The First Capture of Japanese Pirates Below

  But Liang Qing, who was surrounded in the center, said fearlessly: "Japanese pirates, you have finally shown your fox tail"

  "However, it seems your time of death has arrived."

  The old man with a long face and white complexion wearing a human skin mask smiled and said, "Jin Dao Liang Qingzhi, you really have guts, daring to come alone."

  Liang Qing nodded and said: "Not bad, one person is enough."

  The person with a long face and white complexion burst out laughing and said: "I think the one who is not normal is you, you are truly speaking wildly. Do you think that just because of you alone, there can be some chance of winning? However, I admit that your ability to recognize my mask is indeed very strong."

  Li Qing said: "Your human skin mask? You've already exposed your flaws. I say the king of Japan, you answer the emperor, even if it's just an ordinary citizen of Liaodong, it's impossible to call a national leader other than the heavenly dynasty 'emperor'! That's your flaw. If I'm not mistaken, you should be the notorious 'Hellish Guests' eighteen guns, right? What a pity, today you really have to go back to hell."

  The man with a long face and white complexion said: "Indeed good eyesight, what a pity! At the martial arts conference that year, we didn't fight alongside Kameyama Hidetada to defeat our enemies. It's truly a shame for us warriors. But today, we finally have the chance to avenge Lord Kameyama! You will go to hell just like those foolish villagers, and with that, he waved his large hand, and the eighteen people around him brandished their long and short knives and guns, charging towards Liang Qingzhi.

  Liang Qingzhi tore off the cloth wrapped around the knife head, revealing a broad-handled iron rod with a length of about 2 zhang (6.67 feet) and weighing at least 110 catties (about 73 kg or 161 lbs).

  Liáng Qìngzhī swung his large knife, and the eighteen Japanese pirates retreated in unison, exchanging nervous glances and hesitating to advance. Finally, the leader of the Japanese pirates shouted loudly: "Baka!" After shouting, he was the first to charge forward, raising his single-edged sword to slash. Liáng Qìngzhī remained calm and composed, rotating his large knife to meet him. With a dull thud, the Japanese pirate's sword had already been knocked flying. Immediately following, Liáng Qìngzhī swung his knife horizontally, this strike being powerful and fierce, slashing across the waist of the leading Japanese pirate. The pirate was unable to dodge in time and was split into two segments by Liáng Qìngzhī's single stroke. The other Japanese pirates, seeing this, continued to retreat backward.

  But suddenly a wokou shouted loudly, and Liang Qingzhi could still hear the wokou language clearly. Those wokous were clearly saying: "We eighteen hit one, can't we beat him?"

  Then the eighteen men each held a sharp blade and rushed up together. Liang Qing's face was fearless, wielding his large knife to fight with these eighteen people. As for the martial arts of these eighteen people, although they were not particularly powerful, after all, it was eighteen people who took turns attacking in a wheel war, and they used tactics like dragonflies touching water. Liang Qing had already clearly felt himself deeply surrounded, every time he wanted to put one of them to death, the others would suddenly gang up on him.

  Liang Qingzhi, although not flustered, was secretly thinking that this way of fighting would eventually exhaust him to death. Therefore, he had to break through the rotational attacks of these eighteen men. He thought of using the "luring the enemy into a trap" tactic. As soon as he thought of it, he suddenly dodged and fell to the ground, then rolled on the spot, displaying his "ground-lying knife technique". The big knife spun around like flying, this group of Japanese pirates originally looked up to attack, but now suddenly changed to look down, and for a moment they found it hard to adapt, even some were at a loss. A master's move cannot be hesitant, because in the flash of lightning, Liang Qingzhi's big knife had already been unleashed.

  In the blink of an eye, three Japanese pirates were beheaded. The other Japanese pirates retreated in a flurry, with two accidentally tripping and falling over each other, and another two being knocked down. Liang Qing suddenly sprang up, launching a series of swift sword strikes that felled seven Japanese pirates within a few rounds.

  The remaining eleven Japanese pirates spoke in a hurry and escaped, but Liang Qing followed suit and cut down five more people. The remaining six people finally came to their senses, with three of them running in nine different directions. One tall Japanese pirate rushed towards the mountain gate in front of the village, and Liang Qing saw that this person was the most eye-catching, so he chased after him.

  Two men, one in front and one behind, Liang Qing was about to catch up with the Japanese pirate when he suddenly jumped into the mountain gate. Liang Qing hesitated for a moment and slowed down his pace.

  This is life-saving hesitation!

  Before he could finish speaking, a swift arrow shot out. Liang Qing heard the sound and saw that the Japanese pirate had an arrow in his throat, and fell to the ground with a thud. By this time, Liang Qing had already stopped in front of the mountain gate.

  All that could be heard was a woman's voice coming from inside the mountain gate, "Sacred Mountain Holy Land, those of you who have entered the mountain first have already paid the toll, so the rest of you cannot enter. Otherwise, anyone who jumps over this mountain gate will be killed without exception."

  Liang Qingzhi had already stopped in his tracks outside the mountain gate, and upon hearing this voice, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. Just then, another voice came from behind him: "General, do not take another step forward!"

  He heard the neighing of war horses, and when he turned around, he saw three riders approaching. The leader was a man about his age, wearing a fur hat and a large tiger-skin cloak. He had a dark, long face with a pair of small but very spirited eyes. His gaze left a deep impression on Liang Qingzi, for in his eyes, Liang Qingzi clearly saw unyielding determination and untamed ferocity. This man seemed to possess a certain aura, an aura that Liang Qingzi couldn't quite put into words.

  He rode up to Liang Qing's side, jumped off his horse and bowed: "Are you General Liang?"

  Li Qing curiously asked: "Who are you? How did you know me?"

  That man smiled and nodded: "I saw you in the commander-in-chief's tent of Liaodong, you also saw me, my name is Aixinjueluo Nurhaci"

  。”

  Liáng Qìngzhī suddenly enlightened, he asked in surprise: "I have seen you, are you from the Jiànzhōu Jurchen tribe?"

  Nurhaci nodded and said: "Yes."

  Liáng Qìngzhī said: "How come you only brought two people? You're the leader of your tribe!"

  Nurhaci smiled and shook his head, saying: "Many things will be troublesome with more people. These two are among the best of the best." He then gestured to the two men behind him to dismount together with him. Liang Qingzhi took a closer look at the two men behind Nurhaci, who were robust and sturdy in appearance, but seemed sharp and capable from their demeanor. Nurhaci introduced them to Liang Qingzhi, saying: "These are my two deputy generals, both of whom possess exceptional martial arts skills. This is Huerhan, our number one brave warrior, and this is Lang Tiankui, who has recently joined us." The two men separately paid their respects to Liang Qingzhi.

  Li Qingzhi looked at the two men again, nodding constantly and said: "Indeed, a strong general has no weak soldiers. General, you have the ability to lead the Jurchen tribes, and with such brave warriors assisting you, it's like adding wings to a tiger!"

  Nurhaci hastily said: "General Liang, you're too kind. I'm just doing my best to defend the peaceful borders of our great Ming dynasty's Liaodong province and eliminate the destructive forces along the border. I came here to investigate and it turned out to be just as I expected - this mountain is indeed extraordinary."

  Liáng Qìngzhī asked: "Oh? I'd like to hear more about it."

  Nurhaci nodded and said, "Indeed, nothing can be hidden from General Liang. I came this time to visit the gang in the big mountain too. Unfortunately, this gang is really too conservative and greedy."

  Liáng Qìngzhī was taken aback and asked: "What do you mean by this?"

  Nurhaci said: "If you want to get through, leave some money for the road. What he meant was this mountain gate! If you want to enter the mountain, you must have enough food and money, and then you can enter the mountain. Otherwise, you will have to force your way in."

  Liáng Qìngzhī listened and felt very surprised, hastily asking: "According to General Yí's words, what is meant by 'charging into the pass'?"

  Nurhaci bit his lip and smiled: "That's right, kill them all, destroy their three, four, five, six, seven gates, and slaughter everyone. Charge into the heart of their stronghold, that will do."

  Liang Qing saw Nurhaci's tone of speech, especially when mentioning killing, his eyes didn't even blink, and his heart couldn't help but tremble.

  "So is there no other way?"

  Nurhaci shook his head and said firmly: "No, the only way to stop these people is by force. The food of our Jurchen people is not for buying a road from them!"

  Liang Qing's eyebrows were tightly knotted as he nodded. Nurhaci then led the way for Liang Qing, and the two walked and talked side by side. Nurhaci said, "I'll take General Liang to see what happened here." After finishing speaking, he led the way in front, and Liang Qing followed Nurhaci into the village. The place was as quiet as death, and the peaceful feeling from earlier had disappeared.

  Liang Qing felt a chill run down his spine at the eerie silence. It wasn't until he followed Nurhaci to open the granary on the east side of the village that he saw over a hundred villagers' corpses, men and women, old and young, piled up haphazardly inside the tall granary. Many of the women had been stripped naked, and Liang Qing understood what had happened here. He couldn't help but curse: "These Japanese bandits are worse than beasts!"

  After a long while, Liang Qing said slowly to Nurhaci: "I am a seasoned general, but what I least want to see is such a scene. Are these all the people in the village?"

  Nurhaci nodded and said: "That's right, there are 132 people in the whole village. Last night, a large group of Japanese pirates came here, bringing more than a dozen horse-drawn carts, saying they wanted to distribute food to the villagers. They gathered all the men, women, children, and elderly in the village. Once everyone was present, the Japanese pirates began their massacre. Their methods were cruel and vicious, and they didn't spare the women either... afterwards, they killed them. As for the children, they even cooked and ate them. Then, they looted all the food in the village and obtained the right to enter the mountains, leaving a dozen or so people here disguised as villagers, just in case. In fact, they were waiting for you!" Nurhaci spoke calmly, but this topic made it difficult for Liang Qingzhi to remain calm.

  Liang Qing said angrily: "It's simply a group of beasts, I really regret not killing them all."

  Nurhaci said, "General Liang, don't worry. The two Japanese bandits who escaped earlier will not escape the pursuit and killing of my hunters. I promise you that I will present the heads of the Japanese bandits who did not enter the mountain gate to your Liaodong General. My Manchu elite iron cavalry has been stationed here for almost a month, and we will not let these thieves go."

  Li Qingzhi turned to glare at Nurhaci and asked, "What did you say? General, your troops have been stationed here for a month, yet you haven't stopped those Japanese pirates from committing such heinous acts against this village?"

  Nurhaci shook his head and said, "Why should we save the people of this village? They are a group of ungrateful people! As the saying goes, 'a life for a life, a debt repaid', this is the way of heaven. This village has not yet paid us tribute or surrendered to us.

  "And they also beat up the tribesmen I sent, why should I save these obstinate people?" Nurhaci's words were still calm, calmly making Liang Qing feel a chill run down his spine.

  Nurhaci continued, "We're leaving, and we can't control the Japanese pirates' affairs. Everyone was originally minding their own business, like well water not interfering with river water. This mountain may be hiding some mysterious gods, but I don't believe it. In this world, what's most reliable is my long knife, because that's real power! In 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms', Sima Yi finally defeated Zhuge Liang, relying on real power, not supernatural powers."

  Li Qing listened to Nurhaci's words and looked at the corpses on the ground, feeling as if his heart was being cut with a knife. He sighed and said: "This is the misfortune of my great Ming, a disaster for the country!"

  Nurhaci beckoned the two deputy generals with a scornful smile, mounted their horses together, and bid farewell to Liang Qing on horseback before galloping away. Liang Qing waved his hand expressionlessly, but said nothing, nor did he see them off into the distance.

  At this moment, he also felt unprecedented pain and fear, terrible heartache, Liang Qing's unspeakable heartache. He turned around to look at the whole village, muttering to himself in confusion: "Nurhaci's elite troops have all come out but see death without rescue, it's really despicable. Today, he sees me coming here and suddenly withdraws his troops, what kind of medicine is he selling in his gourd?"

  With immense sorrow and pain, Liang Qingzhi gathered firewood from the village and set the grain warehouse ablaze. As the sun set in the west, he took out a notebook from his bag and found pen and ink in the deserted private school at the village head. When he picked up the pen, it seemed as if he saw the children of the village reading aloud and playing happily in the past, which was the most joyful scene in life, innocent and lovely, with the happiness of childhood being a lifelong treasure. Unfortunately, the children in this village could no longer enjoy such joy. Because of the brutal pirates and the cruel slaughter, the once peaceful and serene mountain village had become a purgatory on earth. Thinking of this, Liang Qingzhi's determination to exterminate the pirates by storming the pass and entering the mountains the next day was strengthened, and he wrote hastily:

  I pursued the Japanese pirates, forty in number, to the foot of Mount Changbai. The Japanese pirates disguised themselves as merchants and travelers, carrying money and grain, and traveled unimpeded, with ulterior motives, deep into the territory of Liaodong, plotting evil deeds, which was a futile attempt to shake a tree like an ant. On July 18th, at Shanjiao Village, I encountered Japanese pirates disguised as farmers, and I saw through their base tricks, so I killed many Japanese pirates in anger, and only a few escaped. Outside the mountain gate, I coincidentally met Nurhaci, who told me that the whole village had been affected by the disaster, and under his guidance, I saw the innocent corpses of the villagers, which made me feel extremely ashamed for not being able to eliminate the strong and support the weak. Nurhaci's inaction led to the suffering of the weak and innocent villagers, which filled me with deep sorrow! Regret! Resentment! The next day, I will enter the mountain pass, determined to kill the Japanese pirates and cut off their connections. I will report to the imperial court to repay the kindness of the emperor, for the sake of the people's livelihood, and to avenge the village of Shanjiao.

  ……

  To know how Liang Qing fared like a mountain, see next episode for details.

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