Yun Ye took the hat from Xiao Cangsheng’s hands. Inside the hat were seven or eight pieces of brown resin, emitting a faint fragrance. Even without refinement, it was so intoxicating—if essential oil were extracted, the scent would surely be even richer.

“Marquis, this is all the finest quality frankincense. Only the land of black people produces these things.”

“In the past, could a single glass pendant be exchanged for five magnificent horses?”

Xiao Cangsheng was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said: “Impossible, Marquis. In the past, a glass pendant could at most be exchanged for one good horse. These supreme warhorses could never be obtained.”

Yun Ye thought for a moment, then said to Xiao Cangsheng: “Go get my pendant back, and while you’re at it, bring back the remaining seven warhorses as well. Tell those merchants I’ll wait by the reef. They have only the time of one incense stick to persuade me.”

Wu She cackled like a crow. Hong Cheng seemed to be meeting Yun Ye for the first time. He pointed at the departing Xiao Cangsheng, then at Yun Ye, then reached back to vigorously scratch his hair. He couldn’t understand why Yun Ye would do such a shameless thing so openly and righteously, as if the foreigners were the ones gaining the advantage.

Wu She patted his shoulder and said: “Now you understand, right? Why he’s a marquis and you can only be an earl, constantly being transferred back and forth by His Majesty, having to endlessly kill people to earn merit. You can’t compare to how he both accepts gifts and sells favors, and in the end the court still benefits. This kind of person is born to be a high official. You and I just need to be good servants—don’t harbor those messy thoughts in your heart. This world belongs to them, not to you and me.”

Wang Cai impatiently circled around the five mares. Unfortunately, those mares seemed to have no interest in him. As soon as he climbed up, they would run away, frustrating Wang Cai to the point of whinnying loudly.

“Marquis, these mares, due to the exhaustion of their journey, have not yet gone into heat, so Wang Cai is laboring in vain.”

The Yun family had plenty of expert horse handlers. Just by observing those mares, they understood what was going on.

Three black-haired merchants wrapped in cloth followed Xiao Cangsheng to Yun Ye. They placed their hands on their chests in salute, rapidly speaking a long passage.

After listening for a while, Xiao Cangsheng said to Yun Ye: “Honored Lord Marquis, your loyal friend Aladdin sends his regards. Meeting you on this beautiful seaside is Allah’s arrangement.”

Aladdin was very fat, extremely fat. Just the motion of bowing made him gasp for breath. For some reason, Yun Ye always held great goodwill toward plump merchants. Whether it was He Shao or other merchants, he always felt their enormous bellies represented their abundant financial resources.

“I’ve accepted your gift, so I should meet you. Do the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers still nourish you once a year as before?”

“Honored sir, those two rivers are gifts Allah bestowed upon the children of the desert. Every year after the rivers flood, barley grows on the land. It is a paradise flowing with honey and milk, and also Aladdin’s homeland.”

“Aladdin, you’ve come from ten thousand li away to our land. What do you seek to obtain? As far as I know, merchants don’t make investments without returns. Speak. If the matter isn’t very difficult, I’ll provide this convenience—of course, everything must be within my authority.”

Aladdin prostrated himself at Yun Ye’s feet, desperately kissing Yun Ye’s boots, speaking a long string of words in broken fragments, seeming extremely sorrowful.

“Honored Lord Marquis, please help poor Aladdin! Bandits from Medina have seized my three ships. My beloved youngest son was also abducted by them. Not far from you on the sea, they’re waiting at any moment for your fleet to depart, preparing to plunder your fleet at sea. Now Allah’s divine wind has risen. I brought my only remaining ship and, after experiencing countless perils, was brought here by the sea wind. This is Allah’s arrangement—to have me come report this terrible conspiracy to you.”

Yun Ye’s pupils involuntarily contracted. Arabian pirates had actually come here? Had the East African route already been opened? Muhammad was already dead. The current Caliph should be an outstanding figure. Could it be that they had inherited Muhammad’s endless desire for land and had already begun their missionary concept of holding the Quran in one hand and a sword in the other, wanting to spread Allah’s will throughout the entire world? Persia hadn’t fallen yet—what gave them the audacity to set their sights on the Great Tang?

“Aladdin, are they military forces or pirates?”

“Honored Lord Marquis, those damned pirates are both military and pirates. They accept the Caliph’s rule but don’t accept the Caliph’s recruitment. Relying on their large numbers, they’ve already blockaded the strait. Aladdin fought desperately to pass through the strait and was pursued and attacked by them all the way. Allah be praised, I finally arrived safely in the Middle Kingdom. Of four ships, only one remains. My poor child must now be being sold everywhere as a slave. Allah will not be so unjust to me—I beg the great Marquis to save my child. I’m willing to offer all the goods I’ve brought to you.”

“How many men do they have? How many ships? Where are they now?”

“Honored Marquis, the damned pirates have a total of fifteen ships. Each ship has eighty men, plus the oar-rowing slaves, making one hundred and ten people. They’re guarding the bay’s exit. There’s a small island there—they guard the exit and won’t let us leave.”

Yun Ye’s face turned iron-blue. He said to Liu Jinbao: “Watch them. Don’t let them leave. Anyone who leaves without permission will be executed!” He summoned all officers of captain rank and above to meet in the main tent, preparing to devise a feasible strategy to eliminate these pirates and open his sea route. However, as soon as he finished explaining the situation once, chaos erupted in the tent.

Upon hearing the news of pirates, those soldiers actually became excited. Quite a few clasped their hands together to thank heaven for sending them pirates, then ran back to their warships without looking back, preparing to set sail. Oh heavens! How long had it been since they’d heard news of pirates?

Two years or three? This was the navy’s greatest source of wealth! This time there were actually fifteen pirate ships, and they were fat pirates who had just finished plundering a large merchant convoy. These fellows who dared to attack pirates with just a fish spear could only see endless supplies and military merit in their eyes. These pirates were treasures, were military merit. The court had long ago established that capturing or killing pirates was equivalent to killing enemies. Was it easy for the navy to find opportunities to earn military merit? Floating on the water all year round, transporting things from east to west, then from west to east—the military fleet, never mind encountering pirates, hadn’t even seen many petty thieves. Even the older military veterans threw themselves into this with enormous enthusiasm. The opportunity was rare.

After everyone had run out of the tent, Yun Ye discovered he hadn’t even given an order yet. Liu Renyuan rushed in from outside the tent, grabbed Yun Ye, and ran outside: “Teacher, what are you waiting for? We need to depart quickly too. If we’re late, there won’t be any opportunity left.”

In a confused daze, he boarded a small boat. While still retaining a bit of rationality, he ordered Sun Renshi to lead the newly arrived Yangtze River naval forces to guard the wealth and grain. He himself took Liu Renyuan’s boat and set sail. From afar, he saw Sun Renshi trying to pacify the captain who had just arrived and was now jumping with rage.

On the sea surface, the entire fleet very naturally formed three arrowheads. The ships all hoisted full sails. The bows split the waves as they advanced at full speed. Formation? Yun Ye didn’t notice any.

“Liu Renyuan, if we swarm over like this and fall into an ambush, what do we do?”

“Teacher, on the great ocean there’s nothing to hide behind. To set an ambush requires special waters. Almost every one of these captains has been eating ship’s rice for several generations. How to dominate on the water—they know this by heart. Haven’t you seen that they’ve already arranged the division of labor for charging, supporting, and rescue themselves? On the water, it comes down to who has the bigger ships and who has more ships. It’s impossible for foreigners to dispatch a huge fleet to our doorstep. The journey is too far. From here to the Arab lands, even with favorable winds and currents, takes ninety days. Now that the seasonal winds have risen, they’re favorable for us. If they want to escape, they need to sail against the wind. If we don’t eat such fat meat, even heaven won’t forgive us.”

“But they only heard the enemy situation report and set out on their own without receiving orders. This is a grave offense.” Yun Ye very much disliked his subordinates’ undisciplined and disorganized behavior.

“Marquis, what order would you give? Even if you gave an order, these fellows would change it beyond recognition. In our Great Tang, we don’t go looking for trouble with others—they should be grateful. Yet they actually have the audacity to come swagger around our doorstep and even blockade the bay! This kind of thing is usually what we do—wandering around other people’s doorsteps for no reason, like Korea and Silla, these countries. Now it’s reversed—it’s their turn to blockade us. Right now there are nearly a hundred medium-sized warships sitting idle. Do you think these people can restrain themselves?”

Forget it. Yun Ye helplessly sat in his chair. Dongyu had long since put on his gear—which actually just consisted of a strip of cloth wrapped around his waist. On the rope around his waist hung a gleaming large iron hook and a section of rope twisted from sharkskin, obviously for climbing onto enemy ships. In his hand was a sharp iron spike, and he held a short blade in his mouth—truly armed to the teeth. He wasn’t the only one wearing this outfit. Behind him, a row of bare-chested big men were jumping up and down, urging the ship to go even faster.

Liu Renyuan kept walking back and forth, loudly shouting orders to row. The oiled cloth on the eight-ox crossbow at the bow had already been removed. Five strong men were creaking and groaning as they wound the string. After getting it in position, they shouted loudly, and immediately a man wedged the stop into the block. Three iron spears with barbed hooks were placed in the arrow grooves. Behind the butts of the iron spears were thick ropes as thick as fingers.

The fellow standing on the mast suddenly shouted: “Ships ahead! Left forward, three of them!” Every word was shouted extremely clearly—this was the result of years of training.

Ten fast boats in the fleet rapidly left the formation, quickly approaching those three foreign vessels with high rising bows and sterns. Those three ships, seeing such an enormous fleet, planned to make a wide turn and retreat. The wind direction was extremely unfavorable for them. The Great Tang’s vessels had come around in a large circle. To return, they would have to cross through the entire fleet.

“The foreigners’ ships aren’t very large.” Yun Ye turned to ask Liu Renyuan.

“Marquis, it’s already remarkable that foreigners have ships that can run on the sea. You still expect them to have large ships? What a pity—we don’t have a share of these three ships.” Watching as their ten fast boats drew closer and closer to the foreign ships, Liu Renyuan unwillingly pounded the ship’s railing.

Suddenly, several black dots flew up from the enemy ships, falling toward the Great Tang fast boats. Most fell into the seawater, with only one or two landing on ships. Yun Ye’s heart involuntarily tightened.