In the early hours of February second, ninth year of Long An, on the day of the Longtaitou Festival.

Jiangbei Camp sent an urgent letter to the Grand Council. While patrolling the camp, General Zhong Chan fell down from his horseback and went unconscious.

The military doctors of the entire Jiangbei Camp gathered in his tent, and it seemed that he would not be able to make it.

After urgent confirmation, the Grand Council immediately decided to send a red-label urgent letter to Gu Yun, but the letter had not yet been sent, when the second urgent letter from Jiangbei Camp arrived.

General Zhong had passed away.

He died on the frontier, but he did not die in battle. Instead, he died like a thousand other ordinary old people in the world — painless, without illness or disease.

This kind of death made people feel empty, because there were no enemies to hate, no hatred to vent, and it was not a bedridden illness where no one took care of him either.

Suddenly, a person disappeared, making one feel it was very unreal.

Gu Yun held the red label letter and looked at it for an incense time, then slowly let out a breath from his chaotic heart. Only then did he regain his mind — it was not a dream.

The silence in the Marshal's tent lasted for a moment, then not knowing who started it, everyone began to say 'Condolences' one after another.

Shen Yi comforted, "Marshal, the old general was seventy-six years old, it is already very rare to find. This could also be considered as a happy funeral*, you shouldn't let it weigh down your heart."

**喜丧, xǐ sāng, a Chinese custom on funerals for somebody who lived to a ripe old age and lived a good life.

"I know," Gu Yun sat silently for a while and waved his hand. "I know, it's all right, but the situation in Jiangbei is delicate. At this time, the general in charge had an accident, and Chong Ze had just taken over as the governor of Liangjiang, it would be difficult for him to manage everything. I'm afraid there will be troubles. Hmm... Let me think..."

However, although he said ‘let me think’, his heart was completely blank, as if all thoughts had been cut off and he could not feel them.

Shen Yi looked at his indescribable painless face and murmured, "Marshal, since the day it was formed, the Jiangbei Navy was trained by the joint efforts of both General Zhong and Master Yao. I'm afraid someone else will not be able to handle the navy."