I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 193 Fellow villager, open the door!
Old business?
Gan Ning was shaken, and Liu Miao put his arm around Gan Ning's shoulder and walked outside with him.

E County is still the same E County; it hasn't changed just because the flags on the walls have changed.

But there were a few boats at the ferry crossing that Gan Ning kept his eyes fixed on.

"Like it?"

Those ships weren't a few inches longer or shorter than the others, but what was hanging on them was something Gan Ning was all too familiar with.

"Shu brocade? Where did you get this, my lord?"

"Is Xingba underestimating me? Jiangdong is wealthy now, and even merchants from Jiaozhou go to Jinling to do business. Is it any surprise that I have a lot of Shu brocade?"

Liu Miao asked Gan Ning, "Xingba, do you know why Jiangdong is so wealthy?"

Gan Ning guessed, "Because of Liu Biaoji's wisdom?"

"What you said is actually not wrong."

Liu Miao boasted a bit.

"But the main thing is to implement the three chiefs and equal land distribution system, so that farmers have their own land."

Liu Miao patted Gan Ning's chest: "I've basically offended all the powerful and influential families now."

"So I think Jingzhou probably won't welcome me."

Gan Ning corrected Liu Miao: "It's not just generally, it's that you definitely don't welcome our lord."

"But I still want Jingzhou, what should I do?"

"Then we can't rely on those powerful families in Jingzhou."

"Then who will you rely on?"

"Rely on me."

Liu Miao laughed loudly: "That's right! It's all thanks to Xingba!"

"But Xingba alone is still not enough!"

Liu Miao arrived at the ferry and personally took Gan Ning's hand, leading him onto the boat.

"But a single spark can start a prairie fire!"

"Xingba's departure is to help me set fires everywhere!"

Gan Ning touched the Shu brocade wrapped on the boat. The familiar feel made him feel as if he had instantly become more than ten years younger, returning to that spirited time.

In the end, I'm still a teenager.

Gan Ning patted the railing of the boat, and said with a hint of self-deprecation, "I never thought that Liu Biaoqi would dare to give someone like me such an important position."

Liu Miao looked at the bird feathers on Gan Ning's head and at his attire, which resembled that of a will-o'-the-wisp youth, without any doubt.

"On the contrary, it is people like Xingba who deserve to be given important responsibilities."

Gan Ning smiled nonchalantly.

"I've done far too many conventional things over the years! Now that my lord has entrusted me with this task, I have absolutely no more worries!"

Gan Ning turned around, his previous respect for Liu Miao gone, replaced by utter eccentricity—

"Raise the sails! Grab your oars! Tuck them between your legs like you're protecting your testicles!"

"That old bastard Huang Zu keeps most of his wealth in a fortified village in Anlu! Anyone who dares to come with me to get it! Hahahaha!"

Gan Ning stood on the railing and shouted at Liu Miao, "My lord! How many do you want me to bring back?"

"Not a single cent!"

"it is good!"

Gan Ning sailed upstream, and when he saw Xiakou, he cut off a section of the boat and threw it into the river.

"Huang Zu, if you dare to come, then hurry up and catch up!"

"Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll lose every single penny of the retirement money you've worked so hard to save!"

The ostentatious Shu brocade of Gan Ning's fleet had long been noticed by the garrison soldiers of Xiakou.

Upon seeing Gan Ning marching directly towards the upper reaches of the Han River, the garrison soldiers immediately panicked and requested Huang Zu to send troops.

"A thief by birth, indeed he has no sense of propriety, righteousness, or shame!"

Huang Zu immediately ordered his son Huang She to go and pursue him.

"Once you catch them, kill them without mercy!"

"Here!"

Huang She accepted the order and left, following closely behind Gan Ning.

Seeing that Gan Ning did not continue along the Han River to Xiangyang, but instead headed east along the Grand Canal to the Yun River, Huang She was suddenly startled: "Judging from this, is he actually going to Anlu?"

Huang She knew what his father, Huang Zu, had hidden in Anlu, and immediately ordered his soldiers to speed up their advance.

Gan Ning's steering was clearly superior, making it impossible for Huang She to catch up no matter how hard he tried. Sometimes Gan Ning would even stop and mock Huang She, making Huang She grit his teeth in hatred!

After several days of pursuit, soldiers came from behind to report that Jiang Qin of Jiangdong had led his ships into the Yun River from Xiakou and was heading towards them.

"What is Jiang Dong doing? Sending one isn't enough, he wants to send a pair?"

Huang She did not feel that he was in a predicament of being surrounded on both sides; on the contrary, he thought Jiang Dong's tactics were ridiculous.

"If they dare to come today, we'll ram them and sink them right here!"

Aboard the warship, Huang She was absolutely confident that he would sink every single small boat in Jiangdong in this Yunshui River!

Huang She stopped pursuing Gan Ning and instead turned around to prepare to deal with Jiang Qin behind him.

Jiang Qin's fleet was just as Huang She had predicted.

In pursuit of speed, Jiang Qin, like Gan Ning, abandoned all large warships and instead used small boats to penetrate deep behind enemy lines.

Although Jiang Qin's boat looked a little strange, Huang She didn't care and still let the warship expose its sharp ramming horn, charging fiercely towards Jiang Qin's boat.

"Prepare!"

When Jiang Qin saw Huang She charging towards him, he did not panic. Instead, he ordered his soldiers to remove the black cloth covering the stern of the boat.

"Han crossbow?"

Each of Jiang Qin's small boats was equipped with a crossbow mechanism much larger than that of ordinary Han crossbows. This was the device that Liu Ye had tinkered with in Sangbo.

Knowing that Liu Miao would inevitably face a naval battle in Jingzhou sooner or later, Liu Ye not only continued to improve the pointed-bottom boats, but also studied how to enhance the Jiangdong navy's combat capabilities on the river.

This large Han crossbow is one of them.

By deploying them on light ships, the load capacity was not increased by much, but the firepower of the light ships was greatly enhanced, giving them the ability to confront warships head-on.

As the ram of the warship drew ever closer, Jiang Qin finally waved his hand, unleashing the Han crossbows to launch a counterattack against the warship.

Even though these warships were covered in cowhide and iron, such an arrangement could only defend against ordinary arrows, let alone crossbow bolts fired from a Han crossbow that was half the size of a person.
The narrow river channel, ironically, became a natural enclosed space, leaving Huang She and his large Jingzhou ship with no way to avoid being hit by the dense barrage of Han crossbows!
"General! The ship's cabin is taking on water!"

"General! The ship is starting to sink!"

"General..."

Huang She's face twitched, but seeing that the warship beneath him was about to tilt into the water, he finally reluctantly gave the order, "Abandon ship!"

The Yun River is narrow, unlike the Han River, let alone the mighty Yangtze River.

Therefore, the Jingzhou navy quickly climbed ashore after falling into the water, and Jiang Qin did not waste time on these people. He immediately urged the soldiers to continue advancing and catch up with Gan Ning.

Every time Gan Ning traveled a distance, he would cut off a piece of Shu brocade and throw it into the water, while shouting to the residents on the shore: "Grandpa Gan is going to take Huang Zu's fortified village today! I won't take a single penny of the valuables inside! If you want any, come and get it yourself!!!"

The sound made the people doubtful, and more and more people followed Gan Ning, slowly approaching a fortified village near Anlu.

The people in the fortified village clearly hadn't expected anyone to be able to reach this place.

Upon seeing Gan Ning, the other party even attempted to negotiate with him—

"Brave man, do you know whose property this is?"

Gan Ning laughed and said, "If it weren't for Huang Zu, I wouldn't have come!"

"Your place is very well hidden! If I hadn't seen someone from the army sneaking around here, I probably wouldn't have guessed that Huang Zu hid things here!"

Got it!
Seeing that Gan Ning was not afraid of Huang Zu, the other party could only say again, "Why must a brave man ruin the harmony?"

"If it's robbery, I'll give you some money and food! If it's rape, I'll try my best to find you a hundred women who haven't been officially registered in your household within three days, how about that?"

"Pooh!"

Gan Ning angrily retorted, "Do you think I'm some kind of beggar?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Either you open the door now and you live, or you wait and I'll break your arm! Or you never open the door and I'll find my own way in, then I'll cut off your 'thing' and feed it to the dogs!"

Seeing Gan Ning's rudeness, the other party simply ignored him.

"Ah."

Jiang Qin arrived at this time and was somewhat worried when he saw the fortified village: "Do we really have to launch a full-scale attack?"

"Otherwise what? Aren't you a former river pirate? How come you're saying such unprofessional things?"

Gan Ning brandished his short blade twice: "We are not like these people who prey on the common people. What we have is what we have taken with our own swords and spears!"

"Besides, with so many people watching, how can you not have the nerve to fight a real battle?"

Gan Ning then chuckled and said, "How about we have a contest? Whoever wins gets all the stuff inside."

Jiang Qin frowned: "Have you forgotten what our lord said?"

"I haven't forgotten, not a single cent will be needed!"

"But there has to be something interesting, otherwise it's no fun at all."

Jiang Qin thought about it and agreed: "Alright! If you take it first, I'll give you another precious sword."

Jiang Qin patted his waist: "The Su Tie Hundred-Forged Blade! Even in Jiangdong, there aren't many left!"

"it is good!"

Gan Ning spotted it immediately: "That's it!"

Jiang Qin shook his head, feeling that Gan Ning was somewhat naive in some ways.

"I'll attack first!"

"it is good!"

Gan Ning watched as Jiang Qin led his soldiers forward, and after a moment, he was somewhat incredulous.

"Where did these elite troops come from?"

"What elite troops? Just ordinary soldiers."

"how is this possible?"

Gan Ning was skeptical: "Ordinary soldiers, where would they find such spirit!"

"If these soldiers all had families, land, and salaries, what's so strange about them being a bit brave and fierce?"

Jiang Qin added in his mind: By the way, with military generals like Gao Shun who are good at training troops, how could the soldiers of Jiangdong not be elite?
Gan Ning watched helplessly as these heavily armed soldiers charged towards the fortified village, crushing it under their weight. He also glanced regretfully at the precious sword at Jiang Qin's waist.

"Pity……"

Jiang Qin immediately took it off and tossed it to Gan Ning: "Here you go!"

Seeing Gan Ning's obvious delight, Jiang Qin urged, "Come and help, don't forget the important matter!"

"okay!"

Gan Ning rushed into the fortified village, grabbed a sack of grain at random, and then went to the doors of the surrounding farmhouses and banged on them loudly—

"Hey, fellow villager, open the door!"

The old man in the house opened the door, and before he could react, Gan Ning threw the bag of grain directly into his arms.

"Call everyone out and move things!"

"General...how can you bear this?"

"What do you mean by 'can you bear it'? This is yours to begin with!"

Gan Ning waved to Jiang Qin—

"Let's go! Next place!"

(End of this chapter)