Daming talker

Chapter 708 Safety First
Seeing that Kato Kiyomasa fell into deep thought, Ju Jingren stopped talking and waited patiently.

After preparing his speech to this point, he was 80% sure that Kato Kiyomasa would agree with his suggestion.

A few months ago, when the Japanese rebellion just started, he kidnapped two princes and surrendered. In order to show off, Kato Kiyomasa actually came to take over with only a few horses.

It is normal for Kato Kiyomasa, who is pretentious, conceited, brave and adventurous, to accept the suggestion of a duel.

For the Japanese soldiers, there is no possibility of defeating the Ming army under normal circumstances, with 10,000 against 20,000 or 30,000 Ming troops. However, if it is 20,000 or 30,000 against 10,000, there is still some possibility.

All the Japanese soldiers could do was to defend the isolated city, kill as many Ming troops as possible, or wait for the Ming army to run out of food and retreat, but they still saw no hope for the future and could not even count on reinforcements.

So even if we analyze it from a rational point of view, it is worth taking a gamble in a one-on-one fight.

After Kato Kiyomasa finished thinking, he asked, "Does Lin Tailai dare to agree?"

Ju Jingren replied: "Whether it is fighting Pyongyang or Hamhung, Lin Tianshuai is always the first to go up. This shows that Tianshuai must be extremely vain and likes adventure. How could he not dare to fight alone?
After I have persuaded him carefully, Lin Tianshuai will surely agree to a duel with Lord Qingzheng that will be full of classical charm and go down in history!"

Anyway, no matter whether Lin Tianshuai agrees or not, as long as Kato Kiyomasa is willing to let him return to the Ming army camp alive, it will be victory!

So Kato Kiyomasa said: "You can tell Lin Tailai that if he agrees to a duel, we will duel three hundred steps outside the south gate of Jizhou tomorrow.

Each side may bring two guards to plunder the formation, an interpreter, and one long weapon and one short weapon.

As for the rest of the soldiers, they are not allowed to approach within 300 steps of the duel location to prevent any accidents."

After looking around again, Kato Kiyomasa said to Morimoto Rikishi, one of the three great retainers of the family, "You go to the Ming camp with Ju Jingren and meet Lin Tailai in person to negotiate.

You don't have to be servile, you can use provocation to Lin Tai. If Lin Jun doesn't dare to challenge him, forget it. Then bring back Lin Tailai's reply. "

Morimoto Rikishi agreed and followed Ju Jingren out of the city.

Iida Kyujiro, who was also one of the three great retainers, watched Morimoto Rikishi and Ju Jingren leave, and advised Kato Kiyomasa: "It's too risky, please think twice!"

Kato Kiyomasa stroked his long sword and said leisurely: "The fate of a samurai is to seek the true meaning of death."

After pretending to be powerful, Kato Kiyomasa said: "There is no other way now, only to use some risky strategies to survive.

Kujiro, call all the ninjas who are with the army here. I have something to tell you!"

However, Ju Jingren brought Morimoto Rikishi to the Ming camp and asked Morimoto Rikishi to wait outside while Ju Jingren reported to Lin Tianshuai alone.

At this time, Lin Tailai was discussing the siege with the column-level generals. No matter how tough the bone was, it had to be chewed eventually.

"One-on-one?" Lin Tailai was stunned for a moment when he heard the word, and couldn't help but sighed: "Ju Jingren, you are quite good at fooling people."

The generals were also surprised by this. When two armies were fighting, each side would send out several fierce men to fight in front of the battle line. This was also common in that era.

But such a situation of a general fighting alone must only exist in novels. Which general would take such a risk? Li Shimin's charge into the battle personally with his guards was already the limit.

Ju Jingren licked his face and said, "Anyway, Marshal Tian said that as long as I can spy on the strength of the Japanese soldiers and come back alive, I will be the chairman of the Hamgyong Province Maintenance Association.

From Kato's tone, we can infer that the Japanese soldiers' rations can last at least a month, so they should have 3,000 koku."

After sending Ju Jingren away temporarily, Lin Tailai smiled and said to the generals, "This is the habit of the Japanese. They are like gamblers, always dreaming of winning big with a small investment.

The last night raid was like this, and this time he wanted to fight alone, it was essentially a gambler's mentality. "

When the generals heard Lin Jinglue's ridicule, they laughed softly.

Ma Gui, the commander of the Second Corps, said: "If these Japanese pirates dare to risk their lives to fight for a way out, they are really brave."

Lin Tailai laughed and said, "Old Ma, you think so? It shows that you don't have a deep understanding of the Japanese pirates. Write a 1,000-word self-criticism and hand it in within two days."

Ma Gui: “.”

Then Lin Jinglue analyzed to everyone: "The Japanese have another layer of habits. Even if they appear to be brave and risk their lives, they will definitely have despicable and shameless tricks in secret.

Then they will be complacent and think that this unscrupulous trick is a kind of wisdom and strategy.

So Kato Kiyomasa may seem like he wants to fight one-on-one, but he will definitely play some tricks.”

Ma Gui, who was already overwhelmed by the thought of writing a thousand-word self-review, said, "No matter what tricks he has, just don't accept them. There is no reason for the commander to fight alone."

Lin Tailai sighed and said, "If it can help reduce the casualties of the government troops, why would our department hesitate to take the risk?

As long as there is an opportunity to reduce the casualties of the government troops, this department will give it a try! "

All the generals said together: "The General loves his soldiers like his own sons, we can't wait any longer!"

Lin Tailai waved his hand and said calmly: "Convey the words of the headquarters to the entire camp, and let every officer and soldier know the dedication made by the headquarters for them!
This department doesn't care about a little bit of fame, it's mainly to boost morale! After all, the army is on an expedition, morale is very important, without morale it's just a pile of loose sand."

Generals: “.”

Then Lin Tailai glanced at several tall generals and asked, "The Japanese envoys brought by Ju Jingren are still waiting. Who will pretend to be the head of the headquarters and go to meet the Japanese envoys?"

Someone asked in confusion: "Why didn't the governor meet him in person?"

Lin Tailai explained: "It is not the custom of the Japanese to eat meat. Even if Kato Kiyomasa is known to be tall and strong, how can he compare to me?

Whether in terms of innate genes or acquired meat intake, it is impossible for Kato Kiyomasa to be taller or stronger than me.

So I was worried that if the Japanese envoy saw my physique, Kato Kiyomasa would not dare to challenge me in a duel.

Therefore, I am sending you to represent me and confuse the Japanese envoys."

After a careful look, Lin Tailai pointed at the guerrilla swing and said, "You can imitate me."

Bai Sai was as excited as if he had won a lottery, and it seemed that he was very excited to play the role of a general.

Just by hearing his name, we know that he is a "great general". He is also one of the "Four Great Generals of Xuanda", or in other words, most of the four great generals are great generals.

With a height of over 1.8 meters, he could barely pass for Lin Jinglüe in front of strangers. As for how to meet the Japanese envoys, Lin Jinglüe didn't care.

Anyway, the conversation between each other could not be understood directly and needed an interpreter to translate, so Lin Jinglie was not worried about being exposed because of the vulgar language in the competition.

However, later on, he heard that the Japanese envoy's words were quite provocative, and Paisai was so angry that he almost chopped people down on the spot.

But in the end, they reached an agreement to have a duel tomorrow, and the location was "three hundred steps outside the south gate" as proposed by Kato Kiyomasa, which was a very reasonable place.

At this position, it was difficult for both sides to cause substantial damage with their long-range weapons. If something unexpected happened, they should have enough time to run back.

The next day, after Lin Tailai had eaten his fill, he put on his 80-jin heavy armor and asked his attendants, "Has my dedication to the safety of all officers and soldiers been communicated to the entire camp?"

Ma Gui and Dong Yiyuan watched Lin Junmen put on his armor and advised with some concern: "Single combat is different from the first to ascend, and flexibility and durability must be taken into account.

The military officer is wearing 80 kilograms of heavy armor, which is not suitable for single combat. If he fights on horseback, the horse's strength will be too much. If he fights on foot, his body will be slow and it will be difficult to defeat the enemy. "

The reason is simple. If the opponent dodges or keeps a distance, you won't be able to catch up even if you're wearing 80 kilograms of heavy armor.

Lin Jinglue replied with a positive attitude: "Safety is the most important thing when traveling in the martial arts world. I must first try to save my life without any risk!

The Japanese will surely have some tricks up their sleeves. Our headquarters does not need to chase after them. We can just wait with thick armor for the Japanese to come to us on their own.

Read more latest popular novels at 6.9*shuba!

After all, in this duel, it was the Japanese who were anxious to win, not Honbu-in.

If you can kill the Japanese general, then do it. If you can’t kill the Japanese, then save your life and retreat.”

Dong Yiyuan praised: "General, this is a very good idea! We don't seek merit, but we seek safety."

Finally, he put on a bronze helmet and visor, as well as arm guards, leg guards and neck guards. Lin Jinglie was protected to the extreme from head to toe.

The eighty-jin heavy armor is extraordinary. It has two layers of armor inside and outside. Even if you are hit by a knife or a gun at close range several times, the armor will not be broken.

After thinking about it, Lin Tailai took out a cloak and put it on, covering the outside of the armor.

This appearance seems to be out of place and makes people confused.

Even if you put on a cloak, others can still tell that you are wearing armor. Why would you need to put on an extra layer?
Lin Tailai explained, "I just don't want the opponent to notice the thickness of the armor. They tend to think that the main courtyard wears light armor, so it can be regarded as keeping a trump card."

In short, Lin Jinglüe's idea for this duel is to put on the thickest armor without letting the opponent see it.

So Lin Jinglie got on the carriage and headed for the agreed duel location. There was also a set of tea sets and a small stove in the carriage.

When Ma Gui saw this scene, he secretly thought, could it be that the General was planning to invite the other party to drink tea and then poison the tea?

This can explain why Duke Jinglüe was completely focused on defense. After successfully poisoning the opponent, the most important thing was of course to save his own life.

When I was about six or seven hundred steps away from the south gate of Jizhou, I vaguely saw someone waiting at the city gate.

So Lin Tailai ordered the other officers and soldiers to stop and mounted his horse himself. He only took two of the four brave generals, Jie Sheng and Po Gui, and a Japanese-speaking interpreter with him and continued forward.

The situation was similar on the other side, with a group of four people also riding horses towards us.

When the distance was only a few dozen steps, Xie Sheng and Po Gui stopped their horses and marched from behind.

Lin Taili, carrying a spear and an iron whip, and the interpreter, who was carrying tea sets and a small stove, continued to move forward.

When he got closer, Lin Tailai could see clearly that the person coming from the opposite side was only three or four inches shorter than him. He was definitely a giant among the Japanese. It was definitely Kato Kiyomasa himself!
And just as he expected, Kato Kiyomasa was several times thinner than him. In his eyes, he was just tall and thin.

Although Kato Kiyomasa's torso is wrapped in a domaru and his true strength cannot be seen, one can get a clue from the thickness of his arms.

So Lin Jinglie felt more at ease and believed that science was correct. With the Japanese people's genes and meat intake, how could they be stronger than himself?
However, Kato Kiyoshige on the other side stopped moving when they were about the same distance away. However, after seeing the appearance of the person coming from the opposite side, he subconsciously froze.

The Ming warrior who came for a duel was obviously taller and stronger than himself. Compared with him, he, who was known as the strongest man in Japan, actually looked "thin".

Damn! Yesterday, Rikishi Morimoto went to the Ming army to investigate, and the information he brought back was not like this!
Seeing that Kato Kiyomasa was standing still, Lin Tai saw that he also stopped and continued to look at his opponent.

There was a bunch of unknown hair on the top of the helmet, and a pair of horns as decoration. The domaru, or armor, was also covered with two layers of clothes.

The inner layer of clothing was buttoned diagonally like a cassock, and the outer layer was a common half-sleeved haori - like an extended and enlarged open-cut vest.

At the bottom of the cassock and the haori, the lower body armor that looks like a "miniskirt" is exposed.

Whenever he saw the armor of the Japanese generals, Lin Tailai couldn't help but think of the four words "strange shapes". The overall shape always looked like a standing frog.

Seeing Lin Jinglie's eyes looking at him as if he was a "rare animal", Kato Kiyomasa finally came to his senses.

He took a deep breath, gripped his sword tightly, and encouraged himself secretly!

A strong person is not only strong in body, but also in mind and wisdom! I didn't expect to win by force!
Having come this far, there is no way back. The only thing I can do is to move forward bravely and defeat the powerful enemy!
Being a weak person is not scary. As long as you have a will that is ten or a hundred times stronger than your opponent, you can create miracles!
As long as he could defeat the man in front of him, he would be undoubtedly the best warrior in the world!

"Are you Lin Tailai, the general of the Ming army?" Kato Kiyomasa spoke first, trying his best to be neither humble nor arrogant: "I have heard of your great name for a long time, and today I see that your reputation is well-deserved!"

Lin Tailai's eyes were still full of curiosity and thirst for knowledge, and he said a lot to the interpreter.

Then the interpreter said, "The great commander of the Ming Dynasty wants to ask Kato Kiyomasa, what is the meaning of your attire?
Seeing that you are still wearing a half-length cassock and extremely simple ketone pills, are you deliberately imitating your country's famous general Takeda Shingen?

I heard that you, Kato, also believe in your Buddhism. Should you emulate Uesugi Kenshin? Or do you admire Takeda Shingen more?"

Baka! Kato Kiyomasa was so angry that he almost vomited blood. How much do you, Lin Tailai, despise others?

Could it be that in your eyes, Lin Tailai, I am just a "foreign wonder" to be studied and appreciated?
This is a one-on-one duel, please take it seriously!
Looking at the opponent's stronger body, Kato Kiyomasa tried hard to control his temper. He calmly asked his interpreter to set up a small table and tea sets, and lit the firewood to boil water.

Then he said to Lin Tailai politely: "Before the duel, I invite you to taste our tea ceremony, so that this event can be celebrated by future generations!"

Lin Tailai was stunned for a moment, and asked his interpreter to take out tea sets and a small stove from the backpack.

Kato Kiyomasa: “.”

How did they think of the same thing? Could it be that the other party also had some conspiracy?
(End of this chapter)