Zhu Jianying did not know how to answer the Emperor Zhu's question.
Whether to deploy troops to support Sri Lanka was not decided by George III, even though George III was the legitimate King of England.
Nor was it up to England whether the "Little Broken Pot" would intervene, even though England was one of the "Five Benevolent Ones" of the "Little Broken Pot."
The real decision-maker was Emperor Zhu, who had abandoned the entire Ming Dynasty and run off to play.
This was England's tragedy, the tragedy of inferiority.
In fact, Zhu Jianying was not the only one with this thought. Even Howard, the boss of the English East India Company in Sri Lanka, felt the same.
Or rather, Howard felt more aggrieved.
Especially when Yamamoto Nijuhachi, that short and stout fellow, directly came to their door, claiming that a Japanese ronin samurai had gone missing in Sri Lanka and that the English East India Company must allow Yamamoto Nijuhachi to land troops in Sri Lanka to search, this feeling of aggrievedness was even stronger.
Staring at the aggressive Yamamoto Nijuhachi, Howard could no longer maintain his so-called gentlemanly demeanor. "Mr. Yamamoto, it is certainly no problem for you to visit Sri Lanka. But to search for your lost Japanese samurai, is that not going too far?"
Before Yamamoto Nijuhachi could speak, Howard changed his tone to a threatening one. "Mr. Yamamoto, you should know that England is an ally of the Great Ming Empire and one of the 'Five Benevolent Ones' of the 'Little Broken Pot' like the Great Ming Empire. Can you bear the responsibility if you provoke a conflict between Japan and England?"
However, what Howard did not expect was that Yamamoto Nijuhachi completely ignored his threat.
On the contrary, Yamamoto Nijuhachi even threatened Howard in return. "Mr. Howard, every samurai of the Great Yamato is the most loyal dog of the Great Ming Emperor. Now that they are missing in Sri Lanka, I have a responsibility to find them. If they are in danger due to your actions, can you bear that responsibility?"
Howard was immediately amused to the point of anger.
Howard would not object to the statement that Japanese samurai were the dogs of the Ming Emperor. However, to say that a Japanese samurai was missing in Sri Lanka was pure nonsense. Japanese samurai were basically stationed in Chennai or Pune in India. It was not ten thousand miles away from Sri Lanka, but at least it was not related.
After all, India and Sri Lanka were separated by the sea.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Howard lost interest in continuing to entangle with Yamamoto Nijuhachi. "Mr. Yamamoto, I am telling you clearly now that our British Empire will absolutely not allow you Japanese to set foot on Sri Lanka. If you insist on landing and searching, then be prepared for war!"
Howard's words made Yamamoto Nijuhachi laugh in anger.
In fact, Yamamoto Nijuhachi had also been displeased with Howard for a long time. Why was this damn barbarian taller than him? Why did he have to look up to talk to him? This was all a bad habit cultivated by indulgence!
Yamamoto Nijuhachi, who was also getting angrier, snorted coldly. "Since you want war, let the war begin, starting now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yamamoto Nijuhachi drew his katana from his waist and slashed fiercely at Howard. Howard, who was caught completely off guard, had no time to react. In a hurry, he could only sidestep and instinctively raise his arm to block his head.
Then, Howard's right arm was severed from his elbow.
To be fair, although the "nice little Japanese" were weak in other aspects, the katanas forged by those short and stout fellows were quite good.
After all, there were few craftsmen in the countries of this "Little Broken Pot" who would test their swords on living people like the Japanese. In terms of the number of people a single swing could cleave, cleaving one person was called "ichi-dou," a katana that reached "san-dou" was called "waza-mono," and a sword that reached "nana-dou" was called "saijo-waza-mono."
Yamamoto Nijuhachi's katana was not a "saijo-waza-mono," nor even a "waza-mono." It could only be considered an ordinary katana. However, it was still enough to sever Howard's arm from his elbow.
Howard, who was in so much pain from losing an arm that he was about to faint, could no longer care about his severed arm. He could only use his good left hand to grip the wound at his elbow, retreating rapidly while shouting, "Motherfucker! Kill them all!"
Yamamoto Nijuhachi did not care about the soldiers of the English East India Company nearby. Instead, he roared and led a group of Japanese towards the charge, catching the soldiers of the English East India Company completely off guard.
This was a one-sided massacre that was doomed from the start.
Although the soldiers of the English East India Company were equipped with flintlock muskets, and Yamamoto Nijuhachi and his short and stout followers were mostly equipped with katanas, when Howard began to reluctantly command the soldiers of the English East India Company to counterattack with calculated precision, Yamamoto Nijuhachi had already seized a defensive line with his followers and continued to advance.
Seeing that the second defensive line of the English East India Company was also showing signs of collapsing, Yamamoto Nijuhachi became even more excited. He even raised his katana and shouted, "For the Great Ming Emperor! Banzai!"
Howard was almost driven mad.
Were these short and stout Japanese crazy?
India and Sri Lanka were separated by a sea, yet he insisted that a Japanese samurai had gone missing in Sri Lanka!
Fine, Howard decided to accept it as the Japanese fellows going crazy.
But what was with this shout of "For the Great Ming Emperor! Banzai!"?
You are Japanese, so what does the Great Ming Emperor have to do with this, you scoundrel!
What made Howard even more desperate was that after Yamamoto Nijuhachi's shout, his country's short and stout fellows charged forward desperately as if they had been injected with chicken blood, while the soldiers of the English East India Company showed signs of disintegration. Everyone was fighting for money for the East India Company, but fighting was just doing business for money, not risking their lives!
Helpless, Howard could only command the soldiers of the English East India Company to fight and retreat, allowing the Japanese fellows to occupy the coastal defensive line.
Yamamoto Nijuhachi did not pursue them closely.
Although Yamamoto Nijuhachi wanted to achieve victory in one battle, he also knew very well that the English East India Company had been operating in Sri Lanka for so many years, and its foundation was far from something he could deal with with his few thousand Japanese followers.
Compared to continuing to chase Howard, it was more important to occupy the shallow beach and create landing conditions for the follow-up troop transport ships.
Yamamoto Nijuhachi's decision also gave Howard a slight respite.
After retreating several defensive lines, Howard was certain that the mad dog Yamamoto Nijuhachi would not pursue him. Only then did he let out a howl like a wounded lone wolf. "Call a doctor for me immediately! Gather those officers and tell them to get over here right away!"
When all the officers of the English East India Company had arrived, Howard, with little color left on his face, no longer cared about gentlemanly demeanor. "Mr. Marshall, send someone to inform His Majesty George III immediately that the Japanese fellows have suddenly gone mad and are attacking Sri Lanka. Request support for Sri Lanka from the English mainland!"
After Marshall acknowledged, Howard looked at young Wallace and said, "Mr. Wallace, please organize the army to counterattack! If we cannot drive those Japanese fellows back into the sea, they will transport more and more fellows, and then we will be in danger!"
However, what Howard did not expect was that young Wallace did not immediately agree to organize the army to counterattack. Instead, he said hesitantly, "Mr. Howard, I must remind you that the Japanese fellows have one hundred thousand troops in India, while our East India Company only has a little over ten thousand, or even less than twenty thousand, troops in Sri Lanka. To fight a war with more than ten thousand troops against one hundred thousand troops, I really don't know how to win this battle."
Howard tightly gripped the wound on his severed right arm and shouted frantically, "Thank God! I don't know how to fight a war with ten thousand troops against one hundred thousand troops either, but I can tell you very clearly that if we fight, we still have a chance to survive. If we don't fight, we will definitely die! All killed by them!"
"God, you have no idea how crazy those short and stout fellows are. They are as terrifying as demons crawling out of hell! They seem to not care about their lives at all!"
Young Wallace's face also became somewhat gloomy.
When Wallace was recruiting laborers for the Great Ming in India, he had seen the madness of those Japanese people. Those short and stout fellows did not seem to not care about their lives, but they simply did not care!
If Sri Lanka were occupied by those Japanese fellows, the entire English East India Company would probably be in trouble!
Thinking of the possibility of his own head being chopped off, Wallace shivered.
However, no matter how scared he was, Wallace knew very well that with his more than ten thousand men, he was no match for those mad dogs of Japan.
Just as Wallace was secretly contemplating how to defend with his more than ten thousand men, Howard suddenly said frantically, "Mr. Marshall, in addition to asking His Majesty George III for help, please send someone to India to ask the Ming people for help! Only the Ming people can stop those short and stout fellows now!"
Upon hearing Howard's words, a flash of inspiration struck Wallace's mind. He said in a deep voice, "Perhaps, the situation is not completely hopeless?"
Howard was stunned, then he forced himself to endure the pain of his severed arm and asked, "Do you have any other ideas?"
Wallace said, "My idea is those Ming people. Just as Mr. Howard said, only the Ming people can stop those short and stout fellows now. And there happen to be some Ming merchants in Sri Lanka."
Perhaps it was the pain of his severed arm that made Howard's mind work at high speed. After Wallace proposed the idea of threatening Yamamoto Nijuhachi with the Ming merchants, Howard frowned and said, "What if he was instigated by the Ming people?"
Wallace said, "Whether Yamamoto Nijuhachi, that mad dog, was instigated by the Ming people, or whether he is truly mad or faking it, as long as we have Ming people in hand, Yamamoto Nijuhachi, that mad dog, will definitely be wary."
"If he doesn't even care about the lives of the Ming people..." Wallace licked his dry lips, his face full of bitterness, and said, "Then there is no other way. We can only pray to God, pray that His Majesty George III's reinforcements can arrive faster and reach Sri Lanka before Yamamoto Nijuhachi and those mad dogs kill us."
Marshall, sitting next to Wallace, hesitantly said, "Actually, we also have a large number of troops that can be recruited, even more than those short and stout fellows. Why don't we organize those laborers? We can tell them that as long as they repel the attack of Yamamoto Nijuhachi, that mad dog, they can regain their freedom, and we can even promise them bounties."
Upon hearing Marshall's suggestion, Howard was hesitant. "Even if Yamamoto Nijuhachi was instigated by the Ming people, the current war is still only between us and those Japanese fellows. If we capture those Ming people, it means the Ming army will also attack us!"
"And you, Marshall, have you forgotten how those miners became miners? Many of them were personally captured by us from India, Sri Lanka, or other places. They already hate us, so how could they fight for us?"
Wallace said with a gloomy face, "Even if the Ming army attacks us, what of it? Anyway, there are already one hundred thousand Japanese mad dogs attacking us. Are we still afraid of one more Ming person?"
Marshall sneered and said, "The Ming people have a saying that is very true: people die for wealth, and birds die for food. No matter how much those laborers hate us, in the face of regaining freedom and a large bounty, I believe they will make the right choice."
"Of course, we also have to tell them that Yamamoto Nijuhachi is a devil who kills without blinking. If they don't honestly help us attack Yamamoto Nijuhachi, they will all be killed when Yamamoto Nijuhachi occupies Sri Lanka."
Hearing Wallace and Marshall's words, Howard couldn't help but murmur, "Crazy, all of you are crazy. Those Japanese fellows are crazy, and you two are also crazy!"
"You two, have you forgotten the news from Benghazi? Have you forgotten how Hamid and his son died?"