Chapter 670: Clearing Out the Pirates
Chapter 670: Clearing Out the Pirates
Master Cheng shook his head, "I don't know his name, but my daughter calls him Wu Lang!"
Shi Xiaozhen and Ma Yuan looked at each other, and Ma Yuan smiled and said, "I'll take you to identify a body!"
Manager Cheng followed the two men to the military camp and walked into the big tent. He came to the table and looked at the body carefully. After a while, he nodded and said, "It does look like the pirate who forced my daughter to marry him, but my daughter can't sew."
"She's been there for a few years, so she should know a little bit."
Cheng Dongzhu's eyes suddenly turned red, and he turned to leave. Shi Xiaozhen quickly grabbed him.
"I know you want to save your daughter. If you come with us, I will return her to you."
At night, thirty large ships slowly approached the mouth of the Yellow River. Master Cheng pointed to a dark village not far away and whispered, "That's the village!"
Shi Xiaozhen looked at the tall old tree at the entrance of the village and ordered in a deep voice: "Dock at the river mouth!"
Thirty large ships slowly approached the shore, and a thousand soldiers ran off the ships and quickly surrounded the village.
The village is not big, with about two hundred households. It is now the first watch and most of the villagers are asleep.
Shi Xiaozhen shouted "Action!" and the soldiers began to arrest people from house to house. The village was in chaos. Men were tied up and escorted out one after another, all of them looking dejected.
The elderly, women and children were also driven out of their homes, all with fear on their faces. The soldiers began to search the house, and soon many things that did not belong to them were found, including lacquerware, bronzeware, packages of palace clothing, jewelry, and a large number of copper coins that had not yet been opened.
The soldiers lit torches, illuminating the village like day. Mr. Cheng was anxiously looking for his daughter. At this moment, he suddenly saw a young woman with mourning clothes on her head, standing alone with a child in her arms.
Master Cheng hurried over to identify her. It was indeed his daughter. He burst into tears and shouted with trembling lips, "Zhu'er!"
The girl turned around and saw her father at once. Tears started to fall from her eyes and she threw herself into her father's arms, crying. The father and daughter hugged each other and cried bitterly.
Ma Yuan was careful and asked the soldiers to take the father and daughter back to the boat first.
Soon, the search was completed and a total of 173 young and strong men were captured, while the elderly and children were spared for the time being.
Shi Xiaozhen ordered all the men to be pushed to the riverside and executed. The clan leader Lin Zesheng, who was tied up with his hands behind his back, shouted in grief and anger: "Not all of us are pirates. You can't kill innocent people like this!"
Shi Xiaozhen said coldly: "The King of Jin has ordered that it is better to kill three thousand people by mistake than to let one person go!"
Lin Zesheng lowered his head, and he looked at his young grandchildren again and said, "Are the children also guilty?"
Shi Xiaozhen snorted and said, "You looted the boats, but did you spare the women and children?"
The women were terrified and burst into tears. The old man was completely desperate. Ma Yuan stepped forward and said, "If you can provide information about other bandits, we will consider sparing the lives of the women and children."
Lin Zesheng perked up, "Are you serious?"
Shi Xiaozhen waved his hand, and the soldiers left Lin Zesheng behind and took all the other men away. The women cried, and the captain Wang Lei shouted, "You didn't take care of your men, and let them go to kill and rob. What's there to cry about now? If you cry again, I will grant your wish and die with him!"
The woman fell silent in an instant and dared not cry anymore.
More than 170 river thieves were taken to the riverside, put on a boat and taken away. Shi Xiaozhen and Ma Yuan played the good cop and the bad cop respectively, forcing the clan leader to reveal where there were other scattered thieves. If they had been pirates, they would definitely be killed, but if they were honestly farming to support their families, the Sui army would not kill innocent people. Clan leader Lin Zesheng dared not hide anything anymore, and honestly confessed the location of two gangs of scattered thieves, who also used farming as a cover, farming during the day and being pirates at night.
One was in Mianyang County, the other in Jiujiang County, and he also told about two spies living in Jiangxia County.
After all the pirates were taken away, Ma Yuan began to investigate. He divided the captured families into three categories. First, widows and orphans without young men in their families were considered to have not participated in the pirates and could be released unconditionally.
Second, the men in families whose homes were not found with items related to pirates, such as black clothes, weapons, and stolen goods, can be released.
Third, any family that was found to have black clothes, weapons, stolen goods, and other related items would be identified as pirates. According to the order of the King of Jin, the men would be executed and their families would be exiled to Lingnan.
Coincidentally, Ma Yuan found a list of pirates' merits and spoils in the home of clan leader Lin Zesheng. Ma Yuan compared the list with the pirates he had identified, and found that part of the list matched completely, except that the list of pirates was more comprehensive, including the pirates who had died.
For example, no weapons or black clothes were found in the home of Mr. Cheng's daughter. That was because Lin Wulang was already dead, so there were no black clothes and weapons. However, there were also a lot of unusual properties, which were the wealth that Lin Wulang had accumulated through looting in the past.
The Sui army soldiers were busy until dawn, and finally they took away all the family members of the families involved in the case. All of them were sent to Jiangdu, and after approval by the Ministry of Justice, they were sent to exile in Jiangnan by water.
As for those identified pirates, they were all beheaded that morning, including the clan leader Lin Zesheng and several other elders. Although they did not participate in the looting, they were the leaders of the village's pirates and were also executed.
Master Cheng brought his daughter back home and changed his grandson's name to Cheng Xinsheng. When he grew up, he inherited Master Cheng's restaurant. Master Cheng's daughter later remarried a county official and gave birth to a daughter.
The next day, Shi Xiaozhen led his troops to Mianyang County and arrested the villagers of a village south of Taibai Lake. As expected, a large amount of stolen goods was found in their homes. More than 140 young and strong men and two leaders were arrested. A list of meritorious service and spoils was also found in the leader's home.
This was much easier. Shi Xiaozhen used the list as a basis and executed all the men on it. His family members were arrested and prepared to be exiled to Lingnan, and all their property and stolen goods were also taken away.
Shi Xiaozhen also gave the clan leader a chance. As long as he could report the crime and make meritorious contributions, his family would be spared.
In this way, Shi Xiaozhen got clues about two more villages of scattered bandits.
Daguan Lake is a lake on the north bank of the Yangtze River and is part of Poyang Lake. After investigation by scouts, it was determined that the pirates' lair was on an island in the lake.
At three o'clock in the morning that night, 10,000 naval troops and 3,000 internal guards rushed onto the island and launched a total annihilation war against the pirates. Lai Yuan ordered that all men on the island be executed, and the elderly, the weak, women and children were captured by the internal guards for interrogation.
The shouts and cries of killing were deafening in the pirates' camp. The pirates were awakened from their sleep and were caught off guard. They knelt down and surrendered one after another. However, surrender was of no use as they were ruthlessly pierced through the chest by spears of the navy soldiers.
But the pirate leader Lu Jinbiao was not found. Li Luming personally led the internal guards to investigate everywhere, and soon discovered a hidden water cave in the backyard of the leader's mansion. More than a dozen water ghosts went into the cave to explore and discovered that the water cave led directly to Daming Lake.
The navy immediately searched the lake and found a large reef on the lake just outside the water cave. The reef was empty and there were more than a dozen people hiding inside.
"Fire arrows!"
At Li Luming's command, the inner guards fired arrows into the reef together. The arrows were like heavy rain. Screams were heard from the reef. Hundreds of arrows were shot and there was no movement inside the reef. The water ghosts then went in to investigate and dragged out fifteen bodies, including Lu Jinbiao himself, his wife and two sons. The others were all his trusted guards, all shot to death with arrows, and no one was left alive.
The internal security soldiers also found a large amount of gold and jewelry in the water cave, and obviously wanted to escape with the gold, but they were eventually buried in the water. The net of heaven is vast and nothing can escape it. Once you take the path of a pirate, you will sooner or later pay a heavy price.
(End of this chapter)