"He deserved it! That fellow was far too arrogant. He never took our master seriously at all," Wen Jinyuan snorted.
"We couldn't mobilize the troops without taking him down," Ye Qian said.
"Everyone, you saw it yourselves.
"Hurry back and muster your troops. Make sure they're elite soldiers and capable commanders.
"Otherwise, if the deputy marshal blames us, none of us will escape the consequences." After Tang Wen had gone some distance, Tang Xunze cleared his throat and spoke gravely.
"Lord Tang, how do we explain this to Lord Chu?" Ning Yang asked.
"Explain what? He's already locked in the Six Fan Gate's prison. Tell me, do we obey him or the deputy marshal?" Tang Xunze sneered.
"O-of course we obey the deputy marshal." Ning Yang immediately broke out in a heavy sweat.
"Let's hurry back and select our men, before we get beaten," Ding Zhendong said.
With that, the group hurried away.
Tang Wen headed to the Governor's Office and instructed Wan Hansong to scrape together as many troops as possible, creating the impression that they intended to defend Linghai.
In reality, once fighting broke out, they would have to rush to reinforce Peacock Island.
Wan Hansong naturally complied. As governor, he had over ten thousand men under his command. Together with the prefectural militia corps, he could assemble around thirty thousand.
At eight the following morning, Tang Wen's party reached Jingzhou, the provincial capital of Youhai.
Youhai Province was half again as large as Linghai. Jingzhou, its provincial capital, was not on the coast, but surpassed Jiangzhou in every measure of strength.
Taking the army alone, Linghai's total forces numbered only a hundred and twenty or thirty thousand.
Youhai, however, had nearly two hundred thousand, and its economic strength was twice Linghai's.
That was why the Two Seas