Her gaze fell upon the other naval generals, and she said: “Having made all of you wait for so long, I imagine you must be eager to act. Let us not waste time with excessive courtesies here. We should enter the tent… discussing the important matter of annihilating Dongyi is urgent!”

“Your Majesty speaks reasonably!” Liu Shucheng nodded repeatedly. “Your Majesty, please!”

Lu Yuanpeng saw Bai Qingyan walking inside with General Liu and straightened his chest, but he only saw the Bai family’s eldest daughter being escorted in by the naval generals, as if she hadn’t noticed him at all. He hurriedly pulled Sima Ping to his feet and chased after them inside. He had to find an opportunity to speak with the Bai family’s eldest daughter, to get her to allow him to depart immediately for Dongyi to find his sister.

The naval commanders who didn’t understand Bai Qingyan followed behind the Bai family army and Great Zhou army generals into the tent, saying in low voices to Jiang Huaisheng: “This emperor is truly swift and decisive. As soon as she arrived, she first went to the government office, then to the fishing village, and now, without resting, she wants to discuss the annihilation of Dongyi. Won’t she rest a bit?”

Jiang Huaisheng smiled without making a sound, patted his comrade’s shoulder and only said: “Let’s go…”

Jiang Huaisheng could guess why Bai Qingyan was in such a hurry. First… it was to display her determination to annihilate Dongyi. Second, it was probably because she wanted a swift, decisive victory to minimize the impact on the national wager.

The group entered the commander’s tent. Liu Shucheng hurriedly had people bring more lamps to illuminate the maritime chart hanging in the tent, and Liu Shucheng introduced Bai Qingyan to the naval commanders present.

Bai Qingyan glanced at the maritime chart, untied her cloak, and handed it to Wei Zhong, listening to Liu Shucheng and the others describe and discuss several types of warfare tactics. When they spoke of the warship issue, Jiang Huaisheng spoke up: “Previously, because many naval soldiers were dismissed, many warships were mothballed. Now that the soldiers have all returned answering Your Majesty’s call, if Your Majesty is eager for a swift, decisive victory, while the shipyard can’t quickly deliver new warships, sending people to repair and reactivate them shouldn’t be a problem…”

Bai Qingyan nodded: “The latest supervised construction of large warships had already begun working day and night when I came, and will come by waterway. At the latest, they’ll arrive in succession by the twenty-ninth! However, we still need to prepare for both possibilities!”

Xiao Ruohai, Xiao Ruojiang, and Chen Qingsheng had already gone to Dongyi, with Shen Qingzhu following with warships.

“If that’s the case, we generals dare to speak the warfare tactics we previously discussed for Your Majesty to hear, entirely subject to Your Majesty’s decision!” Jiang Huaisheng spoke slowly, explaining to Bai Qingyan the methods they had previously discussed and deemed most appropriate, also worried that Bai Qingyan wasn’t familiar with naval warfare, so his speech was extremely gentle and slow.

Bai Qingyan listened attentively, showing no signs of impatience, occasionally nodding to indicate she understood. Sometimes she would raise her hand to point out the maritime areas and small islands Jiang Huaisheng mentioned, asking if she was pointing correctly. Jiang Huaisheng was indeed very surprised… Bai Qingyan hadn’t pointed to a single wrong location, showing she had truly studied this maritime area in detail.

After Jiang Huaisheng and the others finished explaining their warfare tactics, Bai Qingyan slowly spoke: “Our Great Zhou’s greatest advantage over Dongyi is our vast territory and abundant resources. Even with Dongyi’s entire population combined, it’s less than one-tenth of our Great Zhou’s… Their military strength and capabilities are naturally the same!”

Jiang Huaisheng straightened and looked at Bai Qingyan, whose deep eyes were illuminated by candlelight, and cupped his hands toward her: “Does Your Majesty already have warfare tactics in mind? This subject requests instruction…”

“Set for battle on the fifth day of the tenth month. On the twenty-ninth of the ninth month… new warships will arrive, together with all repaired warships completed by the first of the tenth month, all departing together from Jinwan’s sea outlet…” Bai Qingyan stood before the sand table, pointing to Jinwan’s sea outlet location, then pointing to the position of Long Island in the maritime area, “Great Zhou’s imposing military force will certainly be discovered by Dongyi’s maritime patrol navy, and they will send troops to contend with Great Zhou. Right here… Great Zhou’s navy, multiple times larger than Dongyi’s, will engage in frontal combat, and no matter what, all of Dongyi’s warships must be destroyed here!”

Bai Qingyan wanted a frontal assault, not the minimal-loss strategy that Jiang Huaisheng and the others envisioned.

“Then, at the latest by the tenth of the tenth month… the second batch of giant warships will arrive at Jinwan!” Bai Qingyan turned to look at Cheng Yuanzhi and Liu Pinggao, “The Great Zhou army, led by Liu Pinggao, will guard the entire coastline well. All Bai family army soldiers will board ships, circling east first past Guan Island, then directly to Dongyi. On the twenty-first day of the tenth month at the end of the Hai hour, we’ll strike into Dongyi from Dongyi’s Guadu City. Within three days, Dongyi must be annihilated!”

Bai Qingyan’s finger struck the edge of the sand table heavily, and she straightened: “Regarding naval warfare… I am unfamiliar with it, so I won’t make arrangements but only give orders. In this battle… my Great Zhou will attack with full force, and Dongyi must cease to exist in this world!”

Jiang Huaisheng understood that Bai Qingyan had even determined the exact hour when the Bai family army would land at Guadu City, so she must have already planned everything thoroughly on her way to Jinwan.

“Your Majesty’s intention is frontal victory through numerical superiority, but if so… the military expenditure would be considerable, and it might affect Your Majesty’s national wager plan.” Liu Shucheng couldn’t help but worry, “If Your Majesty has early arrangements, the Bai family army soldiers can follow Your Majesty’s plan. For naval warfare… our Great Zhou navy need not deploy everything!”

“The warfare tactics of your generals, I can see… are somewhat conservative, because… You want to save money for Great Zhou at all costs. But saving money has always been the Ministry of Revenue’s job. You generals shouldn’t overstep your bounds, or you’d make Wei Bugong of the Ministry of Revenue too idle.” Bai Qingyan’s brows carried a relaxed, gentle smile. “Moreover, for this battle, I don’t need to save money. Deploy everything… to let Dongyi know! Let Tianfeng know! And let Yan know that whoever offends our mighty Zhou, Zhou… will use full force to annihilate them!”

Furthermore, Bai Qingyan needed to find justification for spending money, so that… Shen Tianzhi could promote more bonds.

“War… if we don’t fight, so be it. But since we’re fighting… let it be imposing! Let everyone know that Great Zhou… no country can afford to touch or provoke!” Bai Qingyan’s voice was steady and powerful, carrying the pride and invincibility that a strong nation’s emperor should possess.

The Great Zhou generals standing here felt greatly inspired hearing their emperor’s words.

“Exactly! A mere vassal small country dares to act restlessly while the Great Zhou is engaged in the national wager. Yan is undoubtedly behind this. Let them know that even while Great Zhou is in the national wager period, annihilating Dongyi and Tianfeng… we can still win the national wager!” Bai Jinzhi couldn’t help but speak out, “If Yan loses and refuses to acknowledge it, our Great Zhou can also annihilate Yan!”

Jiang Huaisheng understood Bai Qingyan’s words. This battle had other purposes behind it, and showing it to Tianfeng and Yan was one of them…

There were other purposes that Jiang Huaisheng, not being in Bai Qingyan’s position, couldn’t fathom.