The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 171

When Wang Zhi was very young, his father was killed by the government for smuggling at sea, mistaken for a Japanese pirate.

Although he and his father were both from Southern Zhili, his father couldn't make a living in their hometown, so he took Wang Zhi to work on ships along the Fujian coast when Wang Zhi was very young.

Speaking of his father, he was also in a terrible situation. He was originally a vagrant in Huizhou Prefecture, who was idle and unwilling to work. His family was always struggling to make ends meet.

Wang Zhi remembered that when he was very young, his mother died a few days later because she was sick and couldn't get enough to eat. After that, his father, persuaded by his friends, believed that smuggling was a quick way to make money, and that with good luck, one trip could earn enough for a lifetime.

So Wang Zhi's father took Wang Zhi and followed his so-called friend straight to the Fujian coast. As a result, on their first voyage, they were captured by the government and executed on the spot as Japanese pirates.

Later, Wang Zhi learned that his father's so-called friend was actually a government official. The government needed some suckers to make up the numbers and boost their political achievements, so his father foolishly went along with him.

Fortunately, Wang Zhi was too young at the time and did not go on the ship. After his father's accident, he hid for a long time, doing all sorts of jobs, and even worked in the shipyard for a while. However, he was almost discovered and had to leave.

He traveled all the way from the Fujian coast, doing whatever he could to survive.

Until a few days ago, Wang Zhi heard that someone was recruiting soldiers, and he immediately perked up, thinking that maybe he could sneak in. If he could sneak in, at least he wouldn't have to worry about food in the future.

However, Wang Zhi no longer has a contract of indenture, making him essentially an unregistered person in the entire Ming Dynasty. There are many people like him in the coastal areas, many of whom have fathers who either engaged in smuggling at sea or simply became pirates, embarking on a path of no return.

To avoid being implicated, these people's children had to give up their identities and become unregistered residents, just like Wang Zhi. If he had a contract of indenture, he wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state.

At this point, Wang Zhi no longer cared whether these recruiters were recruiting for the imperial court or for the pirates; all he wanted was to survive. He hadn't eaten much all day and was walking unsteadily.

When Wang Zhi learned that the recruits were not checking indentured contracts, he was not pleased. In his view, not checking indentured contracts was essentially the same as being a pirate.

He had seen pirates recruit before, but back then he wasn't desperate and didn't join them. But now Wang Zhi had no other choice.

What Wang Zhi found strange was that the leader of this group of pirates was actually a woman. To be precise, Wang Zhi could even tell that the girl seemed to be a few years younger than him.

But then I thought about it and realized that this was normal. Not to mention the coastal areas, there were quite a few children in the Ming Dynasty who started working and joining the army at the age of ten. Children from poor families matured early, and many children from poor families had to start doing hard labor when they were eight or nine years old.

Wang Zhi was initially worried that he would be screened out in his current state, but the recruiters didn't seem to be in a hurry. All those who signed up only underwent a simple screening. Those who were well-fed and watered were the ones who were screened out, while people like Wang Zhi passed the screening.

Wang Zhi thought about this for a long time and finally figured out the key point: this group of pirates was afraid of attracting spies from the government, so they directly screened out those who could eat their fill.

However, this did not mean that Wang Zhi had passed the final screening. After the initial screening, Wang Zhi and others who passed the screening were able to eat. Although the first meal was porridge with a little sand in it, it was already a delicacy for Wang Zhi. He wolfed down several bowls of porridge.