Haneda Heitaro’s pupils contracted sharply, a look of fear emerged on his once arrogant face, he would never forget the scene before him in his lifetime.
After a dense, disciplined volley of “bang bang bang” musket fire from the Zhejiang army opposite, the Japanese pirate comrades charging ahead fell like reaped wheat, in an instant, nearly a third of their numbers were down.
Especially that figure at the forefront, clad in heavy armour, wielding a Kusanagi blade, he too fell unwillingly.
It deeply stung Haneda Heitaro’s eyes.
That was Lord Matsushita Hideji, a ferocious warrior who could single-handedly cut down a Ming sentry unit with his Kusanagi blade, in just three months since landing in the Great Ming, Lord Hideji had been the first to breach Ming county towns four times, once, while attacking a Ming county town, Lord Hideji’s heavy armour was bristling with arrows like a porcupine, yet he fought on relentlessly, terrifying the Ming army into abandoning the city and fleeing!
Lord Matsushita Hideji was the top warrior personally appointed by Lord Beitiao, a universally acknowledged, truly deserving first warrior, even someone as fierce and skilled as myself couldn’t last ten rounds under Lord Matsushita Hideji’s blade.
But now, that incomparably fierce man, before he could even clash with the Ming army, was killed by a hail of musket fire, falling unwillingly.
Just as Haneda Heitaro’s mind was shattered by this volley, his spirit dazed, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Ming troops behind the low wall who had fired retreat, the rear ranks stepping forward to take their place.
“Bang bang bang”
That soul-reaping musket fire rang out again.
Haneda Heitaro once more witnessed a scene of wheat being harvested, another huge swathe of Japanese pirates fell.
The Japanese pirates at the very front were almost entirely wiped out, only two lucky ones remained, standing alone amidst a field of corpses, a warm stream uncontrollably surged from their crotches, these men who had killed countless were literally scared to the point of wetting themselves.
After these two volleys, of the six hundred Japanese pirate vanguard who had charged forward, only about a hundred remained.
Including Haneda Heitaro and the other Japanese pirates who had abandoned their bows to charge, the vanguard was left with just over two hundred men.
Behind the low wall ahead, the Zhejiang army began switching ranks again, those who had fired their muskets retreated to the rear, the rear Ming troops stepped up with levelled muskets, the front-to-back switch was as smooth as swapping hands.
“Withdraw!”
“Run! The Ming army’s about to fire their cannons again! If we don’t run, we’re all dead!”
Seeing the Ming army switch ranks once more, one of the surviving two hundred-odd Japanese pirates shouted, no one knew who started it, nearly all the Japanese pirates turned and ran, including Haneda Heitaro himself, who couldn’t stop himself from turning to flee.
If they didn’t run, once the Ming army opened fire again, all two hundred of them would perish here, the Japanese pirates lying on the ground were proof enough.
They were fierce, they killed without blinking, but that didn’t mean they weren’t afraid of death, when facing death, they too would wet their pants, at this moment, they only wished their parents had given them an extra pair of legs, they hated how slowly they ran.
But just as they turned to flee, the relentless, dense musket fire sounded from behind, “bang bang bang”.
The Japanese pirates who ran slowly, lagging behind, after the musket volley, almost none survived, all fell to the ground.
In the end, fewer than a hundred Japanese pirates managed to escape with their lives.
Among them, the majority were Haneda Heitaro and the others who had dropped their bows, they’d been at the rear during the charge, giving them an edge when fleeing.
Three volleys of musket fire, by time’s measure, took less than a minute.
In that short minute, eight hundred Japanese pirates charging the lines left behind over seven hundred corpses, fleeing in disarray.
“Baka! Baka! Dead, all dead!”
Watching this scene from the rear, Beitiao Dao San couldn’t help but erupt in furious curses, his whole body trembling with rage.
Haneda Heitaro had just escaped from the front with his life, before he could even catch his breath, the furious Beitiao Dao San, yelling “Baka! Baka!”, slapped him more than a dozen times, his mouth bled from the blows, his face swelled up like a dog’s backside.
Haneda Heitaro nodded repeatedly, saying “Hai, hai, hai”, not daring to wipe the blood from his mouth, letting it flow freely.
He knew Lord Beitiao had shown him mercy, were it not for his past merits, what awaited him now wouldn’t be a dozen slaps, but Lord Beitiao’s katana at his waist.
“No wonder Nakamura met his end during the sea ritual, with such dense musket fire, even an iron man couldn’t withstand it!”
After furiously slapping Haneda Heitaro a dozen times, Beitiao Dao San calmed down a bit, he couldn’t help but sigh.
The Zhejiang army’s firearms were too ferocious! He’d never seen so many muskets firing in unison, nor had he seen this method of musket use!
In their Japan, muskets had only recently entered the stage of warfare, even for a regional hegemon daimyo, their musket ashigaru numbered no more than a hundred or so, each musket ashigaru cost five or six hundred kan to equip and train, maintaining just over a hundred of them was enough to make a daimyo grit their teeth.
In Japan, they only used muskets as a trump card, leveraging their firepower and armour-piercing ability to take out enemy generals, cavalry, and other key figures by surprise.
Where had they ever seen muskets used so densely like the Zhejiang army? In that last volley, at least three hundred muskets fired simultaneously, the front rank retreated after firing, the rear rank stepped up to continue, the gap between was barely a breath.
Muskets came down like a torrential storm, in the face of this iron rain, even the astonishingly defensive heavy armour was like paper.
Muskets could be used like this?!
Beitiao Dao San was deeply shaken.
“Damn it, the Great Ming is just too wealthy, they can actually afford to sustain such a large-scale musket ashigaru force!”
The next second, Beitiao Dao San couldn’t help but curse, his covetous desire for the Great Ming surging higher!
The Great Ming was simply too rich, those damned Ming folk occupying such a bountiful land, it was an utter waste!
A land this prosperous should belong to us Japanese!
Seeing eight hundred Japanese pirate vanguard crumble in mere breaths, Chen Dong, Ma Ye, and the other Japanese pirate leaders couldn’t help but grow solemn, they hadn’t expected the Zhejiang army’s firearms to be this lethal.
“Bloody hell, we knew from scouting that the Zhejiang army’s firearms were fierce, but I didn’t expect them to be this fierce! How do they have so many muskets?! Aren’t there only two thousand of them? By normal Ming army weapon standards, they should have at most five or six hundred muskets, but this, it’s like every man has a musket, isn’t it?!”
Chen Dong cursed in frustration, stunned by the Zhejiang army’s ferocious firepower, he hadn’t anticipated it would be this intense.
“Even if it’s not one musket per man, it’s not far off, the Zhejiang army’s firearms are too fierce! They’re tough to deal with.”
Ma Ye frowned as he spoke.
The thirty-thousand-strong, arrogant, and frenzied Japanese pirate army fell silent at this moment.
The eight hundred-plus Japanese pirate vanguard were all battle-hardened veterans, the elite of the elite, clad in armour too, yet they were nearly wiped out in a few breaths, they’d never suffered such a defeat before.
