Early the next morning, Yang Zhengshan led everyone out of the Capital and rode all the way to Jinhai Guard. At Jinhai Guard's docks, a large amount of money and grain had already been moved aboard the warships of the Tenglong Vanguard. By the time Yang Zhengshan arrived, the warships were already ready to put to sea.
More than a hundred warships, large and small, gathered together, and the sight was still extraordinarily magnificent.
In September, the sea wind was still dominated by southeastern winds, and the cold wind from the Snow Plains had not yet blown over.
The fleet followed the coast southward, passing through Haizhou Prefecture, Yuzhou, Songjiang Prefecture, and other places, and arrived at Zhaowu Guard on September twenty-eighth.
When Yang Zhengshan arrived at Zhaowu Guard, however, his brows knitted deeply.
Zhaowu Guard was not a naval force, but its garrison was on the coast, and Zhaowu Guard even had a dock, used for mooring the fishing boats of the military households.
But how could a dock meant for fishing boats possibly berth dozens of large ships?
Let alone a dozen or so—there wasn't even room to berth a single Great Fuchuan. Yang Zhengshan had still entered the dock aboard a small boat.
When he got off the boat, Yang Jinhe and Sun Yunfeng were already leading a group of officials, who had been waiting at the dock for a long time.
"Greetings, Marquis!" the group of officials bowed.
Yang Zhengshan glanced at them, then looked at this dock.
This dock was not even as good as the dock built back when Tenglong Guard was first established. The dock Tenglong Guard built back then had the advantage of the terrain; with only slight repairs, it could berth Great Fuchuans. But the dock before him was small, and