The next morning, Qin Chuan took the tiger tally given to him by the Empress and went to the Southern Camp to muster five hundred soldiers.
Then, a hundred soldiers were dispatched to raise the banners of the Southern Camp and escort Su Ruyan, Su Rushi, and the young princess to Jiangzhou.
"My lord, please be careful. We'll meet again in Jiangzhou."
Before parting, Su Ruyan held Qin Chuan's hand tightly, reluctant to leave.
"Don't worry, my wife."
Qin Chuan gently pinched her nose, smiled, and turned to leave.
Starting from the capital, Su Ruyan and the other two women traveled by carriage overland and were expected to arrive in Jiangzhou in five days.
Qin Chuan, along with Li Aniu, Li Qiuniang, and four hundred soldiers from the Southern Camp, also traveled by land to Jiangzhe to meet up with Song Lian. However, there would be some danger there, as Japanese pirates were causing trouble.
Qin Chuan didn't have Su Ruyan's courage to ride a motorcycle to the capital alone.
He's a coward.
He sent someone ahead to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to inform the governor's office that when Song Lian entered Jiangsu and Zhejiang, a troop of soldiers would be dispatched to meet him.
"Qiu Niang, do you know how to play chess?"
Inside the carriage, Qin Chuan sat on the soft backrest and looked at Li Qiuniang, who was sitting below him, dressed simply but with a beautiful appearance, and asked her a question.
Li Qiuniang lowered her head and hummed twice.
Qin Chuan laid out a chess set and said to her, "Come on, play a couple of games with me..."
"Yes, sir."
Li Qiuniang carefully squatted down on the lower right side of the soft backrest and started playing chess with Qin Chuan.
Behind the curtain, driving the carriage was Li Aniu.
He had driven a donkey cart before, but this was his first time driving a horse-drawn carriage. He seemed quite excited, grinning from time to time...
...
A four-day journey is neither long nor short.
Throughout the journey, Qin Chuan stayed at official post stations.
At each post station, the postmaster would serve them with utmost care, personally pouring tea and water.
The soldiers set up camp near the official post station, traveling by day and resting by night.
On December 16th, Qin Chuan and his group finally arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
"Ah Niu, we've arrived in Jiangnan. Is this your first time visiting Jiangnan?"
Qin Chuan lifted the curtain and spoke to Li Aniu.
Li Aniu said, "This is my first time here."
The green grass catches the eye; the scenery of Jiangnan is just as beautiful as that of the North, even in winter, it remains a sea of green.
Walking on the official road in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, I suddenly saw a procession coming from not far away. It was a grand procession with banners covering the sun and high morale.
The first banner was a large flag with the character "Song" written on it.
Upon seeing the flag, Qin Chuan breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that Song Lian had sent someone to pick him up.
"This humble general, Guan Yong, has come to welcome the Imperial Preceptor!"
A tall, brown horse came to the carriage, and a fierce general dismounted and knelt down in worship.
Qin Chuan lifted the curtain and came down, making Guan Yong stand up.
Qin Chuan asked, "General Guan, where is Song Lian now?"
Guan Yong clasped his hands and said, "Reporting to the Grand Preceptor, Lord Song is currently at Wujiapo encircling and annihilating the Japanese pirates!"
Qin Chuan dusted off his clothes and said with a guilty expression, "I'm so sorry to have made you send troops to pick me up. Let's go and support him quickly!"
Guan Yong laughed and said, "Don't worry, Grand Preceptor, there's no need for support at all! This is just a small group of Japanese pirates, only a little over a thousand. To use Lord Song's words, they're not even enough to fill a person's teeth. Why would we need to support them!"
Qin Chuan exclaimed in surprise, "More than a thousand Japanese pirates? And a small group at that? Song Lian's appetite is a bit too big!"
Guan Yong said, "Lord Song is the most formidable civil official I have ever seen. Oh, by the way, he has personally beheaded eight Japanese pirates, and the entire army is in awe of him!"
"Is Song Lian really that fierce?"
"Lord Song said that the Imperial Advisor's military strategy is still the best. Training troops according to Qi Jiguang's military strategy results in extremely low casualties. Killing Japanese pirates is so damn satisfying! Hahahaha!"
Qin Chuan was so inspired by Guan Yong's words that he laughed loudly: "Hahahaha! After hearing what you said, I also want to go and kill the enemy. Come on, General Guan, lead the way to Wujiapo!"
Guan Yong said, "Lord Song instructed me to take the Imperial Preceptor to the Governor's Office to oversee things. If anything happens to the Imperial Preceptor, we cannot bear the responsibility."
Qin Chuan thought for a moment and said, "Then let's just go and watch from a distance for a while. Nothing will happen. Let's go!"
Guan Yong's expression shifted uncertainly. After hesitating for a long time, he finally nodded in agreement.
The soldiers Qin Chuan brought joined forces with Guan Yong's soldiers and were all placed under Guan Yong's command.
Guan Yong is a brigadier general in charge of defense in the Jiangzhe region, and he can easily manage a thousand or eight hundred men.
Arriving at a pavilion on a hill near Wujiapo, Guan Yong dispatched 500 soldiers to support Song Lian in his battle, while he himself led 300 soldiers to protect the Imperial Preceptor.
Inside the pavilion, a cold wind blew, and Qin Chuan's clothes fluttered in the breeze.
Qin Chuan took out his binoculars and observed Wujiapo, which was two miles away.
At this time, Song Lian's large army had completed the encirclement of the Japanese pirates.
With 5,000 soldiers from the Northern Camp, plus the militia who volunteered to come, and the nearby garrison troops, there were at least seven or eight thousand men. It was no problem for them to annihilate these more than 1,000 Japanese pirates.
Wujiapo originally had more than a dozen houses, but they had been burned to the ground by the Japanese pirates, leaving only some charred earthen walls that had not collapsed. A large number of Japanese pirates huddled inside these earthen walls and resisted stubbornly.
Seeing the two dark cylinders in Qin Chuan's hand, Guan Yong asked curiously:
"Imperial Preceptor, what is that in your hand?"
Qin Chuan took the binoculars away from his eyes and said to Guan Yong, "This is called a binocular. Even if it's very far away, you can see clearly through this binocular."
Guan Yong was skeptical of Qin Chuan's words and wanted to verify them: "May I take a look?"
Qin Chuan handed the binoculars to Guan Yong.
Guan Yong picked up the binoculars and looked, hmm?
Why is it pitch black?
"You've taken it upside down."
Qin Chuan couldn't help but laugh.
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