In other words, this alliance of those pirates actually provided an opportunity for the navy of the imperial court to dispose of them at one fell swoop! And it would make things even easier for the navy if all the pirates were lured ashore.

This chart was quite exhaustive. Yuwen Tong, after arriving in Pingtao City, secretly scouted out the lay of the land of the port and nearby areas, and now he had a shrewd idea which route those "pirates" would take to get ashore. What he needed to do next was figure out a way to entice them into moving far inland so that his men could put them to rout in a land battle. The combat capabilities of his men would be hemmed in if they had to fight a sea battle. Moreover, the sea area that those pirates' hideouts were distributed was vast, and they could easily make their escape during a naval engagement.

He would have to rid these waters of pirates sooner or later. The reason why he hadn't done it yet was because he had just acceded to the throne, and there were many issues in the Great Wen he had to attend to first. Previously he couldn't find the time to deal with those pirates even if he wanted to, but now, thanks to the Luohai Kingdom's attempt to make trouble, he could conveniently end the scourge of pirates ahead of schedule, so this situation actually had its compensations.

...

It was almost midnight when he finished conferring with the commander of the Haizhou garrison, the commander of the Haizhou navy and the Haizhou governor.

Yuwen Tong had no idea how things were going with Ling Zhang. He believed that Ling Zhang had probably received his letter four days ago. If Ling Zhang, on receiving the letter, had departed heading for Haizhou by way of Yanzhou, he would be able to see Ling Zhang in three days at the earliest, but if something went awry...

"Still no report from Cangzhou?" asked Yuwen Tong.

"The latest intelligence report hasn't arrived yet, Sire. The last report says that they found some traces Shan Congyi left behind, and the Jiangzhou rebel army were being redeployed," replied the commander of the Haizhou garrison.

Given the time of the delivery of the last report, everything should be over by now.

This was the very matter that concerned Yuwen Tong. He wondered how things had ended and whether Ling Zhang was safe and unharmed.

Shortly before he went to bed, a courier pigeon carrying a letter from Cangzhou finally arrived, which said that the plan of the Wan Kingdom had been upset, that Wang Xiangxin had failed to get the financial support provided by the Wan Kingdom, lost more then half of the men he'd stationed at the checkpoint, and retreated behind the blockades.

This letter was for the commander of the Haizhou garrison from the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor). The latter cautioned that as Wang Xiangxin had lost the support of the Wan Kingdom, he would undoubtedly pin all his hopes on the Luohai Kingdom and would very likely launch a frenzied attack on Haizhou, that Haizhou needed to be ready when that happened.

Nobody could have foreseen that Yuwen Tong would come to Haizhou, so the General Zhongwu, out of his concern over Ling Zhang's safety, didn't mention anything about Ling Zhang.

But very soon, Yuwen Tong received a message from his secret bodyguards.

It said that Ling Zhang had entered Jiangzhou and was staying temporarily in a village of hunters, that his arm was wounded.

It'd been the very night Ling Zhang had arrived at that village that this letter had been sent. Yuwen Tong's secret bodyguards hadn't been able to gauge the time when Yuwen Tong would arrive in Pingtao City, and delivering this secret letter out of Jiangzhou had taken some doing, so Yuwen Tong hadn't received this letter until the night before Ling Zhang would arrive in Haizhou.

"His arm's wounded?" Yuwen Tong knitted his brows. "How did that happen?"

No detail was given in the letter. He had no idea specifically how Ling Zhang hurt his arm.

Whether Shan Congyi was alive or not was a mystery to him, and so were what had happened on that day exactly and if Ling Zhang's arm injury had anything to do with that. He had thought that Ling Zhang would come to Haizhou via Yanzhou. He didn't have a clue why Ling Zhang had entered Jiangzhou, or how he'd managed to do that. However, seeing as Ling Zhang had eventually chosen to stay in a village to nurse his injury, his wound must not be healing well.

Yuwen Tong was thrown into deep worry, looking in the direction of Jiangzhou, emanating a cold air.

...

Ling Zhang had arrived at the checkpoint on the boundary between Jiangzhou and Haizhou.

Due to his concern over the situation in Pingtao City, Ling Zhang had only stayed in that village for two days before leaving. He'd taken the route that he'd had his men check beforehand, heading straight for Haizhou along a defile going through mountains and forests.

Along the journey, Ling Zhang from time to time had had Yao Yi go to nearby towns to make inquiries, and thus had come to know that Wang Xiangxin had been dispatching more troops to the checkpoint near Haizhou as a matter of urgency, which meant that there would soon be a fierce fight in Haizhou.

Ling Zhang was worried about the situation in Haizhou, wondering how Haizhou's defense had been organized, whether Yuwen Tong had arrived in Pingtao City, how the Luohai Kingdom were going to do it exactly...

However, the checkpoint near Haizhou had been sealed, and more troops of the Jiangzhou rebel army were hurrying to the checkpoint, so there was no way he could get out of Jiangzhou through the checkpoint. Fortunately for him, his father had given him some instructions in a timely manner, telling him that there was a secret shortcut connecting Haizhou and Jiangzhou. This path was in the turf of a prestigious sect in the martial arts world which was located in a valley formed by a branch range of Mt East. The valley lay not far away from the checkpoint on the boundary between Haizhou and Jiangzhou. The main road people normally took to go in and out of the sect was in Haizhou, but there was a secret defile which started from the hill behind the sect and led to Jiangzhou. However, the defile was too rough for people without lightness skills to travel on.

Nobody other than members of that sect knew about the existence of that path. Given Ling Zhang's identity, even if he wanted to force his way through that sect to take that path, people there wouldn't dare say anything. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Everybody was astonished when Ling Zhang told them about that path. Yao Yi and Wang Dashan, who were very much in Yuwen Tong's and Ling Zhang's confidence respectively, to a greater or lesser extent, knew about the matter of the Millennium Pavilion, and they subconsciously believed that it was someone from that organization that had informed Ling Zhang of this. Ling Zhang was aware that they misunderstood, but this matter was hard to explain, because, naturally, the fewer who knew about his and his father's rebirth, the better.

...

In the morning of this day. Pingtao City.

The commander of the Haizhou garrison requested an audience with Yuwen Tong early in the morning, saying that he had something urgent to report.

"Sire, something's going on in the Jiangzhou rebel army. There've been frequent deployments since last night. The number of the troops guarding the checkpoint has doubled and is still on the rise."

Yuwen Tong calmly did some thinking before he observed, "Wang Xiangxin lost a lot of men and got nothing during the fight near the checkpoint on the boundary between Cangzhou and Jiangzhou. I think he's hurried to the checkpoint near Haizhou already, planning to take Haizhou to cover the loss."

"Will they mount an offensive ahead of schedule?"

"If they are to launch an attack ahead of schedule, they'll first have to make sure the Luohai Kingdom got their back. Keep a close eye on that checkpoint. They'll sure as hell send someone out to make contact with Mu Rongfeng."

"Yes, Sire!"

After the commander of the Haizhou garrison took his leave, Yuwen Tong didn't just sit there waiting. He carefully studied the overall terrain of the areas near Pingtao City, and then told the Haizhou governor and the commander of the Haizhou navy that the sea should be the focus of most of their attention.

At the same time, he instructed his secret bodyguards to cooperate with the Haizhou garrison, keep close watch on people and things going out of the checkpoint in Jiangzhou, and make sure that all courier pigeons and the like were intercepted.

If pirates and the Jiangzhou rebel army joined hands, the Haizhou garrison would have a hard job defending against the attack from them on their own – they would at least lose more men. The best way was to separate the pirates and the rebel army, lure Mu Rongfeng and his men ashore and dispose of them first, and then turn around to deal with Jiangzhou. Meanwhile, the Cangzhou garrison would make their move as well, outflanking and attacking Jiangzhou from another side, which would make things a lot easier.

Because of this, the Haizhou garrison kept very close watch on the checkpoint in Jiangzhou. Even small birds flying by were shot down, because they couldn't afford to take any chances.

While Yuwen Tong and some others were waiting for the "letter" to come out of the checkpoint in Jiangzhou, Ling Zhang had led his men through the turf of that sect and entered Haizhou. Looking down from the top of a hill, they could see Pingtao City in the distance.

"Childe Ling, this path leads right to Pingtao City. You may get there in half a day if you travel fast enough," said the leader of that sect.

He'd been terribly astounded when Ling Zhang had revealed his identity, and he hadn't had the time to carefully think about why the present empress knew about the existence of this secret path of their sect. Since this grandee just wanted to take this path to go to another city, they had no choice but to immediately lead the way for him, not daring try to stop him at all.

Ling Zhang expressed his gratitude and said, "Thank you. I owe you a favor and I'm not going to forget it."

"No, no, it's nothing. We but did what we should do."

Ling Zhang inclined his head, folded his hands in front to bid them farewell and then quickly led his men towards Pingtao City.

As they reached the gates of Pingtao City at noon, Ling Zhang heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, they arrived at their destination.

"Let's get into the city," said Ling Zhang, looking at the tight security outside Pingtao City, a grave expression on his face.

"Yes, Childe Ling."

Having traveled for a long time, Ling Zhang was also somewhat tired, but at the thought that Yuwen Tong might already be in Pingtao City, all his weariness seemed to dissolve.

"Identify yourselves."

Seeing Ling Zhang approaching with a large group of people all of whom appeared to be from unusual background, the soldiers guarding the gates stopped them.

Yao Yi walked forward to talk to the soldiers. Before long, they were let in. Also, someone led the way for them, ushering them to a military encampment outside another pair of city gates.

There were some secret agents working for Yuwen Tong in Pingtao City. The moment Ling Zhang and his men showed up at the city gates, an agent spotted them and immediately sent a message back to the encampment.

Yuwen Tong was astonished at the news of Ling Zhang's arrival and then hastened outside to welcome him.

He remembered very well that letter said Ling Zhang was staying in a village nursing his wound. How come Ling Zhang came to Pingtao City so soon? Yuwen Tong was worried about Ling Zhang's injury, the look on his face growing serious.

The others didn't know what was going on. At the sight of Yuwen Tong hurrying outside, they quickly followed in his wake.

Yuwen Tong's true identity was kept secret from common soldiers, but as the commander of the Haizhou garrison, the commander of the Haizhou navy and the Haizhou governor were all very submissive and deferential to him, anybody could tell that he was no common person, so nobody dared try to stop him.

The two commanders and the governor, who hadn't been able to hear what that secret bodyguard had said to Yuwen Tong, mistakenly believed that some kind of emergency had happened. Incapable of keeping pace with Yuwen Tong, they had to trot to follow him.

When they got to the military encampment, they saw that Yuwen Tong was standing there waiting for someone. All of them hurriedly asked, "Sire, is there an emergency? Why are you..."

All three of them looked rather nervous.

Yuwen Tong flicked them a glance. Knowing that they misunderstood, he said, "It has nothing to do with the military situation. I'm here because Brother Zhang has arrived."

Brother Zhang? The three of them were baffled. The Haizhou governor was the first to catch on. "His Highness has come to Haizhou as well?"

"Yeah. Keep this to yourselves," replied Yuwen Tong, looking up the road leading to this encampment into the distance. Considering how long it'd been since the secret bodyguard had delivered the message to him, Ling Zhang could show up at any moment.

His Highness? The other two were amazed and at the same time eagerly looking forward to seeing the empress whom neither of them had ever clapped eyes on before, wondering what this grandee that their emperor had personally come to welcome in such haste was like.

When Ling Zhang was close enough to the encampment, he caught sight of a man standing at the front gate in the distance and stopped dead in his tracks.

On seeing this, the others also paused and looked in that direction. All those with good eyesight spotted Yuwen Tong and came to understand why Ling Zhang was reacting this way.

"Ahem." Yao Yi let out a little cough and gave the others a significant look with a motion of his hand.

The others quietly backed off.

Ling Zhang was still standing motionless as though in a trance, gazing unblinkingly at Yuwen Tong on the other side, his eyes burning, his breathing growing heavier in spite of himself. The longing which he'd thought he'd be able to restrain instantly burst its boundary, overwhelming him.

There was even an inexplicable pang of injured feeling surging inside him, giving him an urge to run up to Yuwen Tong and hug him tight to ease it.

Thinking about this, he finally moved, rushing forward like the wind.

Seeing him streaking over, Yuwen Tong opened his mouth unawares, staring fixedly at the person who was dashing at him like a tired bird flying towards its nest, his heart pounding so violently that it hurt.

The separation had lasted so many days. He'd missed Ling Zhang every day and every night, fearing that he might undergo hardships or be bullied or get hurt. He'd been kept in suspense all this time. Yuwen Tong had no idea what else he subconsciously took Ling Zhang for exactly. He only knew that Ling Zhang was as important as his own life, that under no circumstances would he let anything happen to Ling Zhang.

Arms outstretched, he welcomed the person darting up to him by sweetly taking him into his embrace, and it was only then that his heart seemed to return to where it should be. He exhaled deeply, holding Ling Zhang so carefully as though he were some kind of precious treasure.

His significant other finally returned to his embrace.

He would be a fool to let Ling Zhang leave again!

Ling Zhang held on to Yuwen Tong's back tightly, breathing in the familiar mixture of the refreshing faint fragrance and Yuwen Tong's scent which enveloped his whole body as though it were cleansing every fibre of his being, possessively putting him under Yuwen Tong's protection. He willingly submitted himself to it, wishing he could cling on to Yuwen Tong like this forever.

Yuwen Tong caught a whiff of a smell of medicine which he could easily tell was some kind of topical vulnerary, and with that he came to himself and recalled his secret bodyguard in that letter had told him that Ling Zhang's arm was wounded, that he had had to stay in Jiangzhou to nurse his injury...

"Which one of your arms is injured? Let me take a look?"

Ling Zhang was confused when finding himself out of Yuwen Tong's embrace. Why did Yuwen Tong stop hugging him? He involuntarily looked at Yuwen Tong, a bemused and injured expression in his eyes.

Yuwen Tong's heart melted by Ling Zhang's gaze, but he'd gathered his wits. "Let me have a look at your wound first."

It was only then that Ling Zhang raised his injured arm, glanced down at it and said, "I'm fine. It's just a scratch, and it has healed well."

"You seriously expect me to believe that you stayed for days just to nurse a common scratch?" Yuwen Tong's eyes became stern and with that he lifted Ling Zhang's arm to scrutinize it. Looking at the bandage almost wrapped around the whole forearm, he knitted his brows.

The wound was so long?

"I'm really okay. It has healed. I'll be able to remove the bandage after the wound is scarred. It's just a minor injury," said Ling Zhang. He really felt that it was no big deal. The wound was healing slowly merely because it was fairly deep, and he'd accidentally put some strain on it when pushing on with his journey, and it'd been affected by his sweat.

"Mr. Mu's vulnerary is miraculous, and Qiu Bing has been checking my wound and changing my dressing on a frequent basis, so I'm really okay. Don't concern yourself with it. What about you? You arrived in this city so soon. How's your journey? You must be exhausted. There's no need for you to come here to meet me," said Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong made no reply. After observing Ling Zhang's countenance for quite a while, he gently put Ling Zhang's arm down, took his other hand, pivoted around and drew him towards the gate of the encampment.

Ling Zhang walked towards the far end of the encampment with him. At the sight of the commander of the Haizhou garrison and the other two, he hurriedly pulled Yuwen Tong to a halt.

Seeing this, the three men hastened to pay their respects to Ling Zhang and introduced themselves.

"It's an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I'm Hai Mu."

"It's an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I'm Dong Sheng."

"It's an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I'm Wu Zhuo."

Ling Zhang greeted them and said, "There's no need for formalities, Your Lordships. I'm on an incognito visit as well." He tossed Yuwen Tong a glance and then added, "Just like him, I don't want people to know who I am either, so please keep this to yourselves."

"Yes, Childe Ling," chorused the commander of the Haizhou garrison and the other two.

The Haizhou governor had met Ling Zhang before. The commander of the Haizhou garrison and the commander of the Haizhou navy, however, hadn't been able to go to the capital city to attend to Yuwen Tong's enthronement ceremony or the imperial wedding, for Yuwen Tong had ordered them to stay on the job to guard against any changes in the situation in Jiangzhou. Therefore, this was their first time seeing Ling Zhang, and they couldn't help but observe Ling Zhang for a few moments.