Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

"Sir, are you referring to hiring seamen?" Instructor Lang asked.

Chi Honghai's words were somewhat flippant: "What's wrong with that?"

"Um... that's quite common where I'm from, where captains often hire their own sailors. But since I came to the East, I've hardly seen anyone do that, let alone hire people to fight."

"Oh dear, Instructor Lang, there's no need to worry. I already have a plan. It'll just be a bit of a hassle for you to teach those who have just arrived."

Instructor Lang took off his hat, bowed, and said, "It is my honor to serve you, sir. I will do my best to train those new crew members to become qualified sailors."

"With your words, I am relieved. In the next few days, I will trouble you, Instructor, to bring all of our brothers to this ship. You will then take charge of training everything on board and get them trained to pull off a big heist."

"Then, sir, what about Qingjiang's colleague?"

"Let Qingjiang assist you, and let him familiarize himself with everything on this ship. I trust you with this, and he'll understand. It's fine." Chi Honghai wasn't worried about whether Liu Qingjiang would overthink things. After all, this was no time to consider personal relationships. It was the same when he whipped Liu Qingjiang in front of everyone. If he couldn't tolerate it, he would have done so long ago.

"Tell him that even though we only have one big ship now, we'll have a second and a third one in the future. You two will both be assigned to lead ships. Tell him to learn properly, or I'll hold him accountable."

"Understood, sir. I'll go and make preparations right away, and try to get them familiar with this big guy as quickly as possible."

Chi Honghai waved his hand: "Go ahead, thank you for your trouble."

……

Chi Honghai disembarked and called over Pang San, Shen Er, Ai Si, and others.

"Master, why did you call us here?" Pang San asked.

"Take about a hundred brothers, carry a few boxes of silver, and sail two boats to Guangzhou Prefecture."

"Guangzhou Prefecture? That's Chen Qian's territory. We've only brought this many men. What are we going there for?" Shen Er said anxiously.

Chi Honghai looked up disdainfully: "What are you afraid of? We're cooperating with Chen Qian now, and I'm still officially under Zheng Zhilong's command. We're officials too. Can he really wipe us out?"

"Get people to work as soon as possible, or everyone in the vicinity of Guangzhou will have left."

With not much cargo, the two ships soon departed Hong Kong Island and headed towards Guangzhou.

Upon arriving near Guangzhou, Chi Honghai had a large sheet of white Xuan paper brought to him. He prepared his brush and ink and then began to write on the paper.

"Master? Hiring crew members?" Ai Si looked at the sign on the Xuan paper that read, "Hiring crew members, three taels of silver per month."

"Is there a problem?"

"Master, you know that the Ming Dynasty doesn't allow people to go to sea. By recruiting crew members, aren't you openly going against the imperial court? If they find out, you'll be fired." Ai Si said, looking around and using his body to block the row of large characters.

"Don't worry too much. We're not going out to sea to do trade. Remember, we're soldiers under Zheng Zhilong now. We're recruiting sailors for the imperial court to wipe out the Japanese pirates on the southeast coast. Don't forget, some of our brothers have died at the hands of these bastards."

Chi Honghai's words stabilized the entire scene. Immediately afterwards, he wrote several more banners with the same slogan and handed them to the brothers below.

"Sir, even if we were to recruit, three taels of silver a month... wouldn't that be a bit too expensive? Soldiers can get two taels a month without much trouble. Three taels of silver would only be for elite soldiers."

"We're recruiting elites. If they're not elites, they'll be honed into elites by us. Brothers, when you go to recruit people from various villages, remember to make three points clear." Chi Honghai said, counting with his hands.

"The first point is to make it clear that we are people of the imperial court, here to recruit soldiers to wipe out the Japanese pirates hiding in the southeast."

"Secondly, in addition to the monthly salary of three taels of silver, you will be given a bonus of three taels of silver as soon as you join the company. If two men in a family enlist at the same time, you can bring your family members to us and we will take care of their food and lodging."

"One last thing, but we'll also hire those with technical skills, five taels a month."

"Did you all understand?" Chi Honghai asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"Alright, take these things, a dozen or so people per group, carry the boxes up, the faster the better. If you do a good job, you'll get extra pay!"

Everyone exclaimed with delight, "Thank you, sir!"

Chi Honghai turned to Ai Si: "Ai Si, I'll leave the statistics on how much silver was spent in total and the monthly allowance to you."

"Don't worry, sir. I, Ai Si, am an abacus expert. This is no problem for me at all."

For two consecutive days, Chi Honghai's signboard was displayed in villages throughout Guangzhou Prefecture, and even at the city gates, where Chi Honghai personally recruited people.

Such a commotion naturally reached Chen Qian's ears.

After listening to his subordinate's report, Chen Qian was displeased, but the contract was in their hands, and more importantly, the other party had leverage over it. He had no choice but to swallow his anger. However, for an old fox like him, swallowing anger usually meant finding an opportunity to vent it, but he didn't have a good opportunity right now.

Chi Honghai naturally understood this principle. Although he was nominally endorsed by the imperial court, the court also had different officials depending on the region. How could Zheng Zhilong's men recruit soldiers in Guangzhou Prefecture? This was definitely unreasonable. Regardless of whether the emperor had time to interfere, the local officials would certainly not be happy to see it.

Chi Honghai had also considered this situation. Normally, as long as the money was in place and things were taken care of, it would be fine.

But who is Chi Honghai? He's the kind of person who first gets money from Chen Qian and then from the English. He's willing to give money to others, but he's unwilling to give money to others.

Moreover, Chen Qian is a high-ranking local official who has seen the world and is not someone who can be easily dealt with like a county magistrate. If you really want to give him a gift, a few thousand or even ten thousand taels of silver would be enough to settle this matter.

That's obviously unlikely.

"Reporting, sir, there is a person outside the door who claims to be a good friend of yours requesting an audience."

"Who?"

He said his surname was Chi.

After listening to his subordinate's words, Chen Qian knew that it was Chi Honghai who had come to his door, but this time he was not bothered by Chi Honghai's visit.

Being a shrewd fellow, he understood that Chi Honghai's visit this time was not to cause him any trouble, but to offer him benefits. After all, if it was to do business on his turf, even if he turned a blind eye now, the score could be settled later.

"Let him in."

"Yes, sir."

Chi Honghai was led to Chen Qian. The two exchanged a glance, and Chen Qian then ordered his subordinates to leave.

"General Chen, it's been a long time. I hope you've been well."

"I should be the one saying that."

"Hahaha, General Chen, you're joking. I've come here on important business, and this is a good thing to give you, sir."

Chen Qian looked left and right, but saw no sign that Chi Honghai was hiding anything behind him.

"Good news?"