Flat Rabbit stared at the scene before him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, before finally blurting out in disbelief, "What the hell!"
Zheng Gouzi was no better off, clutching his own head as if afraid it might fall off. "Oh my goodness…"
All around them, the students on the training ground stood frozen in place, their gazes locked onto the cavalrymen before them, admiration flooding their faces so completely that for a moment, not a single person could speak.
Sun Chuanting slowly turned his head toward Flat Rabbit, his expression calm yet unmistakably sharp. "Well," he said, "do you still think they are greenhorns?"
If it had been anyone else, being slapped in the face like this, in front of so many people no less, would have been unbearable. Most would have flushed red with embarrassment, wished desperately for the ground to split open beneath their feet, and sunk into it never to be seen again.
But Flat Rabbit was never most people.
Instead of shame, anger, or jealousy, his face lit up as if he had just been given a priceless gift. He clapped his hands together and laughed loudly, his voice ringing across the training ground. "So they're this good? Hahahaha, excellent, truly excellent. Brother Ma, you must join my Red Team. Next exercise, you fight with me. Hahahaha. This time, Bai Mao's cat head is definitely coming off."
His reaction caught Ma Shouying completely off guard.
Not only did this man show no trace of embarrassment after being proven wrong so publicly, he was not even the slightest bit resentful. Instead, he seemed genuinely delighted by their strength, as if it were his own success.
Ma Shouying felt something shift quietly in his heart.
He had initially regarded Flat Rabbit as little more than a loud mouthed clown, all noise and no substance, but now he suddenly felt that this was a man with an unusually broad spirit, the sort of person who could truly be called a comrade.
A man worth befriending.
Elsewhere.
"Report!"
A messenger rushed before Lu Xiangheng and knelt on one knee. "Governor General, military intelligence."
Lu Xiangheng lifted his gaze. "Speak."
"Lao Huihui's forces disappeared after retreating westward into the forests of Pingding Mountain," the messenger reported. "After entering the mountain ridges, they vanished completely. We have found no trace of them."
Lu Xiangheng frowned slightly. "West of Pingding Mountain lies Yunyang. I was stationed there in the past. What reports have come from the garrisons in that area?"
"None," the messenger replied. "No garrison has reported seeing the bandit army pass through."
This answer left Lu Xiangheng puzzled.
During his earlier involvement in Yunyang's administration, he had become fairly familiar with the local officials and military commanders. After a moment of careful thought, he spoke decisively. "Among the Yunyang garrisons, Shangnan County's defender, Luo Xi, is the most reliable and capable. If the bandit army had passed through Shangnan, there would be no way he would not have detected them. This means they could not have entered Shaanxi through Wuguan Pass."
He paused, then continued, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Given this, the bandit army must have slipped away by another route. There is a high probability that they have entered Sichuan."
His spirits lifted as he reached a conclusion. "Issue orders immediately. Have the Sichuan White Pole Soldiers redeploy to Kuizhou and guard against the bandit army entering Sichuan."
"Yes, sir."
The messenger departed at once.
Lu Xiangheng, however, did not relax. Instead, he continued pondering the situation, fingers tapping lightly against the table. "Since Lao Huihui has vanished, there is no longer any need to maintain our encirclement of Pingding Mountain."
He straightened. "Issue orders to all armies. We will now move to besiege Dabie Mountain. Chuang King and the Dashing General are still hiding there."
Thus, Lu Xiangheng divided his forces into multiple routes, sealing off the mountain passes around Dabie Mountain and tightening the noose around the remaining bandit army.
Meanwhile, far away from marching armies and strategic maps, the so called "three thousand five hundred taels of gold" granted by the Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian, finally arrived in the disaster stricken lands of Nanyang.
The Prefect of Nanyang held the disaster relief silver in his hand, weighing the three taels and five qian with a thoughtful expression. He shook his head lightly, then slipped it casually into his sleeve before stepping forward to address the gathered people.
"His Majesty, in his boundless mercy," he declared, "has exempted Nanyang Prefecture from this year's taxes. Such benevolence is rare. Should we not all express our gratitude?"
The people stared at him, their faces pale and hollow, yet they still forced smiles onto their lips and bowed in thanks.
Then, without a word, they returned to their homes, set up their cooking pots, and exchanged daughters with their neighbors, each family placing another household's child into the pot with numb, practiced motions, as though emotion itself had long since been burned away.
Just as one little girl was about to be lifted toward the boiling water, frantic shouts suddenly echoed from outside.
"Grain distribution. Grain distribution. The Great Benefactor Bai from Xiaolangdi has sent people to distribute grain. Everyone, come out and receive your share."
The sound hit the village like thunder.
In an instant, despair shattered. People burst into tears, screaming and laughing all at once, rushing from house to house to reclaim their daughters, clinging to them as though afraid they might vanish again if released for even a moment.
Metropolis Shanghai, Nanhuifangcheng.
What had once been a dilapidated and forgotten coastal outpost had undergone a complete transformation. Rebuilt into a gleaming square fortress, it now bore a restored plaque from its most glorious past, officially reclaiming its old name.
Nanhuifangcheng.
Below the fortress walls, an enormous market sprawled outward, crowded and noisy, far more vibrant than any traditional market town.
All of this, naturally, was thanks to Gao Family Village.
Transport ships from Gao Family Village moved ceaselessly along the waterways, often arriving in massive fleets laden to the brim. They carried not only grain, but also high quality goods from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and beyond.
Most of these goods were ultimately bound for the islands, yet trading along the route was common, and as a result, the mouth of Nanhui rapidly developed into a massive commercial hub.
Jiangnan merchants, sharp nosed and quick witted, swarmed in like sharks scenting blood. They bought Gao Family Village's goods in bulk, then loaded their own wares onto the ships in return, including Jiangnan's famed silks and porcelain.
With each passing day, Nanhuifangcheng grew more prosperous.
Even Cui Weihua, the Military Preparations Commissioner of Suzhou and Songjiang, was drawn here by the activity. Given such a bustling hub, coastal defense was naturally critical, and so he simply took up residence within Nanhuifangcheng to oversee security and maintain order.
That afternoon, Gao Family Village's transport fleet was scheduled to arrive in half an hour.
Large groups of people had already gathered along the shore, sitting quietly and staring out to sea like Waiting for Husband Stones, patiently awaiting the ships that would carry them onward.
Cui Weihua strolled along the beach with several subordinates in tow when he noticed two men among the crowd. Their clothes were ragged, their faces thin and tinged with hunger, clearly people who had traveled a long way to reach this place.
He stopped and addressed them. "You two look as though you have come from far away."
Startled at being spoken to by an official, the two men hurriedly stood and bowed. "Reporting to my lord, we are from Suzhou. We walked here on foot. It took several days, and we are nearly exhausted."
"And yet you still came," Cui Weihua said. "You received news from that far away?"
The two exchanged awkward smiles. "Our family is poor, my lord. We are always searching for ways to survive. We heard from distant relatives that someone here is hiring laborers to work on an island, so we came to try our luck."
Cui Weihua hesitated, then could not help probing a little further. "What exactly is being built on that island?"
The two men shook their heads at once. "Our relative would not say. Whenever we ask, he only shakes his head and says the master pays him five qian of silver each month just to keep quiet. If he speaks even a word, he would lose his job and his livelihood. So nothing can be said about what happens on the island. Only that there is work."
Cui Weihua sighed inwardly. "Remarkable."
The secrecy was far tighter than he had imagined.
Just then, a shout rang out from Nanhuifangcheng's walls.
"Pirates. Pirates. It's Liu Xiang's flag. Liu Xiang is here."
Panic exploded across the beach.
The people who had been sitting calmly moments ago scrambled inland, while merchants hastily gathered their goods, the bustling market collapsing into chaos in the blink of an eye.
As Military Preparations Commissioner, Cui Weihua leapt to his feet and shouted, "Prepare for battle. Prepare for battle."
The alarm drums of Nanhuifangcheng thundered out, kong kong kong, their sound rolling across the coast.
Cui Weihua turned and hurried toward his ship.
However, the coastline here was shallow, unsuitable for large vessels to dock, and ordinary seagoing ships could not approach the shore without running aground. Only Gao Family Village's river sea vessels could manage it.
Thus, Cui Weihua's Cangshan ship lay anchored far out at sea.
To reach it, he would first have to take a smaller boat.