Ah Ping possessed astonishing internal strength, so he could naturally sense how many people were coming, and his expression immediately turned serious.

"Brother Meng, let's go!" A-Ping shouted to Meng Tianze, while carrying Jiang Chengyou and walking back.

In comparison, Jiang Chengyou posed a much greater threat to them than Liu Ruyi.

However, the guards who came to help were on either side. Seeing this, they stepped forward, grabbed Liu Ruyi, and quickly retreated behind A Ping.

Meng Tianze dared not be careless, his heart was in his throat, and he followed closely behind A Ping and the others as they ran back.

Their speed was naturally not slow, but unfortunately Jiang Chengyou's reinforcements must have discovered the situation here long ago, and were now surrounding them from all sides.

Aping looked around and his eyes immediately sharpened.

There were at least a thousand people coming. He could leave on his own without any problem, but Meng Tianze and the other guards, and even Jiang Chengyou and Liu Ruyi who had just been captured, could not leave.

In a flash, A-Ping quickly made a decision, shielding Jiang Chengyou in front of him, gesturing to the guards behind him with his other hand, and then shouting to the reinforcements, "Get out of the way! Or I'll kill him!"

Jiang Chengyou was immobilized by pressure points, unable to make a sound or move, and could only stare helplessly in the direction of the reinforcements.

However, the meaning in his eyes was very clear: No retreating!

The reinforcements, whether they understood his meaning or not, seemed completely unconcerned about A-Ping's threat and continued to surround them.

Without hesitation, A-Ping threw Jiang Chengyou out and shouted, "Go!"

In the blink of an eye, the guards who were holding Liu Ruyi also threw her away and then scattered and fled.

A Ping then led Meng Tianze out of the encirclement and quickly disappeared.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" The leader of the reinforcements looked at Jiang Chengyou with concern.

Jiang Chengyou still glared at him, his eyes practically murderous.

The leader had some knowledge of Da Yue's martial arts style and immediately realized that he had been acupunctured. So he used the methods he knew to release the pressure points.

But after he tried once, Jiang Chengyou still couldn't move.

"Your subordinate deserves to die. This person's technique is unique. We can only wait for the acupoints to release automatically when the time comes. Please wait patiently, Your Highness!" The man knelt on one knee, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

Jiang Chengyou stared, his eyes filled with both anxiety and anger.

What a bunch of idiots! Instead of hurrying after them, letting them go back to the mountains will only greatly hinder their future actions!

But Liu Ruyi had also fallen into a coma, and there was no one to command the reinforcements, so after rescuing Jiang Chengyou, they just waited in place.

However, after the leader of the reinforcements settled Jiang Chengyou and Liu Ruyi, he said to his men, "That man was too skilled. We couldn't stop him at all. Pass down the order to have the elite squads strengthen their formation practice. Next time we encounter him, we'll try our best to take him down!"

He looked in the direction where Ah Ping disappeared, but he wasn't quite sure.

That person was too strong, terrifyingly strong. He wouldn't want to confront that person unless absolutely necessary.

...

Meanwhile, after Xiao Rui and An Shiqi arrived in Qiongzhou, they happened to arrive just in time for the Northwest Army to recruit people, so they signed up.

However, to their surprise, they were assigned to the Northwest Navy.

"Master, is General Lu planning to cross the river?" An Shiqi asked Xiao Rui in a low voice behind his back.

Xiao Rui had already quietly surveyed the entire naval camp, and upon hearing this, he nodded and said, "He probably intends to take over the capital directly."

An Shiqi frowned. "Isn't this too risky?"

It is well known that people from the Northwest are not good at water combat. Even if Lu Yanzheng trained a navy, he probably wouldn't be able to gain an advantage in naval warfare.

Of course, the imperial navy wasn't actually that powerful, but at least the imperial court had warships, even if they were dilapidated.

It will be difficult for the Northwest Navy to build more warships than the imperial court in a short period of time.

Just then, Xiao Rui said, "It's alright. I just want to see what he's going to do. After all, I'm a dead man and can't interfere too much."

“Master, you…” An Shiqi looked at him with a complicated expression.

He had initially disagreed with his master faking his death by poisoning, but his master insisted on doing so, leaving him no choice but to cooperate.

He thought his master would live a secluded life in the mountains, spending his days in obscurity, but his master took him everywhere.

At first, he thought his master was unwilling to give all the resources to Lu Yanzheng, but later he realized that his master just wanted to make sure that the people he cared about were doing well.

They had already confirmed the situation of the Lu family and Jiang Qinyu, and now they were checking on Lu Yanzheng's situation.

Xiao Rui patted his shoulder. "Let's go."

He knew what An Shiqi wanted to say, but there were some things he didn't want to say a second time.

No one may believe that he would really be willing to give all his resources to Lu Yanzheng, but for him, making this decision was a well-thought-out decision and he did it willingly.

He had originally considered fighting for that position himself and taking back everything that was rightfully his. However, in the process, he discovered that Lu Yanzheng and Jiang Qinyu were more suited to do it.

There are only two reasons. First, they both care about the people and are truly people who will do practical things for them. Second, their relationship is stable, they have great love in their hearts, and Jiang Qinyu herself is good at management. As long as they sit in that position, the people of the world will have hope of moving towards a prosperous era.

He certainly had those two reasons, but he wasn't good at managing relationships, and he didn't have a partner of equal strength. If he were to rise to power in the future, not to mention anything else, the struggle for the empress's position alone could very well unleash a bloody storm.

In contrast, Lu Yanzheng and Jiang Qinyu are a different story. Jiang Qinyu's family is practically empty except for her nephews and nieces. Lu Yanzheng's parents are honest people, and his younger brother, who used to be a troublemaker, has reformed. Their family relationships are very clean, so there is no need to worry about relatives of the mother-in-law gaining power.

In addition, he didn't really crave that position. Since others could also make people live a good life, and might even do it better than him, why should he go for it?

As for why he faked his death... it's simple. After confirming everything, he wanted to live his own life—a completely new life, without any status or help from his maternal family.

To Xiao Rui's surprise, he met Lu Yanzheng the very next day.

"You greenhorns, behave yourselves. You're lucky to have arrived at such a good time, getting to see our newly built behemoth right away. Tsk tsk... I'm starting to envy you guys."

The officer in charge of training them was giving a speech, and there was definitely a hint of envy in his eyes.

Xiao Rui and An Shiqi were a little curious about the big guy he was talking about. They looked at each other and stood there respectfully.

They were soon led to a reed bed, or more precisely, a reed bed with only a ring of reeds around it and a large open area of ​​water in the middle.

At this very moment, a colossal ship that Xiao Rui had never seen before was anchored on the water.