Chapter 70: Sun Quan Settles Accounts
Gan Ning immediately renamed E County to Wuchang County, appointed Ding Feng as Wuchang Colonel, commanding six thousand troops stationed in Wuchang County, while also responsible for completing the construction of Xiakou City.
Xiakou City is today’s Wuhan. Huang Zu was the first to build a city here, but currently only half of it has been built. Xiakou faces the confluence of two rivers, making it very suitable for surveilling Huang Zu’s army. It can be said to be the eyes of E County. Once Huang Zu’s army is spotted mobilizing, Wuchang County can be notified via beacon towers or carrier pigeon messages to prepare for war.
Gan Ning also reappointed the county officials of Wuchang County, Xia Zhi County, and Shaxian County. One Son of Heaven, one court: the previous county officials were all appointed by Huang Zu. Once Huang Zu counterattacks, they would become internal agents, so they must be replaced with his own people.
In these two months, Gan Ning recruited over a hundred scholars from poor families. He does not lack civil officials among his subordinates at all.
After arranging the defenses of Wuchang County, Gan Ning rode into the hinterland with Xu Shu to inspect.
This area along the south bank of the Yangtze River has intersecting waters and lands, often with patches of land surrounded by marshes on all sides. Moreover, contrary to Gan Ning’s expectations, the population was surprisingly large, with villages of all sizes scattered across the patches of land, mostly living by farming and fishing.
Xu Shu pointed at a distant village with his horsewhip and said, “Lord, this subordinate believes we can completely establish several more county towns in the hinterland. Such a vast prosperous area without a single county town is too regrettable.”
Gan Ning nodded. This place was indeed prosperous. In later generations, cities large and small like Wuhan, Huangshi, Xianning, and Jiayu appeared here.
“We can build a county town at the southern Yangtze River border with Changsha Commandery, as a springboard for our next attack on Changsha Commandery.”
The county town Gan Ning wanted was indeed built later: it was Jiayu County. Sailing further southwest along the Yangtze River for about two hundred li would reach Dongting Lake.
However, before attacking Changsha Commandery, they must fight fiercely with Huang Zu, thoroughly weakening him so he has no strength left to attack Wuchang County and Chaisang County, and only then consider attacking Changsha Commandery.
Gan Ning and his strategists had reached a consensus: before their strength could rival Liu Biao’s, they temporarily could not eliminate Huang Zu. Huang Zu was a very good strategic buffer. Once Huang Zu was eliminated, they would have to face Liu Biao directly.
After the army rested for two days, they left Wuchang County and returned to Chaisang.
……..
At this time, Eastern Wu also demonstrated its powerful strength.
Sun Ben’s original plan was, after Li Shu captured Guangling Commandery, to immediately lead the army north to capture Jiujiang Commandery and Guangling, then turn around and take Jiujiang Commandery.
Unexpectedly, Huang Zu’s sudden raid on Lujiang Commandery disrupted Sun Ben’s deployment, causing him to be delayed in the palace for two days. But just these two days of delay saw the situation turn around: the Jiangdong Army had killed into Guangling Commandery.
Sun Ben was shocked and immediately led his army to attack Jiujiang Commandery.
Counties in Jiujiang surrendered one after another to Sun Ben. Sun Ben’s army advanced unstoppable, capturing Shouchun in one go.
At the same time, Zhou Yu led thirty thousand troops to capture Guangling City in one stroke, killing twenty thousand enemies. Li Shu was badly defeated. Since the road back to Jiujiang Commandery had been cut off by Huang Gai’s army, Li Shu could not return to Jiujiang Commandery and had to lead several thousand remnant troops fleeing to Xuzhou to join Liu Bei.
In just half a month, the Jianghuai situation changed drastically. Huang Zu captured the long-coveted Lujiang Commandery, and the Jiangdong Army took advantage to capture Guangling Commandery, which Sun Ce had eyed for years.
Although Sun Ben did not achieve the goal of taking all three commanderies, he still obtained Jiujiang Commandery, making his sphere of influence span the Yangtze River, controlling Danyang Commandery and Jiujiang Commandery. Overall, he could still be considered a winner.
Sun Quan captured Guangling Commandery, which actually already violated his promise to never launch a Northern Expedition. This promise, not even three months old, was thrown into the trash heap by Sun Quan.
Sun Quan’s gaze then turned to Jiujiang Commandery and Lujiang Commandery. He truly no longer cared about Yuzhang Commandery. Sun Ben had become his greatest threat, greatly endangering Eastern Wu’s safety.
And Huang Zu was Sun Quan’s father’s killer. Now occupying Lujiang Commandery as well, with old and new grudges combined, Sun Quan wished he could recapture Lujiang Commandery in one go and personally kill Huang Zu.
But hate is hate; for now, he did not dare to fall out with Sun Ben. Sun Ben controlled Danyang Commandery, and falling out would threaten Wu Commandery too much. At this time, Sun Ben sent a memorial to Sun Quan explaining that it was to suppress Li Shu’s rebellion. Sun Quan had no choice but to grit his teeth and swallow this bitter pill, appointing Sun Fu as Prefect of Jiujiang Commandery.
As for Huang Zu, Sun Quan had no time to deal with him for the moment and could only set him aside. He now needed to digest the fat meat of Guangling Commandery and clean up the remnants of Li Shu’s poison left in Jiangdong.
Sun Quan immediately ordered the migration of over thirty thousand households from Guangling Commandery to Wu Commandery. The north of the river was still unstable; only Jiangdong was his true base.
Immediately after, Sun Quan began to settle accounts with the civil and military officials who followed Li Shu in rebellion.
But no one could have expected that the first great general implicated by Li Shu would actually be Taishi Ci. Taishi Ci had led ten thousand troops stationed in Shouchun, but when he came to Wu Commandery to mourn Sun Ce, Li Shu took the opportunity to seize his ten thousand troops, which became the backbone of Li Shu’s rebellion.
There was one issue here: why could Li Shu so easily take ten thousand troops, and why were these ten thousand troops willing to be commanded by him?
The investigation report soon came out: Taishi Ci had promoted two great generals, Xia Jie and Liu Zhan, who defected to Li Shu. These two controlled the ten thousand troops.
Xia Jie and Liu Zhan had already been killed in Guangling Commandery by Huang Gai and Chen Wu, but Taishi Ci, who promoted them, was ultimately implicated and demoted by Sun Quan to County Commandant of Taimo County in Kuaiji Commandery. That place was actually Shanyue people’s territory; Sun Quan sent Taishi Ci to govern the Shanyue people.
On the official road south from Wu Commandery, an ox cart was slowly heading south. On the ox cart was a woman holding a young child, and beside her was a boy about ten years old. The two children were Taishi Ci’s eldest son Taishi Heng and second son Taici Lai.
Taishi Ci rode on horseback following the ox cart slowly, with two old attendants behind him.
“Husband, Xia Jie and Liu Zhan were clearly Sun Ben’s subordinates. What does it have to do with you? You’re not even a colonel; what qualification do you have to promote great generals? Why demote you to a minor official in some remote backwater?”
Taishi Ci’s wife Wang Shi said indignantly.
“Mother, Father was settled accounts with by the New Marquis of Wu for supporting the Northern Expedition,” the eldest son Taishi Heng said loudly.
Taishi Ci’s face darkened. “Heng’er, don’t talk nonsense!”
Taishi Heng said stubbornly, “I’m not talking nonsense. Mr. Hua told me!”
Mr. Hua was Hua Xin. Taishi Ci had a good relationship with him.
Taishi Ci fell silent. How could he not know? He had memorialized Sun Ce, strongly urging the lord to launch the Northern Expedition, even volunteering to be the vanguard, leading ten thousand troops to station in Shouchun, awaiting only the lord’s order to lead the army north.
Countless opponents of the Northern Expedition hated him to the bone. He knew Zhang Zhao and Sun Ben were very hostile to him. Now that the lord had died unexpectedly, he had lost his foundation and patron in Jiangdong. If Sun Quan did not settle accounts with him, how could he explain to those forces opposing the Northern Expedition?
Moreover, there was clearly Sun Ben’s shadow behind Li Shu’s rebellion. The Marquis of Wu dared not pursue Sun Ben but made him bear all the responsibility, and no one spoke up for him. Thinking of this, Taishi Ci felt truly indignant.
Wang Shi said worriedly, “Husband is originally from the North and has no foundation at all in Eastern Wu. Even Cao Cao wrote to you, asking you to return north. Back then, it was because the Marquis of Wu knew and promoted you that you stayed. Now the Marquis of Wu is dead, and those who previously depended on him like Zhang Hong and Hua Xin have all returned north. If you stay in Jiangdong, where is there any chance for you to rise? Better to plan an escape route early.”
Taishi Ci let out a long sigh. In such a vast world, where was there a place for him to stand?
“Let’s settle in Taimo County first!”
Under the setting sun, the family headed south alone and isolated.
…….
Li Shu led four thousand remnant troops fleeing to Xiaopei, where he received a warm welcome from Liu Bei.
Liu Bei had been ordered to campaign against Yuan Shu, but Yuan Shu died halfway. Liu Bei took the opportunity to seize Zhu Ling’s entire army, killed Xuzhou Governor Che Zhou, and captured Xiapi Commandery. Liu Bei ordered Guan Yu to guard Xiapi while he led his army to camp in Xiaopei.
Liu Bei was already over forty at this time. Of course he did not have sons only in his forties; he actually already had wife and children long ago.
It was just that Liu Bei had been destitute and wandering, and several wives had died in warfare. His last wife and son were also captured by Lu Bu, their whereabouts unknown, probably dead in the chaos of battle. Only one concubine, Lady Gan, remained by his side.
After arriving in Xiapi, to gain the support of Xuzhou tycoon Mi Zhu, he demoted the recently promoted successor Madam Gan back to concubine and married Mi Zhu’s sister, thereby obtaining massive financial support from the Mi family. Liu Bei’s army quickly grew to twenty thousand.
Liu Bei and Li Shu were old acquaintances. At this time, Liu Bei also wanted to understand the southern situation, so he invited Li Shu to sit as a guest of honor. The two drank and talked.
“I’ve heard a Gan Ning has risen in Yuzhang Commandery. Younger brother, how much do you know about him?”
Liu Bei had also heard of Gan Ning’s rise and was very interested.
Li Shu smiled faintly. “He seized Yuan Shu’s imperial seal and handed it over to Cao Cao, thereby gaining Cao Cao’s support and establishing a foothold in Chaisang. After swallowing up minor forces like Zhang Ying, Ze Rong, and Zheng Bao, he gradually grew stronger.
But the fundamental reason is Cao Cao’s support. Without it, he would have long been eliminated by Huang Zu and Sun Ben. However, he has now grown big. In less than a year, he occupied Yuzhang Commandery with tens of thousands of elite soldiers, giving many Jingzhou scholars hope and prompting them to flock to him.”
Thinking of his own half-life of destitution and wandering, with no true foothold even today, while a young man occupied Yuzhang Commandery and rose in less than a year—the stark contrast made Liu Bei feel ashamed of his inferiority, yet also deeply moved.
Liu Bei pondered for a moment and asked, “Are there many opportunities in the South?”
