Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Zhu Miaoyun had never felt that the long dress she was wearing was so heavy. Of course, it was also possible that this was purely psychological, or that her body was simply not good at running.

Because Zhu Miaoyun had come by rickshaw, she was so tired from the journey that she was drowsy and didn't really know how to navigate the alleys outside the courtyard.

However, as someone who had lived in Shanghai for many years before transmigrating, Zhu Miaoyun was at least able to roughly determine her location in Songjiang Prefecture. After hearing the gunshot, Zhu Miaoyun did not panic too much. After all, although she had studied in the Federation and volunteered in Palestine before transmigrating, she had heard the sound of gunshots and even the thumping sound of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce before.

Even though I'm not scared, why am I crying now?

I'm just a time traveler. I've only known that old woman, Wang Ma, for less than a month. That old woman is incredibly talkative; she's always chattering away in front of me, completely oblivious to whether I'm responding or not.

I shouldn't have such deep feelings for this old woman!

Could this be the residual emotions of consciousness within this body?

Zhu Miaoyun didn't know the answer. All she could feel was her vision getting increasingly blurry, because her eyes were gradually being covered by tears.

She had to find a place with enough people before those two guys caught up with her—this was the most important lesson she learned from her past life about preventing the abduction of women and children: if you discover that criminals are targeting you, a place with high foot traffic is your best protection.

She had to get out into the street as quickly as possible!

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Li Che felt like yawning in the car.

For some time now, he hasn't been getting enough sleep, mainly because he's been too busy with work. He never imagined that after coming to this other world and becoming such a noble grandson, he would still have to work 996.

Okay, just kidding. The main reason is that planning a large-scale lightning strike operation against Wonsan Port within a month is much more difficult than previously imagined, and the scope of the operation is expanding like a pancake as the work progresses.

The forces that need to be mobilized now are not just the navy and shipyards, but also various departments and links such as railways, engineering, inland waterway shipping, and intelligence, all of which are involved to varying degrees.

Moreover, for the sake of secrecy throughout the operation, the handover and coordination between various departments had to be carried out under different pretexts.

To be honest, this is no less difficult than dating five girlfriends in the same park who are unaware of each other's identities.

For this reason, Li Che was unable to fall asleep until after 2 a.m. every night and had to get up at 7 a.m. the next morning to prepare for work. Even so, he sometimes suffered from insomnia and had difficulty falling asleep. Therefore, even if he had a nap at noon, Li Che would still try to close his eyes and rest whenever he could find a spare moment.

For example, right now, with car suspensions in this day and age comparable to those of an elderly person using a scooter, Li Che has quickly adapted to taking a nap whenever his body is being jostled around in the car.

Although the work was indeed more tiring than he had imagined, Li Che was in a particularly good mood today. Good news was finally starting to come in, one after another. First, a few skilled and daring people from the navy actually managed to drive their warships into Tokyo Bay at night. This reckless act actually yielded great success.

Although the actual damage caused was not very effective, this act, which was tantamount to slapping the Federation in the face, quickly aroused hatred ahead of schedule for the current surface commerce raiding mission, which was originally intended to attract the attention of the Federation Navy.

Vladivostok sent a coded telegram today, stating that all hydrological data measurements and updates have been completed, and the meteorological department has issued a weather forecast for the next few days—mostly cloudy.

There is no better weather for launching an attack. As the saying goes, a dark and windy night is a night for murder. Launching an attack in such weather will prevent the torpedo boats that are about to charge from being exposed too early. This will probably allow more men in the torpedo boat attack force, which is destined to suffer heavy losses, to return.

This morning, I was heading to a naval arms depot located in the suburbs. Due to the internal chaos within the navy, even after almost a month, during the inventory and sorting process, I still managed to discover, "Oh, I had a whole warehouse of stuff here!"

Most of these warehouses are filled with old equipment. The navy is the most hoarding branch of the military. Sometimes, when building a capital ship, the choice of which type of cannon is not based on technical considerations, but simply on the fact that "we have too many cannons of this caliber."

Under these circumstances, Li Che and his team successfully retrieved the machine guns that were urgently needed by some of the torpedo boats from the navy's warehouse. These machine guns were lighter and simpler in structure than the most typical Bofors 40mm machine gun from World War II.

Although its performance and power are somewhat compromised, this thing is still the most suitable for serving as the main firepower of large torpedo boats. In close-range combat, it can spray water on the surface of enemy warships to suppress the personnel on the deck of enemy warships to the greatest extent.

Li Che is currently on his way to the warehouse to inventory the goods. Several other vehicles are following in front of and behind his vehicle, carrying the guards that his grandfather specially arranged for him. It is said that these guards were originally scouts under Li Zongdi. At present, the situation in the country has not been completely stable, and it is not surprising that anything could happen. These guards are the cornerstone of Li Che's safety when he is on business outside.

Just as Li Che was dozing off, the car he was sitting in suddenly braked hard. Back then, cars didn't come standard with three-point seat belts, and Li Che wasn't wearing one either. So, due to inertia, Li Che was thrown forward and his head slammed hard against the windshield with a thud like a watermelon hitting the ground.

"Ouch!"

Li Che finally woke up from his half-asleep state and was about to ask the driver what had happened. But the moment he looked up, he understood why he had made such easy contact with the windshield.

A young girl, her face streaked with tears, stood in front of the car, blocking their convoy. Li Che wanted to say to this pretty girl, "Miss, are you stopping the car or trying to stage an accident?"

Beside him, at least the guards who were in the same car had already released the safety on their guns. Although they didn't point their guns directly at the girl who was stopping the car, everyone was on high alert.

Li Che rubbed his head, feeling like his head was probably like Tom's from Tom and Jerry after being hit, with a bump already formed.

"Hey young lady, do you know that if our driver had reacted even a fraction of a second slower, you'd be lying on the ground right now? Can't you see this is a military vehicle?"

The driver, who almost hit someone, was even more frightened, so almost immediately after realizing what had happened, he started blaming the girl in front of him.

"Someone is colluding with foreign powers!"

The girl's voice trembled slightly, whether from running too fast, fear, or both, it was hard to tell. Then, she raised her voice and shouted again in the street, "Someone is colluding with foreigners! I caught them, and they're trying to kill me!"

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Pest Control (But No Sun Shooting)

Li Che clutched his head in pain; the force of the impact had sent his military cap rolling to who-knows-where. Now he understood why tank crew members wore tank helmets or caps inside the tank—without them, non-combat casualties might actually increase.

Upon realizing that someone was stopping the carriage, Li Che immediately assumed that it was a commoner stopping the carriage to file a complaint—just like in ancient times when someone stopped an official's sedan chair to file a complaint.

But what he heard next wasn't "A just and upright official is here to redress our grievances," but rather—"Someone is colluding with foreign powers! I caught them red-handed, and they want to kill me!"

Ok?

A member of the public reported someone colluding with foreign powers? Does Songjiang Prefecture now have its own "Chaoyang masses" (a term referring to people who report corruption and malfeasance)? Let me see what this "Chaoyang big... beautiful girl" is all about.

Li Che had just raised his head, still rubbing his forehead, when he heard the sound of the guards in his vehicle pulling the bolts of their rifles. The guards in the vehicle were basically equipped with the Ming Dynasty's own "flower machine gun"—the Type 15 submachine gun, which was somewhat similar in appearance to the MP18, but used a double-layered magazine mounted on top for feeding.

This submachine gun was mainly equipped by the Ming army with guard units and a small number of breakthrough and reconnaissance units. Compared with the Leitanian MP18, it was slightly heavier, but the top-mounted magazine provided a smoother feeding process. Overall, it had its advantages and disadvantages. It might be a bit too heavy for ordinary soldiers, but for well-trained and carefully selected elite soldiers, this weapon was a top-tier weapon of mass destruction in close combat.

Li Che's bodyguards were naturally also heavily equipped with these Type 15 submachine guns. The members of his bodyguards were some elites drawn from the guard companies of high-ranking officers in the Youth Army, as well as reliable agents specially dispatched by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

In these extraordinary times, these guards are naturally on high alert for anyone approaching Li Che, let alone someone who suddenly stops a convoy in the street—no one has forgotten how this world war started, has they? Since a Serbian could potentially kill the Crown Prince of the Habsburg Empire in the street, none of these guards can guarantee that no one will do the same crazy thing on the streets of Songjiang Prefecture.

Amidst the clanging of gun bolts, Li Che quickly raised one hand. Over this period of time, he had come to know very well what kind of guards his grandfather had assigned him. Fortunately, they were now tasked with protecting VIPs. Given their tactical style (after all, most of them came from field troops) – if he were to be kidnapped and needed these people to rescue him as a hostage, Li Che would rather have Fuze come to his rescue than these guys in front of him.

He was genuinely afraid that his ancestors might raise their hands and riddle this girl who had suddenly appeared with bullets.

"What did you say?" Li Che asked, rubbing his forehead. "Who's colluding with foreign powers? Why would they want to kill you?"

As they were talking, several men chased after them from the side alley. After rushing out of the alley, they noticed the girl blocking the military vehicle and the guards with guns on guard in the open-top military vehicle.

The men who rushed out of the alley had expressions of "we're doomed" on their faces when they saw what was happening. Unfortunately, their burly bodies were too slow to stop and turn back immediately due to inertia. After lurching forward several steps, they had already reached the sidewalk. The movement of their clothes as they ran and stopped abruptly revealed the pistols tucked into their waistbands.

"It's them!"

“They have guns!”

The girl and the captain of the guard spoke almost simultaneously. Before the men could even salute the armed guards, the sound of a Type 15 submachine gun exploding rang out. The 9mm Parabellum, perhaps the most reliable pistol cartridge, proved almost instantly how excellent it was as a product that perfectly embodied the principle of moderation among pistol cartridges.

The excellent ballistics and decent stopping power at close range meant that the men who rushed out fell to the ground without any reaction after being shot. Li Che immediately shouted, "Leave one alive!" The guard captain, who had just emptied a magazine, seemed to react a beat late, turning his head with the gait of a high-ping warrior in a video game: "Huh? Alive?"

You reacted so fast when you fired that shot, I didn't see any network lag on you!

Li Che naturally couldn't make too many demands on his guards, so he could only weakly wave his hand and say, "Go check if these people have anything on them."

Even federal police officers aren't as decisive as you guys when it comes to firing a gun, right? But it seems like the Ming Dynasty doesn't ban guns either? At least not in the areas outside the Great Wall. Considering that most of the guards are from the Youth Army and come from outside the Great Wall, could this be the excellent matchmaking mechanism of the area outside the Great Wall?

"Here, your hat fell off."

Just as he was feeling annoyed that not a single member of the guard had survived, the girl picked up the hat that he had knocked off and handed it to him. Only then did Li Che take a closer look at the girl in front of him, and for no reason, he actually saw a sense of familiarity in her eyes.

Suddenly, the moment Li Che received the hat, a strange feeling washed over him, much like Jia Baoyu's first encounter with Lin Daiyu—the thought, "I've seen this younger sister before," flashed through his mind. Only this time, he didn't have the jade pendant on him; instead, he held the hat that had just fallen to the ground, handed to him by the other woman…

What kind of plot is this, where the main female lead is reversed?

"Thank you." Li Che quickly banished these chaotic thoughts from his mind. He straightened his hat, got out of the car, and casually gave the girl a military salute: "Could you tell us in detail what happened?"

For some time now, Li Che has been focusing 70% of his energy on preparing for the attack on Yuanshan Port, codenamed "Operation Fish Intestine Sword." A lot of preparations and related matters need to be prepared and carried out in Songjiang Prefecture, so secrecy is of paramount importance.

Today, when he went out, he encountered a girl who stopped his car on the street and said that someone was colluding with foreign powers and was going to kill him to cover it up. Li Che's first thought was that she was an enemy agent or spy who was now targeting the "Fish Intestine Sword Operation" that was being prepared. In order to carry out the next operation, he had to find out what was going on behind this girl.

After a brief silence, the girl seemed to have made up her mind after thinking it over: "My name is Zhu Miaoyun."

"Zhu Miaoyun? Back then, that was the imperial surname. This name sounds rather...Princess?!" A guard with a gun leaned over and muttered casually, but when he saw the girl's face clearly, his tone rose several octaves.

His exclamation drew the attention of everyone around him—including people on the nearby street who had just run away because of the sudden gunshot. Some people on the street who were about to leave this place of trouble stopped in their tracks after hearing the words "Your Highness."

"Princess?" Li Che was stunned. Looking at the guard, he realized that this guy was one of the few people sent by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The Embroidered Uniform Guard had most likely seen the princess before, which meant that the person in front of him was the former dynasty princess who had been missing for several months.

After receiving a nod of affirmation from the guard, Li Che looked at Zhu Miaoyun with some shock. Zhu Miaoyun was certainly beautiful. Although her clothes looked like those of an ordinary person, upon closer inspection, the materials and workmanship were quite exquisite. Judging from her hands, which were crossed in front of her chest with some nervousness, she did indeed look like someone who had never done any housework.

However, this princess lacked any princess-like demeanor. Although Li Che himself was not interested in the so-called aristocratic air, and the Prince of Jin's mansion had no noble air whatsoever, despite being a mansion with a 200-year history, Li Dingguo had repeatedly emphasized to his descendants that they must not forget that their ancestors were ordinary poor farmers.

The upbringing of the Prince of Jin's family has always been quite good, especially Li Zongdi, who is an anomaly among anomalies. If the Prince of Jin's family before him still had the normal noble air of a prince's family, then Li Zongdi has almost completely lost that noble air.

Li Zongdi was not raised as a crown prince from a young age, and thus spent his childhood training in the military. However, his elder brother died in a horse-riding accident, which is why Li Zongdi ultimately inherited the throne. Due to his personal style and preferences, the only thing missing from the Prince of Jin's residence now seems to be replacing the stone lions at the gate with two concrete bunkers.

The Li family was definitely an anomaly among the noble clans. A princess of the Ming Dynasty, by all accounts, shouldn't have been similar to them in terms of demeanor. Yet, Li Che felt that he couldn't see any of that so-called aristocratic air in Zhu Miaoyun.

You're telling me this is a princess?

Why do I feel like this doesn't quite look right?

However, the guard was not the only one who had seen the princess. Several officers from the Imperial Guard had also seen the princess. After seeing Zhu Miaoyun, they all said in unison that she was indeed the princess. Only then did Li Che realize that he seemed to have accidentally stumbled upon something terrible.

The former dynasty princess, who had been hiding for several months, suddenly ran out and stopped their military vehicle to ask for help, revealing that someone was colluding with foreign powers and wanted to kill her to silence her. Any one of these events alone would have caused countless political upheavals, but now they have all come together.

While Li Che was sizing up Zhu Miaoyun, Zhu Miaoyun was also sizing up the young officer in front of her—or rather, the officer who was a bit too young, since Li Che was actually holding a naval rank. Although Zhu Miaoyun wasn't very clear about naval ranks, she could roughly judge that he was at least a naval colonel.

But looking at this guy's face, although he is handsome, he looks at most 20 years old. The Navy Officer Academy is not like some Army Officer Academy. You must have a high school diploma to apply to the Navy Officer Academy. That is to say, under normal circumstances, you will be about 20 years old when you graduate from the Navy Officer Academy.

Becoming a colonel-level military officer right after graduation? What's your background?

"Your Highness, I am Li Che." Li Che gave another military salute, this time with a slightly more upright posture. It wasn't out of a forced bowing or groveling, but simply because the Prince of Jin's residence needed to "show some respect" and "not lose face" in front of the former dynasty's princess. "Can you tell me what happened? Why were those people chasing after the princess? Your Highness, you said someone was colluding with foreign powers, who is that person?"

"Is he the grandson of the Prince of Jin?" Zhu Miaoyun was also a little curious, but she did not express this curiosity.

Before this, she hadn't expected that in such a large country, she could just randomly run out and flag down a car, only to end up with such a literal enemy.

"Here's what happened..." Zhu Miaoyun started talking without saying a word, pointing to the operative next to her as she described where she had come from and the approximate direction of the courtyard where she had previously stayed.

"Qin Zhaoming?" Li Che thought back for a moment. This guy should be an ordinary senior cabinet official, right? Anyway, he hadn't heard of this guy's name much. If he wasn't very familiar with him, then this guy's political influence or corresponding methods would be "not worth mentioning".

Could this kind of person be the mastermind? It's not that I don't believe in his stance, it's purely that I don't believe in his abilities.

However, Li Che quickly realized that now was not the time to dwell on whether this man surnamed Qin was the mastermind; the most important thing was to quickly bring this person under control.

"Take a group of men and hurry to the address the princess gave us. One of her servants was shot while covering her escape. Go there quickly and subdue everyone you can see. This time, they must be alive! They absolutely must be alive!"

He then turned to another officer beside him and said, “Contact the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Naval Intelligence Bureau immediately. We’ve made a major discovery. Tell them to send people over right away! Damn it, I didn’t expect there to be people like this at this critical juncture. No wonder the Ming Dynasty made such a mess of the country. How could they possibly manage the country well with a bunch of scoundrels like this?”

"This country won't be able to function properly unless we wipe out all these worms!"

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The New List

"Zhi'er found the princess? And through the princess's denunciation, he uncovered a conspiracy by a group of rebels?"

Li Zongdi looked at his eldest son and the contents of the telegram he brought. The Prince of Jin had fought in many battles over the years and had seen a lot.

But he had never seen such a scene before.

"We received information that some people in the navy wanted to secretly take the princess away..." Li Zongdi recalled the information he had received before: "It turns out that not only were some people in the navy involved, but some scoundrels from the gutter also wanted to use this to stir up trouble?"

“Father, General Sa and the others are unaware of this.”

Li Renchi carefully observed his father's expression. He was worried that his father might get angry and do something impulsive. Although the old man was already quite old, when he got impulsive, he was no different from a 20-year-old.

“I know he was unaware of it.” Li Zongdi said, his gaze sweeping over a document on the table. The cover of the document read “Naval Line One Monitoring Records.” “I treated him with courtesy and humility, entrusted him with important responsibilities, so I had to see his true stance. We once tried to trust that guy surnamed Liu… but the facts proved that he was disloyal to the country. Although I now believe in the loyalty of General Sa and others to the country, it is clear that there are disloyal people in the Navy.”

At this point, Li Zongdi angrily slammed his fist on the table: "I remember that the operation plan for the attack on Yuanshan Port, which was overseen by Zhi'er, involved not only a large number of torpedo boats but also submarines, right? And now a bunch of bastards are planning to transport the princess to Yanping to sow discord between us and the Song King. Since they have the means to use submarines to transport people, can we still trust the navy's submarine force? Has the operation plan been leaked?"

"Father, you can rest assured. When I was formulating the battle plan, I had already considered the possibility of intelligence leaks in this regard. So until now, the front-line combat troops do not know what the real battle plan is. The submarines of the submarine force are not the first force to attack the United States Army landing fleet around Yuanshan Port, but rather the force to carry out continuous attacks in Yingzhou Sea. Even if some people deliberately leak intelligence, Victoria and Columbia can only know that we are mobilizing our submarine force, but they have no way of knowing the specific battle intentions."

Li Zongdi nodded in surprise. After what happened, he had already prepared himself for the possibility of naval intelligence being leaked, but the result was much better than he had expected. Li Che had actually made double preparations beforehand.

"This kid's brain actually came up with this much; it seems he's not just a little bit clever."

"Yes, according to Zhi'er, in the absence of a clear understanding of which parts of the Navy might have problems in the short term, the best security measure is the brains of the relevant personnel themselves—he has developed a 'Wallfacer Plan' for the entire security measure."

"The Wallfacer Project? What is that?"

Li Renzhi said, "The entire planned campaign process is divided into different stages, each stage is handled by a single person. Important operational plans are not documented in detail after the closed-door meeting. The most core information is kept in the minds of the participants. No matter how capable a spy is, they cannot obtain intelligence from another person's mind."

"Because everyone's responsibilities are clearly defined, if a problem occurs in any part of the process, firstly, the scope of the problem's impact is relatively limited, and secondly, it is easier to trace the source of responsibility."

Li Zongdi looked at his son and said, "With your honest nature, you actually gave birth to such a cunning son. It seems that things really do turn out the other way around."

Li Renchi really wanted to have a serious discussion with his father about what exactly this "things going to extremes and then reversing" situation was, but he held back. Right now, they needed to prioritize the important matters: "Father, what should we do next after this has happened? Qin Zhaoming committed suicide by poisoning himself when he was arrested, and those guards were killed on the spot. Although we have some information provided by that princess, we can't get enough effective evidence right now. After those guys realized that things were not going well, they cut off their tails very decisively, like geckos."

“What should we do… Didn’t your son already give us the solution at the end of the telegram?” After saying this, Li Zongdi turned the telegram over and slapped it in front of his son: “Investigating a case requires evidence, but suppressing counter-revolutionaries only requires a list. Go back and make a list, first take control of all the people on the list, and then we will naturally obtain the evidence.”

"This... alright, I'll go back and draft the list." Li Renzhi subconsciously felt that doing so would inevitably lead to attacks from the mouthpieces controlled by those guys, but Li Renzhi finally nodded. He understood that his son's suggestion and his father's decision were correct in the current situation. After all, in chaotic times, harsh measures are necessary, and if some mouthpieces dared to use this as a pretext to attack, it would mean that the list was not long enough.

"That's right. You're good in every way, except you're a little too nice. People who are kind are often taken advantage of, you know?"

Li Renchi did not respond to this, but pretended not to hear and asked, "Then who will carry out the list after it is drawn up? Will it be handled by your men, Father, or by the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

“Let’s hand it over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.” Li Zongdi crossed his arms over his chest. “The Embroidered Uniform Guard must be eager to use such a big case to prove themselves, although in my opinion, they don’t actually need to prove anything.”

"Father, you seem to have always trusted the Embroidered Uniform Guard—I mean, among all the military and political departments of the old government, the Embroidered Uniform Guard is the one you currently rely on the most." Li Renchi took the opportunity to ask a small question that had been on his mind: "Is it because the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is an old acquaintance of yours?"

"Of course not." Li Zongdi scoffed. "Departments like the Embroidered Uniform Guard are among the most loyal people in any country. Of course, this is not because the Embroidered Uniform Guard is full of loyal and righteous people. It's just that their positions determine their thinking. Their positions determine that they can embezzle and be corrupt, but they cannot betray the country, because if they betray the country, they can no longer embezzle."