If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

Li Zheng fled on his own, but ordered the other warships to stay behind and drag out the pirates to buy him time to escape. The other warships, under pressure from Li Zheng's status as a prince, had no choice but to obey, and the outcome was predictable.

In the end, the sacrifice of the entire Royal Navy fleet of the Great Dragon was exchanged for Li Zheng's survival. With only his ship left in the entire fleet, he entered the inland lake from the estuary. Once there, the pirates would definitely not dare to pursue him anymore, and Li Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, when Li Zheng looked behind him and saw that the place was empty, he broke out in a cold sweat. Although he had encountered pirates this time, not only had he failed to annihilate them, but he had also almost lost his entire army. How was he going to explain this?

"Your Highness, what do we do next?"

The deputy general could only watch Li Zheng helplessly.

"What should we do? How should I know what to do? If we just go back like this, I'll at most get a scolding, but as for you, hmph, you'll probably be dead."

Li Zheng was at a loss for what to do, so he could only pressure his deputy to come up with a solution to reverse the situation, even though he knew the chances were slim. But he was desperate and had no other choice.

Sure enough, the lieutenant was terrified when he heard this and immediately began to think of any way to salvage the situation.

"By the way, Your Highness, Lord Zhou Wu of Qingyang County also has a navy. We can ask Lord Zhou for help."

The vice admiral recalled the recent establishment of the first navy of the Great Dragon Army. Although other officials did not pay much attention, they, as members of the navy, were extremely concerned about this matter and even wondered if their own navy could be incorporated into the navy's organizational structure.

"Zhou Wu".

Li Zheng suddenly realized that Zhou Wu's navy had been established even earlier than his own, and immediately ordered an advance towards Qingyang County. As for the adjutant's suggestion to beg Zhou Wu, Li Zheng hadn't even considered it. Why should a prince like himself beg him?

Regardless, Li Zheng, now with only one warship left, commanded his men to head towards Qingyang County. Before even reaching their destination, Li Zheng was already fantasizing about seizing command from Zhou Wu, launching a counterattack against the pirates, and achieving great merit.

. . . . . .

In the waters off Qingyang County, Lin Niangzi is leading the navy in routine maritime training.

"Unidentified vessel spotted."

The observer suddenly shouted, alerting everyone.

"Spread out and surround them."

Perfect timing! A lone Bull Demon King ship, seemingly unarmed, is the perfect target for practice. Lin Niangzi hoped the opponent would be a pirate.

"It's a dragon flag."

Li Zheng had already spotted the large fleet of warships. This kind of regular fleet couldn't possibly be pirates, so it could only be Zhou Wu's navy.

Two days ago, to evade the pursuit of pirates, Li Zheng personally ordered the dragon flag to be lowered. Seeing the enemy's menacing approach and fearing misunderstanding, the deputy general immediately ordered the dragon flag to be raised again.

"The other side has raised the dragon flag."

When Lin Niangzi saw the dragon flag being raised on the other ship, she knew it was hopeless.

"Gentlemen, we are the Royal Navy of the Great Dragon Empire. This is the Royal Navy Commander, the Fourth Prince Li Zheng. He has come to see Commander Zhou today. Please inform him of our presence."

The deputy general spoke politely, but to be on the safe side, Madam Lin still decided to verify the other party's identity.

Do you have any proof of identity?

"Here is a token, which can be presented to Lord Zhou for review."

"it is good."

Li Zheng usually wouldn't get involved in such trivial matters, but the moment he saw the warship in front of him rammed into several heavy crossbow bolts, he immediately took it to heart.

He was now hoping that the other party would respectfully invite him ashore and then treat him to good food and drink, but seeing that the two of them had been dawdling for a long time while he was still floating at sea, he suddenly got angry.

"You bastards! I am the Fourth Prince, Li Zheng, and you still won't let Zhou Wu come to see me? Do you all have a death wish?"

Li Zheng's words not only shocked Lin Niangzi's side, but even his deputy general was filled with helplessness and resignation.

Originally, Madam Lin treated them with courtesy, but the other party spoke arrogantly. The Navy was originally a pirate, and although he had now surrendered to Zhou Wu, his temper was still the same as before. He didn't care who the Heavenly King was.

His men were originally planning to ram the boat directly, but fortunately, Madam Lin was afraid of causing trouble for Zhou Wu, so she forcibly stopped them from causing trouble. However, if they couldn't do it openly, they could at least do it secretly.

They led Li Zheng's boat toward the dock, deliberately taking it to a place with hidden reefs. No one except local boats knew about this place. Sure enough, Li Zheng's boat soon got stuck in the reefs and could not move.

"Our boat is stuck on a reef. Could you please help us get it out?"

The ship rocked violently, and the lieutenant and Li Zheng quickly realized that the ship was stuck. The lieutenant hurriedly shouted to the ship opposite.

"Oh dear, there aren't any suitable tools on the boat. Please wait a moment while we go find a rope to pull you out."

Seeing that the other party said they were looking for tools, Li Zheng and his companions had no doubts and waited patiently.

Little did they know, this wait would last for several days.

. . . . . .

"Damn it, they're deliberately messing with us. Wait until I get ashore, and I'll teach them a lesson."

Li Zheng is now somewhat deranged. The ship has been without food and fresh water for two days. His chapped lips are making him very uncomfortable, and his stomach is rumbling with hunger from time to time.

The deputy general secretly stared at Li Zheng with disdain, thinking to himself, "If you hadn't spoken so arrogantly and offended them, they wouldn't have bothered us."

. . . . . .

Niujia Town.

"My lord, Madam Lin and the others have left the Fourth Prince out at sea for three days now."

Fearing something might happen, Deng Yuanliang quickly reported it to Zhou Wu.

"Understood. Send someone to bring them back."

Zhou Wu has been studying gunpowder formulas for some time now. Although it is simply described as "one part sulfur, two parts saltpeter, three parts charcoal," when you actually mix them, you will know that any amount of any ingredient in gunpowder, whether too much or too little, will affect its burning and explosive power.

After more than half a month of repeated proportioning and experimentation, Zhou Wu finally figured out the optimal gunpowder formula. The next step was to work on the structure of the cannon itself.

Unexpectedly, at this crucial moment, that scoundrel Li Zheng actually came to my territory.

Although Zhou Wu and Li Zheng did not have any deep-seated hatred, they had an unpleasant experience together. Moreover, in the eyes of the world, Zhou Wu was part of the Crown Prince's faction, while the Fourth Prince Li Zheng and the Crown Prince were originally enemies, so the two could not possibly have a good relationship.

As for Li Zheng being thrown into the sea by Lin Niangzi's men, Lin Niangzi reported it to Zhou Wu at the time. Zhou Wu didn't like Li Zheng anyway, so he tacitly approved of Lin Niangzi's actions.

"I must kill Zhou Wu. He must have done it on purpose. That bastard is definitely taking revenge for what happened at the restaurant in the capital last time."

Li Zheng, due to dehydration, has started talking nonsense without any restraint.

The lieutenant looked down on him even more. In someone else's territory, he kept talking about killing them. This guy's emotional intelligence was really terrible.