Di Ming

Chapter 54 Brutal
"Knock, knock—" The knocking was slow and gentle, as if the person was very patient.

Zhu Yin took out a scalpel, tucked it into his right sleeve, slowly walked to the door, yawned, and said:
"Who is it? So late at night."

To an outsider, he must have just been woken up and gotten out of bed.

A familiar voice rang out from outside: "Chihko, it's me."

My adoptive father is Qi Jiguang!
Zhu Yin immediately opened the door, and the burly Qi Jiguang slowly walked in.

"Why is Father here?"

Zhu Yin poured tea for the old general, while Ning Caiwei lit the oil lamp.

Qi Jiguang asked in a deep voice, "What happened tonight? Where did you go after 11:45 PM?"

Zhu Yin was taken aback. "How did Father discover the abnormality?"

Qi Jiguang said, “Ever since you recognized me as your father, you have been paying your respects to me every evening. During this period of travel, even when we were at post stations or inns, you still paid your respects to me morning and evening without fail.”

“But tonight, neither you nor Caiwei came. This is enough for me to know that something is amiss tonight.”

"This place is a mixed bag, and I was worried, so I came to take a look."

“But I noticed that there was still movement in Lancha and the others’ room, which means they haven’t gone to sleep yet. But on any other day, they would have been asleep by now.”

"Then there is only one explanation: something happened tonight that I don't know about. You deliberately kept it from me."

Zhu Yin smiled wryly and said, "Old ginger is spicier. My godfather is indeed a famous general of China and a seasoned veteran with a wealth of experience."

"Your son is going to kill someone tonight..."

Qi Jiguang's gaze grew colder as he listened. "They are actually traitors who traffic in people and collude with Japanese pirates. They deserve to die a thousand deaths."

"Crushing them to death would be far too cheap."

“You’re small but shrewd, so of course they can’t kidnap you, but the other kids might be different. Tonight, you’re not only killing people, but also saving them.”

"You kept it from me out of filial piety, fearing that if it came to light, it would affect my reinstatement and become a handle for attack by civil officials."

"Child Tiger, you did a great job tonight. You were meticulous and thorough, which is rare for someone your age. I am very pleased."

"But you shouldn't have kept it from me."

"Yes, I won't dare to hide it from Father anymore," Zhu Yin said insincerely, handing two blank sheets of paper to Qi Jiguang.

"Father, please look. These are the confessions of the two human traffickers before they died."

Qi Jiguang glanced at it, his expression full of bitterness and disdain.

"The imperial court is incompetent. The soldiers who fought against the Japanese pirates fought bloody battles and finally managed to subdue Zhoushan, but it was abandoned again."

"If the imperial court had listened to Yu Dayou and my proposals, restored Zhoushan County, and relocated the coastal people to the island, would we be in this situation today?"

"The affairs of the state are in their hands, and the future is unpredictable."

It turns out that Zhoushan Island has been reoccupied by pirates, Japanese pirates, and Westerners who have returned.

Twenty years ago, Yu Dayou and the Zhoushan Islands, which he painstakingly recovered, have now become a den of thieves again.

The civil and military officials of Zhejiang simply abandoned the Zhoushan Islands once again, and the garrisons on the islands fell into disrepair once more.

The blood ties between Zhoushan and the mainland were once again abandoned by incompetent and selfish court officials.

The destination of this group of human traffickers was Zhoushan.

According to the confessions, Zhoushan today is not only inhabited by remnants of Japanese pirates, but also by pirates and foreigners.

The remaining residents of the island were all taken away by the thieves and treated like hostages.

The Zhoushan Islands are not far from the Hirado Domain of Japan, only a few days' sea voyage away, and were frequently invaded and occupied by Hirado Domain samurai.

At that time, the Zhoushan Islands were inhabited by samurai from the Hirado Domain.

The feudal lord Matsuura Shigenori dispatched his son, Matsuura Tadanobu, to lead a fleet of hundreds of Japanese pirates on a ship disguised as a trading vessel, to establish a smuggling operation on Zhoushan Island.

They not only smuggled various goods, but also trafficked people.

For four years, Matsuura Tadanobu used Zhoushan as a transit point, colluding with human traffickers and officials in the mainland to sell more than 10,000 women and children from the Ming Dynasty to Japan.

Every month, hundreds of abducted Ming people would be gathered on ships and transported back to Japan.

The black boats used by these human traffickers traveled south along the Grand Canal, out of the Yangtze River estuary, and then to Zhoushan to "deliver" the goods.

On the black boat at the dock, there were more than twenty women and children who had been abducted or kidnapped, along with a dozen or so accomplices who were sailors.

This group of human traffickers were all former sailors from the Grand Canal gang, and they had been trafficking people for several years.

Over the years, they have trafficked more than a thousand people.

Of course, trafficking so many people would be impossible without a protective umbrella behind it.

The coastal defense post at the mouth of the Yangtze River is practically useless.

Their protectors included the deputy commander of the Grand Canal Army under the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, the naval adjutant of Langshan Guard at the Tongzhou estuary, and the commander of the Chongming naval force.

Every year, it takes more than 10,000 taels of silver just to bribe these three people.

Therefore, they have been trafficking people along the canal for years and are still at large, able to successfully sail out to sea.

"River defense, river defense, sea defense, it's come to this." Qi Jiguang sighed, "It's getting worse. It's only been five years since the passing of the Prime Minister of Jiangling, and the country has already reached this state."

"It is truly as easy as climbing a mountain to do good, and as easy as an avalanche to do evil."

Qi Jiguang said with regret, "The shortsightedness of the Duke of Xin has caused endless harm. Zhoushan has been a county for hundreds of years, from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the early days of the dynasty, but he abolished the county and relocated the people, handing over the shield of the East China Sea to others."

Zhu Yin was speechless upon hearing this.

Tang He was truly short-sighted. This man was in charge of coastal defense in the southeast, and in order to implement Emperor Taizu's policy of prohibiting maritime trade, he adopted a one-size-fits-all approach.

He actually abolished the county system established in the Zhoushan Islands during the Tang Dynasty and forcibly relocated tens of thousands of fishermen from the islands to the mainland.

Only five hundred fishermen were left behind to assist the more than one thousand soldiers in the two garrisons in defense.

As a result, Changguo County (Zhoushan), which had been established for hundreds of years, was abolished.

Zhoushan, which is only twenty miles from the mainland, was gradually abandoned.

As a result, the Zhoushan Islands were successively occupied by Korean pirates, Japanese pirates, pirates, and Portuguese, and became a stronghold of Japanese pirates and a transit point for smuggling for a long time.

The Ming Dynasty's decision to abandon Zhoushan in order to ban maritime trade had far-reaching and extremely negative consequences.

Of course, there was another very important reason why the Ming Dynasty abandoned Zhoushan: the wishes of the vested interests.

As a later generation, Zhu Yin knew that the Zhoushan Islands were the main base for smuggling by the powerful and wealthy class in Jiangnan.

High-ranking officials, large landowners, wealthy merchants, nobles, members of the imperial family, coastal defense commanders, and pirates were the biggest beneficiaries of the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy.

As long as the Japanese pirates and foreigners did not go ashore to burn, kill, and loot, they were very willing to do business with them and would sell anything.

The Zhoushan Islands served as a transit trading post for their maritime smuggling and collusion with pirates. If the imperial court exercised too much control, it would be inconvenient for them.

Therefore, they hope that the Zhoushan Islands will become a lawless "no man's land".

These were the very people who repeatedly blocked the proposal to reinstate Zhoushan as a county.

This is why the Zhoushan Islands were recovered but then voluntarily abandoned.

"Father," Zhu Yin poured tea for Qi Jiguang, "it's pointless to complain about the court or about the Duke of Xin, who died two hundred years ago."

"What should we do next? Please give me some advice, Father. I will definitely follow your instructions."

Qi Jiguang looked at the two blank sheets of paper, pointed at them with his finger, and said:
"There are several pirate gangs in Zhoushan. This pirate leader named Ding Huogen must be one of my former subordinates. His nickname is also 'Fire Head Monk'."

"It's been so many years, I never imagined he'd become a pirate again."

"What?" Zhu Yin's expression brightened. "He's Father's old subordinate?"

Qi Jiguang sighed, "It's not just his old subordinates. I saved his life, and his wife was also a woman I rescued from the Japanese pirates. I arranged for her to marry him."

"This man was originally a pirate, but because of a fight, he was not tolerated by the pirates and had no way to be recruited. I defeated the pirates who were chasing him and saved them."

"I saw that he was a good man and was willing to be recruited, so I gave him the military rank of battalion commander." "Several years later, I promoted him to centurion and he accumulated merits to become a coastal defense guerrilla."

"The guerrilla commander was already a fourth-rank military officer. But once, he offended a county magistrate over a supply issue."

“The magistrate reprimanded him as if he were a servant, not only refusing to provide supplies but also whipping the captain under his command.”

He angrily told me that the Ming Dynasty's officialdom was a mess, and that one day he would no longer have to put up with those civil officials.

"Several years later, I was transferred to the north and no longer in charge of military affairs in the southeast. To avoid suspicion, we stopped communicating."

"Now, he has indeed returned to being a pirate."

Qi Jiguang couldn't help but sigh when he said this.

"Ding Huogen is a naval general with great talent. He served under me for ten years and is a decent person. I once thought of securing him the important position of adjutant in the navy. What a pity."

Zhu Yin said, "Father, will he still listen to you? You've been my benefactor for ten years, and he hasn't fared well either, only having a few hundred remaining troops. If..."

Qi Jiguang pondered for a moment and said, "This man values ​​old friendships and loyalty; otherwise, I wouldn't have taken a liking to him in the first place. He's probably back to being a pirate because he heard I was dismissed from office and harbors resentment towards the court."

“He doesn’t come to see me because he’s too ashamed to come, and he can’t come ashore to see me.”

"We've known each other for ten years, and he hasn't been doing very well, so it won't be difficult to get him to listen to me."

"But the problem is, I am now without any official position or post. What good is it if he listens to me? I no longer have the ability to help the court to grant him amnesty."

"Even if he's willing to obey my orders, do you think I can still be a pirate captain?"

At this point, Qi Jiguang was amused by his own words.

"Father," Zhu Yin said cautiously, "You can never be a pirate captain, but can your son be one?"

"What if I could retake Zhoushan, kill the Japanese pirates, and make Ding Huogen powerful and influential, so that he would listen to me out of respect for his father?"

"Even if you don't listen to me, you can still cooperate with me and do great things together."

Qi Jiguang did not get angry. Instead, he looked calmly at this precocious adopted son and said in a nonchalant tone:
"Oh? What are you doing? Do you think I believe you really want to be a pirate?"

Zhu Yin sat down in front of Qi Jiguang and fanned the old general.

"Father, if I were to say that subduing the pirates was for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty, for the sake of the common people, and for the stability of the nation, would you believe me?"

Qi Jiguang smiled enigmatically, “Subduing pirates can indeed be of service to the country. I’ve done this kind of thing many times, I’m not so pedantic.”

"It is not surprising that the Mongolian Doyan Three Guards, the chieftain's wolf soldiers, the Jurchen warriors, and even mountain bandits and pirates can all be used by me."

"To accomplish great things, one must be unconventional and have a broad mind."

“But you are just a child, without any official position or title, yet you keep talking about the common people and the country. You are just a petty person talking big.”

"Based on your statement that 'every man has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation'?"

Ning Caiwei said, "Father, these days, Zhihu always talks about your poem: 'Becoming a marquis is not my wish, I only wish for calm seas.'"

"He said this is my father's glory. It's a pity that my father's hard work will be ruined by those incompetent court officials. Isn't the fact that Zhoushan was occupied by pirates just an example?"

"Perhaps he is just a petty person talking big, but his desire to subdue the pirates in place of his father and serve the country is also a filial act."

“Even if he is young and Ding Huogen doesn’t listen to him, the two sides can still cooperate to wipe out the Japanese pirates from the Matsuura family.”

Qi Jiguang smiled.

"Alright. I'll give it a try then. This time, I'll go south and help Ding Huogen wipe out the Japanese pirates. It's better for him to occupy Zhoushan Island than for it to be occupied by the Japanese pirates."

"Alas, I am an old man who has been dismissed from office, yet you still force me to fight against the Japanese pirates."

Zhu Yin laughed and said, "Do I not know what Father is thinking? Even if I hadn't brought it up, Father would have gone to Ding Huogen to give it a try."

"For no other reason than that Father did not want the Japanese pirates to occupy Zhoushan Island."

Qi Jiguang shook his head and smiled wryly: "Zhihu, you're a good kid in every way, except you're too clever and too wild. I'm really worried that when you get a few more years older, you'll bring trouble upon yourself!"

Zhu Yin said solemnly, "How could that be? Father, don't worry. Although I am young, with you watching over me, I dare not cause any trouble."

Qi Jiguang said, "Then let's do it this way. You all get a good night's sleep, and at dawn, go to the black ship to kill and rescue people."

Zhu Yin smiled and said, "Yes!"

……

As dawn broke in the east, the first light of day appeared.

Many guests had already left the inn.

The fourth quarter of the Yin hour.

Although it was just getting light, going out at this time would no longer arouse suspicion.

Qi Jiguang, Zhu Yin, and others also led their horses out and headed straight for the dock.

Soon, they saw a medium-sized sand barge, several meters long, moored in a relatively secluded part of the dock.

The bow appears to be a raised dragon head.

I could vaguely see a diamond-shaped pattern drawn in cinnabar on the sand barge. This was, of course, a coded signal for the protection umbrella.

Once the protective umbrella sees this ship, it will be allowed to pass without being questioned.

Qi Jiguang took a mace from the carriage, held it under his arm, and slowly walked towards the boat.

Lancha and the others also took a stick.

This was planned. The killings were to be carried out with minimal bloodshed.

It's hard to clean up.

Qi Jiguang grabbed the rope and leaped onto the deck.

The movements were very agile and nimble.

"Which one?" The thief on duty on the deck was immediately awakened, but before he could react, Qi Jiguang smashed his mace on his head.

The other two were shocked and were about to draw their knives when their skulls cracked twice. They almost all fell to the ground.

Qi Jiguang killed three people in quick succession, as swiftly as if he were killing chickens.

"We've got enemies!" someone said viciously, and then two knife-wielding men rushed out of the cabin.

Qi Jiguang swung his mace, and one man's knife fell into the water, while another man covered his ears, his eyes bulging, and his knife fell onto the deck.

Before the person who had fallen into the water could even retreat, their head was severed with a loud thud.

In the blink of an eye, all five people were killed.

The thieves were certainly vigilant, but before they could react, five of them were killed.

Qi Jiguang entered the cabin, swung his mace, and the sixth bandit's head exploded.

Then another mace, and another, each one a fatal blow.

By the time Lancha and the others entered the cabin, the old general had already killed eight people. He did so with effortless ease, as if drinking cool water.

Several thieves attacked him with knives, but he killed them one by one.

The remaining seven bandits were killed by Qi Jiguang and Lan Cha before they could even cry for help.

From the moment Qi Jiguang boarded the ship to the moment the bandits were killed, only a few breaths passed.

In Zhu Yin's view, it only took a dozen seconds.

Zhu Yin couldn't help but say to Ning Caiwei, "My godfather killed people; he's too cruel."

Ning Caiwei couldn't help but nod and say, "Ruthless."

"I'm going to check on the stolen money on the ship."

P.S.: This long chapter of over 4,000 words has been combined into two chapters today. Sigh...

(End of this chapter)