CHAPTER 1490: CHAPTER 1039: FIVE YEARS OF PEACE—WOKOU? MING DYNASTY PIRATES!

"Oh! Buddha, what Ming Dynasty’s heavenly soldiers, able to defeat the Yuan Invasion? How powerful they are?!"

"Hmm... Hachiman Mahasattva bless! Even if all the Martial Families of the Shogunate combined, they would still find it difficult to compete against even one finger of the Ming Dynasty’s hand! This is also why, a hundred years ago, the third General Yoshimitsu accepted the Ming Emperor’s investiture, acknowledging himself as the ’King of Japan’ and paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty..."

"Ah! Maitreya Buddha bless! Has even the Supreme Emperor, the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha, submitted to the King of Ming Dynasty?!"

"Sukeichiro, the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty is not a King, but an Emperor above Kings, the true incarnation of Tathagata Buddha! In the entire world, there is only this one Emperor. There was once also an Evil Ghost King Emperor of the Yuan Invasion, but he was killed a hundred years ago by General of the Expedition Xu Da, sent by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Ho! That the Ming Emperor could kill the Evil Ghost King of the Yuan Invasion truly proves he is the reincarnation of Tathagata Buddha, how impressive!"

When mentioning the "great gigantic Ming" of Wa Country’s Western Sea, Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi’s face appeared fearful, with a complex expression. He hailed from the Kyushu Martial Family, unlike Murakami Kitamichi and Sukeichiro, these local warriors from Ezo land, who did not understand the power of the Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, he was very clear about the overpowering might of the Ming Dynasty, which was a forceful pressure on the entire Wa Country!

"Buddha bears witness! Although the martial families from all over Kyushu would organize raiding fleets, they usually only dared to raid Korea and seldom dared to raid the Ming Dynasty. In reality, our ships couldn’t even sail that far..."

"Ah? Kyushu Martial Family raiding fleets? Raiding Korea?..."

"Hmm..."

Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi lightly nodded and glanced at the apprehensively looking shipwright Kim Sun-su. As a craftsman under the Korea Official, Kim Sun-su had no personal freedom at all and couldn’t leave the shipyard. His presence in Wa Country, constructing ships for the great merchants of Sakai Port, was actually one of the spoils from the Kyushu warriors raiding Korea..."

"Buddha bears witness! The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had on many occasions pressured the Shogunate to restrain the clans from eliminating so-called ’Wokou’..."

Saying this, Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi smiled, his face showing both helplessness and some satire.

"However, presently on the Eastern Sea of the Ming Dynasty, where are there any ’Wokou’? If a hundred years ago, during General Yoshimitsu’s pacification of the Southern Dynasty, there were still roving, dispossessed warriors... then now, the rootless Southern Dynasty warriors have long been eradicated, and those who survived are all Ming Dynasty’s own Ming pirates! They gather many coastal shipmen and fishermen, taking in many escaped military households, and then recruit a few ronin without a lord as a facade... In the end, they all disguise themselves as Wa Country warriors, to pillage the coasts of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Ah! Why would Ming people, want to raid themselves?"

"Because their government is tyrannical and rough, and local tyrants seize lands! Along the coast are many villagers who can’t survive, plus tens of thousands of impoverished people living on boats... These people can only turn to piracy, relying on pillage and slaughter to find a way to live!"

"Tens of thousands, living on boats? How can people live on boats?"

Hearing Watanabe’s words, Murakami Kitamichi and Sukeichiro glanced at each other, both somewhat perplexed. The ship-dwelling impoverished Watanabe Masumi spoke of were numerous Fujian boat people. Their origins were diverse, including remnants of Bai Yue, Mongol Yuan survivors, and most notably fugitive Han people escaping taxes. Designated as unregistered, lower than even servile class in the Ming Dynasty, they were driven from place to place by the government or even massacred by the Naval Forces. They couldn’t own land nor participate in various rural and urban labors, yet they numbered in the tens of thousands, representing a crucial source of coastal pirates!

"Hmm... those ship people make excellent sailors, with very good seamanship..."

Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi stroked his bald head. His understanding of these ship people wasn’t much deeper, having merely witnessed from afar those powerful raiding ships of the Ming pirates during his past sea voyages. Yes, the meeting of peers, so to speak...

"Those sea ships of the Ming pirate groups are much larger and faster than our ships from Kyushu! The small fast ships and customs ships of the Kyushu martial clans cannot even cross such vast sea distances to raid Ming coasts. Our small fast ships and customs ships are certainly no match for the Ming’s Naval Forces, and cannot escape when encountered... In fact, the powerful sea ships raiding Ming coasts are all built by the Ming people themselves!"

"As for the reasons for doing so... It seems the people in southeastern coastal Ming are very opposed to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The taxes they pay seem to be far higher than those in the North of the Ming Dynasty... However, these Ming pirates involved in raiding Ming, their real masters behind the scenes are actually the local... well, powerful Daimyo!"

"Ah? Maitreya Buddha! Watanabe-sama, why would the powerful Daimyo of Ming want to support pirate groups to raid their own coasts?"

"Buddha bears witness! Probably to earn more silver, seize more land, and gain more servants! I’ve heard that the supplies of food and water, the intelligence for raiding, and the channels for fencing stolen goods by the Ming pirate groups were all handled by those powerful Daimyo of local Ming! They dock based on the directions of powerful Daimyo, raid according to their intelligence, avoid the Ming government’s Naval Forces, and then sell the looted goods at low prices to the powerful ones... In short, these Ming pirates are just dogs raised by Ming’s powerful Daimyo to do unspeakable dirty work!"

"And those powerful Daimyo of local Ming, on one hand, conduct vast oceanic private trade, buying and selling goods and stolen items, while on the other, buy lands that have lost their owners at low prices, and take in the fleeing farmers as servants for their households... Their lifestyle is extremely extravagant; I’ve heard that... uh! They can eat premium rice meals daily, consume several fish at every meal! Even the servants in their households can eat rice meals in every meal!"

"Ah! Maitreya Buddha bless! Servants in the households can eat rice meals in every meal? The powerful Daimyo of Ming are so affluent! If only I could be a servant of the powerful Daimyo of Ming..."

At this point, Sukeichiro’s face revealed full of envy, even drooling. Beside him, Murakami Kitamichi lightly "coughed," and forcefully patted Sukeichiro on the shoulder.

"Cough! Sukeichiro, pack up the utensils, and wipe your mouth. Don’t speak recklessly in front of Watanabe-sama..."

"Uh... yes!"

Murakami Kitamichi gave a reminder, then looked at Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi and asked with some concern.

"Watanabe-sama, the powerful Daimyo of the Ming have such powerful sea ships, even raiding their own coasts... would they send their Naval Forces to raid us?"

"Uh! Raid us? Raid Kyushu?... Ha! The martial families of Kyushu, what is there to raid? Come to rob our Sakurajima radishes and Temples and Shrines natto? Or our Vietnam rice? Haha!"

Upon hearing this, Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi laughed heartily. However, ship magistrate Murakami Kitamichi did not laugh, nor did Sukeichiro. Murakami Kitamichi gritted his teeth fiercely, gripped the iron sword at his waist tightly, and said seriously.

"Watanabe-sama! For fragrant rice, the Samurai are willing to risk their lives!"

Sukeichiro also gritted his teeth, picked up the long spear in the style of Ashigaru, and shouted.

"Maitreya Buddha bears witness! For radishes and natto, the villagers are also willing to risk their lives!"

"Uh..."

Seeing the fierce expressions of these two local warriors, Monk Soldier Watanabe Masumi was slightly taken aback. His face showed helplessness, yet he couldn’t help but feel some self-deprecation.

"Buddha bears witness! Look at you two with no ambition, always ready to take up arms to risk your lives for a few bites of food! The Ming pirate groups would have to lose their minds to come and rob the poverty-stricken martial families of Kyushu... Actually, the Ming pirate groups frequently dock in Southern Kyushu. Yet their purpose after landing is to recruit impoverished ronin without a family head. And the pay they offer is real indeed: just risk your life fighting, and you can truly eat rice every meal!"

"If the Ming are the great whale of the sea, powerful and unmatched, but continuously battling with itself in the ocean waves... then Koreans are like pearl-producing shells, once you pry open that seemingly hard shell, all you find is soft clam meat and valuable pearls..."

"As for us Wa Country people, we are probably like crabs brandishing their claws! Poor and fierce, even if one breaks apart to pieces, you’d hardly pick out two taels of meat..."

"However, Hachiman Mahasattva bless! Crabs don’t dare to hit the whale, but seizing a chance to pry open a shell, that’s no problem!"