Chapter 577 "Build...build it up?"
(Thanks to 91212 for casting 2 monthly votes.)
This is a war of revenge, but also a war of annihilation!
The battle lasted from dawn until afternoon, when the shouts of battle on the sea gradually subsided.
Almost all of the dozens of Japanese pirate ships were wiped out, with only a few managing to escape, but they were badly damaged and no longer a threat.
These escaped Japanese pirates could not return to Tsushima Island, so they could only flee to other small islands.
Otherwise, on this vast sea, if you don't drink water for three days, you'll just have to wait to die.
Li Shiyue didn't nitpick about the two or three Japanese pirate ships that managed to escape.
They've run away, so be it. I doubt they'll live much longer anyway.
Many planks, corpses, and struggling Japanese pirates floated on the sea. The soldiers of the garrison were ordered to carry out the final cleanup. They showed no mercy to the enemies wailing in the water, only coldly finishing them off.
Li Shiyue led most of the main fleet, intending to join Sun Xiaoliu and his men who had raided the Japanese pirates' stronghold. Nearly twenty fast ships set sail for Tsushima Island in a grand procession.
The closer you get to Tsushima Island, the more pronounced the strong smell of blood and burning becomes in the air.
Li Shiyue strode across the scorched earth and broken wood, his face grim as he surveyed this den of Japanese pirates, stained with the blood of countless Jian'an coastal people.
"General, the inventory is complete."
All the Japanese pirates on the island have been eliminated, with a total of 171 pirates killed.
Our army suffered 21 dead and 59 wounded.
A considerable amount of stuff was also found throughout the island, including several boxes of gold and silver, grain, and various other odds and ends, all piled up there.
Sun Xiaoliu stepped forward to report to Li Shiyue. His voice was a little hoarse and tired, but it couldn't hide his excitement. His body was still covered in gunpowder and blood.
Li Shiyue was silent for a moment, then spoke in a low but clear voice: "The compensation for fallen soldiers will be doubled."
The injured are being treated with all their might.
Their contributions, every single one, must be recorded clearly.
"yes!"
Li Shiyue's gaze swept over the pile of Japanese pirate corpses, his eyes showing no emotion.
She looked up at the mountains and forests on the island. "Three days. Within three days, have our people search the entire island!"
Let's see if there are still people hiding in those mountains and forests.
If anyone is found, find them and kill them.
"Yes, General!"
“Yes, and these too,” Li Shiyue pointed to the piles of Japanese pirate corpses, “cut off all their heads.”
Her voice was calm, yet carried a chilling resolve: "Pickle them, and pile them up right on the highest point of this island."
"Stack... stack them up?"
Sun Xiaoliu was taken aback, then immediately understood what Li Shiyue meant—a mound of skulls!
This is the most primitive, bloodiest, and most intimidating way to declare victory and warn the enemy!
"That's right, a mound of Jingguan (a type of mound of corpses)."
Li Shiyue's tone was chilling, "I will use the heads of these Japanese pirates to tell everyone that those who offend the borders of my Dalong will be punished no matter how far away they are!"
This is what happened to them!
Let those Japanese pirates who are still lurking in the shadows, harboring illusions, see that this is the only outcome for them if they land on my Jian'an land!
"yes!"
Sun Xiaoliu felt a surge of heat rush to his head and loudly obeyed the order.
The soldiers of the garrison immediately sprang into action.
With flashes of blades, heads, some grotesque and some terrified, were severed one by one. They were then covered with lime scavenged on the island and carried by the garrison troops to the highest point on the island.
Soon, as the sun set, a terrifying mound of over four hundred Japanese pirate heads appeared atop the mountain on Tsushima Island.
Yes, the garrison troops also retrieved all the bodies from the sea.
The head was cut off, but what about the body?
On Tsushima Island, dig a big pit in the shady side of the mountain, throw the food in, and light a fire. That's all you need.
Among this pile of heads, there is one that belongs to a Japanese pirate named Matsui Iwane.
Matsui Iwane never imagined that his people, who were hiding on Kusuma Island, would be killed by Li Shiyue's troops.
After all, it's been several years, and Matsui Iwane, Cai Hua, and Huang Wanchang have been cooperating well, happily splitting the profits from selling good men among themselves.
For Matsui Iwane, being a Japanese pirate was pointless; it was all about fighting and killing, and people would die at the drop of a hat.
Colluding with officials from Jian'an to secretly engage in human trafficking is the most profitable, lowest-cost, and least risky business!
Selling Han women to Japan was especially lucrative, as it was more valuable than selling Han men back to Japan!
Han men who went there would either work in mining, farming, or doing other manual labor; even the best of them would die from exhaustion within three to five years.
If they're unlucky, they'll die within a year or two.
But Han women are not like that.
Han women are the best sellers!
If you give Han women a little food and beat them a few times, they will behave. Not only can you humiliate Han women, but you can also make them bear your children!
They could even sell Han women to Japanese nobles as slaves!
The younger and prettier the Han woman, the more valuable she is!
The nobles of Japan really admired those beautiful Han women!
According to Matsui Iwane, they should just stop doing burning and looting and start buying and selling people!
But doesn't this mean that the Japanese nobles behind Matsui Iwane still have ambitions?
After all, for the great nobles, how could buying and selling people for a short time compare to directly occupying this land and enslaving the people on this land?
Therefore, the Japanese pirates hiding on Tsushima Island, with the support of the powerful nobles of Japan, still wanted to bring their ronin back to Kenan in the autumn of that year, taking advantage of the monsoon season.
But who knows?
Jian'an has changed dramatically!
Matsui Iwane was beheaded, his head was haphazardly smeared with lime, and piled up into the mound of over four hundred heads.
Of course, some people on Li Shiyue's side were injured or even killed.
That's how war is; it's impossible for people not to die.
Either our own people die, or the enemy dies.
It all comes down to which side ends up with more deaths.
Those who die the most are naturally the losers.
The bodies of our own people must be carefully retrieved, piled up neatly, and brought back to Jian'an for a unified burial.
The sea breeze carried the heavy stench of blood, but also the barely suppressed cheers and roars of the garrison soldiers.
They won!
A complete and utter victory!
Annihilate the Japanese pirates!
Not a single one was spared!
The setting sun, like blood, illuminated Li Shiyue's cold and hard profile.
The red dot between her eyebrows appeared even more vibrant in the afterglow of the light.
Hearing the cheers mixed with cries of pain, Li Shiyue was not unmoved.
The sea breeze, carrying the smell of gunpowder and blood, rushed towards her, but she seemed oblivious, gazing only at the Jingguan (a mound of stones) that cast a menacing long shadow in the setting sun.
She turned around, her gaze coldly fixed on the boundless sea before her. Her dress fluttered in the sea breeze, as if declaring to any potential enemies:
The hatred for the borders will be repaid with blood.
The bandit leader is here as a warning to others!
After this battle, Li Shiyue's name will surely be known throughout the East China Sea along with this bloody mound of corpses.
Li Shiyue knew that news of Jingguan would spread as quickly as the sea breeze to every corner.
Fear can breed, and hatred can also quietly sprout.
But she knew even more clearly that only by establishing authority with swift and decisive measures, and by using war to end war, could she truly buy this troubled sea frontier a period of respite.
The fleet adjusted its sails and slowly sailed away from the blood-soaked sea.
Li Shiyue's legend began on land, and now it will be forged at sea!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
