NOVPUB"Go ahead, write it down and just explain it clearly to Xingba and the others," Chen Xi sighed and said, "As long as these folks here can learn it, it’s enough if the lower-ranking officers can use numbers to communicate. Xingba and his group should be able to understand the more complicated ones."
"Rest assured, I have already grasped the principle you’re talking about. If it’s compiled according to your principle, it is easy to create ciphers that even you couldn’t break," Zhuge Liang managed to calm his excitement. He was the type who could extrapolate from one thing to understand others. Once Chen Xi had illuminated one aspect for him, he understood everything else and was even able to think more deeply.
"I find you to be extremely intelligent," Chen Xi said with a smile, "I merely mentioned a beginning, and you understood the rest. You even know how to proceed and can deduce subsequent steps on your own. I fear there might not have been anyone as intelligent as you throughout history."
Zhuge Liang’s face flushed red; it was rare for someone to praise him so frankly. When others called him intelligent, it was always in a roundabout way. No one had ever been as direct as Chen Xi in telling him that he was without equal both in the past and the future.
"Haha, I’m just joking," Chen Xi laughed heartily, immediately deflating the excited Zhuge Liang, who, looking somewhat despondent, fist-palmed towards Chen Xi and went off to resolve the issue.
"Alright, let’s continue with our matters," Chen Xi said with a smile to Gan Ning as he saw Zhuge Liang leave, "Kongming will take care of the ciphers you’ll use for message transmission in the future. You can rest assured about that. As long as there are no traitors among us, it’s absolutely impossible for anyone to break them."
Gan Ning and Taishi Ci exchanged glances, curious but not specifically asking questions. After all, just now Chen Xi had said that they obviously couldn’t understand, yet Zhuge Liang did, and he had also mentioned that he would explain it to them. Chen Xi had approved of this as well.
Out of their trust in Chen Xi, Gan Ning and Taishi Ci did not press on the matter. However, their curiosity shifted towards Zhuge Liang. After all, how could they not be curious about a boy no older than twelve or thirteen who could understand such profound matters articulated by Chen Xi?
"Xingba, how many days will it take for us to reach the Yangtze River Mouth, and how long will it take to reach Lujiang?" Chen Xi asked.
"To the Yangtze River Mouth, I’m afraid we need six days. To reach Lujiang, as we might need to engage in battle, I suggest we take four days to arrive at a slower pace. Otherwise, if we arrive directly at the battlefield, some of our Navy won’t have combat power. We would not only fail to save anyone, but we might also put ourselves at risk," Gan Ning said. Although his relationship with Lul Jun was good and he was familiar with the Lul Family, as a military officer, his concern during combat was how to minimize the losses on his side. Gan Ning could still distinguish between personal feelings and official duties.
"Do as you say. This time, our opponent is a master of naval battles. If a conflict occurs, chances are the other party will be Zhou Yu who defeated Huang Zu," Chen Xi nodded. There was no use in hurrying now; it was time to listen to the professionals.
"Zhou Yu?" Gan Ning frowned. Other people might not pay much attention to this individual, but for Gan Ning, he was a renowned figure.
After all, in naval warfare, names that are known and respected, ground battle generals may not pay attention, but how could Gan Ning, who is in command of the Navy, not pay heed? With specialized knowledge in his field, he had conducted his own research on the well-known and named officers of the current world’s Navies. In Gan Ning’s mind, Zhou Yu, who had spectacularly defeated Huang Zu, was an exceedingly dangerous person!
Even though Gan Ning wouldn’t admit it aloud, he had to acknowledge that his naval battle skills might not be a match for Zhou Yu. At the very least, he wasn’t capable of continuously defeating the Jiangxia Navy with just the ragtag group of one or two thousand Water Pirates and River Bandits under his command, ultimately absorbing them entirely. Such a person was unmistakably to be feared by Gan Ning.
"Yes, that’s him. This person is very formidable, especially in naval battles, incredibly so. I specifically reviewed the scant records we have about him. The opponent is very adept at trapping larger ships with smaller ones, and then boarding them to fight. Moreover, when necessary, he’s quite skilled at sacrificing pieces," Chen Xi frowned as he spoke. This was something he disliked about Zhou Yu; Chen Xi was softhearted and generally wouldn’t sacrifice pieces unless absolutely necessary.
"Good at using smaller vessels to trap bigger ones, then boarding them for battle, and also adept at sacrificing pieces?" Gan Ning furrowed his brow. Weren’t those tactics all part of his own repertoire, except for the sacrificing?
"If that’s the case, I think I know how to counter him, even though he may be better than me when it comes to naval warfare," Gan Ning raised an eyebrow.
Even though Gan Ning wasn’t certain of Zhou Yu’s exact fighting style, based on what Chen Xi had shared, Gan Ning was confident he could catch Zhou Yu by surprise. As someone equally versed in that naval warfare technique, Gan Ning had a very profound understanding of its drawbacks.
"That’s good then. I wouldn’t recommend dragging out a protracted battle with him. Our goal is to rescue people. As long as we can extract the Lu family, taking with us their complete shipbuilding technology, that should suffice. As for fighting, it’s best we don’t go too deep. That kind of engagement behind enemy lines is too unpredictable," Chen Xi said with a nod, noticing Gan Ning’s expression and feeling reassured in his heart.
Gan Ning nodded, pondering over another matter. Unless something unexpected happened, Gan Ning wouldn’t engage in battle with Zhou Yu.
"When we reach the Yangtze River Mouth, Zifang, you’ll follow Gan Lan in escorting the Cao Army prisoners to Yizhou, to avoid detection," Gan Ning turned and spoke to Mi Fang after a while.
"That doesn’t seem quite right," Mi Fang said with a wry smile. "Isn’t that the same as running away? The fight hasn’t even started, and a commander is fleeing. That doesn’t sound good."
"Slap!" Gan Ning smacked Mi Fang on the back. "What nonsense are you talking about? Who said anything about running away? I’m asking you to escort the prisoners. I could take on Zhou Yu even if I gave you half my men. The Cao Army prisoners are important. Rescuing the Lu family doesn’t necessarily entail a battle; perhaps by the time we get there, Sunx Ce hasn’t even taken Lujiang yet. We’re just going to pick them up. Then we can flow downstream, and they’ll be unable to catch up."
"Is that so?" Mi Fang nodded. "Understood, then. When we get to the Yangtze River Mouth, I’ll split from you with Gan Lan. I wish you a triumphant victory in advance."
"Hmm, without those supply ships slowing us down, we’ll be faster. Once we’re too slow, if we get caught in Zhou Yu’s encirclement tactics, an inevitable bloody battle awaits," Gan Ning said gravely.
It seemed that although Gan Ning agreed with Chen Xi, he was also preparing for a clash with Zhou Yu. Perhaps his instincts were telling him that the upcoming mission to Lujiang might unavoidably lead to battle.
"Hmm, that’s true." Chen Xi nodded in agreement, then he remembered something else. "Xingba, has General Guan sent someone here to you recently?"
"Eh?" Gan Ning looked a bit troubled, glancing at Mi Fang and Taishi Ci, he chuckled bitterly twice, turned back to Chen Xi, thought for a moment, and said, "Not hiding anything from the strategist, General Guan did indeed send someone to me and asked me to fulfill all of his requests. He also brought a missive from our lord, but he didn’t disclose the person’s identity to me, nor did he allow me to inform anyone else." (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes, monthly tickets, and support me. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
