Tiger Owl

Chapter 171 Military Deployment Negotiations
Gan Ning had returned from Lujiang County a few days ago and was patiently waiting for Zhang Zhao's arrival. As dusk approached, Gan Ning sent a personal guard back home to deliver a message that he would be back later.

Gan Ning received news from Lu Su that Zhang Zhao had arrived and was currently having detailed talks with Lu Su at the VIP Hotel. Gan Ning was now waiting for news from Lu Su.

At this moment, a guard announced from below the hall, "Military Advisor Lu has arrived!"

"Let him in quickly!"

Lu Su quickly entered the official room, bowed, and Gan Ning waved his hand, "No need for formalities, tell me about your conversation with Zhang Zhaochu."

“General, Zhang Zhao did come to plead with us to send troops, and he offered that if we needed to attack Lujiang County, they would not mind.”

Gan Ning sneered and said, "I could attack Danyang County, but I'm afraid they're more concerned about that. Continue! What conditions are they offering?"

"They will give us some compensation in terms of food or salt, but he did not mention the specific amount. I guess it will be brought up after we meet with the general."

Gan Ning pondered for a moment and said, "Let's skip the salt. We need something more practical. Does the strategist have any suggestions?"

Lu Su thought for a moment and said, "Sixty percent of the tung oil in the world is produced in Jiangdong. It used to be easy to buy, but since tung oil can be used to make kerosene, Jiangdong has implemented restrictions, and we can no longer buy it."

"Don't we also have a large tung oil production?"

"Although the production volume is large, it is less than half of that of Jiangdong. It cannot be used freely. There will be calculations when attacking, especially for the throwing oil bombs, which consume too much oil. Such calculations will affect the effectiveness of the war."

Gan Ning nodded. "I understand. Continue. What is the current situation in Jiangdong?"

"General, according to Zhang Zhao, the situation in Jiangdong is not good. It is the same as the intelligence we received before. Jiangdong fought a battle with Sun Ben in Jiangcheng County and was defeated. It is said that the reason is that supplies from the Yangtze River could not be obtained, and the Jiangdong army was about to run out of food. They had no choice but to withdraw. This defeat has greatly affected morale, so Sun Quan had no choice but to ask us for help!"

Gan Ning pondered for a moment and said, "Sun Quan would never lower his dignity to ask us for help unless he was forced to. I estimate that they are short of troops and have no chance of winning against Sun Ben."

Lu Su nodded. "That should be it!"

Gan Ning laughed, "Let's talk about the price properly with Zhang Zhao tomorrow!"

The next morning, Gan Ning received Zhang Zhao and his entourage at the General's Mansion.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two sides arrived at the council hall of Gan Ning's official residence. They sat down on either side of a long table, and several guards came in to serve tea.

Zhang Zhao smiled and said, "I suppose Military Advisor Lu reported our initial discussion to the General yesterday. Military Advisor Lu said that many important matters still need to be discussed with the General in person, so we will have to take up half a day of the General's time today."

Gan Ning smiled slightly and said, "Military Advisor Zhang is too kind. Cooperation with Jiangdong is a major event, more important than anything else."

At this point, Gan Ning gave Lu Su a wink, and Lu Su took out a plan that had been drafted overnight and handed it to Zhang Zhao. "The Jiangdong army hopes that we will send troops to help them. We have two plans for sending troops. Please take a look, Military Advisor Zhang."

Zhang Zhao quickly took the draft and examined it closely. Indeed, there were two plans. Plan A proposed sending troops to Danyang County to join forces with the Jiangdong army to attack Sun Ben from the east and west. This plan had already been rejected by Sun Quan beforehand.

Plan B involved an indirect military intervention, with the Yuzhang Army sending troops to Jiujiang Commandery to force Sun Ben to withdraw from Danyang Commandery by employing a strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao." However, Zhang Zhao read the plan several times and found that Lujiang Commandery was never mentioned. Zhang Zhao was puzzled and asked, "Why doesn't Plan B mention attacking Lujiang Commandery?"

Gan Ning said calmly, "What we are talking about now is how to resolve the crisis in Danyang County, but attacking Lujiang County will not affect Sun Ben and will not help resolve the crisis in Danyang County, so it is not necessary to mention it in the plan."

Zhang Zhao didn't immediately grasp Gan Ning's meaning. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Then your army isn't planning to attack Lujiang County?" Gan Ning smiled slightly and said, "Of course we will attack it. How can we attack Jiujiang County if we don't capture Lujiang County? It's just that it's not important, so I won't mention it."

Zhang Zhao immediately understood that the other party meant that attacking Lujiang County had nothing to do with Jiangdong.

Zhang Zhao originally wanted to use allowing the Yuzhang Army to attack Lujiang County as a negotiating condition, but the other side did not accept this condition at all. Half of Lujiang County was in the hands of Sun Ben and had nothing to do with Jiangdong. In addition, they had already dissolved the alliance and were no longer bound by the terms of the alliance.

Zhang Zhao was still somewhat unwilling, so he smiled and said, "The matter of Lujiang County is of great importance. Let's talk about it separately! I guarantee that it will not affect your army's compensation for sending troops."

Gan Ning laughed. "So, you mean, Military Advisor Zhang is planning to choose Plan B?"

"Exactly!"

"Shouldn't we discuss this with Lord Wu?"

Gan Ning smiled politely and said, "We can provide carrier pigeons!"

"Thank you for your kind offer, General, but it's not necessary. Our own plan is also Plan B."

"So we've reached the same agreement?"

"Exactly! Exactly!" The two of them burst into laughter.

...........
The specific negotiations were still handled by Lu Su and Zhang Zhao, while Gan Ning simply sat to the side with a smile, nodding to Lu Su from time to time to indicate his agreement.

"Lujiang County is the root cause of the breakdown of our alliance..."

Just as Zhang Zhao opened his mouth, Gan Ning, who had been silent until now, interrupted him with a smile, "Military Advisor Zhang must be mistaken! The root cause of the breakdown of our alliance is not Lujiang County, but Huang Zu, isn't that right?"

"Huang Zu is just the surface; Lujiang County is the real source. General Gan, I hope we can be frank and treat each other with sincerity."

Gan Ning shook his head. "That's because Military Advisor Zhang doesn't know the real reason why I let Huang Zu return to his hometown. If he did, he wouldn't think it was just a facade."

"I see. I'd like to hear more details."

Gan Ning pondered for a moment and then smiled and said, "It's simple that I don't want to kill Huang Zu. Huang Zu can solve the problem of salt supply for me, so Yuzhang County won't be threatened by Jiangdong's strangulation."

Zhang Zhao's smile became somewhat strained. He had originally planned to negotiate with the other party by offering to lift the salt ban, but he hadn't expected that the other party would actually solve the salt supply problem.

Zhang Zhao certainly didn't doubt that the other party was pretending to deceive him. Salt, a necessity, would make anyone who lacked it feel ashamed, so it seemed to be true.

Zhang Zhao chuckled dryly, "I'm afraid we'll have to borrow your carrier pigeons again today!"

After both sides finalized the general principles for sending troops, Gan Ning returned to his official residence. The specific details of the troop deployment and the rewards would be discussed between Lu Su and Zhang Zhao, but not today, but tomorrow.

However, after Gan Ning revealed the real reason for not killing Huang Zu, Zhang Zhao never mentioned Lujiang County again. He was a smart man. It was inevitable that the other side would send troops to Lujiang County. Using Lujiang County as a bargaining chip would at best bring humiliation upon himself, and at worst ruin the negotiations. If the negotiations were ruined and Gan Ning refused to send troops, he could not bear the consequences.

(End of this chapter)