Novel Bin Chapter 226: Persuasion
A pair of footsteps could be heard before a eunuch walked through the door.
Ji Bei Hou smiled, "What is Eunuch Shi doing here at such a late hour?"
"I wouldn’t be here if there was nothing important!" The eunuch laughed before Ji Bei Hou instructed his men to withdraw. He then turned to the eunuch and asked, "Did King Lu send you over?"
The eunuch then muttered under his breath before he replied, "Yes, King Lu has decreed that Pei Zi Yun is to disappear at sea. I’ve planned it out and have been ordered here."
Ji Bei Hou paused before replying, "How can I assist? You should know that my authority has already been reduced. As of now, I only have 5,000 men and I don’t have a naval fleet."
"There’s no need for your 5,000 men!" The eunuch stood up and continued, "I’ve obeyed the orders issued by King Lu. He’s already activated Admiral Chen."
At this point, the eunuch gave a shrill laugh, "The distance from the port to the nearest island is about twenty-five kilometers, and he has to go through the same route. Pei Zi Yun has around a thousand men from the navy. Although he has achieved victory, it must’ve come at the price of his men. He probably has five hundred soldiers at most now. We can kill them all."
The eunuch spoke up to this point before he paused, "Chen Ping can be used by us now. However, since there isn’t any known enemy of the state, the navy cannot be used without reason. Hence, they would use the excuse of patrolling the seas. Such an excuse would limit the number of soldiers being deployed to a thousand. Although a thousand soldiers might seem sufficient against Pei Zi Yun’s five hundred, we have to be sure to kill him. I’m afraid we need more men."
Ji Bei Hou leaned to one side and laughed, "I’ve already said. I cannot deploy my soldiers without cause. I might be able to transfer another five hundred men to your side, but no more than that."
"Excellent!" The eunuch sat back down as his eyes glimmered, "King Lu has considered this carefully. I have another 500 men at my disposal now, and they are all excellent soldiers."
"Apart from those men, we have ten of the Holy Jail Sect’s Daoists."
"I even brought King Lu’s handwritten decree and Dao arts which were specially designed to kill him. There are no mountains and no roads for him to hide this time, since he’s at sea. Once we catch him… If two thousand soldiers cannot finish off him and his five hundred men, I think we all deserve to die."
"Absolutely right! Hearing these words, Ji Bei Hou wanted to laugh, but he held it in. He then stood up and replied, "Please tell King Lu, since he has such plans, I shall be honored to assist."
Golden Island
The strong winds from the sea carried the smell of blood, and rustled the flags which caused a flapping sound to be heard.
At the edge of the beach, someone shouted loudly. Following his shouts, the captured pirate leaders who had been given up by their own men were ordered to board the boats. These men had to be transported back to the port and handed to the Imperial Court as prisoners. There were even more special ‘gifts’ to the Imperial Court, boxes and boxes of severed heads peppered with calcium powder to prevent decay. This was to show their success during the battles.
Pei Zi Yun stood atop the deck as sunlight shone down upon his face. Nobody knew what he was thinking, but he looked like he was waiting for something to happen.
A group of people rushed up the boat and whispered, "Your Excellency, the interrogations have been completed."
"What did you find out?" Pei Zi Yun’s pupils dilated as he asked.
The soldier then replied, "Your Excellency, after thorough investigations, we found out that fifty pirates belonged to Ji Bei Hou. Out of these, thirty had died. The rest are among the captives."
"It was rumored that Ji Bei Hou and the pirates were linked. It’s a pity that those documents had been burnt."
"There is also loot stolen from Japan’s Tsushima Islands. There’s approximately 20,000 stone worth of goods. These pirates must’ve stolen it from the islands and took their loot back to Golden Island."
Pei Zi Yun considered this for a moment before he ordered, "Gather Ji Bei Hou’s men and those who were involved in the robbery of those goods and kill them all together."
"Your Excellency." The soldier hesitated, unsure of what to do. Cai Yuan Zhen was some distance away, but he overheard the conversation. He stepped forward and spoke, "Your Excellency, it’s inauspicious to kill captives after the war is concluded."
Pei Zi Yun then spoke sternly, "Captain Cai, such affairs are seldom simple. Nobody can say anything about attacking and killing pirates. Based on previous cases, rewards for everyone for such a successful raid will come in about six months at most."
Pei Zi Yun then laughed before he continued, "If you report this matter, things would be different."
"Even if you managed to prove that Ji Bei Hou’s men joined up with the pirates, how much damage can you do to Ji Bei Hou? He has too many excuses and ways to dismiss these accusations."
"Maybe the Governor would love for such a situation to present itself. But regarding Ji Bei Hou and the pirates who stole from Tsushima Islands, one is an internal affair, and the other is an external affair. They’re however both similar in the fact that the Imperial Court will get involved once a situation like this comes to light, everyone will be implicated."
"If you really report this matter, all your efforts when it comes to exterminating these pirates would go to waste. Not only will you offend Ji Bei Hou, you will have to be on guard for his revenge. Many other people will be dragged into this conflict as well. Once things go bad, not only will you not be rewarded, you might also be framed and killed. Do you really want to proceed?"
"Those who always wish to bring it a huge case, will never get to live long."
"Our job at this point, is to cleanly deal with the surrounding pirates. Once we succeed, we shall be rewarded. Everything else should wait until you’re promoted and given more authority."
Cai Yuan Zhen then understood as he trembled in fear. He hurriedly replied, "Your Excellency Pei, I shall see that the deed is done."
As soon as Cai Yuan Zhen finished speaking, he called on his soldiers, "Execute this entire group of men."
As soon as the order was given, Chen Pu had changed into fresh garments with silver embroidery on it. He was holding onto a jug of wine as he poured it out into a glass and brought it forward. He then laughed, "Master Top Scorer, the pirates have been killed. Looks like you’ve done a great service for the Imperial Court."
The wind blew strongly against them as Pei Zi Yun received the glass and gulped it down in one gulp, "Great wine."
"But of course, that’s my parting gift from my wife." Chen Pu then poured another cup of wine for Pei Zi Yun, "Before we departed, I made stringent preparations for our time at sea. I expected to be gone for at least half a year, and didn’t expect to be done within three days."
"Congratulations on your early return to your wife. Since I’m not an official of the Imperial Court, it would be difficult to receive reward from them despite my efforts. You however, shall be promoted very soon." Pei Zi Yun raised his glass and touched glasses with him.
"Yes, and I have to thank Master Top Scorer for it." Chen Pu smiled as he filled Pei Zi Yun’s glass again.
All of a sudden, screams rang out on the shore. When Chen Pu turned to look, he saw pirates being dragged to the beach. Following Cai Yuan Zhen’s laughter, the axe swung down and decapitated the prisoner.
Seeing such a scene, Chen Pu felt dizzy as he asked, "Top Scorer Pei, what are you doing? Killing prisoners?"
"These pirates are too vile and ferocious. Besides, we don’t have enough food supplies and men to watch them. The only alternative would be to kill them." Pei Zi Yun laughed as he replied.
Sunlight fell across his face as he glowed a bright rosy red. The agonizing screams continued for a long time as twenty men were slaughtered. Cai Yuan Zhen then ordered for them to place the heads within a crate and carry it onto the boat.
At this point, a lieutenant stepped over and reported, "Your Excellency Pei, we have clear numbers of casualties. There are 251 dead soldiers, 450 wounded. The rest are in good health."
Pei Zi Yun paused for several moments before replying, "For those who died while in service, clean their name tags properly before cremating them. We shall have to take their ashes labelled with their name tags back. As for the wounded, treat them till they’re fully healed."
"Yes, your Excellency."
"Once these tasks have been completed, we shall resume on our voyage." Pei Zi Yun spoke.
"Yes, your Excellency." Everyone around responded. Nobody wanted to stay on this desolated island. Even Chen Pu realized that Pei Zi Yun had control over the situation, and saw that he even cared for the wellbeing of his other captives. He thus didn’t take the recent killings to heart.
Before long, smoke started to fill up the entire island. It almost looked like it was about to mix in with the clouds. Seeing that everything was done, Pei Zi Yun ordered, "Everyone board the ships!"
"Yes!" Everyone was homesick and wanted to be back home after the numerous battles as they shouted commands to each other. Ten huge warships headed out for the deep seas as they started making their way back. In the blink of an eye, half a day had passed.
According to the old lore, it wasn’t good to be travelling at sea during the night. Hence, they stopped by a small island. The island was so small, it didn’t even have potable water. So, they just threw their anchors down and remained onboard for the night.
Small fires were started on the decks, while pots of hot broth with meat were prepared. Delicious aromas diffused across all the ships. All of a sudden, Pei Zi Yun felt his enchanted talisman burning within his chest. He hurriedly excused himself and returned to his room, where he retrieved the talisman.
"Sect Leader, we’ve finished the calculations. There was a total of seventeen boats on Golden Islands. All of them are pirate boats."
"There are 201 normal civilians, and 2400 stones of grain. We’ve also found a warehouse, which contained 6,000 gold coins. Out of the 500 captives, 50 of them were forced into piracy. They are receiving differential treatment from the captives." The Daoist spoke happily.
Pei Zi Yun paused to consider for some time before he replied, "Alright. You have to listen to my orders and handle the situation on the island exactly as I instruct. Those who refuse to obey orders should be killed. Since we’re in rough times, tough measures have to be used."
The Daoist replied instantly, "Yes, Sect Leader."
He then instructed the Daoists to handle other smaller matters before switching the talisman off. The biggest gains from killing the pirates didn’t come from receiving gold and silver. It was the fact that he had acquired two new islands, farmers, and boats.
He stretched out a finger to tap on the talisman and started communicating with Yu Yun Jun.
At that moment, a bright ray of light materialized just as Yu Yun Jun appeared. She swept a hand across her hair and asked, "Sect leader, how are you now? Have you found the pirates?’
Since this was the third day of the attack, she probably assumed that it just begun, and therefore wasn’t too worried about Pei Zi Yun.
Pei Zi Yun laughed, "Haha, master. I am well. We don’t have to look for pirates anymore, for they’re all dead. It’s just that I have something important to say."
"Eh? Sect Leader, please carry on." Yu Yun Jun was first shocked, but hurriedly replied.
Pei Zi Yun then continued, "Master, please send someone to report the current status to the Governor. Tell him that we have achieved victory, and will be waiting outside the port for several days."
"Why must you wait outside the port for a few days?" Yu Yun Jun asked, evidently curious.
"Master, just tell the Governor this. He will understand." Pei Zi Yun spoke as a cold light flashed past his eyes, "Even if I’m wrong about this, we would only waste a few days. There’s enough supplies on the boat to see us through those few days."
Governor’s Mansion
After the Governor had finished reviewing his documents, he decided to come out and relax. He instructed some people to play music for him. At this point, the Governor was talking to several of his guests and laughing heartily by the pavilion.
It was deep autumn and the weather was perfect. When the Governor finished listening to the current song that was playing, he then turned around and spoke, "What have you got for me?"
"Your Excellency, this is a letter from Free Cloud Sect."
"Oh, why didn’t they give it to me directly?" The Governor was somewhat taken aback, but received the letter anyway.
Without hesitating, the Governor took the letter out of the envelope and paused, "What, they managed to achieve victory over the pirates in just three days? And even killed two of the leading brothers?"
"They’ve killed five hundred, and captured another hundred. They’ve seized more than 200,000 taels worth of gold and silver. This is a huge victory!" The Governor twirled his beard while he beamed ecstatically. "I thought that they would require half a year, or even a year. I’ve also provided them with enough supplies to last an entire year. Who would’ve expected them to return just after three days."
"If this was true, this is such a joyful moment. We can save so much on the soldiers’ provisions."
Although the Governor didn’t look too overwhelmed, his heart was racing with glee and excitement. At this point, he had contributed three huge successes to the Imperial Court. Just this alone, at this point of time, could even merit a title of ‘count’ being conferred upon him!
However the Governor collected himself and snapped back to the letter. He then mumbled under his breath, "Remain outside the port and wait for a few days? Why won’t he come back?"
After thinking for some time, he finally understood. He then instructed, "Go check on Admiral Chen Ping’s movements. See if anything unusual pops up."
Seeing that his men had left, he shouted once more, "Come back! Also, check to see if there’s any movement with Ji Bei Hou!"