Chapter 274: Intelligence Pressure
Cao Cao had already received the carrier pigeon message from Shen Tong of the Imperial Guard. Shen Tong believed that the intelligence scout from Jichun Apothecary had not betrayed them, and the intelligence on Queyue City should also be reliable.
Cao Cao trusted the subordinates of the Imperial Guard very much. Since they had made their judgment, it should indeed be without issue.
More importantly, Cao Cao figured out why the situation in Queyue City differed from the intelligence: it was because Queyue City had water route connections to the opposite shore with strong support. When the intelligence was received, Cao Ren’s army was still in Shucheng County, a thousand li away from Queyue City.
Only after receiving the intelligence did Cao Ren advance westward. The enemy was not standing still; it was very likely that when Cao Ren entered Jiangxia Commandery, the enemy began large-scale support for Queyue City. Water route support was very convenient and could arrive in a single day.
This explained why the intelligence differed from the actual situation. The situation changed in an instant, but the intelligence was already outdated.
Cao Cao opened the copied carrier pigeon letter, his brows furrowing slightly. An army of 300,000 and 12,000 warships—were there really that many?
He passed the carrier pigeon letter to several strategists by his side for them to review. Xun Yu nodded. “This subordinate believes the content of the carrier pigeon letter can be trusted.”
“Why?” Cao Cao asked.
Xun Yu said unhurriedly, “Because the answer to the fourth question is very authentic. He couldn’t find anyone from the Imperial Guard and had no contact with them. That is the rule of the Imperial Guard’s operations: very deep covert operations, severing all contact to prevent betrayal. If the intelligence station couldn’t find Imperial Guard personnel, that is correct.”
Cao Cao pondered for a moment and said, “But the army numbers and warship count are at least fifty percent more than what I knew before.”
Cheng Yu smiled from the side. “This subordinate can explain this discrepancy.”
“Zhong De, please speak!”
Cheng Yu smiled faintly. “The troop strength and warship numbers that the Chancellor received before were data from non-wartime conditions. But now Western Chu has entered wartime status, so shouldn’t the commandery troops and official ships from each commandery be mobilized?”
Cao Cao nodded. He understood. “You mean this includes the local militia troops and official ships?”
“Exactly! The south relies mainly on boats and ships. Under General Gan’s rule, there are so many commanderies and counties; thousands of official ships and seventy to eighty thousand commandery troops are all very normal—not strange at all.”
Although he understood, Cao Cao’s mood was still somewhat heavy. Gan Ning’s strength far exceeded his cognition. His confidence in this southern campaign wavered, and he felt some anxiety in his heart.
Returning to the temporary Chancellor’s Mansion office, Cao Cao summoned Xun You again.
“Gongda, have we been a bit too contemptuous of the enemy?” There was an anxiety in Cao Cao’s eyes that he could not conceal.
Xun You pondered for a long time before saying, “Gan Ning is not Sun Quan. He is very much like Sun Ce, the founder of Western Chu, with supreme authority. Moreover, he himself has a firm will, a clear stance, keen thinking, and no external restraints like Sun Ben. This subordinate can see from the attack on Queyue City that it will be very difficult for us to defeat him as we did Yuan Shao. But we are not entirely without options. We can tie him down, then wait for Sun Ben to take Jiangdong. We can allocate part of our forces to Sun Ben to attack Yuzhang Commandery from the east, while we press from the north—a pincer attack—and we will gain the upper hand.”
Seeing the light gradually return to Cao Cao’s eyes, Xun You smiled faintly again. “Moreover, Gan Ning has a weakness.”
“What weakness?” Cao Cao asked urgently.
“Gan Ning has placed his capital in Chaisang. Doesn’t the Chancellor think it is a bit top-heavy? Chaisang can enter the heartland of Yuzhang Commandery by sealing off water routes, but what about land routes? Entering the heartland of Yuzhang Commandery from Danyang Commandery or Kuaiji Commandery—how will Gan Ning defend? Will he split his forces to guard Nanchang County? On land routes, he has no navy advantage, but we have the cavalry advantage.”
Cao Cao nodded repeatedly, muttering to himself, “Top-heavy—it really is a small weakness, and I didn’t even notice it myself.”
Although Cao Cao sensed Gan Ning’s strength and knew that a breakthrough in Jiangdong was the key to their victory, he did not rush to issue orders to Sun Ben.
He still needed to consider for a few more days, waiting for the overall situation to stabilize before making the final rational decision.
In the blink of an eye, Sun Shangxiang had lived in Gan Ning’s Mansion for nearly three months. She had fully adapted to life here, living very comfortably and happily. Moreover, through the precipitation of time, she truly felt a sense of freedom and respect—something not felt at the beginning, but gradually realized through the bits and pieces of daily life.
This home had no scheming, no jealousy over affections—only mutual yielding and mutual care. Only with a woman like Da Qiao as the main wife could there be such precious family harmony.
Of course, it was also related to her husband Gan Ning. She discovered that when Gan Ning shared a room with Xu Wei, there were no overnight maidservants in the room. This somewhat overturned Sun Shangxiang’s cognition, as every wealthy household must have overnight maidservants.
“Yun Qing, don’t you have maidservants staying overnight in the evenings?”
Finally finding an opportunity, Sun Shangxiang asked softly. She and Xu Wei talked about everything; as long as it was not explicit sexual intercourse, they would discuss such intimate joys.
Xu Wei’s pretty face blushed slightly. “Shang Xiang, why ask this?”
“I-I’m just a bit curious. How are you different from others?”
“Husband doesn’t like it!”
Xu Wei said softly, “He says sexual intercourse is the most private matter between husband and wife. How can there be outsiders present? That is a lack of respect for his wife.”
“Respect?” This word was very unfamiliar to Sun Shangxiang.
Xu Wei nodded gently. “This kind of respect is something we can all feel. Husband never fools around with women other than us sisters. He doesn’t go to brothels, doesn’t keep concubines, and doesn’t treat women as spoils of war to toy with at will. In his words, this is not about morality, but respect for his own wife.”
Sun Shangxiang nodded lightly. “It seems General Gan is really quite good!”
“You admit he’s good now?” Xu Wei laughed.
Sun Shangxiang felt a bit embarrassed. “Before, I didn’t understand, and I believed the rumors that he was a Yangtze River bandit.”
Xu Wei looked at Sun Shangxiang for a moment and said, “Yesterday Older Sister mentioned it again: actually, you were originally one of us sisters too.”
Sun Shangxiang’s heart skipped a beat. This was a secret buried deep in her heart. Back then, in the Sun-Gan alliance, the most important clause was marriage alliance between both sides, marrying her to Gan Ning. In the end, the marriage alliance did not happen because she refused, so both sides had to cancel the marriage alliance clause.
Over these many years, Sun Shangxiang had never regretted it, but for some reason, after these few months together, she began to regret it in her heart.
She suppressed this secret and this regret deep in her heart, but unexpectedly, Xu Wei brought it up casually.
Sun Shangxiang’s pretty face reddened, but a trace of gloom flashed in her eyes. She lowered her head and said nothing.
