Ma Gui commanded the crossbowmen and spearmen to form a neat formation and advanced like a wall. Once the Japanese pirates got close, they would poke a dozen holes in them with the bright spearheads. The individual combat power of the Japanese pirates was not low, but the length of their weapons was not as long as the long spears of the Ming Army. Although a group of Japanese pirates began to fight bravely against the Ming Army's long spears, they still could not escape the fate of dying in battle.
Behind them, Li Rusong also rushed over with the bloodthirsty Jurchen cavalry. The bumpy terrain brought a lot of trouble to Li Rusong's cavalry. Many cavalrymen fell off their horses in the process of charging. Li Rusong also fell carelessly, which made him even more manic. He gritted his teeth and stamped his feet. He directly abandoned his horse and rushed forward with his bodyguards. Seeing this, the Liaodong cavalry and Jurchen cavalry also followed suit, jumping off their horses and rushing forward on foot.
A group of Japanese pirates found that there were also ambushes behind them. They were shocked and hurried to fight. Li Rusong waved his big sword and rushed forward as if he had seen the enemy who killed his father. He cut a Japanese pirate down with one sword and cut a Japanese pirate's spear in half with another sword. Two Japanese pirates rushed forward with their spears. Li Rusong held the two spearheads with one hand and clamped them under his armpit with a roar. He turned around and broke them. With a horizontal slash of his sword, two heads fell off and two headless bodies spurted blood.
Nurhachi followed closely by Li Rusong's side, bravely killing the Wokou soldiers. The Jurchen cavalrymen were also first-class foot soldiers when they dismounted, and they were evenly matched with the Wokou pirates. Moreover, they did not like to form a formation, so they fought one-on-one. They fought with their weapons, and when they ran out of weapons, they would use their hands and teeth to tear and bite. They would only let go when they were bleeding and on the verge of death. A few Wokou pirates fought back with their guns, and after killing a group, another group of Jurchen soldiers stepped over the bodies of their comrades and rushed forward. The cannoneers who had lost their Three Stage Bombardment Formation could not fight at all, and were killed by the Jurchen soldiers after one strike.
A few who reacted quickly threw down their cannons and pulled out their swords to fight back. Most of them did not even have the chance to pull out their swords and fight back before they were beheaded or chopped down with half of their bodies.
Li Rusong's bravery was unstoppable. With one hand, he grabbed a pirate general who had killed three female soldiers and strangled him to death. Then, with a single slash of his sword, he pierced through another pirate general who had pierced through a female soldier's body. He killed so many people that they were covered in blood, and his sword was stained with blood. Xiao Ruxun's injuries had already healed completely. Seeing such a scene of slaughter, the blood in her bones was stimulated. Ignoring her personal guards' attempts to stop her, she drew her sword and led her personal guards down the mountain. Charging into the battlefield, she cut down a pirate with a single slash of her sword, and immediately began fighting with the rest of the pirates.
Seeing this, many archers also threw down their bows and pulled out their swords and rushed down the mountain to join in the fight.
This part of the valley became a bloody valley.
The war drums that represented the advancement and morale of the Ming Army never stopped beating. The main generals and deputy generals personally went into battle. Xiao Ruxun, Li Rusong, and Ma Gui, the three main generals, personally went to the front line to fight side by side with the soldiers. As a result, the more the Ming Army fought, the braver they became, and the higher their morale grew. The morale of the Japanese pirates collapsed. They kept shrinking their forces and tried to fight back. Every time they were beaten back, they suffered heavy losses and gradually lost the ability to fight back.
There were constantly small groups of Japanese pirates that were separated and tried to surrender. The Ming Army soldiers, who were in a killing frenzy, completely ignored them. With one slash, a head would be chopped off. The Japanese pirates found in despair that they had no strength to fight and could not surrender. Many tried to escape but were always killed and beheaded by the Ming Army who were hunting for prey. The killing continued until late in the morning. Many of the Ming Army soldiers found that there was not even a single Japanese pirate standing beside them.
The sounds of killing gradually stopped. The red-eyed Ming Army soldiers still wanted to continue. They looked around to see if there were any Japanese pirates that could be killed. However, the result was very depressing.
There were still more than 20 Japanese pirates who were making their last resistance. This group of Japanese pirates were all holding excellent Japanese swords. They were surrounded by the Ming Army gunmen who had formed into a military formation. One by one, the long spears stabbed forward. However, many of the spears were blocked or even chopped off. These Japanese pirates had extremely high combat power. At the same time they were defending, they could also carry out effective counterattacks. However, no matter what, they could not break through the thick formation of the Ming Army.
After more than four hours of killing, Xiao Ruxun wiped away the blood on his face and looked around. He did not even see a living Japanese pirate. These people were extremely thirsty for credit. Even the surrender of the Japanese pirates was not accepted. Xiao Ruxun even saw with his own eyes a Japanese pirate throw down his weapon and kneel on the ground to beg to surrender. In the next second, he was stabbed to death by three gunmen and his head was chopped off.
The Ming Army did not accept prisoners at all.
The counterattack of the more than 20 Japanese pirates was futile. Soon, they died under the long spear formation of the Ming Army. This time, there was only one Japanese pirate left alive on the battlefield. His eyes were dull and his face was calm. He sat on the ground with his head down and looked at the gunmen of the Ming Army slowly surrounding him. He did not say a word.
Xiao Ruxun separated the crowd and walked forward. Soon, Ma Gui, Li Rusong, and the other generals of the Ming Army also arrived. Everyone surrounded this guy. Looking at this guy's attire, they felt that his identity was not ordinary.
"The people protecting him are Japanese samurai. Samurai are usually the personal guards of high ranking Japanese officials. There are very few of them, but they are all elites. With more than 20 samurai protecting this person, it goes without saying that this person's identity is very high. Everyone, our luck is pretty good. We've managed to capture two Wokou generals! This person must be Kato Kiyomasa! Come, tie him up! "
"Yes, sir!"
Immediately, a soldier came forward with hemp rope and tied Kato Kiyomasa up. He was tied up like a dumpling. Throughout the process, Kato Kiyomasa did not resist at all.
All the generals had a proud smile on their faces. Xiao Ruxun raised his sword above his head and shouted, "We won!!!"
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!!!"
After a short silence, the surrounding Ming Army burst into loud cheers.
Five days after the great victory in Pyongyang, another great victory was achieved. Their main general led them to two consecutive great victories. After two hearty victories, Xiao Ruxun's prestige rose rapidly. At least in this army, there was no one who was unwilling to listen to Xiao Ruxun's orders.
The army rested on the spot. They climbed to the mountainside that was clean and had not been stained with blood and flesh. Then, they drank water and ate dry food to recover their strength. The doctors of the medical camp were unwilling to approach the battlefield, so some people carried the injured soldiers out of the valley for the doctors to do some simple treatment. Then, they were transported back to Yizhou to rest. Naturally, there were people who went to calculate the losses and gains of the Ming Army in this battle.
Four hours later, the army had finished reorganizing and was ready to go to Yizhou to rest. The preliminary report had also been completed. In this battle, the Ming army had a total of twenty-six thousand men. Eight hundred and ninety-seven of them had died, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two were lightly injured, and five hundred and sixty-six were seriously injured. Three thousand eight hundred and nine Wokou pirates had been beheaded, and more than nineteen thousand Wokou pirates had been wiped out. Only the Wokou's commander, Kato Kiyomasa, had been captured alive, and a small group of about a hundred men had escaped. Other than that, all the other Wokou pirates had been killed.
In two battles, more than 34,000 Japanese pirates were killed. The first and second corps of the Japanese pirates were completely wiped out. There were almost no captives. For the Ming Army, this was a hearty victory. The first step of Xiao Ruxun's strategy was successfully completed. The Japanese forces in Pyongyang and Xianjing were completely wiped out. They had obtained enough logistical bases to launch another attack on the Japanese pirates in the south.
The war had just begun!
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