Chapter 187 - 129: The Persimmon Seems Too Soft

Words : 1099 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

Harano was fairly satisfied with the amphibious landing operation; their combat strength remained completely intact as they quickly moved through the danger zone. Even when a few unexpected issues cropped up, timely responses from subordinate officers and soldiers kept things from spiraling into chaos, and the landing plan was smoothly completed. The whole process was orderly from start to finish—very much in line with his personal sense of aesthetics. This was a real combat exercise. The Chita Peninsula was high in the center and low all around—classic hilly terrain. Each year, seawater washed a huge amount of earth back upstream, so the beaches were small, but there were plenty of mudflats. As long as he could overcome the adverse terrain, he could boldly declare that the Chita Peninsula was his backyard; he could come and go as he pleased, and there was no place on the shore that could stop his landing. He stopped the clock on "Boat One," satisfied with the outcome of this exam. He picked up his steel helmet, put it on, and said to Ah Qing, "Alright, let’s go ashore too!" Fully armed, Ah Qing said nothing, bringing two military police along as he followed behind Harano. One after another, they climbed down from the boat using the rope net, crossed the mudflats, and reached solid ground. Ah Man was naturally restless, born with a nail in her butt—she could never sit still. She’d already rushed ashore in advance and had even connected with the "intern ninjas" who had previously disguised themselves as merchants to infiltrate the area. Upon seeing him, she reported, "The Takeda Family has made no moves for now." Harano nodded slightly. Amphibious landings were risky work, even in modern times. He’d prepared for the worst, even expected that someone might strike them mid-landing. But it seemed like the Takeda Family didn’t care about the coastline at all. Nearly an hour had passed, and he’d gotten all his armored warriors ashore, yet he hadn’t seen so much as a single ashigaru scout. The persimmon seemed a little too soft... But that was fine—soft persimmons were comfortable to squeeze, and perfect for training through real combat. He nodded at Ah Man. "Then I’ll take the men out first!" Saying that, he moved on with Ah Qing. Not long after, the various squads, who had been squatting to drink water and eat, stood up in unison at the shrill sound of bamboo whistles. Just as in their training, they shifted into marching formation and advanced orderly towards their designated objective—they were to block the roads and, while seeking engagement, ensure the squads could smoothly fulfill the side-goal of this exercise: kidnapping laborers. The kidnapping of manpower was Ah Man’s responsibility. Right now, Harano didn’t have any officers capable of taking charge, so she had to play the part temporarily. Her subordinates were the same three squads that had cleared the mudflats earlier, plus a few intern ninjas and some military police of her own, making up about forty people in total—more than enough to take a small village. Ah Man watched the main force depart, ordered the three squads—who still looked like mud monkeys—to rearm quickly, and instructed Yu Da to lead the armed sailors in guarding the landing point. Then, with the "intern ninjas" leading the way, she set off for the nearest small village. ...... The landing site was chosen at that cursed spot not just for new army training and integration, but also to make it easy to quickly load abducted laborers onto the ships. That’s why Ah Man and her group didn’t have to walk far before they found a village. The target village didn’t even realize what was happening before discovering they’d been surrounded—there were small squads of enemies to the east, south, west, and north. Some tried to strong-arm their way into the mountains, only to be met with bow and iron cannon fire. While there were no casualties, the thunderous noise of the iron cannons terrified the villagers. Except for a dozen or so who were caught outright, the rest fled back into the village. This little village was much like Hibi Village—some basic defensive capability, good enough to fend off small-time bandits, but hopeless against a regular army. After a few halfhearted rounds of light bamboo arrows that failed to even graze the enemy, no one intended to keep up the defense. They all fled home, pulled their heads in, and started wishing the attackers wouldn’t kill too many or steal too much grain. Resistance was useless anyway, and if they caused too many casualties, the enemy might burn the village in anger—which would be worse. Better to just keep their heads down. Besides, these people didn’t even look like bandits—probably just that the Takeda Family was finished and someone new was taking over. Taxes had to be paid to someone either way, so there was no point in throwing away their lives for nothing. Ah Man was a bit disappointed the "enemies" hadn’t put up a stiffer fight. She’d always wanted to experience what it felt like to bully men and women, but never found the opportunity—Harano wouldn’t approve. Looking at these cowardly idiots, she figured she’d miss her chance yet again. Still, the household was desperately poor and they had to come out and "turn a profit" somehow; this much, she understood. As a magnanimous noble now herself, she might as well forgive these ignorant commoners—for the sake of her own dignity, if nothing else. She first called out, demanding everyone gather at the village entrance, promising that as long as they didn’t resist or run, no one would be killed. No one responded to her call. Not surprised, she waited a bit, then simply waved her hand—leaving a few people outside to keep watch, in case anyone didn’t understand human speech and tried to sneak away in the chaos—and sent the rest into the village to "help the villagers move," forcing them to relocate and start a new life in Wanjin. Pots, pans, and stone bodhisattva statues all moved as one. Wearing armor, wielding tachi, with array hats and full-face masks, they headed into the village to invite people out—full mask was a type of iron mask, basically a combination of "half mask" and "half cheek" face armor. Last time Harano visited the Oda army for "advanced studies" and tallied the wounded, he’d noticed a lot of facial arrow wounds. Careful observation revealed such hits often caused immediate casualties in battle, so he had lousy iron masks made for the long spear units.

Chapter 187 - 129: The Persimmon Seems Too Soft

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