The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

A dish of ginger duck, a dish of fish ball soup, a dish of runniang, and a dish of fish and vegetables are said to be the more popular dishes in their inn.

The waiter brought them a bowl of rice.

Having not eaten properly in the past few days, Pan Yun filled a bowl for herself and gestured to Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan, "Serve yourself."

Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan were not polite and each served a large bowl of white rice.

After eating the rice, vegetables and meat, Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan felt better as they had something full in their stomachs.

Cen Yuan burst into tears.

He cried while eating. Pan Yun picked up a piece of fish belly with chopsticks. He was so upset by his crying that he put the fish meat into his bowl and said gently, "Don't cry. I have carefully thought about the Ming Dynasty law. The highest sentence for your crime is immediate execution. Beheading is the fastest way to die. The knife goes up and down, leaving a wound as big as a bowl. In eighteen years, you will be a brave man again."

Cen Yuan cried even harder, but still stuffed the fish into his mouth, crying as he ate: "If I could have a meal like this before I die, I would be able to die with my eyes closed."

Pan Yun: "I heard that there are hospice care in prisons. There are no such good dishes, but there is meat for the last meal."

Cen Yuan was overwhelmed with grief and cried even louder.

He opened his mouth and cried, and couldn't eat.

Pan Jun sat back, frowned, and could only look at Cen Dachuan: "Why don't you give me some advice?"

"We are about to die, can't we just cry for a while?" Cen Dachuan still held the bowl and chopsticks firmly, his face showing no fear or sadness: "I heard from Taoist Master Pan that he wanted to hand us over to the government, but we stayed in an inn first after entering Quanzhou City. Are you going to hand us over to the government, or to someone else?"

Pan Yun put down his bowl and chopsticks: "There is a phrase called making up for one's crime with merit."

Cen Yuan immediately raised his head, not even bothering to wipe the tears off his face, and said hastily: "I am willing to redeem myself from my crime and make meritorious contributions. We will tell you everything we know."

"Really?" Pan Yun curled his lips and said, "You have worked at sea for so many years. How can you tell us everything you know in just a quarter of an hour or two?"

"Really, we have confessed everything," Cen Yuan pointed to the sky and swore, "Those Japanese pirates were brought here by Brother Fan and his men. We know very little about them. If we are still hiding something, we will be struck by lightning and die miserably."

Pan Yun waved his hand to interrupt his oath: "Alright, alright, I'm not saying I don't believe you, but this little information is not enough to make amends for your crimes. You saw it when we entered the city. The Wulin League, Tianshi Mansion, and the imperial court jointly suppressed the bandits. Many people from the martial arts world came to participate. If you want to make meritorious deeds and stay alive, you have to come up with something that others don't have."

Cen Dachuan seemed to be thinking about something.

Cen Yuan was stunned for a moment and asked directly: "What is something that others don't have?"

"Information!" Pan Yun said solemnly, "Second Master Cen, I didn't hurt Cen Yuan not out of kindness, but because I admire you. When we venture into the martial arts world, we uphold the word 'righteousness'."

"In order to protect your brothers, you were willing to take the responsibility of leading the bandits to massacre the village. I admire you, but I also cannot bear to see you go to jail. You will not be able to die peacefully, and your family may also be implicated." Pan Yun sighed and said, "That's why I didn't send you directly to the Fuzhou government office, but brought you to Quanzhou instead."

Cen Yuan looked at her, then turned his head to look at Cen Dachuan, and said honestly: "Master Pan, I don't understand."

Pan Yun looked straight at Cen Dachuan: "Brother Cen? Don't you understand either?"

Cen Dachuan: "We are bandits. Do you want us to lead you?"

Pan Yun asked, "How many years have you been in the business?" Cen Dachuan said, "Six years."

Pan Yun: "Six years. As far as I know, you have been pretending to be pirates for these six years, but no one believed you before. But in the past three years, you have become more and more like pirates. The navy and merchants often believe that you are pirates. Why?"

Cen Dachuan: "At first we were poor, and we used stolen fishing boats for robbery. We carried harpoons, wooden spears, machetes, and kitchen knives. Later, when we became rich, we not only changed our boats, but also bought Japanese clothes and swords. We put them on every time we went out to sea, and shouted a few times in Japanese. No one suspected that we were Han Chinese."

Pan Yun: "Is this how you came into contact with the real Japanese pirates?"

Cen Dachuan opened his mouth, sighed, and nodded: "Yes. Most of the things we robbed were sold to merchants who came to collect the goods, and some were traded directly to the Japanese at sea. These Japanese don't rob, they only do business by sailing, buying from us at a low price and then shipping back to Japan to sell at a high price. The price they offer is a little higher than that of domestic merchants. If there are good things, we are willing to sell them to them. Over time, we became familiar with each other."

Cen Dachuan frowned and looked at Pan Yun: "We do know a lot of the pirates' transit points and the routes they often appear, but there are rules on the sea. If I do this, my brothers will not be able to survive on the sea in the future."

Pan Yun looked at him in surprise: "Second Master Cen, you are so naive. Do you think your brothers can return to the sea?"

Cen Dachuan paused.

Pan Jun smiled and said, "You can take your time to think about it. I'm not in a hurry."

Cen Dachuan pursed his lips and said nothing. Both he and Cen Yuan had difficulty eating.

Pan Yun finished a bowl of rice, ordered another, and after clearing one-third of the dishes on the table, he put down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth contentedly, and said, "Second Master Cen, look at how lively the Ping'an Inn across the street is. That's a true hero who knows how to handle affairs of the time."

Cen Dachuan sneered: "He was so outstanding that his entire family was executed."

Pan Yun couldn't help but chuckle, "Then Second Master Cen must see clearly who the Pu family betrayed and was executed. Don't mistake treacherous ministers for loyal ministers, and don't mistake loyal ministers for treacherous ministers, otherwise you will lose the true support of the people."

Pan Yun patted his shoulder and said meaningfully: "Are you Han Chinese or Japanese? Your ancestors and descendants are going to survive on this land or go to the sea. You have to think it through."

Cen Dachuan's lips trembled slightly and he was speechless for a moment.

Cen Yuan also put down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at Cen Dachuan eagerly.

Seeing Pan Yun walk to the window, open it and look out, he quickly moved to Cen Dachuan's side and whispered, "Brother Dachuan, we are Han Chinese. Those people on the sea can rebel if they want. There are so many people with swords and knives coming to Quanzhou City, more than last year. I'm afraid the court will take it seriously. We have been exposed, and it is impossible for the people in the village to go to sea again. Why not make meritorious service while serving our sentence?"

Cen Dachuan sighed.

So when Zhang Ning, Zhang Weiyi and others came back with Qu Le and the others, Cen Dachuan gave in.

When Pan Yun saw them coming, he asked, "Where are the others?"

Zhang Weiyi: "At Ping'an Inn."

Pan Yun frowned.

Zhang Weiyi said: "The Pu family knows that we want to suppress the bandits, and they are willing to give us 10,000 taels of silver to build weapons and prepare medicine to help us. In addition, they also provided ten boats."

Pan Jun opened his mouth slightly: "You really know how to deal with the current situation." (End of this chapter)