Chi Can crossed his arms over his chest and gave the old man who had spoken a cold smile: “Japanese pirates coming for revenge—what the hell does that have to do with us?”

“You, how can you be like this? If you hadn’t killed these Japanese pirates, how would they come for revenge?” the old man said, tremblingly.

These outsiders were terrifying, but now that the town magistrate was dead and others didn’t dare speak, he had no choice but to speak—he still had several grandsons who needed to survive.

Chi Can sneered again: “Old man, you might as well directly say, why didn’t we hand over the girls traveling with us? If we had given them to the Japanese pirates just now, there wouldn’t be any trouble, right?”

When he said this, though it was clearly sarcastic, many of the people surrounding them actually showed expressions of agreement.

Chi Can flew into a rage: “So you’re saying you did nothing wrong—it’s all other people’s fault? In that case, since the Japanese pirates will come to take revenge on you, not us, we don’t care if you all die!”

Yang Houcheng patted Chi Can’s shoulder: “Shixi, don’t talk to these people anymore. They don’t even count as human beings.”

Chi Can pressed his lips together.

Talking to these people was indeed a waste of breath.

“Let’s go.”

Chi Can directly push the old man aside and strode forward.

Seeing these outsiders completely ignore them and walk toward the wharf, the townspeople followed closely behind, their faces filled with numb despair.

The old man steeled his heart and pushed his two little grandsons in front of Qiao Zhao and the others, falling to his knees with a thud and kowtowing: “Warriors, you can’t leave! If you leave, the Japanese pirates won’t spare us. It doesn’t matter if an old man like me dies, but please take pity on my grandsons—they’re still so young…”

The two young children, pushed in front of so many people, immediately burst into tears without needing any adult prompting.

Qiao Zhao and the others paused in their steps.

Seeing this, the townspeople immediately fell to their knees en masse, pleading: “You can’t leave, you can’t leave—”

Qiao Zhao and the others all looked extremely grim.

Yang Houcheng glanced back at the two Imperial Guards.

They were carrying the brother who had died in the recent battle with the Japanese pirates.

Before disembarking, everyone had been perfectly fine, but in the blink of an eye, one brother had left them like this. The others were all wounded, especially Tingquan—his injuries were caused by these people.

Now these people were kneeling and begging them to stay.

What did they want them to stay for? Naturally, to hand them over when the Japanese pirates came.

Yang Houcheng’s face darkened just thinking about this, but among those kneeling at his feet were not only adults with numb expressions, but also young children who knew nothing of the world.

He hesitated, not knowing what to do, and couldn’t help looking at Chi Can, only to see that his usually languid friend was similarly at a loss when faced with crying children.

Yes, they could ignore the adults, but who could feel no trace of pity for young children?

Yang Houcheng opened his mouth: “Tingquan, Shixi, what should we do?”

Chi Can’s expression was uncertain for a long while before he said indifferently: “You decide.”

Yang Houcheng raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Others might not understand his friend, but he did. When Shixi said this, he was tacitly agreeing to stay.

“Tingquan, what do you say?”

Shao Mingyuan looked at the old man: “Protecting you should be the responsibility of the local garrison and government.”

The old man wiped his tears: “But the government can’t do anything either—those Japanese pirates are too formidable. Four or five constables can’t even beat one Japanese pirate.”

“If four or five people can’t beat one Japanese pirate, what about ten people? What about dozens of people?” Shao Mingyuan asked calmly.

Yang Houcheng was even more surprised.

He had thought Shao Mingyuan would be the most agreeable of the three of them.

The old man was struck speechless by Shao Mingyuan’s questions.

The young general’s starlike eyes swept over the kneeling crowd as he said indifferently: “If you had thrown those stones at the Japanese pirates just now, I might have had a reason to stay.”

Kindness doesn’t command armies—he had never been a bleeding heart.

He withdrew his gaze and nodded slightly to Yang Houcheng and Chi Can, saying in a deep voice: “We’re leaving!”

After their initial surprise, the two silently followed.

They would naturally respect their friend’s decision.

“Miss, Miss, please, you can’t leave!” The old man dragged his grandson to Qiao Zhao’s feet, and because he moved too hastily, the child fell beside her feet.

Qiao Zhao paused in her steps.

Shao Mingyuan stopped and turned back, meeting her gaze.

Zhaozhao, do you want me to stay? If you speak, I’ll stay.

Qiao Zhao bent down to help the young child up, brushed the dust off his body, handed him to the old man, and said with a calm expression: “If I stay, I’ll only be useful for you to give to the Japanese pirates. And my companions have already made their decision.”

Only Shao Mingyuan could fight the Japanese pirates. Besides his willingness, what right did others have to ask him to stay?

Qiao Zhao walked past the old man to Shao Mingyuan’s side.

Shao Mingyuan smiled slightly: “Let’s go.”

Amid the townspeople’s rising and falling pleas, Qiao Zhao’s group arrived at the wharf, boarded their ship, and gradually sailed toward the open sea.

“Do you think I’m heartless?” Standing by the rail, Shao Mingyuan asked Qiao Zhao.

He didn’t care what others thought, but he uniquely cared about the opinion of the person before him.

The man, having bathed and changed clothes, wore a blue robe very close to the color of the sea. Under the setting sun, light rippled in his eyes, making them as unfathomable as the ocean.

“No.” Contrary to Shao Mingyuan’s expectations, the young lady uttered these two words without any hesitation.

In that moment, Shao Mingyuan’s quietly suspended heart settled.

He knew the girl before him disdained lying—when she said no, she meant no.

“‘Treat them generously but cannot make them useful, love them but cannot command them, when in chaos cannot govern them—like spoiled children, they cannot be used.'” Qiao Zhao looked at the man before her and smiled. “Kindness doesn’t command armies. I believe that having led troops for many years, you would make the most accurate judgment.”

Shao Mingyuan stared intently at the young lady before him, his gaze burning.

This was bad—he wanted to kiss Zhaozhao again. What should he do?

He discovered that the more he spent time with Zhaozhao, the weaker his self-control became. He was beginning to worry he wouldn’t be able to hold out until their wedding day.

This girl was a treasure bestowed upon him by heaven, making him feel that all the hardships he had endured before were worth it. Those experiences were all for this moment, when he had grown into a man who could stand tall and not look at others’ faces, allowing him to meet her with composure.

Qiao Zhao warily stepped back.

What did he want to do with that kind of look?

This time, however, Shao Mingyuan didn’t act rashly by relying on his thick skin. He gazed at the increasingly distant Haimen Ferry and said softly: “Those Japanese pirates should be inconsequential bandits with no accomplices.”

He was accustomed to thorough preparation in everything he did. Though he had never been to the southern coast, he had studied it.

Japanese pirates ran rampant along the coast, but there weren’t many organized groups. The vast majority were warriors who couldn’t make it in Japan and came to Great Liang to make a living.

These endless yet formidably skilled bandits brought great disaster to the coastal people, but they were groups of ten to twenty people, or even small teams of seven or eight. So the revenge those people worried about was unlikely to occur.

“Zhaozhao, there’s something I want to ask you.”