********** with PIRATES
IT WAS BUT A FEW hours before sunrise in the neighboring province of Fujian, northeast of Guangzhou. A battalion of 1,120 imperial soldiers led by General He Jin made preparations for their advance toward Putian Township now occupied by the pirates from Riben. They comprised mostly of the fallen, masterless, or dishonored warrior aristocracy of the Ashikaga military regime whose rule dominated an island nation for over one hundred fifty years. The ground beneath the mighty garrison shook as hundreds of archers, hand gunners, and spearmen assembled into formation while the general’s personal detachment of mounted commandos rode out of the garrison gates. Their scaled and lamellar armor reverberated with the pounding hooves of their war horses. The red tassels on the
