Yamatai, also known as Yayutai. (present-day northwestern Honshu Island)
As one of the five major vassal states of Yamatai, Xie Yutai was kneeling on the ground with his hands and feet bound and his expression ashen.
Around him stood a dozen or so tall, burly men wielding long knives.
A young man in a long robe with a sinister face leaned back on a large couch, looking quite content, with a beautiful woman in his arms.
This young man was none other than Yuan Shu.
The woman in Yuan Shu's arms was Xie Yutai's two daughters.
Yuan Shu looked at Xie Yutai with a mocking expression: "You old bastard, I asked you to offer up your daughter back then, but you refused. Now you've ended up like this!"
"Don't you think this is a classic case of refusing a polite toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit?"
As Yuan Shu spoke, the translator beside him translated every single word for Xie Yutai.
Upon hearing this, Xie Yutai's face showed a hint of anger. He stared fiercely at Yuan Shu, his lips moving as he shouted loudly.
"What did he say?"
Yuan Shu picked at his ear and looked lazily at the translator.
The translator said, "In reply to your question, young master, he said that it was because his people were too cowardly and all betrayed him that he suffered such a crushing defeat, not because you were so powerful!"
"Ha! Idiot!"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu couldn't help but sneer, his gaze towards Xie Yutai filled with disdain.
"If only one or two people betray you, you can say that you have met the wrong people."
But now, everyone has betrayed you, and instead of looking for the reasons within yourself, you're blaming others. That's true incompetence!
"As the supreme commander here, you do not care about the people under your command. Instead, you levy exorbitant taxes and exploit them to the bone. It is only right that they rebel against you. Even your daughter can't stand it anymore, can she?"
After saying that, Yuan Shu pinched the woman's cheek hard, making her groan involuntarily.
Upon hearing this, Xie Yutai opened his mouth, and his straight body immediately bent down.
Seeing this, Yuan Shu was too lazy to waste any more words with him. He then waved to his burly men, ordering them to take him away.
Seeing this, the woman also looked at Yuan Shu with a pleading expression and said in broken Chinese, "Could you...please...not kill him?"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu's lips curled up, and he immediately grabbed the woman's chin with his right hand, his eyes filled with desire.
"Then let's see if you can satisfy this young master!"
With that, Yuan Shu pressed him down onto the couch and then pinned him down...
Let's go back to May of this year.
Back then, Ji Ling, acting on Yuan Shu's orders, returned to Donglai Port with a ship full of valuables. He then used the Yuan family's name to connect with the Royal Merchants and sold the goods for a high price of 400 million coins.
At that time, the port of Donglai had become a hub for the "silver mining craze," attracting illegitimate sons from various noble families and groups of adventurers.
When they heard that Yuan Shu had discovered a new piece of land there, the illegitimate sons and adventurers all sought out Ji Ling to cooperate.
Following Yuan Shu's orders, Ji Ling accepted all comers and quickly assembled a force of nearly three thousand men.
Then everyone emptied their pockets to buy fifteen ships, a large amount of supplies, and some armor and weapons discarded from the army.
After a month-long voyage, the group successfully landed on Honshu Island in June and joined up with Yuan Shu.
Because of Yuan Shu's status as the legitimate son of the Yuan family, the illegitimate sons of those aristocratic families, as well as many adventurers, all followed his lead.
With the help of these three thousand men, plus the three thousand Japanese soldiers who had surrendered earlier, Yuan Shu no longer hesitated and launched an attack on the stronghold of the Xieyutai tribe.
With Japanese soldiers serving as cannon fodder and being worn down, coupled with the support of these three thousand fierce adventurers and their weapons and armor, they were able to achieve their goals.
Yuan Shu's army was virtually invincible.
In just two months, Yuan Shu and his men captured four strongholds and hundreds of villages of the Xieyutai tribe, seizing not only a large amount of wealth and slaves, but also discovering two silver mines and one gold mine.
During the campaign, these dozen or so ships also frequently traveled between the ports of Honshu and Donglai, trading Japanese slaves for silver ingots.
During the transaction, more and more people joined Yuan Shu's ranks upon hearing the news.
By mid-October, Yuan Shu had sold over 30,000 Japanese slaves to the Han Dynasty, along with over four million taels of silver, and countless pearls and jade.
Yuan Shu's fleet also consisted of twenty-five ships, five thousand adventurers, and fifteen thousand Japanese soldiers.
Although Xie Yutai suffered repeated defeats in his fight against Yuan Shu, he remained determined and sent people to resist while simultaneously seeking help from the Himiko tribe in the south.
Unfortunately, the Japanese soldiers under Xie Yutai not only had rudimentary weapons, but also often lacked food supplies.
Such a trash team, let alone fighting those strong adventurers, could easily crush even the Japanese who were used as cannon fodder by Yuan Shu.
In early November, Yuan Shu led his army to the last stronghold of the Xieyutai tribe and surrounded it.
In an attempt to crush his spirit, Yuan Shu demanded that Xie Yutai kneel down and surrender before attacking the city, and offer up his daughter.
Faced with these conditions, Xie Yutai naturally refused to agree. Just as he was gathering his troops to put up a last-ditch resistance, all his men chose to betray him in order to save their lives and brought him to Yuan Shu's side.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
