Chapter 1 The Beginning

"Fire!"

Smoke filled the walls of Gaecheon, with arrows and gunpowder alternating in fire. The first wave of Japanese troops assaulting the city had already begun to erect scaling ladders and battering rams. Tens of thousands of them, in a seemingly suicidal frenzy, launched a fierce attack on the royal capital that had changed hands several times!

Ma Gui, the General Staff Officer for Coastal Defense, held a Xunlei Flintlock. Smoke was rising from the six iron barrels of the weapon, which were so hot they seemed about to melt.

The Xunlei Flintlock, as a new weapon, was not widely equipped. There were only a dozen experimental models, mostly in the hands of divine generals and officers, inscribed with the Five Thunder Divine Mantra or the Big Dipper Great Divine Mantra.

Ma Gui watched as a group of Japanese soldiers were blasted off the city wall, along with the monsters who were disintegrated before they could even get close. His helmet was covered in ash from the gunpowder blasts, and he cursed his luck.

Why was he, the General Staff Officer for Coastal Defense, a top-level leader on par with Minister of War Xing Jie and Yang Hao, the Liaodong and Korean Pacification Commissioner, forced to take orders from Navy Commander Chen Lin and defend the city? He and those two were three of the top people in charge of this whole mess.

It wasn't that he couldn't swallow his pride... well, okay, maybe it was! And it wasn't that he was afraid of the Japanese pirates, but Chen Lin was a rank below him and yet could dictate the movements of various armies, while his direct superior was stuck in Gaecheon. Chen Lin's excuse was that he was the "highest-ranking official"!

Because he was the highest-ranking official, the Japanese would be excited to see him.

And because they were excited, they would try to confirm his identity. Once confirmed, they would launch a fierce assault!

Something didn't sound right.

But in fact, it was all to convince the enemy. With all three top commanders appearing in Gaecheon, the Japanese would not be distracted by other places and would focus on attacking Gaecheon.

After all, capturing a Ming supreme commander wasn't just taking a general's head; it was capturing the commander-in-chief! The merit for that would be immeasurable!

"So, I'm the bait! That damned Chen Lin is using me as a worm to catch fish!"

"And weren't these Japanese pirates supposed to be making a feint attack? Why are they fighting so desperately?"

Ma Gui reloaded his weapon while firing at the approaching enemies.

Look at their fearless appearance, and then look at the scaling ladders, battering rams, and siege towers below! This wasn't a feint attack; they had come prepared!

Rumble!

Suddenly, four bizarre vehicles, like giant tortoise shells, rushed towards the city wall. These were the Fenwen vehicles (protective siege vehicles) that the Japanese had imitated in previous battles!

The Fenwen vehicles, braving gunpowder and arrows, charged to the city walls and dropped bags of gunpowder. These were also imitations of Ming Dynasty weapons. During Li Rusong's campaign a few years ago, these gunpowder bags, called Zhentian Lei (Thunderclap Bombs), could kill thirty Japanese soldiers with a single blast, terrifying the Japanese. The Koreans also had similar technology called Polieltan (Fragmentation Bombs), but despite their good equipment, they still lost all three of the Korean Peninsula's eight provinces within a month, and the king ran a marathon all the way to Ming Dynasty's Shuntian. The relevant technology was then plundered by the Japanese.

"Damn it!"

Ma Gui felt a chill run down his spine as he saw more Fenwen vehicles rushing towards him!

To be honest, the Fenwen vehicle wasn't really high-tech...

But apart from the explosive packs, there seemed to be something else inside!

Inside the Fenwen vehicle, two soldiers worked together to lift a huge firearm. It wasn't a cannon, but it stood as tall as two adult men. It resembled a giant arquebus, and was called a Si Hai Bo (Four Seas Wave), something between a gun and a cannon. The Japanese called it a Daiteppo or Ozutsu (large cannon).

Ma Gui sensed danger when he saw it. Although it wasn't as powerful as a cannon, its power was still considerable. With the blessing of the enemy's national prestige and spells, repeated strikes on the city walls would be dangerous. So he roared, ordering the lieutenant to bring over the good stuff.

Suddenly, four huge black tubes appeared on the city walls of Gaecheon.

"Hongyi Cannons! Fire, blast them to hell!"

Boom!

A cannonball landed squarely on a Fenwen vehicle.

Where the smoke cleared, only a pile of rotten flesh remained!

Countless Japanese soldiers were killed. The power of the blast was terrifying!

The first shot of the Hongyi Cannon blew a Fenwen vehicle to smithereens. The Japanese soldiers inside holding the large cannons were also blasted into ashes. The blast radius was enormous, turning the surrounding area into a sea of fire. Limbs flew everywhere! The power of this was enough to make the eyes of the legion commanders bulge. They wondered if some great Ming cultivator had come to kill them!

"Even with the blessing of spells, the power of this cannon shouldn't be so great!"

"No, the weapon itself is powerful. A powerful weapon, when blessed, becomes unimaginable. This thing... we've never seen it before. Is it newly delivered equipment?"

"That's enough! Retreat, let them retreat!"

Seeing that the casualties were out of control, the legion commanders immediately ordered a retreat. The first wave of attack had ended. Next, they had to start acting... well, they couldn't really call it acting. After all, they had really lost. But they also had to order the discarding of their weapons, to create the appearance of a rout.

The soldiers, who had been pale with fear at the power of the cannon, immediately heard the retreat horn. They abandoned all their weapons like Izanagi fleeing from the land of the dead to escape his wife. Except for the armor protecting their lives, they threw everything else aside.

The great rout began, even more realistic than a real one. Ma Gui smirked when he saw this scene.

If he hadn't known these guys' plan in advance, he might have really launched a pursuit in victory.

Now, they could run as far as they wanted.

The routed soldiers retreated back to their main camp. When the legion commanders saw that the Ming army had no intention of leaving the city, they acknowledged that the first plan had failed. So they began to praise the Ming officer in the city as a steady and cautious person.

"That's General Staff Officer Ma Gui. If we can capture him alive, it would be a great achievement and a huge blow to the morale of the Ming army."

"If you ask me, since we've already fought, and the enemy has no intention of attacking, why don't we just press forward with all our forces? As long as we can kill him, no matter how great the casualties, it will be worth it."

"There are probably just over 10,000 Ming soldiers in the city, while we have a total of more than 50,000, nearly 60,000 troops. I don't believe we can't take it!"

For this strategy, 17,000 men would attack the supply lines, 10,000 would remain to defend Wanggyeong, and the remaining 50,000 would attack Gaecheon. This army of over 80,000, not counting the logistics troops, was almost all of the combat troops on the western front!

At this time, many legion commanders were thinking that even if the enemy had cannons, they also had one of the three highest-ranking Ming officials in this battle. As long as they could catch him, dead or alive, it would be a worthwhile effort.

First, plant a flag on the spot, then go for a wave. If we win, we can go home and get married.

"No, wouldn't that be a return to blind fighting? That would be unwise."

"Continue to send small units to probe and harass them continuously, forcing them to expend arrows and gunpowder. And once they stop responding to our harassment, we will launch a siege. As long as they come out to fight back, we will retreat."

"If they don't come out, we have a second plan. The moment before dawn, when people are most tired, is when we will launch the general attack."

Uesugi Kagekatsu looked at Date Masamune: "Mr. Date, I know you are not satisfied with the Supreme Commander's deployment, but in war, changing the planned strategy without unforeseen circumstances is very dangerous. So please continue to operate according to the deployed plan."

"Don't jeopardize the battle for the sake of seizing the head of a Ming general."

Date Masamune looked displeased: "I know, I know..."

Although he agreed verbally, he was still calculating in his mind how to be the first to seize the head of that Ming general.

The second round of battle began quickly.

The Japanese harassed, the Ming counterattacked, the Japanese continued to harass, the Ming defended firmly, the Japanese began to attack, the Ming counterattacked, the Japanese retreated, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they continued to harass, repeating the previous steps.

The exhaustion tactic was already proving effective. The Ming army's counterattacks were becoming increasingly loose, indicating that orders were not being accurately conveyed.

After all, there could only be a thousand days of thieving, but never a thousand days of guarding against thieves?

As long as they were the attacking side, the initiative was in the hands of the attacker. The defending side, in the end, had to defend only because they were forced into a passive position. And ambushing out of the city was often an attempt by the defending side to turn the passive into the active, so they had to take the initiative to attack and harass the attacking side. In this way, the original city became an offensive stronghold. For the attacking side, once they lost the initiative, the results would be very bad.

Time passed bit by bit.

Until, the arrival of a group of defeated soldiers in panic!

.......

At Suwon Port, the Ming army disguised themselves as Japanese soldiers, discarding their heavy armor and putting on simple ashigaru (foot soldier) attire. The Ming generals also donned samurai armor. Under the guise of returning to defend, they easily seized the port. With a massacre by thousands of infiltrating sailors, the 5,000 Japanese naval forces stationed at Suwon Port were completely wiped out.

Afterwards, the Ming army left 4,000 men to defend the port, and the remaining 16,000 marched straight to Wanggyeong. At the same time, because there were internal spies in Wanggyeong, they more easily led the army into the royal city.

Then, as the polished samurai sword slashed down on the head of the person in front of them, the guard general stationed in Wanggyeong woke up as if from a dream!

"Katagiri! Kasuya! Ikoma! Nabeshima! Have you four... betrayed us!"

Asano Yukinaga, the general guarding the city, looked incredulously at his four fellow betrayers. What frightened him even more were the Ming soldiers who had entered the city with his four colleagues!

Despite being stabbed fifteen times, they still brimmed with energy. This made the four Shadow Generals a little embarrassed, and they muttered to each other:

"Even with sharp weapons, it's still impossible to inflict effective damage."

Sure enough, without the aid of sleeping pills, they, the Shadow Generals, couldn't kill an ordinary cultivator even with divine artifacts. After all, the Shadow Step technique itself was a trick. The shadow itself was an insubstantial thing. Even if Ji Xiang had created forms and spirits for them, without substance, the lethality was still not high.

So, if the Shadow Soldiers were not only elusive but also incomparably powerful, how could such a spell have been lost?

Now, even if they gave the other person fifteen more stabs, he would probably still be alive and kicking. It wasn't that they were showing mercy; it was just that their attack power wasn't high enough. They only moved their swords without any true power. The sword relies on its own sharpness to break your skin!

If the four shadows had attack power, then it wouldn't be him giving a chuunibyou speech here, but the Wanggyeong shadow killer incident...

But Asano Yukinaga didn't think so. He only thought that his four colleagues still had their old hearts, so the fifteen stabs they had given him were "merciful." So he rebuked excitedly:

"You didn't stab hard enough, did you! What's wrong? Could it be that after betraying us and going over to the Ming army, you can't even eat properly, so you don't have any strength! Can you people be considered loyal retainers!"

"If you regard me as an enemy, you must stab hard! You can't show mercy! But what are you doing now? Showing mercy to the enemy is because you feel guilty in your hearts, right!"

"A sword that possesses guilt cannot kill!"

The Four Shadow Generals: "........"

Honestly, although the words were passionate, they really didn't feel any guilt. The pure reason they couldn't kill you was the lack of attack power. Wielding their swords was just a swinging motion. In the end, the swords were relying on their own sharpness to slice open your skin!

If their four shadows had any attack power, then it would be the Gyeongseong shadow killer incident....

"Your weak and powerless swords!"

"If you've forgotten how to wield them, then let me teach you!"

Asano Yukinaga raised his katana, and then with lightning speed, suddenly pulled out the flintlock on his body and shot one of the shadow soldiers with a bang!

This is how the true art of drawing the sword is used!

However... the shadow soldier who was shot was completely fine, although there was a big hole in his body, he was still as if nothing had happened.

Asano Yukinaga's pupils contracted violently: "You... how can you be alright?"

"Ah, so he says a sword with guilt can't kill, but it turns out this guy wasn't thinking about a normal duel."

"Indeed, so those words just now were to make us lower our guard."

The other shadow soldiers realized what was going on at this time, but it didn't matter, anyway, they couldn't be killed, and with their attitude of being lazy, you couldn't do anything to them.

Asano Yukinaga was terrified: "You guys, are you no longer human!"

His divine power surged!

"In that case, I should kill you here even more!"

"Ame no Hiyori!" (Heavenly Sunbird Fate)

An image of a giant god rose from his body!

But the next moment, a jet-black long sword suddenly pierced through the divine body, piercing Asano Yukinaga's chest!

Blood splattered, and the divine power was instantly disrupted. Asano Yukinaga turned his head incredulously, seeing standing in the position of his shadow was Kobayakawa Hideaki.

"This is... Ninigi-no-Mikoto (瓊瓊杵尊)..."

"Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi!" (Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven)

Kobayakawa Hideaki smiled: "Ah, it's just a fake... but the effect is still there.

"After all, the real one is in the hands of your Kampaku (chief advisor to the Emperor), how could he give it to me?

"But even though it's a fake, it still has the effect of dispelling divine power, and only the position of Ninigi-no-Mikoto can drive it. Otherwise, how could I, as the Supreme Commander of the Western Army, exert effective deterrence over those legion commanders? It's precisely because of the existence of this sword."

Asano Yukinaga had an expression of disbelief.

Could it be that from the beginning, the Supreme Commander of the Western Army was a Ming spy!

That news was far too terrifying...!

"Sorry, Asano-kun, actually... I'm from the Jinyi Wei." (Ming Imperial Secret Police)

Asano Yukinaga looked stunned, and fell to the ground and died just like that. A ray of divine light left his body and shot into the sky.