Three years ago, after the incident at the Jinzhen Escort Agency, Jiang Zhen became more and more strict in the management of his subordinates, implementing a completely militarized system.

His men also didn’t let him down.

Yabian Village now has a complete set of protocols to deal with danger, and depending on the situation, the method would also differ.

Now, the sound of the horn showed that a large number of people were coming.

Jiang Zhen’s expression was a bit gloomy, and he quickly give various orders to his men. Then, in order to pay attention to the defense of the docks, he went there himself.

“How many people and ships have come? Did you find out?” Jiang Zhen had boarded a large ship near the dock and looked into the distance as he asked.

“Boss, there are several big ships coming, but we don’t know the exact number. The people who went out to check also haven’t come back yet.” Someone came down from the mast, and reported to Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen nodded and had the rock throwers and guns set up again.

Yes, there was already artillery at this time. Jiang Zhen didn’t know about this at first, but after hearing Wen Ming mention it, he spent a lot of money to equip his fleet.

Of course, these guns were of little use, all guns at this time were not as good as the stone-throwing machine.

Although they were not very useful, sometimes if you are lucky enough you could blow up the other ship. When two ships were in close range to each other, it was more effective if you had them.

There were no binoculars in this world and this time, so Jiang Zhen could only look into the distance, as he let his men evacuate all the people near the dock.

The people who went out to investigate finally came back.

They rowed a small boat to the ship and climbed aboard quickly before telling Jiang Zhen all about the incoming attackers. “Boss, those people should be Cheng Yongzhen’s old troops. They have a total of five long-distance ships and a dozen large ships. The number of people could not be seen clearly.”

The so-called long-distance ships were just another name for the largest Daqi ships that were built. Jiang Zhen only had 11 of them and two of them were still at the dock.

The enemy fleet of ships first attacked the people patrolling the nearby waters arranged by Jiang Zhen, making Jiang Zhen’s subordinates blow the horns. This made it known that the other side was aggressive.

“Set sail and welcome them.” Jiang Zhen looked at the ships that had already appeared in sight and gave this order directly.

“Yes!” Jiang Zhen’s men responded, and then immediately set sail to meet them. Once the big ships moved, some of the smaller ships around them also moved.

Soon, several ships on the enemies’ side appeared in their line of sight. Not only that, the opposite side immediately fired their cannons.

“Fire the cannon.” Jiang Zhen took a look at the projectile that landed in the sea without hitting his own ships and gave the same order.

The battle was about to start.

In the past six years, Jiang Zhen and his men experienced many battles, most of which were fought with pirates, making them very familiar with the pirate routine. The people who came to attack them this time acted exactly the same way as pirates.

Jiang Zhen stood on the deck and gave commands, while his men methodically did their own duties. Once someone was injured he would quickly be sent to the cabin for protection.

The gunfire was much less powerful than in the later generations, so battles mostly depended on  hand-to-hand combat. When the two ships drew closer, the two sides instantly started the battle.

Jiang Zhen had experienced a lot of life and death situations and he had even died once, so he was not afraid of what was in front of him. He remained calm, but many of his men were afraid.

However, their fear quickly disappeared.

Seeing pirates wound their brothers and damage their ships, their blood stirred. For a moment, they forgot their fear, and then rushed forward with their swords.

Jiang Zhen just stood behind them and did not move.

He was still good at fighting, but during such battles a general who rushed in front was not what was needed. Rather, a general who could stabilize the rear was more necessary.

Jiang Zhen was accompanied by some people, and from time to time asked these people to help others. Soon he stabilized the situation on his ship and rushed to their ships.

Wars in ancient times generally lasted for a very long time, but battles were not particularly long. After all, human beings needed to eat and shit.

When Jiang Zhen fought the pirates for the first time a few years ago, one of his men fought for a while before suddenly leaving the battlefield to pee before going back. This action really stunned him.

The battle lasted for about two hours.

Two hours later, the pirates who came to attack them began to surrender. After that, more and more people surrendered.

These people were Cheng Yongzhen’s old army. In the beginning, they surrendered to Cheng Yongzhen after being defeated by him. To them, it was really nothing to surrender after losing the battle.

“Carry all our wounded to the rear and tie up all those who surrendered,”Jiang Zhen said.

He planned to meet the leaders of the pirates who came to attack him and ask for the reason for the attack. Yet to Jiang Zhen, his wounded subordinates were more important.

Jiang Zhen in recent years opened a school in Hexi and Yabian village to teach reading and writing. He also arranged for some people to study medicine, and personally taught them the treatment of external injuries.

Many doctors at this time were reluctant to use or admit to using some of the first aid knowledge provided by Jiang Zhen. For those doctors trained by Jiang Zhen himself, this was not the case.

They hadn’t received a large formal education in Chinese Medicine, so they were able to accept what Jiang Zhen taught them very quickly. When Jiang Zhen went to see the wounded, these people were sewing up people’s wounds.

After they stitched a person’s wound with a needle and thread, they would immediately throw the used needle and thread into a nearby pot of boiling water. Then after changing the  needle and thread, they continued to stitch up the wound of the next patient.

There were so many wounded now, that it was obvious that there was not enough doctors. Jiang Zhen washed his hands and asked someone to carry out the seriously injured while he personally bandaged their wounds. Then he sent his men to investigate, trying to understand the circumstances of this whole matter as soon as possible.

After Jiang Zhen stitched up the wounds of three people, someone came to report. “Boss, the matter is clear.”

These people were indeed Cheng Yongzhen’s old army and they came to attack Jiang Zhen for several reasons.

They came here after chasing Wang Rucheng and his group. Unfortunately for them, while they were chasing him, they themselves were now being chased by the imperial court’s soldiers.

Cheng Yongzhen was very powerful, and even had the ability to claim the title of king, but the imperial court was even more powerful.

Although there was a sea ban, Daqi still had a navy, not to mention that there were plenty of people in the world who were willing to work for the imperial court. Even Cheng Yongzhen at one time helped the imperial court fight pirates.

These people have been chased by officers and soldiers for a long time, unable to get any supplies and were still unable to capture Wang Ruicheng and others.

So, instead of finding a place to resupply, they soon realized that the best thing to do was to get a few more ships. This would make up for their losses caused by imperial court soilders who sank several of their ships. Then they sailed near Yabian village and found out that Wang Ruicheng and others had come to see Jiang Zhen.

Without hesitation, they chose to attack Yabian village.

For such a small sea merchant, they thought it would be easy to fight against him. When they occupied Yabian village, no matter if they wanted to resupply or get new ships, they could have it all. If they captured Wang Ruicheng, they may even get the treasure left by Cheng Yongzhen.

Cheng Yongzhen once hid a lot of gold and silver on a deserted island. This was known by many people, but no one knew where that deserted island was.

The pirates planned very well, but they didn’t expect that this small dock would be such a hard bone to chew, making them nearly choke to death.

“They are being followed by government soldiers?” Jiang Zhen smiled, but his heart jumped.

“Yes.” Jiang Zhen’s subordinates said.

“Send someone to take care of the battlefield, and then let all the patrols rest. Leave only sailors on the ships. By the way, the leaders of the pirates have been found and killed by me.” Jiang Zhen said.

Understanding Cheng Yongzhen’s previous experiences with the government, Jiang Zhen was planning to hide his strength. For this reason, over the last three years he has transferred a lot of his power underground.

At this moment, he naturally had to be careful as well.

Jiang Zhen’s men immediately went to work. Jiang Zhen was not at ease and followed them out.

It was not easy to work at this time. It was getting dark so sea visibility was getting worse and worse. Jiang Zhen only finished putting the battlefield around the docks back in the order when another fleet of ships arrived.

The government soldiers had come.

Jiang Zhen, as the person in charge, got down from his big ship and went over to the smaller ship with a torch to meet the officials who came over.

“You are the one in charge here?” A military officer in his thirties came to meet Jiang Zhen.

When the man looked at Jiang Zhen, there was inquiry and disdain in his eyes. “Yes.” Jiang Zhen nodded.

“Why don’t you kneel when you see me?” The man spoke again, looking at Jiang Zhen with dissatisfaction.

“Sir, I have made a little merit before, and received the reward of not kneeling when I see an official.” Jiang Zhen said.

“Not kneeling before an official?” The man sneered and was about to say something when an officer suddenly shouted: “My lord, they have captured those pirates!”

Hearing these words, the man looked at Jiang Zhen with some fear, then stopped talking with him and quickly left.

Since it was autumn now, the sea was windy and quite cold, but Jiang Zhen still stood on the deck.

The officials of Wexing Province, because he was rich and had a close relationship with the Zheng Family, had grown to respect him. It was clear now, that the rest of the local officials still didn’t take him seriously.

Jiang Zhen knew enough to not be dissatisfied with this, so he continued to wait quietly, while at the same time government officials and soldiers were frightened.

They have been chasing Cheng Yongzhen’s old troops for a long time and the two sides even fought a few times. Every time they were not able to gain any advantage.

Yet this group of pirates who they couldn’t deal with was captured by other people! It seemed that even the pirates on the large ships were captured by them!

Who on earth were these people?!

 

Edited by: Antiope1

 

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