After putting on his ink-colored brocade robe and boots, Leng Qingtang opened the hatch, walking out onto the deck.

On the midsummer night, the sea air was still cold and wet. The darkness around him extended everywhere.

With hands tied on his back, Min Rui stood at the bow of the ship. Behind him was a mast, on the top of which the hanging cowhide lanterns fluttered in the wind, stirring up the light and shadow.

Leng Qingtang clasped his fist and stepped forward, saying:

"It's late now. Why haven’t you get rested, Your Highness?"

Min Rui's eyes were calm but a faint silence showed up on his face. He replied:

"Our navy can arrive in Qiongyang before sunrise, which is very beneficial to our army. I think we can directly go to war with An Guo Navy. What do you think, Master?"

Leng Qingtang waived his hands and answered in a humble way:

"Though I'm the supervisor of the army, I'm not even half as experienced as you, my Duke. Now I'd like to ask you to enlighten me, please."

Min Rui smiles,

"You're so modest. Please come with me to the cabin for a moment."

Leng Qingtang showed the way with his hands, saying: "You go first, please."

Sitting across the table, Min Rui ordered the military servant to hold the lamp and then spread out the sea map to discuss the battle with Leng Qingtang.

"A naval battle is about the cannons rather than manpower. If both sides were too close, it would be extremely hard to hit the enemy's fleet with cannons in a single blow. Look over here..."

His finger pointed to a certain point on the map, tapping repeatedly:

"This is Wanli Shitang where the naval defense of An Guo lies. It's a good place for a cannon fight at sea. Why don't we first send 200 ships, each with ten mongrel ships, to outflank the An Guo navy on three sides?"

"The ships were equipped with bronze cannons and fire spears. And the Mengchong ships were equipped with Fran rapid-fire machine and stone-throwers. As An Guo's ships were small, they would be definitely destroyed if we project with fireballs."

"It's easy as landing in An Guo from Shitang if we successfully capture the entire fleet."

Leng Qingtang listened carefully and couldn’t help admiring him. He thought, Duke Min really had his specialties in terms of field operations.

He was Gu Yunyao's natural father. But he had also been involved in the persecution of the deceased emperor 25 years ago.

He used to be free of any pity when dealing with his enemies. But only at this moment, facing Min Rui, he started to hesitate.

Leng Qingtang knew well that his hesitation not only came from admiration for Min Rui's generalship but also sisterly love between Yunxi and Yunyao...

—

At dawn, Dongqing Fleet arrived in Wanli Shitang as planned. And thousands of warships turned out in the darkness of the night.

Then came the fierce battle.

Immediately, the sea was in chaos as fire lights up the sky.

Artillery, blasts, and screams burst one by one, making thunderous noises tear up the waterline of the sky.

At an 18-foot-long treasured ship, Min Rui stared at the battlefield filled with fireballs and the rumbling of cannons and fire machines.

With a long sword in hand, he laughed wildly amidst a heavily black smoke of gunpowder. How ecstatic he was!

The attacks of Da Yi's navy came one after another. As a result, countless An Guo's ships were either blown up or sunk down, all shattered into pieces.

Corpses, wood chips, and dying soldiers all piled up in layers. Incessant surging waves brought back the wailing sound, causing dreadful reverberation.

The bloody-red sea sent surging waves overwhelmingly.

The naval battle lasted for a day and a half. Eventually, such a small country as An Guo couldn’t resist its enemy anymore, being almost wiped out.

Min Rui led 50,000 troops of Dongqing in person to land in An Guo. After other ten-odd battles of various sizes, he took advantage of the victory and came directly to Da Du where the Palace of An Guo was located.

Da Yi, in the territory of Guangxi—

A large army hurriedly marched to the Hukou Mountain.

The mountain range stretched for a hundred miles. The entrance to its gorge was like the mouth of a flagon, narrow and long, with steep rocks and few trees on both sides of the valley road.

The valley was not necessary as the An Guo army returns to Guangxi, it was, however, a shortcut.

If you could climb over this natural barrier and march the south for half a day, you would be at the border of An Guo.

As the coastal defense of Qiongyang was damaged, Da Yi's 50,000 militant troops of Dongqing Fleet marched to Da Du. Under this pressure, the emperor of An Guo was forced to urgently recall a total of 100,000 military forces of its left army and right army to protect him.

The main forces of 70,000 in An Guo were determined to take a shortcut through the Hukou Mountain in order to fight with Da Yi's army at an early date.

Another 30,000 troops returned on the same route, marching day and night from the Nanyao Plain to An Guo.

At noon, soldiers of Da Yi respectively hid behind every rock and tree on the Hukou Mountain.

Leng Qingtang had made a strategic deployment when the troop he led arrives in Guangxi. They ambushed right here, waiting for the An Guo army to fall into the trap.

The An Guo people were not stupid.

At this time, Da Yi's troops marched on the water route around the rear defense to capture An Guo, mainly based on the fact that An Guo's 150,000 troops were outside far away, leaving the main country weak and empty.

Now it was urgent for the 70,000 troops to return to save their emperor. Therefore, marching to the Hukou to take a shortcut was considered the riskiest move. What’s more, marching at night blurs the eyesight. Even so, rashly lighting a lamp was undoubtedly tantamount, as it would expose themselves to their enemy.

As a result, the only way to secure a victory at risk was to enter the valley in the daytime.

As the wind blew, among the rocks and trees were many eyes fixed on the enemy entering to the narrow point of the gorge.

The first row of troops held an ivory-decorated flag in their hands.

Among the rocks, Liu Wenlong, the platoon leader of Imperial Guards was about to do something. Seeing this, Leng Qingtang lowered his voice and says:

"Do not move. Just wait. This group is just the escorting soldiers."

After a while, they finally see the five-colored banners, among which were generals riding steeds and further back was the leading general in golden armor.

The huge army of An Guo had entered the valley more than halfway.

Behind the tree, Leng Qingtang suddenly sharpened his eyesight and broke the bamboo tube held tightly in his hands. Then a red light soared up in the air with a long and thin whistle followed by a series of sharp sounds.

Suddenly, on both sides of the valley, the sound of weapons rose to the sky, and arrows crackled like flying locusts. At the other end, as countless barrels of tar streamed down the slope, lots of torches flew down as well, blocking the exit of the valley.

Between them, the valley was filled with out-of-control burning fire and miserable wailing sound.

In the burning fire, the vanguard soldiers of An Guo were as weak as little ants, painfully rolling on the ground. It was unbearable to see their unrecognizable faces.

Soldiers in the rear were suffering slaughter as well.

The 10,000 elite bowmen led by Leng Qingtang were quickly shooting arrows at the enemy with great force.

As a result, the 70,000 forces of An Guo were in chaos, being unable to withdraw from the narrow valley. All of them were dead in the end and their corpses were extremely stink.

Seeing the chaos in the valley before entering into the entrance, another small group of forces scattered and fled from the wreck site. However, they were caught in hundreds of cannons from the eastern side of the mountain, turning upside down among the thunderous explosion.

All the lucky escapers of An Guo threw down their helmets and managed to run away. As they rushed to the bank of Zhuo Shui, several figures suddenly jumped up from the bottom.

These 500 Imperial Guards, on the order of Leng Qingtang, were top killers who ambushed at the bottom of the water on the mouth of the valley. They could easily kill all the escapers.

At sunset, the valley was a dead silence.

Looking from above, Leng Qingtang saw everything in the valley: the corpses were everywhere and the blood was flowing like a stream.

The front section of the valley, as seen through a far-sighted mirror, was even too gruesome to behold.

Those corpses, black as carbon, stuck to each other and were completely unrecognizable. Even a purgatory trudger would be aghast at this view.

Leng Qingtang raised his eyes to the black smoke sinking in mid-air and then sighed, ordering his men:

"First, inform Duke Min of the great victory in the Hukou Valley through a flying pigeon. And pass this order down to the army that after a rest for half a quarter of an hour, we will return to our camp.

Min Rui's troops encamped in the Tieshan Range, a border between Guangxi and Anguo.

It was late in the evening when Leng returned.

As he entered the tent, Min Rui greeted him in person and cupped his fist in the other hand before the chest, smiling at Leng and saying:

"You must be tired this time. Thank you for your time, Master."

The man smiled lightly and returned the salute:

"No, I don't deserve it. It's Your Highness's excellent plans that finally work out. I truly admire you, Your Highness."

Min Rui spread his arms and led the way to Leng's seat:

"Master, come on, please. It's a coincidence that there is also good news from the Nanyao Plain just now. Our army has achieved a great victory, wiping out 30,000 rebels from An Guo."

Hearing this, Leng Qingtang gleamed in his eyes and nods repeatedly:

"That's great! It's the remaining 50,000 men's choice whether to fight or make peace.

Min Rui looked slyly:

"With only a third of the main force of 150,000 remaining, the emperor of An Guo definitely can't afford to lose. I think that a surrender letter must be sent from Da Du in less than two days.

...

Lying on the bed, Gu Yunxi felt weak and her face was covered with layers of gauzes.

The second time she changed her appearance a month ago, Tu Muxue's constitution was already weakened to the limit and she didn't manage to pull through midway.

As the medical sage returned to Da Yi, he brings a miraculous healing medicine for Gu Yunxi, namely, "medical powder for intermittent skin regeneration". It was said to make the skin and meridians of the injured achieve perfect regeneration in the shortest time without leaving him or her much pain. It was one of the three sacred medicines of Udan.

Of course, Gu Yunxi knew that this scarce divine medicine was a generous gift from Brother Lu.

Presumably, he had known his true identity of the Master from his mother—Princess Anhe. She hoped that even if he comes to Da Yi again someday, he would not find fault with the Master, let alone to come over or pester her easily.

It was the 16th of the lunar month. A full moon hung in the sky.

Since a good bed rest for a long time was needed for Gu Yunxi after a facelift, Lanxin asked servants to move her ivory-inlaid bed to a wall near the window of the house.

In this way, if it was a fine day, the window could be opened to let Gu Yunxi bask in the sun and enjoy the scenery.

In the evening, she was expected to look out the window and enjoy the shining stars in the sky.

Leaning back on the soft pillow, Gu Yunxi raised her eyes to the full moon, recalling the past and the Master's appearance.

As she touched the cold, empty half of the bed, she was slightly painful, feeling an inexplicably sour in her nose.

Suddenly she missed him so much that her eyes became wet and red and blurred by tears...

She murmured softly to the moon:

"I miss you. I miss you so much, my dear master..."