Cao Bianjiao and Ma Futa were both fierce generals.
The moment their spears met, the air itself seemed to fracture.
Steel flashed in tight arcs. Sand burst beneath their boots. Their movements blurred into streaks of afterimages. Onlookers could not even follow the sequence of strikes. It was as if two whirlwinds had collided on the beach.
Spear shadows crisscrossed in dazzling patterns.
They twisted, stepped, pivoted, lunged.
After more than a dozen rapid exchanges, Ma Futa's heart began to tremble.
Cao Bianjiao's spear technique was too agile. Every thrust flowed into another. Every feint concealed a real killing strike. His attacks layered over each other like waves, forcing Ma Futa to retreat step by step.
Panic crept into his chest.
He suddenly exposed a flaw in his guard.
Cao Bianjiao's eyes sharpened. He lunged forward.
But it was a trap.
Ma Futa spun, turned, and ran without hesitation.
"Damn it! Running when you can't win?" Cao Bianjiao snarled.
He took a long stride to pursue, but Ma Futa had already leaped into a small boat. He grabbed the paddle and rowed frantically toward open water.
Cao Bianjiao stopped.
Boarding a small boat and chasing recklessly was foolish.
He glanced left. Then right.
An idea flashed in his mind.
He reached into his robes and pulled out a hand grenade.
He lit the fuse calmly.
Then he took aim at Ma Futa's retreating boat.
With a powerful swing, he hurled it.
Ma Futa was just beginning to congratulate himself on his narrow escape when he heard a dull thump.
Something had landed inside the boat.
It rolled once. Twice.
He looked down.
That strange black ball.
"Ahhh!"
Boom.
The explosion blasted him backward inside the boat.
Ma Futa collapsed, unconscious.
---
"Qing forces are attacking the Left Harbor!"
The Vice Commander of Laizhou, Jin Riguan, roared. "I will go hold them off!"
"The Right Harbor has also been breached," Shen Shikui announced. "I will intercept them. General Cao, the Main Harbor is yours."
Cao Wenzhao nodded firmly. "Understood."
In an instant, every harbor on Pi Island erupted in battle.
Flames rose. Muskets fired. Cannons roared.
The Qing attacked wave after wave, but they could not secure a stable foothold. Unease began spreading among their ranks.
"Where is Aobai's sneak attack force?"
"Why hasn't Zhun Ta disrupted the Ming from behind?"
"And what about Gūsan Ejen Samushika's elite infantry? They should have stormed the island by now!"
"Why is there no signal?"
Even Ajige, the commander in chief, felt something was wrong.
"Why are both forces completely silent?"
As he pondered, a battered fleet approached.
Samushika's flagship.
Samushika himself stood at the bow, his face pale and miserable.
"Our flanking fleet encountered a mystical ship at sea," he cried out hoarsely. "We were annihilated. Hardly anyone returned."
Ajige felt as if ice had been poured down his spine.
"You returned," he said slowly, "but Aobai and Zhun Ta have not."
A terrible thought formed.
Before he could finish it, another fleet appeared on the horizon.
On the prow of the leading ship stood two youths.
One of them raised a severed head high into the air.
The distance was too great to clearly see its features.
The youth lifted a tin megaphone and laughed loudly, the sound echoing across the sea toward the Han and Joseon troops who had never been very enthusiastic to begin with.
"Behold! The head of Aobai, Manchu vanguard general!"
The reaction was immediate.
Fear rippled through the Han and Joseon ranks.
On the Joseon side, the Peaceful Province Army Commander Liu Lin did not hesitate.
"The Qing army is defeated! Retreat at once!"
The fifty Joseon warships faltered instantly.
They had always been timid. Now their retreat was simply a little more hurried.
As for Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi, the three infamous turncoats, they had been fighting half heartedly from the start.
Now they had a perfect excuse.
They quickly began pulling back.
With the Joseon and Han forces retreating, the Qing troops at the front found themselves isolated.
Their naval combat ability alone was frankly pitiful.
Without Joseon ships supporting them, they stood no chance.
Ajige clenched his teeth.
"Recall the troops!"
The Qing soldiers who had not yet landed sighed in relief and fell back.
Those already on the beach were not so fortunate.
They ran desperately toward the shoreline. Ming soldiers hacked at their backs. Muskets fired into their retreating ranks. Guanning Iron Cavalry hurled grenades into their clusters.
Explosions tore through them as they fled.
Their retreat was chaotic.
Their deaths were brutal.
Before long, the beach was carpeted with corpses.
Then, from Pi Island, a thunderous cheer erupted.
"We won!"
"The Qing have retreated!"
"Haha! Victory!"
"Pi Island is safe!"
"Long live Dongjiang Command!"
"Dongjiang! Dongjiang!"
The shouts seemed to shake the clouds.
---
On the mainland coast, Ajige gathered what remained of his forces.
The reports were devastating.
Aobai and Zhun Ta's entire detachment had been annihilated. Not a single man returned.
Samushika had escaped, but nearly half of his ten thousand elite troops were lost.
Ma Futa, the vanguard general, was dead.
In this single battle, the Qing had lost nearly ten thousand men.
There was an old saying.
If the Jurchens do not number ten thousand, they are not to be feared.
If they number ten thousand, they are invincible.
But what if ten thousand Jurchens were lost?
Ajige felt numb.
"We cannot attack this island again," he said quietly. "If we persist, we will doom our nation. Return to the capital. Inform the Emperor."
---
On Pi Island, celebration continued.
Shen Shikui approached Cao Wenzhao and Jin Riguan and performed a deep bow.
"Today Pi Island was saved entirely because of you two generals. That Chen Hongfan who deserted mid battle will surely regret it to death. His military merit is gone. He will be branded a deserter. I will personally impeach him before the Emperor."
Cao Bianjiao stepped forward laughing.
"No need. He is already dead. Chen Hongfan was intercepted by Qing forces while fleeing and was killed at sea."
Shen Shikui blinked. "Is that so? And how does Young General Cao know this?"
Cao Bianjiao pointed behind him.
Shi Lang.
Zheng Sen.
Yao Xingjuan.
"They brought the news from the sea."
Shen Shikui observed the trio.
One adult. Two youths.
Naturally, he bowed toward Yao Xingjuan.
"General, may I ask your honorable name?"
Yao Xingjuan smiled slyly.
"My name is Yao Xingjuan. I am merely a sea merchant."
Shen Shikui paused.
"A sea merchant? Isn't that simply a polite term for pirate?"
Still, a pirate who fought the Manchu was a good pirate in his book.
He laughed warmly.
"General Yao, we owe you greatly. You defeated the Manchu flanking fleet at sea and killed Aobai and Zhun Ta. Without you, if their forces had emerged from behind while the Qing attacked the Main Harbor, we would have been in grave danger."
He then turned to Cao Wenzhao.
"No wonder, General Cao, you said nothing when I suggested guarding against a Manchu flanking maneuver days ago. It turns out you had already arranged this brilliant gambit at sea."
The hidden move had been revealed.