Xiao Wei finally admitted that he couldn’t do it. Of course, dismantling the Great Zhou Emperor’s ancestral temple was just a metaphor, but he understood that there had never been any room for imperial authority in Mo Zi’s eyes or heart. Words and actions that he considered treasonous—she would say them and do them without hesitation, audaciously bold. And what was even more incredible was that Yuan Cheng was exactly the same kind of person.

What Mo Zi said was actually quite right. He was attracted to her independent spirit, yet endlessly troubled by it. He could do his utmost to give her a comfortable home, do his utmost to cherish and dote on her, but it was absolutely impossible to indulge her in everything. While he was changing for her, he hoped she would also change for him, so their life together could be harmonious. He gave, but he also sought something in return.

Having found the true gap between them, he looked at her, at her face that had grown increasingly radiant with marital bliss, and knew he should stop here. “Congratulations.”

Whether or not she received his blessing didn’t matter at all to Mo Zi, but it was very important to Xiao Wei. She smiled slightly, “Thank you.” This was enough. Magnanimously saying something about being friends in the future wouldn’t be appropriate for this man whose edges were too sharp to hear.

Xiao Wei turned and left. From now on, he would harbor no improper thoughts toward her, but her name would be forever carved in his heart. Because of her, he understood that the feeling of truly loving someone could be so intense, even willing to overturn his original understanding. Perhaps in this lifetime he would never again meet such a woman. But it didn’t matter—that burning passion would remain for a long time, until he needed to fulfill the responsibilities of a husband and father.

Wang Shiniang paired with Xiao Wei. Mo Zi thought as she entered the workshop that this matchmaking might just be right. Two extraordinary people both from enormous families would necessarily have points of mutual understanding and reflection, easily producing feelings of mutual respect and love, and naturally becoming inseparable from each other in the future. Just like her and Yuan Cheng.

After several days, Yuan Cheng and Jinyin jointly issued a proclamation to the world. The text stated thus: Since the century-old covenant was destroyed, human hearts have become unscrupulous, morality has collapsed, the strong are unbridled and without restraint, weak rulers are greedy and incompetent, and even the mother country of Great Zhou has fallen into war. The common people are displaced, wandering helplessly, unable to maintain stable lives. The old order is no more—this is the perfect time to establish a new order. The original second prince of Yuling, Chu Yu, and the original prime minister of Nande, Yuan Cheng, are willing to break down borders and jointly lead people of aspiration throughout the realm to quell chaos and seek great peace. Now, the original Yuling army and the Righteous Yuan army have merged in Song County, collectively called the Song Army. All who join the Song Army will no longer be distinguished as Nande or Yuling people. From Pingzhou in Yuling to Longzhou in Nande is Song territory. Anyone who invades will be viewed as treasonous troublemakers, and the Song Army will never tolerate or retreat.

This proclamation was recorded in history as the Song Founding Document, representing three matters. First, the end of Chu Yu’s mission as a Yuling prince to restore the nation. Second, a declaration of war against the corrupt Nande dynasty. Third, the creation of an entirely new kingdom.

When this document was delivered into the hands of the three kingdoms’ rulers, although their reactions were not entirely the same, its震撼 force was self-evident.

The Nande Empress Dowager immediately issued an edict to execute national traitors and recover lost territory, with Grand Preceptor Wu personally leading Nande’s final five hundred thousand troops toward Longzhou.

The King of Daqiu publicly tore up the proclamation, calling Chu Yu absurd and traitorous, wanting to discipline this unworthy descendant on behalf of the Yuling imperial family. However, just as he mobilized troops toward Pingzhou, the Great Zhou army suddenly crossed the river from the northern border in a surprise attack, destroying three of Daqiu’s water fortresses with the strongest military forces and warships, and furthermore seizing fifty thousand stones of grain in transport, causing the border situation in Daqiu to deteriorate. Therefore, the King of Daqiu had no choice but to first attend to the Great Zhou side, ordering Duan Geshou’s one hundred fifty thousand troops to wait for an opportunity outside Pingzhou.

The Great Zhou Emperor had originally only wanted to secretly dispatch reinforcements to aid Yuan Cheng, but the proclamation’s single reference to “mother country” pulled Great Zhou to the Song Army’s side, and immediately a Nande envoy came under the guise of seeking help to probe. Led by Prince Li, the majority of court officials saw Nande offering cities and tribute, and advocated helping—how would they know the Emperor had already become a “rebel sympathizer”? The Emperor couldn’t speak openly, yet evasion wouldn’t pass, leaving a heap of people chasing after him, vexing beyond measure.

At this time, a major incident suddenly arose among the people—several large shipping gangs fought, disrupting large and small docks, causing waterway delays, and even the Nande envoy’s ship was stuck in Shangdu and couldn’t leave. Immediately after, Vice Minister of Works Jiang Tao submitted a memorial saying that Great Zhou was unstable internally with strong enemies externally, making it difficult to further divide forces to resolve another country’s chaos. And Prince Li, who had been heavily bribed, also temporarily changed his position, criticizing Nande in court for secretly colluding with Daqiu, their current request to Great Zhou for help harboring ulterior motives.

Jiang Tao was Yuan Cheng’s close friend—naturally helping without question. That unwise Prince Li, however, had just learned that his precious daughter was in the Song Army’s hands—how dare he sing opposition?

After the Nande envoy was detained for over a month, he returned in disgrace, but was caught by the Song Army en route—this message-delivering job was done by them instead.

After this incident with the shipping gangs, all gangs opposing Fu Tian and Xu Jiu were thoroughly cleaned out. On the day Feng Shi’s head fell, Wuyou set up a cenotaph for Mouchou, burning incense and making offerings to comfort her lonely suffering soul. Xu Jiu and the Leopard Gang achieved countless merits in these large and small battles of cleansing, their martial world status soaring. Before long, Fu Tian announced plans to retire from the martial world within three years, gradually transferring Great Ship Alliance affairs for Xu Jiu to take over. Xu Jiu became the new legend of the shipping gangs.

On this day, Min Song returned from Pingcheng delivering warships and also brought Mo Zi a letter from Dou Lu.

“Stinking Fish says he wants to establish merit and achievements. He accepted Commander Chu’s forward fleet general’s seal and is staying in Pingcheng—he asked me to tell you.” The Song Army’s highest leadership authority was in Yuan Cheng and Jinyin’s hands. Prime Minister Yuan was still Prime Minister Yuan, but the title of Second Prince Jinyin was no longer used.

“Forward fleet?” Mo Zi frowned. “Being vanguard is too dangerous. Go tell Fat Shrimp and Water Snake to persuade him back. If he wants to establish merit and achievements, helping me train helmsmen can also earn him a generalship.” Following her, battles were rare, but contributions were substantial—future rewards were assured.

“He said piloting Brother Mo’s ships, he’s not afraid to charge at the very front. I’ve tried persuading him too—he’s set his mind and won’t come back.” Min Song now managed the Hengcheng shipyard, coordinating across the river with Immortal Bay under Wei Qing’s control. Adding modifications to captured warships, they could produce about thirty ships per month. “He says his eldest and second brothers have both married and settled for the status quo—only he can forge a reputation like his father. Now is the time. I see that he’s usually laughing and joking without any seriousness, but this time he’s truly earnest.”

Mo Zi sighed, “I should have found him a wife earlier.”

At this moment, the difference between men and women became evident.

Min Song said, “Let him venture forth. If I weren’t such a poor swimmer, I’d go with him too. You don’t know—people who love water and love ships, once they board our vessels, they just long for battle.”

Mo Zi wasn’t as passionate and spirited as he was. “No matter how well-equipped or how sturdily built, it’s still just a wooden ship. Even if it were made of iron, one careless moment and it could sink. A ship’s most terrifying enemy isn’t the opposing ship—it’s the water. When that happens, you can only leave it to fate.”

After hearing this, Min Song said, “Then what do we do? Are you really going to drag Stinking Fish back? He’s already received his general’s seal.”

Mo Zi thought for a moment. “What can we do? Quickly build more ships and send them to him. Really, Elder Li’s side is still pressing us too.” It turned out that back in Hongyu, they couldn’t even complete half a five-thousand-stone river vessel in a month, but now each shipyard platform had to complete at least the initial framework of one ship per month. To improve efficiency, offensive equipment like giant crossbows and catapults were all manufactured at the weapons factory and then assembled at the end.

“His victories are coming one after another—he’s almost reached the Nande capital, riding that wave of momentum. No wonder he’s pressing so urgently.” Min Song was also under tremendous pressure, but building large warships wasn’t something that could pop out in ten days or half a month. After rushing to complete them, they still had to carefully test them on water—hundreds of lives hung on these wooden planks.

Mo Zi now spent her days drawing ship designs and researching new weapons, and her evenings teaching classes, lecturing on new warship theory. For the sake of this war, she no longer kept anything to herself, putting all her effort into training the new generation of shipwrights. She understood very clearly that relying on one person’s strength alone was insufficient to handle large-scale shipbuilding. By pooling the wisdom of numerous excellent craftsmen, she herself also gained more inspiration. New warships were launched one after another. Louver shields, wolf-tooth slammers, horn drills, fire bombs, smoke bombs, poison oil water cannons—various weapons and equipment made the enemy cry for their parents.

At this time, having a powerful natal family gave Mo Zi many advantages. The Min clan supervised the manufacture of weapons and ships for her, continuously providing various forms of assistance, which saved her a great deal of effort in logistical support. With the tacit approval of the Great Zhou Emperor, including the shipyards in Hongyu and Risheng managed on behalf of the Min clan, they had secretly built over a hundred vessels for the Song army.

“Now I have to manage both fronts.” Yuan Cheng walked in, and seeing Mo Zi, the sharpness he displayed outside was put away, replaced with a gentle smile. “Just received word—the Great Zhou army has withdrawn from Daqiu territory and returned to the north bank of Habubolo. The King of Daqiu should soon deploy troops southward to join forces with Duan Geshou. At Pingcheng, there will be a major battle.”

“You’re going to Pingcheng?” Mo Zi saw Ming Nian following him in to pack his luggage.

Yuan Cheng said, “I’m going to the Nande capital. This final battle—I cannot be absent. Pingcheng must be defended by Jinyin. Like me before, he needs to personally command a victorious battle before people will be truly convinced. Wei Jia has already returned to Yunzhou to mobilize troops. We won’t be at a disadvantage in numbers, and Daqiu is exhausted from fighting on two fronts, their military morale is unstable, internal divisions are growing—there are gaps we can exploit.”

They had to part again. Mo Zi was used to it, yet not used to it.

“Can I go with you?” She wanted to see the extravagant world he once inhabited.

“Wait until after I enter the capital, then you can come. I’ll try my best to preserve an intact capital for you to see.” How could Yuan Cheng not know what she was thinking? But before that, he had to sweep away the dangers and troubles. Mo Zi loved building ships, but that absolutely didn’t mean she loved warfare. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t put her on the battlefield. Her heart could be cold, but he didn’t want to let it grow cold. She was fundamentally a kind woman—having experienced so much, her heart remained warm, and he loved her all the more for it. Whether killing or setting fires, let him handle it.

Min Song was about to leave, but Yuan Cheng stopped him. “I’ll be departing soon, can’t you stay a bit longer? You two talk. Also, look after your sister more—don’t bother her with trivial matters.”

“Yes, brother-in-law.” Sister is a treasure, brother-in-law is a treasure—only the Min family men are rough.

Mo Zi saw Yuan Cheng to the courtyard gate, then turned back to take the letter and shoo him away. “Are the shipyards so idle?”

Min Song left too.

The letter on pea-green paper contained only four lines: “A phoenix comes to Mingshan, jade chimes sound among sand and stone, warm hands summon compassion, heart and eyes distinguish the precious mirror.”