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

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire beach of Crescent Bay a shocking crimson.

That wasn't the color of sunlight; it was real blood.

The pirates at the forefront didn't even have time to see what was rushing down from both sides of the sand dune before they were sent flying by the enormous impact. The iron hooves of the warhorses trampled over their chests, producing a teeth-grinding sound of bones shattering.

"It's cavalry! It's the cavalry of Xinwu!"

"We've fallen for their trap! Run!"

Panic erupted instantly, and the euphoria of surviving the ordeal turned into utter despair.

The pirates, still weak from jumping off the ship, huddled together like sheep surrounded by wolves, unsure whether to charge forward or retreat.

But they had nowhere to retreat.

Liu Jingshuang's five thousand cavalrymen, like two giant black scythes, slashed fiercely from the left and right flanks, but did not directly charge into the crowd to carry out a bloody slaughter.

With astonishing tacit understanding, they drew two impenetrable steel defense lines on the mudflats, and then, step by step, compressed the encirclement inward.

Spears stood like a forest, and horses' hooves thundered like lightning.

The cavalrymen made no shouts or roars, only silent and coldly executing their orders.

The spears in their hands were laid flat, their tips gleaming coldly in the setting sun, like rows of venomous snake fangs stretching forward.

They didn't stab or cut; they simply used their spear shafts and the momentum of their horses to push back the pirates who were trying to break out of the encirclement, forcing them to squeeze into the more crowded center.

This was a massacre that lasted for nearly an hour, but it was not a massacre in the traditional sense.

Liu Jingshuang never intended to kill all of them.

What she wanted were prisoners, to undermine Ke Zhenchuan's manpower and morale.

"Run out to sea! Get back to the ship!"

Finally, some of the pirates were driven mad by this silent oppression. They roared and turned to run towards the shallow waters behind them. That was the path they had come from, their only chance of survival.

But when they waded into the waist-deep water, they looked back and saw a scene that filled them with utter despair.

Shang Wanqing's two speedboats, without anyone noticing, had somehow become like two gatekeepers, positioned on either side of the edge of the shallow water.

The ship was facing them sideways, and rows of arrows gleaming coldly protruded from the dark crossbow windows.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The sound of a barrage of crossbow bolts piercing the air filled the air, drawing a deadly line of fire across the sea.

The arrows were not aimed at the people's vital organs, but rather at the water in front of them, stirring up clusters of white splashes, as if in warning or mockery.

To take another step forward would mean being pierced by a thousand arrows.

The pirates stopped in their tracks, standing motionless in the icy seawater, with an iron wall of cavalry in front of them and a deadly net of crossbow bolts behind them.

They were completely trapped on a narrow stretch of sand, with no way to go up or down.

……

"It's over."

On Ke Zhenchuan's flagship, a lieutenant looked at the scene on the distant beach, his binoculars clattering onto the deck, his voice hoarse with despair.

Ke Zhenchuan remained silent.

He still stood at the bow of the boat, his posture upright, like a weathered stone statue.

The sea breeze ruffled his gray hair, and his weathered face no longer showed any anger, only a deathly calm.

He lost.

They lost completely and utterly.

His meticulously planned amphibious landing and his proudly massive fleet were reduced to a complete joke by the combined efforts of these two women.

Shang Wanqing's boat played him up like a foolish bull in a game.

Liu Jingshuang's soldiers laid a flawless trap for him on the shore, waiting for him to stick his head in.

He had less than twenty ships left, along with his last two thousand-plus reserve troops.

These people originally planned to send a second wave of reinforcements after the beachhead was established.

But what's the point of sending reinforcements now? Sending more people up there would just add more corpses to that beach that's already turned into a slaughterhouse.

He remained silent for a long time, so long that his adjutant thought he had been crushed by this enormous blow.

Then, he slowly turned around, looked at his old subordinates who had followed him for many years, whose faces were also filled with fear and resentment, and said two words in an unusually calm tone.

"They've withdrawn."

……

As the remaining pirate fleet raised its sails and began to clumsily change course, Shang Wanqing spotted it immediately from the distant reef area.

Her fleet of clippers, like a pack of victorious hounds, regrouped in safe waters, their hulls still bearing the smell of gunpowder and blood from the fierce battle.

"Madam Shang, should we give chase?" A captain approached excitedly, his knife still dripping with blood.

"Don't chase."

Shang Wanqing shook her head and put down the binoculars.

She knew very well that her eighteen speedboats were adept at launching surprise attacks and harassing enemy forces.

But if they were to actually clash head-on with Ke Zhenchuan's remaining twenty or so main warships on the vast ocean, the outcome would be uncertain.

"When fighting away from home, don't pursue a defeated enemy relentlessly." This was a phrase Wei Zhao repeatedly advised her in his letter.

Her mission was to inflict pain and fear on the enemy, driving them away from the shore, not to act rashly and fight them to the death at sea.

She stood at the bow of the ship, silently watching the once invincible fleet disappear in a sorry state on the southeastern horizon, like a pack of stray dogs with their tails between their legs.

Only when no sail could be seen in sight did she turn around and give new orders to the sailors behind her who were also gazing into the distance.

"Return to Hong Kong."

Her voice was a little hoarse in the sea breeze, but exceptionally clear.

"The fighting is still going on on the shore."

As Shang Wanqing's fleet slowly sailed back to Quanzhou Port, the battle on the Crescent Bay mudflats was just coming to an end.

The last group of pirates trapped on the beach finally broke down when they saw that the main fleet had abandoned them and sailed away.

"Clang—"

It's unclear who was the first to throw down their weapon, bury their face in their hands, and kneel dejectedly on the sand.

This action seemed contagious; soon, the clanging of weapons hitting the ground filled the air.

Liu Jingshuang rode her horse slowly across the ravaged mudflats.

Her combat boots were soaking in the icy seawater, and the once smooth sand was now covered with messy footprints, discarded weapons, and signs of struggle.

The air was thick with the stench of blood, gunpowder, and the salty smell of the sea, a mixture that created a nauseating odor unique to war.

A lieutenant rode behind her, his face still showing lingering excitement.

"General, it's all over."

Liu Jingshuang didn't speak, but simply reined in her horse and watched as her taxi drivers used ropes to tie up the pirates who had given up resistance, one by one, and escorted them to the temporary camp at the rear.

She looked for a while before asking, her voice cold and devoid of emotion.

"Have you taken a count? Approximately how many people came ashore today?"

The lieutenant straightened his chest and replied loudly, "Reporting to the general! A rough count shows that there were about three thousand pirates who jumped off the ships and stormed the beach today! Fewer than four hundred were killed in battle, and the rest... were all captured!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Jingshuang simply nodded slightly, her gaze passing over the dejected prisoners and looking towards the distant sea, which had returned to calm.

Three thousand elite troops were wiped out in a single battle.

Ke Zhenchuan, this old dog who has been entrenched in the South China Sea for years, is likely to suffer a serious blow this time.