Before long, the seven crew members were freed by Ding Baiying's men.
Lu Xuan looked down at them and said with a hint of helplessness.
"Whoever leaked our route, step forward. Don't implicate others."
After a few breaths, no one spoke.
"Then let's start from the left and kill them one by one. We decided to set off the night before last, so we'll definitely be among you."
Lu Xuan didn't suspect his guards or Ding Baiying and the others, as they lived very close to him and their every move was under his control. However, the crew members were different; they stayed on the ship, and Lu Xuan wouldn't be constantly monitoring them.
A group of thugs, who had even cut down the banners of the Eastern Depot before, faced a group of boatmen without the slightest hesitation.
The seven boatmen on the ground panicked instantly.
“It was him. He was a spy planted on the ship by the Japanese pirates. I saw it with my own eyes, sir. He had contact with the Japanese pirates before.”
"Nonsense, it's you, you're the spy. I've seen you meeting with the Tartars. You're a Tartar informant."
"And him, sir. I saw him secretly meeting with some suspicious people and even accepting money from them."
"..."
Lu Xuan turned to his guard with a pained expression and asked.
"We came here on this boat, didn't we?"
"Yes, sir."
"So, the ports in Liaodong have been infiltrated to this extent?"
"..."
Lu Xuan waved his hand, and Ding Baiying and the others behind him immediately stepped forward. They dragged out the four people out of the seven who were blaming each other.
Two of them tried to resist. However, faced with a group of experts, these spies were completely powerless to fight back.
"Hang them upside down at the bow of the boat. Make small cuts and let them bleed slowly. If they're still alive when they're upside down, then they're lucky."
After dealing with the internal issues, the six pirate ships had completely surrounded them. Dozens of grappling hooks were thrown out from all sides, hooking onto Lu Xuan's ships.
Lu Xuan waved his hand, signaling the remaining three crew members to return to their cabins. Then he turned to look at the 'pirates' who had surrounded him.
Clearly, these guys weren't pirates, or rather, not pirates in the conventional sense. They were Japanese pirates, and the organized kind at that.
Many films and television dramas depict the Wokou (Japanese pirates) of the Ming Dynasty as pirate groups composed of Japanese ronin. However, the real Wokou were far more complex than just a group of ronin. Many of them were members of the regular Japanese army.
The Wokou (Japanese pirates) along the coast during the Ming Dynasty were mostly Japanese, engaging in organized, state-sponsored raids. This group of pirates, however, is clearly a regular army. Disciplined and obedient, they are undoubtedly among the elite of the regular army.
Of the seven crew members, four were spies. Lu Xuan appeared calm on the surface, but his anger was simmering. Just then, pirates arrived—the very pirates Lu Xuan both disliked and loved most: the Japanese.
He flexed his wrists, then gestured with his right hand. Ding Baiying, understanding the situation, handed him the Sun and Moon Sword.
------------
Chapter 129 I'll be right back
Japan wasn't short of money. But robbing the Ming Dynasty of its silver and women would excite them even more. The thrill of humiliating the Ming Dynasty, which they had once only looked up to, was irresistible to every Japanese pirate.
Even though they had suffered a crushing defeat in the Ming Dynasty a few years prior, the general in charge (Liu Ting) was already dead. This made these Japanese pirates feel like they were invincible again!
Moreover, this time, the information they received indicated that a Ming Dynasty general was on board, along with one million taels of silver. There were only about ten guards, which excited the Japanese pirates since last night. The honor of killing a Ming Dynasty general had driven these warriors to a frenzy.
Dozens of Japanese pirates had already begun climbing up the rope ladders towards this side.
"&#@^@??..." came a string of gibberish from the other end. The guard beside him was about to translate when Lu Xuan waved his hand to stop him.
“I have no interest in hearing what he has to say. You guard the ships. Don’t let them destroy them. I’ll be right back.”
"Coming right back?" Ding Baiying was about to say something when she saw Lu Xuan, without even a running start, take a step forward and land on the railing. He leaped into the air and jumped towards the Japanese pirate ship opposite. With a thud, Lu Xuan's body landed heavily on the deck.
The surrounding Japanese pirates were also taken aback, and another round of chaotic shouts erupted. But Lu Xuan showed no intention of communicating. He slowly raised the sun and moon symbols in his hand, pointing them one by one at each of the Japanese pirates present.
This blatant provocation immediately enraged all the Japanese pirates. One of them, unable to contain himself, brandished his katana and charged forward.
"Baka..." This was the last sound he uttered, followed by the sound of swords slicing through flesh.
He had just raised his katana high when he discovered that Lu Xuan's longsword had already sliced through his body. The sharpness of the blade had cleaved him diagonally in two from his shoulder to his waist.
A thud echoed as the body fell to the ground. A deadly silence fell over the entire deck. The next second, a scream erupted. A dozen or so samurai simultaneously drew their swords.
Lu Xuan slightly pursed his lips, and the wooden planks beneath his feet suddenly shattered. His body shot into the crowd like a cannonball. He was so fast that the warriors didn't even have time to raise their swords.
A sharp, arcing blade flashed across the sky. Four Japanese pirate heads flew into the air.
A Japanese pirate behind him roared and leaped up, slashing down towards Lu Xuan's back. It was a seemingly fierce but ultimately ineffective swordsmanship technique, all show and no substance.
However, Lu Xuan knew that before Qi Jiguang, thousands of Ming soldiers had been chased by dozens of ronin, defeated by this simple yet fierce technique. The loud shouts were also a form of attack, intended to intimidate the opponent with sheer force. This later evolved into an important part of Japanese Kendo, known as Aiki.
This tactic always worked; every time they used it, the Ming army would flee in terror. Even Qi Jiguang, later on, didn't truly change the Ming army's weakness in individual combat.
He was able to defeat the Japanese pirates because of his unique battle formations and specialized counter-tactics.
At that time, Qi Jiguang ordered his Qi Family Army to form a circle, with the outermost group holding shields and using untreated bamboo and trees.
It was the fresh kind, full of forked branches. Upon seeing a Japanese pirate, they'd shove it in his face without a word. It wasn't very lethal, but it was extremely humiliating. The key was that the Japanese soldiers' ruthless swordsmanship required space to maneuver. Those densely packed, forked branches could make a Japanese pirate feel so frustrated he wanted to commit seppuku.
Before they could even cut through the branches and rush forward, the spearmen wielding four-meter-long spears inside the camp could already stab the Japanese pirates with more than a dozen holes. Deep inside the camp was a group of swordsmen. These men carried Qi Family Swords, used to counter any Japanese pirates who broke through the outer perimeter and charged in.