The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 313: Unknown Fire Secret

Castle town of Mikawa Domain.

Ping Liaohou’s central army tent.

Wu Xiao, holding a sharp knife in his hand, led dozens of guards from the central army to patrol back and forth, vigilantly watching any movement around them.

The checkpoints around the big tent were more dense than usual. I encountered three checkpoints after walking just two miles.

Wu Xiao took the badge, checked it carefully, and respectfully returned it to Sun Chuanting. He apologized and then led him into the tent.

"Don't blame me, Lord Sun. The shogunate is desperate and has repeatedly sent assassins to kill Marquis Ping Liao. We have already captured over a hundred of them."

"The Japanese pirates are so brutal."

Sun Chuanting nodded and praised his fellow Shaanxi native:
"With Captain Wu in the Central Army Guard, Marquis Ping Liao can rest easy."

Wu Xiao quickly said modestly:
"Lord Sun, you are too kind. This is all my duty and I dare not neglect it. General Liu is still waiting. Please come in, sir."

As the Battle of Sekigahara approached, Tokugawa Hidetada's assassinations of Heiryohou became more frequent, reaching a point of madness.

After all, his father, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was good at using such despicable means to deal with the Toyotomi clan.

Almost every day, one or two Japanese peasants who claimed to be Jonin would break into the camp and assassinate Ping Liaohou, and were finally arrested by the central army guards.

Wu Xiao and his team found strange weapons such as shurikens, saliwis, ninja swords, blow arrows, and gauntlet hooks from these ninjas.

These weapons are fancy and look intimidating, but they are only good for show and not for use. However, the Japanese never tire of using them.

After interrogation, it was discovered that these were ninjas who had traveled thousands of miles from Iga to die.

During the Warring States Period, there were many feudal lords.

Among them, Kaga and Iga are mountainous, sparsely populated, and have scarce arable land. They are indeed poor and barren places.

They are at the bottom of the power spectrum among all the feudal domains.

The poor mountains and bad waters are full of unruly people. The local farmers have no food or clothing, and are unwilling to farm well. In the end, they can only take the path of ninjas who steal chickens and dogs.

In the words of Hattori Hanzo, the legendary ninja master of Iga Domain, a ninja's career goes like this:
(Iga farmers) As for farming, it is impossible for them to farm. It is impossible for them to farm in this lifetime.

Not all fishmongers can become Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as they don't know how to do business. They can only make a living by using tactics like sneak attacks.

Entering Edo felt like coming home, and the feeling in Edo Castle was much better than in Iga Mountain!
So, the Iga ninja chose to join Tokugawa Ieyasu.

During several inexplicable raids by thieves and robbers, a group of Iga farmers succeeded by chance and were praised by later generations as an ace special forces that was invincible and could win battles thousands of miles away.

In real history, the Iga clan was eventually destroyed by troops sent by Oda Nobunaga. It is said that the entire battle process was quite easy, even effortless.

Liu Zhaosun was very disdainful of the ninja community during his lifetime.

If it weren't for the strong output of the island nation's culture, who would remember this group of dusty and unidentified people who came out of nowhere hundreds of years later?

He ordered all the ninjas to be beheaded. After collecting a hundred heads, he entrusted a Honshu merchant to bring the heads back to Edo and present them to the Shogun.

Ping Liaohou specifically warned Tokugawa Hidetada not to use such low-level assassination tricks again in the future.

Otherwise, Kaiyuan would also send assassins to deal with him.

If the Minotobu Guard had not been worried about losing a negotiating partner, they would have taken action against Edo long ago to let the Tokugawa shogunate know what a real assassin was.

Sun Chuanting walked into the big tent and looked up to see Ping Liaohou holding a scripture in his hands and studying it carefully, muttering to himself.

He stood where he was, unable to bear to interrupt this devout Buddhist.

After a while, Liu Zhaosun looked up and saw Sun Chuanting standing at the door, and quickly invited him in to sit down.

"The war is about to begin, and the Marquis of Ping Liao still has this kind of elegance. I admire him."

I have been in Kaiyuan for four years, and only today did I know that Ping Liaohou actually believed in Sakyamuni.

Liu Zhaosun put down the scripture in his hand, rubbed his eyes, and his expression became a little solemn.

"This is not a Buddhist scripture. My hands are stained with blood. I have massacred cities and destroyed nations, killing countless people. My crimes are already heinous. I cannot expect chanting scriptures or worshiping Buddha to eliminate my sins. Amitabha!"

Sun Chuanting was speechless. "This is just a piece of information."

After saying this, Marquis Ping Liao called the guards in to serve tea.

Sun Chuanting picked up the teacup, took a sip and put it down immediately.

Seeing that Ping Liaohou's mood had changed, he guessed that something must have happened on Deng Changxiong's side, and he was probably defeated, so he couldn't help but worry.

"Marquis Ping Liao should prioritize the overall situation. Victory and defeat are common in the military. For now, we must focus on the Battle of Sekigahara."

Liu Zhaosun interrupted with a wave of his hand and shook his head:
"Lord Sun, you're worrying too much. The war is going smoothly right now. This is not about the war."

"Oh?"

Sun Chuanting secretly glanced at the scriptures on the desk.

If it weren't a military or national affair, what other information would be hidden in the Buddhist scriptures so secretly?

He thought for a while but couldn't come up with a clue. He drank a sip of tea and then remembered that he had something important to report. He hurriedly said:
"Marquis Ping Liao, all the food, fodder, and artillery arrived in Mikawa yesterday and are being loaded at the port today. However, the road to Sekigahara was destroyed by Japanese pirates. I have ordered the engineering battalion to repair it overnight, so the food and supplies are not expected to arrive until tomorrow."

Liu Zhaosun nodded slightly after hearing this.

"Alright, have the engineering battalion rush to repair the damage. If we don't have enough manpower, we can call in the Korean Mongols to help. As long as we have the food, fodder, and artillery, we'll have no worries in this decisive battle. The shogunate army won't be a concern!"

Liu Zhaosun was full of vigor and strategically despised the enemy. He never regarded the Tokugawa shogunate as an opponent and only regarded this battle as an ordinary exercise.

He thought for a while and suddenly asked:
"Did you encounter any red-haired barbarians on your way here?"

"No, we did run into two Japanese pirate ships. Fortunately, Captain Meng and his men were there to escort us, and the pirates were repelled."

The combat effectiveness of Japan's red seal ships is far inferior to that of the flat armor ships, and they are no match for the Kaiyuan Navy in a head-on combat. Therefore, as long as Britain, France and other countries do not participate in the war, the control of the sea in the waters around Japan can be controlled by the Kaiyuan Army.

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and Ping Liaohou suddenly remembered something and grabbed the Buddhist scripture next to him.

Sun Chuanting moved closer and vaguely saw the words "Nashi" written on the spine of the book.

Seeing that he was quite interested, Ping Liaohou handed him the Buddhist scriptures.

"The Mino Guard just sent it from Kaga. It doesn't involve any military secrets, you can take a look."

Sun Chuanting took the book, a thick volume, and a faint scent of ink wafted towards him.

He was full of anticipation and flipped through a few pages, his face filled with shock.

The words between the lines of the book are full of nonsense such as "killing people to practice cultivation, and turning corpses into immortals".

Turning over a page at random, I saw a painting of a monk chopping off a girl's head with an axe and taking out her brain, and also a baby being placed in an alchemy furnace... It was so lifelike.

Sun Chuanting was so scared that he quickly dropped the book and his face turned pale.

Liu Zhaosun handed hot tea to his subordinates and explained in a low voice:

"This is the secret of Shiranui. The book records the cultivation methods of evil monks. They trap young girls, abuse them, and after they give birth to babies, they collect the babies' souls and cultivate, claiming that they can achieve immortality!"

"It was handed to Jin Yinghe personally by a monk with a good conscience. That monk died mysteriously that night. Jin Yinghe and his men were in extreme danger, so they sent back for help."

Sun Chuanting had a very bad impression of Japan. When he heard that the evil monk was using babies to practice, he was furious. He felt that the portrayal of Tokugawa Hidetada on the stage was not an exaggeration at all.

Liu Zhaosun summoned Wu Xiao, whispered to him, and then warned him:

"Choose a few experts, sneak in secretly, kill the evil monk, and rescue the innocent girl. Kaga is too far away from Mikawa, and the decisive battle is imminent. I cannot send a large army to support. Therefore, everything is up to you. Be sure to proceed with caution. Remember, the opponent you face this time is very powerful, but the central guard must not suffer any more casualties!"

"I obey your orders! But Marquis Ping Liao, what should we do if the ninja comes again after we leave?"

"I'll ask Shen Lian to send a few men over. Besides, they're just a few Japanese peasants. It's no problem for me to defeat ten of them by myself."

Wu Xiao said no more, took a map of Japan, saluted Ping Liaohou and Sun Chuanting, and turned to leave the tent.

Ping Liaohou gave Sun Chuanting a few instructions, and after he left, he also walked outside the tent and looked up in the direction of Kaga.

"Lin Yu, Wu Xiao, Jin Yinghe, all of you must come back alive."

(End of this chapter)