Yang Ge had hung Matsuura Takamori, who was still clinging to life, high upon a flagpole before he, together with Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, Xiang Wudi, and Zhou Fu, ascended to the rooftop of a two-story building.
Yang Ge pointed toward the piles of wealth below and spoke to the pirate sent by Wang Cheng to act as a guide, "Shout out, let them identify those who have been pirates and set foot on the land of China with weapons. Those who identify others can come here to claim a portion of the wealth and join our glorious ranks of robbing the entirety of Dongying. If no one identifies anyone, after one stick of incense has burned, all will be considered to have been to China, and the whole city will be held accountable!"
Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.
Yang Ge furrowed his brows, "You don’t understand Chinese?"
The pirate jolted, hastily nodding like pounding garlic, "Back to Second Master, I’m a native of Jiaodong, pure, not a single drop of mixed blood through generations..."
Yang Ge, "Shout out!"
The pirate quickly turned his head, tearing at his throat, frantically spouting Dongying language at the dense crowd in front of him.
The crowd stirred, and several furious shouts emerged amongst them.
Before the pirate below could respond, Yang Ge on the rooftop had already drawn his sword first, sweeping out a wave of sword energy, which exploded over the section of the crowd where the noise came from, scattering limbs and fragments in the air.
The sixty-odd riders surrounding the crowd, seeing Yang Ge take action and fearful of the pirates rioting, simultaneously drew their swords, pressing forward on their powerful horses.
The tumultuous crowd instantly calmed down as if fire was doused by a pail of ice water.
Yang Ge, holding his Cold Moon Blade, pointed at the pirate below, "Shout again!"
With that sea pirate hearing this, he once again tore at his throat, desperately screaming loudly.
After the crowd had been silent for a long time, a skinny, ragged middle-aged pirate finally ran out from the crowd, raising his hands high and shouting in the Dongying language.
Without needing instructions from Yang Ge, an expert from the Embroidered Uniform Guards immediately escorted him forward, pressed the people he identified to the ground, and beheaded them with a single stroke of a sword.
Afterward, the Embroidered Uniform Guard took the middle-aged pirate to the front of the small mountain of wealth, picked up a katana, and handed it to him.
The middle-aged pirate knelt on the ground, vigorously wiping his dirty hands on his body, then devoutly accepted the katana with both hands and tucked it into his waistband. He then stood up, joyously following the Embroidered Uniform Guard to collect the wealth.
Once there was one, there was a second...
But this time, those pirates who understood the Dongying language started to verify the identities of the accused pirates, roughly confirming they had indeed been to China, before beheading them.
From the rooftop, Yang Tiansheng, heart-torn, watched one Dongying pirate after another, like crafty monkeys, delightedly clutching the wealth they had looted, and lamented painfully, "Yang Ge, what are you plotting here?"
Yang Ge smiled, putting his hand over his shoulder, and asked, "Which do you think is more important to us, this money or these pirates?"
Yang Tiansheng answered without hesitation, "Of course, the money is more important!"
Yang Ge smiled, shaking his head, "Think again."
Yang Tiansheng, puzzled, "It couldn’t be the pirates, could it?"
Yang Ge shook his head again, "Think again."
Yang Tiansheng affirmed, "Still, the money is more important!"
Yang Ge chuckled softly, "Neither the money nor the pirates are important to us."
Yang Tiansheng, "Then who is important?"
Yang Ge’s smile slowly faded, "Having no pirates is very important to us!"
Yang Tiansheng, after pondering for a moment as his anxious expression eased, sincerely asked, "What’s the name of this strategy?"
Yang Ge thought for a moment and replied, "Killing to strike fear into hearts!"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.