"Ah!
Given Eastern Wu's pitiful number of warhorses, it was impossible for them to rush over the moment they saw beacon fires.
Of course, they could gather some war mules and war donkeys. But considering how fast mules and donkeys could run—especially how obedient they were to commands...
Rather than trust them, Shen Le might as well trust his own two feet.
Fortunately, there were other ways. Northerners excelled at horses, southerners at boats. After looking into the matter, Shen Le decisively made the call:
"Use boats!"
"But boats are too slow... And rowing is exhausting, isn't it...?"
They would spot the beacon fires here, assemble, board the boats, row themselves to death to reach the destination, then disembark and run for their lives. Never mind whether they would still make it in time—even if they did—
After all that rowing and running, would they still have the strength left to fight once they saw the enemy?
"Of course I know that." Shen Le remained calm.
"It isn't easy for us to make a trip over there. And it isn't easy for those pirates to come ashore to burn, kill, and plunder either." Ignoring the subordinates beside him whose mouths twitched as they struggled not to complain, he continued, "If I were them, I definitely wouldn't retreat as soon as I saw the beacon fires lit. I'd calculate the timing and leave only when I figured we were about to arrive. So as long as we travel faster than they expect—"
"So how are we supposed to get there faster?"
"Modify the boats."
Shen Le was supremely confident. With the authority granted by the county magistrate, he requisitioned two fishing boats and got to work.
Rather than use the Wang family—the ones in the timber business who even owned a