Destroy the Dongyi state! Cheng Yuanzhi gritted his teeth, wanting to annihilate the Dongyi state, but thinking of his wretched state after boarding the ship, he felt that the Bai family army soldiers would probably fare no better than he after boarding ships. They might collapse at sea before even reaching Dongyi state.

At this point, Cheng Yuanzhi finally understood the hardships of the naval officers and soldiers.

After Cheng Yuanzhi had been dejected for quite some time, he heard that those Dongyi scoundrels had actually taken Prince Hancheng’s remains back to Dongyi state, and even spoke arrogantly, saying only if the Great Zhou emperor came personally could he retrieve Prince Hancheng’s body. Cheng Yuanzhi was so enraged he immediately wanted to grab weapons and fight Dongyi state to the death, but was held back by Cai Ziyuan.

The naval officers and soldiers were also in low spirits. Many soldiers clamored that they would rather die than fail to retrieve Prince Hancheng’s body, wanting to send troops. They were also stopped by Cai Ziyuan, who said messengers had already been sent on fast horses to deliver the coastal battle report to the capital. For now, if Dongyi state hadn’t attacked, they would remain stationary.

Otherwise, at this time, when the Dongyi state was on guard and deliberately provoking them with Prince Hancheng’s body, it was to force their navy to bring troops to snatch back Prince Hancheng. Going would be falling into their trap!

If they truly wanted to retrieve Prince Hancheng, they needed to remain stationary first. One, to wait for His Majesty’s orders; two, to also lull Dongyi state into thinking that Great Zhou’s navy was cowardly, not even daring to retrieve their own commander’s body. When they relaxed their guard, that would be when they deployed troops.

Moreover, Great Zhou’s important minister Liu Rushi was still in Dongyi state. Whether His Majesty or they as Great Zhou soldiers, they would absolutely not leave a court minister who worked tirelessly for Great Zhou in a foreign country! They would not leave Prince Hancheng, who died for his country, in a foreign land!

The naval officers and soldiers knew Cai Ziyuan was a military strategist of the Bai family army and felt his words made perfect sense, so they settled down.

The coastal people and naval officers were all heartbroken and fearful, especially the civilians who had been escorted back.

Some of the people were rather naive. Nearly a month after Prince Hancheng’s sacrifice, they heard that Dongyi state said… only if the Great Zhou emperor came personally could Prince Hancheng’s body be retrieved. They even wanted to jointly petition, requesting the emperor to retrieve the body of Prince Hancheng who had protected them.

Someone in the tavern said, “After all, the Great Zhou emperor is considered a good emperor. These new policies he implemented – at first, we common people didn’t understand them, but later we all discovered the benefits of the Great Zhou’s new policies! So if we write a petition, maybe the emperor will consider public opinion and go to Dongyi state to demand our Prince Hancheng’s body!”

But these words were heavily criticized by local scholars. Those scholars, emboldened by wine in the tavern, said: “How could a dignified emperor of a nation possibly condescend to come to this coast personally for the body of a surrendered prince of a different surname! Even if it were the emperor’s own brother’s body… There would probably only be a one or two percent chance the emperor would lead troops to Dongyi state to demand the body!”

Others said: “If the emperor won’t come to the coast, then fight! At worst, snatch back Prince Hancheng’s body! Tiny Dongyi state was once merely our… was once merely Great Liang’s vassal state. If the Great Zhou emperor won’t come, surely he can order the navy to attack the Dongyi state and retrieve our Prince Hancheng’s body!”

“Exactly! Tiny Dongyi state! Fight them! Not afraid they won’t hand over Prince Hancheng’s remains! Before, Great Liang wasn’t as powerful as Great Zhou is now, yet still beat Dongyi until they wailed!”

Those scholars laughed even louder: “Now, the Great Zhou emperor is gambling the nation with the Yan emperor. What does gambling the nation mean? If you lose, you must bow and submit to the other side! At this time, if the Great Zhou fights! Isn’t this seeking defeat? That high and mighty emperor… would be even less likely to abandon this great realm for an unrelated prince and willingly bow and submit to that little Yan emperor!”

“Moreover, you should know that the Great Zhou was originally located inland and had no navy. What does this show? It shows that the current navy was left behind by the Great Liang. I heard before that when the Great Zhou court allocated military funds to the navy, there were many difficulties. Later, Prince Fuguo in Hancheng even disbanded many naval officers, but delayed recruiting new naval forces, intending to weaken the navy forces previously loyal to Great Liang and rebuild new navy forces loyal to Great Zhou!” The middle-aged man sitting at the same table as the scholar sighed. “According to reason, this is standard practice after one nation takes over another’s military forces, all to stabilize their political power. It’s also proper that provisions allocated by the court shouldn’t become resources for the navy to rebel!”

“It’s just unfortunate that Great Zhou hadn’t had time to rebuild Great Zhou’s navy forces before Dongyi state began frequent provocations!” After the middle-aged man drank some wine, he continued: “So think about it… is the current navy still as formidable as the former Great Liang navy? Would Dongyi state still fear them?”

“This won’t work, that won’t work!” A butcher who came to drink in the tavern was almost crying. “Back then, Prince Hancheng surrendered to Great Zhou’s Prince Gaoyi to avoid us common people suffering from war, bearing so much infamy! Could it be that now Prince Hancheng died protecting us common people! After death, he still faces the fate of being unable to return to his homeland? If this Great Zhou emperor is truly heartless and ignores Prince Hancheng, I’ll… I’ll hire a boat to go to Dongyi state and snatch Prince Hancheng back!”

Everyone fell silent, because… the common people also understood that the scholar was right. How could an emperor… fight at the crucial moment of gambling the nation? Fighting would make the Great Zhou lose the gamble. After losing, not only would there be no Great Zhou anymore, but this Great Zhou emperor would be recorded in history as an emperor who gambled away his entire country.

An emperor of a nation also wouldn’t risk personal danger and come to this coast where battles could break out at any time just to retrieve the body of an unrelated prince.

Seeing all the people silent, the scholar slowly raised his wine cup and spoke: “It’s been nearly a month since Prince Hancheng died in battle. Counting the days… the battle report was sent back to the capital, and orders traveling back on horses without rest would take about six or seven more days to know… whether the emperor will fight that tiny Dongyi for Prince Hancheng’s body!”

Suddenly, a team of officials with swords at their waists burst into the previously somber tavern. The tavern patrons immediately fell silent as cicadas, all turning to look at these officials who had suddenly appeared at the tavern entrance.

The tavern keeper, who had been working his abacus, was also startled. He quickly took several banknotes from his cash box, lifted the hem of his robe, and trotted out from behind the counter, bowing and scraping with a smile as he approached: “Oh my, honorable officials, you’ve worked hard!”