Liu Bei POV

I’ve been through yet another battle, and I must say that Gan Ning is truly a formidable general. But…

I looked down the city wall and saw that the enemy corpses that formed small mounds here and there with no one going to deal with them. Ling Tong’s mother, Ling Cao was probably amongst them.

I didn’t want to think about it, but I felt compelled to ask her, “Lord Gan Ning, I have something that I’m not sure if I should ask.”

“I haven’t killed anyone.”

“Ah… No, what I mean is…”

“I didn’t kill anyone.” Gan Ning repeated what she said once more, which made me feel too awkward to ask any further.

Since she said as much, I have no reason to distrust her. I don’t know why, but I feel like Gan Ning isn’t the sort who will lie.

While cleaning up the battlefield, I was very relieved to learn that though Chen Dao and Wen Ping’s injuries weren’t light, they were only external injuries.

As for the east gate, nothing much of note happened. Zhou Cang and Zhu Ran dueled for a while but there was no result.

Later on, Chen Gong gave me her a.s.sessment of this battle– Though it all worked out because of the reinforcements, this battle didn’t go well at all.

It was now in the evening and we were gathered in Huang Zu’s large tent. We weren’t celebrating, rather, we were having a meeting.

Chen Dao’s injuries were still rather heavy so she is currently resting. Thus, only Zhou Cang and Chen Gong joined me at this meeting.

“Eh! I nearly killed that b.i.t.c.h!” Along the way, Zhou Cang’s complaints were incessant and peppered with expletives which was difficult to listen to. I just hope that I can eventually cultivate a skill that will allow me to see the face and not hear the voice, to be used specifically on Zhou Cang.

“…” Unlike Zhou Cang, or rather the complete opposite, Chen Gong was silent as she sat on her horse.

As for the reason why she is angry, it’s easy for me to guess from how she was like at the city tower earlier.

“Chen Gong, don’t do anything untoward later.”

“What do you mean by this, Imperial Uncle? Is Huang Zu leaving the city to do battle because of her personal feelings reason enough?”

I tried to warn her but got soundly rebuked by Chen Gong.

“Perhaps she knew that the navy would arrive soon and so she lured the enemy in.”

“Perhaps.” Chen Gong shook her head, and extended a hand which she gestured with in the air, “In this battle, our Xiangyang reinforcements suffered 700 odd casualties. Taking out the ones who are no longer able to fight, we have 1,500 odd collectively. The city garrison suffered 1,000 odd casualties, and their remaining fighting strength is less than 3,000. Totalling up, after this battle, our side only has a fighting strength of 4,000.”

For a limited city garrison, our losses in this battle were significant indeed.

“But it’s a good thing that our navy has arrived, and we have another 3-4,000 troops.”

“And so what? My lord couldn’t be thinking of having the naval troops help to defend the city right?” Chen Gong shook her head as she continued, “And has Imperial Uncle heard of it yet? Jiangdong’s navy is approaching the port.”

Eh!? There was this?

“No way, the couriers never reported this.” I was starting to panic after hearing this piece of bad news.

“This sort of news can’t be casually spread.” Chen Gong lightly laughed, and bent down low before she continued in a soft voice, “But looking at how things are like now, this is very possible. Back when we went to Jiangdong, I saw that Jiangdong’s navy was already ready to mobilise. Now that they are launching an offensive on Jiangxia, I’m afraid that the navy will be the true main force.”

If it was as Chen Gong said, then if it weren’t for the delay in Jiangdong’s navy’s arrival, we would have been unable to hold off the siege.

Just thinking about it made me scared. But is this true?

This upcoming meeting should be to decide the future strategies. If that’s the case, given that we will not be able to defend the city, a decisive battle outside the city, or perhaps on the waters, may be the only way to reverse the situation.

I didn’t have any plan for this, nor did I know what Huang Zu could possibly be thinking. Just as I was thinking of this, Huang Zu’s tent appeared before us.

As we entered Huang Zu’s encampment and her tent, I saw that Huang Zu was already sitting at the main seat. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she was sitting quietly. From time to time, she would breathe out and blow her fringe up. In her hands was that pot of water, with half of it already drained.

At the 2nd seat to the fight, Liu Qi was already seated. As for the other generals, they were all seated opposite Huang Zu in positions after the 2nd seat.

I looked to the side and saw Gan Ning, as well as Wen Ping and Yi Ji. Besides them, there were several new faces who were probably Su Fei and her other generals.

“Imperial Uncle.”

“Lord Liu Bei.”

When everyone saw me coming in, they all got up and bowed and saluted to me. I instinctively raised my hand to gesture to them that there was no need to do so.

“Since Imperial Uncle is here, let us begin.” Huang Zu said as she bowed and saluted to me.

I nodded, and went to the 2nd seat to the left and sat down. Zhou Cang and Chen Gong went to the seats for the generals and officials and picked 2 slightly outer seats and sat down.

After they both sat down, Huang Zu scooped out a gourd of water from the pot and raised it in front of her, “Our side has achieved an overwhelming victory in the battle today. This is thanks to the bravery and strength of everyone present here today. Therefore, before we begin this meeting proper, I would like toast to everyone first to express the respect and thanks I have for everyone.”

When she finished, she raised her head and drank, and when she finished, she gave a long sigh as though she drank wine.

From her words, I could hear that she was very pleased with the outcome of this battle and couldn’t detect any alarm or dismay at all. And this sense made all the other generals at the meeting raise their eyebrows.

“Su Fei, I would like to give you another toast.” But this didn’t stop Huang Zu, and she even continued with another toast.

A general sitting in the 2nd row hurriedly raised her wine cup.

“The navy’s contribution has been the greatest in this battle. You delivered a heavy blow to the enemy and you bolstered our numbers. Very good, very good.” Huang Zu downed her water when she finished.

“Ah, un, yes.” The general called Su Fei stammered a reply, and drank her wine down to give herself a boost before she continued, “But I’m afraid that the navy will not be able to a.s.sist with city defence works as the sailors are more accustomed to fighting in the water and so we would be willing to guard the port–”

“Looks like you all know already huh.” Huang Zu nodded when she heard what Su Fei said and ran her hand down the gourd as she said so, clearing all the beads of water on the surface of the gourd.

She didn’t continue her explanation after she interrupted Su Fei and only raised her gaze to see everyone’s reaction, including Liu Qi and I.

As for what she said that we already know, it’s probably the matter of Jiangdong’s navy.

She looked from left to right, and from right to left again, and she nodded.

“Un, all of you know then.” She confirmed it and wiped her mouth before slapping her plate skirt with both hands, “I’ll be honest then. The information you all have heard is true. Jiangdong’s navy will probably be arriving at Jiangxia’s port by tomorrow or the day after. At that time, there won’t be a point to defending the city and we will seek to end it on the naval front.”

When Huang Zu finished, a ruckus broke out amongst the generals.

Liu Qi didn’t seem perturbed by this news and was very calm. Amongst the generals, Wen Ping and Yi Ji did not make any reaction or movement as expected. When Zhou Cang saw the people around her start arguing, she joined in as well. I bet she has no idea what everyone is arguing about.

“Everyone calm down!” Huang Zu roared out angrily and stood up with a calm expression as she slammed the table, making everyone silent.

She looked at all of us, and when she saw that n.o.body was speaking, she sat back down on her main seat.

“I understand how everyone feels but panicking won’t solve anything now.” She said as she placed the gourd on the table and extended her index finger which she poked the gourd with, “Right now, what we need to do is to prepare our naval defences.”

When Huang Zu finished, about half of the generals had difficult expressions on their faces.

“I understand that we are facing many difficulties but we must overcome them. If you have any countermeasures in mind, please do share them without holding back.” Huang Zu switched to a cross-legged seating posture from a seiza as she said so.

Perhaps this was her attempt to make herself seem more approachable, but personally, it just strengthens her thuggish image.

“Umm, I do have an idea.” Unexpectedly, that Su Fei general raised her hand and spoke up.

“Un,” Huang Zu nodded.

Su Fei stood up and spoke as she bowed and saluted respectfully, “The other side will be attacking upstream from downstream and will thus be going against the current. There are also many reefs downstream so they will be mainly using smaller boats in their attack.”

“Un un.” Huang Zu nodded, seems like she thinks what Su Fei says makes sense.

“If they are using small boats, our side’s large s.h.i.+ps can fire at them from afar but we will be unable to stop them from up close. To prevent this, we can send out a flotilla of light s.h.i.+ps and hinder the small boats. This will allow our large s.h.i.+ps to fire more volleys at the enemy, greatly reducing the other side’s naval strength. Thereafter, we can support the land battle with the large s.h.i.+ps’ cannons–”

“Very good!!” Even at this time, Huang Zu did not forget to interrupt as she slapped her plate skirt and a rare smile sppeared on her face.

“I’ll leave this to you then.” She threw out a command tally as she said so. The command tally rattled on the ground, making a clear sound in the tent. However, Su Fei did not run out and pick it up, and only continued to remain in her bowed position.

“… Is there a problem!?” Huang Zu’s face became stormy, and her stare at Su Fei was so harsh that even I was affected.

“Ah, about that. I may have always been a naval general, but I’ve only received training on how to command and steer large s.h.i.+ps. As for boats and light s.h.i.+ps, I’m afraid I’m unable to–”

“Tell me who, and I will deploy him or her to you.” Huang Zu once again interrupted her. At this, Su Fei paused for a moment before she continued.

“Only 1 person can do–”

“Who?”

“Gan–”

“No.”