The princess was ordained by Heaven.

Chapter 395 Coming ashore

Zheng Xun winked: "Then you can't possibly be any worse than me, can you?"

"That's impossible."

The emperor's eyes darted around guiltily.

It was impossible for him to personally take on the same level of responsibility as Zheng Xun, nor did he have the energy for it. He could only do his best to ensure that Dayong did not regress.

After making all the arrangements, Zheng Xun, along with several Qinglong Guards and Zheng Shi, quietly left the capital.

At the same time, the Water Scale Guard of Dongzhou and the army of the Brown Kingdom were about to clash for the first time.

At that time, a group of Shuilin Guards patrolling the border of Haiyang County were idly studying how to make sounds with reed pipes when someone looked up and saw a ship slowly approaching on the sea in the darkness.

"Quick! Hide it!"

In the dead of night, sailing a boat without lights, who would believe there are no ghosts?

Fortunately, the people of Da Yong followed the example set by their superiors, and all the troops had entered a state of war preparedness early on. Therefore, no one panicked when faced with the unexpected situation.

One person was sent to deliver the message, while the rest of the men carefully lay prone on the shore, concealing themselves.

At this hour, Che Zhong'an had just parted ways with Xu Zhen, who had come to Haiyang County with him, and had not been asleep for long when the messenger arrived.

As Che Zhong'an put on his clothes, he walked out of the tent and asked, "How is the boat's draft? Is it the style of the Dayong?"

"It's too dark to see clearly."

Have any of our people been discovered?

"We didn't turn on any lights, so we shouldn't have been exposed."

The messenger couldn't help but glance at Che Zhong'an as he spoke. The commander had ordered them not to light any fires, and they had privately cursed him for making things difficult for people.

Who could have imagined that after such a long period of calm, the vigilance we thought was unnecessary would actually come in handy one day?

"Has anyone been sent to fetch Mr. Xu?"

"I'm here. Let's go."

Che Zhong'an looked up and saw Xu Zhen running towards him while tying his hair.

"Are you capable?"

"Row!"

At this moment, Xu Zhen was extremely grateful to his past self. Because of his experience of being dragged along when going out with His Highness, he later worked hard to improve his riding skills and martial arts, which is why he is not a burden now.

"Let's go."

There is no moon tonight, and the night is especially thick and dark.

Fortunately, the old horse knew the way, which allowed the two to lead a group of people at high speed through the night.

Once we reached the shore, we discovered that the boat was small and didn't have a heavy draft.

Che Zhong'an's gaze was especially cold in the night: "Have everyone retreat to the defensive line."

He, Xu Zhen, and a soldier with exceptional night vision hid in the bushes, keeping an eye on the ship.

The boat was small, clearly just a scout, and perhaps not expecting anyone to be there, so it casually lit a lamp.

Xu Zhen gripped the telescope tightly in his hand: "We finally caught them."

Che Zhong'an remained motionless and said in a low voice, "They are not an elite force."

The smarter ones would blend in with the fishermen during the day to scout out the way, and then sneak ashore at night.

In the middle of the night, they're still so conspicuous; they probably don't even think there are any troops deployed here.

"I guess the person leading that team is Zhuo Mu."

Che Zhong'an scoffed: "Zhuo Mu is not good at naval warfare."

"Has he fought in naval battles?"

"No."

"Then how do you know he can't?"

“Xu Zhen, Mr. Xu, war is not child’s play, and ability is earned through repeated battles.”

"Among the generals of the Brown Kingdom, only Zhuo Mu's men would do something as foolish as lighting lanterns to explore the way."

It wasn't because Zhuo Mu lacked the ability to lead troops; it was simply because he was incredibly unlucky, a commoner stuck with a bunch of pampered rich kids.

He couldn't be beaten, and he couldn't be scolded. A once spirited and ambitious general was forced into becoming a resentful man.

“That makes sense, but he’s not the only idiot in Brown Country.”

"But only Zhuo Mu grew up in the fishing village and had a group of fellow villagers who joined his army because of his reputation."

It seems Zhuo Mu deliberately sent these good-for-nothings out to test the waters; it's better if they die anyway.

Most of these people's families have lost their former glory, and they are not afraid of retaliation.

Che Zhong'an looked at his indistinct profile in the darkness with surprise: "How did you know?"

“I remember the background of every general, junior officer with special abilities, and promising newcomer in the Brown Kingdom very clearly.”

Since he was going to accompany the army, Xu Zhen had no intention of being perfunctory.

He knew he lacked experience and could only try to make up for it in other areas.

Therefore, he read extensively on military strategy and thoroughly studied famous battles in history.

Of course, this was far from enough. He also learned about all the generals, big and small, of the Brown Kingdom, including their personalities, confidants, friends and enemies, habits, preferences, and appearances...

Although he had never met them before, he was certain he could call them by name accurately if they met now.

Che Zhong'an asked suspiciously, "Wurisu?"

"The Wu family is a distant, unrelated clan. Due to their exceptional martial arts talent, they were trained by the main branch. However, because they suffered humiliation at the clan school, they harbored resentment towards the main branch. After the last upheaval in the Brown Kingdom, Qi Yongji was able to quickly wipe out the Wu family entirely because of the evidence he provided. Wu Risu is all alone, and the only person he cares about is his married sister. Of course, he doesn't know that there are many of Qi Yongji's spies lurking around his sister's home and in the community."

"Then how do you know?"

When Qi Yongji saw the brown-skinned people who had moored their boats on the shore, he was once again convinced that these people were a bunch of useless trash.

"Keep your voice down, they're idiots, not deaf," Xu Zhen said casually, keeping a close eye on the group. "His Highness distributed a booklet containing detailed information on the generals of the Brown Kingdom, though it was rather rough. So I went to His Highness for permission and obtained a more detailed list from Lord Cen."

Upon hearing this, Che Zhong'an immediately recalled the stack of booklets that had been given to each of them before they left the capital. Each booklet was as thick as his palm, and these were still simplified versions.

He used to think that civil officials were weak and useless scholars.

I never imagined they were so terrifying.

He felt dizzy just looking at so many words, yet Xu Zhen was able to memorize them.

He exclaimed from the bottom of his heart, "Amazing!"

“This is nothing; Your Highness and Lord Cen have much more to remember.”

"I thought they were all just waste paper."

Surprisingly, it actually came in handy.

The spies were negligent in their search, failing to notice the numerous traces left by the patrolling Water Guards.

Xu Zhen lowered his guard slightly, which gave him time to respond to Che Zhong'an's words.

“It’s impossible for something His Highness specifically instructed to be useless.”

Upon noticing Xu Zhen's unpleasant tone, Che Zhong'an felt somewhat embarrassed.

He suddenly remembered that His Highness had once saved Xu Zhen's life.

"I know I know..."

"Since you know that, why don't you go back and memorize those booklets?"

Che Zhong'an blurted out, "That's impossible!"

If he, a military general, had been intelligent enough, there would be at least ten biographies of him in the history books of this dynasty.

Xu Zhen asked helplessly, "Do you know what those booklets also mean?"