Chapter 59: Yang Yue's Predicament

  Originally, the four leaders of the Four Seas Gang were all generals in the Dongting Lake Righteous Army. The big leader was actually the son of Zhong Xiang, the first commander-in-chief of the Dongting Lake Righteous Army, Zhong Ziyi (after Zhong Xiang's death, the commander-in-chief was succeeded by Yang Yao). The second leader was Huang Cheng, Yang Yao's military advisor. The third leader was Zhou Lun, another leader of the Dongting Righteous Army. And the fourth leader was Yang Yue. After the four of them led their troops to drift to the East Sea, they naturally started their old business - pirates (now it should be called sea pirates), and established the Four Seas Gang, with a desolate island (now renamed Four Seas Island) as their base.

  In this era, most of the maritime merchants were both merchants and thieves. Due to the heavy losses suffered by the Southern Song Dynasty's navy during the siege of Yang Yao, and the remaining naval forces being concentrated in the Jianghuai region to defend against the Jin army's attack, the coastal navies were all composed of old, weak, and disabled soldiers who were powerless to fight against pirates.

  In this case, all the major sea merchants had to organize armed ships on their own to escort merchant ships. The Southern Song Dynasty government also turned a blind eye.

  In the eyes of these courtiers, even if the armed ships on the water were more powerful and threatening, they would not threaten the safety of the dynasty. By allowing the court to avoid its protective responsibilities, it could also collect a large amount of maritime trade taxes from these merchants, so why bother being the bad guy?

  In these organizations that are both merchants and thieves, some take commerce as their main business. For example, the Li family where Li Yu Rong is from is one of the largest maritime trade families, in addition to the Cai family of Quanzhou and the Huang family of Guangzhou.

  Of course, there are also those who mainly engage in robbery, such as the Giant Whale Gang and the Sea Sand Gang, which mainly engage in pirate robbery. Among these organizations, there are often conflicts and struggles. And among them, the most unpopular, or the target of public criticism, is the Four Seas Gang to which Yang Yue belongs.

  The Four Seas Gang became a thorn in the eyes of various sea merchants and pirates, but it was also unavoidable. Because they were originally from Yang Xiao's righteous army, and the Southern Song Dynasty government was their mortal enemy. Other pirates could transport goods and pretend to be merchants when they weren't plundering, and ports everywhere wouldn't refuse them. But the Four Seas Gang couldn't do that - which merchant in Southern Song dared to deal with rebels? Moreover, no port controlled by the imperial court would agree to let the Four Seas Gang's ships dock.

  In this way, the Four Seas Gang became a pure pirate who could only make a living by looting, and because they couldn't dock at the ports of the Song Dynasty. Most of the goods they looted were sold in ports in Japan, Goryeo, and Jin. In the eyes of the mainly Song merchants and pirates, this was even more unusual, and naturally there were many conflicts with the Four Seas Gang.

  Among them, the Li family, which had the largest business scale, naturally became the focus of the Four Seas Gang's looting. The two sides also clashed at sea many times. However, the Li family, who were mainly engaged in trade, were no match for the former Dongting Righteous Army, which could even defeat the Southern Song Dynasty's navy in a sea battle.

  After several battles, the Li family suffered heavy losses, with more than half of their escort ships sunk. The head of the Li family, Li Yuanshan, had no choice but to issue a wanted order to various pirates, stating that destroying the Four Seas Gang's ships would be rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver, killing ordinary members of the Four Seas Gang would be rewarded with 20 taels per person, and middle and lower-level leaders would be rewarded with 50 taels per person. If it was one of the four bosses, each would be rewarded with 3,000 taels of silver.

  In Yuke Yun's view, this is a typical "I can't beat you, but I can use money to crush you" approach.

  The Li family's wanted poster was released, and the Four Seas Gang suddenly became a street rat. Every pirate who saw them wanted to take action. After several months, although the Four Seas Gang was fierce and brave, with extremely strong combat power, they couldn't withstand such attrition. As the number of casualties in the gang soared, their situation became increasingly dire.

  At this time, the Jin State extended an olive branch to them. The Jin general Xieli Zhining, who was stationed in Qingzhou, had decided to establish his own navy with the support of Wuzhu after failing to cross the Huai River several months ago, and began recruiting craftsmen to build ships.

  However, the civilian craftsmen summoned by Jin Guo could only build civilian ships and not warships. Moreover, most of the ships they built had smaller hulls, which were no match for the Song army's naval forces.

  At this time, however, a Qingzhou commander remembered that the ships of the Four Seas Society often came to Qingzhou to sell goods. Their ships were not only large in size but also advanced paddlewheel steamships.

  The commander thought this was a good opportunity to invite merit and reward, so he immediately reported the matter to Xieli Zhining.

  Xishi Lie Zhi Ning was immediately very interested when he heard that the pirate who called himself the Four Seas Gang not only excelled in naval warfare and shipbuilding, but had also defeated the Southern Song Dynasty's navy several times before, and was under Yang Yao's command, with a grudge against the Southern Song court.

  He immediately sent someone to contact them, trying to win over the Four Seas Gang. The conditions offered were quite high: if they agreed to surrender, Zhong Ziyi would be appointed as the Admiral of Qingzhou Navy, Huang Cheng, Zhou Lun and Yang Yue would be appointed as Deputy Admirals, and the personnel arrangements of the navy would be decided by themselves. The Jin State would provide them with all the necessary materials, tools and ordinary craftsmen, and once they won a great victory in the war against Song, they would also have additional rewards.

  The four leaders of the Four Seas Gang had a huge disagreement after receiving the envoy from Jin Country.

  Zhong Ziyi and Zhou Lun believed that their current relationship with the Song Dynasty court, as well as the merchants and pirates who were biased towards the Song Dynasty, was extremely poor. Therefore, surrendering to the Jin Dynasty was the only way out. Moreover, the conditions offered by the Jin Dynasty were very favorable, not only could they change their identity from pirates to naval officers overnight, but also solve the problem of resettling personnel and family members within the gang, achieving two goals at once. In the future, with the support of the Jin Dynasty, they could launch a revenge war against the Southern Song Dynasty's navy and the merchants and pirates who had surrendered to the Southern Song, and their prospects would be bright.

  However, Huang Cheng and Yang Yue believed that they were Han people no matter what, while the Jin Dynasty was a country established by the Jurchen people. In their years in Donghai, they had seen and heard of many cases where Jurchens brutally killed Han people. In the eyes of Yang Yue and Huang Cheng, when they first organized the righteous army, it was to overthrow the incompetent emperor and treacherous ministers who controlled the Song Dynasty court, seeking fortune for the people of the world. If they were to go over to the Jurchens, who had brought great disaster to the Han people, wouldn't that make them traitors?

  Both sides were at an impasse, and the matter of accepting Jin Guo's offer to surrender could only be temporarily shelved. However, with so many people injured within the gang and food, medicine, and other daily necessities in increasingly short supply, this became a pressing reality. Zhong Ziyi and Zhou Lun took advantage of the situation to put pressure on Huang Cheng and Yang Yue, saying that since you oppose surrendering to Jin Guo, but there are so many wounded people in the gang and a lack of medical supplies and food, you should think of a way to solve this problem.

  Helpless, Yang Yue had no choice but to take the initiative to kidnap Li Yuru, the second daughter of Li Yuanshan, who was causing their predicament. At this time, she had received news that Li Yuru was about to go to Chuzhou to discuss with Han Shizhong the matter of supplying grain to the vanguard of the army. If they could kidnap Li Yuru back, not only could they extort a large ransom, but also force the Li family to cancel the maritime wanted order against the Four Seas Gang, allowing them to get through their current difficulties.

  "What happened next, I think you're all clear about: I and two attendants followed Li Yu Rong to Chu Zhou, saw that the governor of Chu Zhou, Liu Ming Cheng was having a birthday banquet, and also invited a theater troupe to perform in the mansion. We disguised ourselves as temporary servants and porters hired by the Guo family theater troupe and snuck into the Liu mansion. Originally we only planned to kidnap Li Yu Rong, but unexpectedly ran into you making a big show...and you happened to be drunk as mud, so we took advantage of the situation..."

  Yang Yue said up to here, and somewhat choked, a pair of clever eyes revealed a thread of sorrow: "It's a pity for Sun Da and Old Chen, they are all brothers who have followed me for many years, didn't die in the hands of the enemy, but died in the hands of their own people..."

  At this time, she raised her head to look at Yue Yun, with a hint of gratitude in her eyes, and asked in a tone of surprise: "Yue Yun, I knocked you out and brought you here, intending to kill you. We are sworn enemies who cannot live under the same sky! Why did you save my life at that critical moment? Is it not the style of your family to repay kindness with enmity towards a rebel like me?"