The next morning arrived with the sun climbing high over the horizon.
At Qiaochuan Pier, the usual morning silence was shattered by the thunderous drumming of hooves.
Zao Ying and her cavalry unit came galloping back along the west bank of the Yellow River, her voice cracking as she shouted at the top of her lungs,
"Wang Jiayin's navy is here!"
That single cry turned the quiet pier into a beehive of frantic activity.
The militia members who had been standing watch for an entire day immediately tensed up, every man among them swallowing hard as the reality of the situation set in.
Bai Yuan stood atop a temporary watchtower, peering down at Zao Ying.
"How much longer until they reach us?"
"The ships aren't moving any slower than our horses," Zao Ying shouted back while trying to calm her mount.
"We arrived just a step ahead of them. They will be right on our heels."
"How many men are we talking about?" Bai Yuan asked.
Zao Ying shook her head in frustration.
"I don't have the experience to judge a force's size by looking at a bunch of boats.
If they were on horseback, I could tell you exactly how many riders there were with a single glance, but water is a different story."
Bai Yuan nodded, acknowledging the limitation.
"You've worked hard. Thank you."
"My men can dismount and help you defend the docks right now," Zao Ying offered.
But Bai Yuan shook his head with a small smile.
"Valuable cavalry cannot be wasted as fodder for a defensive line," he said.
"Commander Zao, take your unit and retreat about one li to the northwest.
If our wooden trial fortress system is breached, that is when you lead a charge to sweep them back into the river."
"Fair enough!" Zao Ying agreed.
She knew how much effort went into training these riders in Gao Village.
Most of them were former infantry who had suffered through endless drills to become even somewhat functional on horseback.
Having them stand on a dock would be a waste of all that specialized training.
She pulled her reins and led her unit back, forming the second line of insurance.
"Be careful, Mr. Bai!"
Bai Yuan turned his gaze toward the northern reach of the river.
The problem was that he couldn't see very far with just his eyes.
He reached into his robe and pulled out a long, thin iron cylinder.
This was a treasure gifted by the young Master Bai to his father.
Its name was the telescope, an invention Master Bai had devised after studying optics in his physics class.
He had commissioned blacksmiths to forge the iron tube and hired a glassmaker, who had been recruited from Xi'an, to craft two lenses.
The craftsmanship was crude and the magnification was low by modern standards, but it was lightyears ahead of the naked eye.
Bai Yuan raised the telescope and adjusted his focus.
There they were.
A massive fleet was emerging from the northern horizon.
At the lead were several medium sized merchant ships, followed by a vast swarm of small fishing boats.
The smallest were mere skiffs, while the larger ones held a few dozen men each.
They formed a chaotic mass that seemed to occupy the entire width of the river.
The Yellow River's current was swift, and navigating these waters was normally a nightmare.
But the bandits had plenty of fishermen who had spent their entire lives on this river.
They steered the boats with enough skill to make the fleet move across the turbulent water as if they were on level ground.
The lead ship flew a large banner with a single character written on it:
Bai
Bai Yuan turned to Wang Er, who was standing beside him on the tower, and cracked a grin.
"Brother Wang Er, it seems the one leading the fleet to attack us is you.
That is the Bai family flag of the Baishui Wang Er."
Wang Er looked at him with a deadpan expression.
"My surname is Wang. My flag would have the character for Wang."
"Oh, right," Bai Yuan continued, undeterred.
"Then it must be your subordinate, Bai Mao. He is leading the enemy to attack us."
"Bai Mao is right below us on the ground, wearing a yellow hat," Wang Er replied, completely missing the joke.
Bai Yuan sighed and threw his hands up in mock exasperation.
"Hero Wang, you really lack a sense of humor. It is a bit of a tragedy, really."
Wang Er didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
It was true that he hadn't laughed much in many years, given the state of the world.
On another watchtower, Feng Jun was craning his neck to look at the river.
Without a telescope, he could only see the silhouettes of the ships but not the characters on the flags.
He turned toward Bai Yuan's tower and shouted,
"Mr. Bai, have you identified which of the rebels is leading them?"
"I only see a flag with the character Bai," Bai Yuan shouted back.
"It seems I am leading an attack against myself today!"
Feng Jun burst out laughing.
"The fact that Mr. Bai can still crack jokes at a time like this makes me feel much more at ease.
If the commander is joking, we must be winning!"
Bai Yuan turned back to Wang Er and whispered,
"See? Other people actually appreciate my wit."
Wang Er: "..."
Feng Jun called out again, his voice more urgent.
"Since it is the Bai flag, the one coming should be the general under Wang Jiayin known as Bai Yuzhu."
"Oh? I've never heard of him," Bai Yuan admitted.
Wang Er lowered his voice, providing the intel.
"Bai Yuzhu is a very mediocre fellow.
His abilities aren't outstanding, but he isn't exactly stupid either.
His status in Wang Jiayin's army is high, second only to Zijin Liang, but he is the kind of person who is easily forgotten.
You could throw him into a crowd and never find him again."
Bai Yuan huffed at that.
"We share a surname, yet he is easily forgotten while I radiate brilliance like a star.
He really is an embarrassment to the Bai name."
"He isn't actually surnamed Bai," Wang Er pointed out.
"Bai Yuzhu is just a nickname."
A bizarre silence lasted for five seconds.
Bai Yuan spread his fingers and gestured toward Wang Er with a look of betrayal.
"Did you come back to Gao Village specifically to be a professional killjoy?
Is that your new job?"
Wang Er just blinked, looking confused.
Feng Jun shouted again,
"Mr. Bai, why are you still chatting on the tower?
The bandit fleet is closing in fast!
We need a plan!"
Bai Yuan snapped back to his commander persona.
"Right! Everyone, stay calm and stay in your assigned positions.
Gao Village militia, with me!"
He scrambled down from the watchtower as the militia gathered around him.
Bai Yuan led a hundred men toward the two stainless steel cannons.
The cannons had already been secured onto stone platforms, their muzzles pointing diagonally toward the river where Bai Yuzhu's fleet was rapidly approaching.
"Bring the gunpowder bags!" Bai Yuan commanded.
Flat Rabbit stepped forward and handed him a large bag of gunpowder with both hands.
Bai Yuan proceeded to load the cannon just like he would load an arquebus, pouring the entire bag into the bore.
He then took a long rod and began tamping the powder down, packing it as tight as possible.
"Bring the cannonball!"
A burly militia soldier stepped forward and handed over a projectile.
As soon as Bai Yuan took it, his entire body sagged under the weight.
The iron ball slipped from his grip and hit the ground with a heavy thud, nearly crushing his toes.
Bai Yuan's face turned pale.
"Why is it this heavy?"
"It is a solid iron ball, how could it not be heavy?" Wang Er remarked as he bent down, scooped up the cannonball, and helped Bai Yuan slide it into the barrel.
Bai Yuan used the rod to push the ball to the bottom, packing it firmly against the powder.
With a smug grin, he walked to the back of the cannon, flipped open the cover on the touchhole, and placed a match cord inside.
He ensured it was in contact with the priming powder before closing the cover.
"Done!" Bai Yuan said proudly.
"Cannons should be used exactly like this.
It is no different from a fire lance, really. Just bigger and louder."
Despite his amateur flair, his logic wasn't actually wrong.
These stainless steel cannons operated on the same principles as the large caliber smoothbore weapons of the era.
"Target acquired," Bai Yuan muttered, peering through his telescope again.
The lead ships were getting closer, the waves of the Yellow River splashing against their wooden hulls.
Flat Rabbit, get the torch ready.
We are about to give this Bai Yuzhu a welcome he will never forget.
It's time for some fireworks."
Flat Rabbit stepped forward with a sputtering torch.
"Mr. Bai, are you sure this thing won't explode in our faces?
It looks a lot more angry than the arquebus I usually carry.
I quite like my face where it is."
"Nonsense!" Bai Yuan waved a dismissive hand.
"This was forged by the best blacksmiths in Gao Village.
It is stainless steel, the peak of modern metallurgy!
Now, on my mark.
Three... two... one... Fire!"
Flat Rabbit pressed the torch to the match cord.
A split second of silence followed, and then the world seemed to turn inside out.
A deafening roar shattered the air at Qiaochuan Pier, accompanied by a massive cloud of white smoke that instantly engulfed Bai Yuan and his crew.
The recoil was so powerful that the entire stone platform groaned, and a few birds in the distance likely died of heart failure.
Bai Yuan coughed violently, waving his Gentleman fan to clear the smoke.
"Did we hit? Tell me we hit something!
A direct hit on the flagship would be perfect for the chronicles!"
As the smoke cleared, everyone leaned forward to look at the river.
The massive iron ball had indeed flown true, but it had skipped across the water like a very angry pebble.
It landed about fifty yards to the left of the lead merchant ship, sending a massive plume of water into the air that drenched a few nearby fishing skiffs.
Other than giving the bandits a free bath, it did zero damage.
"Uh," Flat Rabbit said, squinting at the river.
"It clearly didn't hit, Mr. Bai."
"I can see that!" Bai Yuan snapped, his face turning red.
"That was a warning shot!
It is a psychological warfare tactic.
We are showing them the terrifying range of our Gao Village artillery so they contemplate their life choices."
Wang Er looked at the splash and then back at the cannon.
"If that was a warning shot, you nearly warned a school of fish to death.
Maybe you should adjust your aim to the right next time."
"I was just testing the wind!" Bai Yuan defended himself, grabbing the tamping rod again.
"Quickly, reload!
We can't let them reach the docks while we are standing here playing around.
Bring more powder!
Bring another iron ball!
And someone tell Feng Jun to stop laughing on his tower, I can hear his internal monologue from here!"
On the other watchtower, Feng Jun had been mid cheer when the cannon fired, only to have his mouth hang open when the ball missed.
He quickly composed himself and shouted,
"Great power!
Truly divine power!
Mr. Bai, just a little bit to the right next time and the rebels will be sent to see their ancestors!"
Bai Yuzhu, standing on the deck of the lead ship, had been momentarily paralyzed by the sound.
He had never heard anything that loud.
But when he saw the splash miss so widely, he regained his courage.
"They only have two of those monsters!" he shouted to his men, waving his saber.
"They can't aim to save their lives!
Row faster!
Once we land, those metal tubes are useless!
The first man to step onto the pier gets a double share of the loot!"
The bandit fleet let out a roar and the oarsmen pulled with renewed vigor.
The gap between the boats and the wooden trial fortress system was closing fast.
"They're coming! They're coming!" Flat Rabbit panicked, shoving another bag of gunpowder into the muzzle.
"Mr. Bai, they aren't scared of the psychological warfare!
They want the cake ingredients!"
"Then we'll give them iron instead!" Bai Yuan shouted, his fan now tucked into his belt as he helped Wang Er hoist the second cannonball.
"This time, I'm not testing the wind.
This time, Dao Xuan Tianzun is guiding my hand!
Or at least, I hope He is looking at the coordinates!"
He leaned over the touchhole, eyes narrowed, ignoring the sweat stinging his eyes.
The banter had stopped.
The humor had turned into a grim determination.
The "The Great Ming in the Box" wasn't just a project anymore; it was a battle for their home, and they were going to defend it with every scrap of metal they had.
"Ready!" Bai Yuan yelled over the sound of the rushing river.
"Aim right this time!
Don't let those boats touch the wood!"
The militia moved with a precision born of desperation.
They had seen what happened to villages that fell to the rebels, and they weren't about to let Qiaochuan Pier be next.
The second cannon was prepped in record time, its muzzle tracking the movement of the lead merchant ship.
"Wait for it," Bai Yuan whispered to himself.
"Wait until they think they're safe."
The bandits were now within a few hundred yards.
The archers on the ships were already reaching for their quivers.
The tension at the pier was so thick you could cut it with a saber.
"Fire!"
Another roar, another cloud of smoke, and this time, the iron ball screamed across the water with a much more purposeful trajectory.
The era of cakes and jokes was temporarily on hold; the era of iron and fire had arrived at the docks.
"Now that's a shot!" Flat Rabbit yelled, jumping up and down as he watched the projectile's path.
"That one has to count for something!"
Bai Yuan didn't answer.
He was already looking for the next bag of powder.
This was going to be a long morning.
He hoped Dao Xuan Tianzun was watching, because they were going to need every bit of help they could get to keep this ragtag mob at bay.
The future of Gao Village and Heyang County was riding on these two stainless steel tubes, and the men who refused to let them go cold.