Chapter 197: Unexpected News
As dawn just began to break, Gan Ning woke from deep sleep, but the little wife by his side was already gone. Gan Ning slowly sat up, got off the bed, and walked around.
At this moment, he suddenly heard a sweet, soft tune from outside—it was a melody from Wu Commandery in Jiangnan. It was Xu Wei’s voice, and from the tune, one could tell she was very happy.
Gan Ning walked to the window, opened it, and a beam of warm sunlight poured in, dyeing the entire new room golden.
Gan Ning saw Xu Wei; she had already changed back into her usual dress and was sitting under the eaves brewing tea for herself, humming a little tune with a face full of happy smiles.
Gan Ning lightly coughed, and Xu Wei looked up to see her husband standing at the window. She joyfully jumped up, nearly knocking over the teapot on the red clay stove. Like a cheerful little deer, she ran into the room, threw herself into Gan Ning’s arms, hung on his neck, tilted her head with a smile, and asked, “Why not sleep a bit longer?”
Gan Ning held her and laughed, “Without you by my side, I can’t sleep!”
Xu Wei’s pretty face blushed, her heart sweet like it was filled with honey. She coquettishly said, “Alright! Alright! How about I keep you company and sleep a bit more?”
Gan Ning laughed by her ear, “I don’t need it, but you—after tossing all night, aren’t you tired?”
Xu Wei’s pretty face blushed even more, she lowered her head bashfully and said, “My legs were a bit shaky when I first got up, but it’s fine now.”
“As long as it’s fine, help me wash up.”
Xu Wei hurriedly served her husband to wash up, combed his hair and changed his clothes, and finally brought a bowl of freshly brewed ginseng soup. “This is what Older Sister specially instructed—to make sure to brew a bowl of ginseng soup for husband after I got up.”
At this time, in the southern custom, the day after the wedding, the wife had to brew a big tonic soup for the husband. Each family used different ingredients; wealthy families drank ginseng soup, while ordinary families would go to the market to get some dog kidney.
After Gan Ning drank the ginseng soup and ate breakfast, he got up and went to the official residence.
As soon as Gan Ning left, Xiao Qiao slipped over. Xiao Qiao was just such a carefree person. Say she was jealous—she was a bit; say she was aggrieved—she was; say she was angry—she was. But as soon as day broke, last night’s jealousy, grievance, and anger were all forgotten, and she couldn’t wait to come find Xu Wei.
“Quickly tell me, what does it feel like?” Xiao Qiao asked expectantly with a full face of smiles.
“What are you talking about?” Xu Wei was a bit embarrassed.
“You know what I’m asking. Good older sister, tell me!” Xiao Qiao pulled Xu Wei’s arm and shook it.
Xu Wei had no choice but to stammer, “It hurt a bit at first, but later it was wonderful.”
“How wonderful?”
“Don’t ask. How can you casually talk about this kind of thing? You’ll experience it yourself later.”
Xiao Qiao propped her cheek and sighed, “Sigh! I don’t even know what’s wrong with me now. Anyway, Older Sister won’t give me any chance. I want to live in the study, but Older Sister won’t allow it. Anyway, I know she’s biased.”
“Don’t look so down. Let me tell you something you’ll like.”
“What thing I’ll like? Quick, tell me! Tell me!”
“You can change how you address him too—you can call him husband now.”
Xiao Qiao’s pretty eyes lit up, but she was a bit worried, “Can I?”
“Of course you can. We’ve already had the wedding ceremony—why not?”
“You’re right! We’ve had the wedding ceremony, so he is my husband too.”
After tidying up, Xu Wei pulled Xiao Qiao to Da Qiao’s courtyard.
In the government office, Gan Ning urgently convened an important meeting. They had just received news that Cao Ren had garrisoned 50,000 troops in Jingling County.
This intelligence came very suddenly. Although Wei Yan’s navy could intercept on the Han River, many things were hard to guard against, and the Cao Army might cross the Han River in a single night.
Jiang Wan said, “General, Jingling County is the most important county town along the Han River, and it’s the essential official road for Jiangxia Commandery to enter Nan Commandery. Cao Ren garrisoning heavy troops in Jingling County may not mean attacking us; perhaps he’s just defending.”
Xu Shu did not agree with Jiang Wan’s view. “We haven’t shown any intention to attack Nan Commandery, so Cao Ren suddenly stationing troops in Jingling County and saying it’s to defend against us makes no sense at all.
Secondly, there are many routes to attack Nan Commandery, and there’s no need to go through Jingling County—going through Jiangling County is more likely. So I think Cao Ren stationing troops in Jingling County is not for defense; the possibility of intending to attack Jiangxia Commandery is greater.”
Jiang Wan still insisted on his view. “Cao Cao is still fighting in the North and hasn’t returned. At this time, he can’t possibly start a war with us in the South.”
“Perhaps this isn’t Cao Cao’s order, but Cao Ren acting on his own—a great general’s instinctive pursuit of war.”
Xu Shu’s last words were clearly very persuasive. Cao Ren was not a civil official but a great general. Once he was in charge, he thought not of management but expansion. However, Cao Cao had considered this and put a lock on him by assigning Cheng Yu as strategist.
Cao Ren might be impulsive, but Cheng Yu would not be. Gan Ning pondered for a moment and said to Pang Tong, “Order the intelligence scouts in Xiangyang to investigate Cheng Yu’s movements.”
Gan Ning thought for a moment and then said, “Order Wei Yan’s forces to fully blockade the river surface of the Han River.”
Everyone left, but Lu Su stayed behind. Gan Ning asked, “Does the strategist have any ideas?”
Lu Su slowly said, “I’m thinking the Cao Army likely knows our salt source is in Jiangxia. Their target isn’t Jiangxia Commandery, but the salt source.”
“Does the strategist mean this isn’t Cao Ren being impulsive, but has a strong strategic purpose?”
“Right! Perhaps this really is Cheng Yu’s planning—to capture Jiangxia Commandery and control our salt source.”
Gan Ning pondered for a moment and slowly said, “The salt in Jiangxia Commandery is our most important strategic resource; we absolutely cannot lose it—at least not while we have sufficient reserves. We must reinforce troops to Jiangxia Commandery.”
Currently, the garrison in Jiangxia Commandery was Fu Tong’s 15,000 troops and 5,000 salt guards, totaling 20,000 troops. If 50,000 Cao troops crossed the Han River in a single night, catching the Yuzhang Army off guard, the salt source was very likely to be captured by the Cao Army.
That afternoon, Gan Ning made the deployment: transfer Zhuge Jin back to Chaisang to serve as deputy Sima; Xu Shu would concurrently serve as Prefect of Jiangxia Commandery, fully responsible for the defense of Jiangxia Commandery; meanwhile, transfer Huang Zhong’s forces and Taishi Ci’s forces to garrison Jiangxia, bringing the garrison there also to 50,000 troops.
On the other hand, intensify the mining of the salt mine in Anlu County.
Gan Ning considered far ahead. Now it was just Cao Ren’s raid; once Cao Cao’s main army truly came south, the Yuzhang Army would have to temporarily abandon the north of the river. So they must stockpile a large amount of salt mine in advance before Cao Cao’s main army arrived, plus some southern salt mines—at least enough to sustain ten years of usage. Of course, they could continue buying sea salt from Jiangdong, but as strategic reserves, they must have ten years’ worth of salt mine.
Thinking of this, Gan Ning issued another military order: the Jiangxia garrison must also participate in salt mine mining, with subsidies given to the soldiers. Spare no effort to triple the current salt mine output.
