Chapter 205 - Navy war (1/2)
Chapter 205 Navy war
Translated by Gamer
(TN: The main camp stated in this chapter are all on water.)
(Note: Gan Ning’s nickname, Jin Fan Zei translate to ‘Brocade’ ‘Sail’ ‘Thief’. Sounds strange after translating so I opt to leave it untranslated.)
(There are two types of boats/s.h.i.+ps. The towered s.h.i.+ps 楼船 are giant s.h.i.+ps that have less/no sails but have towers/bungalows on it. Wars.h.i.+ps 艨艟 were smaller, may have large sails and a lot of those super long oars.)
The Yangtze River originates from the ‘roof of the world’ — from the Geladaindong Peaks of the Tanggula Mountains at the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The water flows from multiple places and civilization was formed there. Now, something historical will happens near the edges of the Yangtze River.
Under the night sky, there were countless large boats being hidden under clothes at the Yangtze River. The s.h.i.+ps went downstream without any lights. They were navies.
“We are ready!” Inside one of the large s.h.i.+ps, a soldier reported to the commander.
He was wearing the outfit of a high-ranking officer but did not have the right appearance.
The commander said nothing and grinned. If it was any other person, he would have dragged out the disrespectful soldier and beat him up. However, this was common to the commander who also looked like a ruffian.
“How many times have I reminded you! How many times! Call me general! General! We are now in the army. I am now the military commander! We are no longer thieves!” The general of the navy looked at his soldier and grumbled. Every soldier had a bell attached to their bodies to use during an emergency. Looking closely, the commander was also wearing a colorful robe. They were going on an excursion.
Colorful robes and bells. His close a.s.sociates gave him the nickname Thief Jin Fan.
Without doubt, this person is Gan Ning. He was Jin Fan Zei. He was Lu Bu’s navy commander, Gan Xing Ba. They have been floating at the river for a while. After they received a message from Wan Cheng, Gan Ning took Lu Bu’s navy and stopped near Wan Cheng. They wanted to avoid battle. Lu Bu’s Army’s navy was not completed. Even though they had generals like Gan Ning and Su Fei, they do not have enough soldiers and wars.h.i.+ps. Even though there was also Liu Mang’s secret weapon, they could not complete it in such a short time. Gan Ning was not a fool. If they were to attack now, it would be courting death.
This is why Gan Ning is currently hiding at the marshes near Wan Cheng. The river at this point splits from nine to eighteen streams. The current was also very fast and was full of reefs. Those there were slightly careless will end up being stranded. But this was not a problem to Gan Ning. After all, Gan Ning was the Jin Fan Zei! He was the leader of 800 thieves that robbed traders at the Yangtze River. They struck fear in the government officials and became a headache to the Jingzhou and Jiangdong navy. If they were to send a large number of soldiers, Gan Ning would hide. If they send a small number of soldiers, Gan Ning would swallow them all. As a result, the Jingzhou and Jiangdong navy could not do anything. In the end, Liu Biao managed to make Gan Ning surrender with a stratagem and restored peace to the Yangtze River. Although Liu Biao has recruited Gan Ning, he did not like Gan Ning’s background and never referred him to Huang Zu. Huang Zu and Liu Biao took pleasure in bullying him. It has made Gan Ning lost all hope until he ran into Liu Mang and Lu Bu.
Gan Ning was an arrogant person.
Although he has capital, he was not liked by many rulers. However, Lu Bu was not such a person. This is because there is no one who is more unrestrained than Lu Bu. He is not afraid that a person is wild. He is just afraid that the person does not have talent.
Without any objection, Lu Bu gave Gan Ning control of the navy without intervening at all. He let Gan Ning demand whatever resources and provisions he needs. Lu Bu wanted Gan Ning to be able to show off his full power.
How could Gan Ning not notice this? Although he did not say this, Gan Ning has already considered himself an important part of Lu Bu’s Army. The current situation of avoiding combat has made Gan Ning a bit sullen and unclear. They could only hide at the marshes. They were not allowed to appear or make any loud noises. They must eat, drink and sleep at the wars.h.i.+p. How is this comfortable?
After a few days, they have finished loading their equipment. The boat went out of hiding and Gan Ning looked at Wan Cheng at a distance. He could see the navy of the Wan Cheng city. Gan Ning could not help but sneer.
“Jiangdong navy is invincible? Today, let me, Gan Ning Gan Xing Ba ask for advice!”
Inside the main camp of the Wan Cheng navy, Lu Su just received the message that Sun Ce has captured Wan Cheng. Now he needs to write a letter to Jiangdong and request for more soldiers to station at Wan Cheng City to ensure that nothing else goes wrong at Lujiang. Although there were a lot of casualties for the Sun Ce’s Army, at the end of the day, they have won and have captured Wan Cheng.
Lu Su remembered the time he was threatened and humiliated by Lu Bu. However, Lu Su was not worried because he would meet Lu Bu again. Sun Ce’s objective was to chase away Lu Bu and expand the borders of Lujiang.
Thinking like this, Lu Su continued to write his letter with the help of a lamp. By the time he is done writing the letter, the skies have turned bright.
“It’s morning already?” Lu Su did not sleep as he was too excited. The first time he was dispatched, he already helped Lord Sun Ceto to capture Wan Cheng. Not only that, but the whole of Lujiang would also be captured soon. This is why he wrote a few military orders and a letter to send to Zhou Yu.
“It’s morning!” Gan Ning also did not sleep. They have been hiding in the marshes under the cover of the night. Now that it is bright, they will be seen by the navies of the Sun Ce’s Army.
“A s.h.i.+p?!” One of the watches for the Wan Cheng navy looked at a distance. The sky changed and the brightness also constantly changed between bright and dark. As a result, people may have visual errors. The soldier laughed at shook his head. There would not be any traders this early in the morning.
The soldier wanted to go back and change s.h.i.+fts when an arrow flew towards his head.
*Haqian* The soldier sneezed and jerked his head and the arrow ended up piercing the pillar of the watchtower. The soldier looked helplessly at the arrow for a moment and suddenly stopped feeling sleepy.
“This, this, this!” The soldier continued to stare at the arrow that was right in front of his face. If the arrow had hit someone, it would blow out their brains and kill them.
The soldier looked carefully again and noticed a few vessels. Although the vessel was similar to those that belonged to Sun Ce, it had a black colored flag. Without a doubt, the arrow came from one of them.
“Enemy attack!” The soldier finally understood. He did not have blurry vision. An enemy was spotted at the Yangtze River.
The shout was clear and loud on that quiet morning. The second bow was already loaded and another arrow was shot. This time it pierced the throat of the soldier. He struggled to breathe before he fell into the water.
“What a waste!” The one who shot the arrow was Gan Ning. He wanted to kill the watch soldier first but the soldier was saved by a sneeze. As a result, the soldier’s death was not in vain as he managed to wake up the rest of the s.h.i.+p. The navy have sounded the drums. One by one, the soldiers crawled out of their tents and head towards their wars.h.i.+p.
“General! What now!?” A soldier that was beside Gan Ning shouted out. He was one of Gan Ning’s original navy. He also surrendered together with Gan Ning and Su Fei. Originally, he was not optimistic about Lu Bu’s navy that only had a few thousand soldiers. They barely had any towered s.h.i.+ps and only had 2 dozen s.h.i.+ps. On the other hand, the Jiangdong navy has tens of thousands of soldiers and even a few hundred towered s.h.i.+ps. Besides that, the Jingzhou navy has over 100,000 soldiers. Although the quality of their soldiers was lower, they could still easily defeat most armies.
The Lu Bu Army has only just started to be constructed. To challenge a giant sea monster is like asking to die. However, Gan Ning’s heart calmed down after he saw the mysterious instrument on the s.h.i.+p. With those devices, Lu Bu’s towered s.h.i.+ps would have amazing combat capabilities. He believes that if he had enough arrows, he could defeat Jiangdong’s navy and perhaps Jingzhou’s navy with a few of Lu Bu’s Army’s boats.
“What else can be done! Start the offense!” Gan Ning’s faced showed a hint of displeasure. His original plan was to launch a surprise attack right in the middle of the Sun Ce’s navy’s main camp and give them disastrous casualties.
Now they were already spotted so that stratagem could not be used anymore. Fortunately, while Gan Ning’s navy were already prepared, the Sun Ce’s Army’s navy was still getting ready.
“As expected of Sun Ce’s Army’s elites!” Gan Ning said as he looked at the Wan Cheng navies. Although the scene was slightly chaotic, none of the soldiers panicked and everyone moved in an orderly manner. It was as if they were looking down on Gan Ning’s soldiers.