Chapter 684: Attack Is the Best Defense

The great hero: "Are we really going to set out again, crossing two counties to return to that small seaport?"

"Then why come to Daisen Village at all? Just for these two plots of land? We might as well head back from Ciyu City—it'd save us a third of the journey."

Always on the road, no matter how skilled the great heroes are or how energetic they are, they still grow tired.

Pan Yun said: "We're not returning to the small port. We're going straight to Onsen Jintinggang, taking a boat from there to Shiwéi Port, and setting sail home from Shiwéi Port."

Pan Yun casually dropped a bombshell: "Shiwéi Port now belongs to us."

The heroes were stunned, faces full of confusion: "Belongs to us?"

Pan Yun nodded: "Correct. The imperial court gave us this port as compensation, along with three ships. I just agreed to give Yida Xintai one ship in exchange for them building Onsen Jintinggang—we get half the port's operating rights."

The heroes: …

After a long silence, the great heroes finally found their voices: "I, we're not going to stay in Japan forever, are we?"

"I don't want to—!" one great hero cried out: "This place is a wasteland, no one even knows the language or customs—what are we doing staying here?"

"Exactly! We came here for revenge. After we've taken it, we go home. What use is a port here?"

"Master Pan, though we respect you, you can't force us into maritime trade with you! Smuggling is illegal!"

"Right! We went to sea for revenge. After we've settled our score and claimed our rewards, we return. Now partnering with the Japanese to run a port—aren't we becoming sea pirates ourselves?"

"I will never go from avenging justice to breaking the law!"

"I won't either!"

"My wife and children are waiting for me at home—I won't stay here!"

Pan Yun raised a hand to quiet them, then spoke calmly: "Why the rush? I'm not forcing anyone to stay. I'm just letting you know."

Pan Yun said: "This one-and-a-half port isn't yours, nor is it mine. First, you lack the ability to manage a port; second, I have neither the time nor the energy to manage it…"

"Then what do you want the port for? Sell it for profit?"

Pan Yun: "That's not a bad idea. I'll strike a deal with the imperial court. If I'm lucky and get a high price, I'll share some with you—we've traveled the same path, endured the same hardships…"

The great heroes couldn't believe it: "The imperial court?"

"Exactly," Pan Yun said: "This is precisely what I wanted to say. To permanently solve the Japanese pirate problem, we can't just defend our Great Ming coastline. I believe we should strike from within Japan itself."

"But…" the great heroes hesitated: "Though Japanese pirates are numerous and vile, over half of those raiding Great Ming are actually Han Chinese in disguise. Even if we shift the battlefield to Japan's coast, we can't stop so many pirates from going to sea—and even if we could, there are still another half of sea bandits out there."

"And if we station troops in Japan… can our soldiers even land?"

"What's hard about that? The port is ours. Let the navy disguise themselves as merchants and go ashore."

"But after they land? The soldiers are stationed far from Great Ming—the court can't command them, reinforcements are hard to send, even supplies of food and weapons become problematic…"

"But I think Master Pan's idea is good. Defense is inferior to offense. Rather than wait for Japanese pirates to raid Great Ming, let our own troops come to them."

"It's not righteous to invade. Only a tiny fraction of Japanese are pirates. Those ronin are troublemakers everywhere in Japan—bandits and thieves who don't just plunder our Great Ming people."

"The people of Quanzhou and Fuzhou have been stripped bare—why are you still talking about righteousness?"

The great heroes instantly split into two factions, shouting louder and louder; two even rolled up their sleeves.

Pan Yun coughed sharply. Seeing they still didn't stop, but shouted even louder, she barked: "Enough!"

Everyone fell silent, turning silently to look at her.

Pan Yun stood in the center of the courtyard, hands on her waist, a black cat perched on her shoulder. She spoke coldly: "I haven't finished speaking. I want this one-and-a-half port not only to fight the Japanese pirates, but also to lift the maritime ban and conduct sea trade…"

"Master Pan," Gao Zhiming couldn't help but interrupt: "This is state business. We're just lowly wanderers—what weight do our words carry?"

Pan Yun simply pointed to the mountain path nearby: "Do you see that?"

Everyone's gaze crossed the courtyard wall, staring hard but seeing nothing.

They hesitated: "A mountain?"

"Correct. A silver mountain," Pan Yun said: "If properly mined with sufficient labor, it can yield one million taels of silver per year."

Silence!

Deathly silence!

After a long pause, Zhang Weiyi finally spoke: "One million taels?"

Pan Yun nodded: "Yes."

Xue Hua: "How can you be so certain?"

Pan Yun: "I calculated it!"

The great heroes were bewildered: "Calculated it?"

The Daoist priests instantly believed.

Zhang Weiyi and Xue Hua looked serious: "No wonder you had us fence off such a large area on the mountain."

The great heroes: "Wait, you just believe that?"

Zhang Weiyi: "Master Pan's fortune-telling skills are excellent."

Xue Hua glanced at the calm Seeing Miao Zhen: "Seeing Miao Zhen's are good too."

The great heroes: "…Are the Daoist priests mad, or are we?"

Pan Yun teased: "What if none of us are mad—and it's true?"

Gao Zhiming sat on the ground beside Zhang Weiliang, Song Xuan sat beside him too; the great heroes all sat down…

After a long while, Gao Zhiming said: "Look, it's just one million taels of silver—we've never even seen that much money. What's so shocking? It's just a number."

At these words, the great heroes snapped back to reality, all looking up at Pan Yun at once: "So…"

The sun was now sinking westward, casting light on one side of her face while the other lay in shadow.

Looking at her half-lit, half-shadowed face, the great heroes fell utterly silent.

Those who came here might not be brilliant, but none were fools—so everyone instantly understood what Pan Yun intended.

And Zhang Weiyi, even smarter and better informed, thought further: "So Aunt Zhang Li was searching for treasures everywhere… to distract them?"

Pan Yun's lips curled slightly: "The real treasure is here."

"But…" Song Xuan looked at one, then the other, and asked in a low voice, "Why would Daoist Master Pan tell us something this confidential? If word leaks out and the Wa country starts mining ahead of time…"

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow and said, "Then we'll just snatch it back!"

She wasn't doing this just for the silver mining — what she wanted was to draw the imperial court's attention here, to make them take the initiative in defending.

And offense is the best defense! (End of chapter)