DLERB -Chapter 174 The Fleet Covers the Sky! The Eight-Year-Old Marshal: Set Sail, Time to Collect Debts!

At the newly built Zhenhai Harbor in Donghai Commandery.

The sea breeze carried a damp, salty smell, whipping the robes of the gathered civil officials until they fluttered loudly in the wind.

At the front stood the Prime Minister of Great Qin, Li Si.

Beside him, several court scholars and censors all wore worried expressions.

“Prime Minister…” one gray-haired scholar stepped forward and lowered his voice.

“This… the Ninth Young Master commanding an expedition against the western barbarians… isn’t this far too childish?”

Another censor quickly agreed.

“Yes! Beyond the Returning Void described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas lies the endless ocean! How could Qin’s tower ships possibly sail there?”

Listening to their discussion, Li Si clasped his hands behind his back and slowly turned around, forcing himself to appear calm.

He cleared his throat, wearing an expression of composed confidence.

“Gentlemen, there is no need to panic.”

He pointed toward the empty sea.

“Look carefully. Do you see even a single soldier out there?”

The officials followed the direction of his finger. The ocean was calm, with only a few fishing boats drifting in the distance.

Li Si raised his voice slightly, as though reassuring the others—and also convincing himself.

“His Majesty is wise. How could he fail to understand the importance of military affairs?”

“The Ninth Young Master is still young. It is good for him to possess ambition. His Majesty is merely indulging the prince’s wishes and comforting him a little.”

He paused, his tone becoming even more certain.

“As for this so-called ‘Western Expedition Fleet,’ in my opinion, it is nothing more than a few modified fishing boats. The prince will probably sail around the nearby coast for a while to satisfy his childish curiosity.”

“As for crossing the Returning Void and attacking Rome? Utter nonsense! Completely absurd!”

After hearing this, the tense expressions on the surrounding officials finally relaxed.

“So that’s how it is… Prime Minister, your words make perfect sense.”

“I knew it. His Majesty would never act so recklessly.”

“It seems we worried for nothing.”

Li Si stroked his beard, and a huge weight in his heart finally lifted.

That’s right.

It had to be like this.

Just then—

“Woooooo—”

A long, deep horn blast suddenly echoed from the other side of the bay, piercing through the sea fog like the roar of some ancient beast.

The calm expression on Li Si’s face froze instantly.

Together with the other officials, he turned toward the sound in shock.

The thin mist over the sea was split apart as if by an invisible giant blade.

A colossal black silhouette burst through the fog and entered everyone’s sight.

What… was that?

A mountain?

A black mountain moving across the sea!

Li Si’s mouth slowly fell open beyond his control.

He saw it clearly now.

It was a ship.

A ship so enormous that it completely exceeded the limits of his imagination.

The vessel’s hull was three stories tall, entirely pitch black, as though forged from a single block of heavenly iron.

At the bow was the savage head of a roaring black dragon. Its gaping jaws looked capable of swallowing heaven and earth whole.

“Zhen… Zhenyuan…”

Li Si saw the two massive golden characters painted on the hull, his throat producing only dry, rasping sounds.

Before he could recover from the overwhelming shock—

“Woooooo—! Woooooo—!”

More horn blasts sounded behind the Zhenyuan.

A second ship.

A third.

A tenth…

Rows upon rows of gigantic black warships emerged from the fog one after another like ghosts.

They formed perfectly ordered battle formations, advancing slowly toward the harbor like a moving wall of steel.

The masts stood like a forest, blotting out the sky itself.

When the thousands of black sails across hundreds of warships unfurled at the same time, the bright sunlight that had illuminated the harbor moments earlier was instantly swallowed whole.

The entire dock—and everyone standing upon it—was engulfed beneath a vast, suffocating shadow.

“Ugh…”

A strange sound escaped Li Si’s throat.

Every word he had spoken moments ago now felt like a series of merciless slaps across his face.

“Comforting a child?”

“A few fishing boats?”

“Utter nonsense?”

His mind went completely blank, buzzing uncontrollably.

He staggered backward.

One step.

Two steps—

Something caught his foot.

“Thud!”

The Prime Minister of the Great Qin Empire—the man second only to the Emperor himself—collapsed onto the ground like a sack with its spine ripped out, all dignity gone as his legs gave way beneath him.

The officials around him were even worse. Their legs turned to noodles as they crumpled one after another. Some were already crying in terror, tears and mucus streaming down their faces.

Li Si shakily raised a finger and pointed despairingly at the approaching steel fleet that looked like the end of the world descending upon them.

“M-monsters…”

His lips trembled violently, unable to form another complete sentence.

“A bunch of useless cowards! Look at yourselves!”

A thunderous roar exploded from behind them.

Li Si turned around with difficulty.

Wang Jian and Meng Tian were striding forward in black iron armor.

Neither of the veteran generals spared even a glance for the collapsed officials on the ground, treating them as nothing more than piles of obstructive trash.

Their eyes were locked firmly onto the colossal fleet.

There was no fear.

No shock.

Only an overwhelming, nearly insane hunger for battle.

“Good! Good! What a magnificent Great Qin fleet! Hahahaha!”

Wang Jian threw back his head and roared with laughter, his voice booming with power.

He suddenly pushed off from a wooden post at the edge of the dock with the tip of his foot. His massive body soared into the air like a great bird, crossing dozens of meters in a single leap.

“Boom!”

With a thunderous crash, he landed heavily on the deck of the flagship Zhenyuan. The deck merely trembled slightly.

Meng Tian followed closely behind, making the same leap and landing steadily beside Wang Jian.

Below, Li Si stared dumbfounded.

He watched as Wang Jian completely ignored the saluting soldiers on deck. Like a ferocious tiger spotting prey, the old general charged straight toward the ship’s railing.

There, mounted in a row, were enormous bronze tubes unlike anything Li Si had ever seen before.

The tubes were thicker than a grown man’s waist. Their dark muzzles resembled eyes staring into the abyss.

Wang Jian stretched out his calloused hand and gently—almost reverently—stroked the cold bronze cannon.

As though he were touching a long-lost divine artifact.

His hand trembled.

Not from old age, but from overwhelming excitement.

“Meng Tian! Come look at this!” Wang Jian shouted, his voice hoarse with emotion.

Meng Tian strode forward and also placed his hand upon the cannon, feeling the cold metal filled with terrifying power.

“This thing… this thing…” Meng Tian’s voice trembled with disbelief. “Is this the ‘Wrath of the Thunder God’ from the Ninth Young Master’s blueprints?”

“Exactly!” Wang Jian burst into laughter. He gestured toward the gigantic muzzle. “Look at this caliber! Big enough to stuff an entire Xiongnu head inside!”

Then he slammed a fist into the heavy cannon base.

“Clang!”

The metallic impact rang out loudly enough to numb the ears.

“With such a divine weapon, who cares about merely storming cities and fortresses!”

A fanatical red glow spread across the old general’s face.

“Even if Rome’s walls are ten zhang thick, before these cannons they are nothing but mud huts and broken tiles!”

“A hundred cannons firing together! In less than two hours, we could blast their capital into flat ground!”

Meng Tian inhaled deeply, then turned to look at the soldiers standing rigidly upon the ship, their faces equally filled with burning zeal.

“This humble general, Meng Tian, greets the Marshal!”

The soldiers had already formed ranks the moment they saw the two legendary generals.

“We are willing to die for Your Highness!”

“We are willing to die for Great Qin!”

The thunderous cries rolled across the sea like crashing waves, carrying the scent of blood and war.

On the shore—

Listening to their conversation, Li Si felt the world spinning around him as darkness clouded his vision.

It was over.

They had gone mad.

These warriors had all gone completely mad!

At that moment—

“His Majesty has arrived!”

A sharp, piercing announcement instantly overwhelmed every other sound.

On the dock, tens of thousands of soldiers dropped to one knee in perfect unison.

“Welcome, Your Majesty!”

The roar merged into a mighty torrent that surged into the heavens.

Li Si shuddered violently. Forgetting all dignity, he scrambled up from the ground with both hands and feet before kneeling properly once more, his forehead pressed firmly against the earth.

Wearing his Black Dragon Emperor robes, Ying Zheng advanced step by step to the highest point of the harbor, surrounded by the chilling guards of the Black Ice Terrace.

Behind him walked the small figure of Ying Ziye, dressed in specially crafted marshal’s armor.

Ying Zheng looked at no one.

He walked directly to Ying Ziye and stopped.

Under the gaze of countless eyes, the First Emperor—who ruled all beneath heaven—slowly extended his hand.

Then he gently straightened the slightly disordered collar of his eight-year-old son.

Such a simple action.

Lowering his head slightly, Ying Zheng spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.

“What I want is not merely Rome, but the entire West.”

Ying Ziye looked up, his face completely devoid of childish innocence.

“Rest assured, Father Emperor. From this day forward, there will be no living kings in the West.”

Only after saying this did Ying Zheng slowly straighten up again.

He walked past the kneeling Li Si without even the slightest pause, as though the man kneeling there were nothing more than a stone by the roadside.

Only after passing him did he leave behind a cold sentence.

“Prime Minister, stand up and witness Great Qin’s new era.”

Those words humiliated Li Si more deeply than any scolding ever could.

He rose stiffly to his feet, his body swaying unsteadily.

By then, Ying Zheng had already ascended the sacrificial platform at the harbor’s highest point.

Suddenly, he drew the Tianwen Sword from his waist!

The blade pointed directly toward the rising sun on the eastern horizon!

Ying Zheng’s voice thundered across the entire harbor like a divine decree from the heavens themselves.

“In the name of the First Emperor of Great Qin, I hereby command!”

“The expeditionary army—set forth!”

“BOOM!”

“BOOM!”

“BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!”

A thousand war drums upon the harbor thundered at the same time!

“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!”

Tens of thousands of soldiers and countless generals raised their arms and roared in unison!

The drums rumbled like heavenly thunder!

The cheers surged like tidal waves!

At the bow of the flagship Zhenyuan, atop the enormous black dragon figurehead—

Ying Ziye’s small figure stood proudly against the wind.

Amid the earth-shaking cheers, he slowly drew the Tianwen Sword personally bestowed upon him by Ying Zheng.

Though the blade was heavy, it rested in his hand as steadily as a mountain.

He pointed the sword toward the distant, endless western horizon.

His youthful voice—yet icy cold and overwhelmingly domineering—carried a strange penetrating force that reached every soldier across the fleet with perfect clarity.

“Set sail!”