Chiyo stared blankly at the food that had been handed to her.

The food in the bowl was somewhat beyond her expectations.

White steamed buns and a little bit of leftover egg were far too much for Chiyo to eat.

This made her almost disbelieve her eyes; she couldn't believe that this was really meant for her to eat.

But seeing that everyone else had received their share, Chiyo felt relieved and wolfed down her food.

She had never eaten anything so good since she could remember.

Although it was leftover food from Ming Dynasty soldiers, in her eyes it was a delicacy.

She ate while tears streamed down her face.

She really wanted to share this delicious food with her mother.

The other prisoners were also deeply moved.

They never expected that they would still have food to eat, and that they could eat so well.

Even if we work ourselves to the bone, we can't afford to eat such refined food.

How come we're still getting to eat such good food now that we're prisoners of war?

They don't quite understand.

Most of the surviving prisoners were ordinary civilians, and more than 80% of these civilians were women.

Only 20% are children and the elderly, and these are the people living at the very bottom of the island nation.

Most of the men were conscripted by Yu Rentian. In order to attack Fujian, he conscripted all the men in the country into the army, leaving only the old, weak, women and disabled to be responsible for farming.

Without men to produce food, there simply wouldn't be enough to feed the entire island nation.

Only a few nobles had the right to have enough to eat.

Most food producers can barely survive, just enough to keep themselves from starving.

Some women are willing to sell their bodies just to survive.

Now that they have such delicious food, they have long forgotten about their country and nation.

Because of the constant wars in island nations, they've been reduced to mere coercion.

Most families have lost their men.

Then the women, who make up the largest population of the island nation, became victims of the war.

In order to promote population growth, Shingo Abe strongly advocated that women sell themselves into prostitution, becoming comfort women and tools for reproduction.

Some of his policies turned the entire island nation into a huge haven for illicit affairs.

Women on the island nation not only did not benefit from the war, but their status was also lowered as a result of the war.

Women walking down the street could be grabbed and used for their own purposes at any time.

Even if you hide at home, you will still be caught.

The men who committed the crimes were only fined some money.

Therefore, many women do not know whose child they are carrying.

The place where the relationship occurred can be used as the child's surname, and the number of people involved can be used as the child's given name.

For example, names like Yamamoto Isoroku, Inoue Shichijuku, Tanabe Yayoi, and Matsushita Chiyo.

In this situation, the women on the island lived a life worse than animals, their lives seemingly plunged into darkness.

Without food to eat, living a life devoid of dignity in this world, is like being a walking corpse.

The existence of this bowl of leftover rice made them feel as if they had seen a ray of light.

After dinner, You Mingkuang gave each of them a quilt so they wouldn't catch a cold at night.

Because the prisoner's cell was a temporary structure, it was drafty on all sides except for the roof.

To prevent these Japanese pirates from dying so easily, Li Chang'an specially brought out blankets to keep them warm.

Chiyo, wrapped in a warm blanket, looked at the empty prison and thought about the food she had just eaten. Suddenly, she was no longer afraid.

She drifted off to sleep as the sea breeze blew through her.

In her dream, she saw the sun illuminating the whole world.

The next day, Chiyo was woken up and, along with other prisoners, was put into building a dungeon.

Before they started working, the cooks distributed the leftover rations from the soldiers to the group of Japanese pirates.

Since it's a waste to lose it anyway, we might as well let these Japanese pirates eat it, so they can have more energy to work.

There wasn't much stuff; each Japanese pirate could only get a small amount.

However, the prisoners were somewhat flattered by this small amount of food.

How come we're already eating food before we've even started working?

Some women in island nations even bowed deeply in gratitude when they received the food.

This left the Ming soldiers distributing the food somewhat bewildered.

After they finished eating, You Mingkuang arranged for them to cut down trees and move stones under the scorching sun in preparation for building a dock and a prison.

After working like this for several days, the group of Japanese pirates became more and more enthusiastic.

Knowing that the Ming soldiers wouldn't kill them, the Japanese pirates felt completely at ease.

Then they got to work even harder.

Sometimes, they didn't even need to be called; the Japanese pirates would get up on their own, line up, and wait to come out and work.

Sometimes they will even take the initiative to manage and punish those who don't work.

Every time they ate leftovers, these people would bow to the soldiers and say words of thanks.

It was as if being able to eat leftovers was an honor for them.

While they were working, they would even hum a lullaby softly.

It felt as if I wasn't locked in a prison, but living in a castle.

You Mingkuang stood in front of the prison, looking at the group of Japanese pirates with happy expressions on their faces, somewhat puzzled.

Xing Yishan noticed his confusion and came over.

"Don't you think these Japanese pirates are a bit strange?"

"Yes, I always felt like they didn't treat me like a prisoner."

Upon hearing this, Xing Yishan burst into laughter: "Brother, have you forgotten that I was once your prisoner too?"

"But look at me now, I don't look like a prisoner at all."

"The punishment you people think of is making people do hard labor and then feeding them leftovers."

"But in the eyes of these Japanese pirates, this was not a punishment, but a reward."

"You have to understand that most of the people here are from the lowest rungs of society."

“Their daily lives were a thousand times more painful than they are now.”

“I would even say that letting them go is the greatest punishment you can give them.”

"You know, here you only need to do some hard labor to eat such good food and fill your stomach. Compared to the past, this life is simply a paradise of happiness."

"Sometimes when these Japanese pirates chat, they all say they hope they can live like this in the future."

“They don’t want you to leave; they even want you to rule the country and enslave them like this every day.”