"Niao Ren, come with us!" Pan Bufeng sneered.
Emperor Toriihito was yelling and raving, and Pan Bufeng just remembered that he hadn't brought his translator with him: "Hey, Pi Guanglin! Bring him here!"
"General, Pi Yi is still on the dragon boat and is not with us." said a soldier under his command.
Niao Ren was still mumbling something in his mouth. Pan Bufeng scratched his head and said, "Take him away!"
Several soldiers came over and held Niao Ren, who screamed and struggled even harder. Pan Bufeng ignored him and pulled out a firework from his pocket, took out a match and lit it.
With a 'bang', a firework shot up into the sky and exploded in mid-air.
Zhao Li, aboard the dragon boat, saw a burst of fireworks rising into the sky from the direction of Fushan. Knowing that Pan Bufeng had succeeded, he drew his sword and shouted, "Men, prepare! Open fire!"
The soldiers were waiting for this sentence. A dragon boat was equipped with eight to sixteen crossbows. The difference was that these crossbows were fixed to the firing holes in the cabin and fired by three or four strong men turning the capstan.
More than seventy dragon boats of various sizes and hundreds of crossbows roared loudly and shot at the Japanese troops on the shore from all angles of the dragon boats.
The Japanese had never seen such things before. Huge crossbow bolts, nearly ten feet long, whistled towards the crowd. Some unlucky individuals were pierced through the gourd by the crossbow bolts. The bolts' residual force was so strong that some even sent people flying several meters.
Strangely, some of the crossbows fired arrows with bottles and jars on them, which shattered into pieces on the beach, and the unknown liquids in the jars flowed out.
The Japanese army advanced closer and closer, and no one paid any attention at first. It wasn't until someone noticed something was pouring out of the broken cans that everyone panicked: "Kerosene! Get out of the way!"
It was too late. The arrows of the crossbows on the dragon boats were tied with cotton soaked in butter. The soldiers lit the cotton, and with a whoosh, the arrows shot from the crossbows landed on the shallows, which were leaking kerosene.
Countless Japanese soldiers were instantly engulfed in flames, screaming and writhing on the ground. The flames enveloped them completely, and the crossbow arrows fired from the dragon boats were so dense that they blocked out the sky. Almost none of the Japanese soldiers in the front survived.
The Japanese troops retreated like dogs that had lost their homes. With a bang, the red cannon on the dragon boat opened fire. Where the shells landed, severed limbs flew into the sky.
Liu Guisheng was horrified. These Japanese soldiers were like three-year-old children in front of the powerful equipment of the Song army. Seeing that the situation was not good, he fled to Fushan with his remaining troops.
"Dong, dong, dong..." The attack drums on the dragon boats began to beat, and countless ladders were lowered from the dragon boats. The Song soldiers on board, each carrying two bundles of arrows and holding a crossbow, rushed down from the dragon boats and gave chase.
When Liu Guisheng turned around, he saw the Song army's arrows on the beach flying like locusts. He was so scared that he fled on his horse.
Just as they turned the corner, they were met by a group of Song soldiers. It was the same group led by Pan Bufeng. Liu Guisheng took a closer look and realized the man bound in front of him was no one but the Emperor. He was immediately terrified and turned his horse around to flee.
Pan Bufeng recognized Liu Guisheng and thought, "Where are you going, you bastard?"
The Song army suffered a loss because they had no horses. They could not bring several horses aboard. Liu Guisheng was riding a horse, and the two of them were very close to each other. When they turned the corner, they almost collided head-on.
But when Liu Guisheng turned his horse around and tried to escape, Pan Bufeng was completely unable to catch up. His Song soldiers howled and raised their crossbows to aim at the fleeing Japanese soldiers. These Japanese soldiers were like dogs that had lost their homes, and they had no chance to defend themselves. They were shot to death one after another by the crossbows.
Pan Bufeng chased for a few steps, but the distance between them was getting farther and farther. He couldn't help but feel angry. Suddenly, he had an idea and grabbed a Song soldier who was running in pursuit and snatched his divine arm crossbow.
The arrow was on the string, Pan Bufeng took aim and with a whoosh, the crossbow arrow, accompanied by a strong wind, hit the horse's leg.
The distance was too great, and the arrow only grazed the horse's leg, not the bones. Even so, the steed slowed down. Pan Bufeng grabbed the quiver from the soldier's back, and trotted after him, nocking and aiming his second arrow.
With a whoosh, the crossbow arrow hit the horse's right hind leg again, causing it to stumble. It barely managed to steady itself and continued galloping.
By this time, Pan Bufeng had already fired his third arrow. Besides its immense power, the Shenbi crossbow's greatest advantage was its rapid arrow-changing speed. The mechanism saved several times the manpower; simply place the arrow on the crossbow, pull the mechanism, and the pulley will rotate to draw and aim.
"Swoosh!" Another arrow shot out, hitting the horse's leg again. The horse under Liu Guisheng's crotch could no longer support itself and fell to its knees.
Pan Bufeng was overjoyed, throwing away his divine crossbow and darting after him. Liu Guisheng fell off his horse, utterly terrified. Turning around, he saw his old rival, Pan Bufeng, running towards him. He immediately began to run, tumbling and crawling.
Pan Bufeng threw away his divine arm crossbow and took a long stride. The pot-bellied Liu Guisheng was no match for him. In a cup of tea, Pan Bufeng had already caught up with him.
"Run, run as hard as you can! I want to see how long you can run. I let you escape in Jimo. I didn't expect that we would meet again in Japan. Let's see where you can escape this time!" Pan Bufeng now felt a kind of pleasure of playing cat and mouse.
Liu Gui was panting, out of breath from running. "You, you surrendered traitor! Are you worthy of your king? You were originally rebels. Now you have become the court's lackeys. Crazy Pan, you are not much better than me!"
Pan Bufeng was furious: "Bullshit! If it weren't for you, the corrupt officials, who oppressed the people, how could we rebel? The emperor is wise and powerful, but his reputation has been ruined by corrupt officials like you. Today, I will punish you, the corrupt official, for the court and for His Majesty!"
There was an uphill slope ahead, and Liu Guisheng's lungs were about to explode from running, but his legs felt like they were filled with lead and he couldn't move forward. Pan Bufeng shouted angrily and rushed forward.
Liu Guisheng was horrified and was about to take a step to climb up when Pan Bufeng drew his sword and threw it at him. With a "puff," the sword pierced his chest, pinning him to the ground. This evil official finally got what he deserved.
Pan Bufeng was tired after running so far. He panted heavily as he pulled the sword out of Liu Guisheng's back and put it back into the scabbard. He kicked Liu Guisheng over, only to see that his eyes were rolled up, and he was already dead.
At this time, his soldiers also rushed to his side. Pan Bufeng looked at Niao Ren who was being escorted in the distance behind him and said: "Let's go! Back to the dragon boat!"
Toyama was captured by the Song army, and Emperor Torihito was captured alive. The entire imperial guard was annihilated, shocking the nation of Japan. The various vassal states were eager to take action, but no reinforcements arrived, suggesting they were simply waiting and watching.
After all, if one wanted to offend the Song Dynasty, one had to consider one's own power first. The Japanese capital was in turmoil. Some advocated redeeming the emperor, while others advocated establishing a new emperor. The debate continued endlessly.
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