My hotel is full of emperors throughout history.

A few days later, the Iki Island landing operation took place.

Cheng Yaojin intended to use the old method of landing on the beach with a small boat, but Li Chengqian stopped him.

"General Cheng," he said, pointing to the Japanese defenses on the island, "look at those trenches, those wooden palisades, those beacon towers—how many people would die in a direct assault? This isn't Tsushima Island..."

Cheng Yaojin fell silent.

Li Chengqian turned around and nodded to a young soldier behind him.

The man was carrying a rocket launcher, kneeling on one knee, aiming.

"boom--!"

A streak of fire, trailing a long tail of flame, streaked across the night sky and landed precisely on the beacon tower a mile away.

The beacon tower, built with massive stones for centuries, was instantly blasted into fragments.

Flames shot into the sky, illuminating the entire beach.

The second shot, the third shot, the fourth shot...

After ten rockets, the Japanese defenses on the island were engulfed in flames.

The trenches, palisades, and arrow towers that had been painstakingly constructed over several months, along with the will of the defending troops, were all shattered by the bomb.

When the Xuanjia Army landed, they encountered no resistance.

The Japanese soldiers knelt on the beach, threw down their weapons, raised their hands above their heads, and trembled like leaves.

Li Chengqian stepped onto the scorched earth and walked towards a Japanese general who was still trembling.

The man was dressed in magnificent armor and appeared to be the island's garrison commander.

He saw Li Chengqian approaching, then suddenly fell to the ground and screamed in broken Tang language.

"Heavenly soldiers! Heavenly soldiers! Spare me! Spare me!"

Li Chengqian looked down at him.

"What's your name?"

"Xiao...Ono...Ono courtier..."

"Ono Asomi," Li Chengqian's voice was calm, "those flashes of light you saw were thunder. Those deafening roars you heard were divine punishment. You Japanese have offended the Great Tang, and divine punishment has descended—do you understand?"

The man nodded frantically.

Li Chengqian did not look at him again.

He turned and looked at the still-burning ruins of the beacon tower in the distance.

"Issue the order—accept the surrender of prisoners and march on Kyushu tomorrow."

The Battle of Hakata Bay.

This time, the Japanese army was prepared.

They dug three trenches on the beach, buried countless spikes, and brought in their remaining few dozen warships, anchoring them in the bay in preparation for a desperate battle.

The walls of Dazaifu were filled with archers and slingers.

Cheng Yaojin frowned.

"Your Highness, if we resort to force..."

Li Chengqian did not answer. He simply nodded to the soldiers behind him.

This time, it wasn't just one person carrying a rocket launcher.

Twenty rocket launchers were lined up in a row, aimed at the Japanese warships in the bay.

"put!"

Twenty streaks of light simultaneously pierced the night sky.

In the first salvo, seven Japanese ships sank on the spot.

The second salvo involved six ships.

During the third salvo, the remaining Japanese ships began to scatter and flee, but were caught up by the rockets and blown to pieces one after another.

The firelight illuminated half the sky.

The Japanese troops on the beach collapsed.

They threw down their weapons and ran frantically backward, only to be blocked by the trenches they had dug themselves, huddled together in a heap.

Cheng Yaojin, watching from the sidelines, was dumbfounded and even began to doubt his own years of experience.

No!

They haven't logged in yet?

They won??

Was this victory too easy?

Li Chengqian ignored him, stood at the bow of the ship, raised the automatic rifle, and fired the entire magazine into the air.

Gunshots rang out in the night sky, echoing for a long time.

On the beach, the crowded Japanese soldiers suddenly fell silent.

Then, it's unclear who knelt down first.

The news spread like wildfire, and in the short time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the beach was packed with people kneeling down.

The gates of Dazaifu opened by themselves.

A few days later, the decisive battle took place on the Tsukushi Plain.

Fifty thousand Japanese troops stood in formation, awaiting orders. The Emperor himself led eight thousand Imperial Guards to command the central army, with the great banner fluttering high.

Li Chengqian stood at the front of the formation, gazing at the sea of ​​dark people.

Cheng Yaojin rode over and said in a low voice.

"Your Highness, according to the original plan, you will feign an attack on the left flank, while I will lead the main force to directly attack the right flank. Once both flanks are routed, we will then encircle the central army."

Li Chengqian shook his head.

"General Cheng," he said, "you lead the main force and proceed according to plan. I'll go to the central command."

Cheng Yaojin was stunned.

"Your Highness! The central army consists of the Emperor's personal guards, numbering eight thousand! How can you possibly charge with only three thousand men?"

Li Chengqian did not answer. He simply turned and glanced back at the soldiers behind him.

Two hundred men, carrying rocket launchers and holding automatic rifles, stood there silently.

Cheng Yaojin remained silent.

Three thousand men against eight thousand men...

He was somewhat worried that those eight thousand people might not be able to leave with intact corpses.

Li Chengqian mounted his horse.

"The Black Armor Army—"

He raised his right hand and swung it forward sharply.

"Come with me!"

Two hundred rockets roared out simultaneously, tearing the sky above the battlefield.

The first volley landed on the left flank of the Japanese army.

Where the rockets landed, a deafening roar erupted, flames shot into the sky, and severed limbs flew into the air.

Those hastily recruited peasant soldiers were blown to pieces before they even had a chance to see the enemy clearly.

The second volley landed on the right flank of the Japanese army.

The third volley landed in front of the central formation.

Then, three thousand people rushed into the sea of ​​fire.

Li Chengqian's automatic rifle roared in his hand.

With each gunshot, a Japanese soldier fell.

He didn't know how many rounds he fired, only that he changed magazines again and again until the barrel was so hot he couldn't hold it anymore.

Ahead, the Emperor's banner was getting closer and closer.

He threw away his rifle, drew his sword, and spurred his horse straight ahead.

A Japanese general charged forward, and he slashed down with his sword; another Japanese soldier lunged at him, and he swung his sword backhand; a third, a fourth, a fifth…

After fighting for an unknown amount of time, he suddenly realized that he had reached the foot of the great banner.

Beneath the great banner, a person dressed in magnificent armor stared at him with wide eyes.

The man was wearing golden armor, a tall eboshi hat, and a katana inlaid with jewels at his waist.

That's the Emperor's younger brother.

Li Chengqian did not hesitate.

He swung his sword down, and the man fell from his horse.

The great banner crashed down.

"The enemy general is dead—!!!"

Shouts echoed across the battlefield.

The Japanese army collapsed.

Three thousand Xuanjia soldiers were not lost.

Only one person was injured, and that person was accidentally hit by the aftershocks of the explosion while rushing too fast.

They killed over 13,000 Japanese soldiers and captured over 30,000.

The prisoners were put on warships and transported to Dengzhou.

They didn't know what awaited them.

……

When the first batch of 3,000 Japanese prisoners were taken off the ship, a temporary camp had already been set up on the shore.

The camp was heavily guarded, and inside were simple wooden houses and rows of barbed wire.

Standing on the high observation platform of the dock, Cheng Yaojin looked at the emaciated, trembling prisoners and suddenly asked Li Chengqian beside him:

"Your Highness, are these people... really going to go mining?"

Li Chengqian did not answer.

He simply took out a map scroll from his pocket and unfolded it.

That was a map of gold and silver mines in Mutsu Province, seized from the Dazaifu government in Japan.

The map is densely marked with dozens of mining sites, the largest of which is labeled with three characters.

"Large-scale production."

Cheng Yaojin gasped.

"How many people would it take to dig this?"

Li Chengqian put away the map and looked at the prisoners.

"My father said," his voice was calm, "that Japan has offended the imperial majesty and should pay the price."

"These mines originally belonged to our Great Tang Dynasty. Now, we are simply making them use their lives to dig out what they stole and return it to us."

Cheng Yaojin remained silent.

After a long while, he suddenly grinned.

"Your Highness is right! Let them dig! Let them dig until they die!"

"By the way, there are silver mines within our Great Tang territory that need to be mined. It's too troublesome to let our own people mine them. Let's capture some Japanese and send them along too!"

……