"Exterminate the bandits? Eliminate the traitors?"
Mitarai no Tsuchi looked utterly bewildered. Almost by reflex, he blurted out his question.
"His Majesty ordered this humble servant to discuss the leasing of naval bases with the King of Wa. How did it come to drawing blades and starting a war?"
"If Tang soldiers are harmed in the slightest, this servant would deserve death a thousand times over."
Li Shiji raised an eyebrow.
Every time this Wa envoy opened his mouth in fluent elegant speech, it surprised him all over again. At the same time, it never failed to leave him amused and exasperated.
Take this moment, for example. Was that really how one used "death a thousand times over"?
He had no interest in correcting him. Shaking his head, he replied calmly,
"As you yourself said, the Soga clan is overbearing, and the King of Wa is weak. Negotiation will never succeed."
"Rather than bending the knee and begging for favor, better to march straight into Wa and eradicate the Soga."
Mitarai no Tsuchi was struck with terror. He almost instantly threw himself to the ground, clutching Li Shiji's leg as he burst into loud sobs.
"Has the general come to despise this servant for his incompetence?"
"If the general were to meet with even the slightest mishap, this servant's death would still not atone for it."
This was real crying. Tears and snot smeared straight onto Li Shiji's favorite boots, making his temples throb.
Seeing that the Tang general remained silent, Mitarai no Tsuchi rolled over and shifted into a full kowtow.
"If the general is determined to destroy the Wa rebels, this servant begs to serve as the vanguard!"
"So long as this servant yet lives, not a single Wa bandit shall harm the general!"
Li Shiji flew into a rage. He hooked his foot and kicked him over in one clean motion.
"I joined the army at seventeen and crushed Wang Shichong. At eighteen, I defeated Wang Deren again."
"At twenty-five, I was enfeoffed as Duke of Lai of Great Tang, granted the imperial surname, and have pacified the realm for twenty years since."
"What veteran of Wa could possibly stand against me, that you would dare belittle me so?"
Mitarai no Tsuchi did not fully grasp the details of what the Duke of Lai was saying, but the meaning was clear enough.
Enduring the pain in his body, he hurriedly kowtowed again and again.
"This servant thinks only of the general's safety. How could it be belittlement?"
"The Soga clan keeps tens of thousands of private soldiers and sweeps all before them. The general commands only four great ships. How can you possibly oppose them?"
Li Shiji turned his head to look behind him.
Trailing the flagship, three more ship silhouettes loomed faintly on the sea.
One five-fanged warship and three four-fanged warships, able to carry roughly three thousand men. After accounting for provisions, sailors, and other necessities, fewer than two thousand were true fighting troops.
This was already the upper limit of what the Deng and Lai naval command could spare. Sending more would only alarm Baekje and further muddy the already tangled situation on the peninsula.
After arriving in Deng and Lai, Li Shiji and Liu Rengui had spent two months piecing together intelligence with later records. Their overwhelming impression of the Eastern Sea was a single word.
Chaos.
The four powers of the region, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, and Wa, all coveted the Korean Peninsula.
Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla had fought on the peninsula for over two centuries, forming and breaking alliances in endless cycles of betrayal.
Add to that the land-poor, resource-starved Wa, desperate to push into the peninsula, and the situation became even more convoluted.
Looking to later history made one thing clear. Goguryeo defied royal authority, Baekje wavered between sides, Silla hid its ambitions, and Wa harbored wolfish intent. None were virtuous actors.
Under such circumstances, Liu Rengui proposed a strategy of subtraction. Remove the troublemakers first.
That meant Wa.
Thus Mitarai no Tsuchi and his delegation entered Liu Rengui's sight. Li Shiji submitted a memorial to Li Shimin, received authorization to act at discretion, and summoned the Wa envoys to accompany the fleet back to their homeland.
In this situation, leading too many troops was impossible, which was precisely why Mitarai no Tsuchi was so anxious.
Li Shiji, however, saw it differently.
"They are nothing but slaves kept by powerful households. Not worthy of being called soldiers."
The Duke of Lai could not even be bothered to explain further.
As a seasoned general, Li Shiji had his own standards. In his eyes, a country with barren fields and cramped land like Wa could never train real soldiers. At best, they were crowds of servants clutching crude weapons.
Slaves were slaves no matter how many there were. Soldiers were soldiers even if few. The two could not be compared.
Seeing how resolute the Tang duke was, Mitarai no Tsuchi dared say no more, afraid of earning another kick.
Clutching his nearly broken waist, he grimaced in pain, yet a faint spark of hope rose in his heart.
Worthy of a Tang duke, a general of the great realm. One kick nearly killed him. Such strength.
Could it be that the rampant Soga clan truly did not even merit the general's regard?
The four warships lay silently anchored off Tsushima. For two days, sailors and soldiers rested and replenished supplies. Once the preparations were complete, the fleet gathered again and set sail.
Liu Rengui remained expressionless.
Li Shiji was right. Over two thousand troops had been deployed, provisions and preserved rations consumed in staggering quantities, and the fleet even carried the Directorate of Works' newest invention, the magnetized water needle.
Such an undertaking was no place for hesitation.
Moreover, as his fingers brushed over the water needle, Liu Rengui felt more at ease. With this device to guide them, at the very least they could always return safely.
The long magnetic needle was painted bright red. Thin stone slivers, light as cicada wings, flanked it on both sides. The device was sealed within a transparent glass sphere filled seventy percent with water.
Supported by the stone slivers, the red needle floated on the surface. No matter how the sphere was turned, it steadily pointed in one direction, giving guidance across the vast sea.
With their course made clear and the great ships driven swiftly by the wind, the return journey was far faster than the outward voyage.
Yet as they drew closer to Asuka, where the King of Wa resided, Mitarai no Tsuchi grew increasingly uneasy.
He watched General Liu's face grow colder by the day, like the eternal ice atop sacred mountains.
The Duke of Lai was seen less and less. Whenever one passed his cabin, the steady sound of blade against whetstone could be heard, neither loud nor soft, scraping directly against the heart.
The Tang soldiers aboard also grew increasingly taciturn. Only the accompanying Wa attendants, who did not understand elegant speech, still chattered noisily, dreaming aloud of what pretext they might use to send their children to Chang'an to study and shed their Wa identity.
Even the monk Huiri, who seemed to sense something amiss, appeared on deck less and less. Instead, the sound of chanting from his cabin grew louder by the day.
Mitarai no Tsuchi did not hide in his cabin. Whenever possible, he stayed on deck.
He wanted to see with his own eyes what the duke intended to do, and if need be, to give his life to protect the Duke of Lai. Only then could his residence in Chang'an, and the unused school admission quota, remain secure.
Thus he watched as the four great ships, as if protected by Susanoo himself, slid at full speed into the Nagato Strait.
The Wa defenders on both shores seemed not to have reacted at all.
Some shouted and ran along the coast in futile pursuit. Others dropped to their knees on the spot, pressing their heads to the ground.
So this is the Wa, Mitarai no Tsuchi sneered inwardly.
Nagato guarded the most critical gateway into Wa's Inland Sea, yet Tang ships passed through it as if the defenses did not exist.
What Mitarai no Tsuchi forgot was that it was he who had pointed Nagato out to Liu Rengui.
He had also explained in detail that after entering the Inland Sea, one should hug the southern coast. Though sailing straight west toward Asuka was shorter, the waters there were crowded with islands and ill-suited for large ships.
Liu Rengui had taken all of this to heart.
After entering the Inland Sea and heading west until land came into view, the fleet turned south, then began sailing north along the coastline.
To the left stretched chains of mountainous islands. To the right lay the vast blue sea. The four great ships adjusted their sails, catching the offshore wind and gliding along the coast like arrows loosed from a bow.
After two more days of sailing, Liu Rengui judged from the water needle that their heading had shifted to due north. That meant they had fully entered the Inland Sea.
Sure enough, before long, Mitarai no Tsuchi shouted excitedly from the deck.
"That's Akashi no Ura! Kii is right beside it!"
Liu Rengui knew this place from Pei Shiqing's accounts. In Tang records, it was called Mingguang Bay, a spot famed among Wa nobles for its shimmering waters at sunrise.
Liu Rengui carefully stowed the water needle and stepped onto the deck.
Before leaving the capital, he had visited Pei Shiqing many times, listening patiently as Pei recounted his experiences in Wa.
Beyond customs, etiquette, and language, Pei sometimes spoke of the scenery near Asuka, the king's seat. The most famous was Mingguang Bay, said to shimmer brilliantly when the sun rose from the east. Wa nobles often sailed from Asuka through Kii to admire the view.
Perhaps because it was winter, Mingguang Bay looked nothing like Pei's descriptions. Withered grass rolled in the wind, the scene bleak and bare.
Liu Rengui could not help glancing at Mitarai no Tsuchi. With scenery like this, you could still recognize it?
Mitarai no Tsuchi did not understand the look, but cautiously reported,
"General, Kii seems unaware of our approach. Their navy has gathered to block the Kii passage."
"Please allow a small boat. This servant can go explain matters and avoid discourtesy."
Liu Rengui looked ahead.
North of Mingguang Bay, two small hills jutted out, forming a narrow channel between them. A small island sat in the middle, with clusters of boats gathering on both sides, a formation easy to defend and hard to assault.
Pei Shiqing had told him that beyond Kii lay the Inland Sea, and on its eastern plain stood Asuka.
Hearing Mitarai no Tsuchi's request, Liu Rengui hesitated.
Before he could respond, Li Shiji's voice sounded beside him.
"Kii? What a wretched name. From now on, better to call it Sanling Mountains."
Mitarai no Tsuchi forced a smile, about to explain, when the duke spoke again, his tone flat.
"No need for such trouble. To strike down rebels is like fighting a fire. Delay is forbidden."
"On my order. Full sail. Ram straight through."
Mitarai no Tsuchi's tiny eyes went wide. He hurriedly cried out, "General, you must not!"
But seeing that General Liu did not object, the officers immediately relayed the order. Signalmen at the prow waved flags, passing commands to the other ships.
The four great ships surged forward once more.
Wind filled the sails, sails drove the ships, and their speed climbed higher and higher.
Even those envoys who understood not a word of elegant speech could sense something was wrong. They erupted into noisy chatter, until nearby warriors drew their swords a few inches from their scabbards. The envoys fell instantly silent.
Ignoring Mitarai no Tsuchi's pleas, Li Shiji continued issuing orders with calm precision.
"Fleet, tighten formation. Raise the boarding poles on the outer flank. Prepare fire oil. Cock the ballistae."
"If the bandits attempt to block us, strike without restraint."
For the Wa forces guarding the Sanling Mountains, courage failed them long before contact.
As the four ships drew nearer, their hulls grew larger and larger, until they loomed like mountains, showing no sign of slowing.
Small boats shattered on contact. Larger vessels were capsized by the wake alone. The hundred-odd boats gathered there were scattered like clouds torn apart by a gale.
Some, in desperation, hurled weapons at the approaching giants. In response came even fiercer retaliation.
Huge stones fell from above, smashing those defiant vessels into powder.
There was not even a semblance of resistance.
The Deng and Lai naval troops quickly lost interest. They did not even bother wasting fire oil or bolts, firing only a few boarding poles to intimidate.
After sweeping aside the clouds, the fleet formally entered the Inland Sea.
There, an unmistakable settlement came into view.
Without waiting for orders, the sailors adjusted course toward Asuka.
"This really is a fine place. Easy to defend, hard to attack."
Li Shiji looked around, clicking his tongue in admiration.
The concave shoreline and curving islands formed a sheltered inland sea. The narrow passes at either end were natural choke points, and the flat shores within were ideal for building a city.
A land of treasure.
"Even barbarians understand the value of terrain."
The Inland Sea was not large. Liu Rengui stretched out his arm and estimated roughly one hundred li east to west, seventy li north to south. For great ships, such distances were reached in moments.
Thanks to the calm waters and the shattered Wa navy at Sanling Mountains, the landing proceeded smoothly.
Li Shiji stepped onto the land, stomping twice in his boots as if to confirm it was real. Only then did he begin directing the unloading.
First came the elite troops from the three forward ships. Without much instruction, some leveled ground, others gathered firewood, and the cooks set up cauldrons to prepare meals.
The final ship edged carefully closer to shore. One by one, fine warhorses were brought down. Dull and listless at sea, they slowly recovered their spirit once their hooves touched land.
Soldiers who had disembarked earlier came to claim their mounts, leading them aside to groom, feed, and bond with them as quickly as possible.
Crates of armor, weapons, and even horse barding followed, opened and distributed in orderly fashion.
Mitarai no Tsuchi refused to disembark.
Clinging to the rail, he watched as the Tang soldiers ate their fill and helped one another don their armor. Layer upon layer covered legs, arms, inner and outer body alike, so solid that ordinary weapons could never pierce them.
Only then did he truly understand what the duke had meant by "slaves are not worth calling soldiers."
On shore, having eaten and armored himself, Li Shiji mounted his horse with the help of his guards. A light crossbow and saber hung at his saddle, and in his hand he raised a long spear skyward.
"Good sons of Tang, follow me!"
Cavalry raised their spears. Infantry raised their blades.
Amid the clash of metal rang thunderous voices in elegant speech.
"Ten thousand victories!"