Zhu Di: My fourth son is a great emperor of all time?

Chapter 113: All Annihilated
The Imperial Palace, the Hall of Heavenly Observation.

The sky brightened, but there was no opening, no voice from the content creator. There was only a breathtaking, shaky perspective that felt like being there in person.

Greed and brutality blinded the Japanese pirates; they only remembered Xunzhou's past poverty and lack of defense. After receiving exaggerated intelligence from their insiders that "Xunzhou is rich and its granaries are full of pearls," a vanguard consisting of three medium-sized ships and nearly two hundred fierce Japanese pirates quietly rushed towards what they considered a weakly defended fishing village on Xunzhou—Wanghaijiao—under the cover of darkness before dawn.

They never even considered whether this so-called insider was still an insider or not; they were already under close surveillance, and everything was completely under their control.

Yamamoto Jiro, the leader of the Japanese pirates, stood at the bow of the ship, gazing at the tranquil village whose outlines were blurred in the morning light, a cruel and greedy smile on his face. He could almost see pearls, silk, and women beckoning to him.

"Dock! Quick and decisive! Kill all the men! Take all the women and valuables!" Yamamoto ordered with a sinister grin. The Japanese pirates howled like wild beasts, eagerly jumping off the ships, brandishing their katana, and surged onto the beach like a tidal wave, heading straight for the village.

They imagined the villagers screaming in terror and fleeing in all directions, but when they rushed into the village, they were greeted by an eerie silence. The village roads were deserted, the doors were tightly shut, and not even the sounds of chickens or dogs could be heard.

Yamamoto frowned, a sense of foreboding crossing his mind, but with the die already cast, he shouted sharply, "Search! Get everyone out here!"

Several Japanese pirates violently kicked open a wooden door, only to find it empty. They kicked open another door, but still no one was there. The entire village was like a ghost town.

"Baka! Where is he?!" Yamamoto was both shocked and furious at that moment.

"call out--!!!"

A sharp, piercing bamboo whistle suddenly rang out from the tallest watchtower behind the village, breaking the deathly silence of dawn.

The whistle sounded like a signal!
"The Japanese pirates are coming—! Look out at Wanghaijiao! Kill the Japanese pirates—!!"

An old but powerful roar, accompanied by the rapid sound of a gong, instantly resounded throughout the entire village and spread in all directions!

Almost at the same instant the whistle blew, a sudden change occurred!
"Kill!!!" A roar exploded like thunder.

At the seemingly ordinary butcher shop at the village entrance, a burly butcher suddenly overturned the chopping board, revealing something gleaming beneath—not pork, but two gleaming cleavers.

Like an enraged brown bear, he brandished his twin swords, bringing a stench with him as he roared and charged toward the nearest Japanese pirate. Before the pirate could even react to the shock of discovering a knife hidden under the chopping board, the butcher cleaved his sword away with a powerful blow, and then slammed the other sword into his shoulder blade, causing blood to gush out.

"put!"

Behind an inconspicuous haystack by the roadside, at a command, more than a dozen simple javelins made from sharpened hard bamboo from the seaside shot out from all corners with a piercing sound.

The target was the densely packed Japanese pirates charging at the forefront! *Thud! Thud!* Screams rang out as several pirates were impaled by bamboo spears and pinned to the ground!

"Form ranks! Thrust!"

The village's threshing ground, which was originally empty, suddenly burst forth from the shadows of the surrounding houses in groups of three, back to back, their movements swift and precise, forming small gun formations.

Faced with the onrushing Japanese pirates, the front row calmly parried and deflected their swords, while the rear row seized the opportunity to thrust fiercely.

*Thud!* The sharp tip of the fork easily pierced through the Japanese pirates' thin cloth armor! Screams of agony filled the air!
"Smash!" Suddenly, many teenagers and elderly people appeared on the roof and behind the courtyard wall.

They held in their hands huge oyster shells with sharpened edges, pebbles, and even dried, iron-hard salted fish, launching them with slingshots or throwing them directly. These "weapons," though not fatal, caused immediate bleeding and blurred vision when they hit the face or head, greatly disrupting the Japanese pirates' offensive rhythm. "Ah! My eyes!" A Japanese pirate screamed and rolled to the ground after being cut in the eye by a sharp shard of clam shell coated with sea snake venom.

"Send a message! Reinforcements!" On the high slope behind the village, several figures quickly lit the prepared smoke signals, and three straight black smoke columns shot into the sky. At the same time, the rapid drumbeats sounded in a specific rhythm, transmitting the enemy situation and the call for help to the neighboring villages.

Yamamoto was completely dumbfounded. This was no fishing village where people could be slaughtered at will.

This is clearly a heavily armed and well-coordinated military camp—no, even more terrifying than a military camp.

Because the attacks came from all directions—from rooftops, behind walls, haystacks, and even from seemingly harmless old people and children—the eyes of these "peasants" held no fear, only deep-seated hatred and an almost insane will to fight.

"Baka! We've fallen for their trap! Retreat! Retreat to the beach!" Yamamoto finally realized what was happening and shouted at the top of his lungs.

However, getting in is easy, but leaving? Too late!

"Trying to run? Have you asked Grandpa's carrying pole yet?!" A porter carrying buckets roared as he passed by, swinging his sturdy jujube wood carrying pole like a whirlwind, instantly knocking down two Japanese pirates who were trying to retreat.

The old fishmonger dropped his scales, grabbed the fishing net hidden in his basket, and threw it over a Japanese pirate's head. The woman next to him immediately stepped forward and stabbed him hard with a sharpened bamboo stick.

Even the seemingly weak women would gather in groups of three or five, using hooked ropes to trip the horses, or splashing scalding hot ashes, freshly pulled from the stove, into the eyes of the Japanese pirates.

The Japanese pirates were engulfed in the vast ocean of people's war. Their fierce individual martial arts skills appeared so pale and powerless in the face of the omnipresent attacks, tacit cooperation, and reckless fighting style.

The narrow village roads became their death traps; at every turn, behind every door and window, a deadly harpoon could suddenly pierce out or a deadly stone could fly out.

Despair spread through Yamamoto's heart. He brandished his katana and cut down a fisherman who rushed at him, but was immediately forced back by several harpoons. His arm was also hit by flying stones, causing him excruciating pain.

He watched in horror as his men fell like wheat being cut down, while more and more Xunzhou people surged in from all directions, their eyes burning with rage that seemed to consume him.

"We will guard the maritime borders for the Emperor! Even if it means death, we will be punished!" It is unknown who first shouted this slogan, which is engraved in the hearts of every Xunzhou resident.

"Though they die, they shall be executed!"

"Kill all the Japanese pirates!"

A deafening roar echoed through the sky, drowning out the screams of the Japanese pirates.

The battle, or rather the massacre, did not last long.

When the militia reinforcements from neighboring villages arrived, led by the personal guards of the Prince's Palace dispatched by Zhang Fu, the battle at Wanghaijiao was nearing its end.

On the beach, three Japanese ships stood forlornly, while on the shore, corpses lay strewn everywhere, and blood stained the sand and village roads.

(End of this chapter)