Chapter 241: Layout North Of The River
Huang Zhong took his leave, and when he reached the door, Gan Ning said to Huang Zhong: “You go find Huang Zu, persuade him to temporarily migrate his entire family to Wuchang Commandery. Additionally, I have decided to reassign Huang She as Prefect of Wuchang Commandery.”
Huang Zu’s family is the number one noble family in Jiangxia Commandery, with enormous influence over Jiangxia Commandery, so Gan Ning did not kill Huang Zu and even let his son serve as Prefectural Assistant of Jiangxia Commandery.
Over these past two years, they were able to smoothly control Jiangxia Commandery, obtain the massive salt source, and smoothly mine and transport it out, all because they received cooperation from Huang Zu’s family.
Gan Ning was very clear that if Cao Cao controlled Jiangxia Commandery and Huang Zu turned to pledge loyalty to Cao Cao, Jiangxia Commandery would drift far away from them.
Huang Zu’s entire family must be fully migrated to Jiangnan.
Huang Zhong took his leave and left. Gan Ning signed the appointment order, appointing Huang She as Prefect of Wuchang Commandery.
Gan Ning clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the window, silently gazing toward the North. A new Battle of Chibi was coming. In history, Cao Cao was defeated, but now the course of history has been changed. Will Cao Cao still lose?
Gan Ning’s heart felt empty, without confidence but also without fear, only bewilderment toward the changed history.
………..
In the afternoon, Gan Ning arrived at the Ballista Courtyard under the Ordnance Department. The Ballista Courtyard was heavily guarded. This was not only a place for researching siege weapons but also a secret site for researching firearms. The Ballista Courtyard was the overt part, while the firearm workshop was the covert part.
However, Gan Ning was not here to inspect firearms today; he was here to examine the research on the giant trebuchet.
Accompanied by his supervisor, he arrived at the Smelting Workshop. Just as he entered the gate, he heard the clanging sounds of blacksmithing. The Smelting Workshop had over a hundred blacksmiths, and the chief master craftsman was the old blacksmith Wang Chun they had invited from Kuaiji Commandery.
When Wang Chun had first arrived, Gan Ning had come to inspect and talked with him. That was how Gan Ning understood Wang Chun’s role. He had stopped blacksmithing himself ten years ago, but he had a pair of hawk-like eyes honed by thirty years of experience. From the color changes in the molten iron, he could tell the carbon content level and the impurity content. He could order to stop adding charcoal at the moment when the carbon content was most precise and impurities were minimal, pour the molten iron into the mold, and cast large iron parts in one go.
At this moment, in the courtyard, a thousand-catty heavy iron shaft was fixed in place by an iron chain. The iron shaft was glowing red-hot, and four blacksmiths were swinging large hammers, clanging away at it.
Wang Chun was standing to the side. When he suddenly saw the Marquis of Chu arrive, he hurried out to greet him. “Marquis of Chu!”
Gan Ning smiled and said, “I’m here to check the inventory!”
The key parts for manufacturing the giant trebuchet were the iron shaft and the throwing pole. They had started making throwing poles last year, producing over two thousand, though it would take until autumn to finish them all, they still had three hundred in stock.
What they lacked most now was iron shafts. Only after Wang Chun arrived did they start producing qualified iron shafts.
“This way, Marquis of Chu!”
Wang Chun led Gan Ning to the warehouse. The warehouse was very large, with a total of five buildings filled with large wooden frames. The smallest warehouse among them was the iron parts storage.
Entering the parts storage, most of the warehouse was filled with wooden frames holding all sorts of small iron parts. Small iron parts were easy to make; the difficult ones were the large iron parts.
In the placement area in the northeast corner, Gan Ning saw iron shafts—at least over a hundred of them. Each was five feet long, as thick as a thigh, and weighed over a thousand catties.
“At first, we could only make one of these iron shafts every three days. Later, we got faster and more proficient, down to one every two days. Now we’ve split into two casting teams, basically producing two per day. In total, we’ve made one hundred twenty-seven.”
Only one hundred twenty-seven, enough for over a hundred giant trebuchets. But what he urgently needed most now was to deploy two hundred catapults at Queyue City, plus a hundred in reserve. Subtracting the one hundred giant trebuchets captured, he still needed two hundred.
Gan Ning thought for a moment and asked, “Can you produce seventy-three iron shafts within a month?”
Wang Chun nodded. “If everyone works hard, it’s completely doable!”
Gan Ning turned back and asked the Chief Steward, “How many days does it take to assemble one giant trebuchet?”
The Chief Steward smiled and said, “Marquis of Chu, if parts and artisans are sufficient, we can assemble a hundred in ten days.”
Gan Ning suddenly realized his mistake. Assembling trebuchets was not the same as casting iron shafts. He smiled and said, “I see!”
The assurance on the iron shafts put Gan Ning’s mind at ease.
In the afternoon back home, Da Qiao came out to greet him with her two sisters. After nearly half a year of gradual recovery, Da Qiao had fully regained her pre-pregnancy radiance and grace. Paired with her gentle temperament, she exuded even more beauty with poise.
“How is the child?”
“The little one just fell asleep!”
Gan Ning nodded. “I’ll go see him when he wakes up.”
Gan Ning returned to the study. He took a sip of tea and said to the three women, “I’m going out for a few days tomorrow!”
“Where is Husband going?” Da Qiao asked.
“To Queyue City, at the point where the Han River enters the Yangtze River. It’ll probably take about ten days.”
“Can we bring family members?” Xiao Qiao asked with a playful smile.
Gan Ning thought for a moment and smiled. “You can bring family members, but discuss with Yun Qing who will stay behind to care for Older Sister.”
Xu Wei smiled. “I’ll stay behind!”
“No! This time Yun Qing goes, and A Yu stays behind.”
Da Qiao then said to Xiao Qiao, “Last time to Yiling, you accompanied Husband. Now it’s Yun Qing’s turn. It can’t always be you taking the spots.”
Xiao Qiao pouted. It was clearly her who suggested it first! She knew she couldn’t be willful, so she reluctantly said, “Alright! Yun Qing goes this time.”
Gan Ning smiled and said to Xiao Qiao, “Next month I’m going to inspect the ranch in Nanchang County. You can accompany me then.”
Xiao Qiao immediately beamed with joy, and the slight resentment in her heart vanished instantly.
The next morning, Gan Ning took Xu Wei aboard a twenty-thousand-shi large ship. This was his dedicated vessel, a giant tower ship powered by eight sets of oars, operated by thirty-two men pedaling.
Six thousand soldiers and three hundred warships provided escort. Also going along were Xu Shu and Huang Zhong, though they were on another large ship.
The tower ship had four levels in the aft section of the large ship. Gan Ning and Xu Wei stayed on the third level, along with several personal maidservants. Eight female guards stayed on the second level, and three hundred personal guards on the first level, where they stood watch and patrolled around it.
Xu Wei stood at the front of the third-level deck, holding the gunwale, gazing at the surging Yangtze River ahead. The river wind blew, lifting her beautiful hair.
Gan Ning slowly walked up and put his arm around Xu Wei’s fragrant shoulder, smiling as he asked, “Have you ever been to Jiangxia Commandery?”
Xu Wei shook her head and smiled with pursed lips. “Husband manages things strictly at home. He doesn’t allow me to go out!”
Gan Ning laughed. “Looks like I’ve been too strict. Alright then! Starting today, I’ll loosen up on you a bit. You can go out freely. How’s that?”
Xu Wei was startled and turned to glare into her husband’s eyes. Only when she saw the teasing look in them did she relax, pounding his chest twice. “Don’t scare me like that!”
Gan Ning gently held her and softly said, “The river wind is too strong. It’ll make you catch a cold if you stay out too long. Let’s go back to the cabin.”
Xu Wei nodded obediently. Just as she was about to follow her husband back, a female guard stepped forward, saluted, and said, “Marquis of Chu, General Huang is here!”
Gan Ning nodded and said to Xu Wei, “Bring me that black box!”
Xu Wei immediately understood what her husband meant. The three Thousand-Mile Eyes were kept in wooden boxes of red, yellow, and black. She hurried back to the cabin and soon returned with the black box, handing it to her husband.
“You go back to the cabin and rest. I’ll be back soon!”
Gan Ning instructed his wife, then turned and went down the ladder to the first level.
