Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 411 Bottom Line

Chiyo Shimazu, standing to the side, said coldly, "How come I didn't know the Shimazu family had tens of thousands of samurai? Brother, please don't confuse foot soldiers with samurai. It's already good enough that we can muster a thousand samurai. Don't make our lord laugh at us."

Shimazu Mitsuhisa was taken aback. He had indeed confused the concepts. The so-called tens of thousands of troops were actually mostly peasant foot soldiers, with less than a fifth being true samurai. He thought to himself, Chiyo had only been with this Ming general for a few days, and she was already siding with outsiders. His father was right not to let her inherit the position of head of the family.

Liu Ye only realized after hearing Shimazu Chiyo's words that samurai and foot soldiers were not the same thing. However, he didn't mind, since he didn't need that many people anyway.

“I know your Shimazu family is powerful, but you don’t need tens of thousands of troops. A thousand or two samurai will suffice.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa obediently agreed, thinking to himself: General Liu probably thinks samurai are as common as cabbages. He casually asks for one or two thousand, but even if you gather all the samurai in the Satsuma Domain, you probably won't have enough for two thousand. It seems that you will have to recruit down-on-their-luck ronin from the neighboring domains to meet this standard.

"As for the target of the attack..." Liu Ye originally wanted to place the location in Guangdong, so that it would be easier to control the situation under his nose and prevent the Japanese from acting recklessly. However, after thinking about it again, he realized that Guangdong was not as important to Chongzhen as Jiangnan. It would be better to land directly in Zhejiang, so that the operation could be maximized. Therefore, he changed his mind and said, "It will be in Zhejiang."

Shimazu Mitsuhisa was secretly delighted. Jiangnan was said to be the wealthiest region in the Ming Dynasty. If he could take this opportunity to make some money, the trip would be worthwhile. He tentatively asked, "Besides the government officials, can we also take away the valuables of the common people?"

Liu Ye frowned and replied, "You may plunder the government treasury as you please, but the common people cannot be easily looted. If you encounter wealthy or powerful families, you may rob them, but you cannot kill them. In short, unless you are surrounded and attacked by government troops, you cannot attack anyone first."

Mitsuhisa Shimazu was somewhat disappointed. He felt constrained and unable to fully utilize his abilities. However, he dared not raise any objections and could only respectfully reply, "Yes, Mitsuhisa knows what to do."

Liu Ye said to Putmans and Shimazu Mitsuhisa, "You two rest in Lingao for one night, and take the 'Voyage' back tomorrow. Gather the fleet and personnel in Lingao before the end of next month."

After the two were taken to rest, Liu Ye paced back and forth for a while, thinking that it was unrealistic to rely on the Japanese self-discipline. He felt that it was necessary to take preventative measures, so he ordered someone to call Shi Ying and Gao Jie over.

After Shi Ying and Gao Jie arrived at the council hall, Liu Ye briefly explained his plan and then said, "I'm only telling you this for now. Don't spread it around, especially don't let Mr. Sun and the others know."

Shi Ying nodded, indicating his understanding: "According to scholars, the general's move should be called 'raising a bandit to enhance his own prestige,' which is the same as Lin San's exploitation of wealthy households back then. Scholars like Mr. Sun may not be able to accept it all at once, so it's better not to tell him."

Gao Jie thought for a moment and expressed his understanding: "We have no choice but to do this for our own benefit. I understand your actions, General."

"We will keep this a secret, please rest assured, General."

"Well, very good. What I'm going to talk to you about next is not that, but how to restrain the Japanese samurai and the Dutch fleet. My initial idea is: Gao Jie will send people to keep an eye on the Dutch, and Shi Ying will send people to accompany the Japanese samurai. Their target will be the government, not the massacre of civilians. We want to achieve our political goals, but we can't get our hands too dirty with the blood of civilians. That's our bottom line."

"The Dutch are our defeated foe. I am confident I can control them. Please rest assured, General," Gao Jie assured him, patting his chest.

Shi Ying realized the seriousness of the matter and cautiously replied, "I cannot guarantee that not a single civilian will die unjustly, but it is still possible to stop the Japanese from indiscriminately killing innocent people."

Liu Ye nodded: "That's enough. Go back and make the arrangements, and we'll take action in the middle of next month. There's no fighting going on right now, so this is the most important thing for the Qiongzhou Camp."

The two replied in unison, "Yes, sir! We guarantee the mission will be accomplished!"

South of Lingao.

The temporary dwellings of the villagers were rows of low wooden houses. At the end of the row was a locked house with no windows on any side, except for a small ventilation opening on the side of the door. It looked a lot like a small dark room for confinement in later times.

One of the soldiers looked up at the sun; it was already noon. He took out his key, unlocked the rough iron lock, opened the door, and said into the dark space inside, "It's time. You two, come out!"

With a rustling sound of footsteps, two young men, one muscular and one thin, emerged. Both looked extremely haggard, as if they hadn't eaten or slept for days. The thinner man's face was covered in bruises, while the muscular man's wrist was wrapped in cloth, with faint traces of blood visible.

The soldier coldly instructed, "Our squad leader said that if you fight again, it won't be three days anymore, it'll be ten days straight. You'll only get water, no food. You'll be lucky if you don't starve. Now go back to where you were working."

These two were Lan Lin and Zhu Jinhu. After their fight, they were locked in a "dark room" to continue their unfinished battle. Although Lan Lin had the upper hand, Zhu Jinhu was very stubborn and would bite when he couldn't win, so he wasn't at too much of a disadvantage. After being hungry for a day, both of them were exhausted and stopped fighting, until they were released on the third day.

On the way back to Tuntian, Lan Lin glanced at the short man and said, "You've got some guts, you're not a coward. It's not like I can bully you with my strength alone. How about you try a different kind of competition with your grandpa?"

Zhu Jinhu remained as taciturn as ever: "How do we compete?" He wouldn't utter a single extra word.

Lan Lin glanced back at the soldier who had released them, staring enviously at the gleaming metallic rifle. He whispered, "I've heard the soldiers in Qiongzhou Prefecture are all incredibly arrogant, they don't respect the government at all, and their pay is generous—officials make seventeen or eighteen taels of silver a month! We're stuck here toiling in the fields, working ourselves to the bone for a month, and we're not even worth a hair on their leg. Why don't we go beg the officials to let us join the army directly? A year later, if either of us does poorly, we'll kneel down and kowtow three times, calling them 'Grandpa,' how about that?"

Zhu Jinhu stopped, thought for a few seconds, and then forcefully uttered two words: "I'll gamble!"

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Note 1: Ashigaru was the lowest rank of infantry in ancient Japan. They performed manual labor in peacetime and became foot soldiers in wartime. During wartime, they received training in archery and firearms and were organized into units. In the Edo period, they became the lowest-ranking samurai and miscellaneous soldiers.