Tiger Owl

Chapter 22 Cao Cao's Concerns
"Please don't kill me! I have money, gold and silver. I'll give you all my wealth, just spare my life!"

The cabin was filled with corpses. Zuo Rong huddled in a corner of the cabin, desperately pleading with his hands clasped together. The general in front of him looked like a god, and the double halberds in his hands were still dripping with blood.

Gan Ning grabbed Zuo Rong and dragged him out of the cabin by the neck. The deck was covered with corpses, all killed with a single blow, and blood flowed all over the deck.

Zuo Rong had never seen such a fierce and brave person. At this moment, he felt that he was so close to death.

"General, spare my life!" Zuo Rong pleaded once again.

Gan Ning said coldly, "If you don't want to die, order everyone to lay down their weapons and surrender, otherwise I'll use your head to force you to surrender!"

"Raise...raise both the black and white flags together, that's my order...order to surrender, but I don't know if they'll carry it out?"

Gan Ning waved his hand, and several of his men found the black and white flags in the flag box. They lowered the flag rope, ripped off the red flag, and hung the black and white flags together on the rope, then pulled the flags up to the mast.

At this moment, General Chen Mu was directing his soldiers into battle. He was obeying Zuo Rong's orders, and Zuo Rong's large ship was flying a red flag, which meant that they were ready to fight.

Suddenly a soldier shouted, "General Chen, our lord has raised the black flag and the white flag!"

Chen Mu spotted the flag in the distance and saw Zuo Rong waving frantically on the bow of the ship, with a tall general standing behind him.

Chen Mu's heart sank into an abyss; Zuo Rong had been captured.

"General, what should I do?"

Chen Mu stood there for a long time, then sighed and said, "Order to surrender!"

The enemy army is significantly larger and has superior naval capabilities. They will be annihilated sooner or later, so it's better to surrender and save the lives of their soldiers.

Chen Mu's large ship also hoisted black and white flags. As the flagship commander, all ships followed his flag signals.

Zuo Rong's ships surrendered one after another.

..........
Gan Ning lifted Zuo Rong, who was bound like a rice dumpling, onto a small boat.

Zuo Rong cried out in terror, "I have already surrendered as you ordered! You promised not to kill me!"

"Of course I won't kill you, but the one who decides your fate is not me, but Sun Ben. Go and beg him for mercy!"

Zuo Rong tried to plead again, but the soldiers gagged him with rags, and he made muffled noises. Soon, a black bag was also put over his head, and the soldiers stuffed him into the cabin.

Two of his men sailed towards Nanchang County.

Whether or not Zuo Rong is killed is of no significance to Gan Ning; he might as well use Zuo Rong to do him a favor.

In this battle, over four hundred enemy soldiers were killed and sixteen hundred were captured. Gan Ning's men also suffered nearly forty deaths and over seventy minor wounds.

With a casualty ratio of one to ten, they achieved a resounding victory.

At the same time, Chen Mu was also willing to pledge allegiance to Gan Ning and become a new general under Gan Ning's command.

Chen Mu was the nephew of Chen Yu, the former governor of Wu Commandery. He came from the Chen family of Xiapi. Last year, Chen Yu betrayed Sun Ce and almost ruined Sun Ce's great cause. Later, Chen Yu's army was defeated by Lü Fan's army and fled in disarray. Chen Mu disguised himself as a soldier and managed to escape.

Chen Mu came to Yuzhang County to seek refuge with Liu Yao, but Liu Yao had already died of illness. He was captured by Zuo Rong, who forced him to pledge allegiance to him. With nowhere else to go, Chen Mu stayed with Zuo Rong for the time being.

Chen Mu surrendered to Gan Ning, and his 1,600 men also switched sides and became Gan Ning's subordinates.

Although Ze Rong plundered a large amount of wealth, most of it was used to build temples, leaving him with very little. He had only 3,000 taels of gold, 30,000 taels of silver, 12,000 strings of copper coins, 30,000 shi of grain, as well as salt, cured meat sauce, and various military supplies, mainly weapons and armor. In addition, Ze Rong also had a private collection of many valuable weapons.

Gan Ning returned to Chaisang, where Lu Su greeted him, "Congratulations, my lord, on your resounding victory! You have annihilated the Ze Rong tribe!" Gan Ning smiled and said, "Ze Rong tried to usurp our territory, but instead, he walked into the lion's den. Although we didn't get his land, we did get his accumulated wealth. Not bad!"

Lu Su was overjoyed and quickly asked, "Has Zuo Rong been captured?"

"I've captured the man, and I've handed him over to Sun Ben as a thank you gift!"

Lu Su nodded, "Zuo Rong has many Buddhist followers. Keeping him around is troublesome, but killing him is also troublesome. It's better to send him to Jiangdong!"

"This time I seized a great deal of grain and money, and also gained 1,600 surrendered soldiers, bringing our army to 5,000 men!"

Lu Su gave a thumbs-up and praised, "In just over a month, our lord has grown from three hundred men to five thousand. That's truly remarkable!"

Gan Ning sighed softly, "We've eaten all the easy meat; what's next are the tough ones. We need to hurry up and train!"

…………

Zuo Rong was eventually publicly executed on Sun Ben's orders, and his head was sent to Sun Ce in Jiangdong.

Ze Rong was defeated, but Tai Shi Ci's attack on Ai County was unsuccessful. He encountered Liu Xin's 6,000 reinforcements, and the two sides fought fiercely in Ai County.

Taishi Ci was defeated and retreated to Haihun County, where he sought help from Sun Ben. Sun Ben immediately dispatched Zhou Tai with 5,000 troops to support Taishi Ci.

Meanwhile, Liu Xin's forces increased to 10,000, and the two sides were locked in a stalemate in Ai County.

However, after a stalemate of twenty days, Taishi Ci took the initiative to attack, and Liu Xin was defeated. He had no choice but to temporarily abandon Ai County and withdraw his entire army back to Changsha County.

………….
Just as Gan Ning was beginning to establish himself in Chaisang, the Battle of Guandu, which shocked the world, also began.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao each deployed more than 100,000 troops, and confronted each other on both sides of the Yellow River.

In Xuchang, on the eve of Cao Cao's northward march to Dongjun, he received news from Jiangdong and Jingzhou.

With the decisive battle against Yuan Shao imminent, Cao Cao was still very worried about Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Sun Ce in Jiangdong.

Inside the study, strategist Guo Jia smiled slightly and said, "My lord has already bribed the Cai family, and with Cai Yang guarding Nanyang, Liu Biao will certainly not dare to act rashly. My lord need not worry about him."

Cao Cao shook his head. "Liu Jing Sheng is nothing more than a guard dog. I am only worried about Sun Ce. This man is exceptionally brave and ambitious. He will surely take advantage of the emptiness of Xuchang to launch a northern expedition. Do you have any good strategies, sir?"

Guo Jia smiled faintly and said, "I already have a good plan!"

Cao Cao was overjoyed and bowed, saying, "Please teach me, sir!"

Guo Jia calmly replied, "I have considered two lines to contain Sun Ce, one inside and one outside. Sun Ce has been purging the Jiangdong group because of Chen Yu's betrayal. Not only are the Jiangdong gentry extremely dissatisfied with him, but there is also a split within Sun Ce's army."

Previously, Sun Fu visited our lord and expressed his desire to form an alliance. But he had no right to discuss alliances; it was actually his elder brother Sun Ben's idea. Our lord could send someone to speak with Sun Ben in detail, persuading him to oppose Sun Ce's northern expedition from within.

Cao Cao nodded repeatedly, "Then, could Liu Xun be used for external containment?"

Guo Jia shook his head. "My lord overestimates Liu Xun. In my opinion, he is a half-baked general, utterly useless. Using him to restrain Sun Ce will surely ruin your great plans!"

Cao Cao frowned. "What do you mean?"

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(End of this chapter)