novelden Chapter 325 Encountering a Tax-Evading Merchant Ship
Chapter 325 Encountering a Tax-Evading Merchant Ship
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On his second trip to Japan, in addition to the warships used to display military might and the transport ships carrying guards and special forces soldiers, Liu Ye also brought two fast boats. He also planned to load a batch of raw silk from Suzhou to sell in Japan. The fast boats were much faster than the warships, so Li Fu led the way to Suzhou first. After loading the goods, they would then meet up with the main force at the estuary of Songjiang Prefecture.
Having had a pleasant experience with the previous cooperation, and with the Qiongzhou camp now even more wealthy and powerful, the silk guilds in Suzhou naturally responded to this god of wealth with ease, quickly loading 500,000 catties of raw silk onto ships within five days, just in time to meet up with the fleet that had caught up.
On the way from Songjiang Prefecture to Nagasaki, the Qiongzhou garrison encountered many merchant ships, nine out of ten of which did not fly the "Qiong" flag—they had not "passed through" the Tainan Customs.
Liu Ye ordered the ship to be rammed and forced to stop. He sent people up to check and found that the ship owners were indeed from Jiangnan, and most of them were transporting raw silk.
“Cultivating the public’s awareness of tax payment is a long and arduous task,” Liu Ye said casually to Liang Xiaoming, who was accompanying him. “Should I also monopolize the raw silk industry in Hangzhou, so that these tax evaders can’t make any money? It seems that monopolizing the raw silk industry myself is more profitable than collecting taxes from these people…”
Liang Xiaoming wasn't originally on the travel list, but as a self-proclaimed patriotic otaku, how could he possibly miss the chance to bombard the Japanese—even if this was ancient Japan, not the militaristic Japan that launched the invasion of China? After learning of Liu Ye's plans, Liang Xiaoming insisted on coming along.
Before his departure, Liu Ye was quite suspicious of his motives. "Are you sure you're not trying to make up for your regret last time? You didn't get to taste Japanese women last time, and now that you have a fleet escorting you, you want to leave your bloodline in Japan like American soldiers?"
Liang Xiaoming would never admit it, insisting that he only wanted to watch the spectacle of the Japanese being bombarded. "This is much better than those ridiculous dramas about tearing apart Japanese soldiers with bare hands; at least it's real." The second-in-command insisted on going along, and naturally, no one could dissuade him. As a non-military personnel who wasn't originally on the travel list, Liang Xiaoming got his wish and boarded the warship bound for Japan.
Upon hearing Liu Ye's words, Liang Xiaoming replied, "The raw silk industry is such a large market, it's impossible for you to monopolize it all. Besides, there are always risks in doing business. Collecting taxes is the key, it guarantees income regardless of economic conditions and won't be affected by price fluctuations. We must teach these tax evaders a lesson, make them afraid so they'll never dare to evade taxes again!"
"Oh? How can we ensure they'll never dare to evade taxes again in their next life?" Liu Ye asked with great interest, "By seizing goods or ships?"
"These are just the bare minimum, far from enough," Liang Xiaoming said viciously. "We need to tattoo their faces so they can't face anyone, or cut off their ears would be fine too..."
Liu Ye shuddered; this honest man could sometimes have rather extreme ideas. Before he could speak, Yan Guang shook his head repeatedly: "Absolutely not. Tattooing or cutting off ears are both mutilation and a great disgrace. These people are all prominent figures in Jiangnan; doing this would be worse than killing them. We're here to collect taxes, not to make a blood feud!"
Liu Ye agreed, saying, "Mr. Yan is right. These people are neither Japanese nor Tartars, so there's no need to be so ruthless... Zheng Zhilong's approach was to behead these people, but we can't just copy that approach. If we kill everyone, who will pay the taxes?"
Liang Xiaoming scratched the back of his head, somewhat embarrassed, and asked, "Was my suggestion too radical? Then I take it back."
Yan Guang added, "Although tattooing and cutting off ears are unacceptable, we can arrest these people and break their legs in public at Nagasaki Port..."
Liu Ye and Liang Xiaoming almost fell over; the bend was too sharp, and they nearly overturned.
Liang Xiaoming asked, puzzled, "Is breaking a leg really more gentle than tattooing or cutting off an ear?"
“A broken leg can heal, but a cut ear can’t grow back, and words carved on the face can’t be erased. They’re very different,” Yan Guang explained. “Breaking a leg is enough to give them a warning, but it won’t make them hold a grudge for life. Next time, they’ll obediently come to pay their taxes.”
Liu Ye thought about it carefully and it seemed to make sense, so he ordered: "Tie up all the ship owners and lock them in our hold. Let the captain continue to sail the ship to Nagasaki. Once we arrive at our destination, the cargo will be confiscated and the ship owners will handle it accordingly."
Amidst cries of pleas, these boat owners from Jiangnan were bound like dumplings and thrown into the cabins of the Qiongzhou camp. The captain was ordered to continue sailing towards Nagasaki, and if they dared to escape halfway, they would be sunk.
Seeing these fierce soldiers and the towering warships, none of the captains of these merchant ships dared to raise any objections, and they all obediently followed orders to set sail.
Everyone thought that under such high pressure, nothing would go wrong along the way, but unexpectedly, some people still had a moment of stupidity and came up with the idea of escaping.
One evening, as the fleet sailed to the Goto Islands, a Fujian-style ship suddenly veered off course and headed to the side without looking back, seemingly trying to shake off the watchful warships under the cover of darkness and the islands.
The flagship "Guangdong," being the tallest, had a lookout tower with a farther field of vision than any other ship. It was the first to spot the situation and immediately reported it to Fleet Commander Gao Jie. Gao Jie promptly ordered two Wuyi-class warships to pursue the enemy while simultaneously reporting to Liu Ye.
"General, a merchant ship is trying to escape. We've already ordered a pursuit. What should we do after we catch it?" Given the speed difference between a professional warship and a fully loaded Fujianese ship, catching up with the fleeing vessel would be a piece of cake. However, the decision of how to punish it, and to what extent, rests with Liu Ye.
Liu Ye was having dinner with Liang Xiaoming and others in the cabin at this moment. Displeased at having his meal interrupted, he slammed his hand on the table and said, "Just because I'm not showing my teeth doesn't mean I'm a pushover! We should just sink it. We shouldn't save any of those who jumped overboard to escape. We should leave no survivors and let the other merchant ships see what happens when they resist!"
Two Wuyi-class ships quickly caught up with the Fujian-made ship, flanking it and opening its gun ports. The Fujian-made ship desperately raised its sails and turned its rudder, but it could not escape being sandwiched. The captain knew things were going badly, and ordered his men to shout to the other side, saying that he had acted foolishly and was willing to accept punishment, only begging for his life.
Unfortunately, it was too late to beg for mercy. "Boom boom boom!" The two Wuyi-class warships opened fire simultaneously with their long and short guns. Solid shot slammed into the Fujian ship like heavy hammers, instantly smashing both sides of the ship to pieces. The crew members responsible for raising and lowering the sails had nowhere to hide and were smashed to pieces, falling into the sea.
Amidst the deafening barrage of cannon fire, the captain and his crew knew the ship would sink sooner or later, so they quickly jumped into the sea. A series of splashes followed as people jumped in like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, then frantically swam to avoid being dragged down by the whirlpools once the ship sank.