Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Chi Honghai looked at the woman in front of him and was momentarily at a loss as to how to address her—Miss Wu or Madam?

He nodded slowly, his hand unconsciously covering the back of her hand, gripping it slightly, his thumb rubbing against the back of her hand.

After a moment's reluctance, he turned and left.

After closing the door, Chi Honghai called Pang San and Liu Qingjiang back to him and asked them to stay with him.

The three of them walked together to the shack of the newly arrived pirates, but they did not see any of the people in the shack.

Where are they?

Pang San walked over to Chi Honghai and pointed to the group of people dragging timber back in the distance.

"Master, all these people have gone to work. Look, they're all over there."

Chi Honghai was very puzzled, as he hadn't directly assigned these people any specific tasks for today. Pang San and Liu Qingjiang, who were beside him, didn't handle internal affairs, so it certainly wasn't them who had given the orders.

"Who arranged this? Shen Er or Ai Si?"

Pang San shook his head.

"Master, it seems no one told them; they went on their own. This morning, after Ai Si and the brothers gave them breakfast, they went to build a hut with Shen Er and the others."

"How's the housing situation?"

"With more tools and guidance from the craftsmen, things are almost done. In a while, everyone's families should be able to live together."

Chi Honghai nodded in satisfaction; finally, there was something that put his mind at ease.

Once the housing issue is resolved, we can begin constructing the northern outpost.

"Go and call all the brothers here, tell them to put down what they're doing and assemble at the training ground."

"Yes, sir."

"Qingjiang, have a few more brothers fetch a few more buckets of well water and carry them to the training ground, and also get a few more bowls."

"clear."

On the training ground, Chi Honghai waited for the pirates who had been working hard on the mountain.

Seeing them drenched in sweat and panting heavily, Chi Honghai didn't rush to announce anything.

"You've all worked hard, have some water first." After saying that, he turned to the brothers who were still training on the training field, "You guys come and have a drink of water and take a break too."

"Instructor Lang, take a break."

"Sir." Instructor Lang bowed to Chi Honghai.

Chi Honghai patted Pang San on the shoulder, instructing him to take the finest wine to Instructor Lang.

Instructor Lang looked surprised as he accepted the wine.

"Sir, thank you very much for your kindness. However, I am part of the same unit as the soldiers in the camp. I cannot drink this wine; I should drink the water in this bucket instead."

Upon hearing this, the crowd that had been queuing up for water all turned to look at the Westerner.

No one expected that this Westerner would consider himself part of the group during these days; they had all originally thought that he was just there to make money.

The person who had scooped a bowl of well water from the bucket then slowly walked up to Instructor Lang, holding the bowl of water.

After receiving it, Instructor Lang drank it down in one gulp without hesitation.

Seeing this, Chi Honghai was delighted. He turned to Pang San and asked him to bring out the remaining bottles of wine from the warehouse.

"Brothers, following me, Chi Honghai, means sharing both good times and bad. Since Instructor Lang is willing to join us, this wine should be shared with everyone."

When Pang San returned, Chi Honghai opened all the wine bottles.

With a flick of the wrist, deep purple wine gushed from the bottle and poured into the well water in the wooden barrel, staining it a pale purple.

"There's not much wine, so please drink like this for now. Later, I'll make sure everyone gets a bowl of fine wine!"

The crowd cheered and shouted "Long live the master!"

This was the first time Chi Honghai had been shouted "Long live!"

But he did not reject the crowd at this moment as he had rejected Shen Er.

He simply raised his hand to quell the situation.

The emperor is nothing more than that.

"Sir, we don't like this wine. Could you replace it with our authentic baijiu?" Pang San chimed in, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

"Sure, when the time comes, those who want to drink baijiu can drink baijiu, and those who want to try wine can drink wine."

After everyone had quenched their thirst, Chi Honghai stood on the platform.

Everyone understood that Master Chi had something to say, so they consciously lined up and stood in their places.

The group of people who had just arrived saw this and tried to imitate it, squeezing and twisting for a long time before they could finally stand in a proper position.

"There's a group of our colleagues in the northwest who specialize in robbing the local people. I think it won't be long before they turn their attention to us too."

"If that's the case, we might as well strike first."

Liu Qingjiang stood in front of the queue, first looked at the group of people next to him, and then looked at Chi Honghai and said.

"Sir, aren't we going to talk to them?"

Chi Honghai paced back and forth on the stage with his hands behind his back.

"There's no point in talking. He's capable of killing ordinary people, so naturally he won't tolerate us either. Besides, with him here, we won't feel safe robbing any more government ships."

As he spoke, Chi Honghai turned his gaze to the group of people.

Before Chi Honghai could speak, the others understood what he meant.

"Sir, if you wish to hit him, we are willing to lead the way."

Chi Honghai smiled.

"How many ships does that person still have? Approximately how many people are left on the island? How many firearms does he have?"

A man who was leading the crowd stepped forward; he was the first mate of the ship.

"Sir, there's one ship left, but it's loaded with cannons, there should be... six... six cannons!"

When we came out, there weren't many brothers left on the island. Including those on the ship, there were probably only about 200 people left. As for firearms, there probably weren't many...

"Pang San, Qingjiang, Instructor Lang! Tell the brothers to bring everything they need and get ready to board the ship!"

The man who stepped forward heard that Chi Honghai had only called for his original men, so he asked a question.

"Master, why didn't you take us with you on this trip? We can swim too! We've been eating and drinking well here. Does excluding us mean you look down on us?"

"Yes, sir, do you look down on the brothers?"

Chi Honghai turned to look at the group of people. They had dark skin, and most of them still had marks from being whipped. Their eyes were filled with longing.

"Master, we don't want to be looked down upon. Since we brothers have followed you, and you're gone, we brothers must follow!"

"Yes! The brothers don't want to be looked down upon!"

"Qingjiang, take some men and these brothers aboard their boat, give them the supplies, and those who know how to use firearms will be given a gun."

"Understood, sir!"

As everyone grabbed their weapons and equipment and prepared to board the ship.

Chi Honghai found the first mate and Liu Qingjiang.

"When we approach tonight, you'll sail in front, pretending to be returning from a robbery. Find the right opportunity and prevent those men from boarding. I'll cooperate with you; we'll use fire as a signal."

"Understood, sir!"

"Boarding!"

Chi Honghai boarded the ship, and Instructor Lang reminded him from beside him.

"Sir, are there any problems with these people?"