Chapter 405 - Total Defea (2/2)
General Yamaguchi wasn’t an arrogant idiot like Watanabe Hiroshi. When he saw that the imperial prince’s private troops, who were all well-trained, were coming over from the direction of Dongshan Village, he knew that things had turned against him. The Tanggu Docks were heavily guarded and they weren’t able to crack such a tough nut in a short period of time. Thus, he sounded the order to retreat.
The dozens of pirate ships headed to the deep ocean to flee. The ships from the prefectural ships caught up to them as they ran and, after a tempestuous battle at sea, ten pirate ships were lost. The rest had finally managed to escape from the prefectural city’s ships and sped off. By the time Zhu Junyang and his private troops got to the docks, they could only watch the pirate ships disappear into the horizon.
“Looks like you know how to run fast!” Zhu Junyang cursed towards the deep ocean and then walked towards General Fang, who looked quite downtrodden and exhausted.
Fang Zizhen rubbed at his tired face and bowed toward Royal Prince Yang before he hastily asked, “How’s Dongshan Village right now? Are my daughter and the others doing alright?”
“The villagers from Dongshan Village fled at the right time and all of them are safe deep within the West Mountains. Unfortunately, the neighboring village wasn’t as lucky. Almost all of the villagers there were massacred!” Zhu Junyang couldn’t help but sigh at the thought.
Commander Sun came over with one of his assistants and greeted Royal Prince Yang, “Royal Prince, you came at just the right time! Those Wokou pirates are too cunning. They always made a ton of feints and never committed, which made it very tiring for us to defend. Luckily they saw that the winds weren’t behind them and finally left. If this battle with them was prolonged, we wouldn’t have enough men here in the county to fight. Otherwise, we wouldn't have begged for immediate help from everyone in our vicinity.”
“The emperor has already sent troops over and I’m pretty sure they’ll arrive within the next few days.” Zhu Junyang was quite satisfied with the speed of his family’s private troops. He exchanged a few other words with Commander Sun yet his heart was still thinking about his little lass who was hiding in the mountains. Thus, he very quickly took his troops and left the docks.
Fang Zizhen also said his farewells to Commander Sun so he could go to Dongshan Village to take a look. He was originally responsible for overseeing the construction of the harbor at Tanggu and it wasn’t his job to repel the pirates and defend the town. However, as a general, he couldn’t stop himself from butting in when there was war on the horizon. Thus, he stood out at the first moment to help fight against the pirates. Commander Sun promised him that he would bring up his bravery and deeds to the imperial court later on.
Fang Zizhen clearly didn’t care about any of this and waved a hand at the other man. He mounted his horse and rode behind the royal prince as he inquired about his goddaughter’s circumstances. When he found out that his little lass had helped to sink four to five pirate ships and even saved the prince’s life, he guffawed loudly. He stroked the whiskers on his cheeks and proudly announced, “This is truly an example of how an excellent father has an excellent daughter ah! My daughter is truly a woman beyond comparison and is not less than any man!”
Zhu Junyang silently roasted the older man in his heart, ‘What do you mean about your daughter? Her surname is Yu not Fang and she’s not even blood-related to you. What’s the point of you being proud about this?’
The eight hundred men from the imperial prince’s private army were now stationed in the remains of Dongshan Village. The first thing that Zhu Junyang did when he got back was to bring some people along to destroy the Yu Family’s old residence. The bastard pirates had slept in these rooms and he couldn’t bear for his little lass to live in such a place anymore! If the lass objected to this decision, she could go find him! He was more than willing to take out money to have them rebuild a bigger and better residence for her family.
Fang Zizhen was quite perplexed when the prince destroyed the residence. After finding out the details, he, as her godfather, also raised his hands up in support. So what if they didn’t have a place to live in for now? Not a problem, he had a large residence in town for them. Not only could it easily handle the whole Yu Family, but it could also easily handle her Oldest Aunt’s family too. There was plenty of room for everyone!
When the Dongshan villagers descended the mountain and saw the ruined remains of their homes, they all started to wail inconsolably. Many of the older folks revealed dumbfounded expressions as they had no idea what the future would hold. Most of the families here were fine and had enough money on hand to rebuild their homes. However, there was a portion of families who didn't have a lot of resources and were so poor that they were happy just having enough food to fill their stomachs. Where would they get the money to rebuild their house?
Yu Xiaocao felt very sympathetic towards these people and wanted to help them in some way. However, she was also afraid that once she opened her mouth, more things would come tumbling towards them. While she hesitated, Zhu Junyang proclaimed, “Tanggu is under my feudal jurisdiction, so you are all technically under my governance. We cannot stop disasters in their tracks and can only endure and survive through hard times. Every family who had their homes ruined will get thirty taels from me!”
He had decided on the amount of money to give to these villagers after consulting with the Yu and Liu Families. Xiaocao’s Oldest Aunt had a house made out of bricks and tile and it was one of the only homes, other than the Yu Family’s and village chief’s, to be constructed this way. They spent no more than twenty taels to build their residence. In the countryside, people crafted their own mud bricks to build a house and only needed to invite some people over and pay them in food for their help. Houses made of straw were even more simple as rice straw was an even cheaper construction material. A five-room house made of rice straw didn’t require spending more than ten taels to build.
When the Dongshan villagers heard his announcement, all of them were deeply grateful. Under the lead of the village chief, they all kowtowed and proclaimed their thanks to the prince.
Zhu Junyang lightly waved a hand and had them stand up. He then glanced at Yu Xiaocao with a proud look in his eyes.
At this time, Yu Xiaocao was currently puffing up her cheeks in anger as she sulked moodily. Her family’s residence was perfectly fine just a day ago. How could it become destroyed and become a pile of ruins in just one day?