si-mexico Chapter 805 Taming the Japanese Pirates
Chapter 805 Taming the Japanese Pirates
Hearing Shen Changgong's question, my grandson Taijian seemed to be afraid that Kameda Taro would take away all the credit, and hurriedly said,
"Your Highness, I know. Our base is on Zhoushan Island. That's our stopover. We'll send all the looted gold, silver, and women there. When we return home, we'll load them all onto the ship and bring them back to Japan."
“How many people are there on Zhoushan Island now?”
"There are more than 200 people, responsible for guarding the gold, silver and women."
"Which cities have you plundered in total?"
"We'll first kill everyone in the villages on Zhoushan, then cross the sea to Ningbo, and then head south to here. Starting from Taizhou, our next stop will be Wenzhou."
Shen Changgong nodded and said,
"Send a pigeon to Pang Lei immediately, telling him to go to Zhoushan, wipe out the Japanese pirates there, rescue the hostages, and send them to Ningbo. Then, proceed south along the coast. If you encounter any enemy ships, attack them directly."
"As ordered!"
The messenger immediately went to deliver the message. Shen Changgong looked at the two kneeling Japanese pirates in front of him and said lightly,
"Alright, I've finished my questions. You two, do you want to chop off my head or skin me alive?"
Kameda Taro and my grandson Taiken kowtowed and said,
"Your Highness, we are good citizens. Please don't kill us. We have never killed anyone. We are all good people."
"As long as you don't kill us, you can let us do anything!"
"We are willing to serve you like slaves, as long as you don't kill us. We will do anything for you."
"Yeah, yeah, anything is fine."
"Alright, as long as you obey me, I won't kill you. But if you dare to be two-faced, I will use all the punishments in Dayan on you, making it difficult for you to die."
"No, no, we will never waver."
Shen Changgong stood up and said,
"Come here, put shackles and chains around their necks, and assign two people to keep an eye on them. Don't let them die of starvation or thirst."
"As ordered!"
The guards immediately took the two Japanese pirates away.
Fairy Meiyan was surprised.
"Didn't you say yesterday that we should first break their faith in resistance and then give them a prosperous life, so that they can completely return to us and be used by us?
Why are you putting a chain around your neck again today?"
Shen Changgong smiled and said,
"You said this, not me. Do you remember what I said after you finished speaking?"
Fairy Meiyan thought for a moment and said,
"You called me a little fool."
"Yeah, that's stupid."
Shen Changgong sighed and said seriously,
"The Japanese pirates have different culture, customs and concepts from us. We, the people of the Central Plains, have a sense of loyalty and we value loyalty to the emperor and our country. We also believe that a scholar will die for his friend.
We have so many generals and commanders in Great Yan, but was there any one of them who was recruited by paying money? They are all soldiers who die for their friends.
They all know that if I treat them with sincerity, they will treat me with sincerity in return.
But the Japanese pirates are different. They rely on their strength to bully the weak, fear power but not morality, and forget the greater justice when they see small profits. They are lowly people on the border and are not worthy of being treated with kindness and righteousness, and cannot be held accountable to common etiquette.
It is the tradition of the Japanese pirates to use the weak to defeat the strong. If you are nice to them, they will think you are weak and will betray you.
If you give them a few big mouths every day, they will definitely obey you and be scared to death.
It is useless to be nice to them. If you give them ten taels of silver today, they will listen to you. But if someone else gives them eleven taels tomorrow, they will betray you.
Therefore, if you want to conquer this kind of person, you have to make him afraid of you forever.
Don't give them enough to eat. That way, they'll focus on how to get enough food for you, and won't have the energy to think about how to betray you."
Hearing this, the Southern King looked at him in surprise and said,
"You're quite right. Why do you know so much about the Japanese pirates?"
Shen Changgong said nothing.
In another time and space, the Japanese pirates were also like this. The Central Plains has been dealing with the Japanese pirates for thousands of years. Don’t they understand what kind of people these dwarfs are?
Soon, the army was ready to set off with the two Japanese pirates.
Before leaving, Shen Changgong told the county magistrate Lin Ran and Li Hao,
"Lin Ran, first gather back all the civilians who have escaped, and form a temporary defense team with the young and strong men. Close the city gates tightly and patrol day and night.
The main force of the Japanese pirates went south. There is no treasure here, so they probably won't come back.
We will closely monitor the movements of the Japanese pirates and wipe them out.
Li Hao, after the Japanese pirates are wiped out, you will return to Ningbo and compile a tally of all the losses, then report to the court. Then, ask the court to relocate some people to Ningbo so that it can be properly governed."
"Your humble servant obeys your command. Your humble servant respectfully sends His Majesty off."
The two county magistrates were so moved that they burst into tears.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for serving the country and the people and destroying the Japanese pirates. I am deeply grateful."
Shen Changgong nodded. When he set out to attack Japan the next day, he would have to order the coastal areas to strengthen their defenses to prevent the escaped Japanese pirates from coming back.
After giving the instructions, the army marched south in a mighty force.
After running for dozens of miles, they entered the mountains, and then Shen Changgong sent out a number of scouts to investigate the movements of the Japanese pirates.
Twenty thousand cavalrymen were walking on the mountain path, and everyone's eyes were fixed on their surroundings.
On the mountains on both sides, the Yan army sent out scouts. They rode horses where they could, and pulled the horses where they could not, moving forward with difficulty.
Shen Changgong sat on his horse, walking while looking at the feng shui map to understand the terrain here.
"We have to speed up. In this kind of terrain, riding a horse is not much faster than the pirates walking. They might have killed everyone in Wenzhou before we even get there."
Just then, urgent news came from the Pegasus ahead.
"Report! Your Highness, we've discovered traces of a campfire on Yandang Mountain ahead. Based on our experience, they were probably left there yesterday afternoon.
The enemy should have continued to move south."
"Continue to investigate, all troops, follow my orders, rush to Wenzhou at full speed!"
Shen Changgong had a premonition that these Japanese pirates would arrive in Wenzhou tonight, and then they would launch another night attack.
"We must reach Wenzhou before dark! Speed up!"
As the order was passed down, the army immediately accelerated and rushed towards the south.
They ran all the way and finally got out of the mountains in the evening.
The good news is that they found traces of the Japanese pirates.
The bad news is that there is a river ahead called Oujiang River.
The Japanese pirates had already arrived at the riverside. Seeing a large group of cavalry appearing behind them, they immediately jumped into the water and swam to the other side.
Japan is close to the sea, and Japanese pirates are generally good at swimming.
By the time the cavalry arrived at the riverside, the Japanese pirates, those who swam fast, had already swam across the Oujiang River and reached the shore, and those who swam slowly had reached the middle of the river.