“Suddenly feel like, perhaps we should leave Takeda with a complete corpse, at least wrap him in a mat and bury him?”
Mao Haifeng looked at the twenty large boxes of gold and silver ingots neatly arranged in the basement, smiling so widely he could not close his mouth.
The boxes, half a person’s height, were filled to the brim, all with fist-sized gold ingots and silver ingots, emitting an enchanting glow that dazzled Mao Haifeng’s eyes, making his mouth water.
It seemed the Takeda family had a habit over two generations of melting the looted gold and silver into ingots. Their treasure room had more gold and silver than the county yamen’s treasury.
Seeing so many gold and silver ingots, Mao Haifeng felt he had been a bit excessive that morning, and should have left Takeda Lichuan with a complete corpse.
“Forget it, weren’t you the one who dismembered him?” Liu Dadao tugged at the corner of his mouth, then disdainfully added, “Besides, with so much gold, silver, and jewels hidden in their family’s secret underground room, it’s clear this bastard harmed many of our Ming people. Dismembering him is nothing, even death by a thousand cuts wouldn’t be too much.”
“Hehe, now their family’s wealth over two generations has all fallen to us cheaply, I even feel a bit embarrassed.” Mao Haifeng said with a chuckle.
Mao Haifeng said he felt embarrassed, but his hands showed no such feeling. As he spoke, he picked up one gold ingot and one silver ingot, put them to his mouth, and bit them to confirm they were real gold and silver. The smile on his face grew even wider. “Lord Zhu, let’s split it fifty-fifty, ten boxes each. Eh, where is Lord Zhu?”
At this moment, Mao Haifeng realised Zhu Ping’an was not there, and could not help but ask curiously.
“Your eyes are all on the ingots. Earlier, someone reported that many imprisoned common people were found in the village. The young master went to rescue them, give them travel money, and arrange people to send them home.”
Liu Dadao replied.
“Lord Zhu is good in everything, just too kind-hearted.” Mao Haifeng, upon hearing this, dismissively curled his lip.
“If it weren’t for our young master’s kindness, could you still stand here talking about him?!” Liu Dadao retorted sharply.
“Ahem… that’s true.” Mao Haifeng could not help but cough.
In Jiwu Village square, more than three hundred women and children remained on the square. They were the ones unwilling to return to their original homes, or too young to remember them.
“Please, great lord, our bodies are all dirty now. If we go back, we’ll face scorn and spit from family and villagers. Don’t send us back. If you insist on sending me back, I’d rather die.”
“Great lord, we can’t go back. My whole family was killed by the Japanese pirates, leaving me alone. Going back, I’d be isolated and unsupported, and looked down upon. Please, great lord, don’t send me back.”
“I don’t know where home is. I was abducted by Japanese pirates at eight years old.”
More than three hundred women and children knelt on the ground, crying and pleading bitterly to Zhu Ping’an. They all refused to return to their original homes.
Zhu Ping’an had already sent away more than eight hundred common people imprisoned by the Japanese pirates. They were all from Zhejiang and Fujian areas. Zhu Ping’an sent people to escort them back, and gave each five taels of silver for travel expenses.
The remaining women and children were those unwilling to go back.
“Everyone, please rise quickly, don’t get agitated. If you don’t want to go back, you can stay for now. When you want to return, I’ll arrange people to send you back.” Zhu Ping’an helped up an older woman, and said to the group of women and children.
Since they were unwilling to go back, Zhu Ping’an could not force them. If someone took their own life, it would go against the original intention of rescuing them.
So how to arrange them?
Zhu Ping’an thought for a moment, and had an idea. There were many villages in Zhejiang damaged by Japanese pirates. He could arrange them in a village near Shaoxing, with guaranteed safety, distribute some grain, money, and land, and let them live on their own.
He would not restrict their freedom. When they wanted to return to their original homes, he would arrange people to send them back.
“Are you willing?” Zhu Ping’an informed the women and children of his idea, and asked for their opinions.
“Thank you, great lord. The great lord has arranged so thoughtfully. We are willing, of course we are willing.”
The group of women and children knelt down excitedly, thanking him profusely.
“Escort them all the way to Zhao Family Village in Shaoxing Prefecture for settlement. Take this official document to the local county magistrate, order him to register their household registrations, and allocate land to them according to local villager standards.” Zhu Ping’an then arranged fifty Zhejiang soldiers to escort them back to Shaoxing, and wrote an official document by hand, to be delivered to the local county magistrate.
“As ordered.”
The Zhejiang soldiers accepted the order and left.
After Zhu Ping’an arranged the common people here, over there Mao Haifeng and Liu Dadao had already divided the Takeda family’s wealth over two generations. Each got ten boxes of gold and silver ingots, one hundred jars of fine wine, and more than a hundred bolts of silk and satin.
Besides the Takeda family’s wealth, the Zhejiang army also divided about one-third of the Jiwu Village houses.
These houses were all inhabited by Japanese pirates, and inside were the accumulated wealth of the pirates. Although not as much as the Takeda family’s, when converted, it amounted to five or six thousand taels of silver. This did not include more than a hundred heads of livestock, including chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and sheep.
Everyone returned fully loaded.
Zhu Ping’an ordered Jiwu Village to be completely preserved, like the fishing village stronghold, also as a Zhejiang army stronghold.
In addition, Zhu Ping’an had the idea of fishing.
Japan was separated from here by the sea, information did not flow. The news of Jiwu Village’s destruction certainly would not reach Japan.
Perhaps in the near future, according to custom, Japan would send Japanese pirates to Jiwu Village, led by the pirates there to raid and plunder coastal areas.
Zhu Ping’an ordered an ambush to be set in Jiwu Village. When the Japanese pirates from Japan came, give them a surprise, and wipe them out in one net.
With the destruction of the Jiwu Village pirates, there were no more large-scale pirate strongholds along the coast. The remaining were all pirate strongholds with less than a thousand people, some even less than a hundred.
These pirate strongholds were no longer a concern.
“The army rests for one day, slaughter pigs and sheep, kill chickens and geese. Everyone eat well, drink well, sleep well, and build up your spirits.”
After returning to the fishing village stronghold, Zhu Ping’an ordered.
Everyone cheered joyfully.
“Lord Zhu, the remaining pirate strongholds are no longer a concern. We can divide into teams of five hundred soldiers each, and go remove them separately. For slightly larger pirate strongholds, two teams cooperate, without much effort.”
Mao Haifeng confidently suggested to Zhu Ping’an.
“General Mao’s suggestion is very good. Just do as General Mao says. In addition, our people are not familiar with the places. Please General Mao send some people familiar with the various pirate strongholds to guide our people.”
Zhu Ping’an nodded and said.
“Leave it to me.” Mao Haifeng patted his chest resoundingly.
