Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

As they patrolled until they reached the school, they heard Wu Wanruo lecturing inside before they could even see her.

Chi Honghai did not push the door open directly. He was qualified and it was reasonable for him to do so, but he did not do so. Instead, he waited outside the door until Wu Wanru finished her class, without making a sound.

When the class ended at the academy, everyone who came out looked to the right of the door, bowed, and whispered "Master."

Wu Wanruo waited until everyone had left before stepping outside.

She looked at Chi Honghai and brushed the dust off his shoulders. "Have you had your tea?"

"You drank it. How did you know I was coming back today?"

Actually, I don't know when you'll be back.

Chi Honghai looked puzzled, frowned, and narrowed his eyes: "Then why did Madam keep hot tea in the room?"

"I do this every day. When the tea gets cold, I brew it again so that when you come back, the tea will be just the right temperature," Wu Wanruo said, looking at the group of people being arranged by Ai Si on the shore.

"We've brought back as many refugees as we could from the north who were fleeing for their lives," Chi Honghai explained.

Wu Wanruo held her long hair, which was being blown about by the wind, and said, "If you, as the master, don't go and make the arrangements, I'm afraid Ai Si won't be able to handle it all by himself."

"Before coming back, Pang San said he wanted to go back to Hong Kong Island as soon as possible because he missed home. He asked me to send someone to pick them up as soon as possible. So, he came back to see you too."

"Master has a small family, but also these large families. He must take care of these large families first." Wu Wanruo's tone was very calm, without much dissatisfaction with Chi Honghai's recent absence from home.

"Madam, you're not blaming me, are you?" Chi Honghai was somewhat surprised. If it were an ordinary woman, she would definitely make a fuss, since he had been running around a lot the other day and had hardly taken care of his wife.

Wu Wanruo slightly raised her head, looking into Chi Honghai's eyes: "Does Master also think I'm just an ordinary woman, without any distinction of rank?"

Chi Honghai naturally wouldn't continue the explanation. Based on his own judgment of people, he knew that Wu Wanruo was not that kind of person. If she really wanted an explanation, she wouldn't have left a cup of hot tea waiting for her at home.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Chi Honghai went to Ai Si's side.

When Ai Si saw the master approaching, he went up to him and said, "Master."

"How are everything arranged?" Chi Honghai asked, glancing around at Ai Si's work situation.

"Replying to Master, it's almost done, but..." Ai Si said somewhat nervously.

"But what?"

"However, I wonder if Master intends to send all these able-bodied men to sea?"

Chi Honghai looked at Ai Si and roughly understood what he was worried about. Before they came, Hong Kong Island had basically not undergone large-scale development and was almost entirely wasteland and forests. Even though he had led people to cultivate the land on the mountain before, they had only managed to cultivate a small part of it. Now that so many people had come, relying on the existing land, even with the addition of fishing, would not be enough to feed so many people.

In the end, they still had to spend money to buy grain everywhere, but the grain issue was the core problem. Without grain, everything else was just empty talk. Chi Honghai would not let others have the solution to this problem.

"Are you worried that with so many people enlisting, farmland development won't keep up, and everyone might go hungry?"

"Yes... Master... Look, if all two thousand men go on the ship for training, and the original brothers are busy building ships and houses, the women alone won't be enough to do the work of clearing land and planting crops."

Ai Si spoke with some anxiety. He was in charge of the accounts, which included not only the money in the warehouse, but also the surplus grain, housing allocation, and other matters. He was well aware of these potential problems, so naturally he was anxious.

Chi Honghai also realized the same problem. Although there was a severe shortage of seafarers at the moment, seafarers also needed to eat and drink. Without food, there was no difference between a thousand soldiers and a single person without food.

If I had to say there was one reason, it would probably be that he was so hungry that he turned his sword against himself instead of the enemy he was supposed to be pointing it at.

"Leave 500 people to cultivate the land. Including the women, that should be enough to manage," Chi Honghai instructed.

Five hundred people may not seem like much, but they are still people, and development and military operations both require manpower.

Chi Honghai could learn from the method of farming during peacetime and contributing labor during wartime, but in Chi Honghai's view, soldiers are soldiers. They should not farm unless necessary, and it is ideal to keep training at all times and be in a state of combat readiness.

If there's nothing to do on weekdays, spending three days farming and two days training, the little bit of farming might just wear down the soldiers' fighting spirit.

Two days later, Pang San returned with the rest of his men, and the first thing he did was to curry favor with the master.

In Pang San's view, he had managed to arrange things properly and without any major problems during the two days that his master was away. He had even managed to gather some refugees, so he could be considered to have lived up to his master's expectations.

Chi Honghai wanted to reward him with some silver, but Pang San waved his hand and said that he didn't need it. He only wanted the master to affirm his work. In his opinion, the master's affirmation was far more valuable than silver.

However, to be fair, for him, following Master Chi meant he had plenty to eat and drink, and Hong Kong Island wasn't as prosperous as Guangzhou, so money, being an external thing, wasn't really that useful.

After selecting skilled craftsmen from the crowd and assigning everyone their destinations, Chi Honghai looked at those who needed training and shook his head repeatedly.

It wasn't that he was disappointed in these people, nor that he lacked confidence; it was just that they were so hungry that they were practically skin and bones.

Therefore, Chi Honghai did not immediately send these refugees, including the five hundred who were to be farmed, to their posts. Instead, he let them rest and provided them with free meals for about ten days.

Once their physical functions had almost fully recovered, Chi Honghai allowed these people to go where they were supposed to go and do what they were supposed to do.

There's no need to worry about the farmers; every ordinary person has experienced working the land from dawn till dusk. Just tell them where to clear land, what to plant, and how to build the necessary facilities.

But the training is different; how to train and where to train are both problems.

If it's about teamwork, physical training, and combat skills, then all the training programs that were prepared beforehand can proceed as usual.

In addition, these new crew members also need to be assigned to various ships to familiarize themselves with the various situations on board.

Training over a thousand people was naturally beyond the capacity of Instructor Lang and Liu Qingjiang alone. Faced with this situation, Chi Honghai directly continued his previous experience by having the veterans teach in groups. This not only helped them develop quickly but also fostered closer relationships.

Newly recruited crew members naturally cannot board and train on third-class battleships. For such valuable assets, Chi Honghai will only allow experienced crew members to board and set sail.

Therefore, these crew members mainly train the combat and coordination capabilities of small vessels to achieve the desired effect.

Once these basic skills are mastered, there will naturally be more advanced and deeper exercises.