King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

At the steward's command, the people on the boat immediately began to paddle hard, trying desperately to get out of the range of this huge ship.

They are not stupid, of course they know what happened.

They had just set fire to the cargo ship, and there were more than a hundred coolies inside. If they were caught by the Ming army, they would all be skinned to death.

The boat slid quickly and the people on it paddled frantically, as if the hope of escape was just around the corner.

But at this moment, a deafening explosion suddenly came from behind.

boom!
The sudden burst of fire was like lightning cutting through the sky.

After a loud roar, another ship left the cargo ship not far from their ship, and the fleeing boat shattered into pieces.

Everyone on the boat was stunned. They stared blankly at the boat not far away that had been blown to pieces, with dull expressions on their faces.

This scene was beyond their imagination. The intense shock mixed with the fear of dying made everyone tremble.

"Boss...Boss...what should we do?"

The man in black on the boat was crying, with tears on his face.

Their faces are ferocious when they are harming others, but when they are about to die, they are so scared that they can't even say a word.

The manager also looked pale. He subconsciously turned his head and looked behind him. On the huge ship, he could vaguely see soldiers wearing scale armor.

Rows of gun muzzles appeared on one side of the ship, and the black barrels exuded the color of death in the moonlight.

"We...we..."

Before he could finish his words, he saw several speedboats breaking through the mist and approaching them rapidly.

He originally wanted to say that since he was going to die anyway, he might as well run away.

But now it seems that with their broken sampan, there is no way they can escape.

Death is inevitable, but now they don’t even have the right to decide how they die.

Wow.

Just as he was thinking about this, a speedboat had already approached.

The Ming soldier on the boat was holding a long pole and poking it forward. The noose in front of the pole was directly put around a man's neck.

There was no need to pull at all. Just relying on the inertia of the speedboat, the person who was trapped would lose his balance and fall directly into the water, struggling desperately.

The next moment, many nooses appeared, hooking all the people on the boat and pulling them into the sea.

The fishy and salty sea water immediately rushed into the mouth and nose of the person in charge, making it difficult for him to breathe.

He slapped the water desperately, trying to keep his mouth and nose exposed below the surface as much as possible.

After the people on the speedboat trapped them, they didn't even look at them and just returned home.

To these soldiers, they were like freshly caught fish, being dragged behind the boats, with no one caring whether they lived or died.

The manager struggled desperately, and because he knew how to swim, he managed to avoid choking.

His confused eyes turned to the side and saw that several small boats in the distance had not escaped either. The small boats that were out of range were blown to pieces, and the remaining people all suffered the same fate as him.

The manager had never thought that he would die like this. He gritted his teeth and the tense muscles in his body began to relax.

He stopped struggling and let the sea water flood his mouth and nose, waiting to die quietly.

But after a moment, the feeling of suffocation and the strong desire to survive came up at the same time. He began to struggle frantically and uncontrollably, breaking away from the sea again and breathing the air greedily.

He is afraid of death, but he cannot die.

After all this trouble, he was pulled near the huge ship.

The man in charge looked a little dazed. He clearly saw a huge door open at the back of the ship. The speedboat in front of him passed through the door and went directly into the ship.

At this moment, a question suddenly popped into his mind.

If we open the door at the back of the boat, won't the boat sink?
This thought circled rapidly in his mind. Perhaps because he had been dragged in the sea, his mind was a little unclear.

In a daze, he felt that the speedboat had stopped and his body was immersed in the sea water, rising and falling.

"Fuck, dead!"

“I’m dead too.”

"What a damn bad luck! How can these people be so fragile?"

Several voices came dimly into the ears of the person in charge. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a dozen Ming soldiers standing on the shore.

Each of these people was holding a long pole in their hands and was pulling people out of the sea.

"Hey! I'm still breathing! Haha!"

He only took a glance and heard someone laughing above, then he felt his neck tighten and his body was suddenly pulled out of the water.

"Cough...cough...cough..."

After being dragged ashore with great effort, the person in charge immediately started coughing violently.

These Ming Dynasty soldiers really didn't treat them as human beings, but as animals... No, animals are more precious, they wouldn't be treated like this.

In the eyes of these Ming Dynasty officials and troops, they were not even animals.

"Alive, ha!"

A voice came again, and he slowly raised his head, only to see the soldier in black leather armor quickly stepped forward, untied the noose around his neck, then grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him forward violently.

"I'm sorry, guys. I'll send it to the higher-ups first."

"Fuck you!"

"Shit luck!"

"No, I have to go out again."

"There are only four boats in total. I destroyed one. The remaining three are all here. Are you going out to fish?"

"Damn it!"

"Only five of the three ships survived? The Fourth Prince's methods are not very effective."

"You don't want to live anymore..."

The sound of the soldiers chatting became increasingly distant, and the man in charge felt that he had no strength left in his body, and was being dragged forward like a dead pig.

He didn't know how long he walked before he was thrown roughly to the ground and a voice drilled into his ears.

"Manager Ma, I have a live one here."

"Your question or mine?"

"Don't kill him, just lock him up first."

A feminine voice suddenly came, and the manager raised his head with his eyes dazed.

He only saw a thin young man with a dark complexion looking at him, and then everything went dark before his eyes and he knew nothing.

Before I completely fainted, the feminine voice spoke again.

"Don't worry, I'll record your military merit. His Highness will never forget it."

Your Highness...

His thoughts stayed on these two words, and then he lost consciousness completely.

……

At this time, Zhu Tan was standing on the deck in front of the ironclad ship, looking at the blazing fire in the distance, his brows furrowed and his teeth chattering.

From analyzing the current situation, he certainly knew what was happening.

The burning ship in the distance definitely came from Quanzhou Port, but it caught fire halfway. It was obvious that the Park family wanted to kill people to silence them.

The news leaked, who spread it?
Zhu Tan thought that he was fast enough and kept the news strictly secret.

Apart from reporting to the capital, there was no way that the fact that his fleet was in Changguo could be leaked out.

Moreover, during those days, the seas on both sides were filled with speedboats under his command, and he was worried that someone would tip off the enemy.

No matter how careful you are, there is always a loophole.

The Pu family in Quanzhou is quite powerful! In the distance, a fire was being put out on the sea. Zhu Tan narrowed his eyes, suppressed the rage burning in his heart, and held the railing of the warship tightly with both hands.

"Your Highness."

At this time, Ma He's feminine voice came from behind. Zhu Tan did not look at him, but said in a deep voice: "Speak!"

"There were four small boats that ran outside. One was destroyed and all the people on the remaining three boats were captured."

"But the soldiers below were a bit heavy-handed. Only five of the twenty-seven people survived."

"It's cheaper for them!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Tan said angrily, "According to me, they should all be skinned alive."

"Ma He, believe it or not, that boat in the distance must be full of people."

Upon hearing this, Ma He's heart skipped a beat.

He subconsciously looked towards the sea. The fire engulfing the cargo ship was much weaker than before. He could vaguely see his own soldiers rushing onto the ship and trying their best to put out the fire.

Are there people up there? Can they still survive?

"Go and interrogate them one by one for me."

Zhu Tan patted the railing of the ironclad ship and said in a deep voice: "This king wants to know who they are and who they serve!"

"I just want the result. As long as there is someone alive who can talk, that's enough!"

"My slave obeys the order."

Upon hearing this, Ma He immediately bowed and went down.

A fire started burning in his heart, and it was out of control.

Ma He was very smart, so Zhu Tan didn't need to say anything to him. He understood everything with just one sentence.

Since following Zhu Tan to sea, especially in Changguo, he has seen countless people being harmed by Japanese pirates.

He once followed the ships of Duke Xin to wipe out the Japanese pirates on the islands and reefs. He saw with his own eyes that the villages there were empty and the bodies of the civilians who had been forced into the wilderness and turned into skeletons.

No one, young or old, male or female, survived.

There is no need to hesitate when dealing with this kind of beast.

But he never expected that the people of the Ming Dynasty would be the accomplices of the Japanese pirates!
In order to block the news and prevent it from leaking out, they actually harmed their own people!

Such a beast... No, such a thing which is even worse than a beast should not live in this world!

At night, the wind gradually grew stronger.

Zhu Tan did not return to the cabin, but stood alone on the deck, always looking at the fire in the distance.

He watched the fire on the cargo ship being put out, watched his own soldiers rush into the cabin, and saw them pull out one charred and completely stiff body after another, gritting his teeth.

After that, he couldn't bear to watch any more.

He pounded the railing hard, turned and entered the cabin, sat in his seat, and became angry when he saw the wine and food in front of him.

Zhu Tan is a prince of the Ming Dynasty, and the people of the Ming Dynasty are also his subjects.

He also has the soul of a modern person, and in his eyes all the people of the Ming Dynasty are his compatriots.

There can be intrigues, hatred, and all kinds of conflicts among our compatriots, but that is all our own family business.

Zhu Tan was not that angry when outsiders interfered and harmed the people. After all, they were a foreign race and were naturally hostile to him. He should take revenge and destroy them.

But when he saw his own family members harming their own family members for outsiders, Zhu Tan could no longer suppress his anger.

He hated traitors the most in his life.

At the beginning, he thought that the Park family was just colluding with the Japanese pirates and making profits from it at the instruction of their superiors. At most, they were just profiteers who enriched themselves by eating the country's food and were spies.

Now it seems that this is not the case at all.

Why did they want to silence people? Who did they want to silence?

If they just wanted to silence the witness, why didn't they drag the man to the wilderness and chop him up, but chose to burn the boat in the sea?

It is certain that the local officials in Quanzhou are in collusion with the Pu family, but these officials probably don’t know all the facts about the Pu family.

What the Park family is planning is probably beyond imagination.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!"

Zhu Tan's thoughts were a little confused, and he was thinking about all kinds of things. After an unknown amount of time, Ma He's voice suddenly came from outside, with a bit of unwillingness and resentment.

He looked up and saw Ma He rushing in from outside and kneeling on the ground with red eyes.

"Your Highness, the brothers outside are back."

His tone was full of tears. He kowtowed to Zhu Tan and said in a trembling voice, "You, you go and take a look."

Seeing Ma He like this, Zhu Tan's heart skipped a beat.

Ma He had seen big battles before, so why was he so panicked? Could it be...

Zhu Tan stood up subconsciously, walked quickly forward, and under the guidance of Ma He, went down to the cabin and reached the bottom deck.

He thought he had seen a lot of suffering and blood in the world, but when he saw the scene before him, he was still stunned.

But he was stunned for a moment, and suddenly a surge of anger rose up and his eyes turned red.

And I saw that the three ships that had just left were filled with charred corpses.

One by one, they were all killed by the flames, their bodies were stiff, and some of the corpses were even burned together and could not be pulled apart.

The soldiers on the ship cried bitterly while dealing with the bodies of these people.

As veterans of many battles, they have seen many deaths, but rarely have they been so moved.

But these people... are so miserable.

They are not enemies, but ordinary people who were tricked into getting on board.

They were all murdered.

"Are there any survivors?"

Zhu Tan's voice was also trembling. He turned to look at Ma He, only to see that he was already in tears. He wiped his tears and replied, "Yes."

"Just... just rescue two."

"One of them was badly burned and probably won't make it, but the other one is fine."

"Where is the man?"

"I will take you there."

Ma He gritted his teeth, saluted to Zhu Tan, turned around and left, and Zhu Tan immediately followed behind him.

In the lower cabin nearby, there lay a man whose entire body was charred by smoke. Two medical officers on board were treating his wounds.

Just one look and Zhu Tan felt pain.

The fire had caused a lot of blood blisters on this man's body, which have now been opened and applied with medicine.

The man's face was twisted with pain, but he kept gritting his teeth and said nothing.

"How about it?"

Zhu Tan asked, and the two medical officers immediately stood up. One of them said, "Your Highness, these are just superficial injuries, but they are a bit troublesome."

"If he doesn't have a fever in the next two days, then he can still be saved. If he does have a fever..."

The medical officer did not say anything else, but Zhu Tan understood what he meant and spoke immediately.

"Give him the penicillin we have on board, save him!"

The two medical officers were startled when they heard this, then bowed and said, "Yes!"

Zhu Tan took a few steps forward, stood beside the man, looked into his eyes, and asked.

"what's your name?"

"Little...little...Wang Lin." (End of this chapter)