Heaven and earth seemed to transform into a gigantic curtain. The mirage became clearer—one could even see two enormous eagles circling the mountain peak.

Seeing the eagles, Yun Ye suddenly recalled the mountain peak he’d seen yesterday. Weren’t there two black eagles flying there? He’d fantasized about catching a couple of young ones to raise and asked Liu Jinbao if he could catch them. As a result, Liu Jinbao turned and ran. Shortly after, he introduced the foolishly grinning Dongyu, indicating this fellow could go catch eagles.

Unwilling to bully an honest man, he’d abandoned the idea of getting eagles. Who knew he’d see them again now? Several thin black columns appeared in the mirage. The eagles flew away in fright, disappearing from the scene. Only when the columns gradually enlarged could one see clearly what they were.

“Waterspouts! Haha, waterspouts! The Sea Dragon King is passing through! Now the immortal mountain will suffer. Wonder if the immortals are more powerful or the Sea Dragon King is more powerful?”

Yun Ye’s heart pounded like a drum. He wasn’t unaware of how formidable tornadoes were, and he knew an even more terrifying fact—the tornadoes were chasing right behind him. From the images, he could see huge trees uprooted. His ships were just tiny toys before tornadoes. They could even be swept into the sky.

Yun Ye screamed miserably and shouted loudly to Liu Renwuan, “Quick! Raise the sails and run fast toward where the mirage is! If we’re any later, it’ll be disastrous—no one will survive!”

“But Your Lordship, that’s just a mirage. Didn’t you just say this is a natural phenomenon and we shouldn’t make a fuss?”

Having traveled only a few dozen li yesterday, Yun Ye knew very clearly the tornadoes would arrive soon.

“Liu Renwuan, I order you to raise sails immediately and notify all ships to follow us and run quickly! If you violate this order, immediate execution!”

Yun Ye’s voice had turned shrill. Though Liu Renwuan didn’t understand, he still faithfully accepted Yun Ye’s order. The horn sounded. All ships became busy. The horn sound meant danger was approaching—everyone must prepare.

Yun Ye anxiously watched the direction of the ship’s stern, constantly urging Liu Renwuan in his mouth to speed up. Fortunately, this was a well-trained army. Before long, the fleet changed from gliding to rapid advance. The waves stirred up by the bow even splashed onto the deck. Today’s wind had suddenly grown stronger. Full sails would be very dangerous. Other ships kept sending signals requesting explanation. Yun Ye only replied they must follow closely, otherwise military law would be enforced.

He Zhongwu came out of the ship’s cabin rubbing his eyes. He’d been awakened by those noisy footsteps and the shrill ox horn sounds. Having taken many ships, he naturally knew what this horn sound meant.

“Marquis Yun, what’s happening? Have we encountered enemies? Are there enemies on our seas?”

Yun Ye said to him with an ashen face, “Shut up! Return to your cabin and don’t come out! Danger is coming. You’d better pray we can avoid it.”

The mirage was very magical. The fleet kept running forward, yet it seemed to be retreating. The tornadoes in the image disappeared, leaving only a mountain peak that had been thoroughly ravaged. The two eagles flew back again, circling around the mountain peak.

This wasn’t a good sign. Disappearing from the image meant they’d already run out of the mirage’s position and were chasing toward the fleet.

“Marquis Yun, why haven’t those Japanese followed?” He Zhongwu still had the mind to ask about the Japanese. When the fleet started fleeing earlier, they had actually pointed and laughed. Whether they died or not was none of his business.

The sky suddenly darkened. Liu Renwuan pointed at the distance in terror, unable to speak. Needless to say, the tornadoes had arrived. The clouds in the sky were all rotating. Five tornadoes, each over ten zhang thick, carried dull, strange sounds as they rapidly pursued from behind.

Human power was so weak and powerless before heavenly might. Dongyu frantically steered Yun Ye’s flagship toward a strait. He was too familiar with this area and knew where they could temporarily take shelter. The ships behind also followed closely. No one now asked why the flagship had gone mad, nor did anyone ask why they were heading toward the mirage.

Those three small Japanese ships only now began preparing to flee—it was already too late. Two tornadoes merged into one, becoming even more massive. Blue seawater was sucked into the sky, forming a silver dragon that truly reached the heavens above and the underworld below. Rotating, it rolled over the Japanese ships. He Zhongwu painfully closed his eyes, but Yun Ye kept his eyes wide open, watching as the tornado tore the ships to pieces and carried them to the sky. He could even see dozens of black dots flailing in the air. This was a wonder of the human world.

Dongyu finally steered the ship into the strait. He shouted twice, and sailors immediately used axes to cut the ropes tying the sails. The sails immediately slid down from the masts, and the magnolia boat’s speed also instantly decreased. The strait immediately rang with sounds of “Lower sails! Drop anchor!”

The sea surface at this time was like hell—waves surged turbulently. Purple lightning continuously struck the sea surface, raising clouds of white smoke. Violent rain poured down like buckets. Yun Ye tied himself to the mast. For the first time in his life, he prayed to heaven to forgive him. If just one tornado entered the strait, what awaited the fleet would be utter catastrophe.

The world seemed to enter a silent film. His ears were filled entirely with howling wind. Raindrops hitting his body burned painfully. Wu She approached Yun Ye step by step, but after just two steps, he was blown against the ship’s rail by the wind, unable to move.

Yun Ye heard the magnolia boat emit creaking sounds as if about to break. He sighed toward the heavens. His reaction had ultimately been a bit slow. If he’d been faster, perhaps they’d have had a chance to hide in the harbor. After all, they were now only a few dozen li from the harbor.

Rainwater poured into his nose, mouth, and ears. For the first time, he discovered rainwater was salty. No, this wasn’t rainwater—it was seawater carried into the sky by the tornadoes. Thinking of this, he was so frightened he almost cried out. Rainwater was nothing—except water, nothing else. But there were many things in seawater—fish, crabs, shrimp, and so on, plus Japanese people. Being killed by a fish was acceptable, but being killed by those Japanese—Yun Ye wouldn’t rest in peace even in death.

Why hadn’t he hidden in the ship’s cabin earlier? Why insist on playing hero on the deck? His eyes darted around, carefully watching his surroundings for any Japanese appearing. He gripped a knife in his hand. If he discovered anything wrong, he’d immediately cut the rope. He’d rather take a trip to heaven than suffer humiliation.

Liu Jinbao now looked like a flying kite, with a rope tied around his waist, flailing in the air. Wang Cai stuck his head out the cabin door, continuously whinnying. Seeing all this made Yun Ye’s heart ache wave after wave. A yellow croaker flew over. Yun Ye saw very clearly—it was indeed a yellow croaker. Its golden fish body appeared extremely magnificent in the lightning’s reflection. Flapping its tail, it lunged straight at Yun Ye’s face…

Very painful, extremely painful. In the instant before losing consciousness, Yun Ye remembered that the yellow croaker’s other name was stone-head fish—it had two hard stones in its head…

When he opened his eyes, he discovered it was another sunny day. If his face didn’t hurt so much, Yun Ye would definitely think he’d just been dreaming. Standing by the bed was a mummy—from the body shape, it seemed to be Liu Jinbao. That disheveled old man missing two teeth must be Wu She. Now he could change his name to Toothless. Dongyu had a purple tumor the size of an egg on his head. He Zhongwu was also bruised and swollen. Alas, the camp was full of wounded. Yun Ye had no courage to look in a mirror. He knew his appearance must be terrible to the extreme. Being hit in the face by a fat yellow croaker—how could it be light?

“What are the losses? How many ships do we still have? How many people did we lose?”

Hearing Yun Ye start speaking, everyone immediately crowded around. The mummy-like Liu Jinbao opened his mouth and burst into tears. Dongyu and He Zhongwu also kept crying. Even the normally expressionless Wu She wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

Yun Ye’s heart ached. His own ship was the largest, yet had suffered such heavy losses. Those smaller light warships and battleships would certainly be even more miserable.

He rolled over and sat up from the bed. Not even having time to put on shoes, he climbed onto the deck. Just arriving on deck, he saw it was full of military officers, all with neat armor. Seeing Yun Ye come out, they all knelt on one knee together and shouted loudly, “Mighty Marquis Yun!” The sound spread, and the strait immediately rang with earth-shaking roars: “Mighty Marquis Yun! Mighty Marquis Yun! Mighty Marquis Yun!”

This was the military’s most solemn ceremony, obtainable only by those of great wisdom and courage.

Yun Ye looked at this officer, then that officer, thumping one here, patting another there, then looking at the intact warships in the canyon. Tears streamed down his face like rain.

Returning to the cabin, he lay down at ease. He finally understood. It turned out the Yun Family’s magnolia boat had blocked all the disaster. That bastard Dongyu, for the fleet’s safety, had deliberately placed the largest, sturdiest Yun Family magnolia boat on the windward side—and placed it sideways, intending to have the magnolia boat block the wind for those smaller ships behind. The strait was already relatively safe. Adding the magnolia boat’s tall hull blocking the rotating fierce wind once, those small ships behind thus safely weathered the disaster. One by one, they lay at the cabin entrance watching Yun Ye’s heroic performance tying himself to the mast. One by one, their admiration for Marquis Yun surged like the flooding Yellow River, unstoppable.

This led to the subsequent scene of the soldiers’ hearts returning. In their view, a leader who wasn’t greedy but knew to seek benefits for subordinates was a good leader. Defeating pirates and distributing all the spoils was sufficient proof. Add to that using his own flagship to desperately block disaster for everyone in the strait—and witnessing it with their own eyes—this was moving. Moreover, his status was sufficiently noble. With such a commanding general, they wouldn’t worry their military achievements would be buried in the future. These three points were enough. As for not being very good at fighting—did that matter? The ones who fought were soldiers, not commanders. As long as the commander didn’t give chaotic orders, naval battles were just those few things—approaching, boarding, seizing ships, killing people. What was needed was experience and courage, not wisdom.

Yun Ye knew how complex later generations’ naval regulations were—far more complicated than the army, truly requiring high intelligence and high willpower to be competent. But now was the Great Tang. How could he not manage somehow?

“Wu She, let’s make a deal. Help me beat Dongyu until even his wife can’t recognize him. If you feel it’s too cruel, just think about those two teeth you lost!”