I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 918 - Chapter 918 Making an Example

Chapter 918: Making an Example Chapter 918: Making an Example Editor: Atlas Studios At that time, the maritime ban in Guangdong was not strict.

As long as fishermen went to a remote coastline, they could still go into the sea to fish.

Therefore, there were many fishing villages within five miles of the coast.

The pirates often went ashore to plunder, and this was when they realized that the Guangdong Navy was much inferior to the Fuzhou Navy.

This emboldened them to rob all the way from the fishing villages to the towns.

There was once when they almost entered the county.

After robbing a lot of gold, silver, and treasures, these pirates wanted to return to their hometown.

After all, they still had relatives and friends at home.

However, after bringing the treasures back to Japan, they quickly finished squandering their riches.

In addition, the chaos in their home country was getting more and more serious, so they gathered some strong refugees to cross the sea again.

Thinking that the navy in Guangdong was weak, and because they had previously been here for three to four years and had some acquaintances here, they specially came here.

Apart from the Chinese and Westerners, the pirates on the southeast coast were mostly Japanese and Koreans.

They knew how to find their compatriots.

They had brought quite a number of people this time.

Including them, there were 58 people.

From past experience, 58 people was sufficient to form a team and they could easily get by on their own.

Hence, they were unwilling to rely on powerful fellow pirates to avoid being exploited by them.

Hence, it was only logical that they were kept in the dark about the change in circumstances and pushed out to test the waters.

If these 58 people succeeded this time, it meant that the coastline of Guangdong was still filled with loopholes, and the possibility of other pirates succeeding was very high.

If they did not succeed, the other pirates would continue to wait and see.

In any case, they had robbed plenty of things previously, and could afford to wait while others tested the navy again.

Although they were bloodthirsty, no one who could survive until now did not care about their lives.

Other than those small pirate groups without grain reserves, the bigger pirate groups would not take risks easily.

Qi Haoran asked curiously, “Your country is going to change dynasties?

Isn’t this taking too long?

It’s been eight years and it’s still not settled?” “Your Highness, they haven’t changed dynasties.

It’s just that their country’s generals and the Emperor are fighting for power, so the country is in chaos.” Having interacted with the pirates in Japan the most, as time passed, Zhao San knew a little of the situation in their country.

He said, “At present, the Japanese royal family is unwilling to let go of their power and are using their people as pawns to fight with the generals and military in power.

As a result, the country is in chaos.

I heard that many of their refugees have fled to the sea.” Qi Haoran snorted coldly.

“If they fled to the sea, so be it.

What are they doing in our Great Qi?

Since they’re here, they should just obediently fish instead of harming the good people of Great Qi.

They themselves are rich and have enough to eat, but our commoners have their families destroyed.

Though they’re just here as guests, they have the audacity to kill the hosts’ families after stealing their assets.

Pull out those old pirates, get them to spill where their nest is, draw a sea map, and kill the rest on the beach.

I want to see who dares to come test us again.” “Have there been any pirates who have surrendered recently?” “Yes,” Zhou Zhou said, “but there are few of them, and they are all citizens of our Great Qi.

General, there are two major pirate groups at sea, both made up of our own people.

Their leaders were once maritime merchants, but they were forced into piracy out of desperation.

Although they have looted in recent years, they’ve never killed anyone.

Perhaps I could send someone to offer them amnesty?” “How are they compared to the Japanese?” “They can’t compare.

The largest group only has more than 100 people, whereas the largest group of pirates from Japan has more than 1,000 people.

Moreover, the Japanese pirates have connections with other pirates from Japan.

Sometimes, when we go out to sea to suppress bandits, they will contact each other and join forces to deal with us.

There are 3,000 of them, and that’s not even counting the Japanese pirates in Fuzhou.” “Are they still in contact with the Japanese pirates in Fuzhou?” “Yes, not only in Fuzhou, but also in North Zhili, which is further north.” Qi Haoran slapped the wall in anger.

“Does this coastline belong to Great Qi or these pirates?” Zhou Zhou lowered his head.

“Issue another amnesty announcement.

Say that the amnesty will be revoked after the new year.

At that time, no matter where the pirates are from, the Imperial Court will treat them equally.” Qi Haoran sneered.

“Amnesty?

I’m only granting amnesty to those who take the initiative to turn themselves in.

If they don’t come back of their own accord, I’ll exterminate them all when I exterminate the pirates in the future.” Seeing that he was angry, Zhou Zhou did not dare to plead for mercy on behalf of those people.

In fact, they had cooperated with the local pirates a few times to fight against the increasingly powerful Japanese pirates.

On the beach the next day, at the place where the pirates had been executed previously, the executioner beheaded another 48 pirates in a row.

Among the many old pirates, Qi Haoran was only willing to keep ten of them behind.

If they were willing to confess, he would give them a quick death.

If they were unwilling to confess, he would make them wish they were dead.

The prison guards in the navy government office didn’t know of many punishment methods, so he went to the prison in the main government office to borrow people.

These pirates were just ordinary fishermen to begin with.

They had relied on their ruthlessness and contempt to survive until now and had never received professional training.

Naturally, they could not withstand the prison guards’ torture.

Although they knew that they would die if they confessed, they still confessed one by one under torture, after just a night.

After Qi Haoran obtained the map and confession statements, he got someone to drag them to the beach and have them killed.

He knew that the pirates at sea were all watching.

This time, he did not get someone to drag these corpses down and cremate them.

Instead, he got someone to set up wooden pillars on the warship and hang the corpses on them as a warning to those pirates who were tempted to attack again.

When Pedro received the report from his subordinate, he sighed.

“Considering our target is the sea merchants passing by, and the fact that the fishermen in Great Qi are very poor, there’s no need for us to become enemies with Qi Haoran.” “So we’re supposed to let go of what happened to Victor and the rest?” Raul shouted indignantly.

Pedro was silent for a long time before saying slowly, “There’s an old saying in Great Qi: ‘there will be a time for that’.” Meanwhile, on another island, Fujita Hideo smashed a vase and said angrily, “He’s provoking us.

The corpses of our compatriots are hanging on the wooden pillars!” “General, he’s warning all the pirates, not just us,” Ono Saburo whispered.

Fujita Hideo calmed down slightly and asked, “Have our people snuck ashore?

Although Minamida and the others are a little dumb, they are brave and powerful, in addition to having excellent swords.

How did they get caught by the navy?

Could it be that after not being pirates for just two to three years, they have even forgotten their instinct to escape?” Ono Saburo was very ashamed.

“General, Great Qi’s regulations are especially strict now.

The beachcombing fishermen all gather in groups, either by villages or by clans.

If there are unfamiliar faces, even if they don’t arrest them on the spot, they will quickly inform the navy to come and investigate.

Our people have tried several times, and every time, they are interrogated as soon as they blend into the crowd.

If they hadn’t left quickly, I’m afraid they’d have been caught already.” As they were going ashore to gather information, they inevitably had to interact with people.

And once they interacted with people, they would be discovered.

They didn’t know what the navy government office had said to them.

Whenever the fishermen encountered unfamiliar faces, they would either detain them or inform the nearest navy unit to come and investigate, preventing them from even entering the city gate.

Naturally, the pirates hadn’t been able to obtain any news.

The scariest thing was the unknown.

It was precisely because they didn’t know what was going on with the Guangdong Navy that they were afraid and didn’t dare to act rashly.

Even the most well-armed and bravest Westerners had all lost to the Guangdong Navy previously.

This time, the stones they threw in to test the waters were caught before they could even so much as make a ripple.

It was really terrifying.

Fujita Hideo gritted his teeth.

“We’ll continue to wait.

While we have enough grains, that’s not the case for other pirates.

Hunger can destroy all fear.

Someone will take the initiative to test the waters again.”