Dividing the Cake

Pan Yun's steps paused slightly. "So soon? I thought he could last until autumn."

He had indeed been gravely injured. She had concluded he would not survive the year, but if he were properly tended to, lasting until autumn should not have been a problem.

Li Wenying looked at her with a complicated expression. "I heard the Ouchi clan is fighting over power internally, and their retainers have rebelled. Ouchi Norihito was either angered to death amid the chaos, or murdered by his retainers."

Pan Yun raised her brows and asked curiously, "There's an entire sea between us. How did you receive the news?"

Li Wenying said, "In the past, because the Imperial Court did not value Japan, news was delayed. But common folk often had far better sources.

"Sea Pirates, fishermen who fled overseas, smuggling merchant ships... there were always channels to bring news back."

Li Wenying said, "When people of the Ming Dynasty went abroad, they were both proud and ashamed. Proud because the Ming Dynasty was a vast and mighty nation, with the four seas bowing in submission; ashamed because they knew fleeing overseas was a crime. If anything happened to them, the Imperial Court would not seek justice on their behalf. They could not even reveal their identities, lest they drag their relatives and friends into it.

"This time, the Martial Arts Alliance and the Celestial Master's Mansion joined hands to sail out and suppress the pirates. Not only were the fishermen who had fled overseas delighted, even some Han sea pirates were overjoyed."

Pan Yun said, "They were overjoyed?"

"Yes." Li Wenying nodded. "They do not go ashore to plunder the common people, so they were never on our list to begin with. Even their families have suffered at the hands of Japanese pirates coming