Chapter 242: Inspecting Que Yue
Every large ship is equipped with a contact ship, usually a medium-sized mengchong warship. These warships are the fastest and travel between the main large ships to pass messages.
Huang Zhong arrived at Gan Ning’s command ship on a mengchong warship. He waited in the council cabin on the first deck, standing with his back straight.
Shortly after, a soldier outside the door said, “The Marquis of Chu has arrived!”
Huang Zhong quickly stood up and bowed to Gan Ning as he entered the cabin. “Greetings, Marquis of Chu!”
Gan Ning waved his hand and smiled. “Please sit!”
Huang Zhong sat down, and Gan Ning also sat. He smiled and asked, “Have you thought about how to defend Queyue City these past two days?”
Huang Zhong nodded. “This subordinate has been considering this matter.”
“Tell me about it!”
“To defend Queyue City, there are essentially three points. First, know yourself and your enemy. This does not mean knowing how many troops the Cao Army has—for defending the city, that is not important. What matters is knowing what siege weapons the Cao Army has and where their weaknesses in attacking the city are. Similarly, we must know our own advantages, leverage them, and strike the enemy army’s weaknesses for remarkable results.”
“Be more specific.” Gan Ning said with great interest.
Huang Zhong organized his thoughts and continued, “The Cao Army’s greatest weakness is their weak naval forces on the water surface. So I plan to widen Queyue City’s moat threefold and deploy warships in the moat. If the enemy builds a pontoon bridge, the warships will strike and promptly destroy the enemy army’s pontoon bridge.”
Gan Ning nodded. This was a good idea. He pondered for a moment and said, “What if the enemy does not build a pontoon bridge but fills the moat with sandbags instead? At least filling a path.”
“That is where the catapults on the city wall come into play. If the catapults are not effective enough, then increase the warships and use our advantage in firearms to destroy the enemy army’s actions.”
“I understand. Continue!”
“The Cao Army’s firearms are also powerful. I will build fireproof passages on the city wall. Soldiers can hide in the passages. Even if the city wall is engulfed in fierce flames, the soldiers will remain safe and able to counterattack the enemy army.”
Gan Ning laughed. Huang Zhong was very skilled at this tactic. Back when he defended Linxiang County in Changsha Commandery, his firewall had left him helpless.
“Tell me the second point!”
“The second point is maintaining high morale, which is extremely important for prolonged battles. Marquis of Chu, it is not just about having sufficient grain. We must also maintain contact with the outside world, allow soldiers to communicate with their families, and let soldiers know that their defense will bring better lives for their families—for example, holding out for a month means their families get an acre of land. Additionally, let soldiers see the large number of warships on the Han River, so they know they are not isolated and without aid. Finally, there must be military prostitutes— at least one thousand for twenty thousand officers and soldiers. As long as morale does not collapse, we can hold out for two or three years.”
Gan Ning nodded silently. “What about the third point?”
“The third point is giant trebuchets. We need to strike the enemy from long range. I worry the Cao Army will also have giant trebuchets that can strike us from across the moat. We must have a means to counterstrike. We also need a group of artisans to repair the trebuchets at any time.”
Gan Ning was very pleased. He had indeed not misjudged him—Huang Zhong was truly an experienced famous general.
“Let us go to Queyue City for an on-site inspection. Perhaps we will have better ideas.”
At this point, Gan Ning placed the black box on the desk and smilingly pushed it to Huang Zhong. “This is a secret weapon for you to use.”
“What is it?”
Huang Zhong curiously took the box and opened it. Inside was a wooden tube about one foot long, exquisitely crafted, but he had never seen anything like it.
Gan Ning reached for it and said with a smile, “This is called the thousand-mile eye. It lets you see enemy situations clearly from several li away. It is extremely useful in naval battles and defending cities. I will teach you how to use it.”
Gan Ning raised the thousand-mile eye and looked out of the cabin. The lens barrel was actually two sections that could be adjusted for distance. Once the image was clear, he fastened the copper clasp.
Gan Ning adjusted the distance and handed the thousand-mile eye to Huang Zhong. Huang Zhong was baffled but imitated Gan Ning’s way of holding the thousand-mile eye and looking out of the cabin. Suddenly, his face filled with shock—the distant mast appeared right before his eyes, startling him so much that he trembled all over and nearly dropped the thousand-mile eye.
“Marquis of Chu, what is this?” Huang Zhong asked in alarm.
“I just told you—it is called the thousand-mile eye, an ingenious device that brings objects several li away right to your eyes.”
“Ingenious device?”
Huang Zhong somewhat understood. He raised the thousand-mile eye and looked outside again. He was still surprised but not as frightened as before.
Huang Zhong looked for a good while and finally understood. His shock turned to delight. “Marquis of Chu, this is simply a divine weapon for battle! With it, defending the city will be like adding wings to a tiger.”
Gan Ning pondered for a moment and said solemnly to Huang Zhong, “General Huang, this kind of thousand-mile eye is our greatest secret weapon. There are only three in total, designed by me and made by my wife. Apart from my family, no one knows about them. Today, I am entrusting it to you. I hope you will keep it by your side at all times and not let anyone see it except you—not even personal guards. This secret must absolutely not be leaked, and Cao Cao must absolutely not know we have thousand-mile eyes. Does General Huang understand my meaning?”
Huang Zhong nodded solemnly. “Marquis of Chu, rest assured. I will strictly guard the secret. No one except me will touch it, and no one will know what it is.”
Gan Ning then taught Huang Zhong how to use the thousand-mile eye, how to maintain it, and what precautions to take.
Huang Zhong quickly learned and carefully stored it on his person before taking his leave to return to his large ship.
Five days later, the fleet arrived at Queyue City. Queyue City was a military city built by Huang Zu at great expense. It could accommodate up to forty to fifty thousand troops. The city’s shape was a half-moon, located on an isolated island surrounded by water on all sides. To the west was a massive water bay of several tens of thousands of mu on the Han River. A water fence had been built back then, but it was gone now. The ships sailed directly into the water bay and slowly approached the shore to anchor.
Xu Wei did not disembark. Living on the two-man shi large ship was very comfortable, while there was nothing in the city—better to stay on the ship.
Gan Ning disembarked and entered the city with Huang Zhong and Xu Shu.
Queyue City currently had three thousand garrison troops, subordinates of Wei Yan, who was also in the city. He hurried forward to salute. “Greetings, Marquis of Chu!”
“General Wei has worked hard!”
Gan Ning smilingly comforted Wei Yan a few words, then led everyone into the city. The city was very large, equivalent to a medium-sized county town, unchanged from back then. There were no wooden houses—only stone houses. Warehouses, barracks, training ground, military yamen, and so on were all complete. There was particularly a lot of open space. The houses were mostly on the west side, and the enemy army could only attack from the east. Even if boulders fell inside the city, they would be too far from the houses.
The whole city had only three city gates. What particularly pleased Gan Ning was the water gate, directly connected to the Han River—that is, the defending army not only had a retreat route, but reinforcements could also enter the city through the water gate.
Gan Ning was very satisfied with everything. He made a decision: Queyue City would become his stronghold north of the river. With it, Cao Cao could forget about unifying north of the river.
“Let us go take a look at the city wall!” Gan Ning led the group striding toward the city wall.
