Mu Anbang had brought two hundred warships this time.

That meant there was nowhere near enough room for fifty thousand men.

After a day's rest, Ning Chen took thirty thousand men aboard a hundred and fifty warships and sailed.

That left fifty warships behind, and with the five thousand boatmen Mu Anbang had brought, there were twenty-five thousand men in all, some on foot and some aboard ship.

They could follow behind and clear the battlefield.

A hundred and fifty warships carrying thirty thousand men with muskets and cannon set off up a tributary of the Eastern Sea for the mouth of the Miluo.

Fifty thousand of Prince Rui's men were stationed at the mouth of the Miluo.

Seven days later Ning Chen brought his army to the mouth of the Miluo.

Ning Chen stood on the deck and looked through the spyglass.

More than three hundred warships covered the water.

Because the eastern frontier lay against the sea, nearly every warship the Great Xuan had was posted to the eastern frontier.

Prince Rui had several times as many warships as they did.

And the eastern frontier faced the sea, so its officers and men were good at fighting on water.

Ning Chen frowned. They had muskets and cannon, but this was still going to be a hard battle.

The two sides faced each other across the water.

A big, powerfully built, middle-aged man stood on the deck with a heavy saber in his hand, his skin coarse and dark and his face all whiskers. He was looking across at Ning Chen's side.

His expression was grave.

A man has his name as a tree has its shadow. (TL Note: a Chinese saying — a reputation goes before a man the way a shadow goes before a tree, and neither can be talked away.)

The commander in chief facing him was Ning Chen, the god of war of Great Xuan.

He had never seen Ning Chen, but he knew Ning Chen's name well enough.

Ning Chen handed the spyglass to Sun Gaohan beside him. "The man standing at the bow…