“Xiaobei, what are you doing here?”
Jin Feng froze.
At the same time, he understood why the steward had spoken so loudly earlier.
He had been signalling to Tang Xiaobei.
“Hus… husband…”
Tang Xiaobei already had one leg out of the window.
Seeing Jin Feng enter, she could only grin awkwardly and pull it back.
She also hid the string bag full of sugarcane and oranges behind her back.
Da Kang had no cold storage. Few fruits could be preserved through winter.
Sugarcane and oranges had thick skins. Before departure, Jin Feng had ordered some prepared.
“Husband, why have you come?”
Seeing escape impossible, Tang Xiaobei simply smiled and sidled up to him.
“Never mind why I am here. First tell me what you are doing here.”
“I came to get oranges!”
Tang Xiaobei pulled an orange from the bag and offered it ingratiatingly to Jin Feng. “Husband, try this. This whole basket is especially delicious!”
Jin Feng did not take it. Instead, he reached out and pinched her ear. “Is that what I asked?”
“Husband, it hurts! I was wrong. Let go quickly!”
Tang Xiaobei immediately cried out in pain.
The steward tactfully withdrew and closed the cabin door behind him.
“Keep acting! Go on acting for me!”
Jin Feng applied a little pressure. “If you keep making excuses, I will really squeeze hard!”
“Fine, I will tell you!”
Tang Xiaobei slapped his hand away with a palm. “You would not let me go to the East Sea, so I had to sneak aboard!”
“And then once we reach the East Sea, you could not send me back, right?”
Jin Feng instantly grasped Tang Xiaobei’s plan.
“Worthy of being my husband. So clever.”
Tang Xiaobei once again tried to please him by peeling the orange and holding it to his mouth.
Seeing he still ignored her, she directly stuffed it in. “There. You ate my orange, so consider me forgiven!”
“You little imp!”
Jin Feng helplessly swatted the top of her head.
On an ordinary merchant ship, even going downstream, speed would not be great.
But Jin Feng, eager to reach the East Sea quickly to rescue the captured escorts, had pushed the fleet at maximum speed the entire way.
Moreover, it was winter, with persistent northwesterly winds. The fleet travelled swiftly.
In three days they covered more distance than usual in seven.
Sending Tang Xiaobei back now was impossible.
Once discovered, Tang Xiaobei openly moved into Jin Feng’s cabin.
After months in the army camp, Jin Feng had sorely missed Guan Xiaorou and Tang Xiaobei.
Now that Tang Xiaobei was here, she perfectly eased his longing.
With a beauty by his side, the journey became far less arduous.
Ten days later, the fleet sailed into the boundless sea.
“Husband, is this the great sea?”
It was Tang Xiaobei’s first time seeing the ocean. She leaned over the deck railing, looking around in wonder.
Jin Feng raised his telescope and gazed north.
Through it, several sandy islands were faintly visible to the north of the fleet.
These islands were the precursors to the famous Chongming Island of his previous life.
Chongming Island was an alluvial island formed by silt carried by the Yangtze River.
When studying history in his previous life, Jin Feng recalled that Chongming emerged from the sea during the Wude era of the Tang Dynasty.
It began as just two small sandbars, but over more than a thousand years of accumulation, the island grew larger.
By the time before Jin Feng’s transmigration, it had become a super island of over 1,200 square kilometres.
It had also become an important part of the international metropolis Shanghai.
“Once matters here are settled, I must go take a look.”
Jin Feng lowered the telescope, thinking to himself.
Even now, Jin Feng could not determine which dynasty Da Kang corresponded to in his previous world.
The geopolitical situation resembled the Northern Song, but industry, agriculture, and other sectors were extremely backward, similar to the pre-Qin era.
Now he had a reference point.
By seeing the current state of Chongming Island, he could roughly estimate the era.
The fleet was too far from the sand islands, and the telescope too primitive to see clearly. Jin Feng could not divert the fleet there, so he temporarily set the thought aside.
After entering open water, the fleet did not proceed further but followed the coastline southeast.
Jin Feng had studied sea charts on the way.
About a hundred li out to sea lay a chain of unnamed islands.
This archipelago was the Shengsi Islands of his previous life. During graduate school, he had travelled there with his girlfriend.
But at this time, the Shengsi Islands had few inhabitants. They were completely barren, without even names.
According to intelligence, the captured escorts were held on one of these islands.
The fleet advanced until the tip of the coastline before stopping.
This was the beach outside Drip Lake Park in his previous life’s Shanghai, the closest point to the Shengsi Islands. A small dock built by fishermen stood here.
The previously attacked escort fleet had also anchored here.
Even now, floating wooden debris could occasionally be seen on the sea, clearly remnants of the recent battle.
Upon arrival, Jin Feng did not immediately seek out the bandits for combat. Instead, he ordered the fleet to drop anchor and used small boats to transport supplies ashore.
Once all supplies were unloaded, Jin Feng had the boatmen turn the large ships around and sail back to the vicinity of the Huangpu River.
There, official large docks existed, guarded by five thousand Da Kang naval troops. The bandits dared not attack.
After the large ships departed, Da Zhuang led the escorts in setting up a temporary camp on the coast.
“Husband, why are we making camp?”
Tang Xiaobei asked in puzzlement. “Are we not here to rescue people?”
“In war, one must know both oneself and the enemy. We have only just arrived. Our intelligence is already outdated. Rushing blindly to rescue them would be suicidal.”
Jin Feng explained, “Moreover, whoever is behind the bandits has gone to great lengths to lure us here. This battle certainly will not end in a day or two. We must prepare for prolonged fighting.
So the first priority is to establish camp and secure the base, gather intelligence, and only then make further plans.”
“I heard the bandits are on a barren island a hundred li away. Is this not too close to them?”
Tang Xiaobei asked with some worry. “They have over a thousand men. What if they attack again?”
“If they want to come ashore and raid my camp, they are welcome anytime.”
Jin Feng said indifferently.
At sea, he might fear the bandits.
But on land, let alone a mere thousand-plus bandits, even if tripled, Jin Feng had no fear.
This time he had brought not only hundreds of ordinary escorts but all three hundred black-armoured escorts as well.
Jin Feng almost wished the bandits would come raid his camp.
“Sir, the brother who escaped and returned is here!”
As the two spoke, Han Feng approached leading a man covered in mud.
From the style and colour of his clothes, the uniform of an escort was still recognisable.
“Sir, you have finally come!”
The moment the man saw Jin Feng, he knelt crying into the mud. “Sir, you must save the company commander and the others! They are nearly dead from being hung by the pirates!”
“Rest assured. I travelled thousands of li from Xichuan precisely to rescue them.”
Jin Feng pulled the man to his feet. “Now tell me everything you know. Only by mastering sufficient intelligence on the enemy can I act. Otherwise, I would be irresponsible to the brothers who came here.”
