To their surprise, even on such a day, Ji Su wouldn't remove her helmet. Although she had long since changed from the Rong people's robes to ordinary clothing, the fierce and menacing helmet diminished much of her graceful figure. From the neck down, she was an exceptionally beautiful woman; but from the neck up, anyone would tremble with fear.
However, no one in Thunder City dared to speak ill of her. The only people who could influence her, Chen Ying and Mo Rong, were both in Raging Waves City. Thinking of this, Li Jun truly missed Raging Waves City; that place was his "home."
He found it strange that he felt a sense of "home". He hadn't lived in Kuanglan City for very long, but for some reason, he felt a sense of belonging to it. Perhaps it was because he had built the city and because his "pre-selected" burial plot was located in the center of the city.
"It's been a long time since I've been back to Kuanglan City. Perhaps we should go and take a look. I wonder if the city walls have been completed yet," Li Jun thought to himself. Just then, a sentry reported, "A messenger from Kuanglan City has arrived!"
The messenger brought bad news. With the opening of sea routes, Kuanglan City has become a hub for merchants, inevitably making it a target for pirates. Recently, several ships from the Peace Merchant Guild have disappeared without a trace after setting sail, failing to be found at the ports they were supposed to pass through, making it highly likely that they have been plundered by pirates.
Upon seeing Jiang Tang's letter, in which he lamented the significant losses to his business, Li Junjun hurried back to resolve the situation. Li Jun smiled slightly; this was indeed a good excuse to return to Kuanglan City. Moreover, Kuanglan City's trade revenue was currently the economic pillar of the Peace Army, and a trip back was imperative.
Moreover, at present, under the combined attacks of the four forces and Xiao Lin, the Zhu family and Peng Yuancheng are holding on back and forth under the scorching sun. For the time being, I can take a breather and take care of other things. The new recruits of the Peace Army who are constantly gathering in Thunder City also need a period of training.
After hearing his explanation, Meng Yuan said, "Go back. I'll stay here and command the troops for you. Hehe, maybe when you come back, I'll have already stormed Yuyang City!"
Li Jun knew he was just joking, so he simply smiled in response. His mind was already back in Kuanglan City, wondering who dared to cause trouble for Kuanglan City.
Besides, he was also concerned about the construction progress of Kuanglan City, especially Mo Rong, who was in charge of the construction. As for why he was so concerned about Mo Rong, he could only comfort himself by explaining that he genuinely regarded Mo Rong as an older sister. But undeniably, he could feel a joy that no one else could bring him when he was with Mo Rong.
At this moment, on the sea leading to Kuanglan City, a giant ship fully loaded with soybeans and other grains is sailing towards Tonghai Port.
Captain Lü Jie was a barbarian. On his beloved ship, the "Hai Kuo," besides the grain being transported back to the city, there were also some people heading to Kuanglan City in search of opportunities. Among them were mercenaries, wandering performers, and merchants. For Lü Jie, these people were all part of his business, and most of them would later become residents of Kuanglan City like him. Hadn't Li Jun, the de facto ruler of Kuanglan City, mentioned equality between the noble and the lowly in the oath? These money-makers were not to be offended under any circumstances.
Lu Jie had also heard that the seas leading to Kuanglan City had been unstable recently, but he didn't believe it. Because Jiang Tang was worried that news of pirates appearing would spread and potentially affect Kuanglan City's trade, he kept it a secret, only urging Li Jun to return via urgent mail. While he did this for the benefit of Kuanglan City, it undeniably put the unsuspecting people in danger.
"Who in this world would dare to provoke Kuanglan City? I don't believe it! We have Commander Li Jun, a dragon-slaying hero, a dragon-slaying warrior!" Half boasting, half bolstering his courage, he naturally referred to Li Jun as their commander. The people of Leiming City were just beginning to accept Li Jun, the people of Yinhu City already greatly admired him, and the people of Kuanglan City completely considered him one of their own.
"Captain Lü, you barbarians are indeed formidable!" A young man approached him with a gentle but somewhat affected smile, seemingly showing off his bright white teeth.
But the young man's appearance was somewhat simple and honest, with thick eyebrows and large eyes. Although he deliberately lowered his voice, it still sounded rather rough. Lü Jie immediately judged that this man must be a very scary person—not because of the lightly drawn knife at his waist, but because of the glint in his eyes.
"Of course!" Following the young man's gaze, Lü Jie looked over and saw that the young man was praising the barbarian sailors' skillful and precise movements. He immediately felt a sense of goodwill towards the young man and said, "We barbarians are born and raised in the water. Water is our home."
"Could I... try it too?" the young man asked, pointing to the sailor adjusting the sails on the mast.
"Can you do it?" Lü Jie looked at the young man with a skeptical gaze. Under the scorching summer sun, the young man's skin appeared dark, making him look like someone who had spent years at sea. But apart from that, all his physical characteristics proved that he was an ordinary person. To the discerning barbarians, even the best sailors among ordinary people were nothing but child's play. After all, only the barbarians and the Japanese in the Divine Continent possessed such powerful water attributes bestowed by the sea god and dragon.
"You'll know once you try it. I've never been on a ship this big before!" Seeing that Lü Jie didn't object, the young man went along with it, assuming that Lü Jie agreed. So he rubbed his hands together, wiped the sweat from his palms onto his clothes, grabbed the mast, and started climbing.
His movements were remarkably agile, no less so than any skilled barbarian sailor. When he steadily approached the barbarian sailor controlling the sail and took the sail-controlling rope from him, Lü Jie was astonished to find that his movements were exceptionally practiced, one could even say he was a natural-born sailor. The sail was constantly adjusted in his hands according to the wind direction; the movements, though small, were all just right.
"So there are such outstanding sailors among ordinary people!" Lü Jie laughed. He was also a sailor who had been braving the wind and waves for many years. Although the sea route to Tonghai City had been cut off by the Jiao Jing, he still drifted at sea after leaving his home. Therefore, he had great respect for sailors with superb skills.
"You flatter me!" The young man handed the sail ropes back to the barbarian sailor, shielding his eyes from the sun as he gazed into the distance. "The barbarians' boatmanship is truly first-rate. I have a barbarian friend who once boasted that he could row across the ocean with a Qiang man's shoe. Haha... eh..."
He suddenly exclaimed "Eh!", his gaze seemingly focusing on a certain spot, and then laughed, "Another one has arrived, no, three ships now. It seems to be the opposite of what we've been doing."
Lü Jie also looked around, but saw nothing at first. After a while, he finally spotted a small dot on the distant horizon. It seemed this ordinary man was not only skilled at sailing, but also an excellent lookout.
"Have you ever been a sailor before?" Lü Jie asked.
"Hmm, I've loved the sea since I was a child, haha." The young man, still focused on the approaching ship, suddenly frowned and asked, "Is this route safe?"
"Naturally safe. Ever since our Commander Li helped us get rid of the Jiao Demon, there is no other route in the entire Divine Continent that is safer than this one."
"Hmm, then the newcomers are probably your Commander Li's navy. Although they are disguised as merchant ships, the formation of the fleet makes it clear that they are warships."
Lu Jie's heart tightened. The Peace Army had no navy, a fact that everyone in Kuanglan City knew. If they did have one, it was only a temporary fleet made up of barbarians. Where would they get three warships?
Having spent most of their lives at sea, the foreigners were very sensitive. Lü Jie shouted, "Lookout, check if there are three warships?"
Looking around, it took him a while to make out that the black dots were three medium-sized ships, which appeared to be merchant ships rather than warships. After examining them carefully for a while, he still couldn't be sure, and said, "They're flying merchant ship flags."
“Merchant ships don’t stay in such a scattered formation. To prevent accidents, they stay relatively close together. Moreover, the flashing blades on the ship prove that the crew of Shangming are fully armed and preparing for battle. Unless it’s a warship, it must be…” The young man swallowed the words “pirate ship” that were about to come out of his mouth and glanced at Lü Jie.
"Can we avoid them?"
"No, they're moving so fast, it seems they're not carrying much cargo..." The lookout finally saw it clearly; the ship was indeed gleaming with a metallic glint, and its draft was obviously not that of a fully loaded merchant ship.
"Lower the sails, drop anchor, all sailors on deck! Everyone else, please go back to the cabins!" The pale-faced Lü Jie shouted the order. "Dare to come looking for us? The Great God of the Gonglong and Commander Li will be with us!"
"Yes!" the barbarian sailors shouted. The young man couldn't help but chuckle to himself. At this moment, it was understandable to ask their chief god, the water god Gonglong Baohu, but to put that Commander Li on the same level as a god was simply absurd.
As the approaching ship drew closer, the situation on board gradually became clearer. The faces of the foreign sailors turned deathly pale. It was indeed pirates, and not just any pirates, but Japanese pirates who could rival the foreigners at sea!
"Get all the men on board to fight! Prepare the lifeboats!" Seeing that the enemy outnumbered his own, Lü Jie had to prepare for the worst. Given the Japanese methods, they would not leave a single survivor after capturing the Haikuo. Rather than be slaughtered by them, he decided to fight back and try to survive.
“Bringing the whole ship wouldn’t be of much help.” The young man’s smile faded, replaced by a burning desire, a thirst for battle. He calmly asked, “As far as I know, is this ship mainly stocked with soybeans?”
“Indeed, this is the grain being transported to Kuanglan City…” Lü Jie was intimidated by the imposing manner in his words and involuntarily revealed the supplies he was transporting.
"Excellent!" The young man's smile returned, and he said, "Now I have a solution. I don't need your Commander Li anymore. I can take care of these Japanese devils (Note 1)!"
Lu Jie looked at him in confusion. The young man laughed and said, "Our boat is high and their boat is low. As long as they dare to come close, we will pour a boat full of soybeans into them, so that they can't even stand up, let alone fight."
"Exactly!" Lü Jie couldn't help but exclaim again, "Even if they climb onto the Haikuo, I can scatter soybeans around the ship's side and force them to dance on the soybeans!"
The Japanese were completely unaware that what awaited them, besides the bows and arrows that were famous throughout the entire continent, was a large quantity of soybeans. When they realized that the Haikuo was already alert, they simply tore down the merchant flag and replaced it with the pirate skull and crossbones flag.
As the four ships drew closer, to the Japanese's surprise, there was no panic on the Haikuo, as they had anticipated. The crew seemed to be fully prepared. When they got closer, they found that there was not a single person on the deck, which made the Japanese leader somewhat suspicious.
"Fire!" Seeing the Japanese soldiers starting to scatter, Lü Jie shouted, and all the men on the ship yelled in unison, "Kill!"
Suddenly, hundreds of barbarians appeared on the previously deserted ship's side, their bows drawn at full strength, and their arrows flying like shooting stars. Moreover, because the barbarians were well-prepared, they often attacked one Japanese soldier in groups of four or five, making it impossible for the Japanese to simultaneously parry or dodge multiple arrows fired at once. In just a moment, the barbarians had unleashed three volleys of arrows, striking nearly a hundred Japanese soldiers. The long arrows, specially designed for the barbarians, pierced through the chest and exited through the back. The Japanese soldiers threw down their swords, reaching out to grab at the air, but grasping nothing. They collapsed onto the deck, blood gushing from their wounds, quickly staining the deck with a layer of red paint.
"Counterattack!" the Japanese leader shouted in Japanese. The fierce Japanese soldiers, who had just recovered from the initial chaos of the sudden attack, scattered their ships and surrounded the Haikuo from all sides. Their archers kept firing arrows, and the muffled groans and cries of the foreign sailors falling to their deaths could be heard from time to time. The dying cries of both sides rose and fell, while the survivors vented their hatred and anger on each other.
However, the crew of the Haikuo numbered only about two hundred, and the passengers who joined the battle upon hearing the news were of little use in the long-range arrow exchange. The young man directed them to lie prone under the ship's gunwale, waiting for the Japanese to board them. As a result, the Haikuo's rain of arrows was quickly suppressed. The Japanese placed long planks across the gunwale of both ships, brandishing their swords and charging forward with foul shouts under the cover of their bows and arrows.