Chapter 69: Blood Battle

  ōno Toshi was puzzled today, he couldn't figure out why the Ming army he encountered today was so different from the ones he had encountered before. Why could their firearms shoot so far? Why didn't those firearms burst or explode? All of this was puzzling him, but now these things were no longer important. What's most important now is that the Ming army has already approached them.

  Looking at the Ming army approaching him in neat steps, beating drums and forming a square array, ōno Harunaga felt fear for the first time. This feeling was so strong that he had never experienced such an emotion in his three years of roaming along the coast of Ming China. The Ming soldiers he had encountered before were all defeated at once, and in ōno's view, they were just a group of farmers who didn't even know how to use their weapons, not worthy of being called soldiers.

  But today, ōno Toshihito was frightened. He had never thought that the Ming army he despised would have such a powerful force. Dozens of veteran warriors were knocked to the ground without even having a chance to engage with the enemy. Were these Ming firearms really so formidable?

  Looking at the approaching Ming army with a cold and bloodthirsty gaze, ōno Toshi thought of turning around and running away, just like he used to do when things didn't go well in battle. However, his rational mind told him that he couldn't run, for if he escaped now, these Ming soldiers would surely take advantage of the situation and attack, and since they were on Ming territory, if they were spotted by those swarming Ming soldiers, even if only one team among them was as elite as this Ming army in front of him, they would definitely die without a place to bury their bodies.

  Taking a deep breath, ōno no Jun'ichi pushed away the woman in his arms and drew out his Japanese sword to slash at her. As blood splattered everywhere, he turned around to shout at the Japanese soldiers behind him: "Gentlemen, today's life or death hangs on this one move! The great god Amaterasu will protect us, everyone grab your shields! Let's all follow me and kill off those Ming troops!"

  "Kill him!"

  "Kill him!"

  These Japanese pirates were indeed the fierce bandits who had been rampant along the southeastern coast for many years. The death of dozens of their companions just now did not make them afraid, and after hearing the order from their leader, they threw away the wealth and women they had just looted, drew out their Japanese swords and shouted as they charged towards the Ming army that was pressing in on them. For a time, the sword light flashed and the fierce flames filled the sky.

  At this time, the Ming army watching from the city wall dared not to breathe as they watched the impending fierce battle. Sun Xi-yi looked at the approaching fierce battle with a very complicated mood, his facial expression constantly changing. On the one hand, he hoped that Pang Gang could defeat these Japanese pirates and lift the siege of Yangzhou. On the other hand, he hated to see Pang Gang being killed by the Japanese pirates right in front of him, this rascal had brought shame to himself and only his death could eliminate his anger.

  "Die, you coarse and boorish martial artist! Go to hell with those barbaric Japanese!" Sun Xi Yi hissed in a low voice that only he could hear.

  Under Sun Xiyi's curse, the Ming army led by Pang Gang stopped advancing.

  Pang Gang raised his curved knife and shouted loudly: "Raise your guns!"

  "Whoosh!"

  The soldiers standing in the front row raised their Remington rifles, facing hundreds of Japanese pirates rushing towards them. Their hands did not tremble, they had been tempered by the war and their nerves were as tough as steel. Their confidence came from the weapons in their hands and their trust in their comrades beside them.

  Looking at the rushing Wokou, Pang only smiled coldly. A group of people without any military discipline, who could only charge forward in a swarm, could only be called a mob. No matter how many more there were, he was not afraid. Looking at the Wokou who had already approached within 100 steps, he raised his knife and loudly gave the order.

  "Fire!"

  "Bang bang bang bang..."

  As dozens of gunshots rang out, the front line of the Ming army began to smoke again. These Japanese pirates were not fools either, and the dozens of Japanese pirates who charged forward held rattan shields in their hands, which was a kind of shield they often used, with characteristics of being lightweight, tough, and firm. And these rattan shields did not disappoint today, blocking the attack of the bullets for them, but the power of the bullets was too great after all, and the strong impact force shook the hands of those Japanese pirates almost to the point of breaking, so they had no choice but to retreat to the back and let their comrades in the back come up.

  Although it was so, in the eyes of Osamu ōno who was fighting behind, it was no less than a heavenly blessing. He exclaimed with joy: "The Ming people's bird guns can't break our wicker armor! Brave warriors, let's charge!"

  "Kill him!"

  Seeing Teng Pai withstand the bird gun's lead bullets, the Wokou behind him couldn't help but greatly boost their morale, and they charged forward with even greater speed.

  The Ming soldiers on the city wall were shocked and lost their color when they saw that the lead bullets of the bird gun were blocked by the Japanese tatami mats. In their view, just now, Pang Gang and others could kill dozens of Japanese pirates, relying solely on the power of firearms. Now, the power of firearms has been offset by the enemy's tatami mats, so what awaits them is only a way to be completely defeated. Gu Shou asked Sun Zili in panic: "Master, what should we do? Those Japanese people used their tatami mats to block Pang Baohu's firearms."

  Sun Zili said coldly: "What else can be done? He didn't listen to the order and launched a surprise attack, that's his own demise, what does it have to do with us?"

  "But, however..."

  Looking at Sun Zili's cold and stern old face, Gu Shou couldn't utter a word.

  At this time, another round of gunfire sounded from under the city wall. It turned out that the bird gunners in the second row had opened fire. Just as everyone thought that this shot would also be blocked by the Japanese shields, something unexpected happened.

  As the gunfire rang out, dozens of Japanese pirates holding wooden shields charged forward bravely, but more than half of them were knocked to the ground. At a distance of eighty paces, the powerful lead bullets from the Remington rifle finally penetrated the wooden shields in the hands of the Japanese pirates and knocked them to the ground.

  Anyone with even a slight involvement in the military knows that what kind of bullet causes the most damage to the human body when it hits, without a doubt, is the dum-dum bullet. The changed shape of the bullet head after being obstructed by an object can cause the greatest harm to the human body.

  Similarly, the originally round lead bullets were deformed by the shield and became irregular shapes after being softened. These lead bullets of various shapes struck the Japanese pirates with great kinetic energy, although they could not cause penetrating injuries, but caused greater harm to the human body. The bodies of those Japanese pirates who were hit by the lead bullets all had wounds as big as a bowl mouth.

  Dozens of Japanese pirates were knocked to the ground, rolling and screaming constantly. Some were killed on the spot, while others were not yet dead, but lay on the ground in a bloody mess, screaming loudly.

  Looking at the Japanese pirates who had fallen to the ground, Pang Gang, standing on one side of the troops, did not show any pity, but instead continued to shout loudly: "Third row forward, fire!"

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  A burst of smoke rose again in front of Ming army's formation.

  "Fire!"

  "Fire!"

  "Fire!"

  The bird gunners' continuous shooting of three or four rounds made more than 100 dead bodies and wounded soldiers of the Japanese pirates fall to the ground, wailing continuously.

  However, due to the limited number of bird gunners, after several rounds of volley fire, the Wokou had approached within thirty steps. At this distance, it would take less than tens of seconds for the charging Wokou to reach them.

  The Japanese pirates finally rushed to the front of this team of Ming army, but that was at the cost of more than 100 companions lying on the ground. Ohno Toshi's heart ached and bled, such a heavy loss was something he had never suffered in so many years in the Ming country, even when fighting against Zheng Zhilong's pirate group, he only lost more than 100 companions, but now just dealing with more than 200 Ming army originally looked down upon by him caused so many casualties. Such a heavy loss is enough to knock his originally medium-sized pirate group into an irreparable situation.

  The massive casualties made ōno's eyes red with rage, at this moment he charged to the front with his Japanese sword, he vowed to cut the leader of the Ming army into pieces and then behead him.

  Thank you for God's reward is not from classmates!

  Also, I want to apologize to everyone. Last night after finishing writing, I hastily uploaded it, but my brother's two kids and my three little rascals were making a racket beside me, and with a headache, I mistakenly re-posted the chapter again! I was wrong! Waaahhh... these three little ancestors of mine!