Chapter 914 - 759: Princely Heir Rivalry

The Jingjiang County was in a state of devastation.

The people whose families had been abducted ran around searching for them. Those who found them embraced and wept, while those who didn’t seem like lost souls. White smoke rose from the broken walls and ruins everywhere, and the entire county was filled with the scent of ashes.

Yuan Xing leaned against the city gate, proudly said, "Do you know what strength in the Seeking Dao Realm means now? I alone beheaded sixty-two enemies and captured their flag."

He pointed at Yuan Xi and Zhou Chang: "You two together don’t even match up to me."

Jiang Chai sneered: "Quite the Right Martial Guard Commander, you can’t even lead soldiers. I asked you to lead twenty young men of the Anti-Japanese Army, and you managed to lose them. No wonder you got captured alive. Let me guess... your foster father’s warhorse is divine, and I bet you left the Right Martial Guard in pursuit of him, which is how you got captured, right?"

Yuan Xing was a bit embarrassed being guessed correctly: "Then let me ask you, when I set out from outside the capital, with my foster father’s warhorse running so fast, how was I supposed to catch up with him leading the Right Martial Guard?"

Jiang Chai sneered again: "If I were you, I wouldn’t have overestimated myself and chased him."

Yuan Xing sighed: "Jiang Chai, I thought you were going to say something smart, but it turns out you’re the best at flattery."

Jiang Chai suddenly asked: "Did you see it last night?"

Yuan Xi curiously asked: "See what?"

Jiang Chai confidently said: "Shaking Mountain, Xing Yuan, Stone Fire."

Yuan Xing scoffed: "I thought it was something significant, I’ve already seen it. The night I chased to Yingkou, I used the Big Halberd against him, tried to use Shaking Mountain to break free, but he shook me off instead."

Zhou Chang puzzled: "Did your foster father train at the Martial Arts Hall? Could it be that he was also taught by Yuan Xingzhi?"

Yuan Xing shook his head, confidently: "Absolutely not."

Jiang Chai frowned and asked: "Why so certain?"

Yuan Xing replied: "I knew of him before I was captured; he’s always been in the Ning Dynasty. When would he have had the chance to go to the Martial Arts Hall? Besides, after I reached the Seeking Dao Realm, I went to find Yuan Xingzhi to settle old scores..."

Jiang Chai suddenly asked: "And got another beating?"

"That’s none of your business." Yuan Xing said stubbornly: "Anyway, I sparred with Yuan Xingzhi, we both used Shaking Mountain. I didn’t break free, but it wasn’t easy for him to break free from me either. But that night at Yingkou was different..."

Yuan Xi and the others looked at him: "How was it different?"

Yuan Xing recalled: "When I used Shaking Mountain, he looked surprised, as if he never expected me to know the martial arts of the Five Mad Soldiers. When he used it, his expression was... as if scorning me for not mastering my skills."

Jiang Chai was silent for a moment: "Do you think he can use Gold Grinder?"

Yuan Xi recalled: "Probably not, he didn’t use it last night."

Jiang Chai sighed: "I think he can, he didn’t use it last night because he wanted to keep the Japanese Sword."

Li Si hesitated: "Yuan Xingzhi trained for years without mastering it, and he can learn it?"

Yuan Xing thought for a moment: "Maybe the Southern Dynasty had someone like the Martial Arts Hall inviting the Five Mad Soldiers as instructors? Maybe he’s exceptionally talented. From my perspective, Yuan Xingzhi’s Shaking Mountain was not as good as his."

Jiang Chai instinctively searched for Chen Ji’s figure, and when he found him, he was suddenly startled.

Chen Ji was leading dozens of Anti-Japanese Army soldiers, setting up large pots, cooking three brimful pots of porridge, ladling it out to the homeless people.

Old Ears came over with a stack of ceramic bowls gathered up, shouting: "Coming, coming, don’t rush, everyone will definitely get a taste of hot porridge."

Jiang Chai suddenly said: "Weapons are not instruments of good fortune, not tools for gentlemen. They should be used only out of necessity, and victory is not something to be celebrated. If you kill people in abundance, you should treat it with sorrow. Approach victory as you would a funeral... let’s not talk about military achievements anymore, it’s pointless."

Yuan Xing was puzzled: "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Jiang Chai ignored him and left the city gate on his own.

Yuan Xing looked at the others: "What was he babbling about just now?"

Yuan Xi explained: "This is what Emperor Xianzong once said when he received an imperial decree to enter the palace, and the emperor ordered him to teach at the Martial Arts Hall. But he just left after saying this one sentence. The meaning is that war is ominous, and weapons should be used only as a last resort. Even if you win, you shouldn’t take pride; instead, approach it with a heart of sorrow. Even in victory, treat it with a mourning heart."

Yuan Xing murmured quietly: "Pretending to be a scholar-general, isn’t war just supposed to be about people dying..."

At this moment, Zheng Jiye led people to search for scholars in the surrounding areas; the Anti-Japanese Army, without command, sat leaning against the ruins near the South City Gate resting, not far from the piled corpses of Wokou.

Jiang Chai kicked each of the Anti-Japanese Army members awake, pointing at the Wokou corpses and scolding: "Do you want to cause an epidemic? It’s not time to rest yet. Get up and deal with the corpses. Li Si, Zhou Chang, you two go find lime to preserve the heads."

He found a wheelbarrow and led the way in beheading and transporting the Wokou corpses outside the city for burial. The Wokou heads were salted with lime and piled inside the South City Gate, blocked with hemp rope.

At first, the people of Jingjiang were afraid to approach when they saw the mountain of Wokou corpses. But when the Anti-Japanese Army dragged the bodies out of the city for burning and burial, they finally gathered the courage, pulling their children along or bringing their wives to bow in gratitude before the Anti-Japanese Army.

Yuan Xing and the others felt at a loss, but before they could speak, someone was already handing them rice cakes, barley rice, brown rice, salted fish, pickled radish sticks...

...

...

The Anti-Japanese Army was busy into the night. Chen Ji, holding Zhaolei, walked to a distant place and sat down. He had somehow found a bamboo hat to hide his face, as if last night’s battle had nothing to do with him.

Yuan Xing sat cross-legged beside him, holding his clothes with a proud smile: "Godfather, if it weren’t for us, this Jingjiang County would be in ruins. I have plenty of food here, what would you like to eat?"

Chen Ji hugged Wu Yun, leaned against the wall, and remained silent.

Jiang Chai observed Chen Ji’s expression and sat cross-legged on the other side with a heavy tone: "Thinking of the terrible deaths of people in Jingjiang County, how can one be happy?"

Yuan Xing’s expression froze for a moment. He turned his head across Chen Ji in the middle and silently mouthed words to Jiang Chai.

Chen Ji looked up and instructed Li Si: "Bring that broker here, I need to ask him something."

A moment later, Zhou Chang returned with the captured broker, throwing him in front of Chen Ji.

Zhou Chang crouched beside the broker with a sinister smile: "Answer exactly what my godfather asks. If you dare lie, we’ve got ways to deal with you."

Saying this, he pinched the broker’s ribs with a hand like a vice, causing a cracking sound, and the broker wailed like a slaughtered pig.

Yuan Xing whispered to Chen Ji’s ear: "Godfather, after Zhou Chang left the Martial Arts Hall, he worked under Prince Xing as a Magistrate of Criminal Cases for seven years, known far and wide as a harsh official. He only returned to claim his territory after receiving his title... You might not have heard of Prince Xing, he’s the one who manages the Imperial Prison for His Majesty, a low-profile person."

At this time, the broker gasped and shouted: "Gentlemen, I’ll tell you everything!"

Chen Ji calmly asked: "Where do the pirates sell the people they abduct?"

Zhou Chang kicked the broker’s buttock: "Godfather is asking you."

The broker got up, knelt on the ground, and replied: "To the godfather..."

Zhou Chang kicked him again: "Do you call him godfather too?"

The broker cried and got up again: "Reporting, sir, the pirates categorize their captives. If they capture local gentry, officials, or scholars, they have brokers like me demand ransom, ranging from two hundred to five hundred taels. If paid, they release the captives as promised. If their families refuse to pay, they consider selling them."

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Did they target someone specific this time in Jingjiang?"

Zhou Chang was about to raise his foot again, but the broker quickly replied: "They have their sights set on the King Family of Jingjiang. The head of the Wang Family does silk business in Jinling. Abducting his entire family can fetch several thousand taels of silver. But this time, the pirates don’t want silver; they want silk since selling it to the Southern Ocean is more profitable."

Chen Ji asked again: "If ransom is not paid, where will they be sold?"

The broker answered: "They are sold to Hirado Port, Five Islands, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, among which scholars are most valuable, as Japanese feudal lords need Ning Dynasty scholars to teach their children reading, music, calligraphy, and painting."

"Next are weavers, blacksmiths, shipbuilders, and doctors; they are in high demand and can be sold anywhere."

"Lastly are women and children, some are sold to samurais’ and merchants’ houses as maidservants, weaving silk by day, subjected to abuse by night. Some are sold off as prostitutes in port towns and castles... As for children, the pretty ones are most valuable, and pirates even refuse to let their families buy them back, usually keeping them as household servants, who continue as slaves for life."

Chen Ji asked: "It’s impossible for pirates to frequently travel back and forth between the Ning Dynasty and Japan. They must have a base or campsite on land in the Ning Dynasty, where is it?"

The broker had a bitter expression: "Sir, I’m just a guide and translator, they wouldn’t let me know these things."

Jiang Chai coldly asked: "Before they return to camp every time, where do they drop you off?"

The broker answered honestly: "A small boat is left for me outside Salt City, I row back to shore by myself."

Jiang Chai pondered for a moment: "How many days are they gone each time, the shortest and longest?"

The broker recalled: "The shortest is two days, the longest is a month."

Jiang Chai looked at Chen Ji: "Godfather, with a favorable wind, a pirate ship can sail two hundred miles a day. Finding them within two hundred miles from the salt field is guaranteed. Give me seven days, and I’ll definitely root them out."

Seeing Jiang Chai taking the lead, Yuan Xing quickly said: "Godfather, once we find the pirates, I can kill them all..."

Jiang Chai sneered: "Look at you boasting."

At this moment, a commotion was heard outside the South City Gate. Chen Ji turned to see Zheng Jiye holding a torch, leading a large group of people towards them, shouting as he went: "See the pirate heads at the gate? We killed them, you can sell them!"

...

There is another Chapter tonight, take a look tomorrow morning.