Tiger Owl

Chapter 151 Good reason
Inside the council hall, Lu Su and Jiang Wan first received Zhu Zhi.

Zhu Zhi straightened his back and said coldly, "Lord Wu wants to know why your side has not fulfilled the alliance agreement and has not handed Huang Zu over to Jiangdong. Lord Wu needs a clear explanation from your side!"

Gan Ning, Lu Su, and Jiang Wan had already discussed this matter and found a reason to justify their decision. They could confidently assert that they had not breached the contract, and whether the other party would accept their reason was another matter entirely.

Lu Su took out a thick scroll of the covenant and said, “This is the covenant signed by both of us. Let’s look at Article 3 of the preamble. Both parties agree that all the terms of this covenant must be implemented without violating normal morality. Zhu Gong, do you see this restrictive clause? Then, the clauses we have later regarding Huang Zu’s affiliation must also be implemented without violating morality.”

Zhu Zhi snorted, "Does handing Huang Zu over to Jiangdong violate morality?"

Lu Su calmly replied, “First of all, it was we who invaded Huang Zu, not the other way around. Secondly, Huang Zu surrendered with 30,000 troops. If we kill someone who did nothing wrong and surrendered voluntarily, or hand him over to Jiangdong for execution, wouldn’t we be violating morality? Since we are violating morality, we can use the exemption clause of the alliance to not have to enforce the alliance and thus not have violated it.”

Lu Su's words left Zhu Zhi speechless. Zhu Zhi knew, of course, that Lu Su's reasoning was flawed, but he had no way to refute it. What was morality? Who had the right to interpret it? This was never clearly explained from the outset, so the alliance had loopholes from the very beginning.

Zhu Zhi coldly said, "Since you believe that handing over Huang Zu to us is against morality, then I have nothing to say. But I want to make it clear that we do not believe this is against morality. It is repaying kindness with enmity that is against morality. Since you do not abide by the alliance, then we can also abide by Article 3 of the appendix."

Lu Su turned to the appendix, where Article 3 clearly stated that if one party refuses to comply with the covenant without cause, then the other party also has the right not to comply with the covenant.

So what decision did Jiangdong make?

Zhu Zhi said with an extremely serious expression, "On behalf of Lord Wu, I hereby formally inform you that, since you have failed to fulfill the alliance agreement, Jiangdong will cease selling sea salt to you from this day forward and will stop all salt supplies!"

After listening to Lu Su and Jiang Wan's report with narrowed eyes, Gan Ning said calmly, "It seems that the other side is well aware that salt is our Achilles' heel. Whenever there is a disagreement between the two sides, they will seize our Achilles' heel without hesitation and not give us a chance to explain. This is the first time, but it will definitely not be the last. It seems that we made the right decision in dealing with Huang Zu and solved our Achilles' heel in one fell swoop."

Jiang Wan pondered for a moment and said, "The other side is determined to win by resorting to this move. They definitely expect us to admit defeat and hand over our people. Once they find that this move is useless, they may become angry and abolish the alliance to give an explanation to the people of Jiangdong. We must be fully prepared."

This was indeed a major decision, one that Jiang Wan and Lu Su could not decide on their own. The two looked at Gan Ning together.

Gan Ning had already thought of the answer to this question. He slowly said, "Every major decision we make must be in line with our own interests, whether it is short-term or long-term. If we agree to hand over the people to Jiangdong, the alliance may be maintained in the short term, but if we look at it more deeply, has the alliance really been maintained?"

Actually, no. The alliance turned into an unequal treaty. At the slightest disagreement, the other side would threaten us with salt, which would be detrimental to our long-term interests. More importantly, by handing over Huang Zu, we also lost our credibility. Who would trust us in the future?

Lu Su sighed, "So the general is prepared to turn against Jiangdong!"

Gan Ning nodded calmly, "I'd rather turn against them than compromise!" In Xuchang, Cao Cao had already launched a war against the Yuan brothers. After the Yuan brothers fought to the death, Cao Cao, acting as the fisherman, stepped in, and the armies of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were defeated by Cao Cao's army.

Just before Cao Cao was about to head north to Ye City, Jia Xu hurriedly returned.

Cao Cao received Jia Xu in his official residence. After listening to Jia Xu's report, Cao Cao walked to the map, looked at it for a moment, and then turned to Guo Jia and asked, "Now that Gan Ning's territory borders the Central Plains, does the strategist think Gan Ning will attack Runan Commandery from the north?"

Guo Jia smiled slightly and said, "Gan Ning has only defeated Liu Biao. He has a lot of follow-up problems! Jiangxia County belongs to Jingzhou, and Liu Biao will never tolerate it. He will definitely send troops to take back Jiangxia County. Secondly, Gan Ning actually released Huang Zu to retire to his hometown. This move was brilliant, but how will he explain it to Jiangdong? I have seen their alliance agreement. It is written in black and white that Huang Zu will be handed over to Jiangdong. Therefore, Gan Ning will also face the anger of Jiangdong. Especially without Huang Zu as an obstacle, Liu Biao might really ally with Jiangdong to deal with Gan Ning. So Gan Ning is in a mess right now. How can he care about the Central Plains!"

Cao Cao then looked at Jia Xu, who quickly said, "I believe that Gan Ning has likely already solved the salt problem. He is not afraid of Jiangdong's sanctions on salt sources. I also thought that Gan Ning and Jiangdong might fall out because of the Huang Zu incident and thus abolish the alliance. Perhaps this is Gan Ning's intention. After the alliance is abolished, Gan Ning can openly take over Lujiang County without being bound by the alliance."

Guo Jia nodded. "Jia Gong is right. It's highly likely that this was intentional. He signed the alliance with Jiangdong to take Changsha Commandery. Now that he has taken Changsha Commandery, the alliance has become a rope that restricts his expansion. In order to get rid of the alliance's constraints, Huang Zu is the best pawn to provoke Jiangdong and make Jiangdong voluntarily abolish the alliance."

"Then what should we do?" Cao Cao asked.

Guo Jia shook his head. "My lord, don't worry about anything else. Focus your efforts on taking over Hebei and Hedong. That's the important thing we need to do. Let the various factions in the south fight it out. Once they're all exhausted, my lord will have dealt with Hebei and then head south."

After a pause, Guo Jia continued, "However, my lord, you must be wary of Liu Bei. I believe he is very likely to annex Jingzhou. My lord must send someone to contact the Cai family to prevent Liu Bei from seizing Jingzhou."

Guo Jia's reminder was very timely and hit the nail on the head for Cao Cao. The person Cao Cao feared most was not Gan Ning, but Liu Bei.

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and then said to Jia Xu, "I would like to ask Military Advisor Jia to do two things next!"

Jia Xu bowed and said, "Please enlighten me, Minister!"

Cao Cao calmly replied, "First, try to incite conflict among the four southern families, but don't let any one family become too powerful; we must maintain a balance. Second, please ask Military Advisor Jia to secretly go to Xiangyang to visit Cai Mao. I will write you a letter to take with you."

"This humble servant will certainly handle the matter properly and live up to the high trust placed in me by the Minister!"

(End of this chapter)