Chapter 212: Forced To Admit
Although Cao Cao had not formally announced moving the capital to Yecheng, Yecheng was already the de facto capital. The Son of Heaven and the officials had all been moved to Yecheng, Cao Cao himself resided in Yecheng, and his several hundred thousand army were also stationed around Yecheng.
At this time, there was one last war in the North, which was the war against the Wuhuan army in Liaoxi, but Cao Cao was not worried at all. The mere Wuhuan people could be wiped out in a single battle by him.
What Cao Cao was truly worried about was the South. Liu Bei had entered Xichuan and established his own base there, like a dragon returning to the sea, making it difficult to destroy him again.
There was also Gan Ning’s forces, who had unknowingly occupied nine commanderies, possessed an army of 150,000, thousands of warships, and strength that had surpassed Jiangdong, making them preeminent in the South.
Cao Cao was not worried about the Jiangdong forces. With Sun Ben there, Jiangdong would continuously fall into internal strife. No matter how capable or skilled Sun Quan was, he could not make Jiangdong powerful again.
The logic here was simple. There were many noble families in Jiangdong who wanted to defect to the Imperial Court or Cao Cao, but they could not defect directly. Sun Ben became a bridge. On the surface, they secretly supported Sun Ben, but in reality, they were supporting Cao Cao behind Sun Ben.
These past few days, Cao Cao had been quite annoyed. He received news that Gan Ning had renamed Wuchang County to Chu County, and his Marquis of Wuchang had been renamed Marquis of Chu.
Cao Cao could naturally see through such petty tricks. Renaming the marquis title was fake; establishing a state name was the real intent.
But what troubled Cao Cao was that Gan Ning had actually submitted a memorial to the Imperial Court, requesting the Imperial Court to change the county name and his county marquis title. If the Imperial Court rejected his memorial, Gan Ning clearly would not revert to the original, and it was very likely that Gan Ning would from then on cut off contact with the Imperial Court.
His advantage of using the Son of Heaven to command the vassal lords would be greatly diminished.
But if it was not rejected, it would inevitably make Gan Ning even more arrogant, and there would certainly be more excessive demands in the future.
Cao Cao was caught in a dilemma. To be honest, Cao Cao somewhat blamed Guo Jia. If not for his repeated opposition to suppressing Gan Ning, Gan Ning would not have reached this out-of-control situation today.
But Guo Jia had already passed away, so Cao Cao’s resentment toward Guo Jia was useless.
At this moment, a guard reported, “Strategist Cheng has arrived!”
“Invite him in!”
Not long after, Strategist Cheng Yu strode in quickly. Although Cheng Yu’s strategy had led to Cao Ren’s disastrous defeat in Jiangxia Commandery, Cao Cao did not blame Cheng Yu. Cheng Yu’s thinking was completely correct: cut off Gan Ning’s salt source and seize Gan Ning’s strategic vital point.
It was only during execution that problems arose. The support from Nan Commandery failed, leading to ultimate failure, which was also related to Cao Ren’s underestimation of the enemy.
“Greetings, Chancellor!”
Cao Cao handed Gan Ning’s memorial to Cheng Yu. “Strategist, take a look. This is Gan Ning’s memorial to the Imperial Court.”
Cheng Yu took the memorial and read it once. He could not help but be slightly stunned. “Marquis of Chu. Does that mean his flag will become the Chu flag from now on?”
“Exactly right. That is precisely his intention. He wants to establish a state name of Chu and is using the marquis title to test us.”
“May I ask, Chancellor, is Gan Ning acting first and reporting later?”
Cao Cao nodded. “Indeed!”
Cheng Yu pondered for a moment and sighed. “Chancellor, this matter is tricky!”
“I know it’s troublesome. I want to hear your opinion!”
Cheng Yu shook his head. “The normal approach would be for the Imperial Court to reject his memorial and not accept his changes to the county name and marquis title. But what would the consequences be? The consequence would be that he would ignore any Imperial Court edicts from then on, the Imperial Court would lose control over him, then the Imperial Court would declare Gan Ning a rebel and order our lord to lead the army to crusade against him, allowing our lord to march south with justification.”
Cao Cao was silent for a moment before saying, “But the problem is, we do not have enough warships. In the Yangtze River, our army would become fish on the chopping block, at his mercy. Moreover, I do not plan to attack Gan Ning first. Instead, I want to go through Hefei and attack Jiangdong first. Otherwise, why would I support Sun Ben?”
“If that is the case, then there are only two plans. First, the Imperial Court approves his request. Second, the Imperial Court responds to his request with silence. Of these two, I suggest the Chancellor choose the former. At least with the former, the Imperial Court can save face. With the latter, there would be no face or substance.”
“But if we approve it, won’t he openly and legitimately become Marquis of Chu?”
Cheng Yu advised, “Marquis of Chu is not something frightening. The Imperial Court enfeoffed Sun Quan as Marquis of Wu, and what could he do? Would he dare publicly establish Wu State? This subordinate means that since there is already a Marquis of Wu, having one more Marquis of Chu is not a big issue. Essentially, they are merely county marquises, not kingly marquises. Gan Ning’s memorial is just skirting the line without crossing the red line.”
Cao Cao nodded. “I understand. It seems I can only choose the former, swallow my anger, accept his pretense, and maintain the Imperial Court’s authority on the surface.”
Cheng Yu gave a wry smile. “This is the difficult part of dealing with Gan Ning. He knows the Chancellor will inevitably have to agree to maintain the situation of using the Son of Heaven to command the vassal lords. In the end, it is still because our navy strength is insufficient that he is so fearless.”
Cao Cao let out a long sigh. “It seems I must fully focus on building ships in the North to avoid a second Jiangling incident!”
Three days later, Cao Cao, as Chancellor, approved Gan Ning’s request, agreeing to rename Wuchang County to Chu County and changing Gan Ning’s Marquis of Wuchang to Marquis of Chu. From then on, Gan Ning’s title became Marquis of Chu.
Cao Cao simply went all the way, issuing an edict in the name of the Son of Heaven to congratulate Gan Ning on having a son and enfeoffing Gan Ning’s son as Marquis of Nanxiang. At the same time, Gan Ning’s one wife and two concubines were all enfeoffed as Madams.
The facts proved that Gan Ning’s skirting tactic was successful. Without touching the Imperial Court’s bottom line, Cao Cao was forced to weigh the pros and cons and ultimately made the choice of saving face but losing substance, maintaining the Imperial Court’s surface authority while also preserving Cao Cao’s situation of using the Son of Heaven to command the vassal lords.
When the Imperial Court’s approval arrived in Chaisang City, it was already late December, less than ten days from the New Year. A heavy snow was sweeping across both banks of the Yangtze River, covering Jingzhou to Jiangdong in thick white snow, turning it into a silver-clad world.
The New Year was approaching, and all shops in Chaisang were booming with business. Brothels and gambling houses were full. There was one gambling house called Nanfeng Gambling House. During the Han Dynasty, Hulu was quite popular, which involved five wooden dice: black for calf, white for pheasant, then determining the point value based on combinations. Five blacks was Hulu. When the dice were thrown, everyone shouted ‘Hulu,’ hence the name.
That afternoon, the shopkeeper of Nanfeng Gambling House hurriedly found the owner and placed a twenty-tael gold ingot in front of the owner. The owner was none other than County Magistrate Yang Jing. Yang Jing was the uncle of Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. He was a local tyrant with many businesses in Chaisang City, including restaurants and gambling houses. As long as it was legal business without harming heaven or reason, Gan Ning did not interfere. After all, Gan Ning himself had many restaurants and caravans.
Yang Jing picked up the gold and examined it closely, unable to help but be stunned.
