Chapter 327: Mysteries

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the country had faced threats from Japanese pirates. Even from the Hongwu era onward, distinguished heroes who had been granted noble titles were often sent by the emperor to coastal areas to hunt and defend against them. Yet it remained difficult to deal with the pirates’ repeated and widespread raids. While Zheng He’s treasure ships made frequent voyages to the West, he was even ordered by Zhu Di to punish the Japanese pirates, but with little success.

The reason was simple: the Ming Dynasty imposed strict sea bans, and aside from the treasure ships, there were few naval vessels in the coastal garrisons. Most of the coastal islands, aside from a few larger ones, had no Ming troops stationed there. As a result, some became ports for private merchants, while others became gathering places for remnants of warlords like Fang Guozhen and Zhang Shicheng, as well as wandering Japanese warriors. These two groups both fought and exploited each other, with intertwined interests.

After all, these pirates did not appear out of thin air, nor could they always come directly from Japan by sea after each raid. They needed supplies, so those private ports and islands became ideal locations for obtaining supplies and coordinating attacks. Unless the emperor, in a fit of anger, sent a large army by sea to suppress them, even a decisive victory by the official forces would only provide temporary relief.

Thanks to the watchmen’s diligent ringing of the bronze bells, almost the entire Shanghai County was awakened from its slumber in an instant. Although there had been incidents a few years prior, they had all occurred in fishing villages in the southeast. People usually only heard about how brutal the pirates were. When suddenly someone shouted that the pirates were coming, many fell into panic. With nowhere to go in the dead of night, people could only pile up all movable furniture behind their doorframes and arm themselves with knives and other sharp tools, staying on high alert.

Inside the Xilai Inn at that moment, chaos reigned. As soon as Zhang Yue entered, he immediately ordered Hu Qi and the others to block the doorframes. After initial panic, the owner Chu Yun forced himself to instruct his staff to use tables, chairs, and benches to block the doors, and he also gathered several knives from the kitchen for everyone to carry. Ma Qinjiu, a merchant from Huai, though frightened, saw Zhang Yue’s calm demeanor and promptly brought over his two bodyguards and two servants, handing them all over to Zhang Yue’s command.

Wang Quanbin’s face was completely pale. Although his four servants and a maid rushed downstairs, panicked, surrounding him, he merely muttered nervously, “It can’t be that bad. Even if the pirates come, they surely won’t target this place… You bastards! If it weren’t for your business, why would I have left Yangzhou to come to this damned place!”

Faced with Wang Quanbin’s furious outbursts, Ma Qinjiu’s expression darkened instantly. But at such a moment, he really had no energy to argue with an unreasonable man. Seeing that tables, chairs, and stools had been piled high at the entrance, with chaotic obstacles scattered in the open space, and a pile of various items behind the counter forming a hiding place about half a person’s height, he felt slightly relieved. Glancing to the side, he saw Zhang Yue leading several people in through the side door. Besides a few burly men carrying two large chests, there were also three young girls. Shortly after they entered, they immediately started blocking the side door.

Zhang Yue, ignoring what Ma Qinjiu was thinking, pointed to the hiding place made of various wooden pieces and signaled the three Lingxi girls to hide there. He then lifted one of the chest lids and grabbed a sword from inside. To the astonishment of everyone else, Hu Qi calmly took out several swords from inside, followed by four copper firearms.

Seeing Zhang Yue’s four guards place the firearms on the counter and skillfully load them with gunpowder, then stack the drawn swords on top, Chu Yun and the other clerks couldn’t help but gasp. Even Ma Qinjiu, who had seen much of the world, swallowed hard as his legs began to tremble. At this point, the threat of the Japanese pirates was forgotten; their only concern was who these people were—coming out with girls and carrying full sets of killing weapons. Just then, a statement from Hu Qi plunged everyone into even deeper shock.

“For now, the only thing we fear is that if the Japanese pirates really attack and set fires everywhere, it will be a huge problem.”

At that moment, Wang Quanbin, who had seemed aimless just moments ago, suddenly jumped up and shouted, “If we stay here, aren’t we just waiting to be burned to death? No, I won’t stay here to die! I’m leaving! Everyone, follow me! I can’t lose my life in this damned place!”

He stumbled through the obstacles toward the main door, while the four servants behind him remained motionless. Even the pretty girl showed no intention of following him. Instead, when her master started moving things, she warned, “Young master, no one knows what’s going on outside right now. Leaving might only make things worse…”

“Shut up! If you won’t go, I’ll go alone!”

Seeing that this useless and troublemaking young master Wang was causing more chaos, Zhang Yue couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows and order in a deep voice, “Hu Qi, knock him out and carry him back!”
The people around saw only a figure suddenly darting out from behind the counter, effortlessly bypassing various obstacles to get behind Wang Quanbin. With a fierce slash, a muffled thud followed, and he carried the man back as if carrying rice, tossing him to the ground carelessly as if discarding trash, never giving him another glance. Faced with this, Wang Quanbin’s maid turned pale and trembled, while the others also felt their legs go weak, but none dared say a word.
It was unclear how long they waited before noisy shouts and screams suddenly filled the silent night, followed by cries of alarm and pain. If there had been any hope left for the people in the hall earlier, it was completely gone now. Few could still stand upright, even Fan Gouer, who was holding a kitchen knife, had already collapsed to the ground.
Although he knew the sword given by Du Zhen was a fine weapon, Zhang Yue had never had the chance to use it. Now, as he drew the long sword, he couldn’t help but feel a slight tremor. When he heard knocking and shouting outside the door, his pupils contracted sharply. He took a deep breath, noticing out of the corner of his eye that the four guards beside him were already striking flint.
The sturdy door panels emitted a creaking sound under the forceful pounding. At this critical moment, the rhythmic thuds only served to weigh heavily on everyone’s hearts. Finally, one of the door panels could no longer hold and broke in the middle, followed by a second and third. In an instant, several oddly dressed men, shouting incomprehensible words, pushed aside the tables and chairs blocking their path and rushed in.
“Aim well and shoot!”
At that command, four copper firearms fired in quick succession. Although firearms had a range of only thirty to fifty steps on the battlefield, and their accuracy was extremely limited unless fired in unison, the distance from behind the counter to the door was only a dozen steps—making those people perfect targets. After the flashes of fire, several people lay sprawled on the ground, while Hu Qi, like a ghost, rushed out with his sword. The only one still standing didn’t even have time to react before being struck hard in the face with the back of the sword.

Seeing Hu Qi carry another person back just as quickly as before, the others immediately moved back inside, looking as if they had seen a ghost. Since no one rushed in through the door for the time being, Zhang Yue was quite satisfied with their performance so far. Turning his head, he saw Hu Qi crouched on the ground, tying the person tightly with a rope, while the four guards had already begun loading gunpowder into the copper firearms for the second time. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, knelt on one knee behind the high counter, and stared intently outside.

This calm lasted for a long time. Eventually, several figures reappeared at the entrance. Apparently seeing the several unconscious men lying inside the door, they only wandered outside, not daring to enter easily. It wasn’t until about a dozen people gathered that someone finally rushed in boldly.

Bang bang bang—

Taking advantage of their hesitation, the four guards lit the fuses of the firearms and fired all their ammunition in one go. Right after that, they immediately drew their swords and rushed out without hesitation. For a moment, the entire hall was filled with the sounds of sword clashes, screams, and cries of shock. When the smoke cleared, the entrance was littered with bodies. Although the firearms may not have hit vital spots, the subsequent sword attacks were deadly. Not a single pirate remained standing.

Since the two rounds of firing were separated by such a short time, Zhang Yue gently touched the four copper firearms and found them too hot to use anymore. Even so, the immense power of these weapons still shocked people like Chu Yun who had never seen anything like it. So when they saw those four fierce men hiding at the entrance with their knives, their hearts, which had just experienced such extreme fluctuations, became completely numb. Even when they saw one of the figures suddenly dash out of the door after standing there for a long time, everyone just exchanged glances.

It took a whole tea break before the boy-faced guard turned back and said, “Young master, the pirates are gone.”

Although it should have been a time to breathe a sigh of relief, Zhang Yue instinctively asked, “Is there not a single person left outside?”

Since Zhu Zhanji was willing to assign people to Zhang Yue, he surely didn’t send ordinary ones. The vanguard of the imperial army consisted of young soldiers carefully selected by Zhu Di from the descendants of military households, with the most skilled soldiers from the capital guard serving as instructors. All the soldiers were under thirty years old, and these four were among the best of the five thousand young soldiers. Hearing Zhang Yue’s question, the boy-faced guard replied solemnly, “At least there’s no activity in the other inns and restaurants on this street; no one is in sight.”

“Are there really just a dozen or so pirates this time?”
As Zhang Yue was deep in thought, a hoarse voice suddenly came from below: “How do you have firearms!”
Hearing that this man, whose head was almost completely shaved, was speaking Chinese, Zhang Yue, who already had doubts, was shocked. He immediately grabbed the man’s clothes and lifted him up, asking sternly, “You’re not a pirate!”
The man had just been struck hard in the face by Hu Qi, causing his cheek to swell greatly. Seeing Zhang Yue’s fierce expression, he trembled with fear and immediately started shouting, “Pity me! I really am not a pirate! We just came here to cause trouble while the pirates were attacking. The group you killed first has nothing to do with me! I… I really am not a pirate!”
Already suspicious and convinced from the man’s fluent Chinese that he wasn’t a pirate, Zhang Yue was almost certain there was something suspicious about these pirates. Hearing the man claim he had come here to cause trouble while the pirates were attacking, he felt a chill and quickly raised his sword, placing it at the man’s neck.
“Since you say you came here to cause trouble while the pirates were attacking, did you know in advance that they were coming?”
“No, no, no! I didn’t know…” The man realized he had blurted out too much and tried to correct himself, but Zhang Yue’s sharp sword slashed across his right arm. Seeing that he would kill him at the slightest provocation, he was terrified. “Sir, please spare my life! We just heard some rumors beforehand! Those pirates’ ships were anchored off islands like Daqu Mountain and Yangshan. Our boss happened to hear about this, so after receiving that deal, we tried to take advantage of the situation before the pirates attacked… They said you were a merchant, and we were deceived! We didn’t intend to kill anyone; we just wanted to cause some trouble! The pirates must have just landed. I really don’t know who those people who came first were…”
At this moment, although he couldn’t be completely sure who was behind this, Zhang Yue had a vague sense that if they didn’t handle this properly, it could lead to big trouble. Moreover, since the coast was unstable with frequent pirate attacks, how could they lift the sea ban? The opponents in the court would surely become even louder in their opposition! With these thoughts, he left behind this cowardly man and stood up.
“You four stay here. Hu Qi, come with me to the Shanghai County yamen!”

Hearing this, the guard with a baby face immediately grew anxious. “Young master, although there are no Japanese pirates on this street anymore, who knows if there are any elsewhere? It’s too dangerous to go out at such a time. What if something happens to you? How can we explain this to the emperor…?”

“Songjiang Prefecture hasn’t seen Japanese pirates in years, and the current magistrate of Shanghai might not be able to handle them either. If Shanghai had city walls, it would be fine, but here, there’s nothing to defend us with—no walls at all! Fortunately, I remember that there’s a garrison of over a hundred men stationed here, which might come in handy now. If the Japanese pirates really manage to break in, the consequences would be unimaginable. Here’s what we’ll do: you come with me, and those three stay behind.”

Zhang Yue tied his cloak on without another word. Before he could take two steps, he felt someone suddenly grab his arm. Turning around, he saw Qiu Hen. Her face was covered in tears as she frantically shook her head at him. He gently freed her fingers one by one, then pulled her into his arms and patted her softly. It took a while before he finally let her go with a smile.

“You and Lingxi Amber stay here safely. With those three around, you’ll be more than enough to protect yourselves. Don’t worry. I’m lucky and strong—nothing will happen to me. Wait here for me to return!”

Before long, the quick-witted Hu Qi brought out three horses from the stable. Despite the reluctance of the three guards who were ordered to stay, they could only watch as the three of them mounted their horses and rushed off. They then began carrying away the corpses at the entrance. Though they were part of the vanguard troops of the prefectural army, they had accompanied Zhu Zhanji on the second northern expedition and were used to killing. Seeing them coldly examine the corpses—some pushing them aside, others throwing them straight onto the street—made the people behind the counters shiver with fear.