My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 455 Desiring to Make New Contributions
The first priority, of course, was to take in the defeated soldiers, clear the Yangtze River shipping route, and ensure the safe and smooth operation of supply and logistics lines.

The second was responsible for the safety of Xiakou.

The third task was a secret assignment given to Gan Ning by Liu Feng, which was also a test.

That's Zhang Yun's problem.

This was Liu Feng's reward for Gan Ning, a test for Gan Ning, and an opportunity for him.

If Gan Ning can contain Zhang Yun within the Han River and ensure Zhou Yu's successful attack on Xiakou, he will gain basic credit.

After all, this mission is not difficult, and Zhu Huan and Chen Wu are both capable of completing it. Releasing Gan Ning here at this time would certainly enhance their strength and enable them to complete the mission better and more safely.

However, it can also give people the feeling of blatantly reaping the benefits.

However, Liu Feng gave Gan Ning an even bigger task: to lead the forces of Zhu Huan and Chen Wu and seize the opportunity to eliminate Zhang Yun.

If Gan Ning can severely injure Zhang Yun, it will be a great achievement; if he can annihilate Zhang Yun, it will be a remarkable feat.

This made Gan Ning's heart burn with excitement; he wished he could sprout wings and fly straight to Xiakou, but he was afraid that Zhang Yun would get wind of it and run away.

Fortunately, the time was on Gan Ning's side. With Zhu Huan and Chen Wu blocking the waterways, Zhang Yun couldn't receive the news for the time being. Although the land route could also transmit news, it was much slower than the waterway.

If Zhouling had sent messengers to the Han River basin before surrendering, Zhang Yun would have received the news within seven or eight days at the latest. If not, Zhang Yun estimated that he wouldn't know the outcome of the Battle of Zhouling until the end of the month at the earliest.

This was the time when Gan Ning made his mark on the nation.

Gan Ning is now revealing all this to Su Fei, partly because he trusts his elder brother, and partly because he hopes that Su Fei, as a local strongman and a surrendered general, can offer him advice.

Sure enough, after considering it for a moment, Su Fei offered his opinion.

"Xingba, in my opinion, we can take a two-pronged approach."

Su Fei tentatively addressed Gan Ning by his courtesy name, and seeing that the other party did not react, he was secretly pleased.

"Oh?"

Gan Ning became interested: "Brother, why are you using a two-pronged approach?"

Su Fei immediately pondered and said, "Xingba, you may not know this, but among the Jingzhou navy, only the Jiangxia navy and the Xiangyang navy are elite. And most of the elite Xiangyang navy are under Cai Degui's command. Although Zhang Yun has come from Xiangyang with tens of thousands of troops to reinforce the south, his troops are far from being as elite as Cai Mao's. In my opinion, if Generals Zhu and Chen had troops as elite as Xingba's, let alone fighting two against one, seven or eight thousand men would be enough to defeat Zhang Yun's troops."

"What Xingba lacks now is only time."

"I see."

Gan Ning nodded repeatedly, "Then, according to elder brother's opinion, I should take the initiative to request battle?"

"Exactly!"

Su Fei nodded emphatically: "What Xingba is worried about now is Chen Sheng's defeated army. I am willing to go and plead on Xingba's behalf."

Gan Ning clapped his hands, overjoyed, and said, "That is exactly what I wish for, I dare not ask!"

Immediately, Gan Ning's face lit up with joy, and he asked with a broad smile, "If that's the case, how many men does elder brother need?"

Su Fei laughed heartily and said, "No need for many, just ten small boats and a hundred elite men, and I will persuade Chen Sheng's remaining troops to surrender for Xingba."

Gan Ning was overjoyed and grabbed Su Fei's wrist: "Is this really true?"

Su Fei's words meant that he only needed to send a hundred men to complete an important mission, and Gan Ning himself, along with his elite troops, could then go directly to Xiakou and attack Zhang Yun.
Upon Gan Ning's confirmation, Su Fei immediately bowed deeply and solemnly said, "Please rest assured, General, I am willing to stake my life on this. If things fail, I am willing to atone with my death!"

Gan Ning was overjoyed and quickly helped Su Fei up, praising him repeatedly, "Good, good, good! Elder brother has truly relieved me of a great worry!"

Gan Ning was a man of deep feelings and exceptional loyalty. He respected Su Fei as an elder brother, and although Su Fei was a newly arrived surrendered general, he trusted him implicitly. Su Fei was not deceiving Gan Ning at this moment; he spoke from the bottom of his heart.

Although he was trusted and valued by Huang Zu, his position was actually quite awkward.

Huang Zu had his own son, Huang She, whom he had been cultivating diligently in recent years, praising Huang She's talents in both literature and military affairs. In addition to Huang She, there were other important generals in the army, such as Deng Long, Lü Jie, Zhang Hu, Chen Sheng, and Chen Jiu, all of whom were Huang Zu's confidants.

Although Su Fei was Huang Zu's confidant, he was in a rather awkward position regarding the right to speak.

Putting everything else aside, Su Fei recommended Gan Ning to Huang Zu no less than three or four times just for this matter.

However, Huang Zu showed no respect for Su Fei and his dislike for Gan Ning grew stronger day by day.

Was Huang Zu truly blind to talent?

Actually, there were also obstacles from Deng Long, Lü Jie, and others.

Who can blame them when Gan Ning is Su Fei's favorite?

Who could blame them when Gan Ning truly possessed genuine talent?
If you, Gan Ning, were to emerge, wouldn't that greatly enhance Su Fei's strength? Would we still have a place to stand then?
In this life, thanks to Liu Feng's early efforts to win him over, Gan Ning left Jingzhou in the second year of Xingping. Although he suffered a lot of humiliation, he was at least not so angry that he hated Huang Zu to the bone.

In the original timeline, Gan Ning single-handedly covered the rear, shot and killed Ling Cao, and scared away Sun Quan's central army. He almost turned defeat into victory by his own strength, and greatly saved Huang Zu from losses.

But what is the result?
It is more severe oppression and discrimination.

Gan Ning's later terrible character in Eastern Wu was completely inseparable from this period of oppression; Liu Feng even worried about Gan Ning's temperament at one point.

However, upon closer inspection, Liu Feng was pleasantly surprised to find that although Gan Ning in this life was still straightforward and reckless, he was far less cruel and bloodthirsty than in history, and his temperament was not as fierce. This could be considered as good fortune being rewarded for Liu Feng's good deeds.

Gan Ning immediately selected ten small boats and over a hundred armored soldiers and handed them over to Su Fei, giving him full authority to take in Chen Sheng's defeated soldiers and ensure the unimpeded passage of the Yangtze River.

Subsequently, Gan Ning personally led the main force to Xiakou overnight, preparing to join forces with Zhu Huan and Chen Wu.

**
Sun Ce walked out of the prefect's mansion with an angry expression.

After Kuai Yue withdrew his troops, Zhang Xian immediately took military power back from him. This was not because Zhang Xian's illness had improved, but because his son Zhang Yi had been actively instigating and maneuvering.

Sun Ce is naturally very ambitious. Although he is now subordinate to Liu Feng, he is at least currently loyal to Liu Feng.

The old subordinates of the Sun family have all been reorganized and assimilated. Even the important generals of the Sun family have been given important positions. People are all made of flesh and blood. Liu Feng gave them more than Sun Ce had given them. And they had already repaid Sun Ce before. Most importantly, the entire Sun family has surrendered. Neither Liu Bei nor Liu Feng treated them unfairly.

Therefore, these people's loyalty to Sun Ce and Sun Quan naturally diminished considerably, and at the very least, they would not support his rebellion. In addition, Sun Quan and Sun Jiao were both serving under Liu Feng, and their mother, Lady Wu, along with their younger siblings, had settled in Wu County.

Sun Ce had lost the ability to rebel, both publicly and privately.

Not rebelling doesn't mean he doesn't want to achieve great things. Besides, Sun Ce was only in his twenties at the time, and his biggest ambition before was to become one of the warlords, which he was severely punished by Liu Feng. After this battle, Sun Ce smoothly changed his goal to establishing merit under Liu Feng.

A tremendous achievement lies before Sun Ce: the surrender of Jingnan.

Even if Sun Ce was just an advisor, as long as he could persuade Zhang Xian to adopt his suggestion, then Sun Ce would be Liu Feng's greatest contributor.

But who could have imagined that his plan had only just begun when Zhang Xian was about to take back his military power?

Sun Ce had initially planned to lead his troops to pursue Kuai Yue first, and then achieve new merits.

Now that they're about to be abandoned after crossing the river, how could Sun Ce, with his fiery temper, possibly tolerate this?

He adopted a policy of politeness before resorting to force, and personally went to the prefectural government to request an audience with Zhang Xian under the pretext of visiting him in his illness.

However, the result was not good. Although Zhang Xian felt guilty towards Sun Ce, he still did not change his previous decision.

Sun Ce was furious. This anger was not only due to Zhang Xian and his son's betrayal, but also to the frustration of his plans being thwarted.

Sun Ce originally planned to lead over 10,000 elite troops from Changsha to pursue and attack the Jingnan army. He did not seek a great victory, but only to delay the enemy, which would be a great achievement.

Once they advance from the north and south together with Liu Feng's army and annihilate the Jingbei expeditionary force, they can take advantage of the momentum of their great victory to join forces with Liu Feng's army and march south together to take control of Changsha and the entire Jingnan region.

This was Sun Ce's original plan. In this plan, he could not only share the credit for annihilating the Jingbei expeditionary force, but also get the largest slice of the pie in terms of controlling the four counties of Jingnan.

To be fair, Sun Ce's plan was not entirely unrealistic. In the past few months of fighting, he won over many of Sun Ce's former subordinates with his outstanding military talent and bravery.

Fighting under Sun Ce rekindled their old feelings of loyalty to the era of Sun Jian. Coupled with the support of Han-pro-Han figures like Huan Jie and Liu Pan in the upper echelons, if Sun Ce could successfully lead his troops to pursue the Jingbei expeditionary force, the plan would be halfway to success.

Sun Ce never expected that Zhang Yi, who had been trembling with fear and anxiety when Linxiang was besieged, would immediately stab him in the back. His actions were swift and decisive, showing no trace of his previous cowardly demeanor.

Sun Ce stood outside the prefectural government office, watching his personal guards lead his warhorse in, and then slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

"go!"

Sun Ce mounted his horse and said, "Go to the chief clerk's residence."

In July, the sun blazes fiercely.

Sun Ce, atop his warhorse, felt the wind blowing in his face was scorching hot, which only intensified the wildfire within him.

Soon, Sun Ce arrived at Huan Jie's residence.

Upon hearing of Sun Ce's visit, Huan Jie personally went out to greet him and treated Sun Ce with the utmost courtesy.

Sun Ce spoke without hesitation: "Uncle, I have something important to discuss with you!"

Huan Jie was taken aback for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Come with me."

Huan Jie then led the way, with Sun Ce following closely behind, and the two arrived at a secret room.

As soon as he took his seat, Sun Ce couldn't wait to speak: "This humble nephew dares to ask Uncle what his views are on the general situation of the world."

Huan Jie was surprised again, but did not answer. Instead, he stared intently at Sun Ce.

Sun Ce, however, was even more imposing, meeting his opponent's gaze without flinching.

After a while, Huan Jie couldn't take it anymore and smiled bitterly to himself, thinking that Sun Bofu truly had the same fierce spirit as his father.

The Records of the Three Kingdoms describes Sun Ce as handsome, while Sun Quan is depicted as having a square jaw, a large mouth, and bright eyes. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was heavily influenced by the Records of the Three Kingdoms and further praised Liu Bei and suppressed Cao Cao, Sun Quan was simply described as having green eyes and a purple beard.

It is evident that both Chen Shou and Luo Guanzhong favored Sun Ce, while harboring extreme dislike for Sun Quan.

Chen Shou addressed him by his given name, while Luo Guanzhong used the image of him with blue eyes and a purple beard to imply that his bloodline was impure, or at least unlike his father's, which was a very serious offense at the time.

In essence, Sun Ce's actions were very similar to those of Sun Quan. Both were ruthless, untrustworthy, cruel, and tyrannical, and the source of this was precisely Sun Jian.

However, most people only believe that Sun Ce inherited Sun Jian's personality, while Sun Quan seems to have been adopted. This is also Luo Guanzhong's intention to deliberately portray Sun Quan as having green eyes and a purple beard to smear him.

This differential treatment has a profound meaning. In ancient China, especially during the Han Dynasty, being a father who was respected was an extremely positive trait.

Sun Ce was not only handsome, but also bore a striking resemblance to his father, Sun Jian, which was a major plus in the eyes of Sun Jian's former subordinates in Changsha, as well as Huan Jie and others. Moreover, in just a few months, he had successfully won over thousands of Sun Jian's former followers and established his prestige among the remaining soldiers in Changsha.

With these as trump cards, plus Liu Feng as a powerful figurehead, it's understandable that Sun Ce, with his impetuous and fierce personality, would come to confront Huan Jie.

After a long silence, Huan Jie finally spoke: "In today's world, heroes are vying for supremacy, but only Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei can stand out from the crowd."

The Liu that Huan Jie mentioned was neither Liu Biao nor Liu Zhang, but rather Liu Bei and his son Liu Feng.

This is enough to prove Huan Jie's approval of Liu Bei and his son Liu Feng.

Sun Ce's expression was rather gloomy, because Huan Jie had said the order as Yuan, Cao, and Liu.

It is evident that in Huan Jie's eyes, Liu Bei and his son Liu Feng were inferior to Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, while Yuan Shao was the undisputed overlord.

This is actually easy to understand; in this era, apart from a very small minority, the vast majority of people hold this view.

The reason lies in the historical perspective.

Just like Yuan Shu, no one in later generations would have a good impression of him. They thought he was just a skeleton in a tomb, a lamb to the slaughter, yet he dared to call himself emperor, which was simply absurd.

But in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, who dared to underestimate Yuan Shu?
Even a powerful general like Cao Cao, when he marched south to conquer Yuan Shu, brought all his elite troops. Even so, he was held up in Qi County for more than half a year and nearly had to retreat due to lack of supplies.

What is even more incomprehensible to later generations is that Yuan Shu dared to declare himself emperor because he believed he had the power to do so.

Ultimately, Yuan Shu lost because his thinking was not updated. He still thought in terms of central political infighting, believing that he only needed to control the appointment and removal of prefects to control the commandery or kingdom.

However, this does not mean that Yuan Shu was weak, nor should we underestimate his status in the eyes of the people.

It should be noted that until Yuan Shu died of vomiting blood, Yuan Shao regarded him as the greatest rival in the world. In order to gain the allegiance of scholars from all over the world in a reasonable way, he was even willing to accept the surrender of his younger brother.

Similarly, Cao Cao was willing to turn against Yuan Shao in order to send elite troops to prevent Yuan Shu from heading north to join Yuan Shao.

This shows how terrified Cao Cao was of the alliance between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

(End of this chapter)