However, in June of the fourth year of Yulong, the Emperor of Dongli returned to Dongli and launched a sudden attack on Yulong and the Queen's Kingdom at the same time with lightning speed.
On June 20, Yejian Port opened to foreign trade for the first time.
The port was full of cargo ships waiting to dock.
At dawn on June 20th, taking advantage of the first light of day, five Dongli warships, with the southeast wind, rapidly approached Yejian Wharf and attacked Yulong Port.
At that time, merchant ships from Johor, Temasek, and Sin Tau were queuing up to disembark. If ships from Dong Li Kingdom were to launch an attack, the consequences would be extremely dire.
Coincidentally, Xie Zhaozhao was in Yejian Port.
It's to prevent ghosts from appearing!
Although the transformation of Changhe Town was extremely successful, the situation regarding the strange and unsavory characters from the coast was another matter.
Everyone in the imperial court knew that Xie Zhaozhao was focused on managing the General Affairs Department, but no one knew that she had already traveled incognito to Ye, a coastal city about to open to trade, to build a port.
Zhou Shaoyu held Xiao Heng'er in the court to mislead everyone, while Xie Zhaozhao led Yuan Yuanman, Bei Chen, and others to Ye Jian.
This was the first time that trade had been opened to the coastal areas; how could the imperial court not keep a close eye on such a momentous event?
When the ships from Dongli were sneaking towards Yulong from a distance, twenty nautical miles from the anchorage, Xie Zhaozhao gave the Ye Jian navy the order: "Attack, regardless of life or death."
Ye Jian's navy was hidden in caves in the islands not far from the coastline.
Upon receiving instructions, the patrol boat immediately notified the Ye Jian Navy, and twelve ships were dispatched to surround the five large ships from Dongli Kingdom.
Holding a megaphone, he shouted: "You traitors from Dongli, please lay down your weapons, or you will be killed without mercy."
The people of Dongli refused to surrender, so—
“Use catapults to drop explosives and kill them.”
As dawn broke, the sea surface was stained red with seafood blood.
All five large ships from Dongli were captured.
Most of the invaders died, a few were captured, and the ships were confiscated.
Meanwhile, Xie Zhaozhao wrote a memorial and ordered it to be sent back to the court by fast horse.
Xie Zhaozhao also received an urgent military report from the south: the Queen's Empire was suddenly attacked, and both sides fought fiercely, resulting in casualties on both sides.
Xie Zhaozhao ordered the Baiyue City Navy: "Ambush the Dongli warships returning from the Queen's Empire and provide assistance to the Queen's Empire."
The three ships that attacked the Queen's Empire landed on land, and the ships docked at the pier. The Jade Dragon Navy then cut off their retreat, killed the ship's chief engineer, and sailed away.
The Dongli people who landed there faced Lu Feiyan's poison and the large amount of gunpowder Xu Li had left for her, so the possibility of them returning to their hometown was basically zero.
The ships that attacked Yulong were surrounded, killed, and captured by the Yulong navy in less than a day.
The attack on the Queen's Empire's warships was thwarted by the Jade Dragon Baiyue City Navy, which then incorporated them into the Jade Dragon Navy's warships in less than half a month.
In just half a month, Yulong added eight more warships to his navy at minimal cost.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Shaoyu abandoned state affairs and immediately went to Yejian. Zhaozhao was currently pregnant and could not be disturbed.
Seeing Xie Zhaozhao leisurely take down eight enemy warships, Zhou Shaoyu breathed a sigh of relief.
Because the five states have just undergone changes, they are not suitable for turmoil. Otherwise, we could strike at their heart and make Dongli a thing of the past.
Yulong sent a letter to all the countries on the continent: Yulong is severing ties with Dongli, and all countries that have friendly relations with Dongli shall refuse to participate in exchanges and trade.
From then on, Dongli was surrounded by enemies on all sides and fell into a diplomatic predicament.
On the 20th day of the twelfth month of the fourth year of the Yulong era, Xie Zhaozhao was about to give birth. Zhou Shaoyu announced that he would stop writing in the court and stayed with Xie Zhaozhao throughout the process.
Zhou Tangtang, Zhang Yanyan, and Liu Yiyi all entered the palace to accompany her, along with an uninvited guest, Li Ranran.
When Xie Zhaozhao and Zhou Shaoyu divorced, Li Ranran wanted to marry Zhou Shaoyu, but was scolded by the Duchess of Yingguo. After that, she chose to marry Gu Zheng.
When the capital was moved, the Pingyang Earl's residence was not moved to Daming Prefecture.
This time, Li Ranran, Gu Zheng, Gu Zhongyu, Madam Lu, Gu Huanhuan, Gu Mianmian, and their husbands all came to Daming Prefecture.
I don't know what Li Ranran was thinking, but she brought Gu Yuebai along too.
Gu Yuebai was eleven years old and wearing a brocade robe. When he saw Xie Zhaozhao, he knelt down obsequiously and called her "Grand Aunt".
As Xie Zhaozhao looked at him, his appearance gradually overlapped with that of Gu Chengyan in her memory.
And his smile is becoming more and more like Guan Yingying's.
How foolish she was in her previous life to let such a face linger in front of her for over a decade.
Thinking back to his past life, when he passed the imperial examination with top honors, he sneered at Xie Zhaozhao, "Guan Yingying is my mother. You are nothing but a thief who took the place of my birth mother's legal wife."
For a moment, she felt dazed, and then her stomach began to ache violently.
"Imperial physician! Quickly, summon the imperial physician!"
"Aunt Chai, Uncle Chai..."
On the first day of the first month of the fifth year of the Yulong era, Xie Zhaozhao gave birth to another son.
Because his birth date happened to be the first day of the Lunar New Year, he was named Zhou Qiyuan.
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