Chapter 96

**Delivered at the third hour of the night! Thank you all for your support!**

**Xiang Feihu—Li Huamei!**

**Any scoundrels, whether they be petty thieves or base and despicable individuals, will be crushed under her righteous and overwhelming power, turning to dust!**

**This Richard Huison, who betrays inside and out, is no exception.**

**Behind her, the mighty and steady Yang Xien, the righteous and stern Bai Muxing, the gentle and maiden-like Yi An, and the lively and sunny Frenchman James, all powerful navigators, lined up, adding to Xiang Feihu's imposing presence!**

**Under the overwhelming pressure, Lin Qing lowered his head, put on a servile smile, and ran up the ship.**

**For some reason, seeing this wretched fellow, with his hateful smile, Li Huamei suddenly felt a deep sense of futility, as if playing a lute to a cow or showing a phoenix's feathers to a mouse, and her interest waned.**

**Am I overestimating this Richard Huison?**

**Is it really necessary to go to such great lengths?**

**But the next moment, her gaze fixed on the neighboring fleet, and a smile bloomed on her face.**

**What a stark contrast!**

**On the adjacent dock was another merchant fleet that rivaled the Li family's—Zhou family's newly established fleet.**

**But in every aspect, the two fleets were incomparable.**

**The Zhou family's fleet also had 5 ships, but the smallest Chinese junk was only 30 meters long and 5 meters high, with only two cabins. The entire fleet had no more than 120 sailors. At that moment, the admiral of that fleet, the beautiful Zhou Zhiruo, who was no less stunning than herself, stood calmly at the bow, watching her subordinates load boxes of goods into the cabins.**

**"Ha ha!" Yang Xien couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Look, the Zhou family's fleet is also setting sail!"**

**"Hmm," Yi An, responsible for intelligence, said calmly in her usual gentle manner: "The Zhou family's fleet, 5 ships, bought 10 cabins of silk from the market yesterday afternoon. The destination is unknown."**

**James said cheerfully: "Who cares where they're going? Anyway, with this kind of fleet, even if they bribe Ming officials, they won't make a profit and are bound to fail. We don't need to worry about their competition, hehe."**

**At this moment, Lin Qing was drenched in sweat and had climbed aboard the ship.**

**Li Huamei gazed into the distance, staring at Zhou Zhiruo, who was calm and working meticulously.**

**Her intuition told her that this woman was very confident and knew what she was doing.**

**"Silk... the surrounding cities have already sold most of it," Li Huamei murmured. "Where does she plan to sell these products?"**

**"We've already sold silk to most of the major cities around here," Yang Xien said confidently. "Due to the ample supply, the prices are very low. Transporting it there would be unprofitable. If it's to Southeast Asia, the round trip cost is too high. Plus, the season is wrong, no monsoon, and the round trip time exceeds 3 months, just the supplies and sailor fees would bankrupt her!"**

**Lin Qing, behind them, lowered his head, more obedient than SpongeBob, but secretly laughed in his heart.**

**You'll see my power soon.**

**"Let's not talk about her!" Li Huamei, unable to figure out what tricks the other side might have, shook her head and said: "Talk about how you dealt with the pirates? How did you win?"**

**Xing Jiu smiled: "We have the advanced giant ship 'Huachen,' plus Yi An's intelligence, your command, and the legendary gunner Long Wangxiang and James. The first three shots hit the pirates' ammunition hold, causing a massive explosion. The rest of the boarding battle was left to me."**

**Li Huamei, Yi An, and Yang Xien burst into laughter, extremely pleased.**

**James raised his hand, holding a scroll: "It's all thanks to your generosity, Admiral, for buying this [Secret Book of Refined Gunpowder] from the Hangzhou Guild, which provides the correct gunpowder formula and increases the power of gunpowder. With my natural talent for gunnery, my shots are now almost guaranteed to hit!"**

**Lin Qing was startled and carefully examined the [Secret Book of Refined Gunpowder].**

**To adventurers, this was clearly a valuable treasure.**

**[Secret Book of Refined Gunpowder]: C-grade treasure, from the Age of Great Navigation. Increases the power of gunpowder weapons by 10%. Equipped in the five-slot inventory.**

**He indeed remembered that this was a treasure of the Hangzhou Guild, with 47 points of gunnery ability, worth 50,000 gold coins. He never thought Li Huamei would be so generous, equipping James with such a powerful weapon. With James's natural talent, placing him in the gunnery room was like giving him a golden finger to play a bug!**

**This made Lin Qing's overheated mind cool down.**

**The Li family's fleet, with its deep roots and 3500 points of influence, was not something he could catch up to in a short time.**

**He looked around, trying to find where Magician and the others were doing hard labor.**

**He found them.**

**On a neighboring medium-sized Chinese junk, he saw the miserable adventurers, almost bursting out laughing.**

**The mighty Red Pole of the Yellow Hall, the ruthless adventurers, were actually bare-chested, kneeling in a row, scrubbing the deck.**

**As a new sailor, they hadn't gained the Li family's trust and couldn't even board the flagship.**

**Magician also looked up and saw Lin Qing, making a chicken-slaughtering gesture at his neck.**

**It seemed he was hoping Lin Qing would quickly save them from their misery.**

**Lin Qing shook his head and looked away.**

**The big man with the horse face angrily said: "Get lost, you bastard! You randomly got a character and now you're all high and mighty, not recognizing your brothers. Damn it, next time we meet an enemy, let him take the front and bear the brunt, and we'll shoot him in the back! Like he's dead..."**

**He realized he had spoken out of turn and coughed, but his eyes flashed with a dangerous light.**

**Magician didn't stop him, just looked at him coldly.**

**He was sure this guy was courting death.**

**Planning to outmaneuver a Red Flower Double Pole killer?**

**Hmph! Better he dies. Then I can control the Red Pole of the Yellow Hall.**

**Li Huamei coldly waved her hand and shouted: "Raise the sails! Drop the anchor! Set sail! We must leave the port before the Zhou family's fleet!"**

**The people below responded with a loud cheer.**

**The massive Li family fleet, in the narrow and busy Hangzhou port, showed no sign of clumsiness. Under the command of Yang Xien, Yi An, and others, no direct orders from Li Huamei were needed. The fleet, consisting of 5 large and 5 medium-sized Chinese junks, raised the sails, dropped the anchors, and set sail in an orderly manner, with hundreds of sailors climbing up and down, pulling the ropes.**

**These prehistoric behemoths deftly avoided each other, dodging small boats, without a single scrape, moving as precisely as gears that had meshed countless times, setting sail from the port without any incidents.**

**Lin Qing's heart sank as he watched.**

**This performance indicated one thing: from the ship captains and first and second mates to the lowest-ranking sailors, the Li family's fleet had a strict discipline and clear rules, and everyone knew their role. The management system of the entire fleet was very effective.**

**Meanwhile, the Zhou family's fleet, which started almost simultaneously, was in a panic, spinning around in the port, even being pushed back to the dock by the waves created by the giant ships, causing the Li family's fleet to burst into laughter.**

**Lin Qing's face darkened.**

**Imagine if both sides had a close-quarters battle in the port just now, what would the outcome be?**

**Even if he had a fleet of the same level as Li Huamei, his fleet's efficiency and execution would absolutely not match hers! The larger the fleet, the more chaotic it would be.**

**If a battle broke out, he would be easily defeated and utterly crushed.**

**This is the gap!**

**A gap beyond money and influence points!**

**Li Huamei herself is an incredibly powerful commander, with a large group of truly skilled navigators. Her core ability is navigation!**

**Lin Qing could almost see his fleet, under James's precise and godlike gunnery, being set ablaze, then being rammed by Li Huamei's steel behemoths, throwing most of the sailors into the sea. The large planks would be lowered, and Bai Muxing with his Japanese sword and Yang Xien with his iron whip, leading hundreds of well-trained, strong, and combat-ready sailors, would charge out like wild beasts, cutting his sailors into the sea, turning the sea red with blood...**

**How could this continue?**

**Lin Qing sighed.**

**At first, he was curious why the Takenaka Gang, with such a huge advantage, still needed to rely on the Kojima family. Why not kick the Kojima family out and build a massive fleet on their own, dominating East Asia like a game?**

**Unfortunately, after seeing the fleet set sail, Lin Qing realized that the Takenaka Gang's policy of supporting the Kojima family was correct.**

**This world is not a game!**

**Even if adventurers can strangle the protagonists economically, they can't easily conquer these proud and powerful maritime lords!**

**Li Huamei glanced at Lin Qing with satisfaction. The latter, seeing the well-trained and powerful lineup of the Li family's fleet as it set sail, looked dispirited, which did not escape her keen observation.**

**This was the goal.**

**Li Huamei, being as intelligent as she was, knew that Richard Huison must have been up to something behind her back.**

**But now was not the time to confront Richard Huison.**

**If he were willing to stop, she wouldn't take immediate action. But if Richard Huison persisted, she would eliminate him during this voyage!**

**A death at sea is too common.**

**As Xiang Feihu, Li Huamei was not a soft-hearted person.**

**Lin Qing watched as the Zhou family's fleet finally set sail, wobbling and tilting.**

**"I hope Zhou Zhiruo can handle this. Don't let it end in a total loss." Lin Qing prayed.**

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