Mythical Three Kingdoms

Upon hearing that all this was permissible, Gan Ning immediately rejoiced, clasped his hands together, and bowed. ”Xingba shall not let down the Prefectural Governor’s trust,” he said.

”Good. Then remember to send Jir Cai back, since only his family has sea ships. Let me know within a year if you have trained a commendable navy. I will assign you your second task. Otherwise,” Chen Xi said with a sinister smile, ”hmm!” ”Do you hear me?”

”Yes!” Gan Ning answered loudly.

”Then get ready to set out. I will write a letter of commission for you so I can shoulder the blame if anything goes wrong. However, if you don’t do well and something happens, I will absolutely not concern myself with you!” Chen Xi said as he began to write. After finishing, he sealed the letter with the Prefectural Governor’s seal, then wrote a financial allocation order. With this order, one could request funds from Su Shuang, Zhang Shiping, and Mi Zhu.

”Take this too. You can use this document three times. The first time, you can withdraw twenty million, the second time only half of that, and the third time just half of the second. If you’re still not self-sufficient when you withdraw money for the third time, then come back to me!” Chen Xi handed over the document to Gan Ning as he roared.

”I will not let the Prefectural Governor down!” Gan Ning said loudly.

”Take the order and go. I still have matters to tend to.” Chen Xi waved his hand, signaling Gan Ning to stop hovering around him, as he had other things to do. Gan Ning, having received his orders, happily took his leave.

”Zichuan, this won’t cause any issues, will it?” Lub Su asked with a wry smile. ”Setting aside the problem with the Governor of Yizhou, isn’t there something wrong with Zichuan’s approach? Even if Gan Ning is now with us, we can’t openly use him.”

”Does it matter?” Chen Xi replied with a roll of his eyes. ”Gan Ning simply transformed from a Yangtze Water Bandit to a pirate, that’s all. What does that have to do with us? Anyone who tries to link us is just slinging mud. Besides, you see that the ships belong to the Lul Family and the people are pirates, lake bandits, river bandits. Do they look like our people? And have you ever seen drilling soldiers that don’t train on their own turf? Or a commander who has that kind of authority? ’Overall Commander,’ do you know what that means? It means you can do whatever you like! Now, who can issue such authority?”

Chen Xi’s words stunned Lub Su, who seemed to almost grasp his thought. But being a clever man, he quickly caught on, ”Are you saying you’re tricking Xingba? With Xingba’s straightforward nature, if he finds out he’s been duped, he won’t even be friends with you, right?”

”Hey, hey, hey, Zijing! Watch what you’re saying. Be careful, or I’ll accuse you of slander, and I’ll appoint the judge too. Didn’t I give Xingba twenty million as start-up funds? Who tricks people like that? The victim hasn’t even been deceived yet, and I’ve already thrown in so much. Would I be that foolish?” Chen Xi rolled his eyes and added, ”When have I ever tricked Xingba? Really!”

Lub Su was somewhat slow on the uptake as this was his first experience with such a situation. After pondering for a while, he finally came to understand the whole affair and sighed, ”This method may only work for a while. When Xingba has drilled his soldiers and Duke Liu, the Governor of Yizhou, calls for him, we can’t let go of Xingba who will command the navy, even less than we can now.”

”Hold on for what? Even if the Governor of Yizhou wants to summon Xingba, he would have to be able to find him. And even if he finds him, could someone accustomed to being the Sea King go back? Moreover, I’m not optimistic about the Governor of Yizhou. His days are probably numbered,” Chen Xi shrugged and said.

”Of course, I understand what you mean. You’re saying that we’ve given Xingba too much power, right? Rest assured, that guy won’t betray us. Moreover, even if we don’t give him that position, we don’t have anyone who can control him. After all, no one here understands this matter, and it’s better to give authority rather than having laymen command experts, making both sides unhappy!” Chen Xi noticed Lub Su wanted to say something but hesitated, then spoke up.

”All right, I trust that with your wisdom, you wouldn’t do something that benefits others at your own expense. However, I’m worried about the other generals. Giving Xingba too much authority makes it difficult to arrange positions for the others.” Lub Su sighed, acknowledging Chen Xi’s perspective, but then he pointed out other drawbacks.

”Yes, that is a problem. However, such power should indeed be limited. There’s a saying, ’When the general is abroad, he may not follow the monarch’s commands.’ In light of this, we should directly address this hidden danger. The commanding general on an expedition shall be granted absolute authority, which will be revoked upon his return!” Chen Xi looked up at Lub Su as he spoke.

”This solution is also good.” After pondering for a long while, Lub Su recognized the potential for problems but felt that the benefits of delegating power clearly outweighed the disadvantages when compared to the phrase that might create a rift between the commanding generals and the monarch.

”As for Xingba, I estimate it will take about a year for him to adequately train the Navy. Furthermore, if the other side still wishes to recruit Xingba by then, I’ll have him undertake a second task. I have quite an interest in the horses from the north and would like to weaken the Xianbei and Wuhuan a bit,” said Chen Xi with a smile on his face, but that smile gave Lub Su a somewhat chilling feeling.

”Zichuan, could you please not smile so coldly? It’s a bit much for me to handle,” Lub Su reminded him.

”I’ve neglected your feelings, sorry. By the way, I heard Gongsun Bogui is having a hard time, short on food. Order someone to send three ships of grain and another with salt to sell to the Governor of Youzhou for money to give to General Gongsun. After all, he helped Lord Xuande considerably in the past, and we should not mistreat him.” Chen Xi restrained his smile and changed the subject to discuss other matters.

”Yes, I have already entrusted the Mi Family to handle this matter. It should be delivered before long,” Lub Su nodded and said.

Afterward, the two chatted about various trivial matters, and Chen Xi began to daydream again. He had already decided what to do about Gan Ning. There’s no denying Gan Ning’s ability; the only problem was a current difficulty. And in roughly three years, Liu Yan would die, and once Liu Zhang came into power, it would be time to bring Gan Ning in.

As for the arrangements for these three years, Chen Xi had already decided. He would first have Gan Ning drill the Navy. If the People of Qingzhou were to be trained into a Navy, it would take two to three years at least, but training the Water Pirates would be much easier, although discipline would be a significant issue. However, Chen Xi believed that Gan Ning would certainly live up to the title of chief commander.

The idea of attacking other Provinces and Counties was purely a joke, and Chen Xi was well aware that unless Gan Ning was foolish, he would never do such a thing. However, fighting and dealing with bandits wouldn’t require approval, and Chen Xi surmised that Gan Ning would train while fighting, and it was very possible that many captives would become part of his Navy.

After about a year or so, once Gan Ning had trained a usable Navy, Chen Xi planned to send Gan Ning to Yizhou, to reorganize the Indigenous People there, putting a nail in place ahead of time, and also to give Gan Ning some practice. Afterwards, it could serve as a transit point, mixing in some spices from the surrounding small islands. After all, profiting from a business venture with no initial investment is naturally to be expected!

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