"The 'Pirates of Golden Court Lake' is merely a collective title for the numerous different small groups of pirates in Golden Court Lake. The different groups do not work together, they even compete and clash with each other for land, wealth and women…"
Inside the small cabin, Xu Ting looked at the map and spoke with fervour.
The Xu family was rooted in Golden Lake Prefecture for ten over years, it was unsurprising that they had such intelligence in their hands.
"These pirates are mostly refugees from other areas that gather on the islands. Some of them do reclaim the land, but however, most of them rely on plundering! Some of them have even built up stockaded villages!"
In reality, due to limited resources, terrain and reclamation limitations, such stockaded villages were not large in scale and housed at most a thousand people.
Furthermore, the natural resources on the island combined with the plundered materials were still insufficient for large groups of pirates, and hence they had to branch off from one another.
"This time around, we will be conquering the pirates on Heiguan Island. These pirates have pillaged Black Lake District before, killing 27 people in the process and even raided a large family…"
Xu Ting frowned.
When the pirates were ashore, it was natural that they killed and raided. However, since they could break in these large families' estates that were fenced and fortified with tall, huge walls, it meant that the pirates were either very brave, or there were very capable people within them.
"Come, bring Hu San over!"
Immediately after he clapped his hands, two soldiers brought a man over.
From the man's frail and ragged looking appearance, it was evident that he was the poorest of the poor.
Of course, as those around were all soldiers, from the man's savage looking eyes and his body odour that reeked of seawater, they could immediately decipher his identity.
"A pirate?"
A few sergeants exchanged glances, and their face lit up.
"Haha…, not bad, he is indeed a pirate. A pirate from Heiguan Island to be exact!"
Xu Ting stroked his steel ring and mentioned, "Explain everything you know and then guide the way for us! If you heed our orders, you will be greatly rewarded and your criminal records would be expunged! How about that?"
Even though pirates were usually refugees, there were some exceptions.
Hu San was from Black Lake District, however after he committed crimes, he was wanted by the authorities. Hence, he had no other choice than to join the pirates.
Once Xu Ting assumed his post and caught wind of the matter, he immediately tasked his clan members to help him and after observing for a period of time, sure enough, Hu San was caught.
With incriminating evidence held against him, Hu San was surprisingly not stubborn, he lifted his head, and with a slightly hopeful look, said, "Are you… for real?"
"Hehe… our master is an official of the prefecture minister, why would he lie to a scoundrel like you?"
Before Xu Ting could speak, a bodyguard at the side sneered.
As the eldest son of the family, safety was of utmost importance. This group of bodyguards were the cream of the crop, they were all skilled in combat and defence. Also, instead of leather armour, they were donned in chainmail.
The chainmail was made from metal rings looped together and was lightweight and flexible. In spite of that, its defence was much better than that of normal armour. It was costly to make such armour and was only possible for bodyguards of ninth grade officials and above to have it.
However, the chainmail was a common sight here.
As the commander's bodyguard, such treatment was expected.
Just with the five well-armed bodyguards alone, it might even be enough to kill hundreds of people!
Thus, Xu Ting did not have many worries for this conquest.
Nevertheless, preparations for the war were required. It was necessary to fully ready their tactics.
"Prefecture minister… Xu?"
Hu San took a deep breath, "Alright…, I will believe you this time!"
With fire in his eyes, Hu San explained again, "Our boss is called Lu Jia. We occupied Heiguan Island and built a stockaded village on it. There are seven to eight hundred people and three ships! There are hundred and twenty strong men called the Twelfth Jia…, and also, I know the way there and can bring you all there!"
"Good, dismiss him and give him some meat and wine!"
Xu Ting was delighted upon hearing that.
Although they had a map of the waterway, it was reassuring that an experienced person held the task of navigating the directions.
On the vast lake, there were no reference objects to navigate with. Without an experienced navigator, a small mistake could steer the ship off by a huge margin. Thus, this was also the reason why the pirates remained uncaught till now.
Hu San was indeed cooperative, after a day of him pointing directions, a small island appeared in front of Xu Ting.
"Hmm, looks clean, shouldn't be some kind of snake island…"
Xu Ting happily said as he shielded his eyes from the sun, looked far away and also smelled the air.
There were thousands of island on Golden Court Lake, some of the islands were dead empty, while other had many species of animals. Reportedly, there were some islands that only had numerous species of snakes; it was truly horrifying and dangerous.
However, the island ahead did not look like such and also did not have the kind of unique stench.
"Sir!"
At that moment, a few sergeants came over, "There are a few ships berthed at the other side of the island. What Hu San said should be true! what should we do? Secretly disembark and detour over to launch a surprise attack?"
"Wait a minute!"
Xu Ting frowned, "Send the scout over first to see how many ships are there!"
At that moment, the daoist priest on the ship was put in to great use.
A white bird flew from the daoist priest's shoulder, circled the sky, landed back and started chirping away.
"Sir, there are three ships!"
The daoist priest reported moments later.
"Very good, your efforts will be remembered!"
Xu Ting was elated.
Although the daoist priest did not have many techniques under his belt, he understood animal language. Even though he only had a common kind of white bird, it always worked flawlessly in scouting. Hence, Xu Ting's father had always thought highly of the daoist priest and treated him very well.
Thus, this time around, Xu Ting brought along the daoist priest to help out himself.
And that was exactly how noble families worked.
With those, as long as the commander was not too incompetent, there was no reason to fail.
"So how Sir, should we launch a sneak attack?"
A few sergeants eagerly wanted to try.
"What sneak attack?"
Xu Ting took a few steps and made up his mind, "Our soldiers are so much more superior, we have plenty of weapons and armours, and our ship is fortified with iron! Whereas, they only have three lousy ships, do you think they even stand a chance? Also, all of us are unfamiliar with the island's terrain, it would not be wise to solely trust one person!"
"We are soldiers, they are thieves! We don't need any devious plans, we just have to raise our flag up high and charge forward… With their three ships, where else can they run after we occupy the pier?"
While the plan seemed simple, it was one that was meticulously devised.
"In this first war, I rather win it clumsily than to lose skillfully. If my plan is infallible, that would be the best!"
Xu Ting quietly told himself.
"Raise the official flag!"
"Prepare the spearguns!"
"Speed up and charge forward!"
After listening to Xu Ting's arrangements, the sergeants were not against it.
After all, they were also clear that the pirates did not have much power to defend the pier. The pirates were no match for them.
Furthermore, they were backed by bodyguards and the daoist priest.
Truthfully, it was sufficient to fully suppress the pirates just with this elite force.
With such an overwhelming strength, the morale was high.
"Charge!"
The two warships instantly charged towards the pier aggressively, alarming its people.
Frankly, the pier was actually just a few shoddy structures built on a natural harbour. The ships could barely be berthed there.
Three old and dilapidated fishing boats parked at the side of the shore. They appeared modified of sorts and had numerous fishermen climbing up and down, fixing the sails and tidying the ship.
A ruckus erupted when they saw the two ships carrying the official flag charged towards them.
Not only were their boats difficult to operate, it took a very long time for them to gear up and be prepared to fight back. Furthermore, they lacked shipmen.
When Xu Ting charged towards them, he saw them scrambling to start up the ship. He could not help but laugh as he saw many of them running away and also those who were having difficulty hoisting the sails.
Ultimately, they were thieves against officials, the circumstances were against them. Naturally, their first reaction was to run.
Those who really fought back without hesitation were truly stupid or ready to die.
"Seize their ships! Even if they sink, do not leave them with any!"
Xu Ting wanted to capture them all in one fell swoop and immediately commanded.
"Spearguns… fire!"
A loud boom could be heard as the warship began to roar.
The spearguns were actually crossbows mounted on the ship that shot explosive spears.
"Boom!"
On the opposite side, the spear hit the wooden ship and pierced through a few pirates. Blood spewed everywhere as shrieks of terror could be heard.
"Boom!"
Another official vessel launched another spear. This time, it was slightly off and pierced through the sail, leaving behind a huge hole.
"Truth be told, this kind of speargun can only be used to scare off the opponents. It couldn't even hit a still boat accurately! What if we were on rough seas?"
Xu Ting shook his head at that sight, "Let's not even mention those crossbows or what not, they can't even be used for long. With such dampness and humidity, they would be obsolete after a while…"
He was naturally talented in the battlefield. This time, not only was he collected in commanding, he even had the leisure to think about his own weaknesses.
"Charge!"
Once the ship reached the pier, the soldiers were prepared to jump down the official ship.
As their ship was huge, the deck was high above the ground and gave a dominant vantage point.
"Archers!" a sergeant hollered.
Twenty-something archers then drew their bow and shot at the armed pirates on their deck.
Fully armed soldiers then seized the opportunity and began jumping down the ship to fight.
"Those damned government troops are here, those who don't want their whole family to die, fight with them!"
Amongst the pirates, the very brave ones slashed forward with their swords.
"Form up and stab!"
The soldiers formed up, launched their spears together and the pirates turned into a bloody mess.
"Even with courage, this is all that is left…"
Xu Ting curled his lips as he looked at the scene.
These pirates' equipment were no match for the soldiers. Some of them were like beggars who used wooden spears.
Most importantly, many of them suffered from hunger and were skinny to the bones.
They could only rely on weapons with no gunpowder, and furthermore, they did not even have enough to eat, how would they have the energy to kill their enemies?
Hence, through the ages, none of the refugees who rebelled ever succeeded.
As Xu Ting silently made up his mind, he was no longer undecided on what would be the outcome of these pirates.