The Glory After Rebirth [重生之尊荣]

Chapter 448- 450

Chapter 448: Brother Zhang Has Arrived

In other words, this alliance of those pirates actually provided an opportunity for the navy of the imperial court to dispose of them at one fell swoop! And it would make things even easier for the navy if all the pirates were lured ashore.

This chart was quite exhaustive. Yuwen Tong, after arriving in Pingtao City, secretly scouted out the lay of the land of the port and nearby areas, and now he had a shrewd idea which route those "pirates" would take to get ashore. What he needed to do next was figure out a way to entice them into moving far inland so that his men could put them to rout in a land battle. The combat capabilities of his men would be hemmed in if they had to fight a sea battle. Moreover, the sea area that those pirates' hideouts were distributed was vast, and they could easily make their escape during a naval engagement.

He would have to rid these waters of pirates sooner or later. The reason why he hadn't done it yet was because he had just acceded to the throne, and there were many issues in the Great Wen he had to attend to first. Previously he couldn't find the time to deal with those pirates even if he wanted to, but now, thanks to the Luohai Kingdom's attempt to make trouble, he could conveniently end the scourge of pirates ahead of schedule, so this situation actually had its compensations.

...

It was almost midnight when he finished conferring with the commander of the Haizhou garrison, the commander of the Haizhou navy and the Haizhou governor.

Yuwen Tong had no idea how things were going with Ling Zhang. He believed that Ling Zhang had probably received his letter four days ago. If Ling Zhang, on receiving the letter, had departed heading for Haizhou by way of Yanzhou, he would be able to see Ling Zhang in three days at the earliest, but if something went awry...

"Still no report from Cangzhou?" asked Yuwen Tong.

"The latest intelligence report hasn't arrived yet, Sire. The last report says that they found some traces Shan Congyi left behind, and the Jiangzhou rebel army were being redeployed," replied the commander of the Haizhou garrison.

Given the time of the delivery of the last report, everything should be over by now.

This was the very matter that concerned Yuwen Tong. He wondered how things had ended and whether Ling Zhang was safe and unharmed.

Shortly before he went to bed, a courier pigeon carrying a letter from Cangzhou finally arrived, which said that the plan of the Wan Kingdom had been upset, that Wang Xiangxin had failed to get the financial support provided by the Wan Kingdom, lost more then half of the men he'd stationed at the checkpoint, and retreated behind the blockades.

This letter was for the commander of the Haizhou garrison from the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor). The latter cautioned that as Wang Xiangxin had lost the support of the Wan Kingdom, he would undoubtedly pin all his hopes on the Luohai Kingdom and would very likely launch a frenzied attack on Haizhou, that Haizhou needed to be ready when that happened.

Nobody could have foreseen that Yuwen Tong would come to Haizhou, so the General Zhongwu, out of his concern over Ling Zhang's safety, didn't mention anything about Ling Zhang.

But very soon, Yuwen Tong received a message from his secret bodyguards.

It said that Ling Zhang had entered Jiangzhou and was staying temporarily in a village of hunters, that his arm was wounded.

It'd been the very night Ling Zhang had arrived at that village that this letter had been sent. Yuwen Tong's secret bodyguards hadn't been able to gauge the time when Yuwen Tong would arrive in Pingtao City, and delivering this secret letter out of Jiangzhou had taken some doing, so Yuwen Tong hadn't received this letter until the night before Ling Zhang would arrive in Haizhou.