Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 287 Heading North to Liaodong
After hearing what the translator meant by Gan Ning, the star lord of Tamra Kingdom was obviously also wondering whether the people of the Three Han would pose a threat to him in the future.
Now in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula, there is a unified kingdom - Baekje, also known as "Southern Buyeo".
The Buyeo people were a nation that originated in the northeast. At this time, they established the Buyeo Kingdom between Goguryeo and Xianbei. At the same time, some Buyeo people also moved south to the Goryeo Peninsula and established a country in which the Buyeo people were the ruling class and most of the civilians were Mahan people from one of the Three Han countries, namely Baekje.
The King of Buyeo, who had a close relationship with Gongsun Du, was the King of Southern Buyeo.
In the eyes of the Star Lord, the Han people who never pay attention to them are obviously safer than the Three Han people, especially the Baekje people, with whom they often have contact!
Therefore, under Gan Ning's kindness and power, the Star Lord promised to rent the port and some surrounding land to the Han army for a period of one thousand years. The Han army would pay a certain amount of food every year - roughly equivalent to the annual food intake of two thousand people. Gan Ning did not even blink at such a petty price.
Gan Ning also left behind one-third of his soldiers and local slaves to further build Baigong Port. Even though he did not bring the slaves back to Han territory, he still took the initiative to exchange them for ten-year contracts and promised that their children and children under the age of twelve could live in Baigong Port as civilians in the future.
Afterwards, he led the main fleet and continued sailing northward under the guidance of the Zhouhu and Han people, heading towards Liaodong!
Gan Ning originally hoped to land directly in Liaodong County at Dajin, but the guide was more familiar with the route to Andongjin, which is to land in Lelang County.
The former is Dalian's Lushunkou in later generations, which is adjacent to the famous "Ganjingzi District" and is located at the "tip of a chicken's chin" on the map. The latter is Dandong's Donggang, located at the mouth of the Yalu River, at the "root of a chicken's chin".
Now the Zhouhu people are mainly in contact with the Koreans, so they are naturally more familiar with landing in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. In addition, they occasionally go to Lelang, which is the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. As for Liaodong, they rarely go there.
Since they were familiar with the road, Gan Ning did not insist on the original destination. Although there were Buyeo people roaming around in Lelang County now, the Gongsun clan was still nominally the dominant clan. What's more... even if he landed in the southern part of the Goryeo Peninsula, Gan Ning was confident that he could kill his way through.
When Bai Tu received the letter from Zhou Hu, Gan Ning had already arrived at Andongjin and met the county official of Lelang.
At this time, the nominal governor of Lelang was Liang Mao, but in fact Liang Mao was detained by Gongsun Du on his way to the post. At this time, he was considered Gongsun Du's aide. The Han counties in Lelang were also under the control of Gongsun's family.
He is said to be Gongsun Du of Liaodong, but in fact he is the local tyrant of the entire northeastern Youzhou. The Han forces in the four Han counties of the Goryeo Peninsula are also under his influence.
Gan Ning informed the officials of Lelang County that he would go to Dajin to represent the General's Office. After meeting with Gongsun Du, he returned to the sea route - from Andongjin to Dajin, he just had to sail along the coastline.
The fleet also carried a large amount of cargo, which would have been too expensive to transport overland.
Regardless of whether the other party could notify Gongsun Du before him, and regardless of whether this giant ship sailing along the coast would cause panic, Gan Ning arrived at Dajin in a swagger.
When Gan Ning landed in Dajin, Gongsun Du had already learned the news and was on his way to Dajin from Xiangping City.
Gan Ning came to open up the trade line, and Gongsun Du in Liaodong can also contain Hebei. In any case, the General's Office has no reason to go to war with him now. In fact, the reason for trading weapons with him is not only mutual benefit, but also support.
Moreover, the Liaodong Army is a completely different concept from the Dongyu Tribe of Iju, the Juhu Tamra Kingdom, and Nambuyeo of the Three Han.
The Liaodong Army is not only composed of real Han people, but has been fighting against other ethnic groups and northern princes for a long time. Although their military discipline and logistics are somewhat poor, their level of eliteness and ferocity is definitely weaker than that of any prince's army!
It was almost the New Year, and even though the soldiers of Gan Ning's fleet had prepared thick clothes, they were still shivering in the cold in Liaodong, and their combat effectiveness was only one-third of what it had been...
Even for Ji-made soldiers, their functions are affected by temperature. The Ji-made soldiers trained in the south as their source of soldiers have poor cold resistance.
If a conflict really occurs, Gan Ning and his tens of thousands of men will probably have no choice but to escape unscathed and return to Zhouhu to make further plans - on land, the fleet's soldiers are no match for the Liaodong Army, but if they are on the sea, the remaining 70% of the combat power can also be used to target and attack wherever they are needed.
In order not to increase the enemy's tension, Gan Ning obeyed the notice of the Dajin officials and stationed at the port waiting for Gongsun Du.
A few days later, Gongsun Du arrived at Dajin and met Gan Ning with great hospitality and even held a grand banquet for the occasion.
Gongsun Du and his generals and staff were also shocked when they saw Gan Ning - after all, in the twelfth lunar month in Liaodong, when it was freezing cold and snowy, Gan Ning was still wearing a red robe with his upper body slightly open, revealing his white chest, and he was still barefoot indoors...
"People from the bitter cold land of Liaodong can't help but feel emotional when they see Governor Gan's demeanor," Gongsun Du said with a bow.
Even people like Gongsun Du who have adapted to the weather in Liaodong were wearing fur coats at this time, and they seemed to be in two different seasons from Gan Ning. Moreover... the fur coat with a single gray tone and Gan Ning's bright and colorful Shu embroidery and Jiangdong brocade were two completely different styles.
Gan Ning's personal soldiers, the "Jinfan Guards", also wore this kind of gorgeous and extravagant clothing. Therefore, in the mind of Gongsun Du, who had never been to Jiangdong, the entire General's Mansion was probably dressed in this style!
"Gongsun Taishou guarded the border, resisting Goguryeo in the east and Xianbei in the north. The general often praised Brother Gongsun to Ning." Although Gan Ning had a dog-faced person, he was also able to flatter each other.
Gongsun Du also understood Gan Ning's hint and knew that this great general from the south wanted to make peace with him, but at the same time... it also had a condescending tone.
However, he became more enthusiastic about Gan Ning.
Gongsun Du was not having an easy time at this time. After the battle of Yijing, he originally wanted to unite Gongsun Zan and Zhang Yan to strike a blow against Yuan Shao's arrogance and ensure that there was still living space for these separatist princes in the north.
Unexpectedly, Gongsun Zan was destroyed in one battle, and Zhang Yan and Gongsun Du were also seriously injured. The former retreated into the mountains and dared not come out, while the latter could only rely on the climate and terrain of Liaodong to hold on.
Although Yuan Shao's main focus was now on the Yellow River line, competing with Cao Cao for the Central Plains, Yuan Shao's second son, Yuan Xi, was leading tens of thousands of troops in Youzhou at this time, and he had Gongsun Du under control. Even if Gongsun Du was angry, he could only vent his anger on the Buyeo and Three Han people.
And he was worried all day that after Yuan Shao defeated Cao Cao, he would turn around and destroy him...
Before Gan Ning came, Gongsun Du had not come up with the idea of recruiting Bai Tu, who was far away in the south, separated from him by Hebei and the Central Plains.
But now, when he saw Gan Ning's fleet, Gongsun Du suddenly became interested.
Even if the other party wanted to suppress him, Gongsun Du didn't mind - after all, Bai Tu was different from Yuan Shao, and he was thousands of miles away from him. So what if he was suppressed? He was just a humble man in name only, and he was still the local tyrant of Liaodong...
During the banquet, Gongsun Du took the initiative to mention Yuan Shao, and Gan Ning also echoed: "Yuan Shao is a traitor to the Han Dynasty. He even dared to call himself a great general of the Han Dynasty. My lord has been angry with him for a long time! It's a pity that we are far away from each other, and Yuan Shao has been rampant!"
Gongsun Du wanted to say, "I think you are more arrogant," but on the surface he still said, "It is not a pity for me to die, but... every time I think about the possibility of not being able to fulfill my duty to defend Liaodong if Yuan Shikai captures it, I feel sad."
"Gongsun, don't worry. Although my lord and the Yuan thief are thousands of miles apart and it is inconvenient to use troops directly, I am sent to bring food and military supplies to help you defend the land. At the same time, I can also trade some horses with you to prepare for the need to build cavalry when we fight Yuan Shao in the future."
