Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 962 - 794

Chapter 962: 794

Six hours later, the battle on the sea had ended. The entire ocean surface was littered with floating fragments of wood and wreckage of warships, interspersed with numerous corpses.

As Li Yan had predicted, the entire process of the battle was hardly worth mentioning.

The twenty-four ironclad ships were invincible; even their ramming assaults were unstoppable for the Fusou people, lacking any ships that could withstand such force.

Moreover, these warships carried terrifying weapons—those scaffolded rifled cannons, which could easily tear those wooden vessels to shreds.

When they fired in unison, they could rip apart at least ten or more large vessels.

Fire ships were meaningless against them, and boarding tactics were outdated. Under the bombardment of grenades, no ship could get within a hundred zhang of them.

The aftermath unfolded just as Tianjin’s deputy Zongbing, Liu Chengli, had predicted—the Fusou Gods attempted to push their ironclad ships into a reef-filled area.

But Li Yan’s adept command, along with steam turbines and propellers on the ships, shattered the Fusou Gods’ attempt.

These ironclad warships didn’t rely on the power of the wind at all.

In a very short time, they had decimated the Fusou people’s naval forces.

Considering the possibility of Fusou people harassing the supply lines to come, Li Yan divided his ironclad ships into eight columns to pursue and hunt down all Fusou ships to the best of their ability.

These all-ironclad ships, though slightly less flexible, far outpaced the sail warships and oared warships in speed.

They were like fast-moving fortresses, fearlessly hunting down those small kobaya and seki-bune.

Meanwhile, deep under the sea, the nearly two million-strong army of the East Sea Dragon Clan had completely routed over a million Fusou aquatic clan members, and were fiercely pursuing them.

The strength of the Fusou aquatic clan was inherently inferior to that of the East Sea; previously, they had only been able to put up resistance against the dragon clan army through the strict control of Susano no O, preventing these East Sea aquatic species from affecting the decisive battle between Jin and Fusou.

However, once the Fusou ships on the surface had completely collapsed, Susano no O gave up control over these water demons.

At the same time, up in the clouds, the Amatsugami and Nitsugami of Fusou had all dispersed.

In their eyes was a thick layer of disappointment, tinged with a trace of worry.

Tensho alone remained. She gazed from afar at those seven Yunzhong warships, and at Li Xuan on the warship, hands behind his back, looking out over the battlefield and towards Naniwakyo.

After pondering for a moment, Tensho once again manifested sunlight and materialized in front of Li Xuan.

"Prince Fenyang of the Great Jin!"

Tensho refused to acknowledge Li Xuan’s imperial title, addressing him instead by the noble title he held in the mortal realm.

Ice that could freeze the soul and a warning filled her gaze.

"I admit we underestimated you Jin people and the power of those ironclad warships was beyond expectation. But this war can now cease. Should you dare to set foot on Fusou soil, I assure you, you will regret it profoundly.

Li Xuan withdrew his distant gaze to look at the goddess Tensho, "Is the goddess seeking peace? Peace is simple enough—the conditions I have set forth have already been conveyed to your descendants in the human world: relinquish the title of Mikado, punish the Japanese pirates harshly, and all the Amatsugami and Nitsugami must submit to me! Besides—"

Li Xuan could clearly sense the anger in the goddess opposite him, but he was undeterred, "As for the punishment for resisting our dynasty’s heavenly soldiers, Fusou must cede Nagasaki port to our dynasty, and the entire Shimazu clan of Satsuma must be exterminated, the originators of those pirates!"

Before Li Xuan could finish speaking, Tensho’s avatar burst into golden flames, a sign of her extreme anger.

But at that moment, there was another thunderous ’bang’.

The corporeal avatar of Tensho, and even the void space she occupied, were both shattered and torn apart.

Li Xuan was momentarily stunned, then turned with an air of resignation to look at Jiang Hanyun, "What now, Hanyun? You must let me have a word with her."

"It’s not like you can come to an agreement anyway."

Jiang Hanyun saw Xue Yunrou and Luo Yan in the distance, both giving her thumbs up.

Jiang Hanyun huffed and then faced Li Xuan directly, "Lei and Luo Yan said that Tensho has some lecherous thoughts about you, probably because of your present body’s powers; she seems to have taken a fancy to you."

Li Xuan ’oh’ed in surprise, looking puzzledly back at Luo Yan.

Luo Yan’s ’Xinling’ secret technique could indeed capture some of Tensho’s thoughts.

Luo Yan coldly turned her head away, "Anyway, my senses told me that Tensho’s anger was real, but she’s also in heat. Don’t flatter yourself; her current state is much like when Bashe Queen was smitten with you, perhaps even worse.

"She wants to mate with you, maybe even swallow you whole, to use your power as a source of her own. You have a knack for attracting trouble; why does everything seem to want a piece of you?"

Li Xuan was also at a loss; indeed, being handsome was a troubling fate.

The Dragon King Ao Shenghai nearby slightly shook his head, feeling that Li Xuan was too lenient with the women around him.

His own queen, as well as the concubines in his harem, would not dare to be so insolent towards him.

Afterward, as Ao Shenghai considered the backgrounds and powers of Li Xuan’s women, he came to an understanding.

He shook his head, changing the subject to help his son-in-law out of embarrassment, "What does Your Majesty plan to do next? The goddess Tensho may have been presumptuous, but her words were not unreasonable. While we achieved a complete victory in the battle of the Jiyi Sea Lane, the essence of Fusou’s power is on land."

"So we must shatter their strength and resolve, piece by piece!"

Li Xuan gestured with his hand, revealing a map beside him.

He held the Gelong blade and pointed at the map, "First is their army on land. The Shogunate General in Fusou has assembled an army of six hundred and seventy thousand from sixty-six countries of Fusou near the Kinai region.

"They will likely use a strategy of luring the enemy deep within their territory, but they have miscalculated. This nearly seven hundred thousand strong army will consume a massive amount of provisions every day, so within a short seven days or up to half a month, that Shogunate General will have no choice but to face our army near the plains close to Naniwakyo. This war will be a repeat of the battle at Podi Mountain with Meng Wu—"

Dragon King Ao Shenghai couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows when he heard about Li Xuan pacifying Meng Wu in that war.

Having no other choice, the Mongo people were forced to engage in battle with Li Xuan, only to have their national fortune crumble in this conflict.

Prince Ao Mengsheng of the East Sea, however, asked in confusion, "Their food supplies should not be so meager as to not last even seven days."

Li Xuan let out an ironic laugh without immediately responding.

The problem was that this year even Fusou Island was plagued by a cold tide, and food production had seen massive declines.

While Takamagahara had accumulated a considerable amount of food, it was all used to feed the sea creatures under the command of Kunpeng.

And then there was that Shogunate General. Did he truly have the courage to spend all the shogunate’s wealth to support the army from his vassal states?

※※※※

On November 16th, in front of the city walls of Naniwakyo, dense smoke from gunpowder lingered for dozens of miles, obscuring the sun and the sky.

The entire battlefield was strewn with corpses. Over three hundred thousand Fusou people lay dead on the field, their blood pooling into rivers, dyeing the nearby ’Yodogawa’ a bright red.

Another two hundred thousand were captured, among whom all the samurai were ordered by Li Xuan to be executed.

The remainder, farmers from various regions of Fusou, were released by the Jin Army.

These men were terrified to their core, mere burdens if kept as they would only waste food.

Li Xuan hadn’t brought much food on this eastern campaign; he estimated that, along with the carcasses of the sea creatures and subsequent spoils, there would only be enough to sustain the one hundred seventy thousand royal Forbidden Army for a month and a half.

The next supply of food would only arrive in Fusou after a month, so they had to be frugal.

Li Xuan understood the way Fusou people waged war; after their farmers fled, they would either try every means to return to their hometowns, turn into bandits causing trouble locally, or be rearmed by Fusou’s daimyo and redeployed into army units.

But regardless of the outcome, it was all something Li Xuan was happy to witness.

That day, less than five hundred miles from the battlefield, Heiankyo lay in deathly silence. From the Mikado down to the Shogunate General, all the Fusou lords and subjects found it unbelievable, as though mourning for their own parents.

In the high realm of Takamagahara in Fusou, the atmosphere was also heavy.

The gods, including the ’Three Noble Gods’ and ’Izanagi’, all wore somber expressions as heavy as iron.

This time, Izanagi’s sister, the Goddess ’Izanami’ of Yomo, also appeared in Takamagahara in the form of a spirit.

Yet all the deities remained silent, the battle that took place outside Naniwakyo having shaken their very souls.

Before this conflict, they had never imagined that the battle would end so tragically.

Of a six hundred and seventy-thousand-strong army, nearly half perished in battle, with the rest either fleeing or surrendering. Yet the Jin Army suffered less than a thousand casualties.

The gods had also heard how the past Mongo was crushed by the Prince Fenyang of the Great Jin.

The problem was that Mongo, in the past, was nothing more than a defeated vassal of the Fusou people.

How powerful could the Mongos—who had already been pushed back to the steppes—possibly be?

"Next up is Heiankyo!" Tsukuyomi life felt that he must speak up: "Ashikaga Yoshinori should still be able to summon three hundred thousand troops from the surrounding provinces of Kinki. But to hold Heiankyo, this force will not suffice."

Thinking of the muskets and cannons used by the Jin People, he couldn’t help frowning deeply.

"Then let the gods descend! Heiankyo is not only a capital for mortals but also a gateway to Takamagahara; we cannot afford to lose it," said Susano no O, his voice eerily calm: "All heavenly and earthly deities, a million strong from Takamagahara and the Underworld, must be ready to descend directly upon Heiankyo to fight a decisive battle against the Jin people. Gathering all the forces of the Fusou Gods, we will not lose to their guns and cannons again."

The many deities present furrowed their brows slightly, clearly resistant to Susano no O’s words.

However, the light of Amaterasu Omikami then enveloped the entire temple, and her eyes held an unmistakable authority: "Susano no O speaks truly, with Naniwakyo fallen, we have no retreat left.

We can only make our stand at Heiankyo; it lies directly below the divine realm of Takamagahara, allowing us to exert our power to the greatest extent."

At this time, the Fusang Gods were unaware that on the Yunzhong warship ’The Xuanhuang,’ Li Xuan was laughing heartily under the watchful eyes of Dragon King Ao Shenghai and others.

"How could we possibly attack Heiankyo now?"

Li Xuan shook his head persistently: "With so many deities in Fusou and thousands of years of accumulated divine forces, even if we are capable of taking it, we should not strike now. How many lives would be lost?"

He then picked up several models of armored ships, placing them one by one on the map in front of him: "These places will be our next targets,"

Prince Ao Mengsheng of the East Sea’s pupils immediately narrowed: "The Itsukushima Jinjya?"

And the Miyazaki Shrine, Motonosumiinari Jinjya, and the others—renowned large shrines of Fusou, each enshrining powerful deities.

Ao Mengsheng soon showed a look of realization, understanding that his brother-in-law was pruning the branches of the Fusou Gods.

The following day, at the Hour of Wu on November 17, six armored ships appeared off the coast of Itsukushima.

When they opened their gun ports and spewed flames, hundreds of cannonballs instantly tore through the defensive barriers of the Itsukushima Jinjya. Then an equal number of shell bombs spread, their fragments sweeping through all life in the vicinity and reducing the entire Itsukushima Jinjya to a sea of flames in an instant!

At the same time, some temporarily constructed boats, carrying as many as three thousand soldiers, landed on Itsukushima.

Their mission was to loot the immensely wealthy Itsukushima Jinjya and also to strike at the many daimyo in the vicinity.

The directive from Prince Fenyang was clear: not a single sheaf of rice or wheat was to remain in all the coastal fields of Fusou!