I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 919 - Chapter 919 Idea

Chapter 919: Idea Chapter 919: Idea Editor: Atlas Studios Apart from the three relatively large groups of pirates along the southeast coast, the other pirates numbered in the dozens or hundreds, and they often occupied a small island, making that their hideout.

In the past few years, because Yu Cheng had moved the fishing village ten miles inshore, they had to go much deeper inwards to loot the villages and towns.

Hence, they often carried out one operation every three months.

As there were few people and boats, they did not have much grains stored.

Ever since Fan Zijin went missing and the Guangdong Navy deployed a massive searching operation, the pirates had never gone ashore.

Currently, their rice jars at home were almost empty.

Those tempted to strike again immediately dismissed such thoughts when they saw the corpses hanging on the poles.

In less than two days, the patrolling navy brought back more than a dozen pirates who had surrendered, all of which were from Great Qi.

Zhou Zhou immediately strengthened the patrol and brought the confessions of the surrendered pirates to Qi Haoran.

“They don’t have much grains left.

Your Highness, I think the other pirates should be in the same situation.

Do you think they will come ashore?” Qi Haoran knocked on the table and said, “Strengthen the patrols.

Tell Assistant Commander Wang to raise the alert state to Defcon 3 along the coast of Guangdong.

Also, send someone to inform the navy in Quanzhou and Fuzhou to be vigilant and prevent pirates from sneaking over to their territories to commit crimes.” Qi Haoran’s expression was solemn.

“At the end of the day, we still have too few people, limiting the defense strategies we can use.” Worked up, Zhou Zhou suggested, “Your Highness, should we recruit more troops?” “It’s easy to recruit soldiers.

But can you afford to raise them?” Zhou Zhou lowered his head.

It was obviously impossible to get the Ministry of Revenue to allocate money for them to recruit soldiers before the new year.

Qi Haoran went home to discuss with Mu Yangling.

“Why don’t I let Zhou Zhou lead the troops out to sea to suppress the pirates?

As long as we win one more time, we can intimidate them for at least half a month.” “What if we lose?” Mu Yangling said, “At that time, the sense of mystery you tried your best to create will disappear.

Not only will those small groups of pirates who lack food and clothes go ashore, but those large groups of pirates who are watching will also do the same.” “But if we can’t defend the coastline and let those small groups of pirates succeed, those people will also guess that we don’t have enough troops.

When that happens, they’ll still go ashore.” Qi Haoran was vexed.

“How would I know that they don’t even have half a year’s worth of food reserves?

It’s almost the new year, and the people still can’t lead a peaceful life.

Big Brother and I aren’t having it easy either.” Seeing his bitter expression, Mu Yangling was also anxious for him.

She pondered with him with a similarly bitter expression.

When Qi Haoran turned around and saw that her petite face was frowning, he reached out to smooth the crease between her brows.

“Don’t be anxious.

We’ll cross the bridge when we get there.

Tomorrow, I’ll call over those people from the navy government office to discuss.

I’m sure there’ll be a way.” Mu Yangling nodded and smiled at him.

“Then don’t think about it anymore.

Hurry up and sleep.” Qi Haoran turned over and found a comfortable position to sleep.

After a while, he started snoring softly with his back facing Mu Yangling.

However, Mu Yangling couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.

She kept feeling that there was a better solution to this matter than resisting.

At the end of the day, they just didn’t have enough manpower and weren’t skilled enough.

They couldn’t exterminate those pirates for the time being, so they could only delay it for now, hoping to exterminate them next year or the year after when their strength increased greatly.

But they couldn’t delay it any longer.

And why not?

That was because those small groups of pirates did not have any food left.

If they did not want to starve, they had no choice but to go ashore to loot grains.

Those large groups of pirates would be observing the situation when they did so.

But what if the small pirate groups didn’t take any action?

Would those large groups of pirates dare to take action then?

Mu Yangling thought of the information that Qi Haoran had brought back.

There were only three groups of pirates.

The first was Pedro and the Westerners.

Having just fought with the Guangzhou Navy, they would definitely not dare to attack for the time being.

Moreover, their target had always been the merchant ships on the sea, not the fishermen of Great Qi.

The other two groups were made up of Japanese and Koreans.

The former had roughly twice the number of people as the latter.

However, be it the former or the latter, they had been operating in the southeast coast for more than ten years.

As they operated on a large scale and they had a lot of people, they had to be careful.

Before they found out the exact situation of the navy, they definitely did not dare to act rashly.

That was because even Pedro’s group, the strongest among them, had already lost to the navy.

Furthermore, there were corpses hanging on the warship right now.

Hence it was crucial that these large pirate groups do not find out the exact strength of the Guangdong Navy.

That meant the navy should keep the small pirate groups from going ashore or succeeding.

So how would they keep them from going ashore?

Grains!

Mu Yangling thought of Yu Cheng, who had colluded with the pirates.

Mu Yangling quickly shook Qi Haoran awake and said, “How about we collude with the pirates and exchange grains for their treasures?” Jolted awake from his sleep, the dazed Qi Haoran glared at Mu Yangling.

“Are you crazy?” Mu Yangling said, “Didn’t you say to stall for time?

We’ll get someone to do business with them to ensure that they won’t go ashore to plunder this year.

This will buy you more time to eliminate the pirates after you finish training the navy next year.” With a frown, Qi Haoran said disapprovingly, “But they’re pirates.” “Didn’t you do business with bandits before?” “Those are Great Qi citizens.

They only rebelled and became bandits because they were forced by the officials.

Those pirates out there are all foreigners who came to kill the people of Great Qi for no reason.

Why should I do business with them?” “A hero is one who knows when to yield and when to stand tall.

You don’t have the ability to eliminate the pirates now, do you?

Are you going to watch them go ashore and rob the commoners?” Qi Haoran puffed up his cheeks and glared at her.

“You don’t have to personally appear.

Just send your subordinates or get a merchant to meet them.

You can give them a lower price.

Considering they’ve been pirates for so many years, they must have a lot of treasures on hand.

You’ll gain a tidy sum of money by selling those treasures.

That money will come in handy when you need to recruit troops or buy armaments.” The more Mu Yangling spoke, the more she felt that it was a good idea.

She said, “It’s best to carry out this matter secretly.

Don’t let too many people know.” Qi Haoran turned around, unwilling to listen.

With a pout, he said, “How can I, a Prince of Great Qi, collude with the pirates?

I’m not going!” Mu Yangling lay on his back and continued, “When the time comes, get your men to pay attention to their numbers.

Only exchange enough grains with them to last them until June next year.

Or maybe even slightly lessaEUR|” Qi Haoran lifted the blanket and covered his head, then said vaguely, “I refuse.

They’re not from Great Qi.” Mu Yangling lay on the pillow and said, “No matter where they’re from, don’t think of it as colluding with the pirates.

Instead, think of it as fighting a war.

This is also a strategy for fighting a war.

In fact, this war started when we arrived in Guangdong and will continue until the pirates are eliminated.” Qi Haoran hid under the blanket in deep thought.

Seeing that he had quietened down, Mu Yangling quietly lifted the blanket and leaned on his back.

“Also, you can use this opportunity to send spies to the pirates and obtain more information about them.

Haoran, war is not only fought by arranging troops on the battlefield, but we’re also fighting now.”