“Quick! Quick! Quick!” the sailors shouted. “Hurry and raise the flag, let the Great Zhou navy know this is a Great Zhou envoy ship! Quick!”

Hearing this, Fan Yugan and Lu Fenglang immediately turned around.

“You go back and wait, I’ll go see!” Fan Yugan said, pushing Lu Fenglang and repeatedly urging her to go back before stepping out of the cabin himself, swaying as he gripped the railing and looked toward the bow.

He saw Great Zhou naval warships with military flags fluttering magnificently, breaking through the water in the red glow of the rising sun, majestic and steady, massive as mountain ranges.

The sailors on the ship, who had been terrified, saw their own military flags like seeing dawn in darkness, shouting excitedly with tears nearly streaming from their eyes.

Fan Yugan’s face was stung painfully by the sea wind, his eyes wide as he watched their own warships, his heart also unable to contain its excitement.

“How did our Great Zhou warships know we were in danger?” Lu Fenglang disregarded the advice, gripping the handrail tightly as she stood on deck, gazing toward the Great Zhou warships.

“Why did you come! Go back!” Fan Yugan seized Lu Fenglang’s arm and walked her back.

“Turn the sails! Full speed toward our Great Zhou forces!” the officer standing on high shouted.

Soon, more than a dozen sailors pulled the sail ropes to adjust the sail direction, heading straight toward their naval forces like children running to their mother’s embrace.

Aboard the massive Great Zhou naval warship, the Prince of Han City in full armor received the news and hurriedly emerged from the cabin, ordering the military ships to prepare for battle and proceed at full speed toward the direction of the approaching Dongyi naval forces.

Cheng Yuanzhi, who had been vomiting wretchedly and could barely stand, heard that the Dongyi naval forces were approaching menacingly. He forced himself to stand and wanted to go out and look, but because the military ship suddenly went to full speed and his body was too weak, he couldn’t stand steady and immediately fell back onto the bed.

“General! General!” The naval soldiers quickly helped Cheng Yuanzhi up.

Cheng Yuanzhi endured his discomfort, covered his chest area, and after catching his breath, said: “Go… go have a look!”

“General, in your current physical condition, the military doctor said… You need to lie down and rest properly!” the naval soldiers advised.

“Bullshit! I, Old Cheng, am in fine health!” Cheng Yuanzhi’s complexion was pale, but his spirit was undiminished. “I’m a soldier of Great Zhou, a general of Great Zhou! When enemy forces come… as long as I have one breath left, I can’t hide in bed like some woman!”

Cheng Yuanzhi gritted his teeth and forced himself out of the cabin…

The Prince of Han City held the handrail with one hand and gripped his sword hilt with the other, his gaze fixed on the distant Dongyi naval forces approaching them, immediately ordering: “Full speed ahead, escort our Great Zhou envoy ship to safety, have the fishing vessels turn back immediately! Quick!”

“Yes!” The naval soldiers immediately rushed to the stern, using signal flags to relay orders.

The Prince of Han City’s mind raced, sweat already beading on his forehead as he continued: “Send someone back to relay orders, have General Huang immediately deploy naval forces to come provide support…”

“Yes!”

“Prince of Han City!” Cheng Yuanzhi called out and looked into the distance. The number of Dongyi’s massive naval ships was several times greater than their Great Zhou escort ships that had come out with the fishing vessels.

Cheng Yuanzhi, who had been vomiting for several days, seemed to have his spine suddenly straightened. He strode quickly to the Prince of Han City’s side, his gaze falling on the ship flying Great Zhou flags approaching them: “Those are our Great Zhou envoys! Minister Liu and the others!”

The Prince of Han City glanced at Cheng Yuanzhi and added: “Send General Cheng back with the fishing vessels!”

“Prince of Han City, what do you mean by this? You look down on me, Old Cheng! On the battlefield… no matter when, the Bai family army can never be deserted!” Cheng Yuanzhi’s expression was resolute.

Seeing Cheng Yuanzhi’s insistence, the Prince of Han City didn’t want to waste time arguing with him. He nodded and forcefully patted Cheng Yuanzhi’s shoulder: “We might not even have to fight!”

Soon, the Great Zhou naval fleet opened a passage, allowing the Great Zhou envoy ship to enter the protective range of the Great Zhou naval vessels.

Fan Yugan and Lu Fenglang stood at the cabin entrance, looking up as naval vessels on both sides passed by them, protecting them behind the massive warships.

If previously Fan Yugan couldn’t deeply understand the importance of a nation’s elite forces, having only a general concept of national elites protecting home and people, today being escorted by Great Zhou’s naval vessels and safely arriving behind the Great Zhou fleet, he finally understood… why the border people revered the Bai family army as deities, why… they regarded the Bai family generals as war gods. It was because during great battles, the Bai family army and Bai family generals charged forward against the flow… using their flesh and blood to block enemy sabers for them, fighting for their survival.

Because when war comes, civilians flee in panic, but only a nation’s soldiers… would charge against the flow like this, protecting them behind their backs. They saw the Prince of Han City, whom they had once mocked, standing at the bow with a resolute expression, half his face hardened by the rising sun’s light. The heroic General Cheng Yuanzhi stood straight, and they advanced fearlessly.

At this moment between life and death, suddenly being protected behind their own nation’s powerful military, while breathing a sigh of relief, Fan Yugan couldn’t help but bow deeply toward their naval vessels and the naval officers and soldiers aboard them, feeling grateful from the bottom of his heart.

The sense of shock in Lu Fenglang’s heart was also difficult to suppress. She was a noble young lady who had grown up in the prosperous splendor of the capital city, having encountered many threats of intrigue and treacherous schemes, but had never encountered such a threat as being pursued by enemy forces. Now encountering this… and being protected by their naval forces at this critical moment, those who haven’t experienced it cannot understand their feelings at this moment.

The naval formation moved very quickly, heading straight toward the large fleet of ships flying Dongyi flags.

Aboard the Dongyi naval vessels, Du Yulang, the naval general most trusted by the Second Prince, led the Dongyi naval forces in full force.

Originally, the Second Prince had intended to personally lead the pursuit, but now, with the late Emperor’s death, the Second Prince had to return to Dongyi’s capital to prepare for his enthronement. Therefore, the Second Prince entrusted the matter of pursuing the Seventh Prince to Du Yulang, having Du Yulang lead the entire Dongyi naval force out, sparing no cost to kill the Seventh Prince, absolutely not allowing the Seventh Prince to be taken to Great Zhou.

Before Du Yulang boarded the warship, the Second Prince had pulled him aside and earnestly told him that if Great Zhou was unwilling to hand over the Seventh Prince, then fight!

Du Yulang had also been holding back a belly full of anger. He had always felt that when the late Emperor was alive, their Dongyi nation was too cowardly. Although Dongyi was a small country, because it was surrounded by the sea on four sides, Dongyi’s naval forces were very strong.

Even though they hadn’t fought Great Liang for so many years, compared to Great Liang, which had always focused on defending against Great Zhou and Yan, their Dongyi nation had invested much more in naval forces than Great Liang!

Not to mention that now the Great Zhou was using the Great Liang’s naval forces.