A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

In early August, Shang Wanqing's prediction came true.

A secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard in Mingzhou, carrying the salty smell of the sea breeze and a faint hint of blood, was delivered by fast horse to Liu Jingshuang's central command tent in Yuezhou.

"Thirty miles outside Mingzhou Port, Zhangjia Village was plundered overnight. All forty-seven people in the village were wiped out."

Liu Jingshuang looked at the words on the secret report, her face expressionless, but her fingers unconsciously tightened around the corner of the table.

Her adjutant whispered, "The Embroidered Uniform Guards didn't arrive at the scene until after dawn. The village's grain and fishing nets were looted, but strangely, the villagers' money and valuables were untouched. The killings were swift and decisive, almost all fatal with a single blow, unlike ordinary bandits."

They were not bandits.

Liu Jingshuang repeated these words in her mind.

The bandits wanted money, women, and everything they could steal.

But this group of people had a clear objective, just like an army.

All they needed were food and fishing nets, which were essential for survival at sea.

Leaving no survivors was to prevent leaks. Acting swiftly was to avoid being surrounded.

This is a scout dispatched by Ke Zhenchuan. A scout squad that is testing the new military defense line with human lives.

"How many of them are there?" Liu Jingshuang asked.

"Judging from the footprints and traces left at the scene, there were probably more than 20 people involved. They had a clear division of labor during the operation, and there should have been a speedboat nearby to provide support."

A group of twenty-odd people dared to sneak ashore and slaughter an entire village.

This is no longer a test; this is a provocation.

It was by sacrificing forty-seven lives that a bloody gash was carved into the coastline of Xinwu, to see if you felt pain and how much blood you would bleed.

Liu Jingshuang stood up and walked to the huge coastal defense map.

On the map, from Mingzhou to Quanzhou, and then to Yuezhou, she used a vermilion pen to draw defensive lines along the long coastline.

But she knew in her heart that no matter how tight the net was, there would always be loopholes.

"Pass on my orders." Her voice was cold, like the thin frost outside the tent in the early morning.

"All fishing villages along the coast of the three states must be evacuated back to the coastal defense line before sunset. All fishing boats, regardless of size, must be brought back to port and placed under the unified supervision of the garrison. From this moment on, no vessel may sail at night within fifty miles of the coast."

The deputy general accepted the order and was about to leave when Liu Jingshuang called him back.

"Pass on a message to Shang Wanqing at the Quanzhou Shipyard."

She paused, her gaze falling on the location of Quanzhou on the map, a chilling glint in her eyes.

"Tell her that the new ships she built can finally be put to the test at sea."

The order was transmitted to every corner of the three southeastern states as quickly as possible.

Although the coastal residents complained bitterly, feeling that the government was meddling too much, seeing the taxi drivers standing with their knives drawn and urging each household to evacuate, no one dared to risk their lives.

At the Quanzhou Shipyard, Shang Wanqing was standing on a newly built ship with its keel laid when she received Liu Jingshuang's message.

She was covered in tung oil and sawdust, and her hair was casually tied back with a strip of cloth.

After hearing the messenger's words, she didn't ask any further questions. She simply jumped down from the high hull, wiped the sweat from her face, and yelled at the craftsmen behind her, "Get your hands moving faster!"

Then she turned to the messenger and replied with only one word.

"it is good."

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

Three new-style speedboats, painted entirely in black, glided silently out of Quanzhou Port like three silent sharks.

Shang Wanqing led the team personally, and she stood at the bow of the first ship.

The sea breeze made her clothes flutter, but she remained motionless like an iron statue, her eyes fixed on the darkness swallowed by the night.

She wasn't holding a knife, but beside her were several earthenware jars filled with kerosene and a fire-starting device that she had personally modified, capable of igniting instantly in the sea breeze.

She is not a general and does not know how to deploy troops.

But she knew about ships, and she knew how to turn enemy ships into a pile of rotten logs floating on the sea in the shortest amount of time.

The fleet sailed north along the Minnesota coastline, conducting a thorough patrol along the islands and bays where ships were most likely to hide.

In the latter half of the night, the wind grew stronger and stronger, and fog even began to rise over the sea.

Got nothing.

"Madam Shang, the waves are getting rough. If we go any further, we might drift off course," the captain behind us warned.

Shang Wanqing didn't turn around. She stood at the bow of the boat for a while longer before reluctantly uttering two words: "Return."

The fleet changed course and began to head back.

Just when everyone thought they were going to make a wasted trip tonight, the lookout suddenly exclaimed in surprise in a rocky area 60 miles away from Mingzhou Port.

"There's something at the bow!"

Shang Wanqing perked up and immediately ordered her men to slow the ship down and approach cautiously.

It was a small piece of wood floating on the sea, only about three feet long, rising and falling with the waves.

"Pull it up."

The wooden plank was pulled onto the boat; it was very heavy, clearly having been soaked in the water for quite some time.

Shang Wan-qing took the wooden board and carefully examined it by the light of the lantern at the bow of the boat.

This is not a plank that fell from a merchant ship or fishing boat. The edges of the plank are rough, without any signs of polishing, and there are no ship numbers or markings engraved on it.

Her gaze finally settled on a knife mark in the center of the wooden board.

The knife mark was very new; the exposed wood was still white, indicating that it had been carved recently.

The knife marks were deep and straight, not like they were made accidentally, but rather as if someone had deliberately made them by measuring with a ruler.

Shang Wanqing stared at the knife mark for a very long time.

She suddenly understood something.

She didn't say anything, but simply ordered the planks to be put away, and then commanded the fleet to return to Quanzhou at full speed.

As dawn broke, when she returned to the dock exhausted and chilled, the shipwrights who had worked through the night surrounded her.

"Madam Shang, have you found those sons of bitches of pirates?"

Shang Wanqing shook her head and threw the plank on the ground in front of everyone.

"They've come back."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced the noisy dock.

All eyes were on that ordinary wooden board.

Shang Wanqing pointed to the straight knife mark, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"They're just watching, watching the changes on the shore. They're seeing if our port is closed, if our fishing boats are still at sea, and if we dare to come out at night."

She was using this wooden board to measure the rise and fall of the tides and record the passage of time.

In doing so, they were also silently mocking those on the shore who were on high alert.

Shang Wanqing didn't say another word. She turned and walked into the deepest part of the dock, where the skeleton of the sixteenth fast ship was already half-built.

She picked up an axe and chopped it hard into a wooden stake that was being used for support beside her.

"What are you all standing there for? Get to work!"

She was seething with anger.

Ke Zhenchuan, you old fox.

If you want to see, I'll let you see as much as you want.

When you come again next time, I'll make sure you don't even have a ship to go back and report.