Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

"I..." Pressed by Lin Hao, the man choked up a few times, but finally shook his head slowly. "I won't leave. I can still hold on. It's just that, young master, could you please stop letting them beat us like this? I can do anything, even go through fire and water."

"And what about you guys? Is anyone considering quitting?" Lin Hao continued to press.

Everyone shook their heads in unison. They were joking; hadn't they suffered enough as children? Although they were all on the verge of collapse from the beatings, as soon as things stopped, they would console themselves: what was this little bit of grievance? They would grit their teeth and persevere. Could anything be worse than hunger?

You should know that here you can eat as much meat and rice as you want, and it's very oily. Do you know how wonderful it is to eat meat until you're stuffed every day?

"Since no one wants to quit, then I'll tell you why we have to do this," Lin Hao said to everyone with a serious expression.

"Why did you all suffer from hunger and cold, and be bullied by everyone? Chen Shuanzhu, you tell us." Lin Hao pointed at Chen Shuanzhu.

"In reply to your question, young master, it was because we were too weak before that we were bullied by others." Chen Shuanzhu's awareness had clearly improved in the past few days, and his answer was quite proper.

"That's right, it's because you're too weak that the officials and clerks can bully you with impunity, the wealthy and powerful can humiliate you at will, and the pirates and bandits can rob you at will. You can't do anything about it and can only silently endure it."

Lin Hao's voice wasn't loud, but everyone lowered their heads; this was a true reflection of the plight of these farmers from the bottom of society.

"You've endured your whole lives, and what have you gotten in return? Have you had enough to eat? Have you been warm enough to wear? No, nothing at all, only more suffering."

Everyone lowered their heads, and no one objected.

"You are weak individually, but what about ten of you together? Or a hundred of you together? You are still weak. Why? Because you lack discipline. A hundred people have a hundred different ideas, and you will still be easily defeated."

Lin Hao surveyed the crowd, his tone growing increasingly serious, "If all of you were of one mind, daring to charge, daring to fight, daring to risk your lives, who would dare to trample on you so easily?"

"I'm hitting you today so you'll learn to stand firm even when you're being beaten, so you'll know that even if it hurts, you have to obey orders."

Do you think the instructors are deliberately humiliating you? No! They're just trying to change your lazy nature and help you become true strong individuals.

"The meat you eat, the soup you drink, and the place you sleep in now will all be yours to protect in the future. If you don't train, no matter how well you eat now, it will all belong to someone else sooner or later."

The twenty people who came with me before have already received resettlement allowances. I ask you, if I let you go, would you dare to live on land?

"Young master, as soon as we have a little money, we'll be targeted. My family was like that before. We were targeted by the clerks, and in less than half a year, our family was ruined and we were all dead," Chen Shuisheng said, crying.

"Yes, this is the cruel truth of this world, but I assure you, as long as you do as I say, and remain united and obey orders, then I dare to say with my hand on my heart—as long as I, Lin Hao, am still here, no one will be able to bully you anymore!"

After a brief silence, someone in the crowd took a deep breath and clenched their fist.

"Young Master..."

Chen Shuanzhu's voice was hoarse, but he gritted his teeth and said, "You're right, we're willing to train. This isn't for others, it's for ourselves."

"Yes! We're willing to train! We want to get stronger."

"Even if it's tough, it's better than before! We don't want to be bullied anymore."

"Grit your teeth and get through this! Let's see who dares to bully me again!"

The sounds came one after another, growing louder and louder.

Lin Hao looked at this scene and slowly nodded, saying, "Not bad, it's good to have this spirit. Now, the thirty new members, please come forward one by one to receive your resettlement allowance."

Simply giving someone pep talks won't do any good; money is what really matters.

Upon hearing that they would be given silver, the thirty men cheered and immediately felt their pain disappear.

They had heard about the resettlement allowance before, and they kept thinking about it even during training, afraid that the young master would forget about it because he was busy. Now they can finally rest assured.

Distributing the silver was Lin Hao's main purpose in coming today, since he couldn't entrust this matter to others under any circumstances.

Even if his subordinates grow in number in the future, Lin Hao plans to distribute the supplies personally, at least to ensure that he is present. Otherwise, how will they know who to pledge allegiance to?

This also completely eliminates practices like those in the Ming Dynasty that involved withholding funds.

After distributing the resettlement allowances to everyone, morale immediately rose to another level. This is also why Lin Hao insisted on giving the money directly to them rather than handing it over to their families.

Every time money is given out and meals are provided, they are important tools for maintaining morale. Otherwise, no one can persevere with this kind of training. We must give them a little reward from time to time.

At the same time, Lin Hao instructed Lin Er and the others to keep emphasizing the forces that oppressed them, to create a common enemy. Lin Hao even planned to hold a "bitter memories and sweet memories" conference later to completely provoke everyone's anger towards the oppressors.

......

Over the next few days, the island returned to complete peace. People were busy repairing houses and boats, and the training of the newly recruited subordinates was progressing smoothly.

Although they were still quite clumsy, no one complained anymore, and everyone knew what they were working hard for.

The cleanup of the large ship was not completely completed until noon on the third day. At the same time, Lin De returned from Lianjiang County with a ship full of supplies.

Lin Hao had procured most of the supplies he needed, and even brought back a blacksmith's family and a carpenter's family. It could be said that he had been quite successful.

Of course, besides the blacksmith and carpenter, there was something else that made everyone on the island cheer.

A dozen or so brightly dressed women disembarked from the Haicang boat, immediately attracting the attention of the entire Dongluo Island.

The dockworkers all stopped what they were doing, and even the pirate prisoners who were working couldn't help but swallow hard. Although they knew they wouldn't get any, just looking at it was irresistible.

These women were different from ordinary women; they didn't care at all about the men's gazes. Instead, they flirted and struck poses, which made the men even more infatuated.

"Ahem, Uncle De, have you already seen a doctor?"

Lin Hao sighed, feeling somewhat embarrassed by the behavior of the people on the island. What made him even more speechless was that the boys behind him were also breathing heavily. If they weren't in a public place, Lin Hao would have loved to hang them up and give them a good scolding. Just a few women, is it really that big of a deal?

However, this also made Lin Hao feel that it was fortunate that he had found these women, otherwise, the hundreds of strong men on the island would have run into trouble if they had been holding back for too long. You should know that the only female relatives on the island were all from the Lin family, and apart from them, there were only a few old and haggard women.

"Don't worry, young master, I've even brought a doctor with me. I guarantee there won't be any problems," Lin De replied with a smile.

"Are there any doctors willing to come to the island?" Lin Hao was overjoyed. He had previously tricked Doctor Chen into staying for three more months with a bet, but after three months, there would be no doctors left on the island. Hearing that there were doctors willing to come to the island was naturally something he couldn't ask for.

"Take me to see him quickly!" Lin Hao was overjoyed.

"Well... young master, don't be too happy yet. This doctor is a bit unbalanced in his specialties..." Lin De said awkwardly.