Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Chapter 703 pirates
The sun slanted down, shining on the sea outside Laisu, the waves were sparkling together, on the vast sea, several large ships were heading towards the coastline, soon, eight small boats were lowered, loaded with men wearing half leather armor, short skirts on the lower body or simply wrapped in white cloth, without helmets on their heads, most of them had their hair loose or cut, each of them held a shield in his hand, most of them held spears and swords, and more than half of them were equipped with bows and arrows.

The sound of waves swept around my ears, and many figures were walking on the big ship, pushing away wooden barrels, lowering sails, and shouting one after another.

On the tall ship's tower, a man named Mandu, dressed in rough clothes, sat on the window looking out. One leg was hanging outside, the other leg was bent, his hands were on his knees, he was drinking strong liquor from a gourd, looking at the receding ships and the distant coastline.

"Tsk - if it weren't for that damn old man, I would have come to this chaotic place to eat more meat."

After spitting, he took a sip of wine and pointed at the black spot in the distance with his free hand: "It's because that old man died a little too late, which prevented us from coming out to work. It delayed us for more than half a year."

A tall, thin man with short hair in the back tried to persuade them: "It's not too late now. The Liao people have been fighting among themselves for a while, so how can they spare the energy to take care of us? If they just rob and run, where will they go to find us? Will they go to Goryeo to look for us?"

Mandu grinned. The dead old man he mentioned was his adoptive father. He himself was a mixed-race of Goryeo and Jurchen. He had seven or eight hundred men under his command and could almost be considered a tyrant in the sea.

Years ago, his adoptive father was seriously ill. For the sake of the final position of the leader, he had to control his temper and thought that he could just do his best by his bedside. However, he did not expect that the old man had a strong vitality and he dragged on for half a year. The desire to kill his father was stirring every day. If he had not had a trusted person to take care of him, he would have died in his hands long ago.

Now, the clouds have cleared, the old man has died, and his trusted subordinates have joined him because of his "filial piety". Everything is going smoothly, better than he expected.

"This time when I go back, I'll buy more ships and recruit some desperate men for me. I'm going to follow the old path of my ancestors and rob more silver from Japan."

He was not just saying it, but thinking so from the bottom of his heart. His ancestors were heroes on the sea. They once plundered Kyushu in Japan and also went south to the coastal areas of Song Dynasty. But now they have fallen, which makes him miss the glorious times of his ancestors even more.

……

The sun is shining brightly and the waves are rolling up the fine sand.

Seabirds were soaring and singing in the sky, numerous figures cast their shadows below, the sea water splashed, and desperate figures jumped off the boat, struggling to walk in the knee-deep water, emitting strange shouts from their mouths. Some people had bloodshot eyes from excitement and screamed strangely.

The wind blew through the trees by the sea. There were also fishermen who made a living by the sea fishing. They saw the figures going up to the shore from a distance in their boat. They were stunned for a moment, then they reacted and rowed the boat to the other side. They hid both the boat and the people behind the reef. They looked over there and saw that no one was paying attention to them. They quickly rowed the boat towards the village. When they arrived at a familiar place, they did not even bother to find a place to tie the boat. They jumped off the boat and ran towards the village along the road.

"Pirates... Pirates are coming!"

The shrill cries echoed over the village.

The fishing village was not big, with only about twenty households and more than sixty people. It was just after noon and some men had gone out to sea to fish and had not yet returned. When this man shouted, most of the people who came out from each household were the elderly, the weak, women and children.

When he repeated it again and again, and when they could hear clearly what he was shouting, all the faces of the people changed, and all the blood color drained away.

"Pirates?! Are they really pirates? Sanwazi, you can't talk nonsense."

The elderly people in the village came over with crutches, each with a look of doubt on their faces, their voices trembling: "Did you really see the pirates coming? Not the garrison here?"

Several women had pale faces and picked up their children involuntarily.

"How can this be false?" The man stamped his feet repeatedly: "The garrison here has seen this before, how can we be wrong?"

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

The old man had experienced pirate robbery in his youth, so he immediately raised his cane and pointed at the woods in the distance: "Don't just stand there, and don't go home to pack up. Hurry, hide in the woods over there. The pirates will take away what they have, don't let them take you away with them."

"Second uncle, my master hasn't come back yet. What should I do if he can't find my mother and me?"

"Yes, we have some fish and shrimps we caught these past two days, drying in the yard. What will we eat after we leave?" "I don't see you now, so I should have time to go home and get some food."

"Yes, yes, go back and get it."

The people in the village were talking at once. Some of them obediently picked up their children and ran towards the woods the old man pointed to. Some of them hesitated and wanted to take more things, but people are blindly obedient. Once one person got something, two more took it. A dozen women ran back muttering something.

"Don't go back, the pirates are coming very quickly, follow me!"

The old man shouted loudly and tried to stop them, but someone of the same age pulled him back and said, "It's hard to persuade the damned ghost with kind words. Erlang, hurry up and leave. You and I are both familiar with the cruelty of pirates."

The old man paused, and several old men in the village supported each other and turned away. The man who came back to report the news looked left and right, sighed "Oh!", stomped his feet and ran after these old men.

The women came into the house and looked at the earthenware jars and cloth clothes in the house. They wanted to take some of them and were reluctant to leave some of them behind. They hurriedly picked up the valuables and rolled them into their bags, and then brought a whole bunch of things over. The children next to them bit their fingers and watched their mothers busying themselves, not understanding what was happening.

However, before these women could decide what to take and what to put down, and before they could even prepare their bags, they heard noisy sounds from outside. Their hands, which were holding the things, paused, fear showed on their faces, and they did not dare to waste any more time. They quickly rolled up their bags, grabbed their children and ran out.

As soon as I walked out of the door, I saw nearly sixty or seventy figures walking in from the west entrance of the village in groups of three or five, holding shields and holding long weapons. Although they were not tall and mighty, they looked very strong.

This was the first time that people had entered the village in nearly half a year. Seeing several women carrying packages, their eyes suddenly turned red and they became excited. The leading leader laughed viciously, pointed his sword in that direction, and spoke in Korean.

"It's our turn to get rich. Go in and take food, money, and women!"

The sixty or seventy pirates cheered, and those holding spears and shields went in first, followed by those holding swords, and ran towards the panicked village woman.

"Run-"

A woman shouted in panic and ran away dragging her child, but the man chasing her ran even faster. He grabbed the woman's clothes when she was only a few dozen feet away. A scream was heard, and the child who was being pulled started crying and was stabbed through the body by a spear.

"My child, my child—"

In the chaos, the young woman was scratching the murderous pirate like crazy. She was held down by several people and dragged to a nearby room, where she let out miserable screams.

Some people also entered the house. Meat, rice, and money were placed on the ground by the jubilant pirates. The women who did not have time to run away were carried on the shoulders in their disheveled clothes, motionless as if they were dead.

The leader looked around and spit out saliva: "Let's go back to the boat."

Someone chopped off a piece of wood, wrapped it in cloth strips, lit it, and threw it away.

Soon, flames shot up into the sky and black smoke flew into the sky.

Some of the villagers who had escaped saw the direction of the village and couldn't help crying. A few old people looked at them and sighed, "What a cruel thief..."

"Sanwazi, go to the government office and tell us what happened today."

"I don't know if the government will take care of it..."

Sighing, the young fisherman ran out. Less than two hours later, Fei Zhen, wearing a helmet and armor, came running over with a group of soldiers. Looking at the burned village, he slapped his thigh hard and said, "Inhumane things!"

(End of this chapter)