Daqin arrests alchemists, what does it matter to me as a qi refiner?

Chapter 406 Pirates Attack
After saying that, he quickened his pace and ran toward the northeast along the river.

Everyone took a breath and then ran forward following Yang Ling.

After running more than ten miles, Yang Ling suddenly stopped.

Liu Jinding and others hurriedly stopped and asked curiously, "Marshal, why don't you leave?"

"Don't talk, listen carefully, there seems to be some sound!" Yang Ling looked around vigilantly and said in a low voice to the rebels next to him.

Everyone listened carefully and indeed heard some movement, but it was too far away to hear it clearly.

Yang Ling frowned slightly. He looked up at the sky, only to see that it was gloomy with dark clouds rolling in. It looked like the weather was about to change.

Liu Jinding suddenly pointed to the left front and said in surprise: "It's a bird! It's the sound of a bird flying!"

Everyone looked in the direction of Liu Jinding's finger, and sure enough, they saw a few birds flying across the sky. They chirped and flew towards the south.

Liu Jinding shouted excitedly: "Marshal, it must be pirates attacking us, let's go over there quickly!"

Yang Ling listened attentively to the noise in the sky and was sure that there were indeed pirates attacking.

Yang Ling pondered for a long time, then ordered: "Leave 30 people to guard the camp, the rest of you bring dry food and follow me to check. Remember, don't fall behind!"

Although Liu Jinding was puzzled as to why the commander did not leave anyone to guard the camp, he did not ask any more questions. The others immediately took action and quickly selected 300 elite soldiers, and followed Yang Ling to the northwest.

This is a remote village. Because of its remote location, there are no other villages nearby. If the Japanese pirates occupy this place, it will be a huge threat. Yang Ling decided to solve this problem first.

Yang Ling led everyone to the east gate of the village. The village was not large, with only four houses and four streets, and a total of no more than two hundred households.

After the Japanese pirates occupied this place, they basically did not take the initiative to attack unless they encountered a strong enemy or had a special mission, so there was no defensive force in the village, only two guards.

Yang Ling led his men over the wall and into the village, only to see that most of the houses in the village were in ruins, the yards were overgrown with weeds, and not even a ghost could be seen.

The soldiers quickly dispersed to survey the terrain, but by then the wind and rain were getting stronger, making it impossible to tell who were the enemy and who were their own people.

Yang Ling led a dozen soldiers to the village chief's house, a three-story tile house with doors and windows demolished, leaving only wooden piles. Yang Ling pushed the door open and entered the house. The tables, chairs and benches inside were all broken, the beams collapsed, and the roof was leaking.

The house was completely empty, with nothing else in it.

Yang Ling frowned and thought for a moment, then ordered, "Pry open the beams!"

Soon, a dozen soldiers brought rocks and mud and knocked down the roof of the house, revealing the structure inside.

It turned out that there was a cellar hidden under the roof.

Liu Jinding and others went into the cellar to investigate. Soon, they came out one after another with shock and joy on their faces.

The cellar was about 20 to 30 feet deep, with all kinds of goods piled up at the bottom, including grain, salt, and even several boxes of silver ingots.

Liu Jinding happily reported to Yang Ling: "Marshal, the cellar is full of money. A rough estimate is that there are at least 600,000 to 700,000 kilograms of grain!"

"Six hundred thousand or seven hundred thousand kilograms?" Yang Ling had already eaten a lot. How could the Japanese pirates get so much food?
Yang Ling hurriedly ordered: "Send someone back to deliver a letter to Liu Dabiao, telling him that the Japanese pirates have landed, and ask him to mobilize reinforcements to reinforce us immediately!"

Yang Ling ordered again: "Take all the food back immediately, and also transport the salt back."

Yang Ling secretly thought that after the Japanese pirates occupied Yuyang County, they should not be short of food. How could they get so much food? Could it be that there were still materials looted by the Japanese pirates stored here?
These supplies may have been looted from other islands or from other fleets. After all, the quantity of these supplies is huge, enough for the Japanese pirates to squander for a long time, and this is exactly what they need most!

Thinking of this, Yang Ling couldn't help but get excited. The only thing he lacked now was food and salt. As long as he seized these food and salt, he could make up for the missing supplies.

Yang Ling immediately decided to inform Zhang Xianzhong of the news and asked him to immediately organize troops to reinforce him and capture Yuyang County as soon as possible.

After receiving the order, Liu Jinding hurriedly took his men to carry out the mission, but Yang Ling remained in the cellar, carefully observing the surrounding situation.

Since the Japanese pirates have landed, they will definitely set up sentries all around.

Yang Ling guessed that the Japanese pirates might have discovered his troops, but they probably didn't know their exact strength.

The Japanese pirates set up an ambush in Yuyang County, which was obviously well prepared. Yang Ling judged that the Japanese pirates might have several thousand troops. This sneak attack on Yuyang County was definitely to inflict heavy damage on Yang Ling's side, forcing them to retreat and avoid a fierce battle between the two sides.

The intentions of the Japanese pirates were very obvious, and Yang Ling could not give them such an opportunity. Therefore, Yang Ling decided to lead his troops to attack the enemy at night.

Yang Ling quietly left the cellar with more than twenty personal soldiers and headed west, preparing to bypass the enemy's patrol posts on both wings of the village.

Not long after Yang Ling left the cellar, three or four Japanese pirates wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats came over from the path in the east.

"Eh? Isn't that Liu Dabiao?"

"Liu Dabiao, why are you walking this way? Are you trying to escape?"

Yang Ling heard the shouting from behind, and his heart skipped a beat. Oops, he forgot to disguise himself as a pirate. He quickly turned around and ran east, hoping that the pirates would not recognize him.

Unfortunately, these Japanese pirates seemed to know Yang Ling and chased after him.

"Kill!" Yang Ling roared.

He raised the matchlock knife in his hand and chopped forward with all his strength. The Japanese pirates in front were caught off guard and their heads fell to the ground. The Japanese pirates behind were so frightened that they dodged one after another.

When the Japanese pirates saw the fire, they knew that Yang Ling was a Han Chinese, so they drew their weapons and rushed forward.

"Brothers, beat them up!"

The Japanese pirates' resistance was futile and they were beaten and fled in panic by Yang Ling's soldiers.

Yang Ling took advantage of the situation and rushed over to pick up the weapons dropped by the pirates, and continued to chase and kill them. The weapons of this group of pirates were of poor quality, but they had more people, and in just a short moment, more than a dozen people died under the swords.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Japanese pirates threw away their armor and turned to run into the woods. Yang Ling did not chase them. He cleaned up the battlefield and left with his soldiers.

After returning to the military camp, Yang Ling asked his staff to make a simple map to study the locations of the Japanese pirates.

The distribution of the Japanese pirates' camp buildings is quite reasonable, in a fan shape. The camp is on the east side near the foot of the mountain; the west side is the fortress, the north side is the warehouse, and the south side is the officers' dormitory; the west side is the training ground, and the east side is the residential buildings.

Since this camp is far from the county town, and the Japanese pirates set up a sentry post on the east side, Yang Ling has no way to deal with them for the time being. However, it may not be easy for the Japanese pirates to capture Yuyang County, because the wall of Yuyang County is built on the hillside, and the Japanese pirates cannot directly climb the wall to attack like attacking a city, so Yuyang County is still safe.

However, the Japanese pirates kept sending people to sneak over, and Yuyang County would never be peaceful. After Yang Ling finished reading the map, he pondered for a long time and said, "Come on, ask Captain Li to come over!"

Soon, Li Shouren followed the military doctor into the tent where Yang Ling was resting.

Yang Ling pointed at the map and said, "Captain Li, if we want to solve the trouble in Yuyang County as soon as possible, we must first control the coastline."

Li Shouren nodded and said, "I am willing to serve you!"

Yang Ling smiled and said, "I plan to wipe out all the bandits near Yuyang County, and then requisition their ships as transportation tools."

"That's much easier." Li Shouren said with a relieved breath.

"When do you think it would be appropriate to take action?"

Li Shouren thought for a moment and said, "I think we should be able to completely wipe out this group of bandits after dinner and before dark today."

"Well, according to Captain Li's opinion, our forces are too weak now, so it is not advisable to attack rashly."

Yang Ling's tone suddenly became stern. He asked in a cold voice, "Captain Li, why hasn't the person you sent yesterday replied yet?"

Li Shouren suddenly felt the pressure doubled, and said with a wry smile: "Sir, I have asked people to urge them, but these bastards just refuse to surrender."

"Nonsense, we can't delay any longer, we must step up the pressure."

Li Shouren did not dare to disobey and quickly agreed.

"Also, have your men count the bodies of the Japanese pirates we killed today, and then send them to the Zhenjiang government office and hand them over to Xu Shichang for disposal."

"Yes, I humbly obey my orders!"

Yang Ling sighed as he watched Li Shouren leave the tent. If he had more men than the small number of people under his command, he would have eradicated this gang of bandits long ago without going through all this trouble. Now he could only hope that the officials of Zhenjiang Prefecture were capable of handling cases and could solve the case in a short time.

Li Shouren had just returned to the headquarters when someone suddenly reported: "General, Xu Shichang, the prefect of Zhenjiang Prefecture, wants to see you."

Yang Ling's face suddenly darkened when he heard this. He had thought that he had handled the matter perfectly, but who would have thought that the Zhenjiang government office would find out his identity so quickly. It was really hard to guard against.

Li Shouren was so frightened that he was trembling all over. Zhenjiang Prefecture was the seat of Jiangning, and the prefect of Zhenjiang Prefecture was Chen Yuanlong, the grandson of Chen Yanshou, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion. Although Yang Ling did not reveal his identity, the officials of Zhenjiang Prefecture would definitely find Li Shouren and ask about Yang Ling and others. By then, Li Shouren would not be able to protect him.

"Lord Yang, what do you think we should do?" Li Shouren hurriedly came up and asked in a low voice.

Yang Ling frowned and remained silent for a moment, then ordered, "Pass on my order, assemble the troops, and prepare to go to the harbor."

Yang Ling's goal was to lure this group of Japanese pirates into the harbor and destroy them. As for the people in Yuyang County, Yang Ling had no control over them. They could live however they wanted and Yang Ling was too lazy to interfere.

"Yes! I will immediately notify all camps to prepare for battle." Li Shouren hurriedly stepped out to make arrangements.

Yang Ling paced for a while, waved to the guards, and ordered: "Take your men to carry these bodies out and bury them."

Soon, more than ten soldiers carried the bodies of the Japanese pirates out of the tent and buried them in the open space next to it. Then two soldiers carried five or six injured people on stretchers and carried them into the tent, putting them on the beds and bandaging their wounds.

Yang Ling walked into the house and found the wounded soldiers crying around the old woman and the child. He gently comforted them, "Don't worry, fellow villagers. Since the Japanese pirates are dead, your safety is not a problem."

"Thank you for saving our lives, sir. We are grateful!" Several elderly people knelt down and kowtowed to express their gratitude.

"You're welcome, folks. Get up quickly."

Everyone stood up, and one of them said, "These pirates are all evil spirits, they eat meat and drink blood, they are cruel and ruthless, they killed so many people, God has finally avenged us!"

Yang Ling sighed after hearing this. What the Japanese pirates did was bullying men and women, burning, killing and looting. But why did those Japanese pirates get away with it, and even still be alive and kicking, wantonly bullying the honest local people of Yuyang?

"The Japanese pirates are the Japanese pirates, and the traitors are the traitors. Our national laws are aimed at these traitors!" Yang Ling said firmly.

"Yes, we should kill all these traitors!" the old man shouted with gritted teeth.

"That's right! We should kill all the Japanese pirates!" Everyone, young and old, women and children, shouted in unison.

The Japanese pirates committed numerous crimes in Yuyang, and the local people of Yuyang hated them deeply. Especially this time, the Japanese pirates dared to attack Yang Ling's military camp, which made the people of Yuyang furious and eager to bring these criminals to justice.

Yang Ling looked at the indignant expressions of the crowd and felt relieved. However, he did not forget the original intention of coming to Yuyang. He asked in a deep voice: "My fellow villagers, the Japanese pirates have been annihilated, and the people of Yuyang have been spared from being slaughtered by them. What are you going to do?"

Everyone looked at each other, and finally the old man stepped forward and said, "Sir, we plan to move our entire family to Zhenjiang."

"Brother, I won't leave. I want to stay in Yuyang to accompany my mother."

Yang Ling heard everyone arguing, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter, he shouted loudly: "Silence!"

The noisy scene suddenly became quiet, and everyone turned their heads to stare at Yang Ling.

"Fellow villagers, have you ever thought about why these Japanese pirates attacked the military camp?"

The old man shook his head blankly.

"It is impossible for the Japanese pirates to attack the military camp without any reason, unless someone incited them or they were authorized to do so. The Japanese pirates attacked the military camp for only two purposes. The second was for money, and the third was to take hostages."

The old man nodded, not quite understanding, and then asked, "My Lord, do you mean that someone is inciting the Japanese pirates to attack the military camp?"

"Not bad!"

"What is going on?" everyone asked in surprise.

"It's very simple. Someone pretended to be a Japanese pirate and tried to sneak through the customs and take the opportunity to enter Yuyang."

Yang Ling continued in a grim tone, "I guess the mastermind behind this is Xu Shichang, the county magistrate of Zhenjiang, because we were attacked at the dock. If the pirates had no leader, they would not dare to attack our fleet openly. As for why the pirates chose to attack the fleet near the dock, I guess it has something to do with the food and grass we burned on the beach."

"Your Excellency is right. There is indeed something wrong with that batch of food and fodder."

"No wonder these beasts can eat food, it turns out they stole it from us!"

(End of this chapter)