The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 677 Sky Fire
The burning of Hakata Port by Vulcan bombs continued all night until the first batch of twelve hot air balloons that took off had dropped all the incendiary bombs they carried.

Most of the houses in Hakata City were made of wood and burned down overnight, killing and injuring countless people.

The general stationed in the city, Toshiaki Kuriyama, was left with no other options and surrendered to Tatar Qi with a thousand remaining soldiers.

Kuriyama Toshiaki was a retainer of Kuroda Tadayuki, the lord of Fukuoka Domain, and was ordered to lead 3,000 troops to aid Hakata.

Kuriyama Toshiaki was very proud of himself. He planned to use the strong defense of Hakata Port and sufficient manpower to drive out the Tatars and achieve military exploits like Shoni Keisuke (a Japanese general in the Yuan-Japan War).

Unexpectedly, before the Qi army attacked the city, countless fireballs fell from the sky.

Last night alone, more than a thousand Fukuoka soldiers were burned to death by the heavenly fire.

When Kuriyama Toshiaki saw the strength of the Qi army outside the city, he found that there were at least 50,000 of them, and they were well-equipped, with many of the artillery pieces he had never seen before.

The Fukuoka retainer immediately gave up any thought of resistance and surrendered to the Tatars.

The envoy sent by Kuriyama Toshiaki to seek peace was executed by the Qi army before he could meet the emperor.

This was followed by more intense shelling.

The artillery of the three major corps of the Qi army, together with the artillery of the ships cruising on the sea, bombarded the city walls indiscriminately.

The second batch of hot air balloons carrying incendiary bombs took off again and continued to carry out carpet bombing on the city.

According to postwar statistics, hot air balloons dropped over 8373 incendiary bombs, razing civilian homes and military camps in Hakata City, and burning thousands of buildings. A total of 1 people were killed or burned (the actual death toll may have exceeded ).

Hot air balloons could still see the flames rising from the city from a thousand meters in the air. Several large fires burned for three days before slowly dying out.

Many city residents died of suffocation due to the exhaustion of oxygen caused by the burning. The situation was particularly tragic in the low-lying areas, where those who were on fire and lacked oxygen rushed to jump into the Sumida River to survive.

But the river has already boiled...

After the city was captured, the Sumida River was filled with corpses as black as charcoal.

Along the corridor leading out of the city, the bodies of the Japanese pirates who were trampled to death were piled up more than six feet high, like small hills.

~~~
The retired emperor was still not satisfied.

The morning light shines through the dark clouds and falls on the faces of the living.

Zhang Dong, Pei Dahu and others surrounded the retired emperor and rode slowly on horseback to the foot of Hakata City.

At this time, the tragic wailing that had been going on in the city all night finally subsided.

The wind blew, and the white ashes mixed with the dust from burning armor and wood drifted in the wind and disappeared into the smoke.

Crows circled overhead, making loud noises. Fires were blazing in the city. Looking at the roasted corpses, these birds, who had nowhere to stay, became very anxious.

Some crows that had eaten human flesh swooped down with red eyes, trying to peck at the living people.

"Be careful, Your Majesty!"

Zhang Dong let out a loud roar, raised his short gun, and protected the emperor in front of him, aiming the musket at a swooping crow.

The retired emperor gently pushed Zhang Mazi away, raised his head to look at the sky, his eyes were bloodshot and his pupils emitted a terrifying color.

With a cracking sound, the crow's wings broke and it fell from mid-air, landing in the dust.

The war horses were frightened and raised their heads to neigh, but the mount under the emperor's crotch continued to graze quietly.

Everyone was horrified.

The emperor looked at the crow that fell to the ground and recalled a movie he had seen in his previous life.

The protagonist said that there is a kind of seabird that flies all its life and cannot land because it has no feet.

"I have no feet, and I cannot stop."

As the wind blew, the burned city wall stood abruptly on the coast like a scar on the ground.

Artillery Chief Wang Congzhi whispered:

"Your Majesty, there are probably few survivors in the city. Should we continue the bombardment?"

Liu Zhaosun looked at his old subordinate with a strange look, and then looked around:

"Why, are you soft-hearted?"

The subordinates shook their heads and remained silent.

Ever since that dream in which he entered the deep sea and killed the sea monster, the emperor's pursuit of Xuan cultivation has made further progress and achieved a breakthrough.

Only one step away from becoming an immortal.

He was going further and further on the road to immortality, and at the same time, the humanity left in him was becoming less and less.

It is said that this is the only way for every immortal to succeed.

Only when there is no self and no objects can one transcend time and space and achieve eternity.

But these trusted ministers before him were still ordinary people. The brutal massacre of a city and the destruction of a country was too cruel for them. Even Zhang Dong, who was always known for his cold-bloodedness, began to feel scared.

Even as brutal as the Mongols, when they captured cities, they would forgive children who were shorter than the wheels of the enemy's cars.

However, the emperor killed all his enemies, regardless of gender, age or status, leaving no one alive.

The emperor could see what everyone was thinking at a glance.

"Sen Ti, I ask you, what is justice?"

As the mouthpiece of the empire, Dongguanzi cannot make any mistakes in implementing the empire's will and teaching the training instructors of each camp.

Sen Ti blurted out:

"Justice is your Majesty's will. Your Majesty says the sun rises in the west. Your Majesty says Europe is the homeland of the Great Qi. As long as your Majesty speaks, it is justice."

The retired emperor looked indifferent and raised his hand to point at the burning Hakata City.

"I have already explained to Emperor Guangde what justice is, and I can explain it to you again. If you understand, you will have no more questions in the future."

Zhangdong Liu Xingzuo, the high priest Dongfang Zhu, Deng Changxiong and others dismounted and listened to the teachings.

"Justice belongs to the people under the strong. For example, today's massacre will benefit the people of Da Qi and will not harm them. I can lead you to accomplish this, and this is justice."

Before the Emperor could finish, Sen Ti added his explanation:

"Your Majesty, every word is thought-provoking and insightful. I have learned a great deal. It doesn't matter what you do; as long as it's accomplished and benefits the people, it's right."

The Emperor nodded:

"You understand justice."

Zhang Dong and others also echoed.

At this time, the soldiers on the hot air balloon basket began to drop bundles of leaflets written in Japanese. The leaflets fluttered all over the ground, and many of them fell on the burning ruins.

"The Japanese are accomplices of the sea monsters. For hundreds and thousands of years, they have been accomplices of the tiger and have harmed countless people. I led my troops to the east to slay these monsters and eliminate the demons."

The emperor took a leaflet that fell from the sky, held it in his palm, and when he let go, the paper had turned to ashes.

"Da Qi will frequently go abroad to fight. So, Instructor Sen, I ask you, how should you publicize our enemies?"

Sen Ti didn't expect to be asked again, but he reacted quickly and said without hesitation:
"Your Majesty, I will do everything I can to collect the enemy's crimes, such as provocations against Da Qi, disrespect to Da Qi's envoys, and bullying on the border..."

The emperor raised his hand and interrupted Sen Ti.

"This won't work."

Sen Ti's face was full of surprise. He had been promoting the campaign in this way for the past ten years, and the effect was quite good. Every time before a battle, as long as the training officers of each battalion spoke, the morale of the troops would be greatly boosted.

The Emperor looked at his confidants and said loudly:
"First, we must make sure the military and civilians understand that the enemy they face isn't human, but some kind of inferior, evil tribe. For example, the Japanese pirates being burned now are accomplices of the Siren. The blood flowing in their veins is different from ours... Simply put, the Japanese pirates are not human."

"Everything must be justified. Only when the enemy is not human can we massacre a city and destroy a country. This is also the fundamental reason why the empire is fighting against them."

When the emperor said this, he turned around and looked at the high priest Francisco who was thinking beside him.

"Just like the European Crusades, the knights didn't need to know whether their enemies were good or bad, they just needed to know that they were pagans. Pagans had no need to enjoy human rights, so naturally they had no reason to continue to survive."

Sen Ti clapped his hands and laughed: "No wonder our ancestors always said 'Those who are not of our race must have different hearts'. It turns out that it is all the same routine. Regardless of whether the barbarians are right or wrong, as long as they are not of our race, that is enough. This is the reason to kill them."

The emperor said with relief: "Sen Ti, you understand publicity."

Unconsciously, the classic theory of the mustache man was completely absorbed by the emperor, and when it came to Da Qi, the idea of human decline was further escalated.

To completely wipe out a group of millions or even tens of millions of people simply because of the enemy's provocation or bullying on the border is obviously not a sufficient reason.

As Da Qi continued to expand, the opponents it encountered in the future were basically "not of our kind".

Therefore, the means of warfare must change to adapt to the new situation.

The Imperial chariot rumbled forward, its appetite growing bigger and bigger, its face becoming more and more ferocious.

Only the emperor who is close to becoming a god can control this evil chariot and make it move from one peak to another.

"Hakata City is a signal. All over Kyushu, except for wealthy cities like Nagasaki to replenish military supplies, other places can be cleared out."

After the emperor finished speaking, he jumped on his horse and glanced at his subordinates.

"Xie Yang and I have calculated repeatedly and concluded that after conquering Japan, sending troops to garrison for a long time would be a costly undertaking. The huge annual expenditure of money and food is unbearable for the Great Qi. Over time, we will end up in a tragedy like Yuan Chonghuan."

"I need a clean Wa. In the future, Wa's purpose is to serve as the empire's military port, transporting more people to Yinzhou. Wa doesn't need too much farmland, nor does it need too many people. So, do you know what to do next?"

Everyone nodded in horror.

"Keep firing."

(End of this chapter)