Ch.233The Fire of Urus (3)

# Around the time when the entire European continent was coming under the control of the Ulus by Gur Khagan.

The reorganized allied naval forces headed back to Tsushima Island.

As if they had been waiting, the Bakufu naval forces revealed themselves from Tsushima Island.

Boom boom boom.

“The Japanese fleet has appeared!”

“The enemy flagship is approaching at high speed!”

Irin nodded at this.

“I’ll return the humiliation from that time.”

Saying this, Irin looked at the Ulus fire attached to the deck.

It was a unique weapon with a barrel attached to a long pole.

Though unusual, this weapon was powerful enough to spew flames over long distances.

With such a weapon, even if the enemy commander approached like last time, they could repel them with the flamethrower.

This sounded like an invincible weapon.

However, it had one drawback—as much as it had a long firing range, if the enemy came closer than the firing range, friendly forces could also be harmed.

The Ulus fire was literally a weapon that shot flames at the enemy.

This meant that if flames were spewed while fleets were clustered together, the fire could spread.

Therefore, to properly utilize the Ulus fire, maintaining distance was most important.

“Beat the drums!”

At Irin’s command, the sailors moved busily.

And following his orders, they began to beat the drums vigorously.

Boom boom boom boom.

At that sound, the Goryeo ships clustered together.

Behind the Goryeo ships followed the Mongol and Liaodong naval forces.

“We’ve formed a wedge formation to deceive the enemy! General!”

At the adjutant’s report, Irin nodded.

The reason the Goryeo fleet took a wedge formation was simply to deceive the enemy.

When taking a wedge formation, the enemy had to disband their concentrated formation to reduce damage.

As the concentrated formation naturally changed to a radial formation, their organization and cohesion would decrease, making it easier to defeat them individually.

“Charge!”

At that command, the Goryeo ships began to advance at full speed.

Then, as if they had been waiting, the enemy tried to surround the Goryeo fleet.

That’s how the Japanese fleet tried to approach like before.

“General! The Japanese fleet is approaching!”

“Not yet.”

Irin said this, instructing them not to attack.

At his words, the adjutants looked at the Japanese ships with anxious eyes.

This was because if they approached just a little more, it was clear that the Japanese fleet would engulf not only the Goryeo fleet but also the Mongol and Liaodong fleets.

“General!”

“Hold on a little longer.”

The reason Irin waited for the enemy to approach this far was simple.

It was to inflict greater damage on the enemy.

At that time, all ships in East Asia were made of wood.

Of course, it was different from ordinary wood as it had been soaked in seawater for a long time, dried, and repeatedly expanded and contracted, making it harder.

In short, it was wood with excellent durability.

So unless the flamethrower was used to spread fire across the entire enemy fleet, it could only inflict flame damage to localized areas.

For this reason, Irin waited for the enemy to approach the most suitable distance where firepower could be projected at once—neither too far nor too close.

While waiting through this time of endurance, the enemy commander Benkei caught Irin’s eye.

Benkei looked at Irin with a sneer, holding his spear.

At his look that seemed to say he would settle the score this time, Irin raised one corner of his mouth.

“Now!”

At Irin’s command, the naval forces simultaneously beat the drums.

Then the sailors who had been standing by at the Ulus fire immediately sprang into action.

And they began to pour flames toward the approaching Japanese fleet.

Whoooosh!

“F-fire!”

“The enemy is breathing dragon’s breath!”

It wasn’t that there were no long-range attacks in naval battles at that time.

However, it was the first time they had seen a weapon that spewed flames in all directions like this.

Because of this, the Japanese forces couldn’t help but be considerably surprised.

“The enemies are in confusion!”

“Haha! Serves you right, Japanese bastards!”

The Goryeo naval forces cheered with joy.

At this sight, Irin also sneered as he looked at Benkei.

In response, Benkei shrugged his shoulders and swung his spear.

Crack.

“My… my goodness…”

“Im… impossible.”

The Goryeo navy couldn’t help but open their mouths wide in surprise.

This was because Benkei was using his spear to bring down the mast of the Japanese ship.

Japanese ships, influenced by the structure of ships that traveled to Tang Dynasty, tended to have small sails and relied more on oar power for movement.

So the pole with the sail was not as large or thick as those on Goryeo or Song Dynasty ships, but even considering that, it was unreasonable for one person to bring it down with a naginata.

Yet Benkei was accomplishing this.

As evidence, there was a deep cut where he had slashed with his naginata, which was close to a crescent blade.

“Haaaaaaah!”

With that cry, Benkei finally brought down the mast with his individual strength.

The mast fell with a thud onto a nearby Goryeo ship.

“Argh!”

“Gah!”

As the mast fell, Goryeo sailors nearby were injured.

Not missing the moment when everyone was thrown into confusion, Benkei used the mast as a foothold and rushed toward the Goryeo ship.

“Kill that man! Hurry!”

“Don’t let that crazy monster come over!”

Shouting such commands, they desperately tried to block Benkei from coming over.

“Out of my way! You pawns!”

Benkei cut down the Goryeo sailors blocking his way as if they were scarecrows.

The sailors were bewildered by his tremendous martial prowess, which was close to that of a war god. But they couldn’t let the Goryeo ship be captured like this.

“Shoot arrows at him!”

At Irin’s command, the Goryeo sailors began to shoot arrows.

But even these were blocked by the weapon he wielded, failing to inflict proper damage.

“N-no!”

“If this continues…!”

There was a very high possibility of defeat, just like that time.

So Irin picked up his sword to fight Benkei again.

“To think I have to fight that monster again…”

Irin said this as he gripped his sword and ran.

At that moment, suddenly a chilling sound was heard from somewhere.

Swoosh.

“Ugh!”

An arrow hit Benkei’s shoulder precisely.

At this, Benkei couldn’t help but hesitate.

This was because where he was standing was not on the deck but on the mast between two ships.

Because of this, if he slipped, he would become fish food.

“He’s been hit by an arrow! Now we can…!”

At that moment, Benkei smiled wryly.

And as if to say such an arrow couldn’t stop him, he broke the arrow stuck in his shoulder.

“…Mon… monster…”

“Impossible…”

“Hrrrgh!”

Benkei thrust his fist forward, knocking all the Goryeo sailors blocking his way into the sea.

The Goryeo sailors helplessly fell into the sea.

“General!”

“Japanese soldiers are rushing behind Benkei!”

As the adjutant said, numerous Japanese soldiers were rushing behind Benkei.

If this continued, there was a high chance of defeat like before.

“Damn… at this rate… wait… the enemy is in a dispersed formation. And our forces have long-range attack means… the enemy commander is trying to board our ship… that means…”

Having been defeated once before, Irin was mistakenly thinking that the current battlefield situation was the same as then.

But when he regained his senses and looked again, a completely different battle situation was unfolding.

This was because, unlike before, the Japanese forces were now in a dispersed formation.

Because of this, even if they were deceived by Benkei like before, there wouldn’t be much damage.

Additionally, even if the enemy changed to a surrounding formation and tried to attack the Goryeo naval forces like before, it didn’t matter.

Unlike when they were defeated, the Goryeo naval ships now had long-range attack means.

With such attack means, if the enemy approached, they could simply counterattack.

“Axemen!”

At Irin’s shout, several soldiers picked up axes.

These axes were weapons used in naval battles to cut off planks or grappling hooks thrown by the enemy.

“As soon as the enemy commander boards the ship, cut down that mast.”

“Yes, sir!”

The axemen who received Irin’s orders ran.

Seeing this, the adjutants looked at Irin with worried expressions.

“Is it alright if the enemy commander comes over?”

“Yes. At this rate, we might be defeated like before.”

“That’s not the case. Unlike before, our forces have means to attack the enemy from a distance.”

“Ah…!”

“Indeed…!”

At Irin’s explanation, the adjutants nodded as if they understood.

As long as they had a long-range attack means superior to bows, like the Ulus fire, they could prevent the enemy from rushing in to save their commander.

This meant that Benkei was no different from a mouse trapped in the Goryeo naval fleet.

“Finally, we can have our revenge.”

“We must kill him immediately.”

At the adjutants’ words, Irin shook his head.

He had a burning desire for revenge after being defeated by him.

But as a commander leading troops, he couldn’t be distracted by personal revenge.

“The enemy commander is the leader of the Japanese naval forces. If we kill him, we might not be able to gain something greater from the enemy.”

“By something greater, you mean…”

Irin raised one corner of his mouth.

And he pointed to the island visible in the distance, Tsushima Island.

“With such a valuable talent, wouldn’t he be worth at least that much?”

* * *

Yoshitsune, who was returning to the Bakufu, received news of Benkei’s defeat.

At this, he expressed his anger with explicit criticism toward his brother, the head of the Bakufu, the Shogun.

“Throwing ashes on a cooked meal!”

Yoshitsune’s anger was justified.

Although they had been defeated at Nagasaki, they had tied down the Mongol vanguard there, so if they had just held out, the vanguard would have had to retreat.

Then naturally, even if the Goryeo naval forces won against the Japanese Bakufu, they would have had to return.

Since the vanguard had returned, there was no reason for them to stay.

Of course, the allied forces could have used their naval victory as a foothold to land at a new landing site.

But with the vanguard gone, the possibility of this happening was very low.

Therefore, if Yoshitsune had not been called back by the Bakufu, they could have repelled the expeditionary force.

“It seems the Shogun doubts your loyalty, General.”

“That’s right. Even if there is an invasion from Oshu Domain, it will take time before they arrive.”

At the advisors’ counsel, Yoshitsune nodded.

From Yoritomo’s perspective, Yoshitsune was a threatening figure who could turn into a rebel at any time.

Therefore, he always tried to eliminate him.

But unfortunately, the Mongol invasion began at that time, and the Shogun had no choice but to entrust the family’s soldiers to Yoshitsune.

“I don’t think you should return like this.”

At his subordinate’s advice, Yoshitsune silently looked in the direction of Miyako.

He knew it too. He felt in his bones that if he returned like this, he might not escape death, using the defeat at Nagasaki as an excuse.