“General Liu!” Cheng Yuanzhi also returned the salute to Liu Shucheng. “Young Marshal Bai… His Majesty sent word commanding us to come to the naval camp here, saying that this time, naval warfare is primary, so we would discuss the matter of destroying Dongyi here. We were anxious and didn’t have someone announce our arrival first, so we came ourselves.”

Cai Ziyuan added, “His Majesty is still in the fishing village and hasn’t returned. She only sent word saying she would come directly here later, so we came as commanded. Please forgive any presumption, generals.”

Liu Hong nodded repeatedly: “We’re all family—what presumption is there! We’ve also been waiting for His Majesty to arrive. Please, Master Cai, please, generals!”

The burly Cheng Yuanzhi led the group including Cheng Yuanzhi, Liu Pinggao, and Shen Liangyu into the tent, beginning to discuss battle strategies first.

Sima Ping and Lu Yuanpeng walked at the back. Lu Yuanpeng couldn’t help but crane his neck to look outside, his heart already impatient to see Sister Bai.

During this time, Lu Yuanpeng had lost considerable weight. Worried about his sister Lu Fenglang, he had repeatedly wanted to set sail for Dongyi to find her, but was restrained by Master Cai.

Now that Sister Bai had arrived at the coast, the time for battle was surely near. He would request permission from Sister Bai later—he had to let him lead a small team to depart first and go to Dongyi to find his sister.

The naval commanders in the tent explained their feasible battle strategies to the Bai Family Army generals and Great Zhou Army generals. Beyond General Liu Shucheng’s expectations, Cheng Yuanzhi surprisingly didn’t interfere with directions, instead saying… this was naval warfare, so everything should follow the naval generals’ strategies primarily.

“The main issue is that after the Great Zhou Army and the Bai Family Army soldiers board ships, they’ll probably be like me, vomiting until they can’t find north, making combat very difficult!” Cheng Yuanzhi frowned deeply. “These past days, Master Cai tried selecting physically strong Bai Family Army soldiers to test on ships… out of ten, about seven could withstand the sea’s rocking! So… if we truly lead troops to land on Dongyi territory, we must carefully select personnel, otherwise they’ll become burdens!”

Since they were destroying Dongyi, they would naturally have to land on Dongyi territory. At sea, the navy naturally dominated, but once on Dongyi soil, that would be the domain of the Bai Family Army and the Great Zhou Army.

What most depressed Cheng Yuanzhi was that he was one of the other three out of ten—on land, Old Cheng was a dragon, but at sea, Old Cheng was a worm.

“Dongyi is just a small nation. With the Tiger Eagle Army present, as long as we can land on Dongyi soil, destroying the nation won’t be a problem!” After Cai Ziyuan finished speaking, he continued: “However, the Dongyi defense maps in our naval forces are from many years ago. There have surely been adjustments by now. If we could have Dongyi’s most detailed current defense maps, that would be ideal.”

The naval commanders also knew this, but while obtaining defense maps for one or two cities might be manageable with effort, getting defense maps for all of Dongyi with such an urgent timeline would be quite challenging.

When Bai Jinzhi came to the Bai Family Army camp today, she hadn’t spoken in detail, but Cai Ziyuan could tell… when Bai Qingyan left, she was accompanied by Xiao Ruohai, Xiao Ruojiang, Shen Qingzhu, and Chen Qingsheng!

Cai Ziyuan knew the capabilities of the brothers Xiao Ruohai and Xiao Ruojiang. Since he later joined the Bai family, he also knew something about Chen Qingsheng, having once been to Dongyi.

Bai Qingyan never fought unprepared battles—she likely had all these matters well in hand.

But Cai Ziyuan didn’t speak of this while the generals were all frowning with worry. He simply lowered his head to drink tea, thinking everything could wait until Bai Qingyan arrived.

After waiting over half an hour, Bai Qingyan finally arrived at the camp.

Liu Shucheng and the other naval generals were all seeing Bai Qingyan for the first time. Hearing that the Emperor had arrived, they immediately stood to adjust their appearance, preparing to receive His Majesty.

Cheng Yuanzhi was the first to stand and head to the entrance to greet her.

Bai Qingyan was followed by Bai Qingyu, Bai Jinzhi, and Xie Yuchang, along with numerous Bai family guards, walking swiftly toward the command tent under the guidance of naval soldiers.

Lu Yuanpeng wanted to push forward upon seeing Bai Qingyan, but was pushed back by Liu Pinggao. When he tried to push forward again, he was pushed back by naval generals. When he tried to move forward once more, Sima Ping grabbed his collar and pulled him back.

“What are you doing?” Lu Yuanpeng glared at Sima Ping.

“Which of those generals ahead isn’t your senior? What are you pushing for? Stay put!” Sima Ping lowered his voice to admonish: “With war imminent, everything prioritizes military affairs. Discuss personal matters privately! Don’t confuse priorities! This isn’t the Lu family!”

Hearing Sima Ping’s words, Lu Yuanpeng obediently nodded and stopped rushing forward.

Bai Qingyan wore riding attire. Due to martial training, her posture was upright, her steps steady, with an imposing aura. Though delicate and slender with extraordinarily beautiful features, her gaze was calm and transcendent, greatly surprising the naval soldiers.

In their hearts, a woman who could fight well, win military loyalty from above and below, ascend to the throne, and use iron-fisted methods to implement new policies should be a woman as strong and sturdy as a man, with deep cunning and firm resolve. How could they have imagined… their emperor was such a beauty.

Jiang Huaisheng recalled the former Western Liang Prince Li Zhijie’s assessment of this emperor: beauty and strength combined in one body. It seemed no evaluation was more accurate than Li Zhijie’s praise of Bai Qingyan.

Upon seeing Bai Qingyan, Cheng Yuanzhi’s eyes immediately reddened. He strode quickly toward her, knelt on one knee with fist clasped: “Young Marshal Bai! I failed to rescue the Prince of Hancheng, and instead… was saved by the Prince of Hancheng! I feel guilty toward the Prince of Hancheng! Young Marshal Bai, you must take me when attacking Dongyi this time! I want to… personally bring the Prince of Hancheng back! I want to kill that Dongyi emperor and avenge the Prince of Hancheng!”

Cheng Yuanzhi was someone who couldn’t hide things in his heart. Feeling guilty toward the Prince of Hancheng and utterly loyal to Bai Qingyan, upon seeing Bai Qingyan like seeing family, he poured out everything he’d wanted to say.

Bai Qingyan bent down to help Cheng Yuanzhi up. Looking at his appearance, she understood clearly in her heart—regarding the Prince of Hancheng… she too felt guilty.

She patted Cheng Yuanzhi’s arm: “Come! Let’s discuss urgent matters first!”

Cheng Yuanzhi nodded vigorously, then hurriedly saluted Bai Qingyu and Bai Jinzhi: “Prince Zhongguo! Prince Gaoyi!”

Seeing this, Liu Shucheng stepped forward to salute Bai Qingyan, Bai Qingyu, and Bai Jinzhi: “This subordinate Liu Shucheng pays respects to His Majesty, greets Prince Zhongguo and Prince Gaoyi!”

“We pay respects to His Majesty, greet Prince Zhongguo and Prince Gaoyi!”

The naval soldiers, and Bai Family Army, and the Great Zhou Army generals knelt in salute.

“Please rise, General Liu!” Bai Qingyan helped Liu Shucheng up. “Everyone, please rise!”