A few days later, after settling the affairs of the garrison, Jiang Hao set out to sea with the three women. This was not a pleasure trip, but a reconnaissance mission of the surrounding area.
Jiangsu and Zhejiang were regions hardest hit by the Japanese pirate raids. Many Japanese pirates had seized coastal villages and even towns as strongholds. Dongfang Bubai's stronghold was merely one of the larger ones; there were many more scattered bands, some numbering three or four hundred men, others only a few dozen.
Do not underestimate even a few dozen Japanese pirates. There had once been a recorded case where a band of more than seventy Japanese pirates killed over four thousand Ming soldiers and civilians, burning, killing, and plundering all the way, nearly reaching Nanjing.
Standing at the bow, Jiang Hao stretched out his hand. Countless seagulls wheeled around him, and from time to time one would land on his hand. He stroked a seagull's head, tamed it with Animal Communication Ability, and gave it a scouting order. With a lift of his hand, the little fellow flew off into the distance.
Jiang Hao worked at this all morning, only stopping after taming fifty seagulls. Seagulls were spirits of the sea and feared no storms. With these scouts gathering intelligence everywhere, they were more useful than any human scouts.
The three women stood on the deck, watching Jiang Hao train birds atop the cabin. Though they knew their Young Master possessed this ability, they still found it astonishing.
Seagulls had a wide range of flight. Over the following days, Jiang Hao gradually received reports from them and gained a more direct understanding of the coastline, as though he had activated an all-seeing surveillance satellite. He also formed a plan for the next step.
Five days