Tiger Owl

Chapter 178 Sun Ben retreats to the north
Jia Xu returned to Hefei and met Gan Ning again.

Gan Ning already knew what Cao Cao's army had done in Shouchun. He couldn't help but secretly admire Jia Xu's ruthless methods. Such a good ally, he could turn against him in an instant. It must have been Jia Xu's idea for Zhang Xiu to turn against Cao Cao and launch a night attack.

Jia Xu smiled and handed a proposal to Gan Ning, saying, "These are Sun Ben's three conditions for withdrawing his troops from Danyang County. Please take a look, General!"

Gan Ning glanced at it and said calmly, "We can each agree to one of the first two conditions. I can agree to his terms as long as his entire army withdraws. However, as for the third condition, did the strategist not understand his meaning?"

"How could I not understand? He's afraid the Jiangdong army will attack him on the Yangtze River."

"So he asked my navy to escort him. Isn't that trying to provoke a falling out between me and the Jiangdong Army?"

Jia Xu laughed and said, "He does have that idea, but in that case, his fate will be in your hands, General. If I were you, I would keep Sun Ben alive; he is a powerful weapon against Jiangdong."

Gan Ning smiled and said, "I can kill someone like Sun Ben in one battle. It's not worth ruining my reputation to deal with him. But if Cao Cao is crossing the river, then reputation is not so important."

Jia Xu chuckled twice, "General Gan is joking!"

Gan Ning put away his smile and said solemnly, "Please inform Sun Ben, Military Advisor Jia, that if he is only crossing the river with his army, I will not attack him, and I also guarantee that the Jiangdong army will not attack him. However, if he intends to plunder the people of Danyang County to cross the river, my promise will be invalid, and I will escort his army and the people to Lujiang County together."

"I understand, I won't let him plunder the people!"

Gan Ning wrote a personal letter and sent it urgently to Sun Quan.

Two days later, Sun Quan received Gan Ning's handwritten letter from Zhang Zhao. After reading the letter, he breathed a long sigh of relief. Sun Ben had finally agreed to withdraw his troops.

"What does the strategist think? Gan Ning has ordered our navy not to intercept Sun Ben's army as they retreat north."

Zhang Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Sun Ben wants to transport 50,000 troops and a large amount of grain back to Jiujiang County. It will definitely take more than one trip. It is normal for Sun Ben to be worried about us. However, there are priorities in everything. For us now, the most important thing is for Sun Ben to withdraw from Danyang County. I suggest that we give Gan Ning some face and not send out the navy."

Sun Quan nodded. "You're right. Do you know what I'm thinking?"

"This humble servant is all ears!"

Sun Quan walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "I think Gan Ning probably hopes that our two families will clash on the Yangtze River, so that he can take advantage of Sun Ben's retreat to seize Danyang County."

"Oh! Is that possible?"

Sun Quan nodded, "As long as a conflict breaks out between our two families, he will have a moral high ground."

"Lord Wu, I don't think so."

Sun Quan shook his head and sighed softly, saying, "Human hearts are unpredictable; I must be on guard!"

He immediately said to Zhang Zhao, "Pass on my order from Lord Wu, commanding Zhou Yu not to attack Sun Ben and to retreat north!"

Ten days later, Sun Ben's army finally withdrew north. Under pressure from Gan Ning, Sun Ben had no choice but to abandon his plan to plunder tens of thousands of people and return north, and instead led 50,000 troops and 200,000 shi of grain north.

Three hundred warships carried grain and troops to the north bank in batches. In the first fleet returning north, Sun Ben gazed with complicated emotions at Gan Ning's warships in the distance. Hundreds of warships were several miles away, serving more as surveillance than as escort. "My lord, we must strengthen our naval shipbuilding!" He Qi whispered from the side.

Sun Ben nodded. "Indeed, our navy is too weak, which is our biggest weakness. We must build ships vigorously and train our navy at the same time. General He, you are a veteran of the navy, so I will entrust the task of strengthening the navy and building ships to you."

He Qi was secretly delighted, thinking that his chance to make a fortune had arrived. He immediately patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, my lord, I will risk my life to make the navy strong as soon as possible."

Large warships repeatedly transported large quantities of troops and food back to the north bank.

As the last batch of Sun Ben's troops departed, Zhou Yu's fleet, which had been waiting for a long time, immediately occupied Niuzhu. The 20,000-strong navy divided into ten routes and recaptured the various counties of Danyang Commandery.

Zhou Yu himself led two thousand troops to occupy Wanling County, and the Jiangdong army recaptured Danyang County.

After Sun Ben's army reached Liyang County on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Gan Ning also began to lead his troops to withdraw from Hefei and retreat to Lujiang County in the southwest.

The crisis, which lasted for more than a month, finally came to an end. In the end, Gan Ning captured Lujiang County, while Sun Ben, although he gained and then lost Danyang County, still gained 30,000 troops, so he could not be said to have suffered a terrible defeat.

Jiangdong, however, regained Danyang County after losing it. Although they lost 300,000 barrels of tung oil, they also restored friendly relations with Gan Ning, which can be considered a stroke of luck amidst misfortune, as the loss was not too great.

Gan Ning led his army back to Chaisang. He was gone for half a month. Lu Su led all the officials to the dock to welcome Gan Ning home.

Amidst the sounds of gongs and drums, the army returned to its camp, and Gan Ning also boarded a carriage and returned to Chaisang City.

Inside the carriage, Lu Su laughed and said, "It seems there are quite a few spoils this time. Did you raid Sun Ben's stronghold?"

Gan Ning shook his head and laughed, "There isn't much money or grain in Hefei, but we raided Xu Qian's lair and seized nearly 500,000 strings of cash. Most of the spoils of war belong to him."

"Isn't Xu Qian the Prefect of Lujiang Commandery?"

"It was him. After his defeat in Shucheng County, he fled back to Chaohu. When Strategist Xu was investigating him, he discovered that he had embezzled a large amount of official funds, so he did not intend to let him go."

Speaking of the Prefect of Lujiang Commandery, Gan Ning suddenly remembered something and asked, "I asked you to investigate Fan Fang, how's it going? Any news?"

"Reporting to the general, the inspection has concluded, and I plan to report to you in a couple of days."

Gan Ning smiled and said, "Tell me briefly first, what kind of person is he?"

Lu Su pondered for a moment and said, "He is indeed a good official, very honest and self-disciplined. At the beginning of this year, a batch of official shops in Wan County were put up for sale, which was handled by Magistrate Fan. Logically speaking, this was a great opportunity to make money, but Magistrate Fan made the whole process public and put them up for sale. As a result, they were sold at a price 20% higher than the normal market price, and all the money went into the official treasury without losing a single penny. We also privately asked those who lost the competition, and they all praised Fan Fang. Although they lost the competition, no one said there was anything wrong with it. One leaf can tell the whole story. This incident shows Fan Fang's character."

"Does Military Advisor Nalu think he is qualified to serve as the Prefect of Lujiang Commandery?"

Lu Su nodded. "In my formal letter of recommendation to the general, I recommended Fan Fang to serve as the prefect of Lujiang County."

Gan Ning decisively said, "Lujiang County urgently needs someone to take charge of government affairs. Since the strategist approves of him, it's decided that Fan Fang will serve as the governor of Lujiang County."

(End of this chapter)