The rise of the poor

Chapter 2108 Prince Hui Arrives

Late at night, snowflakes began to float in the sky. The north wind was howling, blowing the snowflakes all over the place. All living things on the land turned white.

The wind at sea was even stronger, rolling up thousands of waves that hit the rocks, splashing water all over the sky, blending perfectly with the snowflakes falling from the sky.

Ligang was brightly lit, and Japanese pirates armed with swords and guns were patrolling back and forth. From the sheds made of wood and thatch came the sound of spinning and weaving, where numb and haggard women were supervised by the Japanese pirates with whips.

It was freezing cold and the women's hands and feet were frozen. Some of their fingers were swollen like radishes, but they didn't dare to be lazy at all.

From time to time, there were screams of women. The Japanese pirates thought she was too slow and whipped her as a warning.

These women were all captured decent women. The young and beautiful ones were taken away by the pirates to vent their sexual desires, while the old and ugly ones were kept in a circle to weave cloth.

"Hurry up, we must weave another 10,000 pieces of cloth within three days. Prince Hui wants to deliver the goods to the Portuguese. If there is one meter missing, you must deliver them all to the camp. Let the men destroy them. It doesn't matter if they are ugly or old. After the lights are blown out, they are all the same. Just rush and it's done."

The Japanese pirate supervisor paced back and forth, dragging his whip on the ground and making threats.

Wang Zhi did as he said. Three days later, he would trade with the Portuguese in Ligang, exchanging silk and cotton cloth for firearms in the hands of the Portuguese. Although fighting against the Japanese pirates was a cost-free business and he could earn more money by robbing them, Wang Zhi never forgot his dream of doing business. While fighting against the Japanese pirates, he would do business with the Portuguese and other clients from time to time.

Portuguese firearms were undoubtedly the best in this era. After Wang Zhi replaced the firearms, he usually sold them to daimyo from all over Japan. At that time, there was a melee among daimyo from all over Japan, and firearms were in great demand. With such a transfer, the profit could be as much as eight times.

Wang Zhi had two main livelihoods. One was doing business, trading with smugglers along the coast, trading with foreigners such as the Portuguese, and trading with daimyos from all over Japan; the other was acting like a Japanese pirate, burning, killing, and looting.

After hearing the threats from the pirate supervisors, the women acted faster because what the pirate supervisors said was true and they had experienced this kind of thing before.

Women suffered terribly when they fell into the hands of the Japanese pirates.

Men are even worse off.

The men captured by the Japanese pirates were basically young and strong laborers. The first thing they did after capturing them was to shave their hair into the pirates' topknot, and then paint the top of their heads to make them look like pirates.

On weekdays, these captives would be forced to work by the Japanese pirates with whips and leather belts, to reinforce the Ligang Fortress, or to clean Japanese ships, as well as to do heavy physical work. For example, now it is late at night, and the cold wind is howling. There are many thinly dressed and skinny captives on the seashore, who are driven by the Japanese pirates with buttocks and Japanese swords, and are barefoot in the port to clean and maintain the Japanese warships.

During the war, when the Japanese pirates were attacking a city, breaking out of a siege, or charging an enemy line, their usual tactic was to drive these captives to take the lead, forcing them to rush to the front with simple weapons and fight desperately, becoming cannon fodder for the Japanese pirates to consume the government troops.

The real Japanese pirates followed behind, waiting for the government troops to tire themselves out. When the cannon fodder prisoners had consumed the government troops' physical strength and energy, they would jump up and break out, either to reap the spoils of battle or to deal a fatal blow to the government troops.

Some of these captured young and strong men thought that if they became cannon fodder they would be killed by the government troops, so they might as well join the Japanese pirates, where they could eat delicious food, drink spicy drinks and play with women. So these young and strong men worked particularly hard, and after experiencing one or two bloody battles as cannon fodder, they stood out and were absorbed by the Japanese pirates, becoming the people they hated.

Of course, more prisoners still had to repeat the path of cannon fodder. They were driven by the Japanese pirates to work on weekdays and used as cannon fodder during wartime.

The instigators of all these evils - the Japanese pirates, were tyrannical and cruel and happy in Ligang.

In the brightly lit hall, the Japanese pirate leaders held the women in their arms, touching them all over, toasting each other, and acting unrestrained and happy.

"Prince Hui has arrived."

A Japanese pirate shouted at the door, and the Japanese pirates in the hall behaved themselves a little, let go of the woman in their arms, and sat up straight.

Soon, accompanied by several ship owners under his command, Wang Zhi walked slowly into the hall wearing wooden clogs. He was dressed in the royal attire of the Japanese royal family, with a topknot in his hair. His face was intimidating without even being angry, and he had a very strong aura.

The number of Japanese pirates directly under Wang Zhi's command, plus those who obeyed his orders, as well as those he recruited from Japan and those he colluded with, had already exceeded 100,000. With so many Japanese pirates in charge of attacking cities and seizing territories, his momentum had long been built up.

"Greetings, Prince Hui." The Japanese pirate leader in the hall hurriedly bowed to Wang Zhi.

"Stand up, my king summoned you here today, I'm sure you all know why."

Wang Zhi sat high on a throne carved with a black dragon, waved his sleeves and spoke to the Japanese pirate leaders below the stage.

"Zhejiang Governor Zhu Ping'an overestimates his own capabilities and dares to declare war on us. He is really courting his own death. I request your permission to lead the troops to meet him, chop off his head, and present it to Prince Hui as a urinal." A Japanese pirate leader was the first to request permission.

"Fuck him! We are strong now, I think it won't be a problem to lead the troops to attack the Forbidden City directly! We haven't gone to Shaoxing to cause trouble for him yet, but he came to our door on his own. I don't know if he is so bold or if he drank fake wine during the New Year and got stupid. He actually wanted to kill himself and dared to touch Prince Hui's beard. We must kill him!"

"Fuck him! Please ask King Hui to send me. I will never embarrass King Hui! No matter how many people he sends, I will chop them all down!"

"Fuck him!"

The Japanese pirate leaders in the hall were very excited and were ready to fight. They volunteered to lead their pirates to fight against Zhu Ping'an.

Seeing the whole hall full of people volunteering to fight, Wang Zhi nodded with satisfaction, stretched out his hand to press down, and said slowly, "Very good, the wine and women didn't drain your bodies. Seeing that each of you is as fierce as a wolf, I am very satisfied. Coming out to fight the Japanese pirates, tying your heads to your belts to seek a future, this kind of ruthlessness is what I want."

"Prince Hui is right. If a man is not ruthless, he cannot stand firm!" Immediately, a leader of the Japanese pirates stood up and agreed, flattering Wang Zhi.

"Please rest assured, Prince Hui. We are not exaggerating. Even if we drank 18 bowls of wine and slept with 18 women, we can still defeat the government troops! None of the government troops are capable of fighting. They are all as weak as chickens. We can crush them to death with one hand."

The Japanese pirates were full of confidence, and their words were full of contempt for the Ming Dynasty's official army.

It's not their fault for being conceited. It's just that the Ming army is too weak. Every time they fight against the army, they win. It's almost like a father beating his son. They can fight however they want, and the Japanese pirates will win no matter how they fight.

After so many hearty victories, it was hard for the Japanese pirates not to be confident and conceited. (End of this chapter)