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Chapter 1352 A Muddled Account
But let's show some leniency for his father, Zhen Xian, who was the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. The people are already very grateful that these sons of officials are able to join the army and serve the country. We can't ask for too much, or it will only cause trouble for the emperor.

To be honest, compared to children from lower-middle-class families, the pampered children of officials do have quite a few problems. They find fault with everything and are incredibly audacious; every year there are examples of them being punished for violating military regulations.

"There are at least a hundred women and children locked up inside. The walls are made of large stones, the windows are very high, and the front and back doors are blocked. Unless you bombard them with field artillery, a direct assault will kill many people."

The statistics department personnel kept having an interpreter speak with them, but it wasn't Latin, so I couldn't understand what they were saying. "If they don't surrender, then just keep surrounding them. Sooner or later they'll be too hungry to even pick up a gun, and then we'll just go in and arrest them."

Despite being reprimanded, Commander Zhen did not change his ways, nor did he treat the naval officer as a superior. His tone and wording remained casual. However, he was quite articulate and clear-headed, explaining the cause and effect and the solution in one go.

"Then why do you want me to go there?"

Setter had no objection to this method. He had seen more than one church, and most of them were very well built, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack if one did not want to involve too many innocent people.

But the Army Statistics Division already sent someone to talk to them, right? They could have just sent anyone claiming to be the supreme commander, why did they have to actually call me over? The problem is, they wouldn't recognize me if I went, so what's the point?

"Hey, the statistics department tried, but they found out. Someone in the church recognized our ranks and gave the centurion of the statistics department a good scolding—in Latin, I heard it clearly. This is how he cursed..."

Speaking of this little incident, Zhen Qianhu was like a man possessed, making no attempt to hide his views on the Statistics Department; gloating would be an understatement. He not only secretly rejoiced but also wanted to spread the news far and wide.

"Shut up! Take your men to the church near the dock in the south of the city, relocate the people inside to another location, quickly pack up, and set up defenses. It will be used as a temporary warehouse when the supply ships return."

If there are any suitable houses nearby, requisition them as well. Be mindful of your methods; try to avoid conflict with the locals. If a problem can be resolved with coins, don't resort to weapons. Understand?

Setter really didn't want to clean up this young master's mess anymore, so he quickly found a job to send him away. At the same time, he cursed Du Wenhuan in his heart. That cunning old fox must have deliberately left the real commander to himself. How wicked!
Zhen Qianhu was indeed not very tactful in his speech, but he was not lying. There were indeed people in the church who recognized the ranks of the Ming army. After seeing Setel appear, they took the initiative to raise the white flag and came out. It turned out that he was a priest.

What surprised Setter even more was that the priest recognized him and called him by name immediately. After a brief conversation, it turned out that he had spent several years in churches in Macau and Manila, until the Portuguese were expelled from Asia, at which point he returned to his hometown of Italy by ship.

Not long after, he was sent by the church to Panama City, but unfortunately, he was caught up in the war just over six months after arriving.

"General, please do not blame them. They were misled by rumors. They believed that the Ming army was a group of pirates who not only robbed people of their property but also kidnapped children, men, and women to sell as slaves. That is why they fought so desperately."

Don't blame me; I tried my best to explain, but no one believed me, and I even got beaten up for it. See, if I don't shut up, I might be hanged!

The priest, Di Lorenzo, while trying to ingratiate himself, didn't forget his business. With a pained expression, he explained the reasons for the desperate resistance in Panama City in fairly fluent Ming Dynasty Mandarin. To prove he wasn't lying, he deliberately lifted his robe to reveal the bruises on his ribs.

"Do they believe it now?"

Setter wasn't entirely convinced. The reputation of Christian priests, both in Ming territory and overseas, wasn't good, especially those from Italy—they were notorious for lying without batting an eye. "I believe them now. The Ming army has proven their noble character through their actions. Of course, I've been trying my best to persuade them," said Di Lorenzo. Whether he was telling the truth or not was unclear, but he had certainly been beaten quite a bit. Not only were there wounds on his ribs, but it seemed a tooth had been knocked out, and there was blood in his mouth.

"That's good. Go tell them that as long as they hand over their weapons and obey orders, they will not be harmed or held accountable for their past actions, even if they fired at the Ming army."

But you must promise me that each of them must tell the truth and not conceal their identities. If I discover they have violated the agreement, the liar will be hanged, and you, as the guarantor, will have to unload the ships at the dock—your back will break in less than three days!

Settle was also very skilled at dealing with Europeans, or rather, any soldier stationed overseas for a long time could basically master this skill. It wasn't that he intentionally learned it, but he couldn't do it without being in contact with these people every day, otherwise he would be easily deceived.

"Please trust my credibility, General. I know their situation. It will only take two... an hour to write it down. Uh... may I ask one more question? What will happen to them? Will their families pay the ransom or will they be sent back to the Ming Empire?"

Di Lorenzo was quite generous, patting his chest and offering to vouch for the people in the church. He probably wasn't lying about this; as the city's priest, he should be known by those who frequented the church. But he wanted to know more, such as the whereabouts of the prisoners.

"Are they all nobles?"

The General Staff also gave clear instructions on how to handle prisoners of war. If they were European nobles, as long as they laid down their weapons and did not cause trouble, they could be released by paying a ransom according to their custom.

Those without ransom or who are not nobles, well, sorry, they'll have to stay and continue being exploited. The Ming Empire needs taxpayers too, and the more the better.

"Some of them are, and some are their slaves..."

"Damn, after fighting for so long, it turns out the slaves are the ones who are putting up the fiercest resistance! Commander Zhang, you heard it too. I've made all the promises I was supposed to make. You can handle the rest. I have other work to do."

I have a personal suggestion for these people: before the ransom arrives, make them, along with the slaves, transport all the corpses in the city outside to be burned and buried. Let them neither die from exhaustion nor have it too easy!

Upon hearing this, Setter finally understood: the core of the fighting force against the new army was neither ordinary citizens nor nobles, but slaves of various noble families.

The Japanese soldiers died unjustly, but the civilians in the city died even more unjustly. If it weren't for these foolish slaves fighting to the death, the New Army wouldn't have suffered so many casualties, wouldn't have gone on a killing spree, and so many civilians wouldn't have died.

However, the blame cannot be placed entirely on the slaves; they were simply foolish, not evil. The nobles were not truly evil either; who would have thought that the enemy would plunder everything and even kidnap and sell people after entering the country? They too would have fought to the death.

There's no logic to war. Sometimes, after fighting for so long, neither side knows why they're fighting or what the hatred is about. It's all a mess.

(End of this chapter)