Chapter 775: Personal Arrival

The sunlight moved from the willow tips to the zenith, then gradually sank to the west.

The Marine soldiers who had poured into Changqi City dispersed to various locations, and the sounds of gunfire and Hand Grenade explosions could be heard from time to time.

This continued for an entire night, only gradually ceasing at noon the next day.

At this time, the generals and soldiers were all in high spirits, carrying boxes of all sizes out from within the city.

Some soldiers had bulging pockets, filled to the brim with gold and silver jewelry.

After registering the captured spoils, the general in charge of rewards and punishments immediately distributed one-tenth to the soldiers, and the remainder was placed into the boxes nearby.

Once a box was full, soldiers would carry it toward the Pier.

Zhou Yi was also there, looking at the boxes of spoils, smiling from ear to ear.

"This Changqi City is truly dripping with fat," Zhou Yi said, stroking his chin. "Even if we empty out all the Warship and Troop Transport Ship to load these things, I'm afraid it will take seven or eight trips."

Pan Zhang said, "Seven or eight trips? That's an understatement. There is still a massive amount of grain and cloth inside Changqi City. The total value of the spoils we have captured this time is at least sixty million taels of Silver."

Hearing this, Zhou Yi was even more delighted.

It stood to reason; this Changqi City was one of the wealthiest large cities in the south of Dongying.

Having ransacked the entire city, it was no surprise that such a massive amount of wealth had been scraped together.

After all, quite a few wealthy Dongying merchants lived within Changqi City.

These Dongying merchants had engaged in maritime trade with Xitu Guo for years and also had trade dealings with the Liang Family; some had assets of a million, or even ten million.

This person with ten million in assets was none other than the lord of this Hizen Domain, the Masheng Family.

When ransacking Changqi, the Marine soldiers naturally would not let this big fish go.

"By the way, how much Silver was found?" Thinking of something, Zhou Yi asked.

When Yan Wang and Liu Fu were chatting, they had mentioned establishing some kind of silver-standard Song Yuan.

But this silver standard required a massive amount of physical Silver; the more Silver there was, the more Song Yuan could be issued.

He had heard it at the time and hadn't taken it to heart, but now it suddenly occurred to him, and he became concerned about the issue of physical Silver.

If these physical Silver were sent back to Yancheng, Yan Wang would certainly be pleased.

Pan Zhang thought for a moment and said, "There is still eight million taels of physical Silver. Besides that, there is quite a bit of silver ware and silver jewelry, and over three hundred thousand taels of gold were also found."

Zhou Yi nodded, very satisfied with this number.

As the two were talking, a soldier suddenly hurried over, "General, His Highness has arrived."

"What Highness..." Zhou Yi didn't react at first, then was startled, "His Highness has arrived?"

The soldier's expression was excited as he nodded vigorously, "Just a moment ago, a fleet arrived, and Yan Wang is among the fleet."

Zhou Yi and Pan Zhang looked at each other and immediately took off toward the Pier.

On the sea not far from the Changqi Pier.

Zhao Xu stood on a Sailing Warship, looking at Changqi City in the distance.

Seeing that the Beidi and the Shizu Army could not stir up any trouble for the time being, he had decided to head to Dongying.

If he didn't participate at all in the war to conquer Dongying, wouldn't that leave a regret in his life?

He had always looked forward to the Eastern Japanese kneeling before him to submit a letter of surrender.

Added to this was the fact that Wang Yanzhong had come to find him at this time, which further solidified his idea of coming to Dongying.

Wang Yanzhong had reported to him that there was currently a great need for servants at the Great Song Imperial Manor.

It was not just the Royal Clan of the Imperial Manor purchasing slaves from him; merchants among the populace were also buying slaves from him for use in Workshop production and the cultivation of farmland.

This was a very large business.

During the war with Gaoli, he had wanted to take the opportunity to capture large numbers of Gaoli people to sell to Great Song.

But the war in Gaoli ended too quickly; Gaoli became a vassal state of Great Song and continuously sent corvée laborers to Great Song, so he had stopped.

This time, attacking Dongying, he did not want to miss out no matter what; he wanted to follow behind the army to pick up scraps and take the opportunity to capture some Dongying slaves.

Therefore, he came to request Zhao Xu's consent.

Over these years, Gaoli and Dongying had frequently captured Great Song commoners to serve as slaves.

The number of missing Great Song commoners was no less than several hundred thousand.

Especially the Dongying pirates; the number of Great Song commoners they had captured was beyond counting.

As for Gaoli, he was already taking revenge; the three hundred thousand young, able-bodied men that Gaoli sent to Great Song were proof of that.

These young men did not receive a single cent of Silver, yet they did the most bitter, most exhausting, and most dangerous work.

As for Dongying, this time it was also time for them to atone for their crimes.

Thus, he had readily agreed to Wang Yanzhong and traveled with his fleet toward Ryukyu.

Upon arriving at Ryukyu, they learned that Zhou Yi had gone to Wufeng Island, so they chased after him, finally catching up here.

The Slave Ship fleet gradually drew near, and Zhao Xu looked toward Wang Yanzhong and the fierce-looking crew members on the ships.

However, upon meeting Zhao Xu's gaze, these crew members all revealed gentle smiles.

Seeing this, Zhao Xu smiled lightly.

In one era, one must adapt to the customs of that era.

This was a barbaric era, an era where racial slaughter was as common as a daily meal, an era where the strong bullied the weak to death.

Therefore, he was not foolish enough to let the "saintly" hearts of certain contemporary groups contaminate him.

He was very clear that "saintly" hypocrites would only bring death to his own people.

The world's jungle was very cruel and full of evil dragons.

A "white lotus" could not save the world, and only by becoming an evil dragon himself could he defeat the evil dragons.

The fleet docked at the Pier, and Zhao Xu disembarked.

Zhou Yi and Pan Zhang were already waiting, and seeing Zhao Xu in his military uniform, they gave a military salute.

Returning a military salute, Zhao Xu glanced at the mountain of wooden crates piled up on the Pier and laughed, "It seems your harvest is not small."

Zhou Yi chuckled twice and told Zhao Xu the numbers that Pan Zhang had told him.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu revealed a satisfied smile.

In the modern era, when the Eight-Nation Coalition ransacked the Old Summer Palace, they stole 3.6 million artifacts, the value of which was immeasurable.

Among them, the gold and Silver alone were worth 6 million pounds at the time.

Back then, one pound was worth 3.3 taels of Silver, almost equal to 20 million taels of Silver.

During the War of Resistance, the Japanese even plundered countless mines, artifacts, Silver, and gold.

It was precisely this plundered wealth that enriched the West, allowed the Japanese to recover rapidly after the war, and enabled them to live the affluent lives they have today.

This is the history of their bloody capital accumulation.

Yet the people of our country spent over a hundred years living bitter lives on barren land that was repeatedly looted by them.

Now, just as life has become a little more comfortable, the president of a certain country has declared that our people must not be allowed to live as affluent a life as Westerners.

Zhao Xu just wants to spit on them; can robbers drink Wine and eat beef, while the hardworking farmers do not even deserve white rice with a shred of meat?

Every time he thinks of this, Zhao Xu gnashes his teeth in hatred.

Therefore, here, he will never let the Westerners have an easy time.

Does Dongying not cling tightly to the Westerners, wishing they could skin themselves to look like Westerners?

This time, he will severely punish Dongying and leave them beyond redemption.

As long as he is here, Great Song will become the most developed country in the world, possess the most generous welfare in the world, and in a few decades, everyone will have villas and luxury cars.

And this is also the vision of a prosperous age that he hopes for.