Chapter 148: Capital Spectacle

Then, Zhu Yong landed.

He jumped straight off the "Hongwu" ship, the seawater reaching only his thighs.

In one hand he wielded a drum‑jar Jin hammer, the hammerhead larger than a human head, glinting a dark gold sheen in the sunlight.

"Wu King! Wu King! Wu King!"

Ming army soldiers shouted in unison, their morale soaring.

Zhu Yong strode onto the beach, his gaze sweeping toward the Japanese army.

Ju Chi Wuzheng also saw him.

That height, that build, those massive hammers… indeed it was the "Ghost King" Zhu Yong!

"General Ju Chi, that is Wu King Zhu Yong..." the Vice General asked tremblingly.

"It… it's him… send the order, all samurai gather, target Zhu Yong… kill him, the Ming army will be in chaos!" Ju Chi Wuzheng growled through clenched teeth.

The command was relayed, and hundreds of samurai converged from all directions, charging at Zhu Yong.

These were elite samurai of the Southern Dynasty, each battle‑hardened and highly skilled.

They believed that once up close, they could surely slay Shiniu.

Zhu Yong looked at the rushing samurai and gave a simple grin.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, taking big strides forward.

The first samurai surged forward, raising his tachi high, striking down with the force of splitting Mount Hua.

Zhu Yong casually swung his left hammer.

Bang!

The samurai, man and blade together, was blasted into the air, spitting a mouthful of blood; when he hit the ground his chest caved in, clearly dying.

The second samurai attacked from the side, his blade aimed straight at Zhu Yong's neck.

Zhu Yong flicked his right hammer backward.

Crack!

The samurai's head burst open like a watermelon, red and white matter splattering everywhere.

Third... fourth... fifth...

Zhu Yong swung his double hammers, each strike guaranteeing a death.

The hammer wind howled; within a radius of Three Zhang no one could approach.

The samurai's swords that came to slash broke upon hitting the hammers.

Spears thrust at him shattered when they met the hammers.

The Wodao (Japanese knife) (Japanese knife), which could pierce plate armor, was as flimsy as paper before the drum‑jar Jin hammer.

"Monster… monster!"

One samurai broke down, turned and fled.

Zhu Yong chased after, bringing down a hammer.

Puff...

The samurai's whole body was hammered into the sand, leaving only a pool of flesh and blood.

In a brief quarter of an hour, of the three hundred samurai that surged forward, over two hundred fell.

The remaining dozens collapsed and fled, daring not to advance.

Zhu Yong flicked the blood off his hammer, then smirked, "Is that all..."

On the Ming army's side, morale was already through the roof.

"Wu King mighty! Wu King mighty!"

On the Japanese army's side, morale completely collapsed.

"Ghost King… truly the Ghost King…"

"Unbeatable… simply cannot be beaten…"

Ju Chi Wuzheng's face turned deathly pale; he knew this battle was already lost.

But as a samurai, he could not retreat.

"Gentlemen, charge with me, shattered jade for the nation!" Ju Chi Wuzheng drew his tachi and roared.

The few dozen remaining bodyguard samurai beside him followed, charging at Zhu Yong.

Zhu Yong watched the charging Ju Chi Wuzheng and recognized his uniquely styled armor.

"A great general… I'll have a word with you," Zhu Yong said simply.

The two closed the distance rapidly.

Ju Chi Wuzheng gripped his blade with both hands and swung down with all his strength.

That slash was the essence of his lifelong martial art.

The blade flashed like lightning, its momentum like a rainbow.

Zhu Yong neither dodged nor evaded, his left hammer meeting the blade head‑on.

Clang...

Jin and iron clanged, the sound shaking the four corners.

Ju Chi Wuzheng's thenar cleft split, his tachi flew from his hand.

He was stunned.

With that slash, he had once split three layers of bamboo armor and broken wooden stakes as thick as a bowl's rim.

Now, it was blasted away by a hammer...

Before he could react, Zhu Yong's right hammer was already upon him.

Ju Chi Wuzheng's last sight was a hammerhead that kept growing larger.

"Bang!"

Southern Dynasty General Who Conquers the West, Ju Chi Wuzheng, fell.

The corpse lay on the ground, its head already gone.

The surrounding palace‑guard warriors were stunned.

General… is dead.

"General's jade is shattered!"

"Run!"

The remaining Wa troops completely collapsed, scattering in all directions.

Li Wenzhong at this moment leisurely landed.

He looked at the bodies covering the ground, frowned and said, "That's it, I haven't even acted yet."

Zhu Yong said naively, "Cousin, the Wa troops are too weak, no need to fight."

Li Wenzhong shook his head, and said to the generals beside him, "Send the order: pursue the routed soldiers; anyone bearing weapons, kill without mercy; those who surrender, bind them."

"Yes!"

The Great Ming troops began the pursuit.

This beachhead decisive battle, from the artillery barrage to the Wa troops' collapse, lasted less than an hour.

The Wa forces numbered forty thousand, with over twenty‑three thousand dead or wounded, twelve thousand captured, and fewer than five thousand fled.

The Great Ming troops suffered zero casualties.

Indeed, zero.

The plate armor blocked all arrows and swords, and the Flintlock Gun prevented the Wa troops from ever closing in.

The few who charged to the front line were also easily dispatched.

After the battle, the tally showed that Zhu Yong alone hammered to death over three hundred Wa troops, including more than two hundred warriors.

The fearsome reputation of the Demon King Zhu Yong began to spread throughout Wa Country from this day.

…

In the evening, the Great Ming troops set up camp on the beach.

In the Central Command Tent, Zhu Yong, Li Wenzhong, Wang Baobao, Lan Yu and other commanders held a council.

"Prince, after today's battle the Wa troops are demoralized; next we can take Kagoshima Castle directly," Wang Baobao said.

Zhu Yong nodded and said, "Alright, tomorrow we assault the city; cousin, you will command."

Li Wenzhong's eyes flashed with excitement as he said, "Good, I will make these Wa people know the fate of attacking Great Ming."

Lan Yu asked, "Prince, what shall we do with the twelve thousand captives?"

Li Wenzhong replied calmly, "Wa Country men are useless if kept alive; kill them all, build a capital tower, and intimidate the rest."

Wang Baobao frowned and said, "General Li, killing captives is inauspicious, and Wa Country needs labor to mine Gold and Silver; better keep them as forced labor."

Li Wenzhong sneered, "General Wang, you surrendered to Great Ming only recently and do not understand our rules; for the fickle and border‑raiding barbarians, there is only one word… kill!"

"Kill them until they fear, kill them until they dare not offend again!"

He looked at Zhu Yong and said, "Prince, what do you think?"

Zhu Yong nodded, "Cousin is right; the Wa pirates repeatedly raid the coast, killing my people, they must be killed."

He recalled, from his past‑life memories, the later deeds of Wa Country, and felt no mercy at all.

"However, killing everyone is wasteful; select the young and strong to send to the mines, and kill the old, weak, sick and crippled, then build the capital tower," Zhu Yong added.

"Yes!" Li Wenzhong replied, a cruel glint flashing in his eyes.

That night, the Wa captives were sorted.

Three thousand robust young men were selected, bound in a chain, and prepared to be sent to the mines.

The remaining nine thousand were taken to the beach.

Li Wenzhong personally supervised the executions.

"Slash!"

At the command, blades flashed.

One by one, heads fell to the ground, and blood dyed the entire beach red.

The corpses were piled together, forming a massive capital tower.

The capital tower stood five zhang tall, built from nine thousand heads.

At the very top was the headless corpse of Ju Chi Wuzheng.

Li Wenzhong stood before the capital tower and told the interpreter, "Tell the people in Kagoshima Castle that if they open the city and surrender before noon tomorrow, they can avoid death."

"If they dare resist, on the day the city falls, the whole city will be turned into a capital tower."

The interpreter, trembling, conveyed the words to the few captured Wa men.

Those Wa men, looking at the tower of heads, were so frightened they collapsed, their crotches soaked.

The news quickly reached Kagoshima Castle.

Inside the city, Southern Dynasty officials, watching the tower outside bathed in firelight like a demon's nest, all wore expressionless faces.

"Surrender… surrender!"

"The Great Ming troops are terrifying… that Zhu Yong is a Demon King… that Li Wenzhong is a God of Killing…"

"If we don't surrender, everyone in the city will die…"

"..."

That night, Kagoshima Castle opened its gates and surrendered.

In the seventh year of Hongwu, on the first day of the third month, the Ming army captured the first city of the Nine Provinces.

The campaign against the Wa, the first battle was a victory.

But everyone knows this is only the beginning.

The Southern Court still has troops, the Northern Court is still watching.

Even more brutal battles lie ahead.