Chapter 7: The Leader of the Leaves, A Play on a Large Island

  After saying this, Ye Zhikui was not afraid at all. Why? It's not that Ye Zhikui could predict everything and prepare for every situation. Firstly, he wasn't afraid of losing troops because as the commander-in-chief, Ye Zhiqiang wouldn't let his soldiers be reduced in number. Secondly, Ye Zhikui had been an orphan since childhood, having lost both parents at a young age, and was raised by Ye Zhiqiang. As a lone person with no family ties, he didn't have much to worry about. Most importantly, after buying the hearts of his soldiers for so many days, everyone in the Yongzi Camp had already acknowledged him as their leader. Ye Zhikui believed that as long as he didn't secretly escape, the Yongzi Camp would follow his orders and there wouldn't be a massive collapse like the ones that occurred in history, which were mostly caused by cowardly commanders who fled first.

  Although Ye Zhui didn't worry, he still thought it was better to prepare carefully. As the saying goes, "three cobblers can surpass one Zhuge Liang." He decided to return to the camp and discuss with the other generals. While walking, Ye Zhui thought: Wu Dashan was too impulsive, suitable for charging into battle, but not for defending; he could be paired with the scout who came from the Tiger Troupe as the central army, serving as a mobile force. The rear scout officer, Wu Xiu Jie, had performed well last time, unfortunately, the rear scout suffered heavy losses and could serve as the vanguard. The left and right scout officers were Song Ping Lan and Bao Bu Tong respectively; one was mature and cautious, with deep strategic thinking, while the other graduated from Tianjin Military Academy, exceling in both literature and martial arts, suitable for the rear army.

  Before long, the various officers received the message and came one after another. Ye Zhi Kui first conveyed the news of withdrawal, and then told his own thoughts one by one to see if there were any supplements from the other generals. Wu Da Shan pouted and said in a rough voice: "Ye Shao! I've been lying on this bed for several days, my body has long since recovered, just let me go to the rear army!" Ye Zhi Kui glared at him with his eyes wide open, directly ignoring him. The other generals did not have much problem and took their orders one after another.

  Ye Zhui untied his belt and directly urinated into the latrine, not knowing if he had drunk too much water or something else, he had already run to the toilet several times. Looking at the water splashing three thousand feet, Ye Zhui's eyes lit up, and he suddenly thought of a vicious plan to deal with Daishan Island. Although it was unknown whether it would succeed or not, it didn't require much effort, so he immediately ordered his men to collect urine, night-blooming jasmine, and slaked lime. The soldiers were shocked by this order, staring blankly at each other in silence.

  Wen Baishan felt that his current thinking had a huge gap with Ye Zhui, which was not a good phenomenon. As the number one military strategist of Ye Zhui, he should understand it no matter what. So he didn't hesitate to ask, Ye Zhui looked at him and thought in his heart "generation gap". Then he showed a mysterious smile and said: "Do you want to know?" Wen Baishan nodded eagerly, Ye Zhui continued: "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed." Wen Baishan's words got stuck in his throat.

  Before long, almost everyone in the camp had not urinated for a long time, and several large buckets of urine were collected. The night fragrance and slaked lime were also prepared, and Ye Zhikui led his feces and urine army to charge towards Nie Shicheng's camp.

  Nie Shicheng was about to undress and rest, when he suddenly heard a commotion outside, accompanied by a pungent smell that wafted in. He quickly got up to investigate, opened the door, and saw Ye Zhikui leading a team of men carrying wooden buckets into the room. Upon closer inspection, Nie Shicheng noticed that the buckets contained either yellowish or grayish-white quicklime.

  "Xian nephew, what are you doing? Coming to send this old man such a thing at midnight, aren't you dissatisfied with the appointment I made today?" Nie Shicheng stared at Ye Zhi Kui with his tiger eyes.

  "What can I do! Uncle, I just wanted to borrow your house for a while, who made yours the best!" Hehe, Ye Zhi Kui smiled foolishly and surrendered under Nie Shi Cheng's lustful power, having no choice but to make an explanation.

  Nie Shicheng snorted coldly and said, "You've turned my place into this state, can I still live here? Forget it, no matter what you do, I'll let you have this place. We'll settle the score another day." With that, he left to find somewhere else to go.

  Ye Zhiwei first ordered someone to pour urine into the well in the courtyard, and then made a loud noise in Nie Shicheng's house for half the night, before sprinkling incense to cover up the smell, only then did he lead his troops away.

  The next morning, the headquarters of the 9th Division of Japan, ōshima Yoshimasa's leg injury had fully recovered, but unfortunately left a sequelae, limping when walking, becoming a lame man. ōshima Yoshimasa was in a good mood today, with a sheet of Xuan paper and a commander's knife on the desk in front of him, and a golden carved wooden cane beside the desk. ōshima Yoshimasa had some attainments in calligraphy, picked up the brush, and wrote four big characters "Wu Dao Chang Long" in one stroke. The 5th Division has already entered Korea, waiting for the arrival of weapons and artillery support, it's time to defeat the enemy! At that time! Ha Yeong-ku, this Korean, will be like this desk... ōshima Yoshimasa's eyes flashed with a cold light, he suddenly pulled out the commander's knife and cut the desk into two segments.

  ōshima Yoshimasa was just about to have a meal when he suddenly heard that the Qing army was withdrawing, and he was so delighted that he couldn't even eat his rice. He immediately called an emergency military meeting.

  "Gentlemen, the Chinese troops have retreated northward under the military might of our Great Japanese Imperial Army since early this morning. Taking this opportunity, we should launch a victorious pursuit and wipe out past shame. Our Great Japanese Imperial Army has brave warriors who can drive the Chinese into the sea even without artillery support. Let's pursue them at once!"

  At dawn, "Report, our army has taken down Yuefeng Mountain."

  At noon, "Report: our army has taken down Niuhe Li."

  Due to the Qing army's rapid retreat, ōshima Yoshimasa quickly captured two strategic locations that led to Seonghwan Station. By late afternoon, ōshima Yoshimasa rode a tall horse, leading many generals, looking spirited and majestic as he passed through the city gate, gazing at the three large characters of Seonghwan Station. ōshima Yoshimasa pointed with one hand and laughed, saying: "Ito said that to conquer Zhina, we must first conquer Joseon. Now, south of Hanseong, there are no more Qing troops, and half of Joseon's territory has fallen into my hands. Where Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not reach, I, ōshima Yoshimasa, have set foot today. Conquering the Zhina people is just a matter of time, and when that day comes, you and I will both leave our names in imperial history. What a wonderful feeling!"

  Everyone's face was filled with joy, ever since Xiao Quan Yifu hung up and got injured, Daishima Yoshimasa became violent and irritable, but seeing him so happy today, it seems that the future days will be much better.

  "General, sir! Right ahead is Nishizawa's large camp. I've already inspected it and there's nothing to worry about. Please rest well, General. Our great Japan cannot do without you." Logistics Department Director Kikujirō said, patting his horse.

  ōshima Yoshimasa, who had been busy all day, was indeed a bit tired. He nodded his head in approval and said, "Kikujirō, you have done well. All of you should get some rest now, for we will be pursuing the Qing army again tomorrow."

  ōshima Yoshimasa took off his military uniform, and soon a diligent soldier brought in some clean water for washing. ōshima washed his face with the water, feeling a slightly unusual taste, since the water had been checked for poison before being sent over. However, ōshima wasn't particularly worried, and he casually licked his lips, finding it a bit salty, but nothing out of the ordinary - probably due to the proximity to the sea, the water quality wasn't very good, ōshima thought to himself. Then, he used the water to wipe down his entire body before putting on some underclothes and lying down in bed.

  Oshima was unable to fall asleep, tossing and turning due to the lack of the puppy's company. He got out of bed and turned on the light to prepare for another visitor. Suddenly, he noticed some large characters on the ceiling that were hard to make out clearly. Oshima jumped up onto the bed, took down the paper strip, and examined it carefully. It was a few Chinese characters that read: "Three thousand children's urine, are you satisfied? - Ye Zhenkui"

  Is it child's urine? Da Dao thought of the clear water he used earlier, which had a strange smell. Could it be?! He hurriedly sniffed his body and indeed smelled like urine.

  "Hum! Da Dao only felt a surge of anger rushing to his head, his veins bulging, and he was about to explode with rage. He stomped his foot on the bed board and shouted: 'Ye Zhikui, I will not coexist with you!'"

  The bed board creaked under the force, and with a sudden "crack" it split open. It turned out that Ye Zhikui had been secretly tampering with the bed earlier. Oshima Gisho didn't have time to react before he rolled into the hole. He felt like one of his eyes was filled with dust, but in fact, it was quicklime. He immediately fell into a small pool, which was filled with feces and urine. As soon as Oshima's eye touched the water, he felt an intense stinging pain and quickly closed his eye. It turned out that Ye Zhikui had dug a pit under Nie Shicheng's bed, then thinly covered it with straw and sprinkled quicklime powder on top. When Oshima's eye came into contact with the quicklime and then fell into the feces water, the quicklime reacted to the water, instantly generating heat and expanding. It was feared that Oshima's eye would be ruined.

  The guards outside the door rushed in upon hearing the noise, and saw that ōshima Yoshimasa was submerged in a pool of feces, covered from head to toe in excrement, clutching his eyes and wailing uncontrollably.

  The soldiers rushed to rescue ōshima Yoshimasa in a flurry of activity.

  "Hagane, hagane, let Kikujirō come over." ōshima Yoshimasa was radiating an aura of coldness all over his body.

  Kikujirō was killed with a single sword strike as soon as he entered the door. ōshima Yoshimasa was still not satisfied and slashed his corpse more than ten times, whipping it wildly while shouting like a madman, with "Hayanokai" being the words that came out of his mouth the most.