Who could guarantee that these former Great Liang naval forces would be of one heart with Great Zhou, willingly sacrificing their lives for Great Zhou?

Even if these naval soldiers were willing to die for the Great Zhou, could they defeat the Dongyi naval forces?

The Second Prince had once spent entire nights in deep conversation with Du Yulang and the ruler of Tianfeng, and both the Second Prince and Du Yulang strongly agreed with Tianfeng’s strategy of “using war to sustain war, using war to strengthen the nation.”

If they could defeat Great Zhou’s naval forces this time and then further set foot on Great Zhou’s territory, then Dongyi would certainly become stronger than now! Not to mention… Yan had already agreed that if Dongyi and Great Zhou went to war, they would be willing to provide weapons and grain.

Seeing that the Great Zhou envoy ship had been protected behind the Great Zhou naval forces, Du Yulang raised his hand to signal the entire fleet to slow down.

The Prince of Han City also ordered his entire fleet to reduce speed.

Soon, the military ships of Dongyi and the Great Zhou faced off on the surface.

The morning sun rising in the east slowly ascended through the gap between the two opposing armies, coating the sea surface and both sides’ massive warships with a layer of gold.

The Prince of Han City, Cheng Yuanzhi, and Du Yulang all stood at the very front of their largest warships.

Du Yulang looked at his deputy general beside him and said: “Have someone relay a message, tell Great Zhou to have their envoys hand over the Seventh Prince. Our Dongyi naval forces didn’t come to fight this time, only to bring back our own Seventh Prince. If Great Zhou doesn’t release our nation’s Seventh Prince… then we’ll have no choice but to see whose strength is greater!”

Soon, a messenger took a small boat to relay the message to the Great Zhou’s side.

After hearing this, although the Prince of Han City didn’t understand what had happened, he felt that Minister Liu was not a fool. If he had truly brought the Seventh Prince back to Great Zhou, there must be a reason for bringing the Seventh Prince back to Great Zhou.

“Bullshit! When Dongyi loses a prince, it’s our Great Zhou envoys who bring him back? There’s no way to extort people like this! I might as well say my wife was stolen by Dongyi! Have them return her to me!” Cheng Yuanzhi felt unwell, so his voice wasn’t as loud as usual.

The Prince of Han City thought for a moment and instructed: “Tell Dongyi to wait, this Prince will send someone to ask our Great Zhou envoys!”

“Yes!”

Soon, a Great Zhou naval boat caught up with the Great Zhou envoy ship to inquire about the matter of Dongyi’s Seventh Prince.

Fan Yugan looked bewildered: “What Seventh Prince?”

“This is just an excuse for Dongyi to arrest us!” an envoy said indignantly. “Dongyi has grown bold – such a tiny nation dares to provoke our Great Zhou!”

But Lu Fenglang lowered her eyes as if deep in thought. After a long while, a flash of understanding crossed Lu Fenglang’s mind, and she suddenly raised her head, her face deathly pale: “I’m afraid we’ve been… used by Dongyi’s Empress!”

“What?” Fan Yugan heard Lu Fenglang’s words, but his mind couldn’t process them.

In an extremely short time, Lu Fenglang had completely reviewed the Second Prince’s usurpation and rebellion.

She had already guessed that the Empress had made two preparations. She wanted to push her flesh and blood to the throne, but was also worried that the First Prince or Second Prince would notice, so after accepting Lu Fenglang’s suggestion, the Empress made two preparations.

On one hand, she prepared for her son’s ascension to the throne; on the other hand, she sent the Seventh Prince out of Dongyi to avoid threats to the Seventh Prince’s life from others ascending the throne!

If successful, she would bring her son back to inherit the imperial throne!

If unsuccessful, she would let her son escape and survive…

Lu Fenglang could even predict that the Empress must have sent people to escort her son to the Great Zhou. First… now both Yan and Tianfeng supported the Second Prince’s ascension, but only the Great Zhou wanted to push other Dongyi princes to the throne.

Second, if Dongyi’s Seventh Prince reached Great Zhou and Dongyi’s First Prince ascended the throne… peaceful coexistence with Great Zhou would certainly open trade and commerce, and her son could live safely and happily in Great Zhou as a wealthy merchant!

But if the Second Prince usurped the throne, or if the Second Prince ascended and went to war with Great Zhou, then… her son could use Great Zhou’s power to kill his way back to Dongyi and reclaim the imperial throne.

At that time, the Seventh Prince had the rumored edict from the late Emperor allowing his ascension and requiring his mother’s martyrdom – ascending the throne would be completely legitimate!

“We’ve been tricked!” Lu Fenglang gripped the railing, her entire body swaying unsteadily.

That so-called spy who sent someone to the post station to inform Minister Liu was either… bought off by the Empress and deceived them! Or his spy identity was discovered by the Empress, and he, too, was captured by the Empress.

Lu Fenglang’s palms were full of sweat – she had been overconfident and underestimated the enemy!

When His Majesty told Minister Liu… to support the First Prince’s ascension, she shouldn’t have involved Dongyi’s Seventh Prince in the game without understanding the Dongyi Empress’s situation.

Originally, the Seventh Prince had no opportunity to compete for the throne. The Empress probably had that intention, but was concerned about her son’s life and didn’t dare act rashly.

But when she went to see Dongyi’s Empress, it was tantamount to providing the Dongyi Empress with backing. Only then did the Dongyi Empress dare to act this way, calculating Great Zhou… calculating all of Great Zhou’s envoys into her scheme.

Where was Dongyi’s Empress, some helpless woman without family backing or means? All these years in Dongyi, she had kept a low profile, simply lying dormant, waiting for an opportunity.

Only now did Lu Fenglang understand how absurdly wrong she had been, yet she felt a trace of admiration for this Dongyi Empress, who could plot such a path for her son under such circumstances.

“I’m going to see that Dongyi general!” Lu Fenglang declared.

“What are you going for?” Fan Yugan frowned tightly. “If anyone’s going, it should be me!”

Fan Yugan had promised Lu Yuanpeng that he would protect Lu Fenglang!

“I know what I’m doing!” Lu Fenglang’s attitude was resolute. She instructed Fan Yugan and the others to quickly return to Great Zhou, then boarded a small boat heading in the direction where the two naval forces were confronting each other.

The Prince of Han City was surprised to see Lu Fenglang arrive: “Why has Minister Lu come?”

After Lu Fenglang paid her respects to the Prince of Han City, she said, “Prince of Han City, to stop this battle, I must go see Dongyi’s general!”

“Why?” The Prince of Han City didn’t blindly stop Lu Fenglang.

“We didn’t bring Dongyi’s Seventh Prince back to Great Zhou, but Dongyi thinks we brought the Seventh Prince back. This is a misunderstanding, and I’m afraid this misunderstanding can only be explained clearly by me!” Lu Fenglang said.

“How can we let a civil official without the strength to tie up a chicken go to the enemy forces to explain! If we can’t avoid fighting, then we fight!” Cheng Yuanzhi spoke up.

It wasn’t that Cheng Yuanzhi thought Lu Fenglang should stay behind them because she was a woman, but rather that there was no reason for military men to hide behind scholars.

Lu Fenglang’s hair flew wildly in the wind as she said, “At this moment, if we can avoid fighting, we shouldn’t fight! Behind these warships are ordinary fishermen, and our warships and naval forces are also unequal in number – we’re at a disadvantage, and we must acknowledge this!”