“You sons of bitches! Brothers, board the ships! Let’s sail to Japan and avenge our families!”
“Revenge!”
“Revenge!”
“Revenge!”
Angry shouts echoed across Yutai Village as Yue Yun gently laid down his mother’s body and rushed toward the galleon.
“Stop!” Xiao Ming shouted sharply.
Yue Yun froze in place, his eyes bloodshot as he turned to Xiao Ming. “Your Highness, you saw what these wokou did to us. Are you saying we should endure this? Shouldn’t we avenge our families and make the wokou pay in blood?”
“We should! But not now,” Xiao Ming said, walking toward Yue Yun. “These three galleons represent a year’s worth of accumulation for Qingzhou. You are the hope of the Qingzhou navy. Of course I also dream of feasting on barbarian flesh and drinking Xiongnu blood in victory, but right now we are too weak. We can’t afford to squander what little we have. Trust me, give me a few more years, and I promise—I will lead you to land on Japanese shores and make them pay their blood debts!”
Yue Yun’s heart ached terribly. His father had been killed by wokou when he was just a child. Now his mother had fallen at their hands too. The hatred burning inside him was almost uncontrollable.
But he understood Xiao Ming was right. They were the foundation of the Qingzhou navy. If they returned successfully, their sailing skills would be passed down through generations—they were the seeds of the navy’s future.
Thinking of this, Yue Yun forcefully suppressed his rage. For the sake of Qingzhou, for the sake of Xiao Ming’s promise, he said, “Your Highness, I believe you!”
These words, “I believe you,” weighed as heavily as a thousand catties. Xiao Ming gave Yue Yun a deep look. To stay calm under such circumstances showed that Yue Yun had begun to develop the psychological quality of a true general.
“Because of what you just said, if I ever break my promise, I will take my own life before the world!” Xiao Ming swore through gritted teeth.
Hearing this, Yue Yun nodded heavily.
He looked back at his mother’s body, tears welling up again. Even though all the wokou raiders had been slain, the hatred had already taken root in the hearts of the sailors.
This wasn’t hatred for just these raiders—it was hatred between two peoples. And one day, this hatred would only be resolved by the outcome of a war.
“Your Highness, we found someone!”
As everyone grieved, a soldier from Dengzhou ran up to report.
Two soldiers were dragging a man toward them.
When Yue Yun saw the man between the soldiers, fury lit up in his eyes. He grabbed his sword and charged forward, shouting, “Meng Youliang! You traitorous dog! Die!”
The man, barely clinging to life, weakly raised his head when he heard Yue Yun’s voice. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Yue Yun, at least hear me out before you kill me.”
The Dengzhou soldiers quickly held Yue Yun back.
Yue Yun shouted, “Your Highness, he’s Meng Youliang! Qiu’er’s brother! A traitor who betrayed our village!”
Meng Youliang gave a bitter laugh. “Yue Yun, if I hadn’t slashed you back then, do you think you’d still be alive today? You’re still as impulsive as ever.”
“You have no right to speak! You led these wokou here! I’ll kill you right now!” Yue Yun roared, his hatred flaring again.
Many sailors gripped their swords tightly, glaring at Meng Youliang with hatred.
Xiao Ming was a little surprised. He had only learned during his visit to Dengzhou a few months ago that Lu Luo had an older brother. He hadn’t expected to meet him like this.
“You are Meng Youliang?” Xiao Ming asked.
Meng Youliang looked at him and asked urgently, “Who are you? I have vital information for Prince Qi! Please, take me to him!”
He saw that Xiao Ming wore a military uniform but didn’t recognize him.
Ye Qing spoke coldly, “Standing before you is Prince Qi himself. Meng Youliang, your treachery is well known in Dengzhou. Speak clearly now, or don’t blame us for being merciless.”
Meng Youliang’s body trembled slightly. He suddenly knelt and shouted, “Your Highness, I have secret intelligence to report! Please, you must prepare for it!”
In Dengzhou, Meng Youliang’s name had long been synonymous with traitor. Xiao Ming eyed him with suspicion and said, “Speak carefully.”
Meng Youliang pulled out a scroll and handed it over. “Please look, Your Highness!”
Xiao Ming hesitated and then motioned to Zhao Long, who took the scroll, checked it, and handed it to Xiao Ming.
Unrolling it, Xiao Ming frowned.
The scroll contained a map showing Dengzhou and parts of Japan. An arrow marked a route pointing directly at here.
It even listed troop numbers, ship counts, and other details.
“What is this?” Xiao Ming asked.
Meng Youliang said, “To be honest, Your Highness, this is the Japanese plan to attack Dengzhou. Ten years ago, I pretended to submit to the wokou to avenge my father. Unfortunately, I never found the enemy responsible. I spent these years blending into life in Nagoya, Japan.
Recently, I met a Great Yu Empire merchant who had been living in Japan for many years. He was being hunted. When he realized I was from Great Yu, he entrusted me with this plan.”
Meng Youliang paused, then continued, “His name was Zhang Ling. He said he had spent ten years working for a daimyo in Japan. Not long ago, he learned of a plan to attack the Great Yu Empire. He gathered this information but was discovered and fled for his life—he met me while on the run.”
“Three years?” Xiao Ming asked as he studied the scroll.
“Yes. Zhang Ling said Japan is building a fleet and preparing to launch a 200,000-man invasion of Dengzhou within three years to seize land and appease dissatisfaction among their daimyos over land distribution.”
“And what happened to Zhang Ling?” Xiao Ming asked.
“He was discovered by the Yamada clan and chose to drown himself rather than be captured. Even though he lived in Japan, he said he was still a man of Great Yu and couldn’t watch our people be slaughtered,” Meng Youliang answered, lowering his head in sorrow.
Since arriving in this era, Xiao Ming had known history was different, but he wasn’t familiar with the current situation in Japan. So he asked, “Is it Toyotomi Hideyoshi or the Tokugawa shogunate ruling Japan now?”
Meng Youliang paused for a moment, then said, “Your Highness, there are indeed two major families, Toyotomi and Tokugawa. But the current leader of Japan is Daimyo Yamada Nobunaga.”
At that moment, Xiao Ming’s mind reeled. It was clear now—Japan, like the Great Yu Empire, had veered off the historical path. The butterfly effect had already deeply changed this world.