Republic of China era: A hundred-year-old still practicing martial arts? Is that right?

The crowd on the dock gradually dispersed, leaving only a squad of city defense troops guarding the fortifications.

Lin Ji stood behind the pile of goods, watching the standoff in the middle of the river.

The three Jing-class warships of the Executive Government were moored in a triangular formation, their cannons pointed at the old ships of the National Salvation Association, exuding an imposing aura.

Heze's men huddled on the ship, neither surrendering nor firing, as if waiting for some instructions.

The two sides remained deadlocked, and the river wind, carrying the smell of gunpowder, choked people and made their throats tight.

Lin Ji had a feeling that something was wrong.

What a coincidence!

Just as He Ze sent warships to pressure Jiangcheng, the government's navy arrived.

The timing was perfect, as if they had calculated the day precisely, waiting for He Ze to make his move so they could catch him like a turtle in a jar.

But He Ze has been operating in Guanghua for so many years, he's cunning and shrewd, would he be so careless?

Even the government's navy heading south, but where exactly it will end up, remains unknown.

Or is it that... someone in the National Salvation Association deliberately suppressed the news and used He Ze as a pawn to make him jump into a pit?

As he was thinking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure flashing in the crowd on the west side of the dock.

Wearing a long gray cloth robe and a straw hat pulled low, he walked quickly toward the dock with his head down, deliberately staying close to the edge of the crowd so as not to attract attention.

That silhouette looks so much like Jiang Yunhe.

Lin Ji's heart skipped a beat, and he took off after him.

He squeezed through the chaotic crowd, walking quickly, but didn't bump into anyone.

But when he chased after the figure to the spot where it had disappeared, the person was gone.

The dock was empty, with only a few dilapidated fishing boats moored to wooden stakes, swaying back and forth on the river. An old fisherman sat on the deck, head down mending his nets, with no one else around.

"Did you see that person who just walked by? The one in the gray long gown?" Lin Ji asked as he walked over.

The old fisherman looked up, bewildered. "Who's there? I don't see anyone. Nobody's been here for ages."

Lin Ji frowned.

There's no way I could be mistaken. That walking posture, that figure, it's clearly Jiang Yunhe.

Wasn't he supposed to be leaving Jiangcheng? Why is he suddenly appearing at the dock? And dressed like this, acting all sneaky.

"What's wrong?" Li Shuwen asked as he walked over after finishing his work and noticed Lin Ji's strange expression.

"I saw Jiang Yunhe." Lin Ji said in a deep voice, "He went towards the shipyard and disappeared in the blink of an eye."

"Jiang Yunhe?" Li Shuwen's brows furrowed immediately.

"What's he doing here? With all this war and chaos, isn't he afraid of being bombed? Besides, he's been hiding for the past few days, it's weird for him to show up now."

Lin Ji didn't speak, his gaze sweeping across the river and then over the city.

Jiang Yunhe is a very complex person.

He was a liaison officer sent from the south and a genuine member of the National Salvation Association.

But at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, he specifically reminded himself to "pay more attention".

Is this a personal relationship, or is there another explanation?

Is it because they genuinely dislike the National Salvation Association's practices, or are they deliberately creating a smokescreen to gain trust?

"Oh, right." Li Shuwen suddenly remembered something:

"I just heard from Liang Yanqing's informant that several businessmen from the south entered the house where Jiang Yunhe and I used to stay this afternoon."

"Everyone was carrying suitcases, which looked quite heavy. I asked Chief Du about them, and he said they were here to discuss business. But with all this chaos and war, what kind of business can they discuss?"

Lin Ji's eyes narrowed slightly.

Du Qingyi...

Jiang Yunhe was far from idle.

He was pretending to stay indoors; he was actually moving around in secret.

"Keep an eye on the house," Lin Ji instructed in a low voice. "Don't alert them. Just keep an eye on them and see who they're in contact with."

"Understood." Li Shuwen nodded, then glanced at the warship in the middle of the river. "So what do we do now? Just keep stalling like this?"

"Let's wait it out," Lin Ji said calmly. "He Ze is waiting for reinforcements, the Executive Government is waiting for the army, and Chen Tianze is waiting for the two sides to fight. We'll wait too."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for the person hiding in the shadows to jump out on their own."

The river wind whipped up waves that crashed against the embankment, making a loud splashing sound. Mixed with the sporadic cries from the distant city, the dock was eerily quiet.

Lin Ji tapped the linen surface of the sandbag lightly with his fingertips, his gaze never leaving the three Jing-class ships.

He understood the situation and acted accordingly.

The white light emanating from these three ships was so intense that it was almost blinding.

He scanned every inch of the structure, understood the range of the eight rapid-fire cannons on the ship, and studied the thickness of the ironclad's armor. He calculated whether Jiangcheng could be defended if the government really wanted to take action against it.

The answer is not optimistic.

Even if he has just entered the realm of perfection and can block knives and guns, he cannot block solid cannonballs.

Li Shuwen serves as a cautionary tale; he was hit head-on by just one mortar shell and spent a full month recovering from his injuries.

Even flesh and blood have their limits when facing armored giant cannons.

Suddenly, a red signal flare shot up from the old ship on Heze's side and exploded in the night sky like a flower dripping blood.

"Hmm?" Li Shuwen raised an eyebrow: "Is this a surrender?"

"It doesn't look like it." Lin Ji's eyes narrowed. "Look at the gunwale."

Suddenly, several concealed firing ports appeared on the sides of the three old ships, and the dark gun barrels slowly emerged.

These weren't the old, worn-out smoothbore cannons from before; the barrels were thicker and longer, gleaming with a cold, heavy light in the firelight.

"A twelve-pounder cannon?" Li Shuwen's voice tightened. "They actually hid heavy artillery? Can this dilapidated ship withstand it?"

"This is to give the government troops a surprise." Lin Ji sneered.

"So that's why He Ze dared to venture so deep into Jiangcheng alone; he had a backup plan. These few dilapidated ships may look insignificant, but they are actually converted gunboats. He planned to get close and give the Jing-class ships a good beating."

Before the words were even finished, "Boom! Boom!"

Two loud bangs rang out, and He Ze's ship fired the first shot.

It wasn't facing the Jing brand, but rather the cargo warehouse area on the shore.

Two shells struck the empty warehouse, sending flames soaring into the sky and scattering sawdust and debris everywhere.

The city's garrison troops on the dock panicked and quickly ducked into their fortifications.

Immediately afterwards, five or six small sampans were quietly lowered from the side of the old ship, filled with soldiers in gray uniforms, who crouched low and rowed toward the shore, hoping to land and hold the ship back under the cover of artillery fire.

"They're preparing to land and completely disrupt Jiangcheng!" Li Shuwen picked up his rifle: "I'll take some men and hold them off!"

"Don't rush." ​​Lin Ji pressed him down: "Let the city defense troops hold them off, you keep an eye on the dock."

He raised his chin slightly towards the dock.

In the darkness of night, a small fishing boat quietly untied its mooring rope and slowly rowed towards the center of the river, close to the reeds along the shore.

A man stood on the bow of the boat, wearing a gray cloth long gown and holding a straw hat in his hand, looking back at the dock.

Despite the distance and the flickering light of the fire, Lin Ji recognized it at a glance.

It's Jiang Yunhe.

He didn't leave after all.

All those claims about staying indoors and traveling south are just pretexts.

"It's him." Lin Ji's voice was calm, yet tinged with coldness: "This is the flagship heading to Heze."

"I knew this kid was up to something!" Li Shuwen gritted his teeth. "So, after all this time, he's He Ze'an's spy planted among us? And I even considered him a half-friend!"