Chapter 59: The Second Encounter with Gan Ning

  Liu Jing led the horse with Liu Hu and walked quickly all the way. Before long, they arrived at the dock, boarded the ferry, and the boat sailed towards the north shore.

  The boat had just reached the middle of the Han River when Liu Xuan suddenly saw a government boat coming towards him, and he recognized everyone on board. He hastily waved his hand and shouted: "Cao Wu!"

  The people on the government boat saw him and hurriedly sailed closer, stopping the ferry. The leader of the group was named Cao Ke, ranked fifth in line, so everyone called him Cao Wu.

  The two boats drew together, and Cao Wu hastily said: "Director Cao, something has happened!"

  "What's going on?" Liu Xuan felt a little displeased in his heart. Today was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and Cao Wu shouted "something's happened", which wasn't an auspicious sign.

  "Director Cao, Zhang Ping has been taken away."

  "Zhang Ping!" Liu Xuan was taken aback. How could it be him again? He asked displeased, "Who took you away?"

  "Was taken away by Gan Ning's men just last midnight."

  Liu Jue's eyebrows furrowed into a ball, how did Zhang Ping get into trouble with Gan Ning? At this moment, he had an epiphany - wait a minute! Neither yesterday nor today was Zhang Ping on duty, what was he doing coming out here?

  "What's going on?"

  Cao Wu glanced at the boatman beside him, hesitated for a moment, "Can Director Cao change boats?"

  He got on the public boat and Liu Xuan sat down and asked: "Tell me! What happened?"

  "Today is Zhang Ping's shift, but he shouldn't be on duty. However, he suddenly came last night at midnight and swapped shifts with Yang Shun, who was on duty, then went out on patrol with over a dozen brothers. At dawn today, Gan Ning sent someone to deliver an oral message saying that Zhang Ping and the dozen or so brothers are in his hands, asking Director Cao to go over and discuss it, but we're not clear about the specific situation."

  This is strange, what is Zhang Ping doing running out in the middle of the night? Liu Xuan hesitated for a moment, even if he didn't care about Zhang Ping, but he was responsible for more than a dozen brothers.

  Liu Jue asked: "Where is Gan Ning now?"

  "It seems like somewhere west of Fan City."

  At this time, Liu Hu beside him chimed in: "In Fengyiting."

  "Yes! It's at Fengyiting."

  Liu Xuan immediately ordered: "Turn around and go to Fengyi Pavilion!"

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  Gan Ning's camp was located at Fengyiting, west of Fancheng. There was a harbor and dozens of government houses on the shore. This place was actually a temporary wharf station where officials came and went by boat. If they were tired and it was dark, they could stay overnight in this station.

  Liu Biao decided to hand over this post station to Gan Ning, letting him and his men stay here for a long time. Every month, he would send money and grain to them on time. In fact, it was just to keep Gan Ning in Fan City, neither using him nor treating him badly, neither damaging Liu Biao's reputation nor eliminating the biggest water thief in Jingzhou.

  Liu Biao used the excuse of recommending Gan Ning as a Zhonglang General to the imperial court, and according to normal procedures, it would take several months or one or two years at most, but he kept delaying indefinitely.

  Next to the post house, there is indeed a pavilion called Fengyi Pavilion. The post house was named after this pavilion. The pavilion was built on a fake mountain, about 7 or 8 zhang high. Sitting in the pavilion, you can look down at the Han River and watch the Yangtze River rushing southward. The view is broad and refreshing, making people feel carefree and joyful.

  Liu Xuan stood with his hands behind him, facing the wind, as a whiff of fishy smell from the river wind blew towards him, blowing his hair into a dance. The landscape was like a painting, the great river flowing east, its turbulent waves rolling, this scene stirring up Liu Xuan's emotions.

  At this time, a hurried footsteps came from behind, Liu Jue turned his head and saw Gan Ning walking towards Feng Yiting.

  Liu Xuan saw that he was no longer as open and honest as before, wearing a cyan heroic cloak, with a brocade belt around his waist, and a crown on his head. The pirate's arrogance had disappeared, replaced by a few more refined qualities.

  "General Gan's outfit is so unusual that it's hard to recognize him."

  Gan Ning chuckled and waved his hand, and two of his men laid out a mat in the pavilion and arranged over ten dishes of wine and food. Gan Ning smiled slightly, "I've long wanted to invite Lord Jing to have a cup of watery wine with me; would you do me the honor of sitting down?"

  "General Gan is being polite."

  Liu Jue made a gesture of invitation, and without being polite, he sat down directly. Gan Ning also sat down, poured him a cup of wine, and his eyes were filled with apology. "Young master has been kind to me, but I had your subordinate arrested. I apologize to you first, this matter was really unavoidable."

  Liu Jue slowly drank his wine without saying a word, he knew that Gan Ning's capture of Zhang Ping must have had deep meaning.

  Gan Ning sighed and his expression turned solemn, "Things are a bit complicated, let me tell you slowly. Actually, the root of this matter still lies in the battle of Runan two months ago."

  "Battle of Yuzhong?" Liu Jiong furrowed his brow, he was all too familiar with that battle.

  "Yes."

  Gan Ning nodded and said, "After the Battle of Ru Nan ended, Cao Cao left his cousin Cao Hong to handle the aftermath. According to Cao Cao's order to kill all captives, the thousands of Yellow Turban soldiers were to be executed to eliminate future troubles. However, Cao Hong had a change of heart and only killed a small portion of them, secretly selling the rest as slaves for profit. I also received news of this and ordered my men to disguise themselves as merchants, buying 500 soldier-slaves, intending to resell them in Jing Zhou."

  Liu Cong's head is a bit big, buying and selling slaves is not impossible, but it must be registered with the government, each slave must be registered by the government one by one. If it is not registered with the government, it belongs to the crime of private slave trading. If the number is large, it becomes a serious crime.

  Gan Ning even privately bought war prisoners from the Cao army, which was a serious crime. If Liu Biao found out, it would cause big trouble. Why is Gan Ning being so muddle-headed?

  Gan Ning seemed to know Liu Xun's thoughts, and sighed: "At the time of buying slaves, I hadn't yet defected to the provincial governor, but I also knew this matter was a bit troublesome, so I sent someone to do it. But somehow, news of this got out, and unexpectedly Zhang Yun found out about it. As far as I know, he's also having people buy military slaves in Ru'nan, and now he's turned around and is plotting against me."

  "Are you saying he wants to snatch the slave from your hands?" Liu Jing roughly understood why Zhang Ping would rush over in the middle of last night, and it must be related to this matter.

  "That's right!"

  Gan Ning nodded, "This batch of young and strong slaves was bought for one or two gold coins per person at that time. They can be resold for ten gold coins, five hundred people is five thousand gold coins, which is enough for my subordinates to spend a year, so this deal is very important to me. But Zhang Yun heard that I had this batch of slaves and asked someone to find me, willing to buy them at three gold coins per person. Of course, I didn't agree, Zhang Yun was furious and spoke harshly, saying that if these military slaves entered Jingzhou, he would write his name upside down."

  "What's going on with Ping again? Why was he arrested last night?"

  "Last night, I made a probe and personally transported ten slaves along the river into the Han River. The journey was relatively smooth, but unexpectedly, soon after entering the Han River, we were intercepted by your patrol troops. The leader of them was Zhang Ping, who kept saying that he was capturing slave traders. As a result, both sides clashed, and I captured three boats and more than ten patrol soldiers, including Zhang Ping, who is now in my hands."

  Gan Ning was indeed in a dilemma, whether to release this group of people or not. If he released them, they would immediately report him for privately selling military slaves. If he didn't release them, the news would quickly spread and things would become even more troublesome. Therefore, Gan Ning was now in a difficult situation, and after thinking about it repeatedly, he could only think of discussing it with Liu Xuan.

  Before he could leave, Liu Xuan arrived himself.

  Some things don't need to be said clearly, Gan Ning's meaning, Liu Jue understood it all, Gan Ning is now in big trouble, just a crime of privately selling military slaves, Liu Bei has an excuse to kill him.

  It seems that Gan Ning is somewhat reluctant, he asked himself to drink wine, undoubtedly wanting to get himself into trouble.

  Liu Bei was sure to help, but he didn't want Gan Ning to feel too easy, so as to show his kindness.

  After a moment of contemplation, Liu Xuan said: "Alright! Let's release the dozen or so brothers first and let them return home for the New Year. We'll instruct them not to speak out about this. As for Zhang Ping, I'll need some more time to think about it - he is Zhang Yun's younger brother, after all, and it's really not easy to handle."

  Since Gan Ning asked for Liu Xun's help, he had to give him face. He immediately ordered his men: "Release all of them except Zhang Ping."

  His subordinate responded with a sound and was about to leave when Liu Xuan stood up and said, "I'll go talk to them first."

  Just then, a subordinate rushed over and hastily reported: "Report to the leader, there are many troops outside, Zhang Yun has arrived."

  Gan Ning suddenly stood up and angrily said: "He has indeed arrived."

  He turned around and was about to leave, Liu Xuan grabbed him, "Wait a minute!"

  Liu Xuan's thoughts turned quickly, and as soon as he arrived, Zhang Yun followed closely behind. Could it be that he was waiting for Liu Xuan himself? Was his true target not Gan Ning, but Liu Xuan? Or was he aiming to kill two birds with one stone?

  Liu Xuan said in a low voice, "General Gan, calm down first. Zhang Yun led the army to come here, probably with prior intentions, or maybe Zhang Ping was caught, it's a trap set by Zhang Yun."

  Gan Ning was also a very astute person, but he was slightly confused and didn't see things as clearly as Liu Xuan did from the outside. With this reminder from Liu Xuan, Gan Ning slowly calmed down.

  It seems that's the case, that Flathead Catfish is quite powerful underwater, even if it can't win a fight, it can still jump into the water to escape, catching it myself seems a bit too easy.

  Could it be a trap set by Zhang Yun? If so, things are going to get a bit tricky.

  Gan Ning was not worried about himself, with his martial arts skills, even if outnumbered, he could still break through and escape. He was only concerned about the safety of his subordinates, who had followed him for many years, and did not want them to be implicated and suffer harm unnecessarily.

  He thought of this and looked at Liu Xuan as if seeking help, and Liu Xuan's calmness gave him a glimmer of hope.

  Liu Bei now wants to stabilize Gan Ning and does not want him to leave Jiangdong in anger because of this matter, causing Jingzhou to lose a great general.

  "General Gan doesn't need to worry, Zheng Dan has a habit of not mobilizing troops, this must not be the provincial governor sending troops, it should be Zhang Yun leading his own private army, I'll take care of this matter."

  At this point, Liu Xuan called Liu Hu to come forward and whispered a few words to him. Liu Hu nodded and immediately climbed over the wall and left through the waterway, where there was no encirclement by Zhang Yun's army.

  Liu Jue strode out of the pavilion, Gan Ning worried that he would lose, and also brought his troops to follow him out. However, Liu Jue waved his hand, "General Gan, don't go out for now, I can handle it alone."

  Gan Ning nodded and stopped in his tracks. He would watch from the doorway, and if Liu Xuan was in danger, he would immediately step in to rescue him.

  Outside the station wall, over a thousand of Zhang Yun's soldiers surrounded the station on three sides. At the front gate, Zhang Yun was fully armored, holding a large sword, his eyes fixed coldly on the entrance, with an occasional flash of triumphant sneer in his eyes.

  He had actually been prepared long ago. As soon as he received the news that Liu Xuan had entered the post station, he immediately led his army to surround Fengyiting Post Station.

  Zhang Ping was caught by Gan Ning, it was indeed his deliberate arrangement, his purpose was to make a big deal out of it and bring out the fact that Gan Ning was secretly selling slaves.

  He heard that Gan Ning bought five hundred military slaves, all of whom were extremely strong and robust Yellow Turbans. Zhang Yun had the intention to take them for himself and make them his own retainers. Unexpectedly, Gan Ning refused to sell, which made him furious with shame and anger.

  Today's affair was his painstaking plan, with the aim of killing two birds with one stone, capturing Gan Ning while making Liu Jue fall into the crime of covering up and dismissing him from his post as supervisor of Cao.

  Zhang Yun was extremely pleased with himself. Today he would vent his anger, a naive and inexperienced kid dared to challenge him? Dream on!

  He brandished his long sword and shouted loudly: "Gan Ning, come out and talk, otherwise I'll kill my way into the post station!"