Chapter 708: Japanese Pirates

The Zhejiang Provincial Administration Commission certainly held a banquet to entertain the new colleague. Hangzhou was also a place of romance in the world, and Bai Lang naturally drank cup after cup, but this time it was more elegant and he didn't get drunk. Afterward, the military officials of Zhejiang wanted to entertain this Defense Commissioner. Everyone was well-informed and knew that the person before them was a truly peerless fierce general, so they hoped that this fierce general wouldn't just ignore everything and take them, these generals, directly to hack the Japanese pirates...

The Zhejiang guard stations were abandoned. Probably only the standard troops in Hangzhou Prefecture had some combat effectiveness, and the guard station troops in other places were already a mess, and there were not many camp troops either. In this era, peace had lasted for a long time, and what should have rotted had long since rotted away. Bai Lang was too lazy to inspect the troops and even lazier to recruit and train them—in the final analysis, he was a civil official of the Defense Commission, and such things should be done by military officials.

He didn't make things difficult for those military officials—knowing that these guys ate empty salaries, engaged in smuggling, and even sold military weapons, he just took a share of everything anyway. Bai Lang really didn't care about fighting the Japanese pirates. "Isn't it just hacking? Could there be Innate experts among the Japanese pirates?" Bai Lang also smiled. If there were really Innate experts among the Japanese pirates, he would first have to serve as a military strategist in the Ashikaga family.

Running to the Great Ming to rob? This Innate expert would be too shameful. But Bai Lang thought it was true that the combat effectiveness of the so-called "Japanese pirates" was generally stronger than that of the government troops in Zhejiang and Southern Zhili, and the gap was quite large. Others were just people with cheap lives going ashore to rob, while the guard station troops were people with cheap lives who could only continue to mess around.

After taking office, he went to inspect the soldiers as a gesture. Don't talk about the old, weak, sick, and disabled; half of them were useless people, and the other half had practiced the martial arts of the guard stations. In Bai Lang's view, they were no worse than the ordinary disciples of the Mount Hua Sect, but they couldn't exert much combat power—these martial arts were all military formation skills, which required good military equipment to exert.

"The subtleties of the changes are not as good as the Mount Hua martial arts, but the ability to kill in battle formations is far superior. If fully equipped, one soldier could fight back and forth with a Mount Hua disciple, but ten or a hundred Mount Hua disciples could only be hacked at will by the same number or even half the number of soldiers." Bai Lang's view had always been like this. He remembered the White Lotus Sect rebellion in Shandong, where there were many high-level experts among the tens of thousands of people, no worse than the rudder masters and four heavenly kings of the Demon Cult, but they were still suppressed by thousands or tens of thousands of government troops.

Once a military formation is formed, unless it is an Innate expert like Bai Lang who specializes in battle formation slaughter, Jianghu experts definitely won't make it.

Ren Yingying and Blue Phoenix actually lived quite well. Although they were called maids, in fact, they had maids serving them below, and the maids and servants who served Bai Lang's daily life were all sent by those military officials and merchants—Bai Lang followed the crowd, and he didn't refuse anyone who came to give gifts or share the spoils in the government office, quickly becoming corrupt with the Great Ming officials.

Bai Lang's location was Ningbo, and there was naturally an official residence. This official residence was much larger and more luxurious than the one he had in BJ City—officials didn't repair government offices, but official residences had to be repaired, and in this era, the official residences of local officials were almost all in violation of the system, except for those who lived in government offices like county magistrates and prefects...

"Japanese pirates!" A month after taking office, news of the Japanese pirates attacking came. It was on land in Wenzhou Prefecture, so Bai Lang had to go to the front line—the flood control soldiers were vulnerable and ran straight into the city, letting the Japanese pirates ravage the towns and villages. Bai Lang also had personal guards allocated to him—at least four were Jin Yi Guards from Southern Zhili, and their martial arts were not bad.

Bai Lang took a boat to the place where the Japanese pirates were making trouble. There were horses on the boat, and he could ride a horse to move quickly after landing—this was the approach of ordinary officials, but Bai Lang actually didn't need a horse. His Innate power was inexhaustible, and he could completely use his lightness skills to slip away.

The Japanese pirates were bold and reckless, penetrating more than a hundred miles inland without fear. And Bai Lang, with the Jin Yi Guards, ran straight into a team of Japanese pirates. This group of Japanese pirates had about twenty people, all dressed as ronin, but the clothes they grabbed and wore were a bit incongruous. "On average, at least three swords each, their aura is steady, and their martial arts are not bad. The level is higher than the average Mount Hua disciple."

The martial arts of these guys, Linghu Chong would probably feel troubled if he met them. Others would just hack down regardless, and Linghu Chong would strike after the enemy and perish together with them... "There is no Satsuma Shigen-ryu in this era yet, but similar sword techniques should exist." Bai Lang was dressed in casual clothes, and he rushed toward these Japanese pirates with a tip of his toe.

Seeing the dress of the Jin Yi Guards, the Japanese pirates immediately knew that they were elite Ming troops, and they clamored forward, their long swords shining. And Bai Lang met them head-on and saw someone jump out, taking advantage of the momentum to slash down. This slash was full of energy. If an ordinary disciple of the Five Mountains Sword Sects faced it, they would probably be at a loss and be hacked to death by a single slash. If they had time to draw their swords, they would be hacked together with their swords.

If it were really a fight, the other side would block and counter with another slash. The sword techniques of these Japanese pirates were simple and direct, and although there were not many changes, they were extremely sharp, belonging to the kind that sees life and death within three slashes. "Scholar swords can't deal with it." Bai Lang didn't have a weapon in his hand, so he just pinched the blade, and the Japanese pirate reacted extremely quickly, letting go of the sword and withdrawing it at the first moment, pulling out the second sword at his waist like lightning, this time stabbing directly.

All of this was just a flash of lightning. The speed, reaction, and even martial arts were all first-class. Bai Lang felt that Yue Buqun would probably drink hatred if he came up, and if it were Zuo Lengchan, he would probably be injured. The breathing method of these Japanese pirates also brought him considerable growth in strength and speed; it wasn't just the Great Ming that had "internal force."

"Good martial arts!" Even Bai Lang had to praise it, but his fingers just turned, and the sword he was holding in his hand immediately became held in his hand. This change was so fast that he could perform close-up magic. Afterward, Bai Lang also slashed down. The movement looked very clear and seemed to be slower than the opponent's stab, but he slashed the opponent from the head to the chest with one slash, and then let go of the handle, letting the sword remain embedded in the dead body.

Bai Lang was still empty-handed, but now no one dared to underestimate him. The second wave of attacks was two people. One of them seemed to be hidden in the wind, and what blew with the wind was the shadow of the knife, while the other disappeared on the ground, and Bai Lang could feel a sharp intent coming from underground, preparing to attack his legs.

"Ninja." Bai Lang reached out and slapped his palm, and the sound of the north wind howling blew away the shadow of the knife in the wind. Afterward, Bai Lang turned his palm into a claw and grabbed and lifted it from the ground, and there was an extra short figure in black clothes and a mask in his hand. After Bai Lang grabbed him, he threw him away, and the short figure wanted to twist his body and disappear into the mud, but found he couldn't. A great force threw him to the ground, and the ground actually became like steel, and he was thrown so hard that he couldn't move. ===== CHAPTER 709 =====