Chapter 142: Move Capital To Chaisang
Da Qiao got up and left. Not long after, Xu Wei hurried over. She had already bathed and changed into a new outfit. Her pretty face bore no makeup, with bright eyes and white teeth, her skin like snow, exceptionally radiant and alluring.
“Greetings, General!”
Xu Wei gracefully performed a curtsy. Gan Ning looked her over and smiled, saying, “You look even better without makeup!”
Xu Wei’s pretty face flushed red. There were only the two of them in the room. Gan Ning pointed to the side of the desk, gesturing for her to sit beside him.
Xu Wei’s pretty face grew even redder, but she obediently sat down next to Gan Ning.
“Has the Xu Family pressured you again?” Gan Ning asked, holding her.
Xu Wei nodded lightly. “My grandmother revealed the whole story. Her real intention was to have me marry Sun Kuang.”
“And then?”
“Then I clearly and without hesitation refused her, got up, and left.”
“They didn’t hold you back?” Gan Ning asked again.
Xu Wei shook her head. “My father was there! They had previously guaranteed my father that I could come and go freely. Moreover, it was a carriage from the Yuzhang Commandery’s Jiangdong Liaison Office that took me to the Xu Residence, with soldiers waiting at the door. They didn’t dare to detain me.”
Gan Ning said delightedly, “That’s well done. With our official protection, it makes all the difference.”
Xu Wei hesitated for a moment. She still had to tell the truth. Sang Zhi was there too, and she couldn’t hide this from General Gan.
“My father wanted to take me to Xuchang.”
“But you didn’t go with him?”
Xu Wei sighed. “If I went, I could never come back.”
“Why?”
“I know my father. He had promised so nicely that I could return, but by afternoon he changed his mind. I know what he was thinking. He wouldn’t allow me to be with you. He wanted to take me to Xuchang and have me marry a man he approved of. So I escaped again.”
Gan Ning sighed. “Now you’ve completely fallen out with the Xu Family.”
Xu Wei said resolutely, “This is my choice. I have no regrets!”
Gan Ning was moved. He gently held her tight and said, “Today is the first day of the first lunar month. Let’s change how we address each other, like Xiao Qiao does.”
A flash of joy passed through Xu Wei’s eyes. She lowered her head shyly and said, “Gan Lang!”
“That’s right. After spring begins, I’ll send someone to Xuchang to propose marriage to your father.”
Gan Ning lowered his head. Xu Wei slowly raised her pretty face, closed her eyes, and with full joy kissed her future husband.
The moving day came faster than expected. Early on the twenty-eighth of the first month, a fleet of thousands of large ships set off, majestically sailing toward Chaisang.
In fact, this was the second round. A large batch of luggage and servants had already been transported earlier, and today it was the master moving.
Gan Ning’s ship was a 20,000-dan tower ship, the very main ship that Liu Cong had ridden, captured by the Yuzhang Army. It was Jingzhou’s largest warship and currently the Yuzhang Army’s largest warship. It had been converted into a royal ship and became Gan Ning’s dedicated vessel, equipped with six pairs of oars powered by twenty-four men treading, with speed surpassing that of a ship rowed by a hundred men.
The tower ship had four decks in total. Gan Ning and his family lived on the third deck. Besides Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao and Xu Wei, there was also Gan Ning’s mother-in-law Madam Yang. However, Madam Yang spent most of her time in the cabin chanting scriptures and praying to Buddha.
Gan Ning and the three women stood on the deck admiring the scenery along both riverbanks. Although it was early spring, the river breeze still carried a chill.
Seeing the three women’s pretty faces all flushed red from the river wind, Gan Ning smiled and said, “It’s too cold outside. Let’s go back to the cabin!”
Everyone entered the cabin. The large ship cleaved through the waves, continuing swiftly toward Chaisang.
Two days later, the fleet arrived at Chaisang. Gan Ning took everyone by carriage to the Marquis of Wuchang Residence in the east of the city. Unlike the half government office, half mansion in Nanchang County, this was a completely independent mansion, covering twenty mu, divided into front, middle, and rear sections plus east and west side courtyards.
The east side courtyard was the dormitory for the female guards. Madam Yang was arranged to live in the west side courtyard, where a Buddhist hall had been specially built for her, which delighted her immensely.
“You all go and get busy! There’s rules for arranging things inside. You can’t help with that.”
Madam Yang happily went to tend to her Buddhist hall, with two little maids helping her unpack the luggage.
Gan Ning then took the three women to the rear residence. The rear residence covered a full ten mu, with a large garden of four mu, plus four independent courtyards distributed around the garden’s edges.
Xiao Qiao and Xu Wei each got a small courtyard right next to each other, connected by a small door for easy visits. In the center was the two-mu main courtyard with over a dozen rooms, including bedroom, living room, study, and so on.
Xiao Qiao and Xu Wei went to their respective small courtyards. Gan Ning held Da Qiao by the waist as they entered the main courtyard.
“Do you like it here?”
Da Qiao nodded lightly. “As long as I’m with my husband, I like anywhere, but I also like it here.”
Gan Ning was delighted inside. He kissed Da Qiao’s pretty face and smiled, saying, “This is the new residence. If you find anything imperfect, tell me, and I’ll have someone fix it.”
“I’ll keep an eye out. Now I need to go unpack the clothes. There’s a pile of things to do!”
“Go ahead! I’ll head to the official residence. We’ll have a good dinner together tonight.”
Da Qiao went to the bedroom to unpack the clothes. Gan Ning also returned to the official residence.
Gan Ning’s official residence was called the General Who Builds Martial Might Mansion. Previously in Nanchang County it had been the Yuzhang Commandery office mansion, but now with four commanderies under Gan Ning, it really wasn’t appropriate to keep his official residence in the Yuzhang office mansion.
Gan Ning sat down in his new official residence. The furniture and decor were exactly the same as in the old official residence. If not for the changed position of the windows and the view outside, he would have thought it was the original one.
At this moment, Lu Su came to the door, bowed, and said, “Greetings, General!”
“No need for formalities, Strategist. Come in and sit!”
Lu Su came in and sat down, handing a piece of intelligence to Gan Ning. “This is news from Huang Zu’s side. Civil unrest has broken out in Xiling County!”
Gan Ning quickly took the intelligence and read it carefully. A riot had occurred in Huangyan Village of Xiling Commandery, where thousands of farmers resisted taxes, killed over a dozen rent-collection officials, and were suppressed by troops sent by Huang Zu, resulting in over a hundred deaths.
“What does resisting taxes mean?” Gan Ning frowned and asked.
“Huang Zu’s four armies cost too much to maintain. It’s said he couldn’t borrow grain from Liu Biao, so he raised taxes to one in ten, and the poll tax from 120 cash to 500 cash. As a result, many farmers resisted taxes last autumn, refusing to pay land tax and poll tax. Now it’s the end of the first month, so Huang Zu sent people to collect last year’s taxes, which led to the riot.”
Gan Ning nodded. “In that case, the citizens under Huang Zu will surely flee en masse to Wuchang Commandery!”
“It’s said he scraped up all the civilian ships, probably to prevent people from fleeing.”
Gan Ning pondered for a moment and asked, “How are the war preparations?”
“Almost ready. All armies have been recalled from Changsha Commandery. Also, Huang Zhong wants to join the battle. What should we do?”
Gan Ning shook his head. “Not this time for Huang Zhong. After all, he and Huang Zu are from the same family. Strategist, appease him, and we’ll definitely consider him next time.”
