Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Chapter 279: Burn the Shipyard, Kill the Craftsmen!

Thăng Long.

Bảo Quang Palace.

Annan King Lê Hạo, also known as Lê Tư Thành, looked at the battle reports from the front lines, his emotions on the verge of collapse.

"What is to be done, what is to be done!"

Lê Tư Thành lamented, his voice filled with sobbing: "Đa Bang City has already been captured by the Ming army, the elephant soldiers are in complete disarray, and the main force of the Ming army is only two rivers away from Thăng Long!"

"My lords, you are the pillars of my kingdom, please think of a way, think of a way!"

Lê Tư Thành was so frightened that he lost his composure, crying to Nguyễn Sí and Đinh Liệt.

At this moment, Nguyễn Sí and Đinh Liệt were no less worried than Lê Tư Thành.

They never expected the Ming army's offensive to be so swift, advancing all the way from Xuān Huà Prefecture to Đa Bang City in just a few days.

Of course, the main point was that the two official letters they sent to the Great Ming had disappeared without a trace, receiving not a single response.

Nguyễn Sí's plea for help to Zhāng Péng was directly ignored by Zhāng Péng.

Now, Jiangnan is on the verge of war, and he himself is struggling to survive, with no energy or ability to intervene in Annan's military and political affairs.

As for the surrender letter sent to Zhū Yòu Táng, Zhū Yòu Táng didn't even look at it, directly instructing the eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs to burn it along with those useless documents.

What a joke, Annan took the initiative to send troops to harass the borders of the Great Ming, how could you surrender just because you wanted to?

There's no such easy thing in the world.

This is a war of national extermination, and what Zhū Yòu Táng wants is to completely destroy the entire Annan kingdom!

"Your Majesty, the Great Ming has not shown any willingness to negotiate peace, I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to resolve amicably!"

Nguyễn Sí, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, was full of worry, feeling a faint sense of regret in his heart.

If he hadn't participated in the internal strife of the Ming Dynasty and hadn't sent troops to harass the borders of the Great Ming, wouldn't things have not reached such an irreversible point?

Grand Commandant Đinh Liệt, however, angrily slammed the table in front of him.

"Your Majesty, all the troops that can be mobilized near Thăng Long have already been transferred here."

"There are a total of 100,000 soldiers, and the opposing Ming army has less than 100,000. Why don't we fight the Great Ming!"

"The Ming army has been fighting continuously and is already exhausted. Furthermore, they are fighting in a foreign country and are not familiar with the terrain at all. We can wait for them in a relaxed state and surely defeat the Ming army and make them roll out of our Annan!"

The high pressure of the past few days seemed to have made Đinh Liệt lose his mind, actually clamoring to fight the Ming army in Thăng Long.

Unfortunately, Nguyễn Sí still possessed reason and quickly stepped forward to stop him: "Absolutely not!"

"The Great Ming has successively captured Xuān Huà Prefecture and Đa Bang City, and their morale is at its peak. We must not confront them head-on!"

"In battle, one strikes with vigor, then weakens, and finally exhausts."

"We should first avoid the Ming army's sharp edge and fight a war of attrition with the Ming army, dragging down their logistics supply. This is the best strategy."

Nguyễn Sí's words were very euphemistic, saying to avoid the sharp edge, but in reality, it was because Annan's military strength was not as strong as the Great Ming's expeditionary force.

If Annan dared to commit all its forces to a final battle with the Ming army today,

Then Wáng Yuè could capture Lê Hạo alive tomorrow and escort him to the capital for execution.

"In my opinion, Your Majesty can temporarily leave the palace, take the army, and go to Xī Dū Thanh Hóa to temporarily avoid the sharp edge and plan for the future."

Nguyễn Sí suggested that Lê Hạo flee Thăng Long and hide in Xī Dū Thanh Hóa.

Upon hearing this, Đinh Liệt only clenched his fists, with no intention of refuting.

To fight the Ming army was just an angry outburst, a fake show of power.

When it really came to the crucial moment of deciding on an action, even he felt that it was the right way to run away as soon as possible.

Lê Tư Thành also didn't want to stay in Thăng Long any longer. As soon as he heard Nguyễn Sí suggest running away, he hurriedly agreed: "Good, good, let's quickly retreat to Thanh Hóa, it's best to leave now!"

"Take the army and head to Thanh Hóa immediately!"

Lê Tư Thành shouted loudly, anxious and eager to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible.

Nguyễn Sí and Đinh Liệt exchanged a glance and bowed their heads: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Thus, Bảo Quang Palace completed its preparations at the fastest speed.

That night, Lê Tư Thành, Nguyễn Sí, and Đinh Liệt, leading the hastily gathered 100,000 troops, along with the civil and military officials of Annan, set out from Thăng Long and fled quickly to Xī Dū Thanh Hóa.

...

Mǐn Prefecture.

Fúzhōu Prefecture.

Fúqīng County.

Night fell, and the moonlight was low.

A group of more than one hundred and thirty people, taking advantage of the night, came to the vicinity of the Fúqīng Shipyard.

These people were short in stature, but most of them carried a long katana that was only slightly shorter than their height.

Needless to say, these people must be the pirates privately raised by Zhāng Péng.

Pirates are mostly Japanese warriors who have lost their land.

Because they have no land, they wander around and are also called rōnin.

Some rōnin, by chance, boarded ships to cross the sea and came to the Great Ming, thus forming pirates.

Some who did well even carried their samurai swords, while some who were in dire straits even pawned their samurai swords.

Under Zhāng Péng, this group of pirates was doing quite well.

"Act immediately, burn only the large ships!"

After the leader gave the order in Japanese, the pirates nodded heavily and leaped nimbly towards the Fúqīng Shipyard.

This pirate leader was none other than the person who had bargained with Zhāng Péng in Zhāng Péng's residence before, named Matsushita Kurō.

Among this group of pirates, there were twenty or so people who were exceptionally agile, almost blending into the night.

Looking at their movements, they were actually Iga-style ninjas!

Ninjas developed from the samurai class, another kind of special agent who specialized in secret affairs, and were much rarer than samurai.

These ninjas quietly sneaked into the Fúqīng Shipyard, and after a while, thick smoke suddenly rose, and the Fúqīng Shipyard lit up with flames!

"It's not good! Fire! The shipyard is on fire, come and put out the fire!"

The local garrison soldiers responsible for guarding, seeing the fire so close, were frightened out of their wits and immediately screamed.

But the next moment, a katana suddenly pierced out from in front of him, blocking his scream in his throat.

"Uh... you..."

The garrison soldier turned around with difficulty, seeing the masked pirate behind him.

But the next moment, his eyes went dark, and he immediately lost all breath.

These pirates who set fire to the shipyard were so audacious that they not only didn't run away after setting the fire, but even stayed to assassinate the people guarding the fire!

Fortunately, his scream still alarmed the sleeping people.

The craftsmen and garrison soldiers sleeping in the factory were surprised, some fled in panic, while others were concerned about the shipyard and actively fetched water to put out the fire.

Fortunately, the shipyard was built on the bank of a gently flowing river, and it was convenient for the craftsmen and soldiers to fetch water to put out the fire.

But when three craftsmen, carrying buckets, came to the river to fetch water to put out the fire, two fully armed ninjas suddenly rushed out from under the calm river surface.

They pinched kunai in their hands and threw them forcefully at the craftsmen who came to fetch water!

"Uh..."

The kunai accurately hit the throats of two craftsmen, and they died in vain without even making a sound.

After two craftsmen fell, the last one was scared out of his wits by the scene before him. He let out a heart-wrenching scream and turned to flee.

But a ninja had already nimbly stepped forward and used his kunai to cleanly slice open the craftsman's throat, spraying hot blood all over the ground.

After killing the three craftsmen, the two Japanese ninjas picked up their kunai and silently disappeared into the dark night, continuing to hunt down other unarmed craftsmen.

On the other side, the ronin samurai were also wreaking havoc in the already chaotic crowd.

These Japanese pirates were not only setting fires, but also killing people!

"Kill them all! Kill all these craftsmen! One tael of silver for every craftsman killed!"

Matsushita Koro gasped for breath and whispered in Japanese to the pirates around him.

The katana in his hand was already stained with blood, and the number of craftsmen and guards who had fallen to him had exceeded double digits.

These Japanese pirates not only wanted to burn down the Fuqing Shipyard and the Zheng He treasure ships that were already almost completed.

They also wanted to kill all the shipbuilders, so that Zhu You樘 would never be able to build seagoing ships for voyages to the West!

Such methods were truly cruel and ruthless!

The high price of one tael of silver deeply stimulated these desperate men. They gripped the katana in their hands and greedily rushed into the chaotic crowd, slashing wildly!

Instantly, screams of terror erupted.

"Ah, ah, ah! People are dying! People are dying!"

"There are Japanese pirates! Japanese pirates are attacking! Help!"

"Run! The Japanese pirates are killing people! The Japanese pirates are killing people!"

"…"

Because of the Japanese pirates' opportunistic violence, the already chaotic situation was made even more terrifying.

Many of the craftsmen and guards who had originally intended to put out the fire, when faced with the pursuit of these vicious thugs, immediately abandoned their intention to put out the fire and only cared about escaping for their lives.

Matsushita Koro shook the blood off the katana in his hand, expertly sheathed it, and rushed into the chaotic crowd.

Matsushita Koro quickly approached a fleeing craftsman, gripped the hilt of his sword, drew it, and prepared to use a lightning-fast drawing attack to cut off the craftsman's head in one strike.

Hiss!

Matsushita Koro successfully drew his sword, and the blade slashed extremely quickly towards the craftsman's head.

The sword was so fast that the craftsman had already seen it slashing towards him. His mind reacted, but his body could not.

The craftsman could only show a terrified and desperate expression, watching the sword slash towards him, but he could do nothing and could only wait for death.

Just at this critical moment, a cold blade struck Matsushita Koro's katana with even greater speed.

With just a light flick, it knocked away the sword in Matsushita Koro's hand, saving the terrified craftsman.

Matsushita Koro was shocked. He never expected that there would be such an expert in the Ming army.

"Who?!"

Matsushita Koro looked closely, only to find that the person who had deflected his sure-kill blow with a light touch was just a young man with an ordinary appearance wearing a pointed hat, white leather boots, and a straight uniform.

"May I ask, what is your esteemed name?!"

Matsushita Koro's expression was solemn, and he solemnly raised the katana in his hand, focusing his mind completely.

He believed that he had been immersed in swordsmanship for many years, and his skill had reached a superb level.

The person who could easily defuse his attack would never be an unknown nobody.

At the very least, he should also be a master who had been famous for many years.

And knowing the other party's name was the most basic respect a samurai showed to his enemy before a duel.

But Matsushita Koro's question did not receive any response.

Because his opponent was just an ordinary agent of the Western Depot.

Western Depot agents never engaged in such flashy, pretentious, yet inexplicable things when handling cases.

They only cared about one thing, and that was to chop off the heads of anyone who resisted their handling of the case!

The Western Depot agent did not say a word, not even pausing, and the cold blade in his hand howled as it attacked Matsushita Koro's face.

"How dare you!"

Matsushita Koro was furious that the Western Depot agent ignored his question and only attacked.

The feeling of being ignored made him feel extremely angry.

The katana in Matsushita Koro's hand also slashed fiercely towards the Western Depot agent, determined to make the Western Depot agent pay a terrible price for ignoring him!

The Western Depot agent responded calmly, defusing all of Matsushita Koro's attacks with skillful parries and strikes, and steadily gaining the upper hand.

Matsushita Koro became more and more alarmed as he fought. Not only could he not gain any advantage in the hands of the Western Depot agent, but he was also firmly suppressed by him.

His heart sank, and he already had the intention of retreating.

Zhang Peng's silver was good, but the most important thing was to have a life to spend the money.

"Take this!"

Matsushita Koro shouted loudly and struck out with a lightning-fast horizontal slash, intending to force back the Western Depot agent and then withdraw from the battle.

But the Western Depot agent did not retreat but instead advanced, blocking the horizontal slash with his blade, and then quickly approached Matsushita Koro while holding the blade.

The two blades made a clanging sound of metal, even sparking.

At the moment of approaching, the Western Depot agent quickly drew his blade and slashed vertically. Matsushita Koro was horrified and quickly took two steps back, but he was ultimately too late.

The sharp long blade fell, and Matsushita Koro let out an ear-piercing scream!

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!!!!!"

Matsushita Koro's right hand, which was holding the katana, was cut off at the arm by the Western Depot agent.

Blood spurted out, and Matsushita Koro's arm, which had fallen to the ground, was still tightly clutching the katana in his hand.

Matsushita Koro retreated in a panic, the wound on his right hand was excruciatingly painful, his face turned pale instantly, and he was sweating profusely from the pain.

At almost the same time, a large number of Japanese pirates were being intercepted and killed by the Western Depot agents.

Cries of alarm and screams came from the mouths of these Japanese pirates who attacked the Fuqing Shipyard.

Matsushita Koro looked around and found that many of the Japanese pirates had already died on the spot!

"Withdraw! Withdraw!"

Matsushita Koro exclaimed in shock, no longer caring about burning the shipyard or killing the craftsmen. He turned and ran, only wanting to save his miserable life.

After Matsushita Koro's exclamation, the Japanese pirates who attacked the Fuqing Shipyard also began to flee in a panic.

Of course, the Western Depot agents would not let them escape, and they raised their blades to chase and kill them, vowing to kill all the Japanese pirates.

Matsushita Koro had not even run two steps when a Western Depot agent suddenly rushed towards him from the front.

Like the Western Depot agent who had just fought him, he looked ordinary, but the cold blade in his hand was as fast as lightning.

Matsushita Koro only heard a gust of wind in his ear and subconsciously closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw his headless body collapsing with a crash!