Chapter 626 When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy tires, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue.
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Looking at the city walls in front of him, which could not even be called a city, Li Shiyue felt it was more like a slightly larger village enclosed by wooden fences and earthen walls.
She nodded to Ding Haisheng, "No need to leave any survivors."
"Understood!"
Ding Haisheng licked his slightly chapped lips, his eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty light.
"Charge with me!"
Ding Haisheng leaped up, bursting forth like a cheetah, with the Zhenhai Army surging forward like a tidal wave behind him.
Resistance is weak, even futile.
The bamboo bows and inferior swords used by the Japanese soldiers were no match for the Zhenhai Army's superior armor and sharp standard longswords.
The fighting quickly spread from the breach in the wall into the interior.
The naval soldiers were divided into groups of three, working together to clear out each house. Anyone who dared to resist with weapons was to be killed without exception.
Under the protection of several trusted samurai, Mori Motonobu attempted to escape through the backyard, but was intercepted by Ding Haisheng and his men who had been watching him for some time.
After a brief, one-sided battle, all of Mori Motonobu's confidants lay dead in pools of blood, while he himself was kicked to the ground by Ding Haisheng, and a cold blade was instantly placed against his neck.
In less than an hour, Shimane Prefecture changed hands.
Surrounded by the crowd, Li Shiyue walked through the mess and bloodstains on the road and entered what should have been the residence of the Mori clan.
Without even glancing at Mori Motonobu who was being escorted over, she directly ordered Sun Xiaoliu and Ding Haisheng: "Execute him and all the captured Mori soldiers, and hang their heads at the crossroads as a warning to the public."
His property was confiscated, and the seized items were inventoried.
"yes!"
Sun Xiaoliu carried out Li Shiyue's orders without hesitation.
Soon, a row of wooden poles was erected at the intersection, with the hideous heads of Mori Motonari and dozens of Mori soldiers stuck on them.
This bloody and brutal scene completely shocked all the surviving indigenous people.
For Li Shiyue, occupying this place, which couldn't even be called a county town, was just the beginning.
Li Shiyue's goal is the hidden treasure underground—the Iwami Silver Mine.
With Yamamoto Shun's translation, a guide was quickly found among the surrendered Japanese;
Thus, without much effort, on the second day after occupying Shimane Prefecture, Li Shiyue found the area where the huge Iwami Ginzan silver mine was located.
This area is still in a state of undeveloped state, with only some scattered traces of small-scale private mining.
"Effective immediately, the Yinshan area will be sealed off and designated as a military restricted area."
"You, Xiao Liu, will be fully responsible for oversight."
Li Shiyue pointed to the mountain forest and said, "Post notices throughout the county to recruit local Japanese miners."
Tell them that if they work for us, they will be given one full meal a day and paid in copper coins or the equivalent value of grain according to the amount of metal they mine.
This order startled Ding Haisheng, who had originally thought Li Shiyue would take a more direct approach to enslavement.
Just like in the battle of Shepan Island, the captured Japanese pirates were all taken back to Jian'an and directly sent to work in the mines.
Li Shiyue noticed Ding Haisheng's confusion and explained calmly, "Forcing them here is not only inefficient, but it also easily leads to riots."
Although we have occupied this county, it will take time before we can fully occupy Honshu Island.
During this period, providing the local Japanese with some small benefits and strictly managing them is the only way to ensure sustainability and facilitate governance.
What we need is not short-term gains, but a continuous flow of silver.
Li Shiyue's gaze swept over the Japanese civilians who were watching from afar with fear on their faces. "Moreover, compared to the Mori clan's tyrannical taxation and forced labor, wouldn't it be interesting if we, the 'foreign invaders,' could become their 'benevolent lords'?"
This is where Li Shiyue's brilliance lies.
Holding a blood-dripping butcher's knife in one hand and a sustenance supply in the other, he used both kindness and severity to treat the local civilians.
"It is said that the Xuanjia Dark Blade..."
Li Shiyue said in a deep voice.
Yes, as early as three years ago, Li Shiyue's Xuanjia Dark Blade team, trained in Jian'an, had already gone to Japan to infiltrate.
Among them, quite a few powerful individuals have already infiltrated Heian-kyo.
This Xuanjia Dark Blade unit should be the most mysterious, loyal, and skilled special mission unit under her command.
Of course, there are also those with Xuanjia and Anren on Honshu Island.
Three days later, a group of people dressed in black, exuding a sharp and cold aura, appeared in front of Li Shiyue like ghosts.
The Xuanjia Dark Blade is extremely efficient.
With their help, Sun Xiaoliu led the Zhenhai Army to quickly demarcate the mining area and set up simple camps and work sheds.
They posted notices recruiting unemployed workers. At first, no one dared to respond, but under the threat of starvation and the lure of "working for the Dalong people will provide food," some bold and poor Japanese finally came to sign up with trepidation.
Of course, it was also because Li Shiyue strictly controlled the Zhenhai Army that, after arriving in Shimane Prefecture, they did not harm any Japanese civilians except for killing the Mori clan members who resisted.
The naval forces following Li Shiyue stayed in the houses of the Mori clan that hadn't been burned down. If there weren't enough rooms, they slept in tents in the wild, but they didn't harass the Japanese civilians.
When the first Japanese miner received a small bag of rice and a few copper coins after completing his task for the day, the news that "working for the Dalong people will earn you food" quickly spread.
Within just a few days, the number of Japanese people coming to apply for the job gradually increased.
Of course, the Xuanjia Dark Blade also had extremely strict control over these Japanese miners. Any act of shirking work, stealing, or attempting to pass messages would result in being killed on the spot and having one's head displayed.
Just as Li Shiyue was consolidating her control over Shimane Prefecture with an iron fist and forcefully launching silver mining operations, her external deployments were also fully underway.
Chen Yong led the "Breaking Waves" and part of the Zhenhai Navy to begin continuous tactical harassment along the coastline of Honshu Island.
Chen Yong resolutely adhered to the sixteen-character tactical principle required by Li Shiyue: "When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue."
They moved erratically, sometimes bombarding coastal outposts, sometimes landing and destroying small ports, and sometimes intercepting merchant ships.
This kept the Mori clan and their allies firmly focused on the long coastline, preventing them from determining the main direction of the Zhenhai Navy's attack and making it even more difficult for them to gather forces for a counterattack.
Ding Haisheng, on the other hand, transformed into a sharp spearhead, constantly expanding outwards from Shimane Prefecture as its center.
The Zhenhai Army she led swept westward and southward like a raging fire.
The areas surrounding Shimane Prefecture, lacking a main force to defend them, fell one after another in the face of the naval forces' sharp offensive and brutal tactics.
The eastern part of Tottori Prefecture, the northern part of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the coastal areas of Yamaguchi Prefecture were successively brought under Li Shiyue's control.
(The term "China" was first recorded in the Taiping Ji during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period. This place has nothing to do with us; it's just a name. Currently, in October, they are in the purple-pink area on the map.)
Ding Haisheng strictly carried out Li Shiyue's requirements—upon arriving at a place, immediately kill the local nobles, regardless of gender or age!
Then, they quickly had the "traitors" contact local wealthy merchants and powerful families, demanding money and grain.
They left soldiers to garrison the area, and once things were stable, they continued to expand downwards.
Li Shiyue, combining the information provided by Xuanjia Anren, instructed Sun Xiaoliu to work closely with him to fully integrate the newly occupied Shimane Prefecture, try to disperse all the forces there, and replace them with their own people.
Sun Xiaoliu and his men conducted a population census in the area, confiscated the land and property of families who dared to resist or had close ties with the Maori clan, and centrally managed the grain and supplies for military needs and to maintain the operation of the mines.
For those local powerful clans who harbored ulterior motives and secretly contacted the Mori clan outside Shimane Prefecture, Sun Xiaoliu and his men had only one response—breaking into their homes in the dead of night and executing their entire families!
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