I transmigrated to ancient times and became a king with a title equal to mine.

Upon hearing the Prince of Nan finish reciting the poem, Ma Gui, who was quite knowledgeable in poetry, was filled with fervor and knelt down, saying, "My lord, Ma Gui pays his respects to you."

“Lord Ma, I told you long ago not to kneel.” Long Bin reached out his hands to help him up.

Ma Gui insisted on kneeling and said, "You were the King of the South some time ago, and today I wish to pay my respects to my lord."

"My lord?" Long Bin, who was well-versed in history, knew the meaning of the title "my lord." He couldn't help but admire Ma Gui's literary talent, as he actually understood the poetic meaning of Cao Cao, the emperor of all ages.

"My lord, you saved my life. From this day forward, I, Ma Gui, will be your loyal follower, swearing to follow you to the death, even if it means facing mountains of knives and seas of fire!"

"Brother Ma, I accept you as my disciple. Please rise."

As Ma Gui stood up, greetings rang out behind the two men.

"Ji Fangkui pays his respects to Your Majesty! May you live a thousand years!"

"Wu Tianchang pays his respects to Your Majesty! May you live a thousand years!"

"The people of Lu pay their respects to Your Majesty! May you live a thousand years!"

"Zhu Lin pays respects to Your Majesty! May you live a thousand years!"

It turns out that Lu Guozhong led his entourage to pay homage to the King of the South.

Looking at the four imposing generals, Long Bin excitedly pulled them up one by one.

"Lord Ma, issue the order that, effective immediately, the Niang'er Camp will be established in Lishui County, with Ji Fangkui as its commander, holding the rank of fourth grade. It will be divided into three battalions, with officers holding the rank of fifth grade. The first battalion commander is Lu Guozhong, the second battalion commander is Wu Tianchang, and the third battalion commander is Zhu Lin."

"At the same time, Zhengyang Battalion was established, with Guo Linshi as battalion commander, and Zhao Chong, Gu Wenhua, and Shen Zuchong as battalion commanders respectively."

Long Bin turned around and patted Ma Gui on the shoulder, saying, "I'll trouble you, Brother Ma, to serve as the Left Chancellor of Lishui County and concurrently as the Prefect of Lishui."

Ma Gui knelt down with a thud, performed nine deep bows, and cried out, "Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty!"

Although the others were warriors, they were all shrewd and intelligent. When they saw that Ma Gui addressed the Prince of the South differently, they were shocked and all knelt down to pay homage to their lord.

Long Bin breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking to himself: My gang now has five top generals.

"Everyone, please stand up."

He said with a solemn expression, "As you may already know, there are people in the court who are trying to frame me, to tamper with the results of the victory at Lishui, and to falsely accuse me of secretly colluding with the Dongjiang Kingdom to betray the country."

"His Majesty has already sent an imperial envoy to Lishui to investigate this matter, but those who want to harm me have sent two groups of people to kill me beforehand. The first group was assassins who impersonated my wife, but I saw through their disguise; the second group was people who impersonated imperial envoys to arrest me."

Ji Fangkui and the others were furious when they heard this. Just then, a carrier pigeon landed on the shoulder of the Southern King.

Upon reading the message, Long Bin's eyebrows relaxed. The group of twenty-eight people impersonating imperial envoys had been apprehended across the country. He urged Lord Ma to return to Lishui City immediately for questioning.

"The minister obeys the order."

Ma Gui bowed to Ji Fangkui and the other three, saying, "I entrust the safety of our lord to you all!"

"Please rest assured, sir, we will never allow our lord to suffer any mishap." The four men bowed respectfully.

Under the protection of the martial artists from the Lishui Hall of Zhengyang Gate, Ma Gui took a boat back to Lishui City.

Long Bin boarded an inconspicuous fishing boat and said softly, "Slowly sail towards Hengjiangpu."

"King Nan, Cao Mengsheng of the Leopard Battalion stationed at Lishui is in the cabin," the fisherman whispered.

Long Bin recalled the incident five years ago when the Dead Ghost swore brotherhood with Cao Mengsheng under Jiaochang Pagoda, and couldn't help but marvel at the Dead Ghost's high IQ and even higher EQ.

Unfortunately, heaven is jealous of talented people.

"Brother, how have you been?" Long Bin asked in a low voice.

"Your Majesty, the eight thousand men of the Leopard Camp are determined to serve under your banner and obey your command wholeheartedly." A deep and heroic voice came from inside the ship's cabin.

“Brother, although I am the Prince of the South, I am nothing but a dog at any time, and I could be killed or attacked at any moment. Right now, two groups of assassins have arrived, and Qin Bojin is coming from behind.”

"Therefore, following me is very dangerous. Who knows, I might raise a flag of rebellion one day, which would be a danger of exterminating nine generations of your family."

"Your Majesty, we have discussed these principles before. We would not care about going through fire and water, or even exterminating our entire clan, just to conquer the world with you!"

Long Bin remained silent for a long time, then looked up at Tianmen Mountain in the distance and said in a deep voice, "You, the Fourth Battalion, will immediately lead the troops to Tianmen Mountain under the pretext of an emergency training exercise, and occupy Chenqiaozhou at the foot of the mountain. At that time, someone will provide you with food and supplies."

"Yes!"

With a splash, Cao Mengsheng plunged into the water and disappeared.

The monkey, Song Zhonglin, dressed as a fisherman, whispered, "He is a descendant of fishermen, born in Zhoushan, East China Sea, and used to be a sailor."

"Oh?" Long Bin said softly, "Repair the warships on the Dongjiang River and hand them all over to the Leopard Camp. No, from now on, they will be renamed the Long Family Army."

"Binbin, are you planning to take over Danyangpu on the other side of the river?"

"The one who truly understands me is Brother Monkey."

Long Bin sighed and said, "I have a bad feeling that even if His Majesty knows I am innocent, he will suppress me and even send troops to besiege me."

Song Zhonglin remained silent; this was a matter for the imperial family, and he, a mere common soldier, had no right to interfere.

Long Bin murmured, "To be on the safe side, I will capture Danyang and control the banks of the Jiupai River for sixty miles. This will allow me to gradually annex the Dongjiang Kingdom or retreat back to Lishui."

"But this requires troops and a large supply of money."

Song Zhonglin said, "As long as the charges against you by the Marquis of Wanjiang are made public, three-fifths of his troops can be brought under your command. The three thousand soldiers brought by Wang Sheng are already yours. Next, you need to recruit more soldiers. By the way, those prisoners in Dongjiang need to be dealt with as soon as possible. Tens of thousands of people are a considerable loss."

Long Bin's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "The poison nails have been mostly removed. After you get ashore, go directly to the prisoner-of-war camp. I'll give you ten days to bring out 20,000 prisoners of war."

Song Zhonglin stared at his friend in astonishment, then stammered, "You're not joking, are you?"

"Seriously, my most urgent task is to send troops."

"Okay, I'll go right away. You row yourself." With that, he was already in the water.

Long Bin scratched his head on the boat, muttering under his breath, "I don't know how..."

No, that dead man used to be a fisherman.

He shook his head and sighed, having no choice but to rely on his memory to slowly learn the rowing skills. His small boat spun around in the lake countless times, making his guards, who were protecting him from a distance, sweat profusely.

Ma Gui's interrogation went very smoothly, and the fake imperial envoy sent by Long Yingkun confessed everything in no time.

In order to save his life, the leader, Gu Lang, even produced the second prince's token.

Ma Gui made them all sign and leave their fingerprints, then killed them all one by one.

The entourage was stunned by what they saw.

Ma Gui rushed to Hengjiangpu with the case files; that was his home.

Ma Gui's home was not far from the Hengjiang Ferry on the Jiupai River. At this moment, Long Bin was gazing at the surging Jiupai River from his pavilion. Suddenly, he recalled the poem written by the wine-loving poet Li Bai here, and he recited: "A halo hangs over the moon, the wind blows and the fog does not clear; the sea whales shrink eastward, and a hundred rivers turn back. A sudden wave rises, and the three mountains tremble; you must not cross the river to return."

Ma Gui and the others, who had just returned, stood quietly not far away. After listening to the Southern King's chant, they mistakenly thought it was a new work by the Southern King and couldn't help but sigh with admiration.

"My lord is a man of both literary and military talent; he is a blessing to our Great Xia," Ma Gui said respectfully.

Long Bin turned around and saw that Ma Gui and the other six had arrived, and he just smiled it off.