Chapter 130: The persimmon seems too soft
Yuan Ye was quite satisfied with the armed landing operation. The combat power was not lost at all as they quickly passed through the dangerous area. Even though there were some unexpected minor issues in the middle, they did not cause any chaos due to the timely response of the junior officers and soldiers, and the landing plan was still successfully completed. The entire process was always orderly, which perfectly matched his personal aesthetic.
This was a practical combat attempt. The Chita Peninsula is high in the middle and low around the edges, a standard hilly terrain. It is constantly washed by seawater, which brings back a large amount of soil. There are not many sandy beaches, but many tidal flats. As long as they can overcome the impact of this harsh terrain, he can boldly say that the Chita Peninsula is his backyard, he can come and go as he pleases, and no terrain can stop him from landing.
He stopped the timer on “Ship Number One” and felt that the exam results were very good. He picked up his steel helmet and put it on, then said to A Qing, “Alright, let’s go ashore too!”
A Qing, fully armed, remained silent. She followed him with two military police officers, disembarked from the ship via the rope net, and then walked through the tidal flats to reach solid ground.
A Man was born with a nail in her backside and couldn’t sit still. She had already run ashore long ago and contacted the “intern ninjas” who had previously infiltrated nearby disguised as traveling merchants. Upon seeing him, she said, “The Takeda Family hasn’t made any moves yet.”
Yuan Ye nodded slightly. Landing operations are dangerous even in the modern era. According to the worst-case scenario, he was prepared to be counter-attacked during the landing. However, the Takeda Family seemed to have no interest in the coast. It had been almost an hour, and he had successfully sent all his armored soldiers ashore, yet he hadn’t even seen a single rookie or ashigaru.
The persimmons seemed too soft…
But this is also good. Soft persimmons are comfortable to crush, perfect for training through combat.
He nodded to A Man, “Then I’ll lead the men and depart first!”
After speaking, he continued forward with A Qing. Soon, the various small flags, who were sitting and eating after getting wet, stood up in unison to the piercing sound of bamboo whistles. They converted into marching formations as required by their training and headed straight for their designated target—they were going to block the road, seek engagement, and also allow the small team to successfully complete the secondary objective of this practical combat training, which was to kidnap personnel.
Kidnapping personnel was A Man’s responsibility. Yuan Ye didn’t have any generals who could lead independently at the moment, so he could only have her fill in temporarily. Her subordinates were the three small flags that had previously cleared the way through the tidal flats, plus a few of her “intern ninjas” and some military police. There were about forty people, more than enough to take down a small village.
A Man watched the main force leave. She ordered the three small flags, who had been rolling around like mud monkeys, to re-arm themselves quickly. She then instructed Yu Da to lead the armed sailors to guard the landing point. After that, guided by the “intern ninjas,” she headed for the nearest small village.
…
The landing point was chosen in that unfortunate location not only for training and integrating the new army but also to facilitate the rapid loading of captured personnel onto ships. Therefore, A Man and her men found the village after traveling only a few miles.
The target village was completely surrounded before it could react. There was a small squad of enemies to the southeast, northwest, and north. Some tried to flee into the mountains, but they were met with archery and matchlock gun fire. Although no casualties were inflicted, the deafening roar of the matchlock guns terrified the villagers. Except for a dozen or so who were captured directly, the rest fled back into the village.
This small village was similar to Hibitsu Village; it had some defensive capabilities, but at most, it could only deal with small-scale thieves. Against a regular army, it was completely outmatched. After a few desultory volleys of bamboo arrows, they found they hadn’t even scratched the enemy. No one intended to defend anymore; they all fled back to their homes, hid their heads, and began to hope that the enemy would kill fewer people and steal less grain.
After all, resistance was useless. If they caused too many casualties to the enemy, the enemy might get angry and burn down the village, which would be even worse. It was better to be obedient.
Besides, the enemy didn’t seem like thieves. Perhaps the Takeda Family was finished, and this area was changing hands. It was all the same to pay annual tribute to anyone, so there was no need to lose their lives for nothing.
A Man regretted that the “enemy” did not resist stubbornly. She had always wanted to experience bullying men and dominating women but couldn’t find an opportunity, and Yuan Ye didn’t agree. Seeing the cowardly performance of these people now, she guessed it would be another failure. However, her family was in dire straits, and she had to go out and steal to recover some losses. She was very clear about this. It was only because Lord Yuan Ye was magnanimous that she forgave these ignorant commoners. After all, her status was different now; she was a noble of high standing and had to maintain some decorum.
She first shouted, ordering everyone to gather at the village entrance, and promised that as long as they didn’t resist or flee, no one would die. However, there was no response after shouting. She waited for a while, not surprised, and directly waved her hand, leaving a small number of personnel outside to monitor, to prevent anyone from not understanding human language and daring to flee in the chaos. Then she sent the rest of the people into the village to forcibly help the villagers “move,” so they could go to Wanjin to live.
Pot, Bowl, Ladle, Basin, and Shi Pusa acted together, wearing dōmaru, wielding katanas, and wearing jingasa hats and sōmen masks. They were responsible for entering the village to invite people. The sōmen mask was a type of iron mask, a combination of “han shou” and “han jia” facial armor. Because Yuan Ye had gone to the Oda army for “advanced study” last time and found that many casualties were due to arrow wounds to the face when counting the wounded, and after careful observation, he discovered that arrow wounds to the face easily caused battlefield attrition. Therefore, he had a simple iron mask made for the spearmen using inferior iron material.
After all, the facial nerves are relatively rich. Arrow wounds here are different from arrow wounds to the arms and legs. The former would mostly cause pain and incapacitate them on the spot, becoming a burden on the battlefield. Some would even panic and run around, becoming a source of chaos. The latter would be fine; they could break the arrow and continue to fight bravely.
Now, the five-person team of Pot, Bowl, Ladle, Basin, and Shi Pusa only exposed their arms and legs, with all vital areas protected. As soon as they entered the village, they shouted at the nearest thatched hut, ordering the people inside to come out and gather at the village entrance. When there was no response, they broke down the door according to orders and personally helped them “move.”
There were only three people in this family: a young couple and a child. Seeing them break down the door, the man’s face turned pale. He held a bamboo spear and protected his wife and son behind him. The wife was also very scared but forced herself to calm down and pointed to a pottery urn containing grain, indicating that the grain was there and they could take it directly without killing them.
“Um… we’re not here to rob you. The grain… you can carry it yourselves, or you can leave it. The higher-ups said that you will be given rations when you reach the new place, so you won’t starve to death.” Guo Tailang, as the deputy small flag, recited his lines as required, but he was also very nervous, more nervous than when he used to rob as a rookie ashigaru. He didn’t know why, but he felt extremely guilty.
However, a moment later, he knew why he was so guilty. He turned to look at Wan Cilang, seeing him staring intently at the wife of the young couple, with a feeling of “only three years in the army, and a sow is better than a beauty,” or perhaps jealousy, “I work hard and get beaten every day without a wife, why do you have one?”
Guo Tailang instantly understood. No wonder he felt guilty. It was because he used to rob without anyone caring, but now if he robbed again, he would lose his life.
Without hesitation, he immediately turned the blade of his sword and cursed at Wan Cilang, “Idiot, in two years, you’ll have over ten Guàn. You can marry as many as you want. Don’t go crazy now and drag everyone down! Think about Article Eighty-Seven!”
Raping women was a top-tier felony within the scope of the “Eighty-Eight Slashes.” If discovered by the military police afterward, every single person in the small flag would have to be buried with this pervert Wan Cilang. So don’t blame him, the elder brother, for being ruthless. If Wan Cilang dared to unbuckle his belt, he would have to execute him on the spot and use his head as battle damage.
This would be better than the entire team being wiped out!
The half-sentence “Article Eighty-Seven” instantly cleared Wan Cilang’s eyes. He quickly looked around at his companions and found that Piao Sanlang and Pen Silang’s gazes were also not right. Their swords were already pointed at him, and their eyes became even clearer. He immediately took a few steps back to show his innocence and quickly explained, “I just thought she looked a bit like my sister-in-law… no, my elder sister. Yes, this sister-in-law looks like my elder sister, so… I just looked a couple more times. I didn’t mean anything else.”
Guo Tailang kicked him impatiently and cursed, “You’d better really not mean anything else. If there’s a next time, we’ll castrate you first!”
“Understood! Understood!” Wan Cilang became completely obedient, only looking at the man and not daring to look at the woman again. Otherwise, he would be reported to the military police, and given the beastly nature of the military police chief, he would at least get a severe beating. That Lord A Man was truly a wicked old hag, with no humanity at all. Anyone who could be caught by the regulations, even if only slightly suspected, would inevitably be stripped of a layer of skin if they fell into her hands.
On the contrary, Lord Yuan Ye had a very good temper. He even praised him last time, which made him happy for several days. It’s a pity that that lord didn’t manage military discipline well; otherwise, military service would have been much easier.
After eliminating Wan Cilang, this “unstable factor,” Guo Tailang turned around and sighed at the young couple, “Don’t dawdle anymore. If we wanted to kill or rob you, we would have done it already. You would only die in vain if a real fight broke out. Hurry up and go to the village entrance to gather, or if the ‘white sticks’… uh, if others come, it won’t be good! We were like you before, we could talk nicely. Those people would really beat people to death!”
The young couple was stunned. They had never seen anyone rob a village like this. They looked at the five gleaming katanas in their hands, their strong physiques, their brand-new iron plate armor, and their cold, emotionless iron sōmen masks. Thinking of Guo Tailang’s words, they hesitated for a moment and finally became obedient, voluntarily packing up their buckwheat and beans.
They didn’t know what would happen or what they would be asked to do when they gathered, but they wanted to be with their grain; it was their lifeline.
Pot, Bowl, Ladle, and Basin didn’t stop them. Shi Pusa even stepped forward to help. After packing all the little bit of grain into bags and carrying them, they drove the family of three out and told them to go to the village entrance to gather, repeatedly reminding them not to run off impulsively, as it wouldn’t be harming them. If they were beaten to death for running around, it would really not be worth it.
After they sent the family of three away, they were about to go and knock on the next door when a mother and daughter, who were also being driven out, stumbled because they were trying to avoid them and were carrying grain, causing beans and taro to spill all over the ground.
Pot, Bowl, Ladle, and Basin were startled. However, Shi Pusa, who was usually a bit slow, reacted quickly this time. He hurried over to help them up and squatted down with difficulty to help pick up the spilled beans and taro. Guo Tailang hesitated for a moment, then brought Wan and Ladle over to help. They were not in a hurry. They had received combat briefings before departing and had a general understanding of the mission objectives and execution time. They knew that the main force had already moved forward to seek engagement, and they, as a flanking force, had more than half a day to transport all the villagers back to the ship. They had plenty of time.
They were well-intentioned, but they scared the mother and daughter quite a bit. They hugged each other and curled up into a ball, starting to cry. At this moment, a military police officer patrolling along the main road saw them “committing evil deeds” from a distance and immediately became vigilant. He habitually drew out his white-painted short wooden club and shouted loudly, “What are you guys doing?”
Pot, Bowl, Ladle, and Basin instinctively sprang up, and as a conditioned reflex, their bodies began to ache. Guo Tailang, being on duty, sweated profusely and quickly reported, “Officer, they fell, and we are helping them pick up beans!”
The military police officer cautiously approached and took a closer look at the “scene of the crime.” He found that it didn’t seem to be a violation of military discipline and was not related to robbery or rape. His expression softened slightly. He looked again and asked, “Where is this family’s man? Why are they carrying the grain?”
“I don’t know!” Guo Tailang answered firmly and decisively, not wanting to be beaten.
The military police officer was also confused. He asked the mother and daughter a few questions, but they only cried. He was also at a loss about what to do. After all, Yuan Ye had repeatedly emphasized before departing that any villagers “invited” would be their own people from now on, and military discipline must be maintained. There must be no burning, killing, or looting. If necessary, their heads could be cut off to deter the troops. Everything should be handled strictly, severely, and quickly, without any hesitation. He also added a reminder to be as kind as possible to their future own people and to minimize beatings and scolding.
Since they had to be kind, this was not easy. He also couldn’t reprimand the mother and daughter or kick them a few times to wake them up and make them answer.
The military discipline was too strict, which also had its downsides. He, as a military police officer, dared not touch the mother and daughter for fear of being unable to explain himself later. It was truly possible for lives to be lost. He could only stand there and look around. Finally, he managed to find a passing family and understand the situation. The man of this family had died this month, and only these two women were left.
These two people were useless. Not only could they not be considered a labor force, but they could even be considered a burden. The military police officer was hesitating about what to do when Shi Pusa had already picked up most of the taro and beans from the ground and, with a simple-minded expression, put the bag on his own shoulders and said, “Officer, I’ll escort them over!”
Guo Tailang hadn’t even noticed that he had been squatting and busy. Hearing him say this, he quickly signaled him to be honest and not to cause trouble. However, the military police officer did not reprimand Shi Pusa for this. After hesitating, he walked away without a word.
He had figured it out. No military discipline was violated, so it was not his responsibility. Whether to escort them was up to the soldiers themselves to decide; it had nothing to do with him.
Seeing the military police officer leave, Shi Pusa thought he had received permission. Without saying hello to Pot, Bowl, Ladle, and Basin, he carefully helped the mother and daughter up and carried the bags for them. This angered Pot, Bowl, Ladle, and Basin greatly. This new recruit had been beaten too little and dared to act on his own. He would have to be severely beaten again later.
However, after Pot, Bowl, Ladle, and Basin looked at each other for a while, they didn’t order him back. Finally, they collectively turned around silently and went to knock on another door.
After more than two hours of this commotion, all 300-plus people in the village were found and gathered at the village entrance. There was a small moment of chaos in the middle when dense matchlock gun fire suddenly came from a distance, which once again terrified the villagers who had never seen a matchlock gun. Fortunately, the distance was far enough, and the impact was not significant. The chaos quickly subsided, and the team continued to depart as planned.
After another two hours, the new residents of Wanjin were confusedly boarded onto ships and set sail towards Wanjin.
