Chapter 165 An Eye-Opening Experience
Bai Su's eyes filled with sorrow: "What the young master said is true. Most of them are indeed not deaf or mute. It's pitiful that they are all unfortunate women. If they hadn't been desperate, they wouldn't have come to me. Many of them are indeed not smart, even dull and slow. Isn't that because they have been abused and persecuted, lost their minds, and damaged their very essence, that's why they are like this?"
"Ah... I don't mean anything by it. They are all pitiful people. It's even more commendable that you treat them well and teach them martial arts for self-defense." Mu Xi really didn't expect it.
Bai Su sighed deeply: "The ones Your Highness has seen are the best. They are young, healthy, and able to practice martial arts and obey orders. As for those who are older, seriously injured, or disabled, they are all doing odd jobs down there, each content with their lot and living out their remaining years together. If they have offended Your Highness in any way before, please forgive them."
“There’s no offense involved. Knowing their backgrounds, I can only feel pity for them.” Mu Xi couldn’t say anything more. “If there’s an opportunity in the future, I hope you can train more female soldiers. I will support you wholeheartedly. As for now… I can’t give you more than ten thousand taels, but consider it a token of my appreciation.”
Mu Xi was indeed short of money, and the image of Qi Yingyu, the smiling Buddha, flashed through her mind again.
I wonder how Qi Yingyu's relationship with the Qi family of Xiangnan is going now.
She has now reached the southern border, and is probably not far from Hunan. I wonder where Qi Yingyu is now?
No matter where she is now, she has a "money bag" and a "weapon handle," and the road ahead is long, and they will both become her support.
-----------------
Over the next two weeks, Mu Xi first fabricated a story for the public.
Dai Rong disappeared because he had been given a slow-acting poison by the pirates three months ago. Although he survived after multiple treatments, he went insane and became incoherent, unable to lead troops.
This is to prevent any accidents.
You can't believe anything a crazy person says.
Secondly, Bai Su, Dai Rong's first wife, had always been devoted to taking care of her husband and was very familiar with the military affairs under Dai Rong's command. Mu Xi, as the envoy to pacify the south, was not bound by convention in recruiting talent and specially appointed Bai Su as his deputy general to lead troops to suppress the pirates.
Bai Su lived up to expectations. Speed was of the essence in warfare, and in less than ten days, he recovered most of the southern territory and wiped out the rampant pirates in Jiping Prefecture.
Apart from Bai Su and a few generals below him, the soldiers were completely unaware of all this.
Half a month later, Mu Xi, dressed in a purple and gold python robe, arrived at the post station in Jiping Prefecture, the capital of the southern border, with great fanfare.
Suppressing the pirates seemed easier than expected, though Mu Xi didn't understand that all the credit went to Bai Su.
However, you can't say it like that when reporting to your superiors.
They will inevitably exaggerate the difficulties and the great achievements.
Mu Xi didn't even need to think about such basic operations; Dai Rong had shrewd and opportunistic people under his command who would take the initiative to handle them.
Mu Xun was still thinking about the last time that the pirates had penetrated deep into the interior and plundered weapons from the western border.
Mu Xi also needed to avenge the "burglary".
As a result, I found out the inside story after inquiring.
The incident of the weapons being stolen from the western border was completely unfounded; there were no pirates who ventured into the inland waters. It was entirely Zhu Mingzhu who stole the weapons himself, and Dai Rong turned a blind eye, treating it as a "favor" to the pirates.
As for which pirate this "favor" was actually given?
In order to gain a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the Southern Border, Mu Xi requested people from Bai Su.
Bai Su quickly sent over spies specializing in gathering intelligence.
At first, the spies kept things to themselves and held back for the sake of the Southern Territory's reputation.
It wasn't until Mu Xi noticed that she tossed a gold ingot to the spy: "Say whatever you have to say. Tell us everything else that's even more shameful in the Southern Territory."
She didn't think there was anything so morally reprehensible that she couldn't accept.
Therefore, the spies "spoke without reservation and without holding back."
The theft of weapons from the Western Territory was nothing unusual in the Southern Territory.
After all these years, of the warships in the Zhennan Army, the larger ones were used by Zhu Mingjun and Dai Rong to openly and secretly turn into floating brothels at sea, while the smaller ones were used to exchange for "exotic" actors.
Goodness...
Mu Xi's eyes were truly opened.
However, this makes it much more difficult to eliminate pirates on the sea.
In this situation, the best course of action would have been to use the pretext that "most of the Zhennan Army's warships have been destroyed by pirates" to urge the Prince of Yu for additional ships.
However, the original military order clearly stated that Mu Xi had no way to ask the King of Yu for a single soldier.
If the King of Yu fails, Mu Xi will have to find a way on his own.
Afterwards, Bai Su introduced Shi Meng, the commander of the Zhennan naval forces, to Mu Xi.
On the other hand, in order to save Zhu Mingjun, Mu Xi had to ask in detail about Zhu Mingjun's entanglement with the pirates.
The result was that you wouldn't know unless you asked, and what you found out was quite surprising.
Over thousands of years, Yansheng has evolved its own system of civilization.
This applies to Yan Sheng, and also to the pirates who have been entrenched in the surrounding seas.
The "sea pirate lord" mentioned by Bai Su is the "sea lord" of all sea pirates, and also the "King of Wanzhu Mountain" they proclaim themselves, referring to the king of thousands of islands and sea areas.
It has a prestigious reputation and considerable actual strength.
Zhu Mingjun and the current "King of Wanzhu Mountain" Kan Nao are said to have a "long-standing friendship," but as to how long that friendship is, few people know the details now because it involves the previous dynasty.
The pirate leader Kanao was once incredibly brave and physically strong.
The ancestors of the pirates were bandits and ruthless fugitives who had no cultural foundation and knew nothing of etiquette and morality. Therefore, they were extremely unrestrained in their relationships with men and women.
As the "Lord of the Sea," Kan Naoki was bisexual and fathered no fewer than a hundred children, both male and female.
Since he was a "one-man party" type, he couldn't control his wives and concubines, who also had to "make things convenient" for him. Therefore, it's hard to say how many of his more than one hundred children were actually his blood relatives.
Kan Naoki has always relied on his physical attributes to indulge in wine, women, and lust. Now that he is over seventy years old, he not only does not restrain himself, but also becomes even more obsessed with male beauty.
Although he still holds the title of "King of Wanzhu Mountain" in recent years, real power has actually fallen into the hands of several sons, whose biological status is unknown.
Among them was Su Lan, the son of the "Fourteenth Young Master".
Suga Arashi was beautiful from a young age, and once caught Suga Nao's eye, she "fell in love with him".
His birth mother catered to his desires by feeding him a "yin-nourishing and yang-blocking" medicine, cultivating him into a natural beauty, and then presenting him to Suga Naoki so that Suga Naoki could secure a place among his many offspring.
Suga Arashi was naturally beautiful and charming, a beauty loved by all. She used her beauty to seduce Suga Naoki and took the opportunity to manipulate power and gain influence for herself.
When Mu Xi heard this, she wondered if the spies had made a mistake or mixed up the names.
Aren't the pirate leader Suga Naoki and this so-called "Fourteenth Young Master" Suga Arashi father and son?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
