Chapter 216 - Condition! (1/2)
Chapter 216 Condition!
Translated by Gamer @ endlessfantasytranslations.com
“You!” Zhang Zhao finally understood this Yang fatty. This Yang Hong actually knew about Lu Su’s ident.i.ty but did not reveal it. Instead, he purposefully played a joke on Zhang Zhao. His happiness and anger were like actions of a monkey in front of Yang Hong as Yang Hong watched the performance.
Zhang Zhao took a deep breath. He must not get angry. This is because if he became angry, he would lose his reasoning and be led around during the peace talks. If he acted impulsively, he might bring bad luck to Jiangdong.
“Fine. I admit that this Lu Su is not my nephew. He is the military advisor of the 100,000 soldiers that attacked Wan Cheng.” Zhang Zhao said Lu Su’s ident.i.ty. He knew that Yang Hong already knew about it since Yang Hong played a fool of him. Therefore, he decided that there is no longer any point of hiding Lu Su’s ident.i.ty and they could go ahead and talk about the price.
“If Brother Zhang Zhao had done that earlier, it would have saved us a lot of trouble! The Wan Cheng prison is on the other side of the city. A trip back and forth would have taken a lot of time!” Yang Hong complained pitifully to Zhang Zhao and made it as if it was all Zhang Zhao’s fault. Zhang Zhao could not help but feel angry at the complete waste of time. He admitted that he concealed Lu Su’s real ident.i.ty. However, Yang Hong already knew about it yet pretended to send out soldiers so that he could laugh at the joke.
“Just say it, Elder Yang.” Zhang Zhao already prepared himself to be slaughtered ever since Yang Hong continued to play with (TN: troll) him. They already knew about Lu Su’s ident.i.ty so Zhang Zhao had no choice but to be obedient and not swindle anyone.
“Haha” Yang Hong knows that now is the time to speak about the price and stretched out his palm.
“5,000 gold!?” Zhang Zhao’s face sank. 5,000 gold is not a small amount of money. 5,000 gold could recruit and outfit 10,000 soldiers or set up a small battalion of cavalry. Even medium sized families do not have that kind of money.
Even the richest man in Xuzhou only gave 5,000 gold to Liu Bei when he married off his daughter. That man had 2,000 servants and carts full of jewelry. It was a truly shocking event. Now if Jiangdong wants to redeem Lu Su, they would need to prepare 5,000 gold. It was like a robbery! Although valuable, Lu Su does not cost so much! This was Jiangdong’s half a year worth of tax.
Zhang Zhao calmed himself down. 5,000 gold is still within acceptable limits for Zhang Zhao. Lu Su was not only Jiangdong’s military advisor but also the successor to the Lu family. Rather, the Lu family has already given up on taking charge and Lu Su was the one handling all the affairs. Before leaving, Zhang Zhao received a few thousand gold pieces for the release of Lu Su.
That is why Zhang Zhao looked straight at Yang Hong.
Now he needs to haggle the price with Yang Hong to lower the price. Even if it failed, Zhang Zhao would not feel sad as most of the money is paid by the Lu family and Jiangdong would only need to pay a small part of the fee. The release of Lu Su would only benefit Jiangdong and it would not do them any harm.
Zhang Zhao was very familiar of a story about a king who likes to have horses. He offered to pay thousands of gold to look for a fine horse. After three years, no one appeared with a horse. At that time, an officer with a low position volunteered. “Please give this job to me!” The king nodded his head. In less than 3 months, the officer found a fine horse. When he thought about buying it, the horse died. In the end, he still bought the horse for 500 gold and took the bones of the dead horse back. When presented to the king, the king got very angry. “I asked you to buy a living horse! What is the use of the dead horse! You wasted 500 gold!”
The official laugh. “Do not be angry. If you are willing to buy the dead horse, the people will recognize you as someone who truly love horses and will be willing to present you with horses.” Not even a year later, three people came to present their horses to the king.
Now Zhang Zhao is treating Lu Su like the dead horse as Lu Su was also like a fine horse. Zhang Zhao could use the 5,000 gold to tell the world that they are willing to spend a huge amount of money to redeem people with talent. The people would see that Jiangdong is desiring talented officers and will go to Jiangdong!
“5,000 gold is too expensive! This is a price that Jiangdong could not accept!” Zhang Zhao said to Yang Hong with a straight face.
“5,000 gold?” Yang Hong listened to Zhang Zhao and shook his head. “Not 5,000 gold!”
“It’s not 5,000 gold!?” Zhang Zhao froze for a moment. If it was not 5,000 gold than how much? Zhang Zhao also knew that Lu Su was a person with amazing talent. He was among the young and talented Jiangdong people like Sun Ce, Sun Quan and Zhou Yu. Zhang Zhao was very intimate with Sun Quan and knows that Sun Quan also fancies this person. Lu Su was an honest man but his craftiness was also good. His abilities in battle and administration was also first cla.s.s. Although he was not as good as Zhou Yu, the reason was because he was less experienced. When Lu Su has become more experienced, it is possible for him to even get his own army.
In the original history, Lu Su followed Zhou Yu. Although he was smart, he was not as experienced. He received his learning experience from Zhou Yu. One day, Zhou Yu contracted a disease on his journey and died. He pa.s.sed away after chasing out most of the enemies of Jiangdong and the only archenemy left was Cao Cao. Naturally, Cao Cao was very happy and took this opportunity to attack but thanks to Lu Su, who has been gaining a lot of experience, Cao Cao never managed to gain the advantage.
Lu Su’s value was 5,000 gold! Zhang Zhao did not believe that Yang Hong did not know that. However, since Yang Hong said it was not 5,000 gold, it must be 50,000 gold! Zhang Zhao stood up angrily and shouted. “Elder Yang! Are you crazy? 50,000 gold! Even if Jiangdong had that much money, we cannot take it out!” That amount of money was enough to start anew the Yuzhou Cavalry, outfit the whole of the Jiangdong Navy and even restock their provisions.
“50,000 gold!?” Yang Zhou laughed at the anxious Zhang Zhao. “Brother Zhang Zhao, do not be anxious. Do not be ras.h.!.+”
“Hmph! Elder Yang, we came here with sincerity! If your host Lu Bu does not have sincerity, then there is nothing to discuss. You can even let Gan Ning’s navy go back to Jiangxia. At worse, we will give it away and join forces with Liu Biao!” 50,000 gold was not something Zhang Zhao or Jiangdong could give. If it was replaced by provisions, as the prices of food increased because of the turmoil, it could be exchanged for 200,000 stones worth of provision. Even the amount of provisions obtained from robbing the n.o.bles in Wan Cheng was less than 100,000 stones of provisions. Zhang Zhao could not promise that. At that time, it would be better for Jiangdong to continue fighting. He believed that Liu Biao would also happily sit aside and watch the battle.
“Brother Zhang Zhao. Are you saying you do not want a truce anymore and want to continue fighting? Fine!” Yang Hong changed his smiling face and started glaring. “Since you no longer want to have peace talks, I will appeal to my lord, and ask Gan Ning to continue down the Yangtze River!” Yang Hong knew when to be flexible and when to be stiff.
“Go down the river?” Zhang Zhao thinks that Yang Hong is threatening him by allowing Gan Ning to go back to Jiangxia and threaten Jiangdong.
“Not to Jiangxi!” Zhang Zhao subconsciously said.
“Go to Jiangxia?” Yang Hong sneered. “Since I have already asked Gan Ning’s navy to withdraw from Jiangxia, Gan Ning’s navy will go to the river instead. It is best if Brother Zhang Zhao to go back and wait for our army!”
Zhang Zhao quickly thought about the river. The Jiangdong Army not only need to protect Jiangxia from Gan Ning. There is a long and natural river that the Jiangdong Army used as a natural barrier. However, that river was too long. It would be good if the Lu Bu’s Army did not have a navy. After so many years, the ones that the Jiangdong Navy has destroyed was the Yangzhou Navy. The Yuzhou Navy and the Xuzhou Navy have also suffered losses. The unluckiest one was the Jingzhou Navy that kept being defeated.
Had Yang Hong said this last time, Zhang Zhao would not even bother laughing at him. The Jiangdong Navy was the king of the Yangtze River. The other navies were simply not worth their time. Even the Jingzhou Navy could not defeat them! But now the situation has changed. Lu Bu has that weapon! At the marine camp of Wan Cheng, 30,000 of the Jiangdong Navy was somehow destroyed. If it had happened again, it would not be a joke. Now Jiangdong have 2 more navies. One is with Zhou Yu and the other is with Sun Quan. Zhang Zhao did not dare to gamble. Even if they could defeat Lu Bu’s navy, the Yangtze River was so long that Lu Bu could just hara.s.s them until they were exhausted and then dispatch the Wolf Cavalry. Liu Biao and Lu Bu may also not go and fight as they had a common enemy.
If that really happened, his mistakes would be very big. His job was to make sure Lu Bu’s Army and Jiangdong stop fighting. He must not allow them to continue fighting.
“Hmph!” Even then, 50,000 gold was too much and Jiangdong could not provide that much. In other words, they would need to sacrifice Lu Su. “We do not have 50,000 gold! You think too highly of us!” If Jiangdong gave Lu Bu 50,000 gold, the Jiangdong Army would be destroyed. They would not have money to pay the soldiers or even feed the soldiers.
“Who even said 50,000 gold!” Yang Hong asked rhetorically. Although Zhang Zhao has not relented, Yang Hong noticed that Zhang Zhao has already admitted defeat. Although he wanted to coerce Zhang Zhao, he did not want Zhang Zhao to go crazy. It is true that the navy of 30,000 was defeated. However, that was only one part of the main army. Another reason Gan Ning won the battle was also because the Jiangdong Navy was not prepared. It was the first time they encountered the ballistae and it was also the first time they had this kind of battle. However, the next few encounters would no longer be the same. Their generals were no pushovers and they could combine their 70,000 remaining soldiers for an attack.
On the other hand, if Lu Bu had lost these few thousand soldiers, he would be in trouble. This is because Lu Bu does not have anyone that can build s.h.i.+ps. Although Lu Bu could supply Gan Ning with soldiers, he could not give Gan Ning s.h.i.+ps.
Without wars.h.i.+ps, how could they be called a navy? At most, they would be the swimmers of the Army.