Chapter 222
Chapter 222
On a beach near the domain of the Count of Jinhai's Estate.
Tang Lun was also dressed in his military attire. Three thousand private soldiers of the Tang Clan stood in orderly ranks on the white sand. They wore gleaming armor and held sharp battle swords in their hands.
The Tang Clan may have lacked other things, but they certainly did not lack iron. They had enough iron from their mines on Gold Mountain Island to fully arm their forces.
“Change the flags!”
At the command, dozens of new flags were unfurled. On each was written the character "Qiu" (仇).
Of course, this was a mere pretense, but it was a necessary formality for public appearance. No matter how large and powerful their armies, the enfeoffed nobles of the State of Yue did not wage war openly. If they did, wars would erupt all over the country. For that very reason, even when the Tang and Jin clans were mortal enemies in the past, they had to settle their differences through a duel under the king's mediation.
One might ask, why not just disguise themselves as pirates and attack the Count of Xuanwu's fortress?
That, too, was not permissible in the State of Yue. The king would not tolerate such an act. The Count of Xuanwu's Estate was the territory of the State of Yue. The sea may belong to you, Pirate King, but you are not to touch the land without permission. That was why Qiu Tianwei, despite rampaging across the seas for decades, had never dared to land on the shores of Yue.
For this attack on Vain End Island, he still had to offer twenty-five percent of the gold mine to the Crown Prince. Through this cunning maneuver, he had sidestepped the possibility of the king sending a large army to conquer Vain End Island. Furthermore, even after capturing the island, he had to install Jin Mucong as the new Count of Xuanwu, turning him into a puppet. Only then would the king not lose face. Covering up a disgrace for political reasons might seem shameless, but without such measures, the political order would completely collapse—a sign of a nation in decline.
Tang Lun ascended a high platform and looked down at the three thousand private soldiers of his clan.
“I will not say this war is for honor. Nor will I say this war is for survival or for vengeance.”
Snowflakes drifted down quietly from the sky.
“On Vain End Island, there is a gold mine—no, an ancient vein of gold. How many gold coins are piled up there? Fifty thousand pounds? A hundred thousand? It is beyond imagination, beyond counting. And how many defenders does Vain End Island have? Barely four thousand, and more than half of them are new recruits. In contrast, how large is our army? We have a coalition of thirty thousand strong!”
“This war will be an easy victory. This war will bring you wealth. Once we arrive on Vain End Island and slaughter all of the Jin Clan’s defenders, whatever gold you seize there will be yours. And upon winning this war, every man will receive twenty gold coins.”
“Furthermore, for every head you bring back, you will be rewarded with fifteen gold coins. Anyone on Vain End Island, anyone from the Jin Clan—be they a warrior or a laborer—every person you kill can be exchanged for gold.”
Hearing this, the blood of the Tang Clan’s soldiers began to boil. The nature of a clan's army mirrored the pursuits of its master. If the lord was a man of profit, his army would be driven by profit. If the lord was a man of honor, his army would be driven by honor.
Hearing their lord's promise, the three thousand soldiers were ecstatic. This was undoubtedly a journey to riches.
With a coalition of thirty thousand attacking the Jin Clan's four thousand defenders, it would be harder to lose than to win. The only real difficulty would be snatching more heads from the grasp of the twenty to thirty thousand pirates. But thankfully, their lord had said it didn't matter if the head belonged to a soldier or a laborer—it was still worth fifteen gold coins. This was practically an encouragement to slaughter the innocent.
The three thousand warriors of the Tang Clan immediately began sharpening their blades, lamenting only that they could not fly to Vain End Island at once to begin the killing.
“Slaughter every last member of the Jin Clan. Leave no one alive on Vain End Island, not a single blade of grass! Now, move out!”
Under the command of Tang Lun, Count of Jinhai, three thousand private soldiers of the Tang Clan boarded their ships. Flying pirate flags, they set sail toward the eastern sea.
The three thousand soldiers of the Tang Clan were led by his eldest son, Tang Zong. They would not head directly to Vain End Island but would rendezvous with Qiu Tianwei's grand pirate army at sea.
***
At the docks of Raging Tide City.
Now, this was a truly magnificent sight.
One or two hundred pirate warships of all shapes and sizes stretched out across the water as far as the eye could see. Nearly thirty thousand pirates stood on the decks of their respective vessels.
Every ship flew the "Qiu" flag. However, only about fifteen thousand were Qiu Tianwei's core pirate warriors; the other ten thousand or so pirates each had their own masters.
The Leizhou Archipelago consisted of several dozen islands, home to more than ten pirate groups of varying sizes. Each pirate chieftain occupied an island of their own, while Qiu Tianwei, the Pirate King, held the main Leizhou Island. Moreover, his control over Raging Tide City cemented his title as the Pirate King.
Numerous pirate chieftains all acknowledged him as their master. Pirates were a rough and stubborn lot, and their loyalty was often as fragile as a castle of sand. But over the past decade, any disobedient pirates had been killed or crushed by Qiu Yao'er, leaving no disloyal chieftains behind.
The Pirate King, Qiu Tianwei, ascended a high platform on the pier. As he gazed upon the endless fleet of warships on the sea, a fiery and bold spirit surged within him.
What a spectacular view. A sight he had never witnessed in his life. Qiu Tianwei had never fought a war of this magnitude before. The closest he had come was the battle against the Count of Golden Ox twenty years ago. Back then, he had only about five thousand pirates under his command, while the Count of Golden Ox had led a coalition of over ten thousand. He had won that battle, a great achievement that laid the foundation for his maritime supremacy today.
And today!
His supremacy would advance to the next level, thanks to the gold vein on Vain End Island. Once he had it, the Qiu Clan could field an army two, even three times its current size. Then, the Qiu Clan would be reborn as a truly great house, one that could last for a hundred, even a thousand years.
Though his heart swelled with pride, Qiu Tianwei could not help but feel a pang of sorrow. His heir, his only son Qiu Xiao, was dead. The thought saddened him for a moment… but it wasn't such a great loss. After nearly ten years of treatment from an alchemist, his ailment seemed to be cured. One of his women had recently become pregnant.
*I, Qiu Tianwei, am still young. I can still have more sons.*
His gaze then fell upon an arrogant figure—his adopted daughter, Qiu Yao'er.
What a pity! The woman was too fierce, too arrogant. There was no man in the world who could conquer her. If Qiu Yao'er did not possess such a disposition, they could have had an even more outstanding child together.
Pushing aside his regret, Qiu Tianwei shouted.
“Bring them up!”
Instantly, a hundred chests were brought forward.
“Open them!”
The chests were opened, revealing they were all filled with gleaming gold coins.
“This is three hundred and fifty thousand gold coins. This is your payment for setting sail for war! Distribute it all, right now!”
At his words, the entire sea seemed to boil with excitement, and morale soared. Every pirate loved moments like these. The grand distribution of departure funds was a kind of ritual; regardless of background or status, to mobilize your brothers for war, you had to give them money first.
But the pirates had never imagined they would receive so much. Even after the chieftains took their cut, each man would still get ten gold coins.
Do not underestimate ten gold coins. In modern currency, that would be worth a considerable sum.
In this world, whether they were the private soldiers of a noble house or the armies of a kingdom, a soldier's annual salary did not exceed six gold coins. Pirates, who lived by plunder, naturally had higher incomes, but the average pirate's earnings did not exceed twenty gold coins a year. These men who risked their lives could never save money, yet they coveted wealth more than anyone.
“Long live the King!”
“The King is generous!”
Countless pirates roared in excitement. Chests of gold coins were immediately sent to every pirate warship.
“There are another one hundred thousand pounds of gold on Vain End Island. My son, Qiu Xiao, saw it with his own eyes!”
Hearing Qiu Tianwei's words, every pirate's breath grew heavy.
*One hundred thousand pounds of gold? That’s over a million gold coins! An average of forty or fifty gold coins per person? That… that’s a massive fortune. Even a small share of that would be a fortune.*
Qiu Tianwei and Tang Lun were excellent storytellers. Qiu Xiao had clearly seen fifty thousand pounds of gold, but from their mouths, it had become a hundred thousand.
“The Jin Clan are nothing but losers we defeated in the past. They don't deserve so much gold. Let's go and take it all. Kill every man of the Jin Clan. Trample every woman of the Jin Clan. Every island in this sea is our hunting ground. Kill them all, burn it all, take it all!”
The atmosphere became incendiary.
“Waaaah, waaaah, waaaah!”
Tens of thousands of pirates, their blood boiling, madly beat their chests with their scimitars and screamed at the sky. Some crazed pirates licked their blades until their mouths were covered in blood. Others stripped naked and trembled, thrusting at the empty air.
“Kill, burn, pillage!”
Nearly thirty thousand pirates roared in unison.
“Set sail! Go kill and plunder. Set sail!”
At the Pirate King's command, over a hundred warships charged toward Vain End Island with tremendous momentum.
Qiu Yao'er watched the scene with a grim expression. These pirates were human scum. Unfortunately, there was too much scum in this world for her to kill them all alone.
If not for the debt she owed her adoptive father, Qiu Tianwei, for saving and raising her, Qiu Yao'er would have left long ago, taking her two thousand personal warriors with her.
Before boarding his ship, Qiu Tianwei asked Qiu Yao'er.
“Yao'er, I'm leaving Raging Tide City in your hands. Are three thousand warriors enough?”
“More than enough.”
“I trust that you are invincible.”
“When you return in triumph, adoptive father, I will leave immediately.”
The Pirate King, Qiu Tianwei, frowned and said, “We will speak of that again when I return.”
Qiu Tianwei boarded the largest pirate warship. It was a vessel capable of carrying a thousand men, and on its prow was a decoration made of hundreds of skulls, arranged to form the character "Qiu" (仇).
“Set sail!”
Under Qiu Tianwei’s command, the warship left the docks and headed for Vain End Island.
There was a superstition among pirates that it was bad luck to look back when setting sail for war. Thus, no one dared to turn their head.
But at that moment, Qiu Tianwei could not suppress a rising sense of unease. He turned and looked back at the towering fortress, the foundation of the Qiu Clan that he had built.