Shin Kuro (Part 2)

Hu Zongxian calmed down, nodded slightly, and said with a hint of resentment, "I think he looks down on the fighting strength of the imperial army, which is why he targeted my personal guards."

Xu Wei laughed and said, "No, there's another reason. When the imperial army is mobilized, the chief clerk needs to verify the official documents. Although my friend Bai can forge illusions, he can't forge official documents. He was afraid of running into a stubborn person, so he went to Zhou Shun. He said that the mobilization of personal guards didn't require document verification. When Zhou Shun saw the Grand Eunuch's illusion, he naturally agreed to everything."

Yu Dayou muttered, "Master Bai is being a bit unfair. If he wanted to avenge me, why didn't he come directly to me? Do you think I wouldn't lend him those three people?"

Xu Wei thought for a moment and said, "General Yu, please don't complain. This is for your own good."

Yu Dayou was bewildered.

"Emperor Taizu once listed Japan as a country not to be conquered. Before the Emperor issues an edict, as a general of the court, one cannot rashly attack the Japanese mainland. If you lent your personal guards to Xiaoyou Bai, that would be knowingly violating the law, and the Grand Eunuch would have to go to great lengths to cover it up for you. Now that he has used Daoist magic to trick three of your personal guard captains, and you were unaware of it, you do not need to bear any responsibility."

Xu Wei shook his head and sighed, "I wonder when His Majesty will issue an edict to conquer Japan and wipe out the source of the Wokou Pirates. Without an imperial decree, our hundreds of thousands of troops can only be scattered to defend the long coastline, watching our young friend Bai venture into danger alone. It's truly disheartening."

Hu Zongxian said sternly, "Wenchang, this is not what a subject should say. Even without taking the initiative to attack, if we complete the coastal defenses and prepare our War Preparations, the Wokou Pirates will never return. Within ten years, the banditry will surely be quelled. If we launch a campaign, we will be separated by the sea, and supplies will be difficult, making the outcome uncertain. Have you forgotten the story of Kublai Khan's three campaigns against Japan Kublai Khan the Mongol Yuan Dynasty?"

Xu Wei nodded slightly, of course he knew. Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty once conquered Japan, building 7,000 large ships and a magnificent military force, but all three expeditions failed. The first two were due to insufficient preparation, the ships being unfamiliar with water and unable to land, while the last one was well prepared, but was hit by a typhoon and the fleet was swept to the bottom of the sea.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty established Ironclad Golden Writ prohibiting his descendants from conquering Japan. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather that his capabilities were limited, and he feared that his descendants would pour their limited manpower into the bottomless pit of Japan, dragging down the country. This was also a lesson learned from the Sui Dynasty's conquest of Goryeo.

"Regardless, we must keep Bai Xiaozhen's request to borrow troops a secret," Hu Zongxian sighed. "He's given me a real problem."

On the boundless blue sea, two warships sailed, cutting through the waves.

"Look at the time, Hu Zongxian should have already received the news." Bai Xiaowen looked up at the sun.

"Our reputation hasn't declined," Li Shuyi said.

"Well, Hu Zongxian probably won't publicize this matter within the Anti-Pirate Ming Army Faction, so it's normal that our reputation hasn't declined. However, it's a bit strange that my Affection Level with Hu Zongxian hasn't decreased significantly either. But anyway, it's a good thing."

Bai Xiaowen, of course, had no idea that his final visit to Xu Wei would unexpectedly lead to Xu Wei explaining the whole story to Hu Zongxian and Yu Dayou, thus saving him from the risk of losing Affection Level.

In fact, Bai Xiaowen had already made preparations, and he accepted the fact that Hu Zongxian's Affection Level would decrease. Next, the Anti-Pirate Ming Army Faction needed to digest the fruits of victory and disband the pirates to train a new army. It was impossible for them to make any big moves in the short term, and staying there would be a waste of time.

Bai Xiaowen had already thought about how to use the remaining Free Exploration Time yesterday.

One option is to head north to the capital and complete Sun Xuanqing's questline. This questline involves the orthodox struggle between the Daoist Gate Tianshi Dao and the Quanzhen Sect, and will inevitably involve strengthening Daoist skills and talismanic items, which is more suitable for his Mental Specialty awakened individual.

However, Fujian is far from the capital, and the land route is difficult. It is estimated that even if the remaining five days are used up, it will not be possible to reach the capital, let alone participate in the mission line of the Daoist Gate struggle.

Therefore, Bai Xiaowen could only choose the second option, which was to complete the previously discovered side quest, the Search for the Sword.

"Xiao Wen, we're quite far from Japan, aren't we? Won't we run out of time if we just go Japan like this?" Li Shuyi asked.

"We need to clarify one thing: our destination isn't Hirado Three Islands, but Matsuura Shin Kuro," Bai Xiaowen said. "If we're lucky, Matsuura Shin Kuro hasn't returned to Japan yet, but is stationed in Nanyang or the Penghu Islands, and we can find him as soon as possible. Of course, we can't rule out the worst-case scenario, which is that Matsuura Shin Kuro has already returned to Japan, and we'll have to spend a lot of time sailing."

After a pause, Bai Xiaowen continued:

"Kinmen is indeed far from Hirado, about the same as the straight-line distance from Kinmen to the capital. However, sea travel is faster, as it involves traveling day and night and doesn't require complicated travel permits or official documents. According to my calculations, it will only take us about three days to reach the Hirado Three Islands if the ship is fast, and even if the wind is unfavorable, it will only take a little over four days."

"So even in the worst-case scenario, there's still time, it's just quite tight," Bai Xiaowen concluded.

"So, where exactly is Matsuura Shin Kuro? How can we find him?" Li Shuyi asked, frowning. "I also read his reply to Ye Mazi, but Matsuura Shin Kuro didn't mention his whereabouts at all in it."

Bai Xiaowen said, "I've already considered this. Shin Kuro and Ye Mazi are both Boss Tier of the Matsuura Clan's samurai group, so they wouldn't be so cautious as to hide their whereabouts from each other. Considering the difficulty of communication at sea, it's more reasonable for them to frequently exchange information in letters, informing each other of their routes. In other words, Ye Mazi definitely knows Matsuura Shin Kuro's location and movements, which is why Shin Kuro didn't specifically mention it in his reply."

"But Ye Mazi is already dead."

Bai Xiaowen nodded. "Ye Mazi is dead, but his pirates are still here. Before I set off last night, I used the illusion of Hu Zongxian to borrow two hundred personal guards, prepare half a month's worth of food supplies, inspect the prisoner-of-war camp, and select several of Ye Mazi's trusted pirates to be escorted onto the ship. Now, it's time to interrogate them and find out the location of Matsuura Shin Kuro."

Bai Xiaowen gave an order to the people outside the cabin, and soon Zhang Ting arrived with several personal guards, escorting three of Ye Mazi's trusted pirates.

"Only three people? And they all look weak, probably low-level members," Li Shuyi whispered. "What if they don't know Ye Mazi's True Wokou identity?"

All three are Standard Template, with levels not exceeding level 5. In terms of strength, they are probably not even as strong as Bai Xiaowen's Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier, which is indeed quite weak.

Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "I chose these three after careful consideration. They are weak in strength, but they are Ye Mazi's confidants, which speaks volumes—one of them even serves as Ye Mazi's steward! As for the other two, one is responsible for relaying Ye Mazi's flagship signals, and the other is responsible for maintaining Ye Mazi's sword. If these three don't know Ye Mazi's true strength, then no one else will."

The three men were all tightly bound with hemp rope, their mouths gagged. They had been held separately in the lower hold until now, and each of them was weak and feeble. When they were brought here and saw Bai Xiaowen, fear was evident in their eyes.

Bai Xiaowen calmly said, "You were Ye Mazi's subordinates. Now that Ye Mazi has been executed, you, as his henchmen, are equally guilty. However, we are now giving you a chance to atone for your crimes by exposing Ye Mazi's secrets. Whoever knows the most of Ye Mazi's secrets will be the first to receive a pardon."

Bai Xiaowen waved his hand, signaling Zhang Ting to remove the hemp balls sealing the three people's mouths.

The three Wokou Pirates were panting heavily, but none of them spoke first, and the atmosphere became somewhat tense for a moment.

Bai Xiaowen wasn't in a hurry, lightly tapping his fingers on the table. "It seems you don't cherish this opportunity to make a contribution. Kitz, drag him out to feed the fish."

Bai Xiaowen randomly pointed to a man, who was none other than Ye Mazi's flag-bearer pirate. The man looked terrified and begged loudly, "Sir, I really don't know what secret Boss Ye... Ye Mazi has! Oh, right, he's a gambler, has terrible luck, and his gambling etiquette is even worse, I don't know if that counts..."

Bai Xiaowen didn't listen to what he said, and just waved his hand. Kitz chuckled and dragged the man by the back of his neck out of the cabin. Then came screams and the sound of a heavy object hitting the water. Being tied up so tightly and thrown into the sea, even a skilled swimmer would have a hard time surviving.

The remaining two remained completely silent.

Bai Xiaowen glanced at the two of them. "My patience is limited. If you two still don't speak in five more seconds, you might as well go feed the fish together."

"Sir, I'm willing to speak!" a Wokou Pirates said tremblingly.

Bai Xiaowen glanced at the man and recognized him as the pirate who maintained Ye Mazi's sword. For True Wokou samurai like Ye Mazi, his sword was as vital as his life. The fact that this man could wipe and maintain Ye Mazi's sword meant that he must have Ye Mazi's trust.

"Speak."

"Ye Mazi... he's not a Ming person!"

Bai Xiaowen narrowed her eyes, revealing an expression of interest.

Ye Mazi's steward, Wokou Pirates, cursed loudly, "Baka! Makita, you cowardly coward who fears death, how dare you betray the Matsuura Clan?"

A smile appeared on Bai Xiaowen's lips. It seemed he had made the right choice. Of the three he had picked, at least the two in front of him knew Ye Mazi's background.

After being Intimidating Shout, the Wokou Pirates Makita was maintaining his sword, felt a little guilty.

Bai Xiaowen, however, directly cast Heart-Confounding Talisman on the steward, Wokou Pirates!

"The ratio of enemy strength to friendly strength is 0.224:1, and the success rate of the Heart-Confounding Talisman's confusion effect is 77.60%."

"Confusion successful! Wokou Pirates Arima Jiro has been confused."

The Wokou Pirates Makita watched in horror as his steward, the Wokou Pirates Arima Jiro, went from anger to subservience, kneeling before Bai Xiaowen as if he wanted to kiss his boots.

"This man is utterly wicked and incorrigible, and I have already used my Daoist arts to seize his soul. I can also discover eight or nine out of ten of the secrets he knew. If you dare to utter even half a lie from him, I will make you suffer the same fate as him!"

Bai Xiaowen actually exaggerated the memory-detecting ability of "Telepathy". The memory fragments that Telepathy can detect are very limited, probably not even half, let alone eight or nine tenths.

However, Makita Wokou Pirates in charge of maintaining the swords, was terrified and immediately knelt down and swore that he would never utter a single lie.

Bai Xiaowen first asked about a few secrets he had already discovered, such as some details of Ye Mazi's daily life and his little habits. The Wokou Pirates Makita obediently told him everything he knew. Bai Xiaowen deliberately mentioned one or two things that Makita had unintentionally omitted, which made Makita break out in a cold sweat and further convinced him that what Bai Xiaowen said was true.

Afterwards, Bai Xiaowen began to focus her questions on the Matsuura Clan and Matsuura Shin Kuro.

The Matsuura Clan lived in Hirado Three Islands during their time. The head of the family Matsuura Takanobu, and his Buddhist name was Dōka. Hirado Three Islands was the birthplace of the Wokou Pirates), and it also had the excellent harbor of Hirado Port, so it became a place for various Wokou Pirates to sell their stolen goods.

Since the Ming Dynasty banned maritime trade and abolished the "Kango" trade agreement with Japan, the upper-class Japan nobility became increasingly eager for the silk and cloth produced by the Ming Dynasty. This gave rise to a large number of armed smuggling merchants, namely the Wokou Pirates, who plundered the wealthy coastal areas of Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty. After all, no matter what, a business with no capital is always the fastest way to make money in the short term.

The notorious Wokou Pirates Matsuura Takanobu Wang Zhi was settled down on Hirado Island after receiving courteous treatment from Matsuura Takanobu. He later rose to become a godfather-like figure who controlled the Wokou Pirates in Southeast Nanyang.

In addition to strongly supporting the Wokou Pirates in selling stolen goods on Hirado Island and enjoying the profits from resale, Matsuura Takanobu also focused on cultivating the Matsuura Clan's private fleet to participate in the large-scale raiding operations of the Wokou Pirates. Famous figures such as Matsuura Shin Kuro and Matsuura Shisuke were all capable officers in the Matsuura Clan's fleet.

Speaking of Ye Mazi, his real name is Ma Ye. The reason he changed his name, banner, and even place of origin to infiltrate the ranks of fake Japanese was due to a dual consideration of both overt and covert operations, echoing Matsuura Shin Kuro.

Ye Mazi's hidden move was mainly to gather intelligence for Matsuura Shin Kuro's fleet, in order to prevent any Wokou Pirates from double-crossing them and setting their sights on the Matsuura Clan's fleet.

Some time ago, Shin Kuro attacked and plundered Fujian, but was pursued by Yu Dayou. After ambushing and wounding Yu Dayou, Shin Kuro secretly wrote to Ye Mazi, instructing him to take advantage of Yu Dayou's injury and unconsciousness to participate in the looting of various prefectures in Fujian and expand the spoils of war.

Afterwards, Ye Mazi sent his second-in-command, Chen One-Eye (Chen Bao), to break into Quanzhou Prefecture and plunder a considerable amount of wealth. However, Chen One-Eye was first betrayed by Xu Hong, and then four Awakened Ones were matched to Chen One-Eye's flagship by the Spirit Realm Rules, resulting in all the wealth being stolen and Chen One-Eye himself being killed.

"Where is Shin Kuro now?" Bai Xiaowen asked the last crucial question.

The Wokou Pirates Makita thought for a moment and said, "I heard Ye Mazi say before that Shin Kuro would temporarily stop in the Penghu Islands to assess the situation in Zhejiang. If Qi Jiguang is transferred to Fujian, he will take the opportunity to plunder Zhejiang..."