Chapter 2047: Chapter 1496: Heavenly Fire at Sunset, Death-Defying Assault!

"Ah? Lord Priest, these are igniting fire arrows (hiya). Some use expensive gunpowder, and some use cheap sulfur... Hmm, the Tiantai Sect is truly affluent! These whistling fire arrows, they all use gunpowder, I reckon each arrow costs dozens of cash!"

"Hong! I’m asking you, in your country, do you actually have gunpowder?..."

"Uh?! This question... Lord Priest, gunpowder has been in use in Tang Land and Korea for hundreds of years. During the Yuan Invasion, there were those booming stone-shooting cannons... Japan of course learned from Tang Land, so naturally, there is gunpowder. However, natural saltpeter is scarce, only produced in the mountains of Kyushu, and in the Kansai region of Honshu. It’s said there’s a method of artificial saltpeter making, but not many Martial Families know of it; I’ve only heard rumors..."

"What?! Are you saying that the Great Ming Alliance in the west has been using Divine Revelation gunpowder for hundreds of years?"

"Ah? Sir... Hundreds of years ago, there was no Great Ming yet. The ’Divine Revelation gunpowder’ likely came from the Tang people or the Song people, and then passed on to the Yuan Invasion..."

"?... So you’re saying, the Ryuzoji Clan has no source of gunpowder, the Kaozaki Family doesn’t either, but the Tiantai Sect Temple does? If the Kingdom wants to get gunpowder, they still have to go through the Tiantai Sect Temple’s channels?..."

"... Sir, look at this whistling rain of fire covering the sky! Plain as day, plain as day!"

The north wind blew cold, and the rain of fire fell from the sky, whistling down, burning even on the ground. Confronting this unprecedented "Fire Rain Spell," the warriors of the Rokube and Unanga Clans were startled and shouted in fear. Fortunately, the Kingdom’s Warriors, serving as the backbone, were familiar with these gunpowder arrows and knew how to deal with them.

"Quick! Use mud bags! Use the mud to put out the fire!... If you’re hit, come down from the ship barriers and roll on the mud! Rolling over it extinguishes it!..."

"Whoa! Whoa!..."

"Bang!..."

"Puff..."

In an instant, a dozen or more burning Kingdom warriors jumped down from the ship barriers, desperately rolling in the mud by the sea like western wild boars wallowing. Though this method was messy, it was simple and effective. And the ready mud bags finally came into use. Large loads of mud were poured onto the burning spots on the ship barriers, extinguishing the flames quickly before they could ignite the sea ships!

"Chief Divine bless us! This damned Japanese Temple Fleet actually wants to burn our ship? Truly malicious, like a cunning Smoke Mirror!..."

Warrior Chief Tamikusa cursed, covered in mud, his face blackened by smoke. He hadn’t expected the Tiantai Sect Fleet to have gunpowder arrows, but the Kingdom’s naval battles always favored fire. So he presumed the other side would have means of setting fires, such as throwing burning oil-filled clay pots. To protect the Kingdom’s few precious sea ships, large amounts of mud and grass bags were preemptively stacked on each ship. This was the most cheap and convenient firefighting method on land. Yet in naval battle, it might genuinely pose a danger...

"Damn it! If the Kingdom’s fleet’s gunpowder hadn’t gotten damp...we would’ve definitely brought up Chief Divine’s cannons and turned this Japanese Temple fleet into a sieve!... Hmm, though most of the gunpowder at the Luoshanda High Priest’s place got damp, there are still two barrels preserved. When the time comes...you’ll see!..."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!..."

"Hmm? What sound is that? Damn! The enemy’s arrows are coming again! Quick! Raise the shields, hide behind the ship rail! Don’t stick out to counterattack, let them shoot; they can’t penetrate the shield armor!..."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!..."

The Tiantai Fleet on the sea fired a round of fire arrows, followed by several rounds of iron-tipped arrows. Then came another volley of whistling fire arrows, followed by more rounds of iron-tipped arrows. By the time the third volley of fire arrows was done, the ship barriers on the beach were scorched black, covered in damp, sooty mud.

Yet even so, thanks to the ship barrier warriors’ firefighting efforts, none of the six large ships in the mud was ignited by the Tiantai Fleet. Conversely, the beast-skin tents in the camp onshore were largely set ablaze, forming a ring of fire around the golden treasure tree.

"Lord Priest! The tent, the tent is burning! This... Firefighting?..."

"Jia Hong, someone is already handling it."

Ryuzoji Temple Jia Hong watched with distress as the valuable deer skin, bear skin, and even red fox skin turned into bonfires under the flames. The charred smell lingered in the wind; if these were transported to Kansai, Kyushu, they would all be money! But now there were only about thirty Ezo sailors sporadically firefighting in the camp. They could hardly be called firefighters, merely dragging unburned tents to the back. As for those that were burning, they simply let them burn.

"Sir! With such a handful of personnel... in the forest we..."

"Hmm?! I said, let it burn!"

Zuwaro fixed his severe gaze on Ryuzoji Temple Jia Hong. Jia Hong shrank his neck and couldn’t say a word. The two squatted on the small hill, watching the two or three hundred kingdom warriors and Shandan archers standing guard unmoved on the ship barriers, allowing the fire in the camp to burn large. After the limited beast skins were burned up, the fire gradually subsided. It only made the central golden treasure tree all the more conspicuous and brilliant, like a divine object reborn from the flames!

"Whoosh... Whoosh, whoosh..."

The third volley of gunpowder arrows was finished, and the Shandan tribes on shore remained undisturbed, with at most a dozen injured. Now, the Tiantai Fleet’s bowmen became lackluster. They had been firing these many rounds of arrows all morning to afternoon, indeed expending too much energy.

However, the fact that the Shandan people only had about thirty weak soldiers to fight the fires in the camp suggested they numbered only three hundred. Five hundred against three hundred, the advantage is ours!

"Woo... woo... hum!..."

The sun began to set in the west, and the long, echoing sound of the Dharma conch resounded from the flagship "Lotus Flower Maru," accompanied by banners pointing backward. The ten customs ships paused slightly, then turned their bows again, starting to retreat into the bay behind. After falling back several hundred paces, the fleet unanimously stopped, unsure of what they were doing, and remained motionless for a quarter of an hour.

"Jia Hong! What trick are these Temple fleets playing now, retreating so far in one go?..."

"Lord! In naval warfare, the fleet only has ’Bow and Arrows,’ ’Crossbow Arrows,’ and ’Fire Arrows,’ three types of arrows. Nowadays, the Tiantai Fleet ’attacking from water to land’ has used all three, and the methods of long-range archery have all been tried. Next, they would either send monk soldiers ashore to launch a land attack... or just retreat!"

Ryuzoji Jia Hong closed one eye, while the other eye stared through the long Divine Eye Glasses, fixedly watching the "Lotus Flower Maru." Though a bit distant, making it hard to see specific facial features, he could still discern their identities from the monk robes and big armor of the two figures at the bow.

"Chief Divine! This situation... this situation? Shiba Official seems to want to retreat? Damn it! This veteran general of the Martial Family doesn’t want to land ashore!... Indeed! If they were to land, it would have to be under the leadership of him personally as the general, which is extremely dangerous! If he loses, he probably wouldn’t be able to return; and the benefits of winning largely fall on Great Monk Juehui, with very little rewarding him. This old general of the Martial Family isn’t so foolish as to gamble his life for the Great Monk’s deceptive chanting!"

"Tsk tsk! He must be desperately persuading Great Monk Juehui, may even be scaring them with tales of Shandan traps or ambushes in the forest... uh! Perhaps it isn’t just scaring tactics either... Lord Priest, we need to think of some way to get that gambling monk to put his last stake on the table!"

"?..."

Zuwaro raised his brows as Ryuzoji Jia Hong leaned in to whisper a few words. A few moments later, Zuwaro’s eyes widened in surprise, taking a look at Ryuzoji Jia Hong, who simply smiled and nodded. These "Japanese Martial Family tricks" were truly something Zuwaro had seen, contrasting with the straightforward valor of the Jurchen Tribe, like another world entirely.

"Jia Hong, when setting the bait, is twenty jin of gold enough?..."

"Uh? Lord Priest, that’s two thousand coins, enough to tempt anybody... while it’s unlikely, if we give too much, the Great Monk might just run off, that would truly be a loss!"

"You’re still too petty! At this final step, you can’t be stingy with such small amounts of gold! The bait has to be sufficient so that once the big fish is caught, a little gold can be sacrificed without regret... five times, increase it fivefold!"

Zuwaro extended five fingers, gesturing again, then waved over an Ainu sailor. Subsequently, Ryuzoji Jia Hong took a charcoal pen, pulled over a piece of light-colored animal skin, and wrote down the big Chinese characters "Cease Fire."

"Remember! You can speak Japanese, tell those people on the ship!"

"We, the Shandan Golden Clan, are allies of the Kaozaki Family, and friendly with Mori no Kiyoshi’s fleet... we, the Golden Clan, value friendship, although our two families have misunderstandings, we are willing to take a step back, offering one hundred jin of gold in exchange for your fleet’s withdrawal!"

"If you do not retreat, then tomorrow, when our Shandan army returns from the north with supplies, we will gather over a thousand warriors, to rip out your guts and offer you all to the Chief Divine! Not only that, we will gather our army, head south to Japanese Land, and eradicate the Kaozaki Family traitors completely!"

"Understand?"

"Understood, Great Chief! We’re not fighting today, you ambushed us, we weren’t prepared, giving you a pile of gold stone. Fight tomorrow, when our people gather we fight! Once tomorrow comes, we won’t just kill you, but also kill the people from the south!"

"Aha!"

The Ainu sailor responded innocently, Zuwaro’s face froze, but Ryuzoji Jia Hong burst out laughing. Zuwaro was about to teach again, but Ryuzoji Jia Hong shook his head and laughed.

"Lord Priest! It’s fine, this is good! Those big monks think they are clever, if they send over someone smart, it’s actually harder to believe... this is good, this is good!"

"...Blessings from the Chief Divine! Go now!"

Soon, an Ainu canoe, waving a "Cease Fire" flag, wobbled its way toward the waiting Tiantai Fleet.

Zuwaro took the Thousand-Eyed Mirror, watching intently for a long time. That innocent Ainu sailor struggled greatly but couldn’t carry the bag with one hundred jin of gold onto the large ship "Lotus Flower Maru." Two monk soldiers jumped down from a small boat, carried the bag onto the large ship, but the weight of the gold broke the bag, spilling shiny Gold Talismans across the deck, everywhere...

"Boom!... Oooh!... Buzz!!"

Subsequently, fierce arguments seemed to ensue aboard the Tiantai Sect’s flagship. However, three quarters later, the deep, resonant sound of the Dharma conch once again echoed across the Sea of Ezo. Then, ten of the Japanese water battle customs ships finally moved closer to the coast several miles west, landing on the tidal flats away from the Shandan Camp.

"Boom!... Oooh!... Buzz!!"

"Exorcise the demons, safeguard the True Dharma!"

"Resist Shandan, charge to death!"

"All captured gold offered to the Buddha!"

Under the setting sun, a general clad in big armor appeared solemn and tragically as he carried a tachi, grasping the order-giving Dharma conch, leaping ashore from "Lotus Flower Maru." Countless monk soldiers from the Tiantai Sect also jumped down from the moored customs ships one after another, chanting Buddha’s name as they began to armor themselves. A desperate battle to exorcise demons, where there is advance without retreat, is finally about to commence before sunset’s arrival!...