After hearing Lu Fenglang’s words, the Prince of Han City nodded: “Good! Then I’ll trouble Minister Lu to make this trip! I’ll send two skilled men to accompany Minister Lu!”

Lu Fenglang bowed to the Prince of Han City, took two naval soldiers as guards, and boarded a small boat heading toward the Dongyi naval fleet.

Soon, Du Yulang saw the only woman from the Great Zhou envoy delegation—Lu Fenglang—returning with the messenger he had sent out.

Du Yulang had heard that this woman… was also the granddaughter of Great Zhou’s Grand Commandant.

Under escort by two Great Zhou naval soldiers, Lu Fenglang boarded the Dongyi warship.

Upon meeting Du Yulang, Lu Fenglang bowed and said: “I’ve heard that this general is pursuing our Great Zhou envoy ship for Dongyi’s Seventh Prince?”

“Is Minister Lu asking when she already knows the answer?” Du Yulang’s attitude was not very friendly.

Lu Fenglang kept her composure, forced herself to remain calm, smiled slightly, and said: “It appears we’ve all been fooled by Dongyi’s Empress! I only just figured this out when the general sent someone to demand the Seventh Prince from us! Dongyi’s Empress intended to push her own flesh and blood, the Seventh Prince, to the throne. When I entered the palace on behalf of Great Zhou to present treasures to the Empress, she told me that if Great Zhou was willing to support the Seventh Prince’s ascension at the appropriate time, the Empress would certainly reciprocate the favor! Our Great Zhou has no interest in Dongyi’s internal affairs—we only hope for coastal peace while we’re engaged in our wager with Yan. This… our Great Zhou envoy Fan Yugan also said to the Second Prince.”

Seeing Du Yulang show a thoughtful expression, Lu Fenglang understood that this close minister of the Second Prince… probably already knew about the Empress’s plan to ally with Great Zhou.

Only then did she have confidence to continue: “Several days ago, the Empress sent someone to our post station, lying to Minister Liu that… the Second Prince had launched a palace coup, and that the Second Prince, following the bewitchment of Yan’s envoys and Tianfeng’s ruler, wanted to kill our Great Zhou envoys and go to war with Great Zhou. Our chief envoy, Minister Liu, was concerned, so he had us envoys leave first while he remained in Dongyi’s capital to negotiate with Dongyi’s newly enthroned emperor. I imagine the Second Prince has already been to the post station and seen that our Minister Liu remains in Dongyi’s capital.”

“But in reality, the Empress had already sent people to spirit away the Seventh Prince, and informed us, Great Zhou, in advance about the Second Prince’s palace coup, frightening us by saying the Second Prince would kill our Great Zhou envoys! All of this was merely the Empress’s scheme to trick the Great Zhou envoys into leaving Dongyi overnight, drawing the Second Prince’s pursuing forces… to buy time for the Seventh Prince to escape Dongyi!” Lu Fenglang’s voice was measured as she continued in her not-yet-fluent Dongyi language: “Calculate the timing—if our Great Zhou truly intended to support the Seventh Prince’s ascension and only learned things had failed when the Second Prince launched his coup, fleeing with the Seventh Prince, Dongyi’s naval forces would have caught up with us long ago, not taking so many days to pursue us.”

Du Yulang looked up at the composed Lu Fenglang, pressing his lips together without speaking.

“General, think again—without the Empress’s assistance, how could we have prepared ships to escape so quickly? This Empress is more formidable than I imagined. From the moment she summoned our Great Zhou envoys, she probably already planned the usurpation, and… prepared an escape route, calculating our Great Zhou into her scheme!” Lu Fenglang laughed coldly, then looked toward her naval forces. “Consider this—if Dongyi’s naval forces, relying on superior numbers, damage our Great Zhou navy, Dongyi would be making an enemy of Great Zhou! In that case… would our Great Zhou, a great nation, tolerate this? Even if we could endure it today for the sake of our wager, after the wager—win or lose—this grudge would still need settling!”

Seeing that Du Yulang seemed to be growing suspicious due to her words, Lu Fenglang continued: “Naturally, if both sides remain safe today, with our Minister Liu still in Dongyi’s capital, mutual trade and interaction between our two nations would be inevitable! If this general still suspects we took the Seventh Prince, our Great Zhou can also take a step back and allow the general to personally board our Great Zhou envoy ship to see whether there are any traces of the Seventh Prince!”

Lu Fenglang’s words combined both soft and hard approaches, and her analysis was so logical that Du Yulang believed her to some degree. If it were any other nation, they might already be wavering, but Du Yulang had received orders directly from the Second Prince—if he couldn’t bring back the Seventh Prince… he would lose his head!

The Second Prince was no pushover, and certainly not someone who would listen to explanations. As long as he returned without the Seventh Prince, the Second Prince would definitely draw his sword and chop off his head, and likely take his clansmen’s lives as well. He knew his master too well.

Now, either for the sake of peace between the two nations and to avoid war, he could take a gamble and turn back!

Or, regardless of whether the Seventh Prince was on the Great Zhou envoy ship, start the war first and tell the Second Prince that Great Zhou refused to hand over the Seventh Prince, that he had followed orders and fought Great Zhou. Besides, he also wanted to fight the Great Zhou navy!

After brief consideration, Du Yulang ultimately felt that losing his own life didn’t matter much, but… his children and wife couldn’t lose their lives because of his momentary soft-heartedness. He looked deeply at Lu Fenglang and shouted: “Take her below! Signal the fleet—turn the ships around, crossbow troops prepare!”

Lu Fenglang’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected that, after all her reasoning about the stakes involved, Du Yulang would still choose to fight.

Seeing the enemy’s signal flags waving, the Prince of Han City tensed completely and shouted: “Turn the ships around, archers prepare! Ship ballistae prepare! Go signal the fishing boats to quickly withdraw and return! Hurry!”

The morning sun was just rising.

Between the glimmering golden vast sea surface and the tranquil sky painted with golden and purple clouds, north and south, the opposing fleets turned rapidly, ship by ship, waves crashing high, military horns sounding continuously. Naval soldiers ran back and forth on the ships, operating winches, drawing ship crossbows, archers forming ranks, and securing themselves to the ship with hooks to maintain stability, raising arrows and drawing bows to aim at enemy forces.

Lu Fenglang, restrained by Dongyi naval soldiers, struggled against being dragged below, shouting: “Are you insane! With a new emperor ascending the throne, this should be a time to stabilize the court and stabilize neighboring relations—you’re starting a war on your authority! Aren’t you afraid the new emperor will blame you?”

But no one responded to Lu Fenglang. The two naval soldiers who had come with her were killed, and she was dragged into the ship’s hold and locked up.

Lu Fenglang frantically pounded and banged on the door, shouting, but due to the ship’s emergency turning and tilting, she lost her footing and crashed to one side. She could feel arrows piercing the ship’s hull, hear the sound of ship crossbow bolts flying through the air and stabbing into the ship’s body.

The war between Dongyi and the Great Zhou had finally come!

But now Dongyi’s naval warships outnumbered Great Zhou’s several times over. Fighting here would be extremely disadvantageous for the Great Zhou.