Chapter 54: Fighting a War is Easier Than Farming

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“A woman’s heart is delicate; female medics are perfectly suited to tend to the wounded. Our Zhang Village Militia recruiting women into the ranks is a groundbreaking move. The master is no ordinary man!” Wang Shumeng glanced toward Master Mountain some dozens of meters away.

At this moment, comrades from the Zhang Village Militia artillery squad, led by their company commander Yang Zhike, had already climbed to the summit of Master Mountain, carrying the ruthless cannon and black powder charges.

“Our master is certainly extraordinary,” Zhang Da’an said as he led the first company, guided by intelligence officers from Zhang Village, charging toward the pirate dock on Zhifu Island.

The Zhang Village Militia’s 1,500 men were divided into three companies, each about 500 strong.

Smiling, Wang Shumeng led the second and third companies, also under the guidance of intelligence officers from Zhang Village, toward the pirate encampment on Zhifu Island.

Thus, the great battle for Zhifu Island officially commenced.

By the shore.

On the deck of the Liu Zhuang, a second-rate merchant ship.

Captain Liu Dahai looked on enviously at the departing Zhang Village Militia troops. “Being in the militia is the life—there’s real fighting to do. It’s a thousand times better than captaining a cargo ship. Yesterday I miscalculated—I should have joined the militia. Sigh—”

Liu Dahai was formerly an officer in the Dongjiang Army, once under Mao Wenlong’s command.

A few months prior, the Ming general of Dongjiang, Mao Wenlong, was beheaded first and reported later by Liaodong’s supervisor Yuan Chonghuan.

The new Dongjiang general, Huang Longzhi, was incompetent. Under his command, the Dongjiang Army suffered many defeats, losing areas like Yizhou, Tieshan, and Pidao in succession.

Liu Dahai had once been a defender of Pidao, commanding a warship.

Months ago, the Dongjiang Army at Pidao was routed by the Later Jin forces. Liu Dahai narrowly escaped with his life. Afterward, rather than trying to return to Ming-controlled territory, he deserted and wandered to Dengzhou City.

With Mao Wenlong dead, Dongjiang was in upheaval. Many Dongjiang soldiers deserted, seeking to escape into the interior.

Countless Han people living in the Dongjiang region sought ways to flee into the interior, with many Dongjiang refugees settling within Dengzhou Prefecture and the Shandong Provincial Administration.

Zhang Chen paid little attention to this; the over three thousand recruits he enlisted this time were mostly Dongjiang refugees.

Almost all Dongjiang refugees who fled inside were Han Chinese. Even knowing this, Zhang Chen was unconcerned.

At the summit of Master Mountain.

Under the command of company commander Yang Zhike, the comrades of the Zhang Village Militia artillery squad had set up the ruthless cannon.

They were arranged neatly, the black, gaping muzzles of the ruthless cannon aimed at the pirate camp below.

A quarter of an hour later, the eastern horizon brightened with the first light of dawn.

Finally, the moment to launch the attack had arrived.

Lighting the fuse wrapped around his wrist with a fire stick, Yang Zhike ignited the fuse on the ruthless cannon before him and shouted, “All units, fire!”

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Moments earlier.

Within the pirate camp.

Yamamoto Taro, rising to use the latrine, glanced up at the summit of Master Mountain and suddenly cried out, “Will-o'-the-wisp! There’s a ghost on the mountain! No, wait—there are people. Enemies! Enemy attack! Enemy attack...”

At that instant—

“Boom!”

Yang Zhike fired the cannon.

In rapid succession came another “boom!”

The black powder charge Yang Zhike had launched into the pirate camp exploded.

What followed was a relentless series of explosions—“boom,” “boom,” “boom.”

The comrades of the Zhang Village Militia artillery squad hurled charge after charge into the pirate camp with the ruthless cannon, firing twenty black powder bundles in all.

There was no need for Yamamoto Taro’s warning—the pirates in the camp were thoroughly roused.

Unluckily for him, Yamamoto Taro was the first to be killed by the blast.

Buildings collapsed and were engulfed in raging flames; many pirates perished in their sleep.

Those who survived rushed out of their quarters, many naked, scurrying about in panic, shouting wildly.

Fortunate among them was Kobayashi Koichi, who escaped injury and death. Emerging from his room, he sighed, “It’s over.”

Indeed, it was over. Under Wang Shumeng’s leadership, the Zhang Village Militia’s second and third companies had stormed the pirate camp, throwing improvised grenades at the fleeing, disorganized, and spiritless pirates.

After launching twenty black powder charges into the camp, the artillery squad ceased firing.

The pirates were in complete disarray. Continuing to bombard them would certainly cause heavy casualties but would destroy the camp and damage its valuables.

Many pirates fell to their knees and surrendered. The situation was hopeless. Kobayashi Koichi tried to retreat into the darkness to escape.

Most pirates who had fled their quarters earlier were unarmed.

Barehanded fighting against enemies is rarely successful, so the majority knelt in surrender.

“Stop right there! You!” Lin Ergou rushed forward and kicked Kobayashi Koichi to the ground. “At this point, you scoundrel still try to run? Dream on!”

War was simple: one kick to Kobayashi Koichi’s thigh. Fighting was much easier than farming!

Lin Ergou had once been a farmer near Zhenjiang Fort in Liaodong. Often he did not have enough to eat but had never starved.

Over a decade ago, when the Jurchens conquered all of Liaodong, Lin Ergou’s life became even harder, but he endured.

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However, the Jurchens not only enslaved the Han people of Liaodong but also carried out mass slaughter.

Unable to survive near Zhenjiang Fort, Lin Ergou fled across the Yalu River to territory controlled by the Ming Dongjiang Army.

Fortune smiled on him: he settled in Lin Village, ten miles east of Tieshan City, marrying into a local family.

With the powerful Commander Mao Wenlong in the Dongjiang military district, the Jurchens dared not attack.

Lin Ergou lived peacefully in Lin Village for several years.

But the good times were short-lived.

A few months ago, the beloved Commander Mao was treacherously killed by the traitor Yuan Chonghuan.

Without Mao, everyone in Dongjiang knew it was the end.

Sure enough, the brutal Jurchens soon invaded Dongjiang-controlled territories.

Without hesitation, Lin Ergou fled with his wife and children, intending to reach the interior.

Three months ago, after great hardship, Lin Ergou escaped inside the border. His whole family of four was lost—only he remained.

With no relatives or friends in the interior, Lin Ergou wandered until a few days ago when he arrived in Dengzhou City. At that time, he had gone days without food, starving to the point where his chest and back pressed together.

Believing death by starvation was imminent, Lin Ergou sought a quiet place to await the end.

But fate had other plans. Near the city gate, there was a recruitment for strong men and skilled workers.

Lin Ergou had no skills, but his body was still strong.

“Just feed me a few full meals, and I can carry a stone weighing over a hundred pounds,” Lin Ergou muttered.

After being accepted, he looked forward to eating a bowl of rice porridge so thick a chopstick would stand upright in it. “Might as well try; no harm in trying.”

Thus, Lin Ergou applied and was fortunate to be recruited.

Now, Comrade Lin Ergou was a squad leader in the second company of the Zhang Village Militia.

The battle for the pirate camp was decisively won, and the battle at the pirate dock had just concluded.

Only a few pirates guarded the dock, and they were swiftly wiped out by comrades from the Zhang Village Militia’s first company.