Yun Ye turned to look at Liu Renyuan, waiting for him to explain. Toward disabled people, he always had excellent patience—not out of pity, but because such people were generally quite extreme. Unable to speak and communicate with others, with rage pent up in their hearts, accidents easily occurred. He didn’t want someone secretly throwing him overboard while sailing.

“Teacher, Dongyu is disabled. Please don’t hold it against him. He’s the best sailor in this fleet. This student will have him shut his mouth right away.”

Seeing Liu Renyuan’s expression, one could tell it wasn’t anything good. Yun Ye walked to the fellow called Dongyu and said to him, “Missing half your tongue—your ears work fine, right?”

The man stubbornly shook his head. Yun Ye continued, “As long as a man’s cock isn’t missing, I generally think losing other parts isn’t a big deal. In the Battle of the Northern Desert, I personally cut off countless toes, fingers, and ears. Not one of those men cried out asking others to treat them specially. In your navy, are there exceptions?”

The man roared and lunged forward past Liu Renyuan. Liu Jinbao’s head emerged from the ship’s rail. Seeing someone disrespecting the marquis, he pressed his hand on the rail and leaped up. His large foot shot through the space under Liu Renyuan’s ribs and kicked hard into the mute Dongyu’s stomach. The man retreated several steps, shouted loudly, and rapidly flew forward by stepping on the rail. Unfortunately, Liu Jinbao was an expert at killing. In the water, ten Liu Jinbaos wouldn’t be Dongyu’s match, but alas, this was on a ship. Liu Jinbao secured himself to the mast, formed a claw with one hand, and grabbed Dongyu’s arm. His skin seemed coated with a layer of grease—with a twist of his body, he actually broke free from Liu Jinbao’s grip.

Liu Jinbao made a light sound of surprise, released his right hand from the mast, and pressed a spring mechanism. With a clanging sound, his horizontal blade left its sheath. The gleaming long blade had already descended toward Dongyu’s neck. Liu Renyuan was greatly alarmed and tried to cry out, but it was already too late.

Liu Jinbao’s long blade slapped sideways against Dongyu’s neck. With a thud, Dongyu fell onto the deck, sliding forward with undiminished momentum before losing consciousness.

“Liu Renyuan, this is the army you’ve trained? When a superior is speaking, who gave him the audacity to roar wildly and actually dare to charge at a superior? How has he survived until now?”

“Reporting to the marquis, Dongyu is a ship-handling expert this subordinate found from the East Sea. He was originally a fisherman who later had a conflict with the authorities and fled to sea. This subordinate captured him alive on an island. Pitying that he had exceptional water skills, I recruited him into service. This subordinate awaits the marquis’s judgment.”

Sweat dripped from Liu Renyuan’s cheeks onto the deck. He truly didn’t know how to explain Dongyu’s behavior. Unauthorized recruitment was itself a grave offense, not to mention Dongyu’s status as a fugitive.

Dongyu gradually awakened from unconsciousness, turned his head to look around, and discovered his superior kneeling on the ground continuously pleading on his behalf while that young marquis stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the seascape.

Needless to say, he was doomed. In his hometown, he had merely offended a constable, which forced him to flee to an island and become a savage. Now having charged at an official much greater than a constable, he would surely die miserably. His neck had taken a blow from the blade’s back, and even now his head was dizzy, his whole body weak and powerless. With a long sigh in his heart, he could only await his fate.

“Dongyu, you seem somewhat dismissive of this marquis’s assessment. You tell this marquis what was inappropriate. If I spoke wrongly, your crime of insubordination will be completely forgiven. If I spoke correctly, next year’s today will be your death anniversary.”

Dongyu was an expert of the sea—how could he not know Yun Ye spoke very reasonably? It was just that his subjective consciousness looked down on all officials, considering them all fat parasites. Thinking again of his wife and children in his hometown, he steeled his heart, clenched his teeth, and made no sound. Facing the authorities, speaking more only meant more mistakes—better not to speak at all. He closed his eyes, preparing for his head to fall.

“Liu Renyuan, take your soldiers to the opposing cargo ships and look at the Mulan vessels. See what a fleet for long voyages truly is. Your fleet is only fit for splashing around in a washtub. Bring this bastard along too. This marquis wants him to die convinced and satisfied.”

The opposing fleet belonged to the Yun family, purchased at a high price from Li Xiaogong. The ships he was building himself were still in the shipyard, waiting to be launched.

Climbing aboard a Mulan vessel—this enormous ship reaching thirty zhang in length—Liu Renyuan was filled with envy. This was the legendary giant vessel that could carry a thousand soldiers. Outside, the surging waves continuously struck the hull but were shattered by the dark red ship body. Yun Ye, who couldn’t stand steady on his own ship earlier, walked steadily on the Mulan vessel. Old Jiang’s son was the leader of the Yun family fleet. Though he had only one ship, it was the largest one in the harbor.

Patting the ship’s rail, Yun Ye felt much more comfortable. Initially, he thought Li Xiaogong’s asking price of eight thousand strings was gouging a fat pig, but now seeing the actual vessel, he finally knew Li Xiaogong’s price had been quite reasonable. This was a world of wood. Though the Yun family had rounded all the sharp corners, giving the entire ship a smooth feeling, the copper-clad ram at the bow told everyone this ship could also transform into a killing weapon.

“Marquis, you should stay on our family’s ship. Why bother getting angry with those fools? After paddling around in a washtub for two rounds, they don’t even know how high the heavens are or how thick the earth is. Only our family’s people know how many lives your suggestions will save. Now the imperial fleet is also learning from our family. The internal bureau’s steward has already bought me flower wine several times over this matter.”

As soon as Liu Jinbao boarded, he told Jiang Yuan the whole story from beginning to end. Hearing Liu Jinbao’s description, Jiang Yuan had the impulse to eliminate these fools.

Liu Renyuan lowered his head and examined the Yun family’s ship bit by bit—whether it was for show or battle-tested. This couldn’t escape his eyes. Regarding seafaring, his feeling wasn’t love—it was fanaticism.

Clean, orderly—all movable objects were firmly tied down with ropes. The cables were coiled in circles on the deck. Freshly brushed tung oil made the entire ship appear antique and elegant. A wheel with seven or eight handles—with this thing, no one would need to adjust those two damned rudders anymore. Steering from inside the small cabin would definitely be more comfortable than on deck.

Dongyu turned the wheel twice, then ran to the stern to look at the rudder’s direction. Very curious, he went back and forth researching it, actually forgetting completely about Yun Ye wanting to chop off his head.

Lunch was eaten on the ship. Yun Ye sat alone at the frontmost table eating, and his food was much richer than others’—this was the captain’s meal. Only the captain had this privilege. Originally, Jiang Yuan ate alone, but now it could only be Yun Ye. To establish the captain’s authority, Yun Ye painstakingly attended to every detail.

Liu Renyuan carried his tray to the window to receive food. He was very accustomed to this—the academy cafeteria was the same. A cook in white clothes piled his plate full of food and finally gave him half a green tangerine and a bowl’s worth of tangerine wine.

Dongyu was bewildered. Learning from his superior, he also took a tray and handed it to the cook. The cook stuck his head out to look at Dongyu’s build and deliberately added much more food—sturdy people had big appetites, that was certain. Seeing there was wine, Dongyu drank it dry in one gulp and shoved the bowl back through, signaling the cook to fill it up again. The cook threw his bowl back out through the window. Bumpkin—one liang of fruit wine daily was the rule.

Dongyu was very angry. His lowly status made his self-esteem particularly fragile. He raised his hand to smash the tray over but felt sorry for the food. Putting down the plate, he yelled loudly with garbled sounds. Liu Renyuan, face flushed with embarrassment, grabbed his subordinate and pointed to his own wine bowl, saying, “Everyone only gets this much. The marquis is no exception.”

Dongyu craned his neck to look around and discovered Liu Renyuan hadn’t lied to him. Somewhat ashamed, he dejectedly picked up his tray and returned to the table. Just as he was about to squat on the stool to eat, he saw others all sitting properly on their stools, staring at him. He could only shrink his head and sit properly.

Incredible! Seeing the food, Dongyu exclaimed in wonder. On top of the tray was actually a greasy chicken leg, several green vegetables, some tofu, and at the bottom, white rice.

He picked up the chicken leg and smelled it, sighed, and slowly began eating. There were no chopsticks, only a small spoon. He ate very carefully. After eating the meat from the chicken leg, he even crunched and swallowed the bones before starting on the rice. He liked eating this way—this was the most human-like meal.

He forcibly restrained himself from eating the last mouthful of rice and left it properly on the plate like a small grain storage. In his hometown, when eating something delicious, one would never eat it completely clean but would always leave a little, symbolizing having more to eat in the future.

“Why not finish it?” A duty officer walked over with a red armband on his sleeve—this was Yun Ye’s perverse taste. He always unconsciously incorporated some things familiar to him from his past life.

“Reporting to the duty officer, this is a custom from Dongyu’s hometown, symbolizing surplus grain for the coming year.” Liu Renyuan answered on Dongyu’s behalf.

“Finish it. People at sea only believe in the Sea Dragon King. Other random nonsense isn’t allowed on the ship.”

Dongyu reluctantly ate the remaining mouthful of rice, feeling he would never again have the fortune to eat such delicious food. Liu Renyuan sighed. He knew the Yun family’s rules best. The academy had the same rules—for example, no drinking unboiled water, no relieving oneself anywhere, no leaving leftovers. Li Tai merely secretly dumped food once, but was seen by Teacher Li Gang. Although he didn’t know what punishment Prince Wei received, in any case, from that time on, His Highness’s plate was cleaner than if a dog had licked it.

After the meal, everyone left except Yun Ye, Liu Jinbao, Liu Renyuan, and Dongyu.

“Liu Renyuan, do you now see what needs to be done for long voyages? Do you know that once on board, these people’s lives are in your hands? Having a few good ships isn’t enough to venture into the ocean. Your ships are too small. This time we need to transport too much. To give the court some confidence in water transport, this voyage must succeed—failure is not permitted. You need to start from the smallest details.”

Without waiting for Liu Renyuan to speak, he said to Dongyu, “You challenged your superior without cause and disobeyed orders. Originally this is a capital offense. Considering you’re a first-time offender, thirty lashes as a warning to others.”