Chapter 104: Three Questions
At this time, Sun Ben was in Liyang County. He had been the second-in-command of the Jiangdong Army, and there were still many people in the Jiangdong Army and Jiangdong Officialdom who secretly supported him.
To the point that he knew clearly about all sorts of situations happening in Jiangdong.
As soon as Qiao An’s ship sailed out from Dantu, it was spotted by his secret scout ship.
Qiao An was brought into the barracks and arrived in a tent.
Sun Ben sat at the head seat, chuckling as he said: “Inviting Mr. Qiao here in this manner is somewhat rude. Please do not take offense, sir!”
Qiao An calmly gave a salute. “Qiao An pays respects to General Sun!”
“Mr. Qiao need not stand on ceremony. Please sit!”
Although Sun Ben was all smiles, beneath the fake smile lurked a trace of cold malice.
Qiao An sat down with a sigh. “Previously, when Zhu Zhi traveled between Jiangdong and Yuzhang, he didn’t even have escort ships, and there were never any problems. We underestimated General Sun’s influence in Jiangdong.”
Sun Ben smugly stroked his beard. “I know Zhu Zhi’s whereabouts clearly. I simply didn’t want to capture him.”
“Then why did General Sun capture me?”
“Two reasons. First, I want to know Gan Ning’s true intention in wanting to form an alliance with Jiangdong. I hope Mr. Qiao will tell me.”
“And the second reason?”
Sun Ben narrowed his eyes with a smile. “The second reason? I want to use Mr. Qiao to exchange for Sun He.”
Qiao An nodded. “If General Sun can guarantee the safety of my subordinates and exchange us all together, I can frankly tell General Sun anything he wants to know.”
Sun Ben nodded. “I like practical people like Mr. Qiao. As for hypocritical and cunning civil officials like Zhang Zhao, I despise them just as much. In the future, our two families will still deal with each other, and you will find that I am more straightforward and trustworthy than Sun Quan.”
“What does General Sun want to know?”
“Very simple. I just want to ask three questions. I hope the envoy will answer honestly. First, what is your lord’s true intention in wanting to form an alliance with Jiangdong?”
Qiao An had already thought of a response on the way while captured. He said unhurriedly: “Does General Sun know that last December, when Zhu Zhi was envoy to Yuzhang Commandery, he proposed an alliance between our two houses, but in the end, the alliance did not succeed, and they only signed a non-aggression pact?”
Sun Ben nodded. “I know about this matter. It was because you disagreed on the affiliation of Lujiang Commandery.”
Qiao An shook his head. “Actually, it wasn’t a disagreement on the affiliation of Lujiang Commandery, but rather a dispute during the first boundary negotiation for Lujiang Commandery. We advocated using the Wanshui River as the boundary, but Jiangdong only agreed to use the Xunyang Water as the boundary. The two sides’ borders differed by nearly three hundred li. Later, both sides compromised and used the western Wanshui River as the boundary.
But we were still very disappointed. What we wanted was Wan County, then to take the land east of the Han River, merge the two pieces of land of Lujiang Commandery and Jiangxia Commandery, and establish Xiling Commandery.
So last December, the alliance negotiations between the two sides did not succeed because we insisted that the basis of the alliance was the Wanshui River as the boundary, but Jiangdong firmly refused to adjust the border.”
Qiao An was not deceiving Sun Ben either. He spoke of the long-term vision. Of course, he would not tell the truth: Gan Ning was actually worried about the four families joining forces against Yuzhang Commandery.
Sun Ben nodded. Qiao An’s words were reasonable and well-founded, so he believed him. He also believed that Gan Ning had always wanted to annex Huang Zu.
“Your lord wants to annex Huang Zu but is worried that I will attack Lujiang Commandery from behind, so you decided to ally with Jiangdong to use them to tie me down and prevent me from acting rashly. I haven’t said anything wrong, have I?”
Qiao An nodded. “General Sun sees through it clearly. This time, the basis of our proposed alliance is still the Wanshui River as the boundary. Since Wan County is already in our hands, Jiangdong has no choice but to agree. The Marquis of Wu has finally accepted reality.”
Sun Ben was very satisfied with Qiao An’s reply. He had also received internal news from Jiangdong that this time Gan Ning was indeed insisting on the Wanshui River as the boundary for the alliance.
“The second thing I want to know is about salt. Please tell me, envoy, about your salt sources.”
Qiao An said indifferently: “General Sun has also stayed in Yuzhang Commandery. Doesn’t he know?”
“I didn’t pay attention to this issue at the time.”
“Actually, this shouldn’t be hard to know! Just ask any salt merchant.”
“I know, but I still hope Mr. Qiao will tell me personally.”
“Sixty percent comes from Guangling sea salt, thirty percent from Bashu well salt, and ten percent is our own mine salt. Is General Sun satisfied now?”
Qiao An naturally would not tell the truth either. In the alliance plan taken away by his subordinate, there was a clause about using Jiangdong salt to replace Jianghuai salt.
Sun Ben naturally knew the salt source situation in Yuzhang Commandery, but he used it to test Qiao An and see if he was telling the truth. So far, Qiao An’s performance had satisfied him.
Sun Ben smiled cheerfully. “I very much appreciate Mr. Qiao’s honesty. I have one last question. I want to see your two sides’ alliance draft.”
Qiao An shook his head. “I’m afraid this will disappoint General Sun. This time I came to Jiangdong to discuss the possibility of an alliance, that is, whether the other side can accept the Wanshui River as the boundary. If Jiangdong accepts, our two sides will proceed to the next step: each drafting a plan, then conducting alliance negotiations. We haven’t reached the second step yet, so there is no alliance draft.”
The fake smile vanished from Sun Ben’s face, and he stared at him with cold eyes. “Do you think I’m that easy to fool? No reply letter from Sun Quan was found in your luggage, and the plan for subsequent negotiations is also gone. Do you think that’s possible?”
Qiao An said coldly: “The Marquis of Wu’s personal letter and the arrangements for subsequent negotiations—such important things—did General Sun think I would hand them over? I’ve already sent someone to deliver them away. If your own people failed to intercept it, you can’t blame others.”
“You—”
Sun Ben’s face turned blue with anger. He glared viciously at Qiao An for a moment, then waved his hand. “Take him down and lock him up!”
At this time, a subordinate hurriedly entered and said to Sun Ben: “This subordinate has already interrogated them. Those boatmen all confirmed that before we captured them, one person jumped into the river and escaped, wearing black water armor.”
“A bunch of useless idiots!”
Sun Ben ordered someone to fetch the deputy general Zhang Qi who had captured Qiao An. As soon as Zhang Qi entered, he was stunned by a hard slap from Sun Ben.
Sun Ben pointed at him and cursed: “You can’t even handle a small matter properly. What can you do? Even raising a dog is better than you, you useless idiot!”
Zhang Qi lowered his head and didn’t dare make a sound. After cursing him harshly, Sun Ben kicked him again. “Get out! Get the hell out!”
Zhang Qi scrambled away in fear. From beginning to end, he didn’t know what had happened. He had followed orders to capture the other side’s envoy and yet was cursed out. Where exactly had he gone wrong?
After cursing harshly, Sun Ben felt slightly better. He immediately sat down and wrote two letters. One letter was to Gan Ning, demanding to exchange Qiao An for Sun He, of course including Qiao An’s subordinates and Sun He’s subordinates.
The second letter was to Lu Family Patriarch Lu Yu, demanding that he lead the Eight Great Noble Families to oppose the alliance between Jiangdong and Gan Ning. If they didn’t do as he demanded, he would publicize the Eight Great Noble Families’ previous plan to change lords.
Sun Ben also wrote more than a dozen secret letters, sending people to Jiangdong to deliver them to those who supported him. No matter what, he was determined to sabotage this Sun-Gan alliance.
