"Demon, demon..."
Matsuura Takamori, his forehead bulging with hysterical veins, wailed hysterically as his eyes tore at the corners and blood spurted out: "On the day of your death, the eight million gods of Takamagahara will drink your blood with relish, gnaw on your bones, sleep on your skin, seize your achievements, trample your..."
"Really?"
Yang Ge, with a smile, detached his jaw: "Then I’ll just have to slaughter them and use their carcasses to build my palace!"
He turned the Kanabo Stick upside down, facing his mansion, watching as one katana after another, wild long swords levitated, shattered, and turned into a river of broken sword fragments that surged into his mansion, piercing through figures scrambling around, blooming into splendid splashes of blood.
A gentleman keeps his distance from the kitchen, out of sight, out of mind.
"How about it?"
He slapped the cheek of the Kanabo Stick, smiling as he asked: "When you directed the pirates to plunder our southeastern coast, when those pirates described how they burnt, killed, and looted on our Chinese land, when those pirates offered you a hefty tribute stained with the blood of our fellow Chinese... did you ever think of today?"
Matsuura Takamori, with his jaw dislocated, couldn’t speak and could only scream in agony, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.
"So you do feel pain?"
Yang Ge suddenly realized: "I thought you heartless beasts didn’t know what pain was..."
He beckoned the hilt of a broken wild long sword, impaled the Kanabo Stick, and hoisted it over his shoulder like carrying a flagpole, turned his horse’s head, and walked out of the Daimyo mansion.
Just then, Zhou Fu, leading a few elite embroidered uniform guards, hurried over, and from a distance, they saw Yang Ge nonchalantly stepping out with a blood-dripping Kanabo Stick on his shoulder. Everyone froze in their tracks, a chill ran down their spine, and it felt as if there were prickly heat exploding all over their bodies.
This guy, when he’s kind-heated, he’s truly kind; but when he’s brutal, he is truly brutal...
"You missed the excitement; I’ve already cleaned the inside, not a single dirty thing left..."
Yang Ge saw them, greeted them with a grin, and beckoned: "Why just stand there? Come over and talk!"
Unable to face his blood-smeared smile, they lowered their heads, steeling themselves, and edged closer, bowing: "Second Master, Hirado Castle has been fully locked down, awaiting your orders!"
Yang Ge gave them a thumbs up: "Well done, worthy of His Majesty’s personal troops, you’ve done the court proud!"
The crowd waved their hands in dismissal: "We dare not accept such praise, we’re just picking the easy targets following Second Master..."
Yang Ge: "I’ll give you a heavier task then. Split into two teams: one to scavenge all the treasures within this castle, and the other to gather all the adult men... If he’s of age, a male, gather them all together. You understand what I mean?"
The people once again were startled by his words, all looking up at him, only to be frightened into quickly lowering their heads by his bloodshot eyes.
Zhou Fu, with much effort, bowed and said: "Second Master, we only have seventy-two men."
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Yang Ge: "That’s enough. If I didn’t prefer to avoid a massacre, I alone would be enough..."
Everyone shuddered, their minds in utter disarray, questioning their own souls: ’Who am I? Where am I? What am I even doing?’
Yang Ge: "What are you still standing around for? Get to work. Do you remember what I told you before getting off the ship? No matter who it is, as long as he dares to raise a weapon against you, he’s a pirate. If you let him go, the moment he returns to sea he’ll continue to harm our elders and folks back home. Killing them is both a respect for the enemy and mercy for ourselves and for our loved ones back home!"
Zhou Fu, fighting off the numbness in his body, clenched his teeth until they "clanked," and with a voice almost a roar, he responded loudly: "Your command is my duty!"
He turned around and signaled his brothers in the embroidered uniforms: "Brothers, follow me!"
Yang Ge raised his head and looked at the brilliant sun above, sighing sincerely: "The weather is really nice today... Hey Zhou, what’s the date today?"
Zhou Fu, already sprinting away, heard his question and answered loudly: "Second Master, it is September 18th!"
"September 18th, truly a good day!"
Yang Ge muttered with a smile, but as he spoke, a memory sparked and the smile gradually faded. He unconsciously twisted the hilt of the broken wild long sword in his hand, and the Kanabo Stick in agony let out another hysterical, muddled wail.
But at that moment, the wails of torment entering Yang Ge’s ears sounded like divine music!
He looked up at the sky again, at the clear blue expanse above, now suddenly filled with a vision of countless fires, smoke, and the screaming dirty faces.
He lowered his eyelids and softly sang to himself in a voice only he could hear: "My home is on the banks of the Songhua River in the northeast, where I have my kinfolk and my aging parents..."
All of a sudden, he felt that having this day made his journey across time and space worthwhile!
...
Two hours later, all the adult males within Hirado Castle were herded together by the seventy-two riders, a dark mass of people numbering no less than five thousand, yet none dared to breach the encirclement.
Those who dared to breach had all been killed...
Gathered with these adult males were several small hills of treasure, including gold, silver, silk, weaponry, and more.
The wealth accumulated by the Matsuura clan in Hirado over hundreds of years was mostly here.