Chapter 176: Negotiation Showdown
The courtyard was filled with kneeling captured warriors, servants, and wives and concubines, but Xu Qian’s three sons were not found, and the seized wealth was far less than their estimates.
The slightly overweight Head Butler was brought forward, trembling all over from the corpses and bloodstains on the ground. Seeing a tall young general walk up to him holding a dagger, he went weak in the legs and knelt with a thud.
“Strip off his clothes!” Wang Xiaoman ordered.
Several soldiers stripped off the Head Butler’s upper garment, leaving him bare-chested. Wang Xiaoman pressed the dagger against the butler’s heart and said coldly: “I’ll give you one last chance. If you won’t talk, someone who doesn’t want to die will!”
The dagger pierced lightly, blood flowed down, and the Head Butler broke down, crying out: “I’ll talk! I’ll tell everything!”
“Speak quickly!”
“Master Master is hiding in the secret cave.”
Wang Xiaoman was stunned. He had only been pressing for where the wealth was hidden. He hadn’t expected Xu Qian to be on the island too.
“Xu Qian is there too?”
The Head Butler said with a sobbing voice: “Master is there!”
“Where is the secret room?”
“In the back courtyard!”
Wang Xiaoman gave a look, and two strong soldiers lifted the Head Butler and headed to the back courtyard.
The mansion had more than twenty courtyards. They arrived at a rather remote and desolate small courtyard on the west side. The door was somewhat rotten and had originally been locked, but soldiers searching had kicked it open.
The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, the house was dilapidated, spiderwebs covered the eaves and corners, the steps were full of cracked tiles—it was clearly an abandoned courtyard unused for many years. The searching soldiers had only glanced at the doorway and not gone in. No one would ever think there was something more inside.
The Head Butler led the soldiers to an abandoned fish pond in the courtyard. The fish pond was completely dry, with a huge rockery standing beside it.
The Head Butler’s hand pointed to the rockery, his voice trembling as he said: “There’s a cave inside the rockery. You can find the secret room entrance on the ground, General. Take me away!”
The Head Butler really didn’t dare to see the master. Wang Xiaoman waved his hand, and several soldiers took the Head Butler away. Wang Xiaoman and the soldiers searched around the rockery and soon a soldier found a very hidden cave.
“General, found it!”
Wang Xiaoman perked up and hurried over. Sure enough, in the deepest corner, there was a cave about three feet wide, which one could enter by bending down.
Wang Xiaoman lit a torch and crawled into the cave. Only after entering did he realize there was more to it—this two-zhang-high rockery had actually been hollowed out, like a room inside.
“Search it!”
At Wang Xiaoman’s order, dozens of soldiers began searching inside the rockery.
Wang Xiaoman held the torch and looked around, feeling that the ventilation here was very good, not stuffy at all. He looked more carefully and noticed clues: the rockery had actually been cut in half, the two halves pieced together, with soil sealing the gaps on the outside, moss or weeds planted over it, making no traces visible. But inside, the seams were evident. With the rockery cut open, large amounts of wealth could be transported into the secret cave.
“General, the entrance is found!”
A soldier shouted. Wang Xiaoman quickly stepped forward and indeed saw a large hole opened in the ground below, pitch black. Wang Xiaoman probed the torch down; the firelight didn’t pull inward, indicating no other exit inside.
“Throw a few incendiary bottles down.”
The soldiers lit several incendiary bottles and threw them down. Immediately, thick smoke billowed and flames roared in the cave. Moments later, someone shouted loudly, “Don’t burn anymore, don’t burn! I surrender! I’m willing to surrender!”
Soon, several people crawled out from the cave. The leader was a middle-aged man around fifty, none other than Xu Qian. Behind him were his three sons, plus a few women holding his grandsons.
The soldiers tied up Xu Qian and his sons, along with the women and children, and escorted them out of the mansion.
Wang Xiaoman arranged for hundreds of soldiers to loop ropes around the rockery and pull together with all their might. The two halves of the rockery split apart like a peeled shell. Once the rockery was dragged away, the large hole in the ground stood out starkly.
Underground was a natural cave, very spacious. Soldiers carried out large wooden boxes one by one—over six hundred large boxes in total.
Xu Qian had originally been one of the three major local strongmen in Jiujiang Commandery. After rebelling, he accumulated even more wealth, which was ultimately seized by the strong. The Yuzhang Army confiscated wealth worth hundreds of thousands of strings of cash.
Additionally, based on the Head Butler’s confession, three hundred warhorses were found in a mansion on the north shore of Chao Lake.
At this time, Jia Xu arrived at the temporary military yamen in Hefei County with a few attendants. A soldier went in to report, and soon one of Gan Ning’s personal guards came out and said: “Strategist Jia, follow me!”
Jia Xu was led to the command tent, where Gan Ning had already been waiting for a while.
“Strategist Jia, long time no see!”
Jia Xu smiled and cupped his hands: “General, you must have known I would come!”
Gan Ning also laughed: “Sorry, I was a bit faster and took Hefei first.”
Both men knew what was in their hearts and burst into laughter.
Entering the tent, the two sat as host and guest.
Jia Xu pondered for a moment and said: “Actually, we both know what’s going on, so no need to beat around the bush. Let’s be frank!”
Gan Ning nodded. “As you wish!”
Jia Xu smiled and continued: “I know you don’t actually want Jiujiang Commandery. You’re just using it as a bargaining chip to negotiate with me. Tell me your bottom line!”
Gan Ning said calmly: “I’d like to remind Strategist Jia that I’ve occupied Lujiang Commandery, and the next step is surely to strike at Jiujiang Commandery. Why does Strategist Jia say I don’t want Jiujiang Commandery?”
Jia Xu shook his head. “At least you don’t want it now. If you really wanted to advance further, you’d choose to attack Danyang Commandery, not Jiujiang Commandery.”
Gan Ning sighed inwardly. As expected of the cunning old fox—he had seen through his intentions.
Gan Ning nodded. “My condition is simple: have Sun Ben withdraw from Danyang Commandery.”
A trace of difficulty appeared on Jia Xu’s face. Actually, he had no confidence in making Sun Ben withdraw. He thought for a moment and said: “The current Sun Ben is not the previous Sun Ben. This time he attacked Danyang Commandery without telling me beforehand—it was entirely his own initiative. A simple order for him to withdraw north won’t be heeded.”
“Of course a normal persuasion won’t work, but Strategist Jia must have a way to force him to withdraw!”
Jia Xu lowered his head in hesitation without speaking. Gan Ning laughed again: “Strategist Jia doesn’t think your fifty thousand troops plus Sun Fu’s twenty thousand can defeat me, does he? If Strategist Jia doesn’t believe it, we can try!”
Jia Xu sighed inwardly. He really didn’t dare to break ties. Once broken, not only Jiujiang Commandery would be lost, but even Guangling Commandery might fall in the end. More importantly, how would he explain to the lord? Especially now, at a critical moment in the lord’s northern campaign—any trouble in the south would ruin the lord’s major affairs.
“General is joking. Without Cao Gong’s orders, how could I casually go to war with the general? Alright! I’ll try to force Sun Ben to withdraw.
