Hou Jie indifferently shook off a headless venomous snake from his bare shoulder. The snake’s large mouth was still tightly biting into his flesh. With another slash of his knife, a piece of flesh with the snake’s head fell onto the grass and was trampled into pulp under his leather boots.

Killing people here had already become the thing he did most in his daily life. Gradually, he had grown numb to it. In his view, there wasn’t much difference between a knife chopping into someone else’s neck and chopping into his own body.

Hou Jie had thought that the moment his father’s head flew up accompanied by fresh blood was the most painful thing in the mortal world. Now it seemed that wasn’t the most painful. The most painful thing was none other than falling from the prosperous mortal world into this world belonging to savages. Endless forests, endless mosquitoes and insects, accompanied by endless suffering.

The dark-skinned military physician carefully examined his wound and wrapped a medicine packet around his shoulder. Here, wounds had to be wrapped up, otherwise flies would lay maggots in the wound.

“General, we can’t advance any further. If we keep moving forward, the army will suffer losses. Those savages have all drilled into the forests—we can’t kill them all. Besides, the forests will also swallow these people. Those cannibal savage tribes will help us clean up the loose ends. Our provisions aren’t plentiful. We should return.”

The speaker was an old household general of the Hou family. After the great general died, they hadn’t scattered, but chose to come to Lingnan together with the Hou family’s women and children. The family members were arranged by Yun Ye to stay at Meng family’s stockade, while he himself followed the eldest young master to fight on this strange land for a full year already. Now, they had finally swept clean this land of Java.

Hou Jie pulled out his wine flask, took a drink, wiped his stubbled face, and said to the old household general, “Uncle An, we’re returning to Anhuang City. Take away those slaves we can take. Kill those we cannot.”

This was a battlefield. Those natives holding bamboo knives and bamboo spears made their final resistance here. No matter how much they wanted to achieve a victory, what Hou Jie left them was still a ground full of corpses. Mercenaries armed to the teeth—how could these naked natives possibly resist? Their most formidable blowdarts were completely useless against armor like tin cans.

The dark-skinned, short-statured natives were strung together in a long line with rope, their heads hanging as they followed these strong mercenaries toward the seaside. Once they boarded the ships, what awaited them was endless servitude.

Hou Jie’s warship was painted black. Dongyu, who had come to Java with them, showed his large white teeth in a silent welcome for Hou Jie’s victorious return. Seeing the medicine packet wrapped around his shoulder, he pointed with his finger. Seeing Hou Jie shake his head indicating he was fine, only then did he embrace Hou Jie and pat him twice on the back.

“Big brother!” Hou Ying swung down from the mast, did a somersault to disperse the momentum, and stood steadily before Hou Jie. The sixteen-year-old young man was at the most energetic time of his life.

Hou Jie carefully looked over his younger brother. Seeing that he too had been tanned by the sun to be like black charcoal, his heart ached. He should originally have been at the academy kicking balls with a group of classmates and stealing glances at the women’s academy. Now he could only drift on the ocean year-round like himself.

No male of the Hou family was permitted to set foot on Great Tang soil—this was the verdict all the distinguished nobles passed on the Hou family, and also gave the Hou family a chance to atone for their crimes. Otherwise, the Xiao family, Pei family, and Han family would absolutely never let it rest.

“Are you used to living on the ship? Right now you must grit your teeth and bear it. Father is gone. Those uncles and brothers have already done their utmost. Now we brothers can only rely on ourselves.”

“Big brother, I like life on the ship. Big Brother Dongyu is teaching me how to sail with all his effort. I’ve learned most of it—all that’s lacking is experience. Big Brother Dongyu says as long as I run around on the sea more, I’ll be ready.”

After Hou Ying finished talking about his own matters, he looked worriedly at the medicine packet on his elder brother’s shoulder.

“It’s nothing serious. I was bitten by a snake. I carved off a piece of flesh—it doesn’t matter. Where’s Xiaohu? He’s not crying anymore, is he? I also miss Mother, but I can’t see her.”

“Big brother, Xiaohu has always been weak and sickly, and he constantly gets seasick. We need to think of a solution. He can’t live on the ship—continuing this way will cost him his life. These days Big Brother Dongyu has been sending Xiaohu to shore and even dispatching people to guard him. This isn’t a long-term plan. How about sending Xiaohu back to Meng family’s stockade? With Mother watching over him, he’ll definitely recover.”

“No. No male of the Hou family may set foot on Great Tang soil—this is the agreement. Although the Hou family has lost Father, what is said is said—we absolutely must not comply in appearance but oppose in heart. Even if Xiaohu dies, he must die on the ship. This is the fate of Hou family sons—it cannot be violated. Father wrongfully killed over a thousand people on the grasslands back then. We are atoning for that crime.”

Seeing his elder brother grow angry, Hou Ying couldn’t help but lower his head and dared not speak further. Dongyu saw that all the people on shore had boarded the ship. The whistle in his mouth shrilly sounded three times. The seabirds roosting on the mast flew up toward the sky in alarm. All the sailors began bustling about. The thick stone anchors slowly rose from the seabed. Five large ships began slowly moving with the ocean current. When all the white sails were raised, the large ships had already begun breaking through the waves.

Hou Jie found a shady place and stretched his limbs as much as possible to move around. Hou Ying brought him a pot of tea. This was Hou Jie’s only remaining enjoyment. He had already abandoned magnificent clothing, delicious food, even the etiquette of the distinguished nobles had been cast far away. Only drinking tea—he hadn’t given that up. In his dreams there was always an incomparably beautiful woman in green robes brewing tea and conversing with him under a large willow tree.

“Big brother, are you still thinking about Xiao Wu? Big Brother Dongyu said that Big Brother Yun has already betrothed Xiao Wu to Di Renjie. By this time they’ve probably already married. Big brother, Mother said in her letter to me that she has selected a woman from a condemned official’s family. In a while she’ll send that woman to Anhuang City. Big brother, do you really want to marry that woman you don’t even know, the daughter of a condemned official?”

Hou Jie poured the golden tea water into his teacup with indescribable elegance. Two fingers pinched the teacup. He lowered his head and gently sniffed the fragrant tea aroma. After the tea fragrance had refreshed his entire lungs, he drank the tea water in one gulp. His eyes closed for a moment before he said to Hou Ying, “This was my idea. The past cannot be pursued—it’s all already past. Di Renjie is indeed better than me. Xiao Wu choosing him is proper and right. I shouldn’t have aspired so high in the first place.”

“Mother is getting old. Family matters always need someone to manage them. Those few concubines don’t know how to do anything. So, the family needs someone who can manage household affairs. Since I’ve reached the age for marriage, I should marry.”

“Big brother, that woman is said to be not at all good-looking, far inferior to Sister Xiao Wu. You are accomplished in both civil and martial affairs and command seventy-two islands overseas. You should at least marry a beauty. Marrying that woman will make people laugh at you.”

Hearing his elder brother say it was his own agreement, Hou Ying immediately cried out the great injustice on his elder brother’s behalf.

“You don’t understand shit. A great man inevitably has an unworthy wife or unfilial sons. Especially since we three brothers can only drift overseas, finding one who is too beautiful is just asking for trouble for ourselves. Finding one with plain appearance—she’ll know the enormous difference between herself and us. What can make us treasure her is nothing other than their faithfulness. That woman is very clever. She wants to rely on our family’s power to make their family better off. So, this kind of woman with clear goals who dares to sacrifice—that’s the kind of household mistress our family needs. For her own sake and for our sake, she’ll conscientiously manage this household. That’s enough.”

Hou Ying got a snubbing and petulantly turned his head to the side. He suddenly discovered that on his left side there was another fleet sailing in parallel—it was ships of the Lingnan fleet. The surging golden dragon flag on them was fluttering in the wind.

Hou Jie also saw it but made no indication. The Lingnan Navy was actively constructing the straits and didn’t usually appear. Why would it suddenly appear near Java island now? Could some major event have occurred?

Gaoshan Yangzi and Qiu Ran Ke were both in the outer seas—not one dared enter the straits. If they wanted to come in from the outer seas by going around, the difficulty wasn’t ordinary. Fresh water alone would cost them their lives. This fleet that appeared today was very strange, extraordinarily massive. It seemed the Lingnan Navy was deploying in full force. The supply ships alone formed a fleet. The ship gunwales sat very deep in the water. This was too strange. Could the imperial court be opening up new territorial waters? There shouldn’t be need for such a great formation, right?

A warship drew a beautiful arc on the sea surface, blocking the path of Hou Jie’s fleet. Looking at the flag number, it was Liu Renyuan’s flagship. The Princess was still wandering in the East China Sea and couldn’t return for a while.

Hou Jie ordered a small boat lowered. He took six household generals and rowed the small boat to Liu Renyuan’s warship. In the captain’s cabin, he met Liu Renyuan, who was looking at sea charts. He was holding a pencil, continuously marking navigation routes on the sea chart. Hou Jie was very unfamiliar with this sea chart. However, looking at the shapes of the nearby islands, this was very likely a sea chart from outside the straits.

Liu Renyuan finished marking the sea chart, rolled it up, put it in a waterproof cowhide tube, and handed it to Hou Jie, saying, “Xiaojie, be prepared. In another year, you’ll need to enter this sea area. It won’t be long before Gaoshan Yangzi becomes a vassal of the empire, possessing the same authority as us. Perhaps you don’t know—the Goguryeo people have surrendered. From now on, the Lingnan Navy has no way to take action against this woman anymore. Everything depends on you all. The great general’s meaning is for you to mature in the shortest time possible. Unite with Feng Ang to control the sea area again, not giving Gaoshan Yangzi the slightest opportunity to exploit.”

“On my return journey, I’ll leave you eleven retired warships. As for manpower, you’ll need to figure that out yourself. The distinguished nobles who have joined the Anhuang Plan are all your most powerful allies. They can be trusted.”

Hou Jie glanced at Liu Renyuan and said, “Naturally. I need warships and I need manpower. Now Java island has completely become our domain. It’s precisely the time when we need to build extensively. There’s no shortage of timber here. What’s lacking is stone and cement for building cities. I hope that the next time you come, you can bring us some.”