The Silver Mountain had been viewed, and the marriage engagement settled.
Li Shimin was immensely satisfied with the arrangements. After a few more days of the female banquet, he proposed a return to Shenyang.
Also taken along were Prince Tamura and Prince Yamashiro no Ōe, along with a bevy of Japanese women!
These high-ranking figures from Japan, once aboard the hovercraft, were all trembling with fear.
As the hovercraft ascended and entered the sea, reaching its maximum speed, they all began to scream.
“Ayame, chou!”
“So fast, so amazing!”
“Ah, I can’t take it!”
“Help me up!”
Li Shimin glanced at Tamura and Yamashiro no Ōe, saying with disdain, “Tsk, tsk, tsk, look at these bumpkins who have never seen the world.”
Hearing this, Li Xiaogong chuckled, “Hahaha, Your Majesty has never visited their capital. According to reports from my subordinates, it’s not even as good as Dengzhou.”
Dengzhou used to be so poor that it ranked low even within Shandong Circuit. It only became prosperous after cement roads were built, but it's still far behind Shenyang.
And yet, these “short ones” proudly consider their Heian-kyo to be worthy of comparison with Dengzhou.
It seems necessary to provide some support to the Wa government.
Li Shimin, with an air of compassion, looked at the Japanese women on deck.
“Your Majesty, rest assured. I have already made arrangements. Soon, a large number of Japanese women will be sent to Dengzhou and then distributed to various prefectures.”
Fang Xuanling said, stroking his beard and smiling.
“It’s about time these uncivilized people experience the good life in our Great Tang. We are neighbors separated only by water; it’s not good to show favoritism. In my humble opinion, Nanyue and Tubo could also be taken care of.”
“That makes sense!” “I second that!” Du Ruhui nodded in agreement.
As the ship sailed at sea, shortly after departure, a large school of dolphins appeared ahead.
Fang Er immediately ordered the ship to slow down. Everyone came out of the cabin and stood on deck to admire these sea spirits.
“Where are the fish? Bring out the fish for me!”
Li Shimin called out to the Xuanjia Army guards standing nearby.
Soon, people brought out several wooden crates from the cabin.
These fish were caught by the supervisory army near Iwami. They were still fresh when brought aboard and served as food for the group during the voyage.
The fleet’s speed gradually slowed. The dolphins approached, observed curiously, and then swam alongside.
“Hahaha, they recognize me, don’t they?”
Li Shimin boasted shamelessly, then began throwing fish to the dolphins.
“Father, these fish look so strange,”
Changle said, leaning on the railing and watching the dolphins leap out of the water, looking very surprised.
“These fish are treasures. Last time, when Chai Jia’erlang was thrown into the water by An Zhi, they even sent him back to the shore.”
As he spoke, Li Shimin recounted the entire incident to Changle.
Changle listened with increasing interest, and finally, with blinking eyes, walked over to Fang Er. “Brother-in-law, I want to ride one~”
Fang Er: “……”
This innocence was going to be the death of him!
Although saving people is the dolphins’ nature, he couldn’t just throw Changle into the water like Chai Lingwu.
He was only at ease throwing that fellow in because he was a good swimmer. Even if the dolphins didn’t save him, he could have held on until the rescue boat arrived.
Seeing this, Li Shimin corrected her.
“Changle, you can’t call him brother-in-law anymore. You should call him husband, understand?”
Fang Er felt overwhelmed and waved his hands repeatedly, “It’s fine as it is, just call me Fang Jia Ge Ge.”
Changle, however, looked puzzled and said, “Why? Mother said I should call him brother-in-law.”
Li Shimin suddenly felt a pang of jealousy and quietly turned away to continue feeding the fish.
Twenty li south of Bisha City, two merchant ships from Dengzhou were sailing unsteadily on the sea.
They were carrying porcelain and tea, which were to be sold in Bisha City.
Since Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje had all submitted to the Great Tang, this area had become a new source of wealth.
In Jinseong, which was territory of the Silla and Baekje people, while Chinese merchants weren’t afraid of major incidents, minor troubles could occasionally arise.
Thus, Bisha City became the preferred location.
It was not far from Dengzhou by sea, with several islands in between for docking and overnight stays.
Furthermore, Bisha was not too far from Shenyang. With various ethnic groups gathering here, it had gradually become the second-largest trading market after Shenyang, and also the largest trading port in all of Liaodong.
“Boss, after this trip, we’ll probably have to rest for a few months.”
An old sailor stood on deck and said to the middle-aged man beside him.
“Is there a reason for that?” The middle-aged man did not quite understand why he said that.
“Boss, you may not know, but in ten to half a month, there will be constant strong winds at sea. At that time, our ships won’t be able to go out to sea.”
The old sailor pointed to the undulating sea surface ahead.
“Is there any other way?” the middle-aged man asked.
“If you want to continue by sea, you can only go to Shenyang to see the Duke of Shenyang. I heard that he has ships nearly twenty *zhang* long. I don’t know if they are for sale.”
“Also, we can switch to land transport. When we sailed out from Dengzhou, I heard some people say that Shenyang’s market is now selling tractors. We can go and see, and buy a few.”
“Then, from Yangzhou to Shenyang, it will only take three to five days.”
“Boss, look!”
Just as the middle-aged man was about to say something, he heard a sailor on the ship shouting in the distance, his voice filled with panic.
He looked in the direction the sailor was pointing. To the west of the merchant fleet, three large ships were rapidly approaching them.
“Full sail, full speed! They mean trouble!”
The old sailor also saw the ships and quickly shouted to the sailors, then said to the middle-aged man, “Boss, hurry back to the cabin! Don’t come out, no matter what happens!”
However, the merchant ships were fully loaded with cargo, and even with full sails and a tailwind, they couldn’t outrun the approaching ships.
The three ships quickly closed in and directly cut in front of them, bringing both sides within thirty to fifty meters of each other.
On the middle ship, a long-bearded man, with a long-handled axe on his shoulder, shouted at the old sailor.
“All of you, get over here and obediently submit to inspection!”
“Who, who are you people!”
After seeing his boss enter the cabin, the old sailor, mustering his courage, tried to negotiate with the other party.
“Hehehehe, who am I?”
The man chuckled and looked at his subordinates. “My lads, tell this old geezer who we are!”
“Old dog, look clearly, this is our Grand Leader!”
“Hai Wang, Wu Yefan!”
“We call the shots in this sea area!”
“Obediently get into a small boat and scram, leave this big ship to us, or we’ll throw you into the sea to feed the turtles!”
The old sailor’s face instantly turned pale. Hai Wang, Wu Yefan!
Back in Dengzhou, people had mentioned that a group of pirates had recently appeared outside Bisha City, specifically targeting merchant ships.
However, considering the approaching season for strong sea winds, they couldn’t delay their departure indefinitely. They gambled on their luck.
But now, the outcome was obvious: they had lost the gamble.