The Dadi’s entry into the South Seas could not be concealed from those with watchful eyes. Its massive form cruised through the Yangtze River, inspecting its domain like a sovereign. Even the blind could feel the sense of oppression it brought.

Those supply vessels couldn’t keep up with the Dadi’s speed, and Yun Ye was unwilling to be dragged down by them. The Dadi followed the rolling Yangtze waters at nearly a thousand li per day.

Unlike Yun Ye’s anxiety, Lu Chengqing’s heart was filled with joy. He hadn’t expected that controlling the Lingnan Navy would go so smoothly. When clearing out the marine corps, he thought he would face resistance. Who could have anticipated that those people would pack their belongings and leave the Lingnan Navy without a word, boarding several large ships of the maritime transport fleet without even a backward glance, heading directly to Mingzhou? He heard that Mingzhou Prefect Niu Jianhu would take in these people.

Lu Chengqing knew the relationship between the Yun family and the Niu family in great detail. Such actions were not surprising in the least. He was just puzzled by High Mountain Yangtze’s request, saying that on this return journey, she was bringing too much cargo. Her ships could barely hold it all, and she needed the Lingnan Navy’s assistance.

“Has this woman lost sight of what’s primary and secondary?” Lu Chengqing looked at the letter in his hand and said to his deputy general.

“Indeed so. Even if she were bringing a mountain of gold, there’s no reason for the Lingnan Navy to go meet her. The Great Tang’s illustrious military prestige must still be maintained. Although wealth is important, this subordinate believes face is even more important.”

Lu Chengqing nodded and said: “We’ve just arrived, and there are a thousand threads to sort out. We haven’t even straightened out our own affairs. Yongzhou, Guangzhou, Quanzhou—these places with Maritime Trade Supervisorates all harbor heavy hostility toward us. Those fierce generals in the military are also very dissatisfied with this commander’s arrival. Look—Yun Ye has practically turned the Lingnan Navy into his own household. If those Five Li Commandants didn’t exist, the Lingnan Navy would have long since become a private army. This is intolerable.”

“At this time, we have no need to deploy. We’ll just stay in Quanzhou. You go write a letter ordering High Mountain Yangtze to immediately bring her fleet to Quanzhou to accept reorganization. Right now, wealth isn’t important. What’s important is receiving High Mountain Yangtze’s tribal forces.”

“After breaking them up and dispersing them into various camps, order the Five Li Commandants to intensify their screening. Anyone with Great Tang blood on their hands must be executed without exception. This menace cannot be left behind, otherwise if Yun Ye seizes upon this weakness, our troubles will be enormous.”

“No matter how despicable Yun Ye is, he said one thing correctly: the wild nature of pirates is difficult to eliminate. Once you’ve been a thief for a day, the thief’s nature enters your bones. If a mutiny occurs in the Great Tang’s internal seas, your head and mine will be hard to preserve. Therefore, the urgent priority is to urgently weaken High Mountain Yangtze’s strength. Leave her a portion of elite forces that can help us accumulate wealth, and that will suffice.”

The deputy general nodded in agreement and went out to find scribes to write the official document. Lu Chengqing himself remained on the ship, preparing to discuss again with the Five Li Commandants to see if a few officers could be replaced. If a commander didn’t even have control over his own troops, it would become a laughing matter. Having led troops in battle for many years, Lu Chengqing was not a completely useless good-for-nothing.

Closing his eyes, he slowly recalled bit by bit his encounters with High Mountain Yangtze. Whenever he recalled, his mind filled entirely with the woman’s naked body. Although the Heavenly Demon Dance had removed its demonic nature, that most primitive sexual desire still remained. Lu Chengqing very much wanted to witness it again. Thinking that High Mountain Yangtze would henceforth become his private possession made his whole body heat up. That demon-like woman marrying Yuan Gaesu Wen was truly a waste.

Lu Chengqing had nothing more to say about Yun Ye’s waste of heaven’s gifts. A perfectly good wastrel who, upon seeing a peerless beauty, not only remained unmoved but constantly thought about how to chop off that woman’s head—he couldn’t be considered a true hero.

A great man’s chest contains the mechanism to swallow the universe. Within his breast, he can accommodate ten thousand brocades. How could he resort to killing in every matter? There aren’t many beautiful things in this world—showing more tender care is all that’s needed. How could one ruthlessly destroy flowers? He also couldn’t be considered a true wastrel.

The nation had become so powerful that looking around, there were no rivals across the four seas. This was precisely the time for our generation to indulge in pleasure. A mere band of pirates—how could they damage our Great Tang’s realm? Previously, he had disapproved of Yun Ye chasing a weak woman all over the seas. Now it was better. When the beauty came, he needed to embrace her in his arms, lavish affection upon her, and properly comfort her for these years of suffering.

His heart felt like it contained a ball of fire. Lu Chengqing walked onto the deck and saw the enormous lamp designed to infuriate the wind still lit on the mast. The scout on the watchtower was still observing in all directions. Ahead, blockade lines formed every fifty zhang. The Lingnan Navy’s four fleets surrounded his flagship like stars surrounding the moon. Even farther out, two warships continuously patrolled under the moonlight. These were scout ships. If there was any alarm, these two ships bore the responsibility of advancing to intercept, buying preparation time for the fleet behind.

On the harbor’s edge, soldiers also patrolled back and forth, giving the enemy no opening to exploit.

That Yun Ye was praised by others as a famous general was not without reason. At least Lu Chengqing hadn’t discovered anywhere that needed improvement. He wasn’t a reckless fool. Since Yun Ye’s arrangements had no loopholes, why should he bother making changes? These people were all Great Tang militia soldiers, not his personal private army. As long as they followed him for a long time, naturally their hearts would turn toward him.

Yun Ye could use wealth to win people’s hearts, and so could he. Having conducted this capital-free business for so many years, he also didn’t lack that bit of spare silver. Soldiers eating military rations was natural and proper. There was no need to treat soldiers too harshly—he still relied on these brave lads to争取 争取更大的权益呢 secure even greater benefits for him. As a general, without troops he was nothing. One only needed to look at those old generals in the capital to understand—helping the Emperor guard the palace gates? What kind of assignment was that?

“Someone, give all the scouts an extra meal. The meat dishes can be generous, but there must be no alcohol.” Lu Chengqing called out, and immediately an attendant emerged from the dark corner, received the order, and went to handle it.

Walking from the bow to the stern, seeing that everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, he set his mind at ease and went directly to the ship’s cabin to rest. Tomorrow’s meeting with the Five Li Commandants concerned the ownership of the Lingnan Navy—no carelessness was permitted.

On the vast sea, a huge fleet sailed eastward under full sail in the darkness. High Mountain Yangtze was calm as water. Ever since entering the strait, she had maintained this placid expression.

The fleet was about to reach Crab Island, yet Lu Chengqing hadn’t come. She understood then that whether it was Yun Ye or Lu Chengqing, neither took her fleet seriously. Or rather, those high-ranking Tang generals had never considered her fleet as one of their own.

She knew very clearly that if her fleet were an official Tang fleet, returning home from the distant Abbasid seas, the commander would definitely go to the strait to welcome them and cheer for them. Distant voyages had never been easy matters.

Perhaps she truly should make everyone in the world know of her existence. When Gao Jianwu surrendered, High Mountain Yangtze knew that Yuan Gaesu Wen’s surrender was beyond doubt. Pitiable that she was still rushing about on the sea, raising military equipment for Goguryeo, then arduously sending it back bit by bit. Her existence wasn’t on Gao Jianwu’s surrender memorial. Yuan Gaesu Wen’s unsent surrender memorial also didn’t bear her name. No one vouched for her. Even her uncle, the Emperor of Wa, didn’t permit her to land in Wa.

Imperial ambitions and hegemonic enterprises had come to nothing. She had become an orphan of the seas…

When the ships passed Crab Island, the red sun was just rising. High Mountain Yangtze deliberately went to the island to pay respects to those departed warriors. Stepping through scattered, withered bones that covered her ankles, High Mountain Yangtze personally untied a mutilated corpse from a wooden pole. Disregarding the nauseating stench of the corpse, she removed her cloak and covered the remains, then burst into loud weeping. This mutilated corpse was Hua San’s. Yun Ye had no way to deal with Hua San on land, but as soon as Hua San went to sea, he was captured by Feng Ang. According to custom, pirates needed to be nailed to wooden poles and erected on Crab Island as a warning.

High Mountain Yangtze wept bitterly. Cheng Jiu also wailed loudly. The pirates behind her all wept loudly. These cries spread across the sea. The entire fleet was weeping aloud. High Mountain Yangtze raised a skull and, facing all the pirates, said loudly: “Heaven bears witness—if this vengeance is not avenged, I swear I am not human!”

“Grandpa lives between heaven and earth, won’t be immortal, won’t be official, born with nature to kill people, head falls off, laughing ha ha. Grandpa lives between heaven and earth, raging waves and billows are my home, killing people and destroying homes, a bare stick laughing ha ha. Grandpa lives between heaven and earth…”

High Mountain Yangtze went mad. The pirates sang. The mad person shed tears, and those singing also shed tears. No matter how fierce a person, they all had two old friends or relatives. Over these years, Yun Ye’s Lingnan fleet had executed countless pirates, almost every one tortured to death. Fear of Yun Ye had reached its extreme and transformed into fearlessness.

Now that eagle dog of Yun Ye had been transferred away by the Emperor. No matter who the current head of the Lingnan Navy was, they feared nothing. The countless wronged souls on Crab Island seemed also to wail. The sinister wind blew, and countless grains of sand and bone fragments were carried into mid-air by small whirlwinds, as if crying to these surviving pirates about their tragic experiences.

The entire sea area was shrouded in sorrow. High Mountain Yangtze personally beat the great drum. The boom-boom-boom sound struck not only the drum skin but also the pirates’ hearts. Since they were mortal enemies, how could there be any talk of surrender? If they surrendered, perhaps they would die even more miserably.

High Mountain Yangtze’s fleet split into three groups here. High Mountain Yangtze personally led the largest group, escorting countless treasures toward Quanzhou. The other two groups of pirates sailed toward the vast open sea.

Feng Ang, leading a local Guangzhou fleet, monitored High Mountain Yangtze’s fleet, watching them sail eastward all the way toward Quanzhou. Not until High Mountain Yangtze’s fleet disappeared over the horizon did Feng Ang breathe a sigh of relief. In Yun Ye’s letter, he said this woman might very likely launch a surprise attack on Guangzhou. Now that she had left, perhaps Guangzhou could be preserved. This fleet was too massive. Feng Ang looked at his own thirty to fifty warships and couldn’t help shaking his head, saying: “Still too few ships, too few.”

Lu Chengqing stood triumphantly by the ship’s side, watching seagulls soaring about everywhere, extremely cheerful. High Mountain Yangtze was obedient. She had already passed Guangzhou. Would it be today or tomorrow before she could reach Quanzhou?

He couldn’t wait. The moment he thought of the Heavenly Demon Dance in High Mountain Yangtze’s mind, it became even more vivid.