd and cannot withstand a hard fight. If we defeat them again, they will surely collapse!"

The two men laughed out loud.

At this time, the clinking sound that had been silent for a long time rang out again under the city. The Liao people who had not evacuated were still waving axes and pickaxes to chisel the city.

Zu Dashou angrily said, "These rioters are really difficult to deal with! They rely on the fact that rolling logs and rocks can't hit them, yet they dare to provoke us like this!"

After saying this, he asked Wang Zaijun to lead a group of servants out of the city through the water gate and kill all the rioters.

Wang Zai Jin naturally would not allow Zu Dashou to take risks like this.

At this time, a middle-aged man who looked like an aide came to Wang Zaijin and whispered a few words to the Liaodong Governor. Wang Zaijin nodded and smiled:

"Do it now!"

Within a cup of tea, the standard-bearers climbed up to the top of the city wall carrying quilts and mattresses. Under Zu Dashou's astonished gaze, the soldiers evenly sprinkled gunpowder on the sheets and mattresses, and finally wrapped them up and rolled them into a ball.

"Throw the bedding!"

The defenders threw beddings from the top of the city wall. In the dark night, the Liao people and foreigners hiding in the corners had already huddled together due to the cold. Suddenly, they saw the beddings falling from the sky and rushed forward to grab them.

"Throw the torch!"

Hundreds of torches dipped in tung oil were thrown down at the same time, and the bedding on the ground immediately caught fire, and a raging fire suddenly broke out under the city.

Hundreds of Liao foreigners were immediately engulfed in the fire, and the remaining people hurriedly hid under the shield carts, allowing themselves to be roasted by the raging flames around them, not daring to show their heads again.

"Light the matches! Burn them!"

Bundles of firewood, coated with tung oil and sprinkled with gunpowder, hung on iron chains and fell rapidly from the top of the city wall.

Bundles of fire fell on the scorched roof of the car.

The shield cart quickly caught fire.

note:
1. The outlying islands, located outside the port of Nagasaki, are artificial islands for Japan's foreign trade during the shogunate era. The islands were mainly inhabited by Dutch and Ming Dynasty merchants.

(End of this chapter)