Chapter 164 – Jiang Zhen Retreat

These officers and soldiers were not people from Wexing Province so they knew nothing about Jiang Zhen but at this time they no longer dared to underestimate him.

“These sea merchants are really bold and even brazenly organized such a large fleet!” The military officer who had to meet Jiang Zhen before, frowned.

There must be a big fleet of ships here to be able to capture these pirates!

“As long as they have money, what wouldn’t they dare to do?” Another man said.

“These people disobeyed the imperial court orders and fought with the people for profits! They should be all arrested and put into the jail!”Someone else said.

They looked aggrieved, but in fact, they all know very well that such things as competing with the people for profits have absolutely nothing to do with sea merchants.

But it didn’t affect what they said.

They were all jealous of those sea merchants. After breaking up just a few small groups of Cheng Yongzhen old troops they were able to gain a large amount of profits, they could only imagine how much Cheng Yongzhen and others had really earned…

“All right, let’s not talk about such things anymore!” The leader of navy said.

The commander of the navy was named Sun Qiyun and he was a middle-aged man in his forties. After reprimanding others he said: “The person in charge of the dock here is named Jiang Zhen? Isn’t he already here? Call him here!”

Jiang Zhen was soon invited to the ship of the officers and soldiers to meet Sun Qiyun.

Jiang Zhen could feel that these officers and soldiers were not very friendly to him, but at last didn’t show much malice. After entering the cabin, Sun Qiyun smiled and said: “Mr. Jiang caught the pirates we chased all the way, this was a great help to us!”

“No, I was just lucky, If those pirates were not chased by my lord to flee and run out of supplies, how could I have caught them?” Jiang Zhen said.

When it was time to act smooth, Jiang Zhen could still act very slick so he he praised the officers and soldiers in front of him and said time after yime it was just a fluke that he was able to catch these pirates.

Sun Qiyun and others were very comfortable to hear this.

“My lord, those pirates and their ships we do not dare to touch so I ask my lord to accept them.” Jiang Zhen said.

When Sun Qiyun heard his words he immediately become delighted. Jiang Zhen said “please” as if it was beyond him to take over these pirates and ships, but in fact…

That was a great thing!

They have been chasing this group of pirates, not for this group of pirates or their ships but for money.

Now they didn’t need to fight but all the ships and money would be returned to them …

“Ha ha, then you are welcome! “Sun Qiyun also did not push back, hearing Jiang Zhen words he immediately said and ordered: “Come and let other know to go. Let’s those little brats help master Jiang deal with these pirates!”

This was… they couldn’t wait till night, they would receive the spoils of war to go! Jiang Zhen felt a little helpless but he was still wearing a smile on his face.

Sun Qiyun glanced at Jiang Zhen, Jiang Zhen who stood upright, neither humble nor arrogant, which made him feel some affection.

Even those officials who were previously hostile to Jiang Zhen, now looking at Jiang Zhen expressions become much milder and friendlier.

At this time, officers and soldiers who were already ready to sleep were called up to gather together.

Then, these people lit torches and went toward the ships that were captured by Jiang Zhen.

The minds of these officers and soldiers were all on the ships and its goods. Seeing this situation Jiang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Zhen had already asked his men to withdraw from the ships full of pirates so these officers and soldiers took over those ships very quickly.

Then, something that Jiang Zhen did not expect at first, but later found that it could not be avoided, happened.

The officers and soldiers began to slaughter the pirates.

They quickly cut off the heads of the pirates who were tied up by Jiang Zhen’s men after they surrendered, then they directly threw their bodies into the sea.

The pirate’s head would be brought back for military merit.

There were bursts of screams from the pirates’ ships, begging for mercy and cries drifting in the night sky, making the night gloomy…

Jiang Zhen’s brow frowned slightly, he was in bad mood..

Those pirates were not good people and many of them deserve to die, but such a one-sided massacre was still a little difficult for him to accept.

However, in this day and age, in this society no one thought that there was anything wrong with doing so.

This night, none of the people in Yabian Village slept, nor did Jiang Zhen and his men, let alone those officers and soldiers.

Wang Ruicheng and his group also did not sleep. They were under supervision in very poor environment, but this was not the reason why they couldn’t sleep.

They couldn’t sleep, mainly because of worry and fear.

The voices from the sea made their hair stand, making them afraid that they would be treated in the same way.

“Uncle Wang, if they hand us over…” The teenager in Wang Ruicheng’s group was full of worry.

“It won’t happen.” Wang Ruicheng said comfortingly, but he himself was not that sure.

Jiang Zhen was really a good person but who could guarantee that he won’t hand them over for money or something else?

Even if Jiang Zhen rejected him and did not ask for the treasure left by Cheng Yongzhen, Wang Ruicheng was not able to be completely at ease with Jiang Zhen.

They whispered, but could not do anything about it. Finally they could only squeeze together and comfort each other.

When the sun slowly rose from the sea, many people who had been worried all night felt some sense of relief.

The rising soon always made sea look bluer, making the scene of sunrise very beautiful, but today the situation was different.

Today sea was not blue but red, emitting a strong smell of blood.

The number of those pirates was very large, that’s why they were under-supplied and for sake of supplies and ships, without even checking out tried to attack Yabian Village…

Now, those large numbers of pirates were all killed, even their families and children living on the ship, were also killed.

Among the bodies floating in the sea, there were also many female corpses.

Fortunately, these officers and soldiers left after dawn.

Taking back ships and heads of the pirates they left beach tainted with blood in Yabian Village.

The beach hasn’t been left like this for long.

The smell of blood attracted a lot of flesh-eating fish so it didn’t take long for those bodies to be gnawed clean. Then a wave come toward the beach, washing down the beach with bright red seawater leaving the beach clean.

By noon, it was no longer evident that thousands of people had died here.

However, the people of Yabian Village ware still very silent.

Near the Yabian Village were now living more than 10,000 people, including many children. On usual days there were always many children playing at the seaside, but today, they are all detained by their families and are not allowed to go near the beach.

Jiang Zhen stood on the dock for a while, then said to Jiang Ming: “Go and make arrangements. I’m going to Qinghua Island tomorrow.”

Qinghua Island was an island that could be reached in two days after taking a ship from Yabian Village and going south.

There ware many islands over there, and Qinghua Island was one of them.

The island did not have a name at first, so it was only after it was occupied by Jiang Zhen that Jiang Zhen gave it the name of Qinghua Island. In fact, he also had a commemorative idea – he intended to cultivate talents on this island.

The people who lived on this island now ware all young people.

They were all selected by Jiang Zhen and sent here, many of them are orphans. They were learning how to write, read and do various crafts. Little by little building up this island by making it better and better.

Today, there were about 2,000 people living on this island. These people were also all hidden in shadow by Jiang Zhen. This island was Jiang Zhen arranged retreat.

It was only retreat for now, since he was living well in Wexing Province for now. But he always vaguely feel that he would not be able to live peacefully in Wexing Province forever.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhen’s mood inevitably deteriorated.

The next day, Jiang Zhen went to Qinghua Island.

In the meantime, Sun Qiyun wrote a letter praising himself openly and secretly, saying that he had beheaded 10,000 enemies and captured many ships of the rebels.

In this latter, he didn’t mention Jiang Zhen all but in addition to this latter, he send another secret latter telling the whole story. Then he asked someone to send this letter to his “master”.

When Sun Qiyun asked someone to deliver the letter, Jiang Zhen had already arrived at Qinghua Island.

The island on which he used to settle Zhu Erlin and others was larger, but because of its geographical location, not many people used to live here. But now there ware houses all over it.

“Boss!” The people on Qinghua Island all came to the beach when they saw a ship approaching, and when they saw Jiang Zhen coming down they all spoke in unison.

The people living on this island were all very young so their faces were full of vigor and vitality. When Jiang Zhen saw them, his mood become better.

After he looked around Qinghua Island he become even more satisfied with this place.

The person who was in charge of this island was Zhu Erlin.

Zhu Erlin used to be illiterate, but in the past few years, he had learned a lot of things. At this moment, he took the account book to Jiang Zhen to report, but without even looking at it, he already knew everything about the island like the back of his hand.

“Boss Jiang, this island is now self-sufficient!” Zhu Erlin looked at Jiang Zhen in some satisfaction, not only was it self-sufficient, they were even started rising more chickens and ducks!

“You’re doing very well.” Jiang Zhen said.

After Jiang Zhen looked around the island and ordered some things, he left. He now felt very uneasy about Yabian Village so he intended to go back and observe more.

He had a vague feeling of unease so he specifically come to see this retreat he had prepared, but what he didn’t expect was that he would need this retreat much earlier than he thought.