On the open plains north of the Han River, the river water surges and crashes against the rocks on the shore.
Gu Moran, mounted on his warhorse, stood steadily in the very center of the three thousand Great Yan.
They had already erected three layers of deer antlers and barricades in front of them, and less than thirty paces behind them was the turbulent Han River; there wasn't even half a pontoon bridge left to retreat across.
Beside her, Kim Seon-a- ah rode a white horse, the sea breeze billowing her white gauze dress against her thighs, outlining her breathtakingly voluptuous curves.
She gripped the reins tightly, watching the black line emerge from the distant horizon.
The south gate of Hanseong was now wide open, and the main force of 12,000 starving Japanese soldiers swept across the plains like a flood bursting its banks.
The three thousand assassins in the front row weren't even wearing armor. They were bare-chested, holding poisoned bamboo spears, making strange howling noises, and running wildly on the muddy ground barefoot, as if they wanted to bite the necks of the Great Yan in front of them to pieces.
The Great Yan military drum, which had been beating, suddenly stopped.
A deathly silence fell over the entire riverside position; not a single one of the three thousand Great Yan drew their bows and fired an arrow.
The swordsmen and shieldmen in the front row slammed their heavy wrought iron shields into the ground, while the six hundred elite soldiers in the back row pulled out dark Subduing Fire Thunder from their waists, pressing their thumbs firmly against the lids of their tinderboxes, suppressing even their breathing to a minimum.
Kim Seon-a watched the ever-approaching tide of Japanese soldiers, her chest heaved violently, and the snow-white skin beneath her gauze robe trembled with the slight sway of her horse's back.
She couldn't help but turn her head to look at Gu Moran: "They've already charged in a hundred paces. If we don't fire arrows to stop them, the barricades won't be able to hold back so many lunatics!"
Gu Moran didn't even blink. Instead, he reached out and grasped her small hand that was holding the reins, gently stroking the smooth back of her hand with his fingertips.
"What's the panic? My gunpowder is precious. How can we hear a bang if we don't keep these bastards under our noses?"
"There might be some commotion later. If Your Highness gets scared, you can always run into my arms."
Kim Seon-a's hand went numb from his touch. Just as she was about to pull her hand away, the vanguard of the Japanese army had already closed the distance to within eighty paces.
With a roar from the Japanese flag officer, the two thousand Japanese archers following the suicide squad stopped simultaneously, drew their bamboo bows to their full strength, and with a whoosh, a dense rain of arrows covered half the sky, whistling as it poured down on the Great Yan army formation by the river.
"Raise your shields!"
The front-row Great Yan infantrymen simultaneously let out low growls, raising their massive, man-high wrought iron shields diagonally above their heads, the crisp clanging sounds instantly blending together.
The bamboo arrows struck the thick iron shields, breaking and bouncing away. Only a few slipped through the gaps in the shields and embedded themselves in the muddy ground behind them, failing to even pierce the leather armor of the Great Yan.
Seeing this, the assassins at the forefront quickened their pace, and in the blink of an eye, they had closed to within fifty paces. The scars on their faces and the white foam oozing from their mouths were clearly visible.
Gu Moran released Kim Seon-a's hand, and with a sudden burst of strength, his right hand, which was resting on his waist, drew his sword, Sea-Calming, from its sheath with a clang. The gleaming blade traced an arc in the air.
The flag bearer beside him immediately mustered all his strength and swung the crimson command flag downwards with all his might:
"Put!"
The iron shields in the front row instantly parted to the sides, creating a gap, and the three hundred Great Yan soldiers, who had been preparing for some time, simultaneously blew on their tinderboxes.
He lit the fuse, swung his arms wide, and hurled the Subduing Fire Thunder at the Japanese soldiers fifty paces away.
Three hundred metal lumps traced black lines in the air as they fell directly beneath the feet of the most ferocious Satsuma assassins, creating a continuous series of deafening booms.
The earth trembled, and white smoke mixed with crimson flames rolled violently across the plain. Iron sand and shards of iron filled with Subduing Fire Thunder swept out with the shockwave, instantly tearing the first few hundred assassins to shreds. A ten-zhang-wide gap in flesh and blood was forcibly ripped open in the charging formation.
Before the smoke had even cleared, the pungent smell of sulfur filled the air. The second rank of three hundred soldiers in the Great Yan army formation didn't hesitate for a moment; they stepped forward in unison, lit their Subduing Fire Thunder, and hurled them again.
Three hundred more explosions rang out. The middle rank of Japanese ronin, who had just stepped over the corpses of their comrades, didn't even have time to raise their swords before they were felled in droves by the oncoming rain of iron sand and fire, like wheat being harvested. Limbs and torsos flew everywhere.
This completely stunned the Japanese army's momentum.
The Japanese soldiers in the front row who had miraculously survived looked at the carcasses and fire pits on the ground, their legs trembling, and they instinctively wanted to retreat.
But the thousands of Japanese infantrymen behind them, unaware of what was happening ahead, were still pushing and shoving frantically forward in their scramble for food.
With the army retreating and advancing, the more than 10,000 soldiers were instantly squeezed into a dead knot on the open plain, unable to move.
"It's my turn to add some extra dishes for you!"
On the high slope behind the position, Zhen Meili stood atop five modified mechanical wagons, kicked open the wooden wedges securing the cantilever arms, and gripped the iron mechanism of the catapult with both hands, pulling it down hard.
A grating, teeth-grinding creaking sound rang out as five small catapults simultaneously swung their long arms.
Thirty Heavy Subduing Fire Thunder, each larger than a human head, flew through the air with a whistling sound, passing over the front ranks of the crowd, and crashed precisely into the most crowded core of the Japanese army's central command.
boom--!
These thirty Heavy Subduing Fire Thunder were packed with twice the amount of granulated gunpowder, and they exploded upon impact, the blast waves from the chain reaction lifting three feet of soil from the plain.
The black family crest banner of Inukami Jusaburo Juro, which stood in the center of the army, was overturned by the shockwave. The flagpole snapped in two with a crack, smashing several guards next to it and causing them to bleed from the head.
"Monsters! Great Yan people know magic!"
"They can not only summon lightning, they can fly! I heard from my brother that there's a black-robed monk flying around like that!"
One of the Japanese soldiers broke down and cried out, causing the main force of the Japanese army, which had been huddled together, to completely collapse.
No one obeyed the junior officer's orders anymore. Thousands upon thousands of Japanese soldiers dropped their bamboo spears and wooden shields, crying and screaming as they turned and fled towards Hanseong, wishing they had more legs.
Riding on Inukami Jusaburo was swept off his feet by the fleeing soldiers. Even after killing three deserters, he couldn't stop the tide of battle.
With only a few hundred personal guards, he retreated in a sorry state to the south gate of Hanseong, managing to close the heavy city gate tightly before Lin Qingdai and Murong Xue could surround and encircle them from the reeds.
All that remained on the plain were the wounded soldiers rolling on the ground, groaning in agony, and the pungent smell of blood. A deafening cheer erupted from the Great Yan army ranks.
Kim Seon-a, mounted on her horse, watched as the ten thousand Japanese soldiers were blown to smithereens in just a quarter of an hour. Her hand holding the reins was still trembling slightly.
She turned to look at Gu Moran beside her, her eyes no longer filled with the doubt and arrogance of before, but only with undisguised admiration and fervor.
Gu Moran sheathed the " Sea-Calming " sword, looked into her watery eyes, and casually pinched her fair, smooth cheek, smiling as he spoke:
"So, Your Highness, is my display of fireworks to your liking?"
This time, Kim Seon-a didn't dodge, letting his rough fingertips brush against her cheek. She even tilted her head slightly to follow his touch, her voice as soft as water:
"Your Highness's Seon-a..."
"Although Inukami Jusaburo has been defeated, Hanseong's defenses are strong, and there are 20,000 Goryeo civilians held hostage on the city walls. Even if we have Subduing Fire Thunder, we can't just blow up the civilians too, can we?"