At daybreak, the entrance to the Yun residence was filled with the neighing of horses and shouting of men. After Yun Ye paid his respects to Old Grandmother, he mounted the restless Wang Cai and took the lead toward the Qinling Mountain pass. Liu Jinbao followed the Marquis without leaving his side for even a moment. Lai Chuanfeng shouted loudly as he supervised the provisions bringing up the rear. The militia soldiers and civilian laborers called out in unison and slowly set out.

The Academy students followed behind unwillingly, running along. Except for three senior students, Yun Ye declined all the students. Pang Yuhai, Li Yifu, and Yumin were so excited their faces burned hot. This was a real military expedition! That the three of them could be selected by the Grand Commander as Secretariat Participant Officers was a tremendous honor. Those petty matters at the Academy were truly not worth mentioning.

At the Qinling Mountain pass, there was also a large crowd. Old Cheng, Old Niu, Old Qin, and Yuchi Gong had all come. Even Li Jing and Li Ji, who had not stepped outside their residences for a long time, had emerged. Zhangsun Chong embraced a wine jar and stuffed it into Yun Ye’s arms, saying: “I know you love grape wine. This is fine wine my father has cellared for many years. It’s yours. May you win every battle.”

Yun Ye reached out to embrace Zhangsun Chong, patted him twice on the back, and asked him to look after the Yun family. With Cheng Chumo and Li Huairen both absent, and Li Chengqian inconveniently positioned, he could only entrust this to him.

“Rest assured, before you return, I’ll be careful. Nothing will go wrong.”

Old Cheng was much more straightforward. He pushed the fully armored Cheng Chuliang behind Yun Ye, then presented a tray of wine. Yun Ye paid his respects to all his elders, then drained the wine from the tray in one gulp.

“If Zhang Zhongjian obstructs your military strategy, you need not consider my face. Feel free to act as you see fit. The South Seas cannot afford any mistakes.”

Unexpectedly, Li Jing actually spoke such words at this moment. Yun Ye nodded, then cupped his hands in farewell to everyone, saying: “The South Seas crisis is urgent and cannot be delayed. Yun Ye takes his leave now. When I return victorious to the capital in the future, I will visit the residences of all you elders to express my gratitude. Yun Ye departs.”

Niu Jinda slapped Wang Cai on the rump, and Wang Cai cried out “ai ya ya” as he took the lead galloping toward the mountain pass…

Yun Ye marched at high speed. In three days, he burst out of the Jinniu Road and onto the highway leading directly to Hanzhong. After traveling three days on the highway, they would turn into the Baoxie Road. At the old site of Qipan Pass, Yun Ye ordered a rest. The last time he traveled the Baoxie Road, it rained for seven days. Now taking the Baoxie Road again, he encountered rain once more—still that kind of light drizzle. With a force of over two thousand people including civilian laborers, Yun Ye dared not take risks. A squad of scouts braved the rain and plunged into the Baoxie Road. Safety first! In this damned era, having a road to walk on was already thanks to Buddha—who could still worry about danger or no danger?

This wretched road was the main route connecting Guanzhong with Hanzhong. Merchants traveled back and forth endlessly. Yet today, throughout the entire day, they hadn’t seen any merchants coming through, which meant there might have been another landslide.

In the evening, the scouts brought back news: the road wasn’t blocked, just that tigers had appeared. What kind of reason was that? Tigers might worry merchants, but to an army, they were just a dish to be served. Cheng Chuliang happily howled with excitement. He had long wanted to kill a tiger to make a mattress for his father. In the army, even Yumin, who had the smallest courage, didn’t consider tigers a threat.

As soon as dawn broke, the large force continued forward. To prevent scouts from being carried off by tigers, Yun Ye dispatched scouts in units of ten people, and equipped them all with powerful crossbows.

The Lantian County Magistrate was very thoughtful. Knowing the Marquis’s preferences, he took out all the powerful crossbows from the armory and equipped the militia soldiers with them, basically achieving one crossbow per person.

Indeed there were tigers. Walking along the narrow mountain path, tiger roars and ape cries continuously came from both sides. There was no time to drive away these menaces for traveling merchants—hurrying along was the proper business.

Reaching the place where Cao Cao had inscribed characters, the Bao River was still surging and magnificent. This was a good sign, indicating that the Han River’s water volume was very abundant, and traveling by boat would have no problems whatsoever.

His order to Liu Renyuan was to equip the Dadi, not to completely outfit the Dadi with everything. As long as all the weaponry was loaded onto the ship, it could be rapidly equipped along the way. Taking the water route, no one could possibly be faster than him. By land, the Yun family’s retainers had already been rushing day and night toward Lingnan. Blocking the Meiling Ancient Road was imperative. As long as he could gain ten days, Yun Ye believed that news from the capital’s nobles would absolutely not be as fast as his troop deployment.

Wang Cai’s fur seemed to all stand on end. He kept turning his head to look at Yun Ye, which meant danger was approaching. Back when crossing the great mountains, if Wang Cai hadn’t possessed this ability, who knows how many times they would have died?

Drawing a powerful crossbow from his saddlebag and watching the forest beside him, Liu Jinbao gave a low roar. The Yun family retainers immediately formed a semicircle protecting Yun Ye in the middle. Even now, Yun Ye couldn’t believe that tigers would ambush a large military force.

The grass parted, and what emerged wasn’t a tiger but a large bear. That damned Li Er had killed a bear here last time and carried off two bear cubs. Now their kin had come for revenge.

This was the first time discovering that bears could run so fast. It didn’t charge at Yun Ye but instead went for the rear guard. Lai Chuanfeng was so delighted his mouth couldn’t close. Standing on the wagon, he operated the eight-ox crossbow. When the bear drew close, he suddenly struck. The eight-ox crossbow was too powerful. To preserve the bear hide’s integrity, Lai Chuanfeng aimed for the mouth, but the crossbow bolt blasted the entire bear head into two halves. Lai Chuanfeng jumped off the wagon and kicked the bear in frustration. A bear hide without a head wasn’t worth much.

“The bear hide is yours, the bear paws are mine.” Last time when he asked Li Er for bear paws, he had been humiliated. When Li Er ate bear paws himself, he hadn’t even called Yun Ye. This time, within the force, he was the boss and could distribute the spoils of war as he pleased.

Passing by the place where they had previously encountered the mudslide, he deliberately looked at that section of road. The human heads had disappeared, replaced by some giant boulders. It seemed the local officials of Baozhou also felt that paving roads with human remains was truly unsightly.

Under Yun Ye’s urging, the troops quickly reached Nanzheng. At the Zhongxiang dock, Yun Ye issued receipts to the civilian laborers. With these receipts, the civilian laborers had completed their corvée labor and would not need to be conscripted again by the court for three years.

This section of the Han River was shallow and could only be traveled by bamboo raft. Yun Ye wasn’t particular about such things. Boarding the bamboo rafts, he ordered the Nanzheng civilian laborers to push forward desperately. These giant bamboo rafts had sails mounted on them and glided extremely fast, even covering a hundred li in a single day.

Reaching Daye, the Han River appeared much broader, truly possessing the bearing of a great river. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Chu people were the earliest to master iron smelting technology and use iron implements. The world’s first furnace for forging pig iron belonged to the Chu people. Moreover, the Chu people’s gold and silver coins—Ying Yuan and Chen Yuan—remained treasured collectibles eagerly sought by Great Tang nobles to this day. It was the Chu people who first introduced gold into the circulation domain, where it fulfilled monetary functions.

Daye was most famous for copper smelting. The lost-wax method, this ancient technique, was still being employed by the people of Great Tang to this day. It must be said to be a tremendous invention.

When Yun Ye reached Daye, he again needed to change boats. Since he was traveling even faster than the court’s postal horses, Daye’s officials still didn’t know they needed to prepare vessels for Grand Commander Yun. After Cheng Chuliang personally ran to the government office with the documents, the dock descended into chaos. Countless civilian boats were requisitioned. The civilian laborers, regardless of what the civilian boats were used for, loaded all the supplies onto the boats and immediately departed. What Yun Ye lacked now was time.

Flowing downstream from Daye, the surface of the Han River grew wider and wider. White sails dotted the river surface. Ships coming from Yuezhou transported countless goods upriver on the Han River, then entered Guanzhong via the Baoxie Road. This was a busy waterway.

The five-toothed great warships had reportedly already been partially dismantled, while another portion had been converted by merchants into pleasure boats. Now they swayed about on the surface of Dongting Lake, the sound of strings and flutes ceaselessly filling the air day after day.

A generation of magnificent water overlords, reduced to such a state, had drawn the pity of countless scholars and poets. Several excellent songs had already become indispensable finale performances on these pleasure boats.

Returning to the ship, Yun Ye felt much more at ease. Perhaps his lifeline had already been drawn to the sea. Where my heart is at peace is home. The ceaselessly surging warship seemed able to bring Yun Ye infinite strength.

At Jiangxia river mouth, he saw the long-absent Dadi. Although it had served as a cargo ship for a period, its fierce bearing hadn’t changed in the slightest. Lying across the great river, it remained imposing from all angles. Only now the Dadi resembled a busy construction site, with countless craftsmen busily restoring the Dadi’s armament. For this water overlord to recover its former glory would still require some time.

Liu Renyuan came to receive Yun Ye. After examining various documents, he asked Yun Ye sorrowfully: “Can we make it in time?”

“I believe we certainly can. According to my calculations, High Mountain Yangtze is currently en route to Guangzhou. Given Lu Chengqing’s arrogance, he absolutely won’t go to welcome High Mountain Yangtze. He wants to assume the posture of a host waiting for his servant to come pay respects. He just doesn’t know that High Mountain Yangtze will absolutely never become anyone’s servant. She was born to be the master.”

“As long as we can swiftly control the Lingnan Navy, High Mountain Yangtze’s doom will arrive. I don’t believe she can escape from under the Dadi’s crossbow bolts this time. I don’t like variables, and I also hope Lu Chengqing won’t debase himself by leading the Lingnan Navy to welcome High Mountain Yangtze. If the Lingnan Navy suffers even the slightest mishap, I will tear Lu Chengqing to pieces.”

“Let’s leave right now. There’s no need to waste time on those boring ceremonies. The troops’ rest and reorganization can be carried out on the ship. The Dadi is extremely stable, and you’ve brought fierce warriors experienced in naval combat. We don’t need to coordinate—we’ll set sail directly southward. Right now is when the Yangtze’s water volume is most abundant. Going downstream will certainly be extremely fast.”

“We must arrive at the South Seas before those traitorous bastards can send intelligence, and tear all these ill-intentioned scum to pieces.” When it came to feelings for the Lingnan Navy, Liu Renyuan’s ran even deeper than Yun Ye’s. He had commanded this fleet year after year for a long time. The Lingnan Navy had long since merged into his bloodstream.

The horn sounded. The Dadi’s enormous stone anchor slowly rose from the river bottom. Two of the five giant sails unfurled. The Dadi began to sail slowly along the Yangtze waterway. Before long, its speed became extremely fast. Dongyu grasped the ship’s rudder, shouting “wa la wa la” about something, appearing extremely excited.