Chapter 277 Gan Ning: Why didn’t you say it earlier?

End of March.

Just as the world's attention was focused on Luoyang, another war was quietly beginning.

Zhi County, Ba County, Yizhou.

Huang Gai was indeed amazing. Relying on the strong willpower of the entire army, he managed to steer large warships into Yizhou before the water level of the Yangtze River rose to a dangerous level.

At this point, the Yangzhou army's strength in Yizhou consisted of 3,000 personal guards, 10,000 Jingzhou navy, three battalions of 4,000 main forces, and 10,000 elite recruits.

The situation this time was special, and the nurses did not come along.

Including the civilian laborers, there were a total of 50,000 people and 100,000 shi

The military generals include Dian Wei, Huang Gai, Huang Zhong, Wen Pin, Xu Huang, and Gan Ning.

The counselors include Zhou Yu, Xun You and Xi Zhicai.

The lineup is luxurious, but unfortunately there is not enough food.

Therefore, we should not fight for a long time, but should fight quickly and decisively.

Next, whether it is the plum rain season or the summer, the water level of the Yangtze River will rise to a very dangerous level, and it will be impossible to mobilize soldiers and food from Jingzhou.

Fortunately, Zhou Yu, a young all-round talent, has made his mark and has already made plans.

Time was running out, so Jin Mao accepted Zhou Yu's plan in its entirety, adding only one thing, and asked, "Has Yizhou's lieutenant Jia Long made any contact?"

Zhou Yu reported truthfully: "No contact yet."

"May I ask, lord, what is so special about this person?"

"Nothing special." Jin Mao said casually, "Since there is no contact, forget it."

At this time, Gan Ning stepped out and said, "My lord, I have a small friendship with Jia Long."

Jin Mao raised his eyebrows and looked at Gan Ning in surprise. "As far as I know, Xingba was not welcomed by the people of Ba County before he became a good man."

All of a sudden, all the generals looked at Gan Ning in a teasing manner, which made Gan Ning feel embarrassed.

"My lord, you don't know."

Gan Ning scratched his head and said, "I was young and ignorant at that time, and I was quite arrogant, but I also made many friends, Jia Long was one of them!"

Jin Mao suddenly realized that if it were Gan Ning from an earlier period, they would definitely be enemies rather than friends.

Now we have to give him some advice before we can entrust him with important tasks.

"Since Xingba and Jia Long have a history, I'll let you do a confidential task. Once you're done, I'll give you a great credit!"

Gan Ning bowed excitedly, "Thank you, my lord!"

"Hey, don't thank me yet."

Jin Mao knocked, "I hope Xingba can remember that since he has joined the Yangzhou Army, there are some things he can no longer do."

Gan Ning had traveled all over Ba County before and had seen all kinds of expressions. Even if he couldn't become a spirit, he could at least hear the obvious warning from Jin Mao.

"Lord, don't worry!"

Gan Ning assured him, "I have long since reformed myself. I will never make the same mistakes I made when I was young again!"

Jin Mao nodded with satisfaction and said, "I believe you, but I don't believe your brothers."

Jin Mao had already heard about what happened to Gan Ning's men in the past few months.

He is good at fighting and also good at causing trouble.

The Yangzhou Army does not need such people.

As for fighting ability, the Yangzhou army's actual combat capability has been verified in Dong Zhuo.

This shows that Jinmao's idea of ​​training soldiers is correct. If they stick to this method in the future, they will have 200,000 professional soldiers in the near future.

By then, it will be the time to unify the world!
Hearing Jin Mao's words, Gan Ning's face showed embarrassment, but soon he said firmly: "My lord, don't worry!"

"I'll take care of this!"

Jin Mao said, "Don't worry, it's okay if you finish your work first."

Gan Ning could not stand provocation, even though Jin Mao had no such intention, he immediately bowed and said: "I will definitely handle these two matters and report back to you, my lord!"

Jin Mao nodded slightly and let him go.

Gan Ning left the central army tent and just arrived at the garrison, three hundred brothers surrounded him and asked him questions non-stop.

"How is it, brother? What's the good thing?"

"Brother, who are you doing?"

"Brother..."

Gan Ning remained silent until he rode to the center, then he took a deep breath and said, "Brothers!"

"If you want to continue to follow me and make achievements, you will be subject to the Yangzhou military discipline in the future."

"If you can't stand the control, I will also take out gold and silver to give you brothers some money to settle down."

"I will wait here at noon tomorrow."

Gan Ning said resolutely: "Whether we stay or leave, we will be good brothers for life!"

After saying that, Gan Ning dived into the tent, not daring to face his former good brothers.

No matter how people shouted or called out from outside, Gan Ning refused to show up.

The next day, at Chenshi (a little after six o'clock).

It's just dawn.

Gan Ning did not sleep all night, and the people waiting outside the tent did not sleep all night either.

Gan Ning walked out of the tent with a nervous mood. Although he was mentally prepared, he was still worried when he saw that there were less than a hundred people left.

They were all brothers who had been through thick and thin together. The more than 200 people who left did not want any gold or silver, and left one by one on their own.

Gan Ning was heartbroken that he had to drive away such a good brother with his own hands, but he had to do so for a better future.

"Brothers." Gan Ning forced out a smile that was uglier than crying and said, "You will suffer with me."

No one took it seriously and they all laughed and tried to take credit for it to Gan Ning.

After calming down, Gan Ning said, "Let's do the work first. After that, I will ask the lord to arrange a place for you as much as possible."

The mission lasts only three days.

Three days later, Jin Mao will launch a general attack on Jiangzhou, Ba County, and wipe out the 20,000 defenders in the city.

Gan Ning's mission was to persuade Jia Long to cause chaos in the rear of Yizhou. In this way, the defenders in Jiangzhou would have no reinforcements and their morale would be gone.

Without morale, war becomes simple.

Zhou Yu's original plan was to have Huang Gai lead the navy to block the Yangtze River waterway and then attack in one fell swoop.

If Jia Long could be persuaded now, the matter would become much simpler, and the navy could even be fully deployed in the siege.

The first day of April.

Three days passed quietly, and there was no news from Gan Ning.

The Yangzhou army did not wait any longer and launched a full-scale attack as planned.

However, after Huang Gai blocked the Yangtze River and Jialing River, he did not see any sign of enemy reinforcements.

It happened that the Jiangzhou defenders were defeated and wanted to retreat by water, which instead gave Huang Gai a great deal of military merit, leaving Huang Gai confused.

The third day of April.

Jiangzhou City.

Everything is settled.

Jin Mao sat in the Xin County Magistrate's Mansion, listening to the post-war statistics.

"Eleven thousand were captured, four thousand were beheaded, and five thousand were drowned."

"We seized 3,540 sets of black iron armor, 5,131 sets of cloth armor, and 8,756 sets of half armor."

"Seized..."

I don't know what Liu Yan was thinking, handing over the elite troops to two idiots, which only caused more than 2,000 casualties to the Yangzhou army.

You have to know that this is a siege war, and the Jiangzhou defenders are not weak at all.

Moreover, the Imperial Guards only dispatched the Strong Crossbow Battalion to provide fire support, and the remaining one thousand men did not move at all.

The main force of the third battalion only exerted its strength when attacking the city, without wasting a single minute or a second.

According to the normal process, when the forces of both sides are similar in strength, a siege war will become a protracted stalemate.

But these two guys just gave up resistance and had no fighting spirit at all. It was a good thing that the Yizhou army was weak, because the rest of the things would become much simpler.

Just when Jin Mao wanted to entrust the affairs of Yizhou to Zhou Yu, Gan Ning came back!
As soon as Gan Ning entered the room, he bowed down like a golden mountain being pushed down by a jade pillar: "My lord! Please forgive me for my failure to achieve success!"

Seeing Gan Ning covered in blood, Jin Mao asked in surprise, "What crime has Xingba committed?"

"Didn't you persuade Jia Long to stop the reinforcements from Yizhou?"

Gan Ning shook his head and said, "Jia Long is stubborn and I have not been able to convince him."

Jin Mao frowned subconsciously. If Jia Long hadn't taken action, where the hell would the reinforcements have gone?
Huang Gai has already reported this strange incident, and Jin Mao is still thinking about what reward to give to Gan Ning.

After all, the only person who could do this was Gan Ning.

Unexpectedly, Gan Ning failed to convince Jia Long?

It was unclear whether Gan Ning was showing off or stating facts, but he said in a normal tone: "Although I have not yet convinced Jia Long, I did encounter a group of 10,000 troops on the road."

"Thanks to the sacrifice of my brothers, I was able to launch an attack at night and defeat the enemy!"

Seeing Gan Ning's sincere eyes, Jin Mao couldn't help but ask, "How many troops did you bring this time?"

"A hundred riders."

Gan Ning thought for a moment and added, "It should be 128 riders."

Jin Mao took a deep breath. He didn't expect Gan Ning to be such a tyrant and was so good at pretending.

A hundred riders robbed the camp, right?

It's really amazing, but that self-righteous expression is really annoying.

The area from Jiangzhou City to Chengdu County is all in the Yizhou Basin, and the horseback route is much better than the water route.

Therefore, before setting off this time, Gan Ning specifically applied for more than a hundred war horses.

Originally Jin Mao didn't take it seriously, but now Gan Ning did this.

"The blood foam on your body is quite fresh."

Jin Mao came to Gan Ning, twirled his fingers, and asked, "Where did you meet the Yizhou reinforcements last night?"

"It's at the foot of the mountain thirty miles west of Jiangzhou City."

Jin Mao came to the feng shui map and asked, "Here?"

Gan Ning nodded and said, "Yes!"

A wave of fear came over me. I didn't expect that Liu Yan's reinforcements would not come by water, but by land.

If Gan Ning hadn't been so lucky and succeeded in the night attack, he would have been in great trouble this time.

Although the reinforcements had arrived far beyond the best time, Jin Mao had already entered Jiangzhou City by then, but had not yet fully settled down.

The most terrifying thing in war is to take the enemy by surprise, just like Gan Ning's attack last night must have been an unexpected one.

If the Yizhou army cooked in the middle of the night, they would launch an attack before dawn, when the Yangzhou army was soundly asleep.

To be honest, the loss is definitely not small.

"Well done Xingba!"

Jin Mao praised him generously: "I didn't expect that you are also a great general!"

"Tell me, what reward do you want?"

Gan Ning bowed very respectfully and said, "I have already taken care of my personal affairs, but there are still more than a hundred brothers who want to continue to follow me. I want to find a future for them."

Gan Ning then summoned up his courage and said, "I beg you, lord, to let them continue to fight with me!"

Jin Mao said with embarrassment: "Xingba should know that there are no private soldiers in my army except me."

Gan Ning quickly explained: "No! I don't want them to become my private soldiers, but to join the same group."

Jin Mao understood that Gan Ning hoped that these more than one hundred people could skip the enlistment test and directly become the main force of the regular army.

From now on, you will definitely be under the control of the Yangzhou Army.

This is no problem.

but.

"Which tribe do you want to join?"

Jin Mao listed the various battalions of the current regular main force: "Battalion 1 to Battalion 5? Or the Jingzhou Navy or the Huaihe Navy?"

"The Cavalry Battalion and the Sling Battalion are also good and are being formed."

"The Strong Crossbow Battalion won't do that!"

The Strong Crossbow Battalion led by Huang Zhong was nominally one of the main battalions, but in reality it was under the control of the Royal Guards. In other words, Dian Wei was Huang Zhong's direct superior, and only the main elite could pass the assessment before they could join.

Gan Ning also knew this and was very satisfied to be able to enter the main camp.

Combining his own strengths and his brothers' preferences, Gan Ning chose the navy: the Jingzhou Navy.

There is no other reason. The Huaihe River navy is too far away, and Gan Ning is more accustomed to the waters of Yizhou and the Yangtze River.

Another point is that the Jingzhou navy is right in front of you, with plenty of credit waiting to be won. Only a fool would seek something far away instead of something near.

"Well, you should get familiar with the situation under Gong Fu first."

Jin Mao immediately conferred the title of Sima of an individual tribe on Gan Ning, allowing him to lead a thousand main forces in battle.

Although he is not as good as Sun Ce, who was equipped with generals and elite troops right from the start, Gan Ning has a higher official position and a higher military rank!

No matter how optimistic Jinmao is about Sun Ce, everything still comes down to military achievements!
Jin Mao exempted Gan Ning from thanking him again, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "How did you do it?"

More than a hundred people dared to charge into a camp of ten thousand people. It would be strange if Jin Mao wasn't curious.

At this time, Gan Ning stopped pretending and began to talk with a little pride: "It was God's will!"

"I have a brother who is the sixth in command and has some...special skills."

Gan Ning didn't dare to talk about those sneaky skills.

"Two days ago, I failed to reach an agreement with Jia Long. Jia Long spared my life because of our past friendship."

"That night, my brother, Lao Liu, used his expertise to learn that Liu Yan's reinforcements had already set out and would arrive soon."

"I ordered Lao Liu to continue investigating, and he really found out the marching route in Jia Long's backyard... um...

"Then, I led my men to work non-stop, traveling day and night, and finally arrived at the last moment."

Gan Ning was spitting and dancing with joy.

It is hard to imagine that such a person would dare to charge into a camp that is a hundred times smaller than his opponent.

Then, Gan Ning fully explained what it meant that a person with great skills and courage could achieve great success.

That night, it was dark and windy.

Gan Ning was also lucky, as he managed to get within a hundred meters of the enemy camp without being discovered.

The rest of the story is simple.

Gan Ning didn't care about anything and led 128 people to break into the enemy camp.

While setting fire, they shouted: "Fire! Fire!"

A camp of 10,000 people is called a camp, but in fact it is just a simple gathering place.

Under the forced march, the Yangzhou army, which had been trained for years, was still not fully prepared, let alone the Yizhou army.

The camp roar occurred naturally, and Gan Ning led his men to kill indiscriminately in the crowd. When he saw an officer who wanted to reorganize his men, he rushed over.

After three or four times, the Yizhou army could no longer organize an effective counterattack and collapsed completely.

"So how many people did you kill?"

Jin Mao asked, "There must be statistics, right?"

Gan Ning asked in confusion: "If we win the battle, isn't that a great achievement?"

"That's right." Jin Mao already knew the answer, but considering that Gan Ning had been pretending to be cool for so long, he decided to provoke him a bit.

"But that doesn't stop you from calculating your military merits based on the number of heads you have."

"Don't you even know that?"

Gan Ning was completely dumbfounded. He pointed at Zhou Yu and said aggrievedly, "The military advisor didn't tell me that!"

Zhou Yu spread his hands and said, "You didn't ask."

A scream resounded through the sky, and Gan Ning wanted to die!

(End of this chapter)