Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 280: The situation suddenly changes and Jiangnan is in chaos!
Matsushita Kurō died with his eyes open, and he could not close them.

The last thing he saw before he died was his own headless corpse.

Matsushita Kurao never expected that it was just a simple mission to burn down a shipyard, how could he lose his life so easily?

Matsushita Kurang's head rolled to the ground. With his lifeless eyes, he stared silently at his Japanese pirate subordinates.

The death of Matsushita Kurō deeply shocked the remaining Japanese pirates.

Fear spread in their hearts and they began to flee with all their might.

The Western Factory's guards wanted to chase after him but were stopped by someone.

"That's enough, stop chasing, put out the fire!"

Li Qian, the Minister of Works, was extremely anxious and worked tirelessly to organize everyone on the scene to put out the fire as quickly as possible.

Li Kai was an official in the Ministry of Industry. To him, the ships in the shipyard were the most important things.

As for the Japanese pirates who set the fire, it doesn’t matter whether they can be caught or killed.

Now that things have already happened, the most important thing at the moment is to minimize the losses to the shipyard.

"Everyone, go get some water from the river to put out the fire. People from the West Factory, stay at the shipyard to prevent the Japanese pirates from attacking again!"

"Yes, my lord!"

Under Li Kai's arrangement, everyone in the Fuqing Shipyard began to work together to put out the fire in an orderly manner.

In the Fuqing Shipyard, there were about three to four thousand people, including craftsmen, garrison soldiers, and miscellaneous servants.

In addition, there were five or six thousand villagers nearby who rushed to put out the fire together.

Before dawn, the fire in the Fuqing Shipyard was successfully extinguished.

Afterwards, Li Kai brought officials from the Ministry of Industry to begin settling the losses caused to the shipyard by the fire.

After finishing the calculation, Li Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

The damage caused by the fire was slightly smaller than he had imagined.

First, the Fuqing Shipyard was burned down, where some aging areas that needed to be demolished and rebuilt were burned down, and some core areas were also burned down.

Thanks to the abundance of timber nearby Fuqing County, the reconstruction of the shipyard only took about a month to complete.

As for the ships, six of Zheng He's treasure ships were completely burned and lost their usability.

There are eleven treasure ships, and the burned areas vary in size, but they are all of the kind that can be repaired and still be used.

This part will also take more than a month to repair.

Finally, there is the number of casualties among the precious craftsmen.

Last night, forty-one craftsmen were killed on the spot by the Japanese pirates.

There were as many as 173 craftsmen who were injured. It would take another two or three months for them to recover and return to the construction of Zheng He's ships.

Overall, the actual losses of Fuqing Shipyard are still within an acceptable range, but the construction period has been greatly affected.

After settling the losses of Fuqing Shipyard, Li Kai's face was full of worry.

He took a deep breath and sighed, "The shipyard was burned and the craftsmen were killed. This is a matter of great importance. Report it to your majesty immediately and ask your majesty to make the decision!"

……

On the same night that the Fuqing Shipyard was attacked, the Jiangnan Shipyard was not spared and was also attacked by a group of Japanese pirates of unknown origin.

Their actions were exactly the same as those of Matsushita Kurō's gang. They burned the shipyard first and then killed the craftsmen.

But the fate of these Japanese pirates was even more miserable than that of Matsushita Kurō and his group.

At least some people from Matsushita Kurang's group managed to escape.

Ji Sheng was personally in charge of the Jiangnan Shipyard, and all the Japanese pirates who attacked the Jiangnan Shipyard were killed, and no one escaped alive.

Either they were killed on the spot or captured alive by Jisheng.

It was also because the rebellion was put down quickly that the fire at the Jiangnan Shipyard was put out by Ji Sheng and the men from the Western Factory before it even started.

The losses of Jiangnan Shipyard were also negligible.

At this time, the sky was already bright.

But in a basement of Jiangnan Shipyard, it was still dark without a trace of sunlight.

The basement was dark and damp, with a large pool of turbid and smelly water on the ground.

More than a dozen bloody, mutilated, disemboweled, brain-splitting corpses were piled together haphazardly.

These were Japanese pirates who were captured alive by Jisheng and died after they could not endure the cruel torture of the Western Factory.

In addition to these corpses, there were eight other Japanese pirates who were tortured to the point of being left with only one breath left.

These eight people were covered in blood, with their flesh turned inside out, and not one of them was healthy.

Some people are missing fingers, some are missing arms, some are missing an eyeball...

Jisheng sat in front of them, with all kinds of bloody and hideous torture instruments at his disposal.

"You still have three breaths of time."

Jisheng's eyes moved over the torture instruments and he spoke nonchalantly.

Then he reached out and picked up a serrated steel whip.

There were still traces of undried blood, scattered pieces of flesh and bone fragments on the teeth of the steel whip.

Seeing this scene, the eight Japanese pirates who were left with only one breath left all screamed excitedly, their faces filled with fear and their eyes full of terror.

Just now, they saw with their own eyes that Ji Sheng used this torture instrument to saw open the head of one of their companions.

The scene was so close before their eyes that they felt as if they were experiencing the pain themselves, and it frightened them out of their wits.

"No! No! No!"

"Speak, I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you whatever you ask!"

"Don't come over! Don't come over!"

"..."

The continuous punishment throughout the entire night completely broke down their psychological defenses.

Before Jisheng even asked, they had already said everything, what should be said and what should not be said.

"It's Matsushita Kuro. He's the one who asked us to come here. Go and catch him. Stop torturing me!"

"There is someone above Songxia Kulang, a man named Zhang Peng. He is also a high-ranking official in the Ming Dynasty. He has a very high status and many people respect him..."

"Yes, yes, yes. There is also a Zhang Peng. Matsushita Kulang is in contact with him. Zhang Peng gave us information and asked us to rob and kill people. All the money and food we robbed belong to us..."

"This mission must have been ordered by Zhang Peng. Go and torture Zhang Peng. Please give me a quick death and kill me with one knife..."

"..."

People talk too much.

These Japanese pirates may have failed to learn Chinese well, or may have been tortured to the point of being unconscious and mentally ill.

In short, the words he said were all mixed up, rambling, and without any clear priorities...

Jisheng just listened quietly without interrupting them, and ordered the surrounding Western Factory soldiers to record the confessions of the pirates word for word. In his mind, he sorted out the logical relationship and time sequence of these messy confessions, and finally pieced together a complete story.

"Nanjing Minister of War Zhang Peng is so daring that he can't even be tortured to death a thousand times without satisfying his hatred!"

Jisheng angrily punched the wooden table in front of him, scaring everyone in the basement and making them tremble all over.

When Zhang Peng was still the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, he had already begun secretly raising these ronin warriors who had fled to the Ming Dynasty.

Seven out of ten attacks by Japanese pirates along the Jiangnan coastal area were related to Zhang Peng.

He either hijacked merchant caravans coming to Beijing to pay tribute, or burned and destroyed granaries in various parts of Jiangnan. He could be said to be a professional account-settler in the Jiangnan area.

The attacks on Jiangnan Shipyard and Fuqing Shipyard were also masterminded by Zhang Peng.

This person must be killed!
Without any delay, Ji Sheng organized the confessions of the pirates into a secret letter and sent it to the capital.

……

The sky in the south of the Yangtze River suddenly changed overnight.

On the same night that the Japanese pirates attacked the Jiangnan Shipyard and the Fuqing Shipyard, a fight also broke out in Pei County, next to Feng County.

Six hours ago, Pei County.

"You are a tyrant, give me back my land!"

"You are a tyrant, give me back my land!"

A large number of farmers, shouting unification slogans and holding sickles and hoes, surrounded the Pei County government office.

Liu Chuan, the magistrate of Pei County, was pale and sweating. He was directing the servants and clerks in the county government office to block the door of the county government office with chairs, benches and other miscellaneous items.

Prevent emotional farmers from breaking into the county government office by force.

Generally speaking, county government offices were divided into two parts, the front part being the magistrate's office area, where government affairs were handled and trials were held.

The backyard is the magistrate's rest area, where the magistrate and his family live.

At this time, in addition to the magistrate's family, there were also Wang Yan, Yang Jizong, Qin Lu and others in the county government, who were responsible for the working group responsible for surveying the land throughout the country.

As the hometown of Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, Pei County has developed very well since ancient times.

The area is large enough and the population is large enough, so the county government office is large enough to accommodate people like Wang Yan.

The magistrate of Pei County, Liu Chuan, was a very rare magistrate who supported the work of surveying land. He tried his best to invite Wang Yan and others to live directly in his own county government office instead of staying in the post station.

So at this time the county government office was surrounded, and Wang Yan and others could not escape.

"Why did this happen again? What should we do now?"

Wang Yan looked at the flames outside the wall and felt like his head was about to explode.

Ever since they started surveying the land, nothing has gone smoothly.

First in Jinghai County, the Wang brothers used both soft and hard tactics and almost made Wang Yan commit a big mistake.

Then in Puzhou County, they were also besieged by villagers. Fortunately, the villagers had no intention of killing them, and they retreated from Puzhou safely.

Not long ago, when they were still in Fengxian County, they were secretly placed under house arrest by officials in Nanjing.

In addition, the obstacles they encountered were numerous and varied, and they never stopped.

It can be said that they have not had a single comfortable day since they left the Forbidden City.

Now, they were surrounded by angry Pei County farmers in the county government office of Pei County.

To be honest, Wang Yan even felt numb.

Yang Jizong clenched his fists, feeling angry and anxious, and couldn't stop sighing.

"Land surveying is a good thing that benefits the country and the people, especially for the common people at the bottom of society, it is a great joy."

"But now it is precisely these lower-class people who are protesting. The landlords and gentry, on the other hand, never show up."

"Someone must be stirring up trouble among the people, spreading rumors, and maliciously misinterpreting your majesty's will!"

"These people should all be killed! They should all be killed!"

Yang Jizong was extremely angry and also felt deeply sad.

More than half a year has passed since they surveyed the land along the way.

They were originally doing this with the mentality of saving the people from dire straits.

They feel that they are improving people's living standards, benefiting the people, and doing a great thing that will benefit future generations.

The people along the way, even if they didn't line the streets to welcome them like saviors, should at least be grateful to them, right?
However, along the way, these people not only did not welcome them, but also believed the words of the rich peasants and small landlords, opposed them at every turn, and tried their best to stop them.

Yang Jizong truly felt tired from the bottom of his heart, and his originally high enthusiasm was rapidly cooling down.

Qin Lu frowned, listening to the increasingly exciting slogans outside the wall and looking at the increasingly brighter flames, alarm bells ringing in his heart.

"Go, bring out all the horses, and get everyone on board. If anything unexpected happens, immediately run north to Yutai County, Luzhou!"

Qin Lu gave the order calmly and drew the long knife from his waist, ready to kill.

At the same time, the twenty or so Western Factory guards behind Qin Lu also drew their swords, with murderous intent on their faces.

"Yes, Second Gear!"

The Western Factory guards behind Qin Lu took the order and quickly brought all the horses from the county government stable over.

"Get on the horses, everyone!"

Under Qin Lu's order, all officials who were in charge of checking the land, including Liu Chuan, the magistrate of Pei County, also got on a horse.

Because there were not enough war horses, some people had to ride on one horse with two others.

Qin Lu's worries were not unfounded. Not long after everyone got on their horses, the people outside the county government office, led by someone unknown, suddenly began to attack the wall of the county government office.

The wall of the county government office was made of earth and had limited strength. After being pushed by hundreds of people, the wall collapsed instantly!

"run!"

Qin Lu gave an order and started to kill with his sword, beheading the first person who rushed into the county government office!

At the same time, dozens of Western Factory guards began to protect officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate and rushed to the north.

The farmers who rushed into the county government office were still confused. They did not expect that the earth wall was so resistant to impact.

Before they could react, the person was already standing inside the county government office, and one of the people next to him was dead.

"Killing! Killing!"

When the crowd saw the blood, the situation became completely chaotic.

Among these farmers who attacked the county government office, some tried to run away, while others took advantage of the chaos to attack officials who were surveying the land.

The Western Factory guards tried their best to protect Wang Yan, Yang Jizong and others and rushed to the north!

"Help me, help me!"

Suddenly, a shrill cry for help was heard from the chaotic crowd.

Wang Yan and Yang Jizong turned around and saw that it was Liu Chuan, the magistrate of Pei County, who was surrounded by the farmers of Pei County.

Before Wang Yan and Yang Jizong could do anything, the people of Pei County used sickles and hoes to smash their officials!

(End of this chapter)