I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 917 - Chapter 917 Translation

Chapter 917: Translation Chapter 917: Translation Editor: Atlas Studios Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin went to see the 58 pirates, all of whom were Japanese, who had woken up.

The two of them expressed their doubts about how these pirates dared to break the stalemate and go ashore first.

The Japanese pirates were lying on the ground and cursing.

When they saw Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin enter, their eyes widened with hatred.

If not for the chains on their bodies, they would have rushed up to the two of them.

Qi Haoran glanced at them and turned to leave, with Fan Zijin hurriedly following him out.

Qi Haoran turned around and looked at Zhou Zhou coldly.

“Do you still want me to teach you how to interrogate pirates?

Beat them into submission first.

I don’t want to hear any swear words from them when I come again in the afternoon.” Zhou Zhou quickly lowered his head and agreed.

Seeing that he was leaving, Fan Zijin said to Qi Haoran, “Come and interrogate yourself in the afternoon.

Let me know once you get something out of them.” Qi Haoran said, “There are too many foreigners in Guangzhou.

I don’t understand what they’re saying at all.

As I don’t know if those pirates know Mandarin, I have to find a few people who are proficient in various languages.” “The merchants who often do business with foreign vassals should know such contacts.” Fan Zijin analyzed.

“Also, old navy veterans often deal with merchants and pirates, so they should understand the language, too.

I’ll help you find the merchants.

You can find the navy veterans yourself.” Qi Haoran nodded and instructed his bodyguards to do it before heading to the government office with Fan Zijin.

When the officials of the government office saw Qi Haoran, they stood up and bowed.

Then, they took the documents to Fan Zijin to listen to the announcement.

Assistant Commander Wang was already waiting in the government office.

When he saw the two of them walking over hand in hand, he hurriedly stood up and bowed.

After Qi Haoran waved his hand, he sat down in his seat.

The hall was divided into two rows, one on the left and the other on the right.

This was the first meeting between the military and government since Qi Xiuyuan and Fan Zijin became the top leaders of Guangzhou.

There was only one purpose for this meeting, which was to investigate Yu Cheng.

Previously, Yu Cheng had already been sent to the capital for corruption, bribery, collusion with pirates, and harming innocent people.

However, as Fan Zijin rebuilt the fishing village, he realized that he was in fact guilty of many more crimes than those listed previously.

Because the fishermen had moved ten miles inshore, two saltworks were discovered in the desolate area of the fishing village.

Those two saltworks belonged to Yu Cheng.

Back then, the fishermen had no choice but to move inwards due to the slaughtering and robbery done by the pirates.

When they discovered two hidden saltworks there, they could not help but wonder if the people who slaughtered the villagers back then were actually pirates.

Also, were the officials in Guangdong totally clueless?

It was almost impossible to build two saltworks, dry salt, sell salt, and transport salt, all while keeping it a secret from so many officials in Guangdong.

Someone must have helped them somehow.

The saltworks were built eight years ago.

At that time, as Great Qi had yet to be established and was in a chaotic period, it was not difficult to do such a thing.

However, after Great Qi was established and order gradually stabilized, it was difficult to keep it under wraps for much longer.

Fan Zijin could turn a blind eye to such matters, but Qi Haoran did not care.

After learning this news from Fan Zijin, he decided to gather the generals and government officials for a meeting.

As it was a problem left behind from the previous dynasty, he could lessen the punishment at his discretion, provided that the officials turned themselves in.

Qi Haoran said, “I don’t care if you’re currently holding a position, retired, or have transferred elsewhere.

Anyone who participated in this matter must turn themselves in.

Otherwise, if I find out, I won’t show mercy.

Those who are still alive will be punished accordingly!” Fan Zijin looked coldly at the officials below and said calmly, “Everyone, don’t forget that the offenders in Yu Cheng’s case have all been locked up.

Even Yu Cheng has been arrested.” The faces of the officials below were a little pale.

They had originally thought that the earthquake had passed, but they did not expect a violent aftershock to follow.

It seemed that the officialdom of Guangdong was going to be shaken again.

After settling this matter, Qi Haoran returned to the navy government office.

The pirates lay on the ground, barely breathing.

Compared to this morning, they were like fish that were about to die.

When they saw Qi Haoran enter, there was hatred in their eyes, but more than that, there was fear and wariness.

Qi Haoran stood still and turned to ask Zhou Zhou, “Have you found a translator?” “Yes.” Zhou Zhou came back to his senses and pushed out a middle-aged man in ragged clothes.

“Your Highness, this person’s name is Zhao San.

A few years ago, he was captured by the Japanese and became a pirate.

He learned Japanese while he was there, so he has no problem translating for us.” Frowning, Qi Haoran asked, “You’re a pirate?

Then how did you come back?” Zhao San bowed in fear and trepidation.

“Y-Your Highness, I was captured by them to be a cook.

I was only in charge of cooking.

Two months ago, the pirates came back and said that the situation in Guangdong had changed, that someone very powerful had come and defeated the Westerner pirates.

Those people also have big ships now, so they had to move.

Oh, the island they lived on previously was very close to our coast.

With a big ship, one could get there in an hour.

Thus, they were terrified and planned to move.

I was also forced to board the ship.

Because I had been very obedient all these years, they didn’t guard against me much.

When the ship reached the reef, I pretended to lose my footing and fell into the water.

I dived into the water and hid in the reefs, and only dared to sneak back after a day.” When Zhao San thought of the narrow escape back then, his eyes could not help but turn red.

“Fortunately, I’m good at swimming and my luck is good.

I swam for half a day to get here.” As soon as he went ashore, he was discovered by the patrolling navy and brought back.

Zhou Zhou got someone to verify his identity and realized that he was registered as a dead person in the files from eight years ago.

Zhou Zhou went to the junior officer and the old residents from the fishing village, and was told that they did indeed know Zhao San.

That was why Zhou Zhou didn’t treat him as a spy and deal with him accordingly.

When Qi Haoran was looking for a translator, Zhou Zhou didn’t know of anyone suitable.

There were some navy members who knew a few words, but none of them was truly proficient in Japanese.

Thinking that Zhao San should know the language since he had lived among the Japanese pirates for eight years, Zhou Zhou called him over.

Of course, in order to prevent the other party from lying or playing tricks, Zhou Zhou even found two soldiers who could understand a little bit of Japanese to listen in on their conversation.

When Qi Haoran looked at Zhou Zhou, the latter nodded slightly at him, indicating that Zhao San could be trusted.

With his chin slightly raised, he said, “Ask them how long they’ve been pirates, where their nest is, and why did they dare to go ashore to plunder this time.

Also, how many more people are left in their nest?” Zhao San hurriedly bent down and nodded.

Then, he went forward and asked the other party in a daze.

At first, the pirates all looked at him coldly.

When the prison guard beside the pirates saw that they didn’t answer, he whipped them.

The guards didn’t need to understand Japanese.

Just by looking at their expressions, they could tell that the other party was obeying and resisting.

Having received orders not to be polite to the pirates, the guards didn’t show any mercy.

Anyway, there were plenty of piratesaEUR”58 of them.

Surely there would be a few who were willing to speak.

These pirates couldn’t take a beating.

After being whipped a few times, they submitted.

Even though their eyes were still filled with hatred, they were now willing to open their mouths and answer Zhao San’s questions.

Zhao San translated each sentence for Qi Haoran.

After a while, Qi Haoran finally understood the whole story.

These pirates were all veterans, and this was not the first time they had gone ashore to plunder the commoners.

They were just refugees from Japan who used to be fishermen.

However, because of the chaos in Japan, they could not survive in the country, so they took a boat and later landed in Fuzhou.

Seeing that the people there were well-off, they became pirates and relied on robbery for a living.

However, the navy in Fuzhou was powerful.

After being attacked by the navy a few times, these pirates fled to Guangdong, and this was where they had made their fortune.