"Because Zhen Ao colluded with the indigenous people of the East Sea." In the assembly hall of the Grand Governor's Mansion of Donghai Commandery, Dongye Han of Dongye said to Zhou Fugui, "Great Governor, they colluded with the indigenous people of the East Sea, so they are numerous and powerful, and they have close ties with the mainland."
Dongye Han's voice grew louder and more indignant as he spoke, "The East Sea pirates, many of them were originally coastal commoners or merchants who later turned to piracy. Therefore, the East Sea pirates have inextricable ties with the coastal commoners. They are pirates on the ship and commoners when they are ashore, mingling with ordinary people and difficult to distinguish. The desperate and wicked people go to sea to steal, gather on islands, and use the islands as a base to continuously harass the inland areas. For many years, the Xia official government has been trying to suppress them, but due to the numerous islands and the hidden whereabouts of the pirates, they have been unable to capture them. At this time, the Xianbei Yan ignored them, and the East Sea pirates became even more rampant, becoming the overlords of the East Sea."
"Overlords of the East Sea?" Zhou Fugui sighed upon hearing this, "Alas, for the people of the East Sea to live in peace and contentment, why would they risk their heads to go to sea and become pirates?"
"Your Great Governor's words are the key to quelling the pirates." At this moment, Dongye Han could not help but feel a sense of admiration for Zhou Fugui, and he praised him, "Your Great Governor's words are the key to quelling the pirates."
The Dongye family was a prominent family in Langya, and they had a lot of dealings with the sea. Their fathers and grandfathers had all made a living at sea. Dongye Han's father was also originally a general of the Xia navy. Long ago, the Dongye family offered advice to the government, but it was like playing music to a cow. However, Zhou Fugui understood it at once and grasped the key point.
"Da Yu controlled the floods by dredging, not by blocking," Dongye Han continued, "Your Great Governor, the key to quelling the pirates is to pacify the people. If their connection with the land is severed, they will become water without a source and trees without roots."
"Slap... slap..." Zhou Fugui was overjoyed upon hearing this, clapping his hands on the low table with great admiration and exclaiming, "Young Master, you are truly talented. To be honest, I underestimated you a little before. But, Young Master, pacifying the people... alas... it is not something that can be achieved overnight. It requires gradual progress and is a long-term plan, not an emergency measure. Therefore, what do you think should be the immediate strategy?"
If Zhou Fugui had intended to test Dongye Han before, he was now genuinely seeking his advice.
"The Ten Strategies for Pacifying the Sea, which one do you wish to hear, Great Governor?" Dongye Han asked with a slight smile.
"Haha, are you teasing me, Young Master?" Zhou Fugui burst into laughter, "Of course, I want to hear them all. Please speak freely, Young Master."
"Wait! Where is the scribe?" Zhou Fugui interrupted as Dongye Han was about to speak.
"Great Governor!" Two scribes from Donghai Commandery then entered the assembly hall, bowed before Zhou Fugui with their writing instruments.
"Not a single word of today's conversation is to be omitted. Record it all," Zhou Fugui ordered.
The two scribes from Donghai Commandery set up their equipment, pricked up their ears, ground their ink, and picked up their brushes, for fear of missing a single word and angering the Great Governor Zhou, which would not be good.
"Great Governor, there are ten strategies for pacifying the sea. The first is the strategy of reconnaissance, which is to select capable individuals for reconnaissance to understand the strength and weakness of the pirates. You should have made arrangements for this, right?" Dongye Han then said.
"The strategy of reconnaissance, how can I, who have been fighting for many years, not know? Continue, Young Master," Zhou Fugui nodded in agreement.
"The second, naval warfare depends on ships. Ships are the most important. Do you have warships, Great Governor? Do you have a navy?" Dongye Han asked.
"What is the third strategy?" Zhou Fugui's facial muscles twitched slightly as he asked noncommittally.
Zhou Fugui had no warships or navy to speak of! If he had warships and a navy before the siege, why would Murong Hong have escaped so easily?
After Zhou Fugui broke through the city of Donghai Commandery, he did capture some East Sea warships, but they were all old, broken, and small, with very few large warships. Most of Murong Hong's large warships were destroyed, burned, or fled to the sea after the city of Donghai Commandery fell.
Even if Zhou Fugui had warships, where was the navy? Where were the sailors? Zhou Fugui's Xue Pi Army were mostly northerners and landlubbers. They were invincible on land but were no match at sea. If they went on board rashly, they would probably not even be able to stand steadily, let alone steer a ship in battle.
To conquer the sea and eliminate the pirates, it was impossible without large, sharp warships and a strong navy. This was common sense, and how could Zhou Fugui not know? He was just at a loss.
"The third strategy for pacifying the sea is to recruit naval soldiers and train naval personnel. The recruitment of naval soldiers should be based on coastal commoners. Coastal commoners are familiar with the geography and the currents, so they are the best candidates for naval soldiers. The army takes the lead, and the commoners assist, to jointly attack the pirates. The fourth strategy for pacifying the sea is to build naval armaments... The fifth strategy for pacifying the sea is that the army moves only after the provisions are in place. To eliminate great trouble and achieve great success, the entire army must be well-supplied. The sixth strategy for pacifying the sea is to formulate strategies for naval warfare..." Dongye Han continued after glancing at Zhou Fugui.
"What are the seventh and subsequent strategies?" Zhou Fugui asked with some helplessness.
Strategies two, three, four, five, and six were all about building a navy, building warships, recruiting naval personnel, and so on. They were indeed good strategies, but implementing them required money and food, which were precisely what Zhou Fugui lacked the most at the moment.
Money and food were not everything, but nothing could be done without them. The words "money and food" were driving Zhou Fugui mad.
Zhou Fugui was somewhat disappointed, as all this talk ultimately came down to money and food.
"The seventh is to distinguish clearly between rewards and punishments. Under great rewards, there will be brave men; the eighth is to integrate coastal defense. It must be strictly enforced as a coordinated effort, like a snake's body. If the pirates attack the tail, the middle will provide assistance; if they attack the middle, the tail will respond," Dongye Han continued.
Zhou Fugui nodded in approval. The clear distinction between rewards and punishments went without saying, and Dongye Han's eighth strategy coincided with Li Qing's.
"The ninth strategy for pacifying the sea..." Once Dongye Han started speaking, he couldn't stop. Even if Zhou Fugui asked him to stop, he would have spoken his mind. Dongye Han continued, "To eliminate the pirates, we must eliminate them not only at sea but also on land..."
"Wait, wait, wait, Young Master, please wait a moment..." Dongye Han's ninth strategy once again enlightened Zhou Fugui, so Zhou Fugui raised his hand to stop him and asked after some thought, "What do you mean, Young Master...? Do the pirates have strongholds on land?"
"Yes!" Dongye Han nodded. "In the coastal towns and even villages, there are places where the pirates indulge themselves. Pirates cannot live at sea all the time. They need to go ashore, they need to sell stolen goods, find women, and seek pleasure. Therefore, many restaurants and brothels are their havens."
"Slap!" Zhou Fugui was overjoyed upon hearing this, slapping his palm and sighing, "Young Master Dongye, you are truly talented! How could I not have thought of this? Damn it, I can't do anything to them at sea, but on land... Young Master, I understand now."
Although Zhou Fugui's thoughts and plans might differ somewhat from Dongye Han's, the Zhen Ao pirates were so arrogant and rampant, and even disrespected Zhou Fugui... Then Zhou Fugui would destroy a few of their strongholds and teach them a bloody lesson, letting them know their limits.
Zhou Fugui's sudden outburst of vulgar language stunned Dongye Han, but he quickly regained his composure.
For a battle-hardened general, swearing a few curses was quite common. They were not like those scholars and gentlemen who babbled on about "zhi hu zhe ye" all day long.
"Where are the pirates' land strongholds?" Zhou Fugui asked again.
"I really don't know!" Dongye Han replied, spreading his hands.
"Oh, Young Master, what is the tenth strategy for pacifying the sea?" Zhou Fugui nodded and asked.
Dongye Han was not from Donghai Commandery, so it was not surprising that he didn't know the location of the pirates' land strongholds on land. Zhou Fugui thought to himself that it was understandable. Moreover, to attack, one must strike at the vital points. Finding those hidden, larger strongholds and destroying them in one fell swoop would be enough to deter the Zhen Ao pirates of the East Sea.
However, those hidden, larger pirate land strongholds were not easy to find, for obvious reasons. They had long mingled with the common people, and on the surface, they appeared no different from ordinary towns and villages.
Difficulty did not mean impossibility. If Zhou Fugui couldn't find them, it didn't mean others couldn't.
"Alas, Great Governor..." Dongye Han sighed, "Not all pirates are desperate villains. Many of them were originally good people. Some turned to piracy due to the harsh taxes and excessive exploitation of the Xianbei court, or due to natural disasters and man-made calamities. Therefore, I suggest that the pacification of pirates should be a combination of suppression and appeasement. As for the few desperate villains, they should of course be executed without mercy, but for those who were coerced..."
"Heh heh, Young Master, you have a benevolent heart, and I am not one to kill indiscriminately," Zhou Fugui nodded upon hearing this, "Besides, the art of war emphasizes winning hearts. How can I not know? Your ten strategies are all excellent plans, measures to remove the root cause of the problem, and each one strikes at the vital points of the pirates! Today, I feel as if I have been enlightened by your words!"
Some of Dongye Han's ten strategies were actually things that Zhou Fugui, Li Qing, and Yang Hu had thought of, but they were not as detailed and organized as Dongye Han's.
If this was not a capable general, what else could it be? And there was a high probability that Dongye Han was a naval general.
Would Zhou Fugui let him go then? The answer was no. Zhou Fugui would tie him down in Donghai Commandery, if necessary, and enlist him under his banner.
"My humble opinion and shallow knowledge do not deserve such praise from Your Great Governor!" Dongye Han said humbly and then asked Zhou Fugui, "Great Governor, you should let me leave now, right?"
"Leave? You're not going anywhere..." Zhou Fugui shook his head with a smile.
"You..." Dongye Han was so angry that he stood up with a "whoosh" and glared at Zhou Fugui, roaring, "How can you be so untrustworthy?"
To strategize for a barbarian chief, for a Han traitor, was already an insult to his ancestors. If Dongye Han were not worried about the people of Donghai Commandery, he would have rather died than do it.
But he did not expect this barbarian Grand Governor to be so untrustworthy. How could Dongye Han not be angry? How could he not be furious?
"Haha, if barbarians were trustworthy, they wouldn't be barbarians," Zhou Fugui laughed heartily.