Chapter 291: Liu Bei Proposes An Alliance
The next morning, Lu Su hurriedly came to find Gan Ning and presented him with a personal letter from Liu Bei.
In the letter, Liu Bei expressed regret over the fall of Jiangdong and was very willing to cooperate with Gan Ning to jointly resist Cao Cao.
The letter was written somewhat vaguely, merely expressing an attitude, an expectation of cooperating with Gan Ning, without mentioning various details such as how to cooperate, cooperation steps, and so on.
Gan Ning frowned slightly. What did Liu Bei mean by this?
Last autumn, Liu Bei had tried to ally with Sun Ben to scheme for Jiaozhou. It had not been long, yet Liu Bei was now talking cooperation with him. This man’s face changed so quickly, showing no sincerity at all.
More importantly, they were too far apart, with no common goals for cooperation. A thought suddenly struck Gan Ning: Could Liu Bei want to fight back to Nan Commandery? After thinking it over, Nan Commandery seemed to be the only place of common intersection between them.
But Nan Commandery was too far for Bashu, and he himself was covetous of it. If they joined the contention for Nan Commandery and he cut off the Three Gorges Path, they would be completely done. Zhuge Liang could not possibly be unaware of this.
Gan Ning gradually ruled out the possibility of Nan Commandery. If not Nan Commandery, then what?
A thought suddenly jumped into his mind: Hanzhong. Another possibility was Hanzhong. Liu Bei wanted to capture Hanzhong, and he hoped Gan Ning would stall Cao Cao’s army.
Having figured this out, Gan Ning’s mind raced, and a clear outline of a grand strategy emerged: Use Liu Bei’s capture of Hanzhong to force Cao Cao’s main force to withdraw.
“What did Sun Qian say?” Gan Ning asked.
Lu Su bowed slightly. “Sun Qian said that Cao Cao’s power is strong. If we do not unite, we will inevitably be swallowed up by Cao Cao one by one. He also said that our two sides have no conflict of interest, both being firm anti-Cao factions, and we are natural allies.”
Gan Ning nodded. “His words do have some truth, but I want to know their attitude toward Nan Commandery.”
Lu Su quickly said: “I also asked Sun Qian about Nan Commandery.”
“What did he say?”
“Sun Qian was quite frank. He said that Lord Liu Bei does intend to seize back Nan Commandery and push Liu Qi as a puppet to ascend to the throne, but Strategist Zhuge Liang firmly opposes it. Zhuge Liang believes that since we occupy Queyue City, our target is Nan Commandery. Dealing with the Cao Army is easy, but fighting us—a local tyrant with a powerful navy—is sure to end in defeat. We would easily cut off the Three Gorges Path and their logistical support. Without logistical support, their army facing the fierce Cao Army would only meet with total annihilation.”
Gan Ning nodded. “This Zhuge Liang sees things very clearly!”
Gan Ning changed the subject and asked: “Did Sun Qian say how we should specifically cooperate? What exactly is their target?”
Lu Su shook his head. “Sun Qian did not mention details or their target. He only said he hopes to form an alliance first, then discuss various cooperations on the basis of the alliance.”
“Does the strategist think the alliance is feasible?”
Lu Su smiled faintly. “Having one more friend is always better than one more enemy!”
Gan Ning burst into laughter, then sobered and immediately nodded. “I agree to the alliance. You continue talking with him. I hope to treat the alliance as a basket to hold all sorts of cooperation plans. Also, tell Sun Qian that my first hoped-for cooperation plan is to discuss Hanzhong.”
Lu Su was startled inwardly. He immediately understood that his lord had seen through Liu Bei’s intention.
Sun Qian had already brought an alliance treaty, a framework-type one that was relatively simple, consisting of broad principles like jointly resisting Cao Cao, non-aggression, strategic mutual assistance, and so on, without true detailed cooperation.
Lu Su unfolded the alliance treaty and smiled. “Marquis of Chu, take a look yourself! Anything that needs to be added or modified can be changed, and it can be sent back via carrier pigeon letter.”
Gan Ning’s heart stirred, and he pursued: “Did Sun Qian bring carrier pigeons?”
“No!”
Lu Su affirmed: “I asked the supervisor of the guest house. Sun Qian did not bring carrier pigeons on this trip.”
Gan Ning smiled. “Then where do their carrier pigeons come from?”
Lu Su also smiled. “No need to say it—they have an intelligence point in Chaisang!”
Gan Ning nodded. “Then add one more clause! Change each other’s intelligence points to official residence liaison offices. Since we are allies, there should be this level of mutual trust.”
Actually, the liaison office itself is also an intelligence agency, but it collects public intelligence: population, grain price, garrison, city wall, and marriage alliances between noble families, etc. This intelligence is all public, anyone can collect it, so as long as it is not digging into each other’s military secrets, both sides tacitly permit such gathering of public intelligence.
Lu Su gladly said: “This falls under the principle of intelligence mutual trust. I can add it.”
“Also, freedom of trade. There are many details inside, like taxes, inspections, embargoed goods, etc., but the principle of free trade can be written in, and details discussed next.”
Lu Su noted down the two requirements and then hurriedly took his leave.
That evening, back at the manor, Gan Ning sat down in the study. Da Qiao brought in a cup of ginseng tea and joked: “I heard Liu Bei’s envoy came to Chaisang. If they knew Shang Xiang is with us, would Liu Bei claim Shang Xiang is his fiancée and demand we hand her over?”
Da Qiao was not wrong. Sun Quan had indeed reached a marriage alliance agreement with Liu Bei, and it had reached the final step. This spring, Liu Bei was to send ships to escort Sun Shangxiang back to Bashu for the wedding. Sun Shangxiang was indeed Liu Bei’s fiancée in the official sense.
It was precisely because she discovered the marriage process had reached the final step that Sun Shangxiang was frightened into fleeing the marriage.
Gan Ning smiled and said: “What Liu Bei wants is not the person. Whether Shang Xiang is male or female is unimportant to him. What matters is allying with Jiangdong to seize Jiaozhou.”
Da Qiao covered her mouth and let out a ‘snicker!’ She laughed so hard she shook. “Husband, what do you mean ‘male or female doesn’t matter’?”
Gan Ning laughed it off. “Just a metaphor, a bit exaggerated. You get the meaning.”
Da Qiao held back her laughter. “You still can’t say ‘male’! You could say you don’t care if ugly or handsome, old or young, but the premise is that they have to be women.”
“Anyway, Liu Bei has no interest in Shang Xiang anymore. I got the news that Liu Bei has already married the sister of Wu Yi, a representative of the Dongzhou Group, as his wife. We don’t need to mention this matter anymore.”
Da Qiao nodded. “Good, let’s talk reality then! Husband has decided to marry Shang Xiang into the household?”
Gan Ning thought for a moment and said: “Our family has one advantage: we don’t need parents’ approval. We can decide for ourselves. As the husband, I am willing to take Shang Xiang as a concubine, but as the main wife, you also have decision rights. Are you willing to accept this new younger sister?”
“I am willing to accept!”
Da Qiao said softly: “I accepted her the first day she came. Her beauty, her kindness and innocence are all qualities I value most. What’s more, her country is destroyed and her family lost, with nowhere to go. I absolutely will not push her out the door.”
Gan Ning thought for a moment and said: “Then we’ll do it according to our family’s rules! On New Year’s Eve night, she will formally become one of my wives.”
