Tiger Owl

Chapter 92 Sincerity of Alliance
After the autumn harvest, the weather grew colder day by day. After the winter wheat seeds were sown, the fields began to quiet down. In the blink of an eye, November arrived, and a cold wave quickly moved south from the north, bringing widespread snowfall. The entire Yangtze River basin soon became a world covered in white snow.

In the fields outside Shuxian County of Lujiang Prefecture, several makeshift granaries stood, and hundreds of Sun Ben's soldiers were training with firearms. They lit bottles of kerosene and threw them at the granaries, which soon burst into flames, billowing thick smoke.

Sun Ben, watching the training from a distance, nodded in satisfaction. Although this kind of kerosene bottle was very simple to make, it was very effective. It was indeed a powerful weapon in fire warfare. No wonder Gan Ning was able to defeat Huang Zu with it.

Sun Ben received the kerosene bottles as a benefit of his alliance with Huang Zu. Huang Zu specially sent a batch of kerosene bottles, totaling three thousand.

Of course, Huang Zu gave him the fire bottle on conditions. Huang Zu did not intend to participate in the attack on Xunyang. Huang Zu's reason was simple: he had just signed an agreement with Gan Ning, promising not to invade Xunyang County. The ink was not yet dry, and he could not go back on his word so quickly.

He made it sound like he had an outstanding reputation, but in reality, Huang Zu couldn't afford the consequences of breaching the contract. Once he breached the contract, he would never be able to set foot on the Yangtze River again, and the supply of a large number of essential materials would be cut off, such as salt from Sichuan and Chongqing.

More importantly, once the Yangtze River trade route is cut off, the major families of Jiangxia will definitely abandon him.

Huang Zu declined Sun Ben's suggestion to join forces to attack Xunyang. At the same time, in order to make up for his breach of faith as an ally, he sent Sun Ben three thousand newly made kerosene bottles.

This kind of kerosene bottle is basically a one-time technology. Once Gan Ning uses it, his opponent will immediately learn it. Gan Ning was well aware of this, so he destroyed Huang Zu's navy on his first use and achieved great success.

Even if Huang Zu had learned it, he would not have been able to salvage his crushing defeat.

"What kind of kerosene is in here?" Sun Ben asked the technical official next to him.

"Reporting to my lord, it is a mixture of tung oil and pine resin, which is very flammable."

Sun Ben nodded. Both of these oils were readily available kerosene. "Pass on my orders: this winter, produce large quantities of tung oil and pine resin, and also a large number of ceramic bottles!"

Sun Ben was also an experienced veteran, and he knew well the benefits of this kind of oil in naval warfare and siege warfare.

"Do you have any intelligence on Xunyang County?" Sun Ben asked again.

Xu Qian, the Sima of Lujiang, bowed and said, "Reporting to my lord, according to the reliable information from our scouts, the Xunyang army has 5,000 troops stationed there, under the command of Taishi Ci!"

Sun Ben nodded. "It's actually Taishi Ci! What a coincidence!"

Sun Ben then said to Prefect Sun He, “Although the enemy’s forces are not large, Taishi Ci is a fierce general. We must not underestimate him. You must strengthen the training of your troops in winter and send troops to Xunyang County next spring to drive Taishi Ci out of Lujiang County.”

Sun He bowed respectfully, "Your humble servant obeys!"

A similar drill involving kerosene bottles was being conducted at the martial arts training ground in Nanchang County.

The two teams stood fifty paces apart. Suddenly, a soldier from one team lit a bottle of kerosene and threw it with all his might. The bottle landed more than thirty paces away, shattered, and caught fire. The soldiers on the other side immediately ran over and poured sand on the burning kerosene. In just a moment, the burning kerosene was extinguished.

The soldiers of the Yuzhang Army had long known that water could not extinguish the burning oil, as it would float on the water and continue to burn. So they began to use other methods to put out the fire.

Gan Ning knew very well that his kerosene bottle would soon spread, and not only the southern warlords, but also Cao Cao in the north would quickly adopt it.

That's how military technology develops; once a new technology emerges, it spreads rapidly and cannot be concealed. Therefore, we need not only spears but also shields.

Wang Ping shouted, "Continue!"

The firefighting team was replaced again, this time with a thousand soldiers. Just like with the sand firefighting, they were in pairs, one person responsible for putting out the fire and the other carrying five wet quilts.

Neither sand nor wet blankets were new inventions for extinguishing fires; they were traditional methods. Gan Ning simply wanted to find the most effective way to deal with kerosene.

Hundreds of soldiers threw hundreds more fire bottles, which caught fire upon landing. A thousand soldiers rushed forward, and one soldier skillfully smothered the flames with wet blankets. The fires vanished instantly, and in a short while, all the hundreds of burning fires were extinguished.

The generals watching from all sides burst into enthusiastic applause. Gan Ning nodded with satisfaction; the effect was indeed excellent, and the wet bedding could be reused to reduce costs. This was essentially a suffocation method of fire extinguishing, cutting off oxygen. The water molecules could quickly cool the fire, and it was highly targeted. The fire bottle landed and formed a pool of fire, which was perfect for extinguishing with the bedding.

However, there are two key points to this method of extinguishing fires with wet bedding. First, the bedding must be thoroughly wet, with no dry corners, otherwise it will actually help the fire to burn.

Secondly, the action must be quick; the fire must be extinguished before the kerosene flows out. The kerosene is fluid, and it becomes difficult to extinguish once it has overflowed.

Gan Ning immediately ordered: "Send word to all armies to establish fire-fighting teams and strengthen their training. Not only should the fire-fighting team soldiers be proficient in fire-fighting techniques, but ordinary soldiers should also master fire-fighting methods."

"Yes, sir!" The flag officer immediately rushed off to relay the order.

At this moment, a soldier rushed forward, knelt on one knee, and reported: "Reporting to my lord, the envoy from Jiangdong has arrived in Nanchang."

Gan Ning was slightly taken aback. Why did Sun Quan send someone here at this time?
After a moment's thought, he said to Lu Su behind him, "Please ask the strategist to talk to the envoy first and find out their true intentions."

In the afternoon, Lu Su arrived at Gan Ning's official residence.

"Reporting to my lord, I have spoken with Zhu Zhi."

"Strategist, please have a seat!"

Gan Ning invited Lu Su to sit down, and Lu Su then calmly said, "The other party's intention is to form an alliance with us to jointly deal with Sun Ben and Huang Zu. Of course, forming an alliance is a big deal. Zhu Zhi came here this time just to sound out their intentions. If we are willing to form an alliance, then both sides will sit down and talk in detail."

Gan Ning pondered for a moment and then asked, "What is the strategist's opinion?"

Lu Su thought for a moment and said, "I believe that Jiangdong's alliance is not sincere. Jiangdong has always wanted to swallow us up, but they are facing an internal crisis, so they want to stabilize us temporarily. I feel that they have a deeper intention."

"What is the intention?"

"Lujiang Prefecture!" Lu Su hit the nail on the head.

"Does the strategist mean they're afraid we'll take over Lujiang County?"

Lu Su nodded. "That's absolutely right. Zhu Zhi also told me without any attempt to hide it that Sun Ben's conflict was just an internal conflict within Jiangdong. The implication was that the three counties north of the Yangtze River belong to Jiangdong, and we shouldn't try to take them. For me, the most realistic thing is the ownership of Lujiang County."

Gan Ning stood up, put his hands behind his back, and took a few steps, saying, "Then what's the point of forming an alliance to deal with Sun Ben and Huang Zu?"

Lu Su smiled slightly and said, "Jiangdong means that we should deal with Sun Ben and Huang Zu together. Huang Zu's territory will belong to us, and Sun Ben's territory will belong to Jiangdong. Moreover, Zhu Zhi also mentioned the Lujiang boundary agreement that we signed before. Jiangdong believes that it is the basis for our alliance."

Gan Ning pondered for a moment and then asked, "Is it possible that Sun Ben and Jiangdong have joined forces to attack us?"

"It's possible, but unlikely. The key is Cao Cao behind Sun Ben. Cao Cao's focus is still in the north, and he will never allow the two Suns to reconcile. Otherwise, what's the point of splitting the two Suns?"
Today Zhu Zhi told me some news: there is evidence suggesting that Sun Ben assassinated Sun Yi and framed the Marquis of Wu. Clearly, this evidence has suddenly appeared to make the Marquis of Wu and Sun Ben irreconcilable enemies.

Gan Ning was slightly taken aback. "What kind of evidence?"

“I didn’t ask in detail. If my lord is interested, I can talk to Zhu Zhi again.”

Gan Ning nodded. "We can ask. As for the alliance, I think we can discuss it slowly. If we really can't reach a consensus on the Lujiang County issue, we can also sign a non-aggression pact with Jiangdong, which would be beneficial to both sides."

Lu Su nodded, "This subordinate will have another good talk with Zhu Zhi."

(End of this chapter)