"Attention, all troops! The remnants of the Japanese Pirates we previously encircled have fled to the Xinghua area. We are to march to Xinghua and wipe out the Japanese Pirates there!"
On the parade ground, Qi Jiguang gave the order in full armor.
On September 12, Qi Jiguang ordered them to head for Xinghua, force-marching seventy li.
Along the way, the troops made almost no sound. Six thousand men moved like a silent beast, marching onward with their heads down.
Compared with when he had first arrived at the camp, Li Mu Chuan's expression was much steadier now, and the air about him had changed somewhat as well.
Previously, when Li Mu Chuan had first entered the camp, he had seemed somewhat out of place. Now, however, he seemed to have blended into the unit, as though he had always belonged there.
The troops were force-marching, but the baggage train followed behind them, so their speed was not particularly fast.
It was not until evening that they reached the Jiang Estuary area, still more than ten li from Xinghua and over thirty li from Lin Dun.
Seeing that it was already late, Qi Jiguang decided to rest where they were and enter Xinghua the next day.
The sentries quickly established a warning line. Besides the visible guards, there were quite a few hidden sentries as well.
Clusters of campfires soon sprang up.
Before dinner, Li Mu Chuan hurried off to one side and resumed practicing his fist techniques.
Qi Jiguang saw this and walked over. Seeing that Li Mu Chuan's fist techniques were beginning to show some promise, he could not help nodding.
"I didn't expect you to take these fist techniques and blade techniques so seriously."
He had previously thought Li Mu Chuan would not be able to endure