Chapter 533

In fact, the soldiers of the Central Plain don’t carry the duties of a soldier as Qing imagines.

When you think of soldiers from Qing’s hometown, you might think they should protect the country and the people. But the soldiers of the Central Plain?

They only protect the imperial family and the Emperor, and the lands owned by the Emperor.

And the common people?

How many are there in the Central Plain? Are they going to protect every single one of them?

After all, the people thrive and prosper like beasts if left alone.

Anyway, if you consider the bandit gangs in the interior and the Japanese pirates on the coast, you’ll see those pillagers appear every single day of the year—every one of the three hundred fifty-four days!

So, what’s so special about the Japanese pirates?

If anything, they might be like locusts—swarming endlessly, no matter how many you catch.

So if the soldiers meant to serve the Emperor are chasing around after these bandit gangs, when are they ever going to train?

Most importantly, the greatest duty of a soldier, their most critical task, is, when will they do the farming?

Yet, despite all this, there was a reason why Wang Sang-ryong was drenched in cold sweat.

It wasn’t because of a guilty conscience crying out that neglecting to protect the people was against universal morality—no way, no how.

He considered it a reprimand that those filthy barbarians were daring to invade the land of the Central Plain, trampling over the sacred ground of the imperial family.

By the way, it’s fine to invade the sea because the sea isn’t land.

In olden times, common folk weren’t even supposed to go out to sea or live near the coast; that was known as the prohibition order.

About a hundred years ago, it was lifted, and now folks can build homes by the seaside and engage in fishing, but they’re still expected to endure the pillaging of the Japanese pirates.

Anyway, Wang Sang-ryong was desperately trying to think up an excuse.

His normally sharp mind was sputtering at such a time, and because of Qing’s judging gaze, he was lost in a white haze.

Then a ray of light shone down!

“Still, the Deputy Commander’s words aren’t wrong. I’ve heard that Shandong is relatively safe. However, due to the coastal defenses in Shandong, the pirates are flocking to Jiangsu, causing more damage there.”

Namgoong Shin-jae chimed in.

The Deputy Commander looked at the Eldest Prince of the Namgoong family with a touched expression, but Namgoong Shin-jae was just stating what he knew—he had no intention to take sides.

Not that he had the political prowess for it anyway; if he did, he’d rather invest it in swordsmanship.

“That’s right. Originally, it was Shandong that was the loudest, but since it’s calmed down, that’s precisely why those pirates have all gathered in Jiangsu.”

Gongson Yo-ye added in a cold tone.

Since it was a matter close to home, it was hard for her voice to sound pleasant.

Thinking it over, it seemed that the general guy was indeed the culprit pushing the Japanese pirates onto Jiangsu.

Thanks to that, the pirate numbers in Jiangsu had doubled.

“Oh. Is that so? Hmmm.”

Qing’s expression returned to normal.

In front of Gongson Yo-ye, he couldn’t exactly defend the general and say he’s blameless.

After all, the general had implemented coastal defenses like some sort of naval base, which had proven somewhat effective.

The general of Shandong should protect Shandong; what could he do about Jiangsu?

Yeah. That’s a famous general for you! Guess he really is a famous general after all.

If you were to liken it to the video game “Three Kingdoms,” Wang Sang-ryong boasts a political score in the nineties.

Politics is also about reading the room; Wang Sang-ryong interpreted Qing’s gaze instantly and breathed a large sigh of relief.

The truth is this.

Rather than blocking the pirates’ incursions, if they added commercial fishing to the military operations, wouldn’t they get salt and seafood?

It was a moment where a scheme that was almost akin to embezzlement to line his own pockets helped him get through a serious crisis.

Although the general’s intentions were very unwholesome, the reality is that the pirates had significantly decreased and quieted down.

Truth and fact don’t always align.

Still, Wang Sang-ryong resolved to instruct his men to fire some cannonballs whenever they spotted those pirates from now on.

That’s a significant decision.

Gunpowder is expensive, and astonishingly, even the soldiers have to buy gunpowder beyond the meager base supply.

It was a tearful spirit of benevolence to endure a loss in the profits made from selling salt and seafood.

Anyway, things were looking up.

The expressions of the soldiers stationed inside the city walls were bright.

Having set up their military tents early, they were gleefully anticipating drinking and passing out tonight.

Tavern owners raised their lodging fees due to the influx of guests following the military, and common folk smiled warmly at the prospect of unexpected income from renting out their rooms.

Anyway, Wang Sang-ryong set out for the hospitality of Jihyeon, a duty he was meant to perform.

When there are no friends around, one would be treated well, but even just strolling around with a big crowd like this is fun for Qing.

Wang Sang-ryong didn’t bother asking the esteemed mama to join him, as she wouldn’t need to be entertained by Jihyeon in light of her friends.

Jihyeon is the position of the lowest-ranking official governing the city, which is the same rank as the Daoist he had working like a laborer, meaning they were never on the same level.

So, he decided to take a round of the city first.

Usually, Pang Dae-san hated walking, but for some reason, he was following along without complaint this time.

There was no need to explain that the female entourage trying to secure lodging had hastily regrouped and followed.

When someone asked if there was anywhere interesting to see, Je-gal Lee-hyun replied firmly.

“There’s nothing. Sister.”

“Huh?”

“Because of the pirates, the public security is so dreadful that we ought to return home before dark, right? Even if there were something worth seeing, those pirates wouldn’t leave us alone, so this place, being just by the sea and adjacent to the river, is like this.”

Would those pirate scumbags walk or jump across the sea when crossing?

If they could do that, they wouldn’t need to go through the trouble of raiding across the sea.

But? There’s no place to plunder on the coast.

And since they’d be getting on boats regardless, they would be just following the rivers right in.

“Then what if we sink their boats?”

“We can’t tell if it’s a pirate or a merchant just by seeing their boat. And don’t we have a military that’s entirely lacking in cannons?”

“Huh. What a mess. Absolutely.”

Qing was aware that the level of public security in the Central Plain wasn’t that great.

He saw all sorts of things happening in the spacious houses they called big cities, even in the dead of night, and not far from there, he had been ambushed by bandits alongside Seoliri while riding in a carriage.

Let alone by non-Central Plain barbarian scum.

However, there was one point he couldn’t figure out.

Aren’t those Japanese pirates the same as the Japanese?

They come all the way here by boat from Japan?

Not even on some ferry or anything?

Does that make sense?

In this uncivilized age, they wouldn’t have the massive shipping technology of cruise ships or cargo ships.

But that question was soon cleared up.

“Japanese pirates!” “The Japanese pirates have shown up!”

Is it because they say that when you mention Cao Cao, he comes rushing, or has Qing not yet learned to keep his mouth shut after being scolded severely?

But the common people shouting those words didn’t show much fear.

Because.

“Damn those pirate bastards, heh, this time they actually picked a date right.”

“I told you they’d pick a time to strike sooner or later.”

“Looks like the heavens are not indifferent.”

“Hmph. So naive. They’ll just scare us away. Do you think soldiers would spring to action? If they did, would they really retreat? They’d just pretend to back off, then rush in when the soldiers loosen their guard.”

Qing glanced around at his friends, who all nodded, and together they stepped heavily towards the city walls.

The poor soldiers were finding themselves in quite a ruckus for no reason.

As they were about to enjoy a drink, they passed through a suddenly hectic military camp.

The soldiers on the walls looked at the commotion with puzzled expressions, as if they were seeing a martial world individual, but they weren’t stopping them, perhaps they thought they might help.

When it comes to Japanese pirates, the martial world individuals tended to be more proactive about helping than the officials, so there were even comforting, friendly glances being cast their way.

Qing looked down at the genuine Japanese pirates.

What on earth were they supposed to be?

At first glance, they seemed tiny.

And filthy.

Their beards were unkempt, and they had shaved their heads in a bizarre manner from their foreheads to the crowns.

How is it that they’ve kept their beards, yet manage their head hair?

And yet their hair on both sides was stuck together unkemptly.

To top it off, they wore rags that looked worse than those of beggars.

Dressed in filthy, torn cloth, some had wooden armor to cover their torsos.

Then Qing frowned sharply.

Thanks to that, one out of ten of those lower halves, barely covered by a cloth, were hanging out, revealing the black appendages beneath.

Not that Qing’s hometown wasn’t very civilized, but it seems historically there was no tradition of wearing underwear.

But would Qing, who had only caught a glimpse of a man’s naughty bits, be so innocent as to frown?

No, it was those horrid decorations hanging from their necks and arms.

Those guys had trophies made from severed ears or noses, or toes or fingers, or even from male parts and breasts.

These scumbags aren’t just raiders, are they?

Typically, such symbols are adorned and claimed as trophies of a hunt among their kind, indicating they’re the sorts that hunt people for spoils.

Qing saw exactly that; it’s a hallmark of genuine Japanese pirates.

These guys view cruelty and greatness as the same thing and consider it their right to massacre the losers.

Thanks to that, Japanese pirates operate not just on the family level but also encompass entire villages.

This is why they keep a keen eye on each other and exclude those who stand out while adhering like dogs to the strong.

“Open the gates and surrender at once! And bring me fifty young women aged under twenty. Then I shall be merciful and only take half of your stores!”

“Hey, isn’t that a Central Plain dialect? Pretty fluent, though.”

“Sister, that’s definitely a Central Plain person. Tall, almost a foot taller than me, and wearing a helmet to cover his head. He can’t sport those awful pirate styles, so he wears a helmet to pretend to be one of them.”

“Huh? A Central Plain person?”

“How would the pirates know the geography of the Central Plain to invade? This is why there are lackeys like him who cozy up to barbarians.”

The deeper one delves, the more ridiculous it gets in the Central Plain.

Qing looked down at the Japanese pirates.

About three hundred of them, right?

Three hundred isn’t exactly a small number.

In such a small town, that would translate to perhaps two hundred soldiers at most, not counting the patrol officers.

They may be there, but they weren’t soldiers; they were security officers and wouldn’t qualify as real combatants.

And so, they dared to boldly stand at the city gate, demanding a surrender.

Qing gazed at the savages again and asked.

Sure enough, having Je-gal around makes things easier.

“Je-gal, do they use any martial arts or something?”

This was his first real encounter with foreigners outside the locally known Central Plain and the barbarians (local folk).

The mysterious energy of the universe isn’t exclusive to this primitive ancient China.

Still, something made him think these fellows may also engage in extraordinary skills.

“Likely they would call it martial arts. The term ‘martial’ basically refers to some mysterious skills similar to sorcery. Calling Muhak mysterious would be an insult to the intelligence of these primitive monkeys.”

Je-gal Lee-hyun, too, had absorbed this contempt for the barbarians into his bones.

But during this time, it’s only natural for Central Plain people to think that way, and the actual civilization gap was huge, so he wasn’t exactly wrong.

“There probably isn’t any established knowledge on my part. It’s likely that like all martial arts, they probably possess some basic level of internal energy. Ah, do you know what ‘internal energy’ is? Internal energy is—”

“Wait, I’m aware of that much. I’m also a martial artist! In fact, I’m way more skilled than you, and I’m not amused by the idea of being mistaken for a low-level player.”

Internal energy refers to primitive high-level skills.

As Muhak evolved, it became evident that there are far more efficient ways to practice internal and external practices separately.

That’s why today’s martial artists train both weapon arts and inner strength meditation techniques in parallel.

But in the past, the martial arts were like, Hey, just practice hard, and like magic—

Before you know it, you’d have gathered internal energy!

One doesn’t know why, but it’s certainly fascinating.

This is the ancient concept of internal energy, or ‘Dong-gong.’

It used to be the standard for gauging how much internal energy one had accumulated over several years of training.

Roughly, one unit of internal energy equates to sixty years, meaning you’d have been gathering energy at a primitive, archaic pace for sixty years without meditation.

Now, peaks at the Jungwon level likely amount to at least one unit of internal energy, and since the historical words lack strict standards, the consumption rates differ depending on the martial arts type and inclination, so it was generally unnecessary to mention total amounts of energy.

Thus, Qing gazed silently ahead.

A quiet feeling of dread blossoming in his eyes.

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