Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1398: Chapter 1348: Acted on Impulse

”You jinxed it...” Chen Xi, seated at the head, was just about to agree with Li Youu’s words when he turned and saw Jia Fu walking through the main hall entrance, and immediately his mouth twitched.

”Huh?” Li Youu looked puzzled and turned his head in the direction of Chen Xi’s gaze, his face turning dark at once. Jia Fu, to Jia Xu, was like Li Fan to Li Youu; these two were old servants who had followed their masters for many years.

”Greetings, Sovereign Marquis. The Family Head requests your presence.” Jia Fu appeared in front of the two without expression, bowed slightly, and then silently withdrew. Not long after, Chen Xi and Li Youu each excused themselves early due to urgent matters.

”Looks like something really big has happened.” Chen Xi said helplessly, sitting in the carriage and looking at Li Youu’s thoughtful expression, his own demeanor also somewhat heavy.

”Let’s go, we’ll find out when we get there. I’m quite curious to know who is this unwise.” Li Youu said with displeasure, clearly unhappy with the major incident coinciding with Liu Bei’s wedding.

”We’ll know once we’re there, but I have some guesses already.” Chen Xi said, pressing his temples. ”If nothing else, it should be the movements of Sunx Bofu.”

”So I think you’re right; that Sun Ce fellow simply doesn’t know what’s good for him.” Li Youu sneered, even without Jia Fu telling them anything, Li Youu could guess a little, ”Seems like he needs to be taught a lesson.”

”Clatter.” The sound of wheels stopping, Chen Xi and Li Youu descended from the carriage with traces of alcohol, the full moon nearing its zenith in the sky.

Before Li Youu and Chen Xi could knock, the gatekeeper of the Jia Family had already opened the door, ”Sovereign Marquises, the Family Head is waiting in the main hall to greet you.”

”What happened with Wen He?” Chen Xi stepped forward and pushed open the main hall door, looking at Jia Xu sitting on the side drinking tea and asked.

”Something major happened.” Jia Xu put down his teacup, his gaze rarely flashing with sharpness, ”I’m afraid none of us can afford to idle.”

”Tell me, given the current state of the world, how big an event could occur?” Li Youu sneered, ”How many troops did Sunx Bofu muster to attack Yuzhou?”

”Forty-three thousand!” Jia Xu replied, ”And they’re timing their attack right with Lord’s wedding feast.”

”A mere forty-three thousand troops, what’s there to fear? Even if Sun Ce throws all of Eastern Wu’s soldiers at us, what does it matter to us? If he dares to empty Eastern Wu, Xingba, Ziyi, Guann Hai, and thousands of troops in Yiizhou will be enough to even out Yangzhou!” Chen Xi scoffed.

”Believe it or not, when our army enters Yangzhou, the resistance intensity at Sun Ce’s rear will definitely be very low!” Chen Xi suggested calmly after sitting down and having a cup of tea.

”Is there anything more significant? If it’s just Sun Ce, I don’t think you need to be like this, and whether Sun Ce sends only forty-three thousand or keeps pulling in reinforcements, it makes no difference to us.” Li Youu put down his teacup and said.

”On the contrary, I actually think that if Sun Ce continues to draw reinforcements, our opportunity to flatten Yangzhou has come.” Chen Xi chuckled.

”If it were just this news, you wouldn’t have been notified like this; this is the second issue. Xingba has gotten into a fight with Kushan, and won’t return for a while.” Jia Xu said with a kindly look at Chen Xi and Li Youu, though his kindly demeanor betrayed his true mindset; Jia Xu really wanted to impeach Gan Ning.

”What?” Li Youu’s hand holding the tea paused briefly, then resumed its movement, though he turned his head to stare at Chen Xi.

”Why did they come to blows?” Chen Xi asked.

”A prisoner from the Kushan Navy said a sailor got nervous and fired the stone thrower, then Xingba annihilated them.” Jia Xu said, his face as black as ink, ”In short, after Xingba destroyed an enemy fleet, he’s leading all the marines to prepare an ambush of all Kushan naval forces!”

Jia Xu pointed at the Strait of Malacca, his expression as black as the bottom of a pot, essentially no different from his reality; in Jia Xu’s view, clashing with an empire is inevitable sooner or later. But going to provoke other empires when the domestic situation is not stabilized is suicidal!

”Oh, they annihilated the enemy?” Chen Xi asked.

”They annihilated them.” Jia Xu nodded.

”Then it’s settled.” Chen Xi shrugged. ”They’ve already been destroyed, and they attacked us first anyway; destroyed is destroyed, dead men tell no tales, could Kushan still come bite us?”

”Didn’t you hear what was said next? Xingba is leading the remaining marines to ambush the enemy navy here, aiming for total extermination!” Jia Xu rarely showed a trace of anger; the priority should be sweeping the domestic issues!

”Having started this, there’s no point in fearing offense, and flattening Yangzhou; if not this time, next time exists. But annihilating Kushan’s navy, Xingba must understand this kind of battle chance only comes once.” Chen Xi said to Jia Xu with calm determination.

”Outline all the intelligence again, Wen He. This Chapter-and-verse approach is not a good habit.” Li Youu spoke up at this moment, despite feeling appreciation for Gan Ning, who was bold, meticulous, clearly aware of his own role.

Jia Xu recounted the whole incident honestly, and though he was satisfied with Gan Ning’s thorough annihilation of the attacking Kushan Navy, he was very displeased with Gan Ning’s subsequent decisions.

Destroying that provocative group of Kushan Navy was very reasonable in Jia Xu’s view, clean execution with no survivors, which sufficed, but there’s no need to lose reason by fighting Kushan’s navy at the Malacca Strait.

One must know Jia Xu’s thinking is far more meticulous than Gan Ning’s. Where Gan Ning thinks solely of single Kushan naval forces passing Malacca, Jia Xu considers how many forces Kushan might assign there, as the Strait of Malacca is the sole gateway for Kushan to the South Blue.

After Gan Ning annihilated Kushan’s navy stationed at Malacca, how long would it take the other dispersed Kushan naval forces to realize something amiss?

After destroying how many of the Kushan Navy, would Kushan be certain an ambush concoction is at Malacca? Whether Kushan will dispatch Inner Qi Manifestation for reconnaissance? Whether Gan Ning can consistently annihilate the Kushan Navy every time? Would Kushan deploy more navy from the home base?

Don’t let the desire for gain turn into a loss; such scenarios aren’t improbable, an ambush turning into encirclement and annihilation, which fundamentally doesn’t align with strategic aims of risking smaller forces for bigger outcomes!

These are all issues Jia Xu sees, but Gan Ning has completely ignored!

Truth be told, going to sea fight with Kushan wasn’t considered by Jia Xu as a big deal; he was outraged that Gan Ning didn’t consider, if Liu Bei’s navy were decimated, how long it would take to train another, and how long the new naval force would need to deal with Zhou Yu on the Yangtze River.

These timelines are the real root causes affecting overarching strategy, and these are what Gan Ning wholly neglected; having drive is good, but this time Gan Ning acted impulsively!