Chapter 90: Finding the Map

The next day, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, they arrived at the northernmost camp.

As soon as the group stepped ashore, they were met with a rain of arrows; fortunately, they had not cut corners where they bought their armor, and everyone was wearing a helmet and had protective plating on their shoulders.

Under this rain of arrows, not a single person was injured.

Once the rain of arrows ceased, they continued to charge forward, with several archers shielding Yan Ze and beginning to fire Crossbows at those Woguo people.

"Ah—"

From time to time, a scream would ring out; these archers had been well-trained by General Xie and were exceptionally accurate, with every arrow landing on an archer.

Yan Ze said, "Once the fighting is over, we will move all these bows and armor onto the ships; let them expend themselves for now."

A scout rode a horse ahead to clear the path, and before long, the man returned.

"His Highness, an army has been discovered ahead, heading toward us. Their momentum is very fierce."

That group of Japanese pirates thought that by arranging archers, they could prevent them from entering, and upon hearing those screams, they assumed the enemy troops had been wounded by arrows.

The Japanese pirate general was smug: "Those idiots must have had most of their men killed by the volley of arrows; let's all attack together!"

Thus, the two sides clashed.

Seeing Yan Ze leading a vast army toward them, the Woguo general could hardly believe it.

Why were they completely unscathed?!

Yan Ze was also stunned for a moment.

With a previous lesson already learned, why were they still bringing such a dense formation of troops to meet them in battle?

Soon, Yan Ze began throwing Explosive Packages at them.

With a few "Bang, bang, bang" sounds, the five thousand men in front were instantly blown to pieces.

Yan Ze wanted to move forward, but at this moment, a guard cried out:

"Ah—"

Then, several more soldiers were struck in vital areas.

Yan Ze hurriedly said, "Wei Wu, throw the Explosive Packages!"

It was in this brief moment that the archers hidden in the trees drew their bows again, aiming directly at the areas not covered by armor.

But the next moment, they were blown up.

Looking at these wounded men, Yan Ze gritted his teeth in anger; they were all painstakingly trained soldiers, and they had been injured by archers just like that.

Yan Ze said, "I will take the wounded to the ships first; how many Explosive Packages do you two have?"

Xiao Chengtian said, "I have five left."

Wu Jiangjun said, "I have three."

Yan Ze thought for a moment and said to them, "I will take the men back first; you go and check if there is anything left behind, and be careful."

Both of them acknowledged the order.

As he spoke, Yan Ze returned with them; an iron arrow was still stuck in his chest, blocked from his vitals by his armor, but the arrow was difficult to pull out for the moment.

When Yan Ning saw such a large arrow stuck in her father's chest, she became anxious and burst into tears.

"Dad, Dad, are you alright?"

Yan Ze shook his head: "I'm fine, it was caught by the armor; fortunately, there is still a leather vest underneath, so it's likely just a small graze, it doesn't hurt much."

Yan Ning breathed a sigh of relief.

However, she still checked her father's condition from top to bottom.

Good heavens, there was actually a small scratch on the right side of his neck.

Because it was in a critical location, Yan Ning gave him a cup of Spirit Spring Water to drink, and the wound quickly began to scab over.

Yan Ze said, "A minor injury, no need to be so alarmed."

Yan Ning sighed: "We must tell Mom later that our Explosive Packages blew them away; we can't let her see you injured."

Yan Ze rubbed her head: "Alright, I will be more careful in the future."

Soon, Wu Jiangjun and General Li returned, with only a few soldiers having suffered arrow wounds.

"The Japanese pirates have all been wiped out, but there are three villages near the camp; there may be women from our Daxia dynasty inside."

Xiao Chengtian said this, though in truth, he wanted to simply wipe out all three villages.

Yan Ze said, "Let's go search them to see if we can find anything like a map."

The Japanese pirates had already been wiped out, so there was no need to worry about those civilians; Yan Ze brought Yan Ning along as well.

They prepared to search the General's Mansion first, then go to the villages to ask if there were any people from Daxia who wanted to return.

They began rummaging through boxes and cabinets, while Yan Ning went around tapping on walls, moving ornaments, and knocking on tables.

Xiao Chengtian asked, "What are you doing? Don't tell me you like the bricks and tiles of this house and want us to move them back?"

It was at this moment that Yan Ning tapped on a section of the wall, and the sound was different from the others.

She gave it a gentle push, and the wall recessed, revealing a hidden compartment underneath.

Inside the hidden compartment lay a map, depicting the entire territory of Woguo, and the coastline of the Daxia dynasty could also be seen on it.

Yan Ning suddenly remembered that the first person her father traded with had given them a map.

Looking at this topographical map of Woguo, the two maps seemed to match up.

So, could they now mine various ores according to the maps?

Seeing Yan Ning staring fixedly at this map, Xiao Chengtian asked, "Is there something special about this map?"

Yan Ning withdrew her gaze and shook her head: "Nothing special."

The items here had been searched through thoroughly, and with the map Yan Ning had found, there was nothing else of value left in the General's Mansion.

Yan Ze simply set it on fire.

The group prepared to head to the nearby villages.

Yan Ning thought it over and over; to prevent them from going to the coastal areas to plunder again, Yan Ning suggested, "Since we have been here for so long anyway, why not put in a little more effort to find their ships, burn them, or just take them back?"

Xiao Chengtian slapped his thigh, "Ningning is indeed more thoughtful, but if we can take them back, let's not burn them."

While they were speaking, they had already arrived at the first village.

Yan Ning asked, "Are there any people from the Daxia Dynasty among you? If you want to go back, I can take you."

Several women hurriedly stood out and said in the language of the Daxia Dynasty, "Miss, we beg you to take us back; we were captured!"

Yan Ning nodded, and a general behind her went over and directly used rope to tie them up.

Seeing the stunned looks on these people's faces, Yan Ning explained, "I mean nothing else by it, I'm just afraid you might turn on us. Once we safely reach the Daxia Dynasty, I will let you go."

The women who had originally been struggling suddenly quieted down.

Yan Ning went to two nearby villages, gave a warning, and then left with the women from the Daxia Dynasty.

When they were almost at the camp, they heard a scream.

"Ah—"

They saw a person sneaking in the nearby grass, throwing stones downward.

Yan Ze aimed his Crossbow at him and shot an arrow directly, piercing through his arm.

Xiao Chengtian looked down the cliff; their ships were right below this cliff, and this person throwing stones had already injured several people.

Yan Ze fired a follow-up arrow, and the youth was dead through and through.

Xiao Chengtian sighed, "Sigh, I said it before, we should have slaughtered this village to avoid endless trouble."

Yan Ze sighed, but said nothing else and continued walking forward.

Xiao Chengtian and Wu Jiangjun could only listen to him.