The boundless hail of arrows made these "three-inch nails" understand what archery truly was.
By the time the fleet reached the shore, only corpses littered the ground. The倭兵 (wō bīng - Japanese soldiers) retreated madly towards Tamura's position.
Arrows capable of shooting two hundred paces were too terrifying.
Tamura watched the retreating soldiers, his brow furrowed.
An official behind him drew his long saber, quickly stepped forward, and met a retreating soldier, running him through directly. Then, he glared at the remaining soldiers and shouted angrily.
How dare you! Mudai dai yao! (A crude, likely Japanese-inspired expletive implying incompetence or cowardice.)
Bastards! Useless dregs!
Anyone else who dares to flee will die!
One Tang army head for one rice ball!
Gan ba die! Sha si gei ge! (Likely crude Japanese military exclamations: "Fight, father!", "Kill, give, give!")
Seeing no hope of retreat, the 倭兵 had no choice but to turn back, suppressing the fear in their hearts, and charged the Tang army with their rusty iron swords held high.
Sha si gei ge!
Tamura finally regained his smile, looking at the lone five hundred Tang soldiers in the distance, the corners of his mouth curling upwards.
Sugoi, damo bikuni mata madaha yai. (Meaning roughly: "Amazing, but it's still too early to defeat me.")
Impressive, but it's still too early to defeat me!
Li Fengliu, seeing the 倭兵 return, issued a military order directly.
Front rank: muskets, prepare to form ranks!
Rear rank: mortars, prepare!
Four hundred soldiers quickly formed three horizontal ranks, facing the 倭军 (wō jūn - Japanese forces) directly.
The remaining one hundred soldiers swiftly assembled the mortars and established a battery behind the musket line, a full twenty pieces!
Load, prime, aim, the right index finger ready to pull the trigger at any moment.
Seeing the Tang army abandon their powerful bows and instead stand there holding a stick, these returning 倭兵 inexplicably felt a surge of confidence.
Shouting "Sha si gei ge," they increased their speed by a third.
Only five hundred men, while they had over ten thousand. Each spitting once could drown them.
Yet, there was no atmosphere of tension on the Tang side; they calmly let the enemy approach to within seventy to eighty meters.
Then came a continuous volley of gunfire, bullets raining down like a curtain of rain upon the 倭兵.
Wooden armor and bamboo armor offered no protection whatsoever.
Instantly, countless soldiers fell.
The second wave of Tang troops landed, even Li Xiaogong personally arrived. The five hundred soldiers behind him quickly joined the ranks, expanding the musket formations.
Bang bang bang bang!
The 倭兵 involuntarily stopped in their tracks; it was too terrifying!
Looking at their fallen comrades before them, they were somewhat bewildered.
They had never experienced such a terrifying confrontation between two armies. Even after fighting the soldiers of Yamashiro no Ōe no Ō in for half a month, the combined casualties on both sides had not exceeded a thousand.
But now, in just this short while, their fallen comrades numbered far more than a thousand.
Bewilderment, helplessness, panic, and fear, all sorts of negative emotions flooded their minds like a tide.
Yamete! (Stop it!)
Kowai, sagure uta! (Meaning roughly: "Scary, retreat!")
Sagure!
(So scary, retreat quickly, retreat!)
Just as the 倭兵 were preparing to abandon their wounded and retreat, Li Xiaogong saw their intention.
Mortars, prepare!
Yes!
After a series of clanging sounds, shells were fitted with fuses and powder charges. The gunners held the shells by hand at the muzzle, awaiting further orders.
Li Xiaogong lit a cigar, exhaled smoke, and pointed at the 倭兵, shouting fiercely.
Fire!
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!
The initial twenty mortars, plus those brought by the second wave of soldiers, a total of forty mortars, simultaneously unleashed deadly shells at the 倭兵.
The 倭兵, who were sprinting wildly, turned their heads involuntarily at the sound of the intense artillery fire, only to see forty black dots in the sky, trailing piercing shrieks as they flew towards them.
Nani ka? (What is it?) someone yelled questioningly at the black dots.
(What are those things?)
They seem to be devils!
These were soldiers who had heard of shells.
Sōda shina! (Likely a Japanese curse: "It's like that!")
Baka! Sagure! (Idiot! Retreat!)
The soldiers who reacted cursed and frantically pumped their two-foot-long legs, wishing their parents had given them two more.
However, how could men outrun shells, especially on such an open beach? When tens of thousands of 倭兵 descended into chaos, the scene was more disorderly than a flock of sheep.
As the 倭兵 broke into a rout, Li Xiaogong began to adjust his deployment. Subsequent landing troops spread out along the coast, encircling the 倭兵.
The road from the Iwami Ginzan to the outside world was narrow, initially only about two meters wide. It was later deliberately widened to ten meters by Fang Er and Chai Shao to set up an ambush, but even ten meters prevented Tamura from evacuating all twenty thousand of his subordinates.
They couldn't even escape!
Because Li Xiaogong had ordered the artillery to target that ten-meter-wide path.
With no escape route to heaven or earth, the 倭兵 began to choose surrender. They ignored Tamura's curses; everyone was born of parents and no one wanted to die.
In the end, Tamura also gave up.
Even if he could hold onto the position of Emperor, wasn't he still a puppet of the Soga family?
Protecting Iwami Ginzan was merely working for the Soga family.
Looking at the five-tooth warships that had approached the shore, and the Tang soldiers jumping from the ships like dumplings, he had completely lost the will to fight.
To hell with Soga no Emishi, to hell with Soga no Iruka!
Li Xiaogong had brought a total of ten thousand soldiers. By the time everyone had disembarked, the 倭兵 were all kneeling on the ground.
The ten thousand 倭兵 Tamura had initially sent, under the baptism of arrows, muskets, and shells, numbered less than three thousand. The remaining ten thousand had all chosen to surrender.
Your Highness! This fellow claims to be the Emperor of 倭国!
Li Fengliu came before Li Xiaogong and pointed at Tamura, who was being held by an interpreter and looked like a meatball, saying.
Li Xiaogong heard this and became furious, kicking Tamura so hard he rolled five to six meters on the ground.
You dog, you dare call yourself Emperor!
Beat him!
Beat him until he's round!
Yes, Your Highness!
Li Fengliu clenched his fists, making cracking sounds, and walked towards Tamura with a smile.
Yamete! Yamete!
Tamura's eyes widened, looking at Li Fengliu in terror, supporting himself with his hands on the ground and retreating repeatedly.
This is too scary!
From a distance, he hadn't felt it, but now he realized why these Tang people were so tall!
Hahahaha, Sandbag?
Good!
Someone, bring some sandbags and put them on this little dumpling!
Li Fengliu smiled upon hearing Tamura's words and beckoned to a nearby soldier, saying.
Yes!
The soldiers quickly returned to the five-tooth warships, retrieved some empty sandbags, filled them with sand on the beach, and carried them over.
Put them on his five limbs!
After saying that, Li Fengliu glanced at Tamura's lower body and then changed his mind.
No, put them on his four limbs!
Yes!
Several soldiers rushed forward, grabbed Tamura's arms and legs, and firmly secured them with the sand-filled sandbags.
"Put sandbags on," hmm, that's a good suggestion. With sandbags on, he really can't move. This way, it'll be more fun for me to beat him, heh heh heh heh!
Li Fengliu put one knee on Tamura's chest, and his sandbag-sized fists rained down like a storm.
Bang bang!
How dare you claim to be Emperor, I'll beat you to death, you dog!
Bang bang!
Did you think you were fit to be called Emperor?
Bang bang!