The rise of the poor

"Suddenly I feel, shouldn't we at least leave Takeda a whole body, wrap him in a mat, and bury him?"

Mao Haifeng grinned from ear to ear as he looked at the twenty large boxes of gold and silver ingots neatly arranged in the basement.

The box, about half a person's height, was filled to the brim with fist-sized gold and silver ingots, radiating a dazzling brilliance that made Mao Haifeng's eyes dazzle and his mouth water.

It seems that the Takeda family had a habit of melting down the stolen gold and silver into gold and silver ingots for two generations. Their family's treasure room contained more gold and silver than the county government's treasury.

Seeing so many gold and silver ingots, Mao Haifeng felt that he had gone a bit too far that morning and should have left Takeda Toshikawa with a complete corpse.

"Come on, wasn't it you who tore him to pieces?" Liu Dadao smirked, then added disdainfully, "Besides, their family has so much gold and silver treasure hidden in their underground chamber, which shows that this bastard has caused a lot of harm to the people of our Great Ming. Let alone tearing him to pieces, even slow slicing wouldn't be too much."

"Hehe, now their family's wealth from two generations has all gone to us, I feel a little embarrassed," Mao Haifeng said with a chuckle.

Mao Haifeng said he was embarrassed, but his actions showed no embarrassment. He picked up a gold ingot and a silver ingot in each hand, put them to his mouth, took a bite to confirm they were real gold and silver, and his smile widened. "Lord Zhu, let's split it evenly, ten boxes for each family. Oh, where is Lord Zhu?"

It was only then that Mao Haifeng realized Zhu Pingan was missing, and he couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Your eyes are glued to Yuanbao! Someone just reported that many villagers have been found imprisoned. Young Master, go and rescue them, give them travel expenses, and arrange for someone to send them home."

Liu Dadao replied.

"Lord Zhu is good in every way, except that he is too kind-hearted." Mao Haifeng curled his lip in disapproval upon hearing this.

"If it weren't for our young master's kind heart, would you still be standing here criticizing him?!" Liu Dadao retorted sarcastically.

"Cough cough. That's true." Mao Haifeng couldn't help but cough.

At the Jiwu Village Square, there were still more than 300 women and children left. They were either unwilling to return to their original hometowns or too young to remember them.

"Please, sir, we're all filthy. If we go back, we'll be scorned and despised by our families and villagers. Please don't send us back. If you insist on sending us back, I'd rather die."

"Sir, we can't go back. My family has been killed by the Japanese pirates, and I'm all alone. If I go back, I'll be all alone and despised. Please, sir, don't send me back."

"I don't know where my home is. I was kidnapped by Japanese pirates when I was eight years old."

More than three hundred women and children knelt on the ground, crying and pleading with Zhu Ping'an, saying that they did not want to return to their hometowns.

Zhu Pingan has already sent over eight hundred civilians imprisoned by the Japanese pirates away. They were all from the Zhejiang and Fujian areas. Zhu Pingan sent men to escort them back and gave each of them five taels of silver for travel expenses.

The remaining women and children were unwilling to go back.

"Please rise, everyone. Don't get agitated. If you don't want to go back, you don't have to for now. I'll send someone to take you back when you're ready," Zhu Ping'an said to the group of women and children, helping an elderly woman to her feet.

Since none of them wanted to go back, Zhu Pingan could force them to go back. If any of them were to do something rash, it would defeat the purpose of rescuing them.

So how should we arrange things for them?
Zhu Pingan thought for a moment and then came up with an idea. There were many villages in Zhejiang that had been destroyed by Japanese pirates. He could arrange for them to be placed in a village that was close to Shaoxing and where their safety was guaranteed. He could give them some grain, money and land so that they could live on their own.

They don't restrict their freedom; they'll arrange for someone to send them back when they want to return to their hometown.

"Are you willing?" Zhu Pingan told the women and children about his idea and asked for their opinions.

"Thank you very much, sir. Your arrangements are so thoughtful. We are willing, of course we are willing."

The group of women and children were so moved that they knelt down to express their gratitude.

"Escort them all the way to Zhao Family Village in Shaoxing Prefecture for resettlement. This official document is to be given to the local magistrate, who is to register their household registration and allocate land to them according to the local village standards." Zhu Ping'an then arranged for fifty Zhejiang soldiers to escort them back to Shaoxing and also wrote an official document by hand to be given to the local magistrate.

"As ordered."

The Zhejiang soldiers obeyed the order and left.

After Zhu Ping'an settled the people, Mao Haifeng and Liu Dadao had already divided up the wealth of the two generations of the Wutian family, each receiving ten boxes of gold and silver ingots, one hundred jars of fine wine, and more than one hundred bolts of silk and satin.

In addition to the wealth of the Takeda family, the Zhejiang army also divided up about one-third of the Yoshiya village houses.

These villages were inhabited by Japanese pirates, and contained their accumulated wealth. Although not as much as the Takeda family's wealth, it amounted to five or six thousand taels of silver, not including more than a hundred livestock, including chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and sheep.

Everyone returned home with a full load.

Zhu Pingan ordered that Jiwu Village be preserved intact, and like the fishing village stronghold, it was used as a stronghold for the Zhejiang army.

In addition, Zhu Pingan also had the idea of ​​fishing.

Japan is separated from this place by the sea, and news of the destruction of Yoshiya Village will certainly not reach Japan.

Perhaps in the near future, as is customary, Japan will send pirates to Yoshiya Village, who will then lead them to burn, kill, and plunder along the coast.

Zhu Pingan ordered his men to set up an ambush in Yoshiya Village, so that when the Japanese pirates arrived, they would be given a surprise and wiped out in one fell swoop.

With the destruction of the Yoshiya Village pirates, there were no more large-scale pirate strongholds along the coast. The remaining strongholds were all small, with fewer than a thousand people, and some even had fewer than a hundred people.

These Japanese pirate strongholds are no longer a concern.

"The army rested for a day, slaughtered pigs, sheep, chickens and geese, and everyone ate, drank and slept well to get enough rest."

Upon returning to the fishing village stronghold, Zhu Pingan gave the order.

The crowd cheered with joy.

"Lord Zhu, the remaining Japanese pirate strongholds are no longer a concern. We can divide our forces into groups of five hundred men and eliminate them. If we encounter any larger Japanese pirate strongholds, the two groups can cooperate and it will be a piece of cake."

Mao Haifeng confidently offered his advice to Zhu Pingan.

"General Mao's suggestion is excellent. We will do as General Mao says. In addition, our people are not familiar with the area. We would like to ask General Mao to send some people who are familiar with the Japanese pirate strongholds in various places to be our guides."

Zhu Pingan nodded and said.

"Leave it to me." Mao Haifeng thumped his chest loudly. (End of Chapter)