Moqi Tong warned at once, "Once we reach Storm Bay, there will be nowhere left to retreat."
Storm Bay was a peninsula jutting out into the sea.
"We can only take the Baishitun route if we can actually get through!" Lu Qingbang pointed toward the mountain forests. "The Ya soldiers have already cut off that path. No matter how hard we charge, there is no way you can break through with this many women and children!"
The remainder of the Bailong main tribe's westward migration route was not actually long. If they could travel just another one hundred and ten li and cross Baishitun, they would reach Bailie territory! Once across the border, they would be safe.
Usually wide and easy to travel, that road had now become an impassable chasm.
The men of Ya had clearly come prepared, blockading their only path.
If they attempted to force their way through and cover those one hundred and ten li, how many Bailong would survive to the end? Lu Qingbang was not optimistic.
Moqi Tong understood this as well. After wandering for a year, few elderly remained in the tribe, but women and children still made up a very high proportion. Out of a population of nearly forty thousand, fewer than two thousand possessed actual fighting ability—
Alas, when they first fled the Ya Kingdom, the tribe had clearly possessed nearly five thousand warriors.
Therefore, when Lu Qingbang told him there was support awaiting them at Storm Port, he too ordered the whole tribe to deviate from their original route and march south.
The women and children went ahead while the warriors brought up the rear.
This was a desperate gamble; Moqi Tong had wagered the lives of all forty thousand of his people.
Tragically, he had no second choice.
At dawn, after the sacrifice of more than two hundred warriors, they finally reached Storm Bay.
Under harassment and interception by their pursuers, it had taken them most of the night to cover a mere twenty li of mountain paths. Under the dark night across rugged terrain, the old and young could not move fast, and more than a dozen fatal falls had occurred.
Every step had truly been soaked in blood and tears.
Fortunately, they had at last arrived at their destination.
Storm Bay was an untamed bay with scenic, open vistas, originally untouched by human tracks. But Lu Qingbang had prepared rendezvous personnel and vessels here well in advance.
This had been his contingency plan; he had not expected they would truly need to use it.
Yet just as the great column rushed toward the bay, out of breath, cannon fire thundered ahead, followed by soaring flames!
Lu Qingbang and Moqi Tong's hearts sank.
Scouts in the vanguard rushed back to report that fighting had suddenly erupted in the bay: the ships stationed here had either been captured or had hastily cast off and fled into deep waters.
The two climbed to a high point to look. Sure enough, chaos reigned on the beach. Several ships were blazing fiercely, while over twenty large vessels had already been seized, their crews forced to kneel on the sand.
Storm Bay had fallen into enemy hands!
The remaining vessels, thoroughly terrified, had weighed anchor, raised sail, and fled the coastline. What Lu Qingbang and Moqi Tong saw were only their receding sterns as they fled in panic—
The men of Ya had beaten them to the punch once again, severing their final route of escape!
Moqi Tong's eyes turned bloodshot as he glared at Lu Qingbang, his voice hoarse. "This is your backup plan?"
It was over. Lu Qingbang broke into a cold sweat.
The Bailong tribe's secret westward migration being exposed could be explained by a traitor in their ranks. But how could the Ya Kingdom have anticipated that he had stationed a backup plan here?
Of course, the thought only flashed through his mind before being cast aside. Right now, only three words mattered:
What to do?
Hearing Moqi Tong's enraged roar, his mind was in turmoil.
Storm Bay was a peninsula—easy to enter, hard to leave. The Ya soldiers had known to ambush them midway and had known to burn and drive off the ships at Storm Bay; would they not also know to guard the peninsula's choke points?
They could not turn back the way they came.
Nearly forty thousand living souls of the Bailong main tribe, along with the six hundred elite cavalry he had brought—how could they escape the Ya Kingdom's clutches?
Moqi Tong turned and barked orders to his clansmen: "Turn around! We'll carve out a bloody path!"
There were no escape ships left. Staying at Storm Bay offered only a dead end.
They had no choice but to fight a bloody battle and do everything they could to break through, no matter how terrible the cost!
"Wait!" Lu Qingbang grabbed Moqi Tong's shoulder, only to be shoved off.
"Northeast along the coastline is Luting Beach, which is also on this peninsula! I can send word to the ships that escaped and have them head there to pick us up!"
Moqi Tong pointed toward Storm Bay and snarled, "I just listened to your sweet talk—and what came of it? If the Ya soldiers could lay an ambush here, wouldn't they send men to Luting Beach as well?"
"Believe it or not, as you wish, but I am heading to Luting Beach," Lu Qingbang said calmly. "That beach is narrow and cannot accommodate many vessels; the Ya forces won't pay it any mind."
"It can't hold many ships? Then what's the point of rushing there?"
"We can evacuate a portion of the women and children first! There are islands twenty li offshore. Once the people are ferried across, the ships can return for more. In a single day, they can make at least three round trips." Lu Qingbang's expression grew solemn. "If this is indeed the end of the road today, wouldn't you want to get the children out? Even if it only preserves a single spark of the Bailong bloodline, a single glimmer of hope!"
Taking all thirty to forty thousand clansmen at once was impossible now.
Leaving this peninsula would demand a terrible price.
Moqi Tong did not hesitate for long before agreeing to the plan, because the pursuing troops behind them were already closing in again.
"Pass the order: we march to Luting Beach!"
***
A day later, by the shore of Xiaoye Island, an islet off Platinum Island.
Amid Huang Zhao's eager anticipation, appearing alongside the crimson sunset on the western horizon was a grand armada—
The new fleet from the Yangshan Archipelago!
From where he stood, the surface of the sea was almost completely filled with dense clusters of vessels, large and small.
A hundred ships raced across the water, their sails spread like banners, reflecting the fiery glow of the sunset.
Even the residents of Platinum Island stopped in their tracks to watch; it had been ages since they had seen so magnificent a spectacle.
Huang Zhao immediately steered a small boat to take him to the flagship of the fleet. Several subordinates helped him carry a large chest aboard.
The moment he stepped onto the deck, Ding Zuodong came forward to meet him. "Where to?"
Chief Steward Ding was now the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce's top lieutenant. He usually remained on Suoding Island to manage core affairs and rarely went out on field missions anymore.
This voyage was his first long-distance expedition with the fleet in three months.
A single urgent message by avian courier from He Lingchuan had prompted him to drop everything and rush over, sending the entire Yangshan Archipelago into a frenzy of activity over the past twenty hours.
Huang Zhao first respectfully greeted Zhu Daniang and Dong Rui, who had accompanied the voyage, and only then spoke:
"We head for Storm Bay, as fast as possible!"
He Lingchuan had departed ahead of time, leaving his subordinate Huang Zhao here specifically to receive Yangshan's reinforcement fleet.
Ding Zuodong turned and barked an order. The entire fleet slowly shifted course and advanced toward Storm Bay.
Huang Zhao stood on the deck counting ships. "You only sent these?"
"These ships are all troop carriers—two thousand from the Yangshan Guard. As for the supply ships, they will arrive half a day later. Moving troops is simple enough, but the sheer quantity of provisions the Master ordered was enormous and needed urgently. The archipelago spent the better part of a day just preparing the supplies."
Chapter 1061