Frontier Army Warrior

Chapter 1040 The 3rd Battalion of the Zhenxi Navy

Masao Atsumi reined in his warhorse and silently watched the large number of slaves, their heads hanging low, their bodies limp on the ropes, looking half-dead.

Several soldiers stood aside, whips in hand, awaiting their leader's orders.

A pirate leader was interrogating one of the large group of slaves.

"Tell me, who led the group that stole the salt?"

"If you tell me, I'll spare your life; otherwise, I'll skin you alive."

"Who burned the ship?"

"Who ordered you to leave the saltworks?"

Despite the pirate leader's repeated questioning, the large group of slaves kept their heads down, remaining silent, motionless, and unresponsive.

The leader shook his head, and a soldier stepped forward, brandishing a whip and lashing it hard across the large group of slaves.

The cracking sounds of whips striking bodies filled the air, sending chills down one's spine.

Even though the slave was being whipped until he was almost lifeless, he still didn't speak, only howling in agony.

It wasn't that he was tough; rather, he didn't know who had orchestrated this whole thing.

He only regretted that he was just a hair's breadth away from climbing onto the boat and running away with it.

It was because of that bag of raw salt that he was greedy and made the bag too heavy, which made him run a step slower than others.

Seeing Masao Atsumi standing not far away watching, the pirate soldiers swung their whips even more vigorously.

Unfortunately, they were destined not to get any information out of them. Although a long line of people were killed, none of them knew why anyone had appeared or why they had both stolen salt and burned boats.

Masao Atsumi also realized this, shook his head, and spurred his horse away.

He needed to go back and write a report for Atsumi Akiyama, figuring out how to write it in a way that would make his responsibility seem less significant.

Atsumi Akiyama is known for her strictness. Although she is beautiful, she is ruthless and decisive, a true femme fatale.

Whenever Masao Atsumi thought of this, he couldn't help but tremble all over.

Despite my carefulness, I still lost out due to my long-term complacency. Who knows where these despicable fellows came from to cause me trouble?

Judging from the traces left behind by these people, it was definitely not something an ordinary person could do. Only a master of martial arts or a military expert could carry out such a swift and efficient sneak attack.

Masao Atsumi knew that it would be difficult to find out about this matter by relying on the military, so he had to find help.

The Atsumi family has cultivators who practice in secluded sects. Atsumi Masao's younger brother is in the Munenryu sect and is said to be an elite inner disciple who is being given special training.

Whether he can save his life depends entirely on whether his younger brother can come out of the mountains and lend a helping hand.

Masao Atsumi wrote a letter overnight and sent his deputy, who was also his cousin, to travel by boat directly to Dongliu Island.

Lin Feng sat at the stern, watching the warship quickly leave the port, heading due north.

The man at the helm beside him was still the large slave who had originally brought Lin Feng here. His name was Wen Zhaorong, and he was in his early thirties. He was calm, collected, and clear-headed.

He was originally a centurion of the garrison in Fu'an Prefecture, but he was later wounded, captured, and enslaved by pirates.

His family was in the shipping business, so he was skilled at sailing. After being captured by pirates, they discovered his talent and made him a helmsman.

Wen Zhaorong chatted with Lin Feng while steering the ship.

"Hero, where are we going?"

Lin Feng laughed and said, "Just call me Mu Chuan, I'm not some kind of hero."

Wen Zhaorong looked at Lin Feng and said, "I can tell that you used to be an official."

"Oh? You have a good eye. You did indeed serve in the Zhenxi Army for a period of time."

"The Zhenxi Army?"

Wen Zhaorong's eyes lit up.

"That's the strongest fighting team in the world, how did you end up here?"

Lin Feng turned his head and glanced behind him.

Two more boats followed behind their own, and Rong Rong and his disciples each seized one of them.

Instead of killing the pirates guarding the ship, they boarded the ship and threw them into the sea one by one.

The ship was packed with slaves, and the hold was piled high with sacks of salt.

"Old Wen, keep an eye on the direction. We'll enter the river from the Yongding River estuary northeast of Longfugu Mountain and dock in Qi County."

Lin Feng planned to place these people in Qi County, and then find a way to contact the Seven Heroes of Yan and merge the two sides. This would not only provide a way for these large numbers of slaves to survive, but also expand the ranks of the Seven Heroes of Yan.

If possible, Lin Feng wanted to reorganize them and the seven Yan brothers' forces into a branch of the Zhenxi Army's naval force, leaving them in the coastal areas to continue to cause trouble for the pirates.

"Don't worry, sir, I know that place very well."

As the two talked, dawn broke. Finding no pirates pursuing them, Wen Zhaorong breathed a sigh of relief and admired Lin Feng's decision even more. His efforts had not been in vain; setting fire to the pirates' warships had prevented them from pursuing him at sea.

There was food stored on the ship, and Lin Feng had people start cooking.

These large numbers of slaves were used to hardship, and without being told to stop, they were all rowing with all their might, not daring to slack off for a moment.

Lin Feng instructed Wen Zhaorong to organize the slaves who had escaped onto the ship into three groups, who took turns going down to the hold to row.

Wen Zhaorong became their leader. The entire ship had a total of 133 slaves. Now that they had escaped from the pirate salt fields, they were freed from their slave status and became the 13th Battalion of the Zhenxi Army Navy.

These are the army designations Lin Feng gave them. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, these escaped slaves will serve on these three warships.

During the voyage, Lin Feng instructed Wen Zhaorong to select several strong and capable men to serve as mid-level officers in the team, making it easier to manage the entire force.

They also implemented the policies and reward/punishment measures of the Zhenxi Army, which gave the large number of slaves who had escaped their misery hope.

Having enough to eat and full of hope for the future, they recognized Lin Feng as their leader, both mentally and physically.

Lin Feng then brought the three ships together, unifying the thoughts and understanding of all the large groups of slaves, and had them elect minor leaders, who in turn elected middle leaders.

The top leaders were selected layer by layer.

Wen Zhaorong was still able to become the chief of all 465 slaves, appointed by Lin Feng as the commander of the 13th Battalion of the Zhenxi Army Navy.

It had five centurions under its command.

A number of squad leaders, platoon leaders, and corps leaders.

Lin Feng was busy reorganizing the team, while Rong Rong and Ye Haishan were busy boiling refined salt.

Following the method taught to him by Lin Feng, Rong Rong indeed produced a considerable amount of refined salt.

Looking at the pure white and finely powdered salt, the master and apprentice were overjoyed.

With a formal organization in place, life had a purpose, and the spirit of all the slaves was different. They were full of energy no matter what kind of work they did.

After boarding the ship, many people looted a lot of the pirates' weapons, including straight swords and bows and arrows, and also stripped them of a lot of clothes and equipment.

Although not everyone has weapons and equipment, the difference isn't that great.

The three warships were armed with ballistae on board and battering rams at the bow.

All that's missing is artillery equipment.

With so many weapons at the moment, it's already quite ideal.

When they arrived, it took Lin Feng and his two companions three days to row. On the return trip, the speed was twice as fast, and in less than two days, the estuary of the Yongding River came into view.