Chapter 273: Four Questions
Gan Ning hadn’t expected the Internal Guard to handle the case so efficiently this time; in just three days, they found the Imperial Guard’s people and eliminated them all without leaving a single one.
Gan Ning truly praised Wang Xiaoman heavily, and Wang Xiaoman said a bit embarrassedly, “This time, it was mainly because the opponent made a mistake. Shen Tong didn’t trust the apothecary shopkeeper Wang Yao and sent people to surveil him, which allowed us to discover the surveillance personnel. We then tracked him and found Shen Tong’s residence.”
Gan Ning nodded. “Well done!”
After a pause, Gan Ning asked again, “What was found during the search of his residence?”
Wang Xiaoman’s expression became serious. “This subordinate carefully examined their plan document. They were indeed here to assassinate the Lord. They devised three plans, and their targets even included the Lord’s family members.”
Gan Ning’s face immediately darkened, and he asked coldly, “Did Cao Cao’s order include assassinating my family?”
Wang Xiaoman quickly shook his head. “This subordinate also found Cao Cao’s order. The order only targeted assassinating the Lord himself, while assassinating the Lord’s family was just one of their tactics to disturb the Lord’s mind. The ultimate assassination target was still the Lord himself.”
Gan Ning’s expression softened slightly, and he asked again, “Wasn’t there a new intelligence scout who came to make contact? Was this person also killed along with them?”
“No, this person was not among them. He should have come alone. This subordinate suspects he was only here to deliver mission orders.”
Gan Ning nodded. “Once this person appears, capture him as well. There must be no one who slips through the net!”
“Understood!”
Wang Xiaoman saluted and left.
Gan Ning clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the window, silently gazing toward the north of the River. Cao Cao should be just dozens of li away from him, yet he sent people to assassinate him. Gan Ning felt that the cards in Cao Cao’s hand were running out.
The next morning, Wang Yao also learned the news of Shen Tong being shot dead. He immediately let out a long sigh of relief; from now on, he wouldn’t have to stay up all night sleeplessly.
Half a month passed again. As usual, Wang Yao sat behind the counter, picked up a teacup and was just about to drink when a faint voice suddenly sounded in his ear, “Flowers good, moon round!”
He jolted sharply, turned his head, and saw a very young man standing before him with eyes sharp as knives. Only then did he realize that the person he had been waiting for had arrived. He stammered hurriedly, “Moon round, flowers good! Please follow me!”
He quickly invited the young man to the back courtyard. As he turned, he casually placed the teacup in his hand at the upper right corner of the counter. This was an agreed signal, informing the Internal Guard waiters in the main hall that the contact sent by Cao Cao had arrived.
The two entered the shopkeeper’s room one after the other. Wang Yao closed the door and gestured, “Please sit!”
The young man sat down calmly and said, “Did the Imperial Guard’s people come to find you?”
Wang Yao’s heart skipped a beat. He nodded. “They came four days ago. He told me the new password, and then I haven’t seen him since.”
The young man nodded, took out a silver box from his arms, placed it on the table, and pushed it to Wang Yao. “This is your mission. After completion, send a carrier pigeon letter to the north of the River.”
“I understand!”
The young man stood up and said, “I’m leaving. I hope you complete the mission soon!”
As soon as the young man stepped out the door, more than a dozen Internal Guard soldiers swarmed forward, pinned him to the ground, bound his hands behind his back, stuffed a rag in his mouth, and finally put a bag over his head.
The young man was escorted away through the side door. Wang Yao came out of the room and handed the silver box to Li Qun. “He came to deliver the mission. This is the new mission he gave me.”
Half a shichen later, Li Qun handed the silver box to Wang Xiaoman. Wang Xiaoman carefully examined the flat silver box; it was completely seamless without any gaps. He smiled. “Quite cautious indeed!”
He drew a sharp dagger and slowly cut open the silver box along the edges. Inside the box was empty, with three neatly folded notes placed orderly, numbered in sequence on them.
Wang Xiaoman didn’t dare to open the notes without authorization and went directly to Pang Tong. Pang Tong opened the notes; surprisingly, they were four orders from Cao Cao, also four missions.
The first was to determine how many ships the Western Chu Army had, how many warships, how many civilian ships? And among them, how many warships of two thousand stone or above?
The second was to understand the emotions of the army and government offices, especially how many civil officials were war-weary and how many officials wanted to surrender?
The third mission was to ascertain the total number of Western Chu Army troops, and the final mission was just one sentence: Coordinate with the Imperial Guard’s mission.
These were not top-secret intelligence; Cao Cao might know nothing about them, but for the officials of the Strategist’s Mansion, everyone knew them.
Pang Tong immediately reported the latest situation to Gan Ning. Gan Ning pondered for a moment and said, “Increase the numbers of troops and warships by fifty percent. As for the civil officials’ war-weariness and such, say there is some, but it is not strong. The Chaisang war faction holds the advantage.”
“What about the Imperial Guard matter?”
Gan Ning sneered. “Have him say he couldn’t contact the Imperial Guard’s people, that the Imperial Guard’s people have all gone into hiding. Give Cao Cao some hope.”
Pang Tong nodded. “This subordinate understands. I’ll arrange it right away!”
Cao Cao was no longer in Hefei but in Xunyang County. His hundreds of thousands of troops, nearly two thousand warships, and large amounts of grain and supplies had all been transferred from Hefei to Xunyang County.
On Zhang Liao’s suggestion, Xunyang County had been massively fortified. The small county, originally with city walls twelve li in circumference, had now become a large city with walls thirty-five li around, tall and majestic.
However, there were very few citizens inside the city, only a few hundred households, less than three thousand people, crammed into a small area in the southwest corner, while the vast county town became the garrison for over two hundred thousand troops, truly a military city.
Twenty li outside the county town was the North Pengli Marsh. A lake bay covering ten thousand mu in the northwest corner had been turned into a navy barracks, with wooden stakes driven in and a water fortress built. Over eighteen hundred warships were moored inside the water fortress, while on the shore were the camps of tens of thousands of navy troops. The perimeter was guarded extremely strictly. Navy commander Yu Jin had made the water fortress’s defenses watertight; sneaking an attack on the water fortress was basically impossible.
This morning, Cao Cao inspected the navy barracks surrounded by hundreds of generals and strategists.
“Why are the ships chained together with iron chains?”
Cao Cao looked at the large ships all linked by iron chains and asked puzzledly, “If Gan Ning’s army uses fire attack, won’t our warships be unable to escape?”
Yu Jin bowed and said, “Reporting to the Chancellor, chaining the ships together resists the lake’s turbulent waves, which is very beneficial for training soldiers. Moreover, the chains are not fixed but releasable, very easy to remove. This subordinate has assigned dedicated soldiers to manage them. If there is an enemy fire attack, we will swiftly remove the chains at the onset of the fire attack, without affecting the ships’ dispersal.”
Cao Cao accepted Yu Jin’s explanation. He nodded. “In that case, keep the chains!”
After a pause, Cao Cao asked again, “Have any scout ships from the opposite shore been spotted recently?”
The North Pengli Marsh connects to the Yangtze River, and their confluence is very wide, nearly a hundred li across. Western Chu Army warships on the Yangtze can easily enter the North Pengli Marsh; scout ships coming over is too easy.
Yu Jin shook his head. “Reporting to the Chancellor, no scout ships have approached!”
“None at all, or none discovered?” Cao Cao pressed further.
Yu Jin hesitated, then finally said, “This subordinate can guarantee no scout ships within three li of the water fortress!”
Cao Cao nodded and asked no more.
They then toured the water fortress and barracks. Cao Cao was very satisfied. Although Cai Mao and Zhang Yun had no backbone and were contemptible, they were still competent in naval matters.
At that moment, a messenger hurried forward, knelt on one knee, and presented a copy of a pigeon message. “Reporting to the Chancellor, we just received intelligence via carrier pigeon from Chaisang!”
