novelnext Chapter 47 Mistake
Chapter 47 Mistake
In the middle of the night, a fire broke out in the southern treeline.
As soon as the firelight appeared, Mo Qin opened his eyes.
He had been waiting for this moment since the first half of the night.
With Pyongyang right in front of them, the Japanese soldiers would not allow the Ming army to sleep soundly until dawn.
The enemy will certainly stop at nothing to disrupt the Ming army's rest and preparations.
Moreover, once the message was sent out in the public chat, Mo Qin knew that the other side would definitely come.
The firelight flickered briefly before being extinguished.
Before the drums sounded in the main camp, the vanguard had already begun to move.
Liu Gao, carrying a lion-headed shield and accompanied by two auxiliary soldiers, headed south towards the forest line.
"Damn it, why are you lighting a fire in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
He was fast asleep when his sweet dreams were disturbed, and he became quite angry, his footsteps becoming heavy.
Two auxiliary soldiers followed behind, deliberately dragging their wooden spears across the snow, leaving several messy marks.
From a distance, it really did look like the advance camp, and people were genuinely drawn to the commotion.
But Yan Qi had already crouched down on the other side, attempting to flank them from both sides.
Instead of walking along the edge of the forest, he followed the shallow ditch buried in snow and headed west.
Mo Qin followed a dozen steps behind him.
The white wax spear lay horizontally in the crook of my arm, its tip still wrapped in old cloth.
Lin Jun was in a more back position.
"come out!"
Once they arrived at their location, Liu Gao started yelling and cursing.
"You little brat, you dare to start a fire, but you don't dare to show your face?"
There was no echo in the treeline, only the sound of the wind.
Yan Qi glanced at the snow, then suddenly squatted down and brushed it away.
There was a patch of hard soil under the snow that had been turned over.
It looked like someone had been there, pressed down with their toe, and then quickly retreated.
Understanding dawned on him, and Yan Qi looked up.
Seven steps ahead, behind that broken tree, there was something strangely black.
It's definitely not tree bark.
The black of the bark is deep and still; even in the flickering firelight of the night, you can still see the static outline that fits the trunk, without any shifting or shrinking.
It's not stone either. The blackness of stone is rigid and cold, and even if it's tossed about by the wind, it won't change its shape.
And this black color has a subtle, inward-curving arc.
Having already figured it out, Yan Qi didn't blow the whistle. Instead, he slowly raised his bow, aimed at three feet behind the man, and carefully timed his advance.
Mo Qin understood, and slowly pressed the white wax spear an inch into his palm.
The next moment, the person moved.
Instead of retreating, it tried to slide to the right, and thus crashed into Yan Qi's arrow line.
Whoosh.
The arrow leaves the bowstring.
A muffled groan came from the wind and snow.
Seeing this, the group quickly caught up.
The man, draped in a cloak covered with snowflakes and withered grass, lay prone in the snow, unable to move.
Mo Qin quickly stepped forward and pressed the butt of his gun down.
boom.
The butt of the gun was embedded in the man's right shoulder.
The man jolted, his cloak billowing open to reveal a terrified face.
I must say, very professional.
His face was covered with grayish-white mud, his eyelids were covered with snow-white cloth, and his lips were painted the color of frozen earth.
If Yan Qi hadn't been quick-witted, it would have been very difficult to spot him hiding in the snow.
Liu Gao was the slowest to react; he only turned his head after hearing the noise.
"Did you catch them?"
Lin Jun walked over quickly.
They quickly and carefully searched the person's body.
After a while, he pulled out a thin copper tube from under his cloak.
A thin piece of paper was rolled up inside the copper tube.
Upon opening it, I found several lines of crooked Chinese characters.
They launched a night raid on the Ming camp, setting fire to the left corner, and the shield-bearers pursued and attacked.
The western ditch was bypassed, and archers launched a flanking attack.
Spearmen, stand firm and do not act rashly.
Those who know the way should bring up the rear, carefully remembering the return route, in case of advance or retreat.
The Japanese player, with Mo Qin pressing down on his shoulder, suddenly laughed.
"Nine-headed bird".
"Catching me won't help."
"Lord Kito Ginji has his eye on you."
Mochin looked down at him.
"So what?"
The man grinned.
"The smarter one, let me go."
"I can put in a good word for you."
His eyes glanced further into the woods.
"I'm not alone. And none of you are a match for Lord Kitō!"
Mo Qin nodded.
"You're right."
But as soon as his smile began, a cold glint appeared!
Click.
The man opened his mouth, and his entire face turned deathly pale.
"Of course you're not a human being, you're a beast!"
The player was trembling with pain, blood seeping from between his teeth.
He wanted to curse.
But his eyes quickly became cloudy.
His body twitched twice, then stopped moving.
Liu Gao witnessed this scene.
"Dead?"
Lin Jun put the thin paper away.
"They thought they wouldn't die. They were fearless!"
Nothing happened in the latter half of the night, but the entire forward camp had already been hauled up.
When they returned to camp, Wang De stood at the camp gate.
When he saw the two auxiliary soldiers dragging the corpse, he immediately understood most of the situation.
"How despicable!"
Wang De only uttered this one sentence.
The veterans, who had been harassed and shaken, all looked unwell.
There was only one player, and he couldn't sleep for half the night after switching camps.
In this deal, Gui Tou Yin Si won't lose out.
The world chat was surprisingly quiet at this point.
[Anonymous: The Ming army has moved.]
[Anonymous: The world's number one has made a move.]
[Anonymous: Haha, you can't fight a war if you don't sleep well]
[Anonymous: Only one died, it's a good deal.]
Liu Gao was not a player, so he naturally didn't know about the messages on the public chat.
He only noticed that Mo Qin and Lin Jun were silent and looked sullen.
He asked in a low voice:
"Brother Qin, didn't we catch them?"
Mochin glanced at him.
"We caught them."
"Then why does it look like we've lost?"
Mochin looked at the body that was being dragged away.
"Because they achieved their goal."
Everyone fell silent.
Before dawn, the firearms battalion also discovered two fake fuses.
But there was no gunpowder.
Although we know it's a feint, it's always better to be safe than sorry.
Ding Laozu personally led the team, cursing Zhu Yu and telling him not to let the little fire soldier lead the men to carefully turn over the snow.
Zhu Yu's nose was red from the cold, but she dared not be negligent.
Old Ding squatted down beside him and said in a muffled voice.
"Too much trouble?"
Zhu Yu quickly shook her head.
"I don't mind."
Old Ding closed the tinderbox.
"If we don't investigate carefully now, we won't have a chance to complain when it explodes."
Zhu Yu hummed in agreement and continued digging through the snow.
On that day, no smoke of war was lit, and no war drums were sounded.
Admiral Li Rusong awaited Konishi Yukinaga's reply and did not take any rash action.
However, within the Ming army's camp, there was no time for rest; their labor was even greater than during the fiercest battle.
False fires illuminate the forest, false scouts are spread across the fields, false footprints are scattered in the snow, and false cries for help echo around the camp.
In the dense forests on the southern slopes, shouts in Korean could be heard incessantly, as if some local militia were trapped.
On the snowy slope in the east, an empty cart was cooking, as if there were provisions stored there.
The path to the water was marked by crisscrossing footprints, making it seem like an enemy spy camp.
The affairs of this world are a mixture of reality and illusion, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
These strange phenomena were most likely a trap set by Gui Tou Yin Si, but none of the generals in the camp dared to be the slightest bit negligent.
The enemy's strategy of exhausting their troops and demoralizing them lies precisely in this:
They use fakes to deceive the real, and numbers to deceive the few, exhausting my mind and wearying my soldiers.
Warfare is based on deception, but it also conceals the principles of Heaven.
Nine out of ten omens are ominous, but they may not necessarily be a blessing in disguise.
Despite countless doubts and uncertainties, there will eventually be a breakthrough.
The afternoon breeze was warm, and the southern soldiers in the rear ranks arrived one after another.
The armor, bathed in the setting sun, and the spears and halberds gleaming coldly, added a touch of confidence to the standoff before the siege.
Guerrilla General Qi Jin and his Zhejiang troops were assigned to the outer side of the front camp for a trial battle.
The queues are simple, but very practical.
The rattan shield is in front.
The spear is behind.
Firearms were arranged on both sides.
The rattan shield soldiers' shields were not large and were much lighter than Liu Gao's lion-head shields.
It is round with an arc in the middle, and the edges are wrapped with vines and leather ropes.
Zhang Shijue, the deputy commander-in-chief of the expedition against the Japanese pirates, stood aside and watched for a long time, then curled his lip in disapproval.
"It looks so light."
"It looks like a bamboo basket lid."
Several Liaodong soldiers standing nearby chuckled upon hearing this.
Qi Jin heard this but did not get angry.
He strapped the rattan shield to his arm, lowered one knee, and tilted the shield slightly.
A soldier from Zhejiang swung a wooden stick and smashed it down.
Snapped.
The stick didn't bounce off.
It slid down the sloping surface of the rattan shield.
Qi Jin's body swayed slightly.
Zhang Shijue's eyebrows twitched.
"There's some skill involved."
Qi Jin then looked up.
"General Zhang's sword is heavy."
"Our hand is weak."
"Different usages."
Zhang Shijue snorted.
"As long as he's not just a pretty face with no substance."
Qi Jindao:
"Won't."
Liu Gao, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed.
He leaned closer to Mo Qin and whispered:
"Brother Qin, that rattan shield is much lighter than my shield. Can it really stop lead bullets?"
Before Mo Qin could answer, the Zhejiang soldier next to him glanced at the two of them.
"To stop the lead weight, you rely on the gaps between the rattan strips to absorb the force, not on brute force."
"Your shield is hard, but it's also heavy."
Liu Gao looked down at his lion-head shield, then at the opponent's rattan shield.
"Hey bro, does that light shield hurt when you bump into someone?"
The soldier from Zhejiang thought about it.
"Let's see how it crashes."
He tilted the rattan shield to the side and gently pushed it forward.
The movement was minor.
Liu Gao, however, sensed something amiss.
It wasn't done by smashing or pushing.
Instead, stick to it and let the opponent's force slide off course.
Wang De walked over from behind and kicked him in the boot.
"Have you seen enough?"
Liu Gao quickly stood up straight.
"I've seen enough."
"Remember it once you've seen enough."
Wang De said coldly.
"That shield of yours is not a door."
"Don't just brute force it with your shield; learn to deflect the force."
Liu Gao was taken aback.
Wang De was too lazy to curse anymore, so he raised his hand and pointed.
"Go to the water station."
"It's your turn to change shifts."
Liu Gao and Mo Qin received the order and turned to leave.
Meanwhile, Lin Jun, holding a wooden board, was checking the sentry posts on the outer perimeter with a clerk not far away.
Li Rusong valued her intelligence and specially ordered her to assist in war preparations.
Several important locations were marked on the wooden board.
Water collection point, grain transport route, outside the gunpowder shed, night rafting line, forest entrance south of the front camp.
She held down the wooden board with one hand and held a charcoal stick in the other.
She hasn't had a full night's sleep since last night.
Although exhausted, she tried her best to remain calm.
When they saw the row of water collection points, the charcoal stick paused for a moment above the wooden board.
I only started writing on the second try.
The water source is located on the northeast side of the camp.
Beside a frozen stream.
The stream wasn't completely frozen; beneath the ice, a line of black water still flowed.
As they approached, Mochin stopped and remained motionless.
A soldier was squatting by the stream, changing his leg wraps.
His left foot was sticking out of the snow, and a bucket was placed next to him.
Everything seemed normal, but there were no sentries nearby.
Holding his breath, Mo Qin quickly glanced around.
The next moment, a short arrow flew out from the treeline.
The arrow traveled very low, aiming for the legs.
Mo Qin raised his white wax spear and swept the shaft horizontally.
Snapped.
The short arrow was knocked away, grazing the auxiliary soldier's trouser leg before embedding itself in the frozen ground nearby.
This scene immediately startled the auxiliary soldier, who plopped down on the snow.
Mochin looked to the side and shouted loudly.
"Yan Qi".
Yan Qi had already rushed out from the side.
He rushed to the depth of the auxiliary soldiers first.
Then, with a horizontal bow, the arrow was nocked.
The man in the woods, seeing that his attack had missed, immediately retreated.
After putting down his bow, Yan Qi chased after the enemy for fifty paces before stopping, not pursuing them any further.
When he returned, he had a small piece of gray cloth in his hand.
"They're still their people."
Mo Qin took it and glanced at it.
Where are they?
They ran away.
Yan Qi put the gray cloth away.
"They were stalkers who killed on the side, like snipers."
Mochin turned to look at the auxiliary soldiers in the snow.
The person was unharmed, but the auxiliary soldier was deathly pale and clearly frightened.
Liu Gao arrived at this moment and raised his shield to block the stream.
"Where's the sentry?"
No one answered; the answer was obvious.
The whistle didn't arrive, or rather, the person who arranged it missed the shift change by a fraction of a second.
Half a minute isn't long, but in Ginji Kito's eyes, half a minute is enough.
After returning to the camp, Mo Qin found Lin Jun and heard about the water-fetching incident.
He rushed to the clerk, picked up the water collection point switchboard, and looked at it over and over again.
The character for "charcoal" was written very clearly, but she omitted a marker indicating the change of sentry.
He tapped his finger on the wooden board.
The clerk explained from the side:
"Brother Lin, this place was originally intended to..."
Lin Jun raised her hand to interrupt him.
"I overlooked this."
The clerk was stunned.
Han Shouyi, who was standing to the side, turned pale.
But I didn't scold them.
Mo Qin followed and placed the short arrow next to the wooden board.
Lin Jun glanced at it.
"Are you injured?"
Mo Qin said:
"It's nothing."
Lin Jun nodded.
"I'll go and submit the supplementary report."
She picked up the wooden board again and filled in the missing mark.
After she finished repairing it, she handed the wooden board to the clerk.
"Check it again."
"Start from the outside of the gunpowder shed."
The clerk nodded quickly, and after the other person had taken a few steps, she pressed her temples.
"It's my fault, I'm sorry."
Mo Qin patted Lin Jun's head.
"Go take a nap later, I'll keep watch for you."
Several more messages popped up in the world chat.
[Anonymous: Did you hit the target?]
[Anonymous: I didn't get it, I was discovered, and the nine-headed bird killed me.]
[Anonymous: This kid's unlucky.]
[Anonymous: That woman forgot? That's quite rare.]
Before nightfall, the Ming army's outer perimeter was finally stabilized.
When Zhou Hu returned from the central army and heard about the water collection point, he only asked one question:
"Is anyone dead?"
Mo Qin said:
"no."
Zhou Hu looked at Lin Jun.
Don't forget next time.
Lin Jun nodded.
"Won't."
Mochin sat beside the firearms cart, a long spear resting on his lap.
Liu Gao leaned against the lion-head shield, muttering to himself about how to integrate the force-dissipating method of the rattan shield.
Yan Qi sat upright in the corner, polishing his precious arrowhead.
After resting, Lin Jun called the three of them over.
"The Japanese pirates have been harassing us since yesterday."
She looked at Mochin and handed him a wooden board.
"We cannot sit idly by and wait to die."
Taking the wooden plank, Mo Qin checked the row of water collection points, which Lin Jun had drawn with three lines.
The third path, in particular, points to an abandoned snow ditch.
Liu Gao stared at it for a long time.
"Does this mean... Japanese pirates are lying in ambush here?"
Mo Qin looked at the wooden board, and a smirk appeared on his face.
"Then let's not wait! Getting beaten up isn't my style, let's kill one of their squads first."
At the same time.
Inside Pyongyang, in a side courtyard of the advance team.
Kito Ginji sat in front of the map, listening to his subordinate's report.
"He was stabbed to death?"
"Are you beyond saving?"
The subordinate trembled and hurriedly said:
"We simply couldn't win, so we retreated to conserve our strength."
Gui Tou looked at the list of Ming soldiers in his hand. Next to Mo Qin's name, there were three lines.
There are two paths next to Yan Qi.
Next to Liu Gao was a shield-shaped circle.
As for Lin Jun's name, he simply scribbled it down.
Kito Ginji lowered his eyes and said in a low voice:
"The nine-headed bird can be dealt with eventually if we spend more time, but the woman around him is too smart and must be eliminated."
The subordinate leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "Captain, should we keep the ambush at the water point?"
A cold smile flashed in Ghost Head's eyes: "They probably think that since we've been discovered, they won't send anyone else."
"Ah, as Sun Tzu's Art of War says, 'When the enemy is weak, make him appear strong; when he is strong, make him appear weak.' The more the enemy thinks that way, the more we should do the opposite."
"Keep the ambush going, and as for the Nine-Headed Bird, find an opportunity to cut off his left and right arms."
The subordinate quickly pressed, "Captain, should we kill the guy with the bow first, or the woman?"
Kito Ginji held the chip between his fingers: "Kill that woman first."