A fleet of forty one ships moved together down the Yangtze River, their destination the open sea.
Among them sailed ten giant vessels, each stretching nearly sixty meters long. When those enormous hulls lined up across the river, the sight alone made the waterway feel too narrow to hold them.
River barges and fishing boats scattered in a hurry, scrambling toward the banks to clear the path. Yet no one panicked.
Every ship in the fleet flew the multi colored banners of Dao Xuan Tianzun.
Along this stretch of river, those banners carried a reputation as solid as iron. Ships under those colors hunted pirates relentlessly, helped common folk whenever disaster struck, and never bullied civilians or flaunted power without reason. Over time, the banners had become a strange symbol of reassurance. When villagers saw them, they relaxed instead of running.
As for the official Ming naval patrols, their reaction was even simpler.
Once they spotted the banners, they immediately reached the same quiet conclusion.
Imperial merchants. Secret decree. Best not to ask questions.
No officer wanted to be the fool who poked his nose into something connected to the throne. Maintaining distance and pretending ignorance felt far safer for one's career and lifespan.
The fleet continued forward until it reached the Yangtze estuary near Chongming Island.
From the side, a Cangshan patrol vessel approached. Standing at its bow was Cui Weihua, the Military Preparations Commissioner overseeing Suzhou and Songjiang.
He cupped his hands and called across the water.
"May I ask if Captain Shi is aboard?"
Jiang Cheng leaned over the railing and returned the salute.
"Commander Cui, I hope you are well. Lord Shi is currently stationed in Anqing. He is not with this fleet."
Cui Weihua nodded slowly, though his eyes remained fixed on the enormous formation stretching across the water.
As the highest ranking naval officer in the region, he commanded the largest fleet in the surrounding waters. Yet when he compared his own forces to the armada before him, the difference made him feel like a county militia captain staring at the Imperial Guards.
He let out a long breath.
"When your ships passed Chongming Island one by one, I did not think much of it. But seeing them assembled together like this..." He shook his head. "This is no ordinary force. Judging from such a deployment, you do not intend to return to the Yangtze anytime soon, do you?"
Listening nearby, Li Daoxuan felt slightly amused.
Sharp fellow. He pieced it together from formation alone.
Jiang Cheng nodded calmly.
"You are correct. We are carrying out a confidential mission under imperial decree. If our ships return to the Yangtze in the future, they will do so individually. You will not see them assembled like this again."
Cui Weihua's face revealed open disappointment.
"Why would His Majesty not allow an official like me to participate? I also wish to earn merit for the empire."
Jiang Cheng laughed lightly.
"Commander Cui, the position you hold is already critical to the realm. Opportunities for merit will not be lacking in the future."
That was not polite comfort. It was simple truth.
Li Daoxuan had already selected Zhoushan as a dedicated naval base. A base of that scale could not exist beside civilian ports. Meanwhile, the territory under Cui Weihua's jurisdiction included the region that would one day become Shanghai.
The future importance of Shanghai hardly needed explanation. Trade, shipbuilding, logistics, taxation. Every artery of maritime power would eventually run through it. Cui Weihua's aging Ming era fleet might look outdated in battle, but for commerce and transport, it still had tremendous value.
The two sides exchanged final courtesies. Then the fleet adjusted formation and sailed southeast.
Cui Weihua stood at the bow of his patrol boat, watching the ships shrink into the horizon. After several moments, he lifted his gaze toward the sky, thinking carefully.
Then realization struck him.
"Southeast?" he muttered aloud. "Such a massive fleet heading southeast... They are either hunting pirates or confronting Westerners. What has His Majesty seen or obtained that he suddenly shows such resolve?"
After leaving the Yangtze estuary, the fleet followed the coastline for a short distance.
Ahead, the mainland curved into a sharp, protruding point.
This was Nanhui Mouth, a location that would become a famous tourist site in the distant future of Shanghai.
At present, however, there was nothing scenic about it.
The coastline held only a crumbling military outpost. Years earlier, during waves of Japanese pirate invasions, the imperial court had constructed a fortress here and stationed troops to guard the waters. Time, war, and neglect had turned the installation into a half collapsed skeleton of stone and timber.
Several thin, hollow cheeked garrison soldiers stood atop the broken structure. They stared at the massive fleet in stunned silence, as if watching sea monsters crawl out of legend.
At the front of the fleet, the labor reform pirate who served as their guide spoke up.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun, Instructor Jiang, we cannot follow the coastline any further. From here we must head southeast into open water, straight toward Shengsi Island, north of the Zhoushan archipelago. Pirates are stationed there. It would be best to strike from the outer perimeter first."
None of the sailors from Gao Family Village had ever sailed true ocean waters. Jiang Cheng answered with rare humility.
"How do we navigate once we leave the coast? The sea ahead has no landmarks at all. If we lose sight of land, how do we know where we are?"
The pirate scratched his chin before replying.
"The sun, the monsoon winds, and ocean currents can all be used. The sun is the most reliable reference. But sailors who spend years navigating by staring into sunlight usually pay a price."
He tapped the patch covering his own eye.
"Nine out of ten captains lose one eye eventually."
Jiang Cheng stiffened.
"I have no desire to become half blind."
Li Daoxuan, listening nearby, could not help chuckling quietly.
He thought it through. Sextants had not yet been invented in this era. Even European sailors of the time could only determine latitude using the sun. Longitude remained largely guesswork.
Because of that limitation, ships traveling across oceans often sailed along shared latitude lines. Pirates took advantage of this habit. They did not need to search the endless sea. They simply waited along common routes like hunters waiting beside watering holes.
Li Daoxuan withdrew his awareness from the miniature world, stepped outside the diorama box, and searched modern historical data about the compass, sextant, and marine chronometer. After compiling the information into a text titled Comprehensive Guide to Navigation Artifacts of the Age of Sail, he casually dropped the manual beside Gao Family Village's research institute.
When he returned his gaze to the world inside the box, he saw the pirate guide squinting toward the sun, then adjusting direction, then squinting again, carefully steering the fleet deeper into open sea.
The direct distance from Nanhui Mouth to Shengsi Island was less than fifty kilometers.
For seasoned pirates, such a journey barely qualified as a trip.
For Gao Family Village's sailors, it felt like stepping off the edge of the world.
Soon, land vanished in every direction. Water stretched endlessly ahead, behind, and to both sides. The familiar comfort of coastlines disappeared entirely.
Nervous murmurs spread across the ships.
"Where are we now?"
"How long until we arrive?"
"Heavens above... where exactly are we sailing?"
The crew grew increasingly unsettled.
A heavy swell rolled beneath the flagship Wanli Sunshine. The vessel pitched violently as it climbed and dropped with the waves. Compared to the Yellow River or the Yangtze, the ocean moved with frightening, unpredictable power. Many sailors clung to ropes and railings with white knuckles.
Observing their pale faces, the labor reform pirate leaned toward Jiang Cheng and spoke in a low voice.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun, Instructor Jiang, the entire crew looks seasick and frightened. Perhaps it would be wiser to recruit sailors raised along the coast."
Li Daoxuan only smiled and said nothing.
Jiang Cheng answered instead.
"No one is born knowing everything. They will learn through experience. We do not have time to begin from nothing and build a navy from scratch. If we wait that long, the opportunity will pass us by."
At that moment, Shi Lang stepped forward from the rear deck. The young man still carried the fierce excitement he had gained after studying the Battle of Liaoluowan. His eyes burned with determination.
"Exactly!"
His voice rang across the deck.
"We must act quickly and seize the moment. The longer we hesitate, the stronger the Western pirates become. It does not matter if our sailors are inexperienced. We will catch them. We will capture every pirate on Zhoushan Island. Not one will escape!"