Chapter 1 The Beginning

The naval force heading to Korea this time was commanded by Chen Lin, the vice general of Nan'ao Town, and the famous general Deng Zilong as the deputy commander. The original plan was to dispatch only 5,000 people. However, the enemy's momentum was fierce, and almost half of the achievements made in the past few years had been wasted. Therefore, a large number of reinforcements were added, increasing the total to 20,000.

This force seemed a bit small compared to the Japanese army, which was reinforced by hundreds of thousands of troops. However, other naval forces were on their way, as well as some supporting ground troops, plus 10,000 troops from the Jianzhou Jurchens. This was already a significant commitment for the Jianzhou Guard under the leadership of Shuerhazi.

At this time, Jianzhou did not have a particularly large force. The number of combat-ready soldiers was close to 10,000, but the actual elite force was only a few thousand. After all, Nurhaci would not have 20,000 armored soldiers and 60,000 combat-ready men until more than a decade later.

However, for the Jurchens, they could mobilize all the people in the winter. The number of soldiers depended on the number of men of the right age, so 10,000 could still be mustered. However, more than half of them were cannon fodder. But in this era, where were there so many elite soldiers? Cannon fodder was also combat power. They were still holding weapons and hacking at people. They were not just an atmosphere group standing behind the generals and shouting, like in *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*.

At this time, Shuerhazi was indeed reading *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*. After all, this was the first time he commanded such a large army. In the past, his elder brother commanded them. This time, it was even more to show his loyalty and prevent being wiped out.

Of course, as the expeditionary force, whether it was the Ming Dynasty navy or the Jianzhou Guard, they habitually exaggerated their number of participants. The navy were old hands at this. Claiming 100,000 troops came as easily as opening their mouths. The Jianzhou Guard claimed that they had mobilized 30,000 combat-ready soldiers.

The Ming Dynasty army, led by the renowned "Liu the Third Knife" Liu Ting, mobilized 20,000 troops, and also claimed to the outside world that they were an army of 100,000.

After hearing this, Shuerhazi said that there were 100,000 on land and 100,000 at sea. With a few more, the total force dispatched for this battle could be claimed to be a million. Although others said that this was an outrageous operation, and that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was not a fool and would not believe it, Shuerhazi himself had some unique insights.

After all, the boasting had already been done. It didn't matter if it was exaggerated a bit more. Anyway, the other side didn't know their military strength, which could play a role in confusing them.

It must be said that this trick was originally used by the ingenious General Yang Hao in history to deceive the Jurchens. He opened his mouth and said that 300,000 troops were stationed in Sarhu, which really scared Nurhaci and made him afraid to move for a while.

And the ingenious Yang Hao is now in the Korean region, leading a large number of Ming Dynasty troops, and is being used as a game boss by the Japanese to level up madly.

Originally, it was planned to land and provide support on the coast of Jeolla Province, but unexpectedly, the mountain cities in various provinces of Korea collapsed like an avalanche, and most of the recovered areas had already fallen.

Standing at the front of the warship, one could see the three clouds of qi entangled in the sky over Korea, purple-red, yellow, and white. The weakest of them, the white one, was the luck of the Korean kingdom.

Purple represents the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty. Because there is the Purple Palace in the sky and the Forbidden City on the earth, this is the color. There is also a burst of crimson qi, which is the color advocated by the Ming Dynasty, vermilion.

Yellow is because Japan at this time advocated golden color. Toyotomi Hideyoshi made golden utensils for the Emperor of Japan to represent the pursuit of wealth and power.

As for white, it is the color that ancient Korea has advocated since ancient times. This habit is even maintained in later generations. When Chinese people paste red Spring Festival couplets, Koreans paste white ones, which looks more like a funeral than a festival.

"Now, the yellow qi is fierce, the white is weak, and the purple-red is retreating steadily."

Old Sword Immortal Wang of Wudang Mountain looked at the cloud of qi from afar. The other Wudang cultivators also felt that the situation was grim. According to reason, there were successive victories not long ago. Even when the two "Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix" privately signed a ceasefire agreement with the two leaders, the Japanese occupied area in Korea was only the eastern and southern coasts.

But now, even the western coast, these places that were originally "recovered areas" have been reoccupied. It can be seen that the rumor of "false immortals" appearing in the enemy camp may be true.

"Don't worry, every time a false immortal makes a move, they will get closer to their own destruction. They will not act unless it is absolutely necessary. After all, the opportunity to strike is very precious. If the fight lasts too long, they will suffer great damage."

"According to some news I have learned, there seem to be quite a few false immortals in this world, but they are all old antiques. The opportunity to strike may only be maintained once or twice. There is nothing to be afraid of such things. It is a pity that we don't have any Pure Yang Realm experts here, otherwise we could use various magical artifacts to fight a war of attrition with them."

Ji Xiang stood at the bow of the boat, and the karmic tribulations of the mortal world above his head were even greater.

Helping Li Jianyuan deduce the immortal scriptures, generating new karmic tribulations of the mortal world, means that a great disaster will be encountered in Korea this time. Perhaps the very act of coming to Korea is a sign of disaster.

He received the conscription order just before he was about to take the Second Revolution Immortal Pill. This in itself is a manifestation of misfortune. Taking the Second Revolution Immortal Pill requires a long time and regular refining every seven days, not giving himself a chance to become an immortal. And stepping on this land means....

"In the dark, immortal-level experts will appear here."

The immortal level is all about calculating and being caught off guard. Chen Taichu is also an immortal. Being plotted against and beaten into a banished immortal is nothing to fear, but if he had not been successfully plotted against, then it would be over.

In the end, he is not a true immortal level expert. As the saying goes, to defeat a master, you must lower his level to be as low as yours, and then defeat him with your rich experience and outrageous skills.

"General Chen, where are we landing?"

Ji Xiang looked at the distant coast. There was a prominent mountain city there. Korea is mostly mountainous, and there are not many plains. From afar, one could see the shadows of the mountains, looming behind the waves and sea fog.

"The power of the Three Kingdoms is intertwined. Originally, it was planned to be in Jeolla Province, but Jeolla Province fell too quickly. Then it was transferred to Gyeonggi Province, which is near Wangjing, the port of Suwon, but now the port of Suwon has also fallen into the hands of the enemy..."

As Chen Lin said this, he cursed Yang Hao in his mouth for being a noob, really fighting blindly, without any skill.

Yang Hao's mysterious operations were not one or two times, but one thing that Li Rusong could not compare to was that the Ming army under Yang Hao's leadership had much stricter military discipline than Li Rusong, which made the Ming army's reputation better... What's the use!

Chen Lin thought, winning makes everything easy to say. If you lose, what does it matter if you are a kind person? What does it matter if the Korean people remember your good deeds and build a shrine for you? They will still run away and will not give you any strength, and you should still be imprisoned.

For martial artists, winning is more important than anything else. Losing means losing everything. What military discipline? Rewarding merits and punishing mistakes is enough.

Moreover, speaking of which, most of the recovered areas at the beginning were taken by Li Rusong. Yang Hao took very few areas, basically by throwing troops. And unlike Li Rusong, he liked to engage in north-south division, letting the Qi Family Army from the south do the hard work of attacking cities, while the northern army got all the credit. Who would fight for him! Strict military discipline is probably only afraid of the southern army sharing his credit!

Ji Xiang looked at the map and pointed: "South of Hwanghae Province, isn't this port quite good? It is backed by Linshan Mountain, and can firmly control the western coast, and can attack Gyeonggi Province to the south at any time, containing Wangjing. Why not land here?"

Chen Lin explained carefully: "The back is indeed backed by Linshan Mountain, and there is a sea route to contact the army, but what if, what if we attack this place, and the army loses the city again, this place will become an isolated city."

"If we land here, Japan will attack Hwanghae North Province, seize Gusan, and go straight to Xiangyuan and Nampo, then our army's retreat will be cut off."

Ji Xiang: "There is no need to be so cautious. With me here, just attack freely."

"This Haizhou City is a dangerous place, guarding the throat of the sea. How can we not take it? Everyone, please wait, I will go and return, just to let them know something!"

"Then, what kind of big shot will be stationed in such a dangerous place?"

An opening strike, directly beheading a general!

.......

On the head of Haizhou City, the Japanese army saw countless warships appearing on the distant sea, and Feng Bo (God of Wind) and water monsters, Jiaolong (aquatic dragon) and seahorses were clearing the way for these warships. They were immediately alarmed and climbed to the top of the city one after another, blowing the alarm to respond to the war.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

A large number of Ashigaru infantrymen were added to their positions, while the samurai had already drawn their sharp long swords. Haizhou City has now been built by the Japanese army like a bunker. For the Japanese army, these large cities rebuilt in Korea were divided into outer city, inner city, and mountain city on the original basis. Due to the war experience of the Warring States period, the Japanese army far surpassed the Koreans in the technology and speed of building "triple cities".

A thundercloud rose from the distant warship. These samurai immediately became nervous. Someone kept shouting loudly:

"Teppo (matchlock) team, the Teppo team is on the city, there are cultivators!"

Rows of soldiers holding arquebuses boarded the city wall, kneeling on one knee and relying on the city wall, aiming at the approaching thundercloud!

Ji Xiang appeared from the thundercloud and saw the firearms. Above this Haizhou City, the Japanese national prestige was surging, condensing into the appearance of a large snake, hissing and screaming, revealing its ferocity.

The power of the immortal path descended. Outside Haizhou City, countless demons and ghosts appeared, jumping out from those mountains, roads, and seawater!

"Xu Fu's power covers this place, and there are people in the city who hold divine positions."

Ji Xiang was staring at them, but among the group of samurai, the most gorgeously dressed person did not move, and was also staring at Ji Xiang.

A group of samurai surrounded this person, and several of them seemed eager to try. Soon, a general seemed to have obtained the permission of the gorgeous general, and climbed to the top of the city, with a strong wind rising under his feet. He suddenly came from the air!

And shouted such titles as "Thirty-six Warriors of the World"!

"I, Kieta Sonosuke Hyoe, Hikosan Tsumi! My blade does not kill unknown people..."

The long sword was still waving in the sky, and Ji Xiang had already taken out that revolving cannon!

Rumble rumble rumble rumble——!

Gunsmoke and blood rose greatly, and the clouds and fog cleared!

"You....!"

Kieta Sonosuke Hyoe looked incredulously at the eight large bullet holes in his body. The national prestige protecting his body was penetrated like this, and the other party was even unwilling to fight him up close!

"How can you be called a Grandmaster if you don't use a gun?"

Ji Xiang looked at his corpse falling into the sea with disgust: "Sorry, what did you say your name was just now?"

"Never mind, let's just call you trash."