The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 163: Mounding the Earth and Building a Monument

On March 1787, the 5st year of the reign of Emperor Xianning of the Ming Dynasty, May 1st of the Western calendar, , on a vacant lot next to the Algiers dock.

The Japanese Legion of the Ming Dynasty Wu State drove the pirates to dig three huge pits.

The three earth pits are arranged in a triangular shape, and a rammed earth platform is built in the middle of the three pits.

This morning, the ruler of Algiers, Baba Mohammed, and the top leaders of several pirate lairs under Pasha Ali I of Tripoli.

Well-known pirate leaders of all sizes in Algiers, Tripoli, Tunisia, Morocco and other places.

and pirates who were easily identified as having participated in the raids.

And in recent days, there have been rebels trying to organize attacks on Ming garrisons.

There are also merchants who may not have been pirates, but have been providing services to pirates and selling stolen goods for a long time.

Plus the old rulers who were notorious in the local area.

Of course, European businessmen who stir up trouble, such as Jacob Friedman, were not ignored.

There were nearly 30,000 people in total, all of whom had their hands tied behind their backs, were tied together with ropes, and driven into a pit.

The local rulers of Tunisia and Morocco no longer participated in the looting themselves.

In addition, they surrendered readily and were able to escape.

At the same time, the crew members of the American merchant ship that was hijacked by pirates have all been released these days.

Sailors and merchants from other countries who were hijacked by pirates were also released by the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ming military officers did not let them return to North America immediately. Instead, they paid them to operate their own merchant ships to transport supplies to the Ming expeditionary force in the Mediterranean.

The Ming army saved them, and now it is in their interest to continue clearing out the pirates. They can also earn normal fees, so of course they are happy to stay and work.

Now they were all gathered in the open space next to the pit.

Around the large pit in the open space, there were 10,000 Ming Dynasty riflemen and 20,000 Japanese army soldiers who were responsible for maintaining order at the scene.

He will also be responsible for carrying out the final punishment.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, Fei Chun, the special envoy of King Wu of the Ming Dynasty, and Liu Quanzhi, the special envoy of the United States of America, went up to the platform together.

Representatives from the Netherlands, Spain, France, Britain, Venice, the Habsburgs and Russia followed closely behind.

When pirate leaders such as Baba Muhammad and Ali I were driven out of the manor where they were imprisoned today, they already realized that the atmosphere was wrong.

When I was driven into the pit, I was even more certain that I might be finished.

Today's action seemed like a public trial or even a public execution, followed by a direct burial.

Many pirates couldn't help struggling and roaring, but were immediately hit on the heads by the soldiers' gun butts.

If you behave yourself, you may not die immediately, but if you are dishonest, you may be beaten to death directly.

Fei Chun stood in the center of the platform, took out the judgment order drafted by Zhu Jianxuan himself, and read it out to everyone around him:

"His Royal Highness the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty and His Majesty the King of the United States order:
"North African pirates have a long history. They have been wreaking havoc in the Mediterranean for three hundred years, robbing, killing, and enslaving hundreds of millions of people.

"Countless people were separated from their families and countless people died because of this.

“He has committed all kinds of evil, and his crimes are extremely serious.

"Some officials below the governor level in Algiers, Tripoli and other places not only failed to crack down on pirates, but instead condoned and allowed them to do so, and even colluded with the pirates.

"To persist in evil and not repent is a heinous crime.

"Some merchants from various European countries have colluded with pirates to rob their compatriots and kidnap the American citizens of my country.

“Killing for money is a heinous crime.

“The above-mentioned people have irrefutable evidence and their crimes are unforgivable.

"All of them should be executed, and an altar and monument should be erected to serve as a warning to future generations.

"From now on, any thieves or bandits who kill people will be killed according to this example."

There was no trial, just a direct judgment. The judgment order was very brief and the content was very direct.

Fei Chun read out a sentence on the stage, and the soldiers around him conveyed it, and the soldiers outside continued to shout and pass it on.

After it was transmitted to the audience, it was directly divided into four languages: Mandarin, English, French and Arabic, so that most people at the scene could understand what His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu said.

The European and American businessmen and sailors who were watching the ceremony nearby, after understanding the decision, immediately cheered loudly.

They hated the pirates in the Mediterranean and felt the same way about King Wu's comments. The American sailors in particular could not control their emotions at all.

After Fei Chun read out the verdict, more and more people jumped and cheered wildly.

It was a mess at first, with most people simply cheering for the king, and many cheering for justice to come.

Some slogans are easy to understand and accept, and can easily resonate with other people around, and others will also shout along.

Soon someone combined the two most cheering sentences into one sentence:
All glory belongs to the righteous King, or rather, hail the righteous King.

The soldiers around also cheered, the sound became louder and louder, and the atmosphere on the scene reached its climax.

According to the previous customs of Europeans, King Zhu Jianxuan was given a publicly recognized title or nickname after today's verdict: the King of Justice.

European kings do not have Shenzhou-style reign titles and posthumous names, but they may have familiar nicknames.

For example, the Conqueror, the Lionheart, the Sun King, etc.

Zhu Jianxuan's code name among European businessmen and sailors was the King of Justice.

After Ali I and other pirate leaders understood Daming's decision, they were completely unable to accept the reality before them. They twisted their bodies vigorously and shouted:

"What are you going to do? You can't kill me? Pirates can't be killed! Pirates can't be killed off!"

But no one responded to him at all.

The other pirates were also struggling frantically, and many of them were cursing loudly.

Those merchants were now even more desperate. The pirates wanted to make one last struggle, but these people simply collapsed on the ground and waited to die.

They could never imagine that the Ming Dynasty's punishment on them would be so direct, and that King Wu's decision would be so decisive.

Daming didn't even consider his own value and executed him after finding out his identity.

But no matter whether they struggled and cursed, or lay down waiting to die, it no longer affected the atmosphere of the scene.

The cheers of the surrounding soldiers and sailors filled the sky and the earth.

There was no room for these sinful pirates.

The cheers at the scene lasted for a long time. Fei Chun saw that it was already noon, so he picked up the token that symbolized his decision and threw it down:
"Start the execution!"

The surrounding troops in charge of execution formed a line and walked into the pit, stabbing the pirates who had committed heinous crimes to death one by one.

Don't use bullets because it's a waste of bullets.

Don't use a machete or an axe to chop off the head, as that would be a waste of time.

There are more than 30,000 pirates to be executed today. It is impossible to carry out the execution according to the normal procedure. A large group of soldiers can only use bayonets to quickly solve the problem.

However, although the number of 30,000 people seems large, it is actually not a lot at all.

Pirates from North Africa wreaked havoc in the Mediterranean for three hundred years, and piracy became almost a common occupation for ordinary people there.

Almost all healthy adults, even teenagers, have participated in piracy activities directly or indirectly.

Almost all merchants were dealing in stolen goods, and most city residents had served pirates.

If all those who had anything to do with pirates were executed, there would probably be only a few people left in many towns in North Africa.

The 30,000 people executed now were just habitual pirates who had been pirates for many years. Some of them had clear murder cases or were directly the leaders.

With so many criminals, even if the army was sent in to carry out mass executions, it would not be until around four in the afternoon that the execution was basically over.

According to Zhu Jianxuan's request, Fei Chun placed the nine stone slabs prepared in advance into the pit.

The contents on the nine stone tablets are the same, written in three languages: Ming Dynasty, Latin, and Arabic, clearly stating the identities of these people and what they did today.

This is to prevent it from being discovered by archaeologists thousands of years later and being considered a mass grave where ordinary people were killed.

Then he ordered 30,000 soldiers around to work as earthworkers, filling and compacting the three large earth pits used for executions, forming three huge raised earth mounds.

Finally, a ten-meter-high obelisk monument was erected between the earth mound and the original earth platform.

The content on the obelisk is the same as that on the stone slab in the pit, which also records and explains today's events, including Zhu Jianxuan's brief trial statement.

A circle of protection is built outside the stone tablet for people to rest, cool off and commemorate.

If nothing unexpected happens, Zhu Jianxuan's verdict will become a customary law, and robbers and pirates in the Mediterranean can be directly sentenced to death in the future.

Ming officials in the Mediterranean would also carry out such orders.

(End of this chapter)