Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 328: Confrontation in Donglai
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huang County of Donglai was the seat of Donglai County.
The entire Donglai County is the small pointed part of the eastern peninsula of the mountain. Huang County is in the north. The location of Longkou in later generations is slightly different from Huang County in later generations.
As for Mouping County where Gan Ning landed, it was the location of Weihai Port in later generations.
After Gan Ning landed, he captured Mouping and continued eastward, passing through Dongmou County, and arrived at Huang County, which was only 200 miles away from Huangcheng!
Right now, the entire Donglai County is poorly guarded because the Xuzhou Army is fighting the Qingzhou Army in Beihai County.
After all, the Xuzhou army went north basically by land, and the battle zone was concentrated in the central and western parts of Qingzhou, and Donglai was a "protruding" area...
Although it has the advantage of fish and salt, compared with Qi County and Beihai County, Donglai's presence is not high, and it is not a war zone itself, so it is naturally under-prepared!
Gan Ning pulled out the commander of Mouping, and after assessing the situation, he immediately transformed his navy into the army and continued the surprise attack on Huangcheng.
Regardless of the hardship he and his soldiers had endured from months of drifting on the sea, he headed for Huangxian before even setting foot on solid ground, rushing to share the pressure for the friendly forces in Xuzhou.
Just as the navy of the General's Mansion occupied half of Donglai County - the coastal area from Muping to Huangxian, including Dongmu, Changyang, Qucheng County, Ye County, and Shen County, all of which were shared by the Xuzhou Army...
Guan Yu finally defeated Yuan Tan's main force in Beihai, and conquered Qi County, the core of Qingzhou, almost pushing the battle line to the Yellow River. In the part of Qingzhou controlled by Yuan Tan, the only thing left in the south of the Yellow River was Le'an County!
But at this time, something happened that made Gan Ning regretful...
As an ally, the Xuzhou army, due to communication problems, not only did not thank him for his selfless dedication, but instead deployed troops in Donglai County, resulting in some minor frictions between the two sides.
As the admiral of the navy and representing the General's Office, Gan Ning maintained restraint, argued with reason, and maintained his integrity. He adhered to the bottom line and suppressed the conflict to the lowest level.
In the end... the two sides only had some small-scale battles in Qucheng County, west of Donglai County and southwest of Huang County. In addition, Gan Ning and Guan Yu had an argument in front of the formation, which turned into a fierce fight.
It is said that when Guan Yu fought against Lu Bu at Hulao Pass, he was already a gold and jade general, while Gan Ning was only a gilded general at that time, and might not even be at his peak. As the prices of "gold and jade" continued to increase, he was promoted to gold and jade six or seven years later than Guan Yu.
One of the reasons is certainly that Gan Ning is younger, but... in terms of martial arts, although Gan Ning is first-rate, there is obviously a gap compared to Guan Yu!
However, in recent years, Gan Ning not only commanded the navy of the General's Office, but also incorporated Yizhou into the territory and built a port in Zhouhu. He can be said to be a "pioneer of enlightenment" and even personally contributed to the emergence of Yizhou Kaihua Ji.
Just like Bai Tu’s “Reincarnation of Shennong” and “Master of Elementary Education”, these also bring blessings to Gan Ning!
When Gan Ning entered the serious mode, a wide and large costume was formed outside the armor, embroidered with splendid mountains and rivers, Chinese culture, and prosperous cities...
Just like when civilizing foreigners, it was necessary to show the good side, Gan Ning's clothes were also extremely gorgeous, with a variety of flowers and dazzling.
At the same time, the invisible power of enlightenment also provided Gan Ning with additional protection and blessings.
Since Guan Yu hadn't activated the power of Azure Dragon, he couldn't do anything to Gan Ning...
After all, Xuzhou Prefecture and the General's Mansion are still allies. Although Guan Yu is arrogant and very unhappy with Gan Ning's " help , but... he is definitely not ignorant of the overall situation.
He just wanted to force Gan Ning's navy away from Qingzhou and did not want to fight a life-and-death battle with the other side directly, otherwise Xuzhou Prefecture would be attacked from both sides!
Ever since Bai Tu attacked Jingzhou and Liu Xie's mediation efforts failed, Xuzhou Prefecture's attitude towards Bai Tu has changed, but... even without talking about feelings, we always have to talk about practicalities.
After defeating this navy , what should the General's Mansion do if he directly crosses the Huai River and goes north to attack Xia Pi?
In any case, now is obviously not a good time to go to war with the General's Mansion.
Therefore, Guan Yu wanted to activate the power of the Azure Dragon again and again, and use the power accumulated from his usual sword practice - if he could burst it out with three swords, there would be a good chance of directly killing Gan Ning, but... Guan Yu gave up the idea in the end.
After all, once the power of the Azure Dragon is unleashed, Guan Yu will not be able to control it as freely as usual.
Gan Ning also felt that every time Guan Yu narrowed his eyes, he had a sense of extreme danger in his heart!
After fighting with Guan Yu for more than thirty rounds without a clear winner, he immediately shouted, "My government has always cooperated wholeheartedly with the Xuzhou government to jointly shoulder the great mission of supporting the Han Dynasty. Now we are under unprovoked attack by your army. On behalf of the general's office, I advise your army to stop at any brink of danger. Although my government has remained restrained, if there is any misunderstanding, we are willing to communicate with your government to resolve it, but we reserve all rights to pursue and are determined to fight back resolutely!" He turned the engine back to the formation without looking back.
The navy is definitely the strongest army in terms of morale now, except for Gao Shun’s Xianzhen Camp!
Having experienced strong winds and waves at sea all year round and often not seeing land for several months, their mentality is completely different from that of ordinary troops. The fact that the commander-in-chief made harsh remarks while retreating strategically would only make them laugh behind his back, but it would not damage their fighting spirit at all - which was in line with Gan Ning's thunderous strike.
On the contrary, Guan Yu's already rosy face turned even more rosy when he heard this!
However, out of caution, he simply transferred the main force that was originally heading north to the east and suppressed it in Donglai County, without taking any further action.
At the same time, a message was sent to Pengcheng, and also to Liu Bei who was in Xudu...
Gan Ning also sent a fast ship back to Jiangdong along the coast to report Bai Tu!
At the same time, Gan Ning was actively confronting Guan Yu in the western part of Donglai County, while deploying more troops in the Chengshan area east of Huangxian and along the coast, as well as the coast of Mouping when landing.
They have even begun to use the relief grain stocks to mobilize local manpower and expand the port.
Facing the Xuzhou army garrison, just to show his attitude, Gan Ning had ordered all the troops to retreat immediately if the Xuzhou army attacked.
In short, he will not be scared off, but if he really has to fight, Gan Ning will not fight a battle that he is completely unsure of.
Gan Ning's real bottom line is these two ports, or in other words, the 300-mile coastline from Muping to Huangxian County according to the Han system...
Not to mention Mouping County where he landed, the mountainous area along the coast of Huang County was also a natural safe haven after Gan Ning's observation. From the surrounding terrain to the coastline structure, Gan Ning's eyes lit up.
In history, when the Eastern Wu and the Gongsun clan of Liaodong agreed to rebel against Wei, the Eastern Wu navy once stopped here...
At that time, Cao Rui appointed Tian Yu, the important official in the northern border who had previously served under Gongsun Zan, to lead the Qingzhou army and go out to sea to intercept the Eastern Wu navy.
But soon Cao Rui felt that the Eastern Wu navy was too powerful and they should not use their own weakness to attack the enemy's strength, so he ordered Tian Yu not to waste time.
However, based on the wind direction and season at the time, Tian Yu judged that in the middle of winter, if the Eastern Wu fleet returned, they would have to stop at "Chengshan". Only there could they avoid the strong wind. So he rushed to Chengshan overnight and dealt a heavy blow to the exhausted Eastern Wu navy!
And where is the mountain?
The Records of the Grand Historian recorded that when Qin Shihuang performed the Fengshan ceremony, it read, "So he went east of the Bohai Sea, passed the Huang and Shen counties, walked to the end of the Cheng Mountain, climbed up the Zhifu Mountain, erected a stone tablet to praise the virtues of Qin, and then left" - that is, "he came to the east of Bohai County in Jizhou, passed Huangxian and Shenxian, walked along the Cheng Mountain to the end, climbed up the Zhifu Mountain, erected a stone tablet to praise the virtues of Qin, and then left" (5 points).
Zhifu Mountain is naturally the "Zhifu" of Yantai Zhifu District in later generations. The mountain range is connected to the overseas Zhifu Island, passing through Huangxian and Shenxian, and following the "Chengshan"... In other words, the Chengshan Port where you can dock and take shelter from the wind probably refers to the location of Yantai Port, which is now east of Huangxian. There is indeed a concave coastline here.
In his report to Bai Tu, Gan Ning also explained the situation in Qingzhou and the terrain he had discovered to Bai Tu.
After reading Gan Ning's report, Bai Tu "cautiously" sent reinforcements to Qingzhou by sea, authorized Gan Ning to make decisions in Qingzhou, and sent an envoy to Xudu to meet Hua Xin and clarify the misunderstanding to Liu Bei.
The reinforcements were mainly naval forces, with a considerable portion of the army and various military supplies. When reinforcements were added, as many people as possible were crammed into the ships to make the fleet look smaller, and no obvious weapons were placed on the decks of the troop transports to avoid irritating the Xuzhou government.
There were only three orders given to Gan Ning. The first was Chengshan Port in Huangxian County, the second was to avoid a full-scale war with the Xuzhou Army, and the third was Mouping Port - in descending order of importance!
In other words, it would be best to occupy both ports, but the prerequisite is that the Xuzhou army will not go crazy enough to really attack. However, the bottom line is to at least occupy Huangxian Chengshan, which was more important in the Eastern Han Dynasty, as a port.
My great general's mansion has already conquered Donglai County for Xuzhou Prefecture. If Xuzhou really doesn't want to give up even Chengshan, Bai Tu feels that he needs to maintain the dignity of the Han general, which is also part of supporting the Han Dynasty!
As for whether he could go further, Bai Tu did not mention it to Gan Ning.
Based on Bai Tu's understanding of Gan Ning, even if Bai Tu didn't mention it, Gan Ning would definitely strive for the "upper limit".
If the Xuzhou army really does not take any action now, this shameless guy would even dare to send a letter asking the Xuzhou army to retreat a little further - he would definitely do such a thing!
But the one leading the Xuzhou army now is Guan Yu...
Historically, when Liu Bei pulled his main forces into Shu and let Guan Yu take charge of Jingzhou, Guan Yu himself started to fight against Eastern Wu and Cao Wei.
Moreover, the detachment left behind in Jingzhou forced Cao Cao to consider moving the court from Xudu. If Lu Meng had not taken the opportunity to send troops seize Jingzhou, northern Jingzhou would have really been conquered by Guan Yu!
Therefore, Bai Tu did not deliberately encourage Gan Ning, lest that dog-faced guy really confront Guan Yu.
At the same time, it is just right to let Gan Ning stay in Qingzhou first. Otherwise, with Guan Yu's temperament, even if Bai Tu and Xuzhou Prefecture reach an agreement, Guan Yu will definitely take the initiative to attack once he has the chance. Liu Bei will certainly give Guan Yu considerable autonomy, so the people left behind in Donglai by the General's Mansion cannot be too "soft".
Of course, Gan Ning would not stay in Qingzhou for a long time just for the two ports. After all, there were more important tasks waiting for him.
Bai Tu planned to transfer Lu Meng back from Nanyang and let Gan Ning lead him first. When Gan Ning set out again, he would let Lu Meng stay in Qingzhou.
On the one hand, Lu Meng's talent and potential are obvious to all in the General's Mansion and are a lesson learned in Bai Tu's heart. On the other hand... from a metaphysical perspective, he can restrain Guan Yu, who may "act unexpectedly" at any time.
In short, the goal of the local defenders is to avoid being easily driven back to the sea because of Guan Yu's "testing" or self-determined attack, while the goal of the General's Office is to negotiate with Liu Bei and Xuzhou Prefecture to ensure that it does not develop into a full-scale war - let's be reasonable! We conquered Donglai County with our own strength, why should we give it back to you?
