NOVPUBXu Chu and Dian Wei became more excited as they talked and completely forgot what their original purpose was. Of course, Xu Chu did not find an Inner Qi Manifestation tiger to be rare at all; according to Dian Wei, the meat was especially chewy!
Speaking of chewy meat, one cannot help but mention what Gan Ning and Taishi Ci are up to now. Since the day they used unconventional methods to escort Liu Yu out of Zhuo County, and then raced along their way, they finally managed not to get held back by Gongsun Zan, sailed off with a large sea ship, and began heading south without any hesitation.
Gan Ning and Taishi Ci only managed to save Liu Yu; they felt it was beyond their power to help Liu Yu’s family. However, in their view, as long as Liu Yu was alive, Gongsun Zan wouldn’t go crazy enough to annihilate his entire family, following the notion that calamity should not extend to relatives.
As for how Gongsun Zan dealt with Liu Yu’s family in the end, Gan Ning and Taishi Ci, who were aboard the ship without docking, had no knowledge and did not bother themselves with those minor matters. Their current goal was to capture a kun and present it to Chen Xi as a wedding gift.
The suggestion, after Liu Yu’s citation of classics, was dropped by the two, "When the great fish perishes, princes meet their demise"—such an implication was indeed too inauspicious. When someone is getting married, and they even hold the title of Marquis, if you bring them such a thing, aren’t you basically sabotaging them? How could they be so devoid of integrity.
Ancient people paid great attention to such prophecies, so although Gan Ning expressed his dissatisfaction verbally, he also dismissed the idea of catching a kun for Chen Xi as a gift.
Afterward, Liu Yu was put out of their minds; anyway, one gets used to seasickness after a while. Liu Yu, lying in the cabin and being looked after by some clever soldiers, was something Gan Ning and Taishi Ci quickly moved on from, starting to think about what kind of gift they should give to Chen Xi.
Traveling south and passing by Qingzhou, Gan Ning sent people to escort Liu Yu to North Sea, where he was handed over to Kong Rong, who then sent him to Mount Tai. Unbeknownst to Gan Ning and Taishi Ci, Kong Rong, adhering strictly to the Han Dynasty’s etiquette for feudal lords, ignored Liu Yu’s vehement objections and directly had him dispatched to Chang’an…
After sending Liu Yu off, Gan Ning set sail again, leading the majority of his men toward Yiizhou at the highest possible speed. This location was an important strategic point that Chen Xi had long ago instructed Gan Ning to secure, not just in preparation for future military operations in Yangzhou, but also readying for trade with Indigenous People in Jiaozhou!
Now, Gan Ning was on his way to obtain a gift, and since the kun was no longer a suitable gift, he felt that being a layman, it was alright to be more mundane.
To many Central Plains People, Jiaozhou seemed uninhabitable, but Chen Xi knew very well that the land there was extremely suitable for growing crops. Even with the most basic slash-and-burn techniques, one wouldn’t starve, thus enabling the Indigenous People to achieve bountiful harvests by simply scattering seeds, which laid the foundation for trade.
The Central Plains might lack food, but that didn’t mean the place where rice could be grown twice a year would suffer famine. Moreover, Chen Xi intended to engage in ruthless trade of grain: finding a leader of an Indigenous tribe and trading a glass bead for a shipload of grains, for instance.
In that area, there were many items considered rare treasures in the Central Plains. At that time, even a pair of scissors could make Qingzhou wealthy. After all, the Jiaozhou of the Eastern Han stretched to central Vietnam today, a place where crops could be harvested three times a year effortlessly, and despite the less desirable taste of the rice, the food production was more than sufficient.
In short, from the beginning, Chen Xi had urged Gan Ning that when the time was right, to establish relations with the Indigenous chiefs of Jiaozhou, later providing them with favored commodities, and in turn, asking them to cultivate more grain and fodder.
Those tribal chieftains were actually like local tyrants, but on their own turf, they were absolute rulers. The number of tribal subjects they commanded ranged from a few tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand, forming independent little kingdoms.
Chen Xi’s suggestion to Gan Ning at the time was to provide some primitive tools to those tribes, to bring them closer to civilization. Then, have them use those tools to grow crops and, after that, exchange their harvest with Gan Ning for luxury goods, such as swapping glass bottles for ivory. As long as the other party was willing, Chen Xi wouldn’t mind at all.
Because of this, Gan Ning had now established a small port in Yiizhou and stationed a few people there. Although the number wasn’t large, they could rely on the indigenous people of Yiizhou to ensure there was no problem with the supply of grain and fresh water for the coming and going troops.
Upon setting foot in Yiizhou, Taishi Ci was shocked to learn about the size of the island and its location, and he looked at Gan Ning in amazement. He was completely won over—no wonder the man was in charge of the navy, holding the power of life and death as the grand commander. Establishing a supply point in such a place, and with so much territory, as long as the navy remained strong, attacking Yangzhou later and hitting them from behind would be a piece of cake.
"Xingba, brother, I admire you." Taishi Ci looked up to Gan Ning with respect. That courage, that ambition, that vision—he felt as if he was nothing compared to him, like comparing clouds to mud.
"Hahaha, don’t just admire me, hurry up and load the grain and fresh water. Next, we’re heading to Zhuya County!" Gan Ning said with a laugh, "This place is just an intermediary station. There used to be a few thousand people living here, but they have already been conquered by me. Now they are striving to farm the land. It’s a bit of a pity though, if we could bring thirty thousand people here, we could produce enough food for a hundred thousand people in a year."
"Ah?" Taishi Ci opened his mouth in shock.
"Don’t be surprised. This place is very suitable for rice cultivation, yielding two or three harvests a year." Gan Ning said with a sigh, "Wait until you get to Zhuya County. You’ll see that place has no shortage of food. I have no idea why Emperor Yuan gave up on that place back then."
Chen Xi didn’t know the answer to the question posed by Gan Ning. If he did, he would have told Gan Ning that the emperor doesn’t leave Chang’an, and sometimes the affairs of the world are only speculated upon. It’s a shame that reality is often crazier than what’s written down. A staple food that can be harvested three times a year, even though the yield is only slightly more than double the normal amount and the taste isn’t very good, would still be enough to stabilize those subjects who were on the verge of starvation and his own throne as well.
Unfortunately, even though there was such a land that could yield three harvests a year and required only slash-and-burn farming, every attempt to cultivate it turned out to be a mere fantasy that went against the emperor’s vision, resulting in the abandonment of places like Zhuya County. Later on, even Jiaozhou was rarely within the emperor’s purview, primarily being used as a place of exile.
By the time of Eastern Wu, no one wanted to personally go to the southern part of Jiaozhou to take a look, with everyone just holding titles from afar and being immersed in the image of the southern barbarian lands, where the barbarians lacked manners and the air was filled with miasma and smoke.
In any case, after Gan Ning’s first visit to Zhuya County and trading a set of celadon for several large pearls with one tribal chief, he finally understood what Chen Xi meant by saying that there wasn’t much difference between those tribal chieftains and the emperor.
"Let’s go, set the sails and head full speed to Zhuya County!" Gan Ning bellowed. After all, the time to Chen Xi’s wedding wasn’t far off. (To be continued. If you like this novel, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
