I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1345: Side Story: Having the Whole World in View (22)

Lin Chengxiu was indeed brave and resourceful. Even after Zhou Zhou retreated to Guangzhou with most of their men, he could still prevent the soldiers of Great Qi from being bullied in Nanyang.

Tiger Head and Little Lion had learned a lot from him and improved at lightning speed. Even if Lin Chengxiu didn’t like them very much, he had to admit that they were more talented than him.

Especially Tiger Head, who was only 15 or 16 years old, but he dared to sneak attack and occupy an island with more than 100 people.

Due to Deputy Assistant Commander Bai’s arrival, Luzon Island had also seen major transformations. He had led the soldiers to build the barrack and even established a good relationship with the local people to help the Harvest Grain Store open its first branch here.

He did not stop the soldiers who returned home to visit from bringing goods here. As long as it was a small quantity, he turned a blind eye. As a result, the indigenous people’s living conditions improved.

He even allowed the soldiers who weren’t training to go beachcombing every few days. The fish, prawns, crabs, and other supplementary food that they obtained, even the kelp that could be seen everywhere on the reef, was made into fresh soup by him. Not only Luzon Island, but the soldiers on the other islands also saw improvements in their diets. Even though Deputy Assistant Commander Bai had only been here for three months and everyone now consumed 10% less military rations, they had actually gained weight.

Lin Chengxiu was very grumpy about this, but Deputy Assistant Commander Bai said with a smile, “It’s hard on the soldiers to train and fight in wars. Since it improves their lives without utilizing additional military funds, why not? In the past, when His Majesty was in the north, he’d bring the soldiers into the mountains to hunt at the end of autumn. He just wanted to let everyone put on some weight.”

“The environment in Nanyang is much worse than in the north. A decent town is half a month’s trip away from here. If our men crave meat, they can only look at the forest and drool. What reason is there to stop them from having some ready-made fish and prawns? If they starve, who will be willing to guard Nanyang in a few years?”

Lin Chengxiu sneered and said, “It’s the duty of soldiers to protect the country. So what if they’re unwilling?”

Deputy Assistant Commander Bai patted his shoulder and said gently, “If they’re reluctant, how can they win a war? General, I naturally can’t compare to you in terms of fighting wars, but as a general, not only does one have to know military strategies, but they also have to know how to train and manage troops.”

Deputy Assistant Commander Bai said with a smile, “I was lucky enough to follow King Rong in my early years and have seen him fight in a war. He once told the soldiers that generals should possess three abilities: training the troops, managing the troops, and charging forward, and in that order.”

Lin Chengxiu’s expression changed.

Deputy Assistant Commander Bai patted him on the shoulder and left, letting him think by himself.

He was indeed once King Rong’s subordinate. The people who had followed King Rong during these past 20 years were either dead or had a bright future. Only he had gone from a lowly logistics soldier to a fourth-grade assistant commander.

If not for King Rong’s promotion, he would probably still hold a lowly fifth-grade military position in the West Mountain camp. He did not know how to fight a war, and his greatest strength was that he was extremely meticulous in terms of logistics. However, this was useless in the army where one could only stand out with their achievements on the battlefield.

Only King Rong still remembered him.

Before leaving, King Rong called him into his residence and said, “Lin Chengxiu is talented, but he’s too arrogant. As the saying goes, ‘A tree that is unbending is easily broken’. He only knows how to fight wars and doesn’t know how to manage the soldiers, let alone train them. Since my two boys are with him, I don’t want them to only learn his methods of fighting wars, but forget the methods I taught them to train and manage the soldiers in the past. Therefore, when you go over, not only do you have to manage the soldiers in Nanyang, but you also have to watch over those two boys for me. Make sure they don’t pick up his arrogance but forget to hone their capabilities.”

Qi Haoran said, “You don’t know how to fight in wars, so don’t interfere in Lin Chengxiu’s troop deployment when you go there. However, you can remind him about management. It’ll naturally be good if he can learn. If not, I’ll transfer him back to the military academy.”

Deputy Assistant Commander Bai felt that King Rong cherished talents. If Lin Chengxiu didn’t accept his suggestion and caused resentment among the Nanyang garrison, he would be sent to the military academy to study in the end.

That was his last chance. If he still couldn’t grasp it, he would only be a fourth-grade assistant commander in the future. He could only listen to orders to fight and had no right to train troops.

The Westerners did not know about the turbulent undercurrents of Great Qi’s army in Nanyang, and were discussing how to make peace with Great Qi. Having suffered too many losses in the past year, they had to get Great Qi to stop these military operations.

Moreover, recently, another group of pirates had appeared in the Indian Ocean. This group of pirates only robbed merchant ships from the west. Although they only snatched 30 to 40% of the goods every time they boarded the ship, the losses were still quite significant.

Unfortunately for the Westerners, those pirates came and went without a trace. Their warships went out a few times but could not find any traces of them.

All the countries felt that their efficiency had been lowered because of Great Qi’s harassment, so they had to resolve their dispute with Great Qi as soon as possible.

This time, Great Qi agreed to negotiate peace, but their attitude was still unyielding. They expressed that if the Western pirates robbed Great Qi’s merchant ships again, they would definitely counterattack and not stop until they finished eliminating all their pirates.

If the Western countries could restrain their citizens, they were naturally willing to get along peacefully with the various countries. After all, their original intention was to protect the citizens of Great Qi, not to provoke others.

The Western countries suggested that Great Qi should also restrain its citizens.

Great Qi agreed readily, saying that if the various countries discovered Great Qi pirates outside, they were free to send troops to destroy them. Great Qi would definitely not stop them.

When the magistrate of Guangzhou said this, he was extremely sarcastic. “Even if they are citizens of Great Qi, once they become pirates and go on to kill and rob others, it is unforgivable. Great Qi will definitely not protect them.”

The expressions of the envoys stiffened slightly.

After they left, Zhou Zhou muttered to him, “You’re too ruthless. What if they catch our people?”

One had to know that half of the pirates in the Indian Ocean were recruited young and strong fishermen, while the other half were soldiers of Great Qi.

The magistrate of Guangzhou pursed his lips and said, “With so many garrisons in Nanyang, surely you’re capable of shielding a fleet of ships? Besides, so what if they caught them? Those people are all Japanese.”

Zhou Zhou frowned, but the magistrate of Guangzhou said nonchalantly, “Don’t worry. King Rong’s actions are just to teach them a lesson and let them have a taste of the hardships of being robbed. It won’t be long. These people will be summoned back anywhere from two to six years.”

When Zhou Zhou thought of Qi Haoran’s temper, his brows relaxed slightly.

However, the two of them did not expect that three years later, this pirate ship team would still not be disbanded. Instead, after entering the military register, they all became subordinates of the three young masters and were led to the west by them.

At that time, Nanyang had changed greatly after three years of development. The Harvest Grain Store had opened branches in several nearby countries and even sent technicians to teach the local people how to grow rice and various crops. Queen Consort Rong’s name spread throughout Nanyang, and almost every family who planted the seeds produced by the Harvest Grain Store had installed a longevity memorial tablet for Mu Yangling at home.

Later, under King Rong’s suggestion, the Emperor of Great Qi waved his hand and got the royal publishing house to print a batch of books written by the sages for the various countries in Nanyang.

Tiger Head and Little Lion took the opportunity to introduce the Treasure-Bear Academy to Luzon and started teaching the natives from Luzon.

The villagers near the seaport where Great Qi was stationed in Luzon had learned to speak Mandarin, especially the children. Every day, when they were beachcombing at the beach, they would recite a few words like, ‘Man at birth is fundamentally good in nature1’.”

In contrast to Great Qi’s rising prestige in the Nanyang countries, the indigenous people were increasingly disgusted with the Westerners who occupied their territory and enslaved them. The rebellion and uprising became unstoppable.

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