Chapter 778: The Cunning Son Cannot Outshine His Father; The River Turns Red

“Commander Chen, what do you mean by this?”
Chen Hua remained silent, staring intently at Zhang Yue. At that moment, Zhang Yue did not rise; he simply kept his gaze locked on Chen Hua for a while before asking, “Commander Chen, coming here with blood on your boots—what a magnificent sight! Someone, bring wine!”
Seeing one of his household soldiers hurry off and return shortly with a pot of wine, Zhang Yue poured it without even a tremor in his hand. Chen Hua felt somewhat disappointed, but then remembered that Zhang Yue, like Zhang You before him, was also part of the Zhang family of the Duke of Yingguo. A chill ran through him. Could it be that these people surnamed Zhang were truly the scourge of Jiaozhi?
When Zhang Yue smiled and handed him a cup of wine, Chen Hua took it with a solemn face and drank it down without hesitation before sighing in relief. “Lord Zhang, please understand—this guy was sneaked in by my soldiers. After we set sail, he infiltrated my cabin, trying to persuade me to rebel. How could I fall for such a trick? Of course, I killed him on the spot! But half of my navy are locals, and it’s possible they’ve been influenced. That’s why I had to seek your advice—what do you think I should do?”
Before Zhang Yue could reply, the outer door was suddenly pushed open. Peng Shisan entered carelessly, without even greeting anyone, and walked straight up to Zhang Yue. After bowing slightly, he said in a loud voice, “Lord, Old Lord Chen’s ship is approaching. He says he wants to come over and have a chat!”
Old Lord Chen!
The severed head was still rolling on the floor, staining the once clean pine planks with shocking patches of red. The people in the room stood or sat, their expressions ranging from anger to shock to indifference, none of which had faded yet. So, at the sudden mention of “Old Lord Chen,” not only Shi An and Chen Yong were stunned, but Chen Hua too was frozen in shock. In an instant, he snapped back to reality, his gaze toward Zhang Yue turning sharper.
Since when had he gotten in touch with his father, who was retired at home?!
Suddenly, the ship shook violently. Black and white clouds of dust fell to the ground, accompanied by a cacophony of clanging sounds. Chen Yong, who had just jumped up to question him, lost his balance and sat back down in his seat. Shi An, still sitting, couldn’t withstand the intense shaking and had to hold onto the backrest. Zhang Yue, who was prepared, gripped the arms of his armchair and leaned slightly forward to sit firmly.

Amidst this sudden upheaval, Chen Hua, who had been in the navy since joining the army, merely swayed slightly before regaining his balance, while Peng Shisan, who was in a horse stance with his knees slightly bent, seemed slightly less steady. Yet, compared to Chen Hua’s nervousness, Peng Shisan’s carefree smile made it easy to tell who had the upper hand.

The next moment, dull thuds could be heard from outside. Soon, those sounds turned into steady footsteps, and someone entered the cabin from outside. The man was in his early sixties, of short stature, with faint knife-like wrinkles on his forehead and cheeks. His one good eye gave a brief glance, while the other exuded a fierce demeanor. He wore a plain blue robe typical of sailors and ordinary black shoes. Though short, his presence and speech made it impossible to ignore him.

He glanced around, his eyes landing on Zhang Yue, then on Peng Shisan. Seeing Peng nod slightly, he stepped forward two more times and bowed formally: “Your humble servant, Chen Feng, pays his respects to Lord Zhang.”

The night before, when Zhang Yue last saw Chen Feng, he was covered in wounds and too weak to speak coherently. Yet after resting on the ship for just two days, aside from a pale complexion, he appeared no different from an ordinary person, which impressed Zhang Yue greatly. He hadn’t expected this veteran to suddenly bow so deeply, leaving him momentarily caught off guard.

He quickly stood up and reached out to support the short, quick-moving old man. But as soon as he held him up, he realized his mistake—had it not been for Peng Shisan’s timely help, he might have been pulled down by the force of the deep bow. After finally lifting him up, he saw Chen Feng look up at him earnestly before smiling.

“Lord Chen, you’re of my rank—how can you bow so deeply?”

“The old general once fought under the Duke of Yingguo and later served under the Marquis of Yangwu. I never expected to meet Lord Zhang again today. In a word, the old general truly has a fate tied to the Zhang family! Moreover, since Lord Zhang oversees military affairs, this bow is entirely appropriate. Besides, I still haven’t thanked Lord Zhang for saving my life.”

Chen Feng and Zhang Yue chatted for a while. Then, as if only now noticing the object at his feet, he frowned and stared at it for a long time before suddenly turning to glare at Chen Hua: “What is this mess? It’s contaminating Lord Zhang’s eyes! Get it cleaned up right away!”

As soon as Chen Feng boarded the ship, the last glimmer of hope Chen Hua had vanished without a trace. The arrogance he had shown upon entering was gone; he smiled mechanically, agreeing repeatedly, then bent down to grab the man’s head and quickly left the cabin. A faint sound of water was heard outside, followed by shouts. Soon, two bodyguards entered with him, hurriedly kneeling to clean up the blood on the floor. Only after the bloodstains were mostly cleared did Chen Hua look at his father awkwardly.

“Want to know how I got here?”

As soon as Chen Feng arrived, Chen Yong voluntarily gave up his seat and stood behind Shi Yong. Zhang Yue naturally invited him to sit across from the chessboard. At that moment, he narrowed his eyes and glanced at Chen Hua’s embarrassed face, then sneered, “If it weren’t for Brother Peng arriving just in time with his men, all my effort coming from Jiaozhou Prefecture would have been for nothing! Do you know someone tried to ambush me along the way?”

Although Chen Hua had arranged for several loyal men to watch over his father at home in Jiaozhou Prefecture, it was only to prevent his father from ruining his plans—nothing more. So the idea of an ambush really shocked him. As Chen Feng’s only son, the two of them simply had different views and ambitions; even if they argued, it wouldn’t go that far. Seeing Chen Feng’s stern expression, which didn’t seem like a joke, Chen Hua’s face darkened unconsciously, and he quickly knelt down and kowtowed.

“Son realizes his mistake!”

“If you realize your mistake, you should say you acknowledge your crime!” Chen Hua grew angry, stepped forward, kicked him over, and scolded fiercely, “It doesn’t matter if you hurt me, but I’m afraid you’ll drag the whole family into trouble! If it weren’t for you killing that wretch, I would have killed you right now and thrown you into the river to feed the fish. Even without you, this navy would still be the same! I taught you all these skills, but I never taught you to be ungrateful and arrogant… You traitor!”

Seeing Chen Feng grow angrier by the moment and eventually start punching and kicking, Zhang Yue could only signal Peng Shisan to pull them apart and send the father and son out. Only then did he sigh in relief as he watched Chen Hua help his old father out of the door in a humbled state. On the night they set off, Liu Sheng had intended to capture Chen Hua right away, but it was Zhang Yue who persuaded him to use a stratagem, bringing Chen Feng aboard as well. He also secretly met with the officers of the key warships. Now that things had reached this stage, everything was almost ready.

Once all outsiders had left, he personally went up to close the hatch. Seeing Shi An and Chen Yong appear both shaken and bewildered, he couldn’t help but sigh bitterly. He had initially thought Li Qing was overly cautious and suspicious, but after Peng Shisan went out to gather information, and if it weren’t for encountering Chen Feng who was rushing over, he wouldn’t have realized that things were far more serious than imagined.

To use Jiaozhi as a bridgehead in Southeast Asia, one must be prepared to face the pressures from the surrounding countries! Historically, Jiaozhi was difficult to govern for so long—internal factors were certainly important, but external factors couldn’t be ignored either. When the great Ming treasure ships stopped sailing and the dynasty focused solely on stabilizing the Central Plains, how could Jiaozhi, this “nail,” have been preserved?

“Sir, Chen Feng’s arrival is truly a stroke of genius,” Chen Yong said, regaining his composure from his initial shock. Ignoring the lingering scent of blood in the cabin, he said sincerely, “No wonder you were so confident in your plans from the start—turns out you had such a hidden strategy in mind.”

Shi An, in his fifties, was more cautious. Frowning, he said, “But if Chen Feng is pretending, we still need to be wary. Besides, we can’t hear what they discuss in the cabin, so we must not take it lightly.”

Hearing the word “confident,” Zhang Yue didn’t know what expression to wear. If it weren’t for the reputations of Zhang Fu and Zhang You in Jiaozhi, he would have been in a desperate situation. But although he nodded in agreement with Shi An’s suggestion, he said something else: “Dr. Shi is right. But there’s no need to rush things now. Today, Chen Hua was able to kill that man and bring back his head—his mind is already more agile. With his father Chen Feng joining him now, even if he had ulterior motives before, they should have been dispelled. As for other matters, everything has been carefully planned—you don’t need to worry. What’s most important for you two now is the route and timing of the march, so as to support the army on land in a timely manner. We must not miss the deadline.”

Shi An and Chen Yong exchanged a glance and realized that everything for today had been planned. They immediately replied in unison, “Please rest assured, sir!”

What Chen Feng and his son discussed in the cabin remained unknown to outsiders. But later, when Chen Hua appeared in public, he no longer carried the domineering aura of before. He didn’t avoid Zhang Yue and the others when giving orders or making military arrangements. As for Chen Feng, claiming he had already stepped down from military duties, he spent his days with Peng Shisan, reminiscing about the past. When in the mood, they would even compete in arm-wrestling on the deck, carefree about winning or losing.

In the blink of an eye, several days had passed since the ship set sail on the river. Throughout these days, updates on the progress of the army along the shore were continuously sent via signal flags by scouts, so everyone on the ship was well informed. By the fourth day, the scouts on land were replaced by well-organized army formations. Gradually, barriers and soldiers from both land and sea appeared along the riverbank. Although they all retreated upon seeing the fleet, everyone knew they had entered the heartland of the rebels. Sure enough, that evening, numerous bamboo barriers were seen ahead, along with countless torches held by soldiers and civilians.

“This doesn’t seem like a battle—it looks more like a welcome. It seems they firmly believe Chen Hua will lead his troops to join them.”

Hearing Peng Shisan’s low warning, Zhang Yue, dressed in an unremarkable green robe and hardly distinguishable from the sailors, couldn’t help but glance at Chen Hua. Only about half of the troops under Chen Hua were his own, but since he and his son had long commanded the navy, the other officers were naturally no match for them. Thus, only after securing this side could the morale of the army truly be stabilized. Over the previous two days, Chen Hua had called one group after another of naval officers, from lower ranks to commanders, onto the main ship, showing sincere remorse. Now, all that remained was this final act to prove his loyalty.

Next to Zhang Yue was Chen Feng, who was also staring intently at his son standing a few steps ahead. As the atmosphere grew increasingly tense, Chen Hua suddenly shouted. As soon as his voice faded, torches were raised on the high platform at the stern and waved up and down in a peculiar pattern. One by one, the warships gradually came to a stop. At this sight, countless soldiers and civilians behind the bamboo barriers let out thunderous cheers. Even Zhang Yue, who didn’t fully understand what was going on, could tell from the sounds the immense joy.

Amid the cheers, Shi An and Chen Yong were so worried that Chen Hua might truly defect that their faces turned pale, while Peng Shisan placed his hand gently on the hilt of his sword. Just as the cheers reached the heavens, loud war drums suddenly sounded from the stern. As these sounds arose, the large ships slowly moved aside, revealing smaller boats behind them. These boats, carried by the wind and current, rushed like arrows toward the bamboo barriers. Halfway there, sudden flames erupted on them.

At that moment, as the flaming warships crashed straight into the barriers in the river, the area ahead instantly turned red with fire. The rebels, who had been cheering just moments earlier, fell silent in an instant, followed by panicked cries. In their place came deafening cheers from the warships on the river. Taking advantage of the fire, the ships that had been stationary set sail again, with archers and gunners already on the decks. Soon, the air was filled with the sounds of drawn bows and bullets flying through the air.

Chen Hua, filled with anger and nowhere to vent it, found himself at a disadvantage despite his careful planning. With his opponents having far superior numbers and equipment, the battle on the river quickly turned into a one-sided affair. The hastily launched rebel ships often had to face four or five Ming ships. When the thousand-plus vanguard troops who had been waiting on land joined forces with the larger army led by Liu Sheng and Cui Ju, the outcome of the battle was already decided, even though the fighting continued, gunshots rang out, and swords clashed.

Since the rebels were focused on winning over Chen Hua’s fleet, no iron chains were placed across the river. Thus, after the battle, Liu Sheng ordered a rest for the night before heading straight for Qinghua Prefecture. So, when hundreds of warships set sail again in the morning, charred wooden planks and floating corpses could be seen from time to time on the river, recreating the terrifying scene of the river turned red with blood from years ago.