"This ship is still too small."
Gan Gui ran the cloth over the Eight-Ox Crossbow with the tenderness of a man polishing his favorite drinking cup. His eyes gleamed as he examined the enormous weapon, and for once, the usual mischief in his expression was accompanied by genuine professional admiration.
"Beautiful, though. A nasty little thing."
He patted the frame affectionately before looking toward Guan Yu.
"Put something like this on the right ship and you could make a wealthy man very poor in a single afternoon."
Guan Yu stood nearby, arms folded across his bare chest, sweat still glistening on his skin from the earlier trial.
"It is a prototype."
"A prototype," Gan Gui repeated thoughtfully. "That explains why it looks like it is waiting for someone to die before it decides whether it works."
He crouched beside the crossbow and examined the damaged timber.
"The weapon is not your problem, General. The ship is. Too small, and too much weight concentrated in one place. Once you mount a weapon like this, reinforce the frame, add the mechanism to draw it, and fill the deck with men and bolts, you have built yourself a very impressive way to sink."
Guan Yu's brows rose slightly.
"You are certain?"
"I have spent most of my life on rivers, and I have learned three things." Gan Gui held up one finger. "Never trust a boat that looks too proud of itself." A second finger followed. "Never fight the current when you can make the current fight for you." Then he raised a third. "And never put a weapon on a ship unless you have already considered what happens when the ship is struck."
Guan Yu regarded him for a moment.
"Only three things?"
Gan Gui smiled.
"There are more, but those are the ones I remember right now, General... ahahahah."
Guan Yu stared at him. Heaven, can this Gan kid act normal for once...
He stood and began pacing along the deck, his fingers absently touching the silver bell at his belt.
"Give me a larger hull. Much larger. Something with enough strength beneath the deck to carry this beast without tearing itself apart. The paddle wheel stays. In fact, I would rather have more than one."
"More?"
"Why should we make the crew work like oxen if the machinery can do it for them?"
Gan Gui's hands began moving as he spoke, sketching the idea in the air.
"Put the paddle wheels where they will not interfere with the weapons. Give the ship enough power to keep moving even when the wind turns against us. Most importantly, give the helmsman room to turn the thing properly, because if we are going to build a monster, General, we should at least teach it how to bite without falling over."
Guan Yu considered the suggestion.
"And the Eight-Ox Crossbow?"
Gan Gui's grin returned.
"Keep it."
"How many?"
Gan Gui looked toward the crossbow, then toward the river, as though calculating the answer.
"Six would be excellent."
Guan Yu's expression remained impassive.
"Six?"
"Eight would be magnificent."
"And practical?"
Gan Gui scratched his chin.
"That depends on how much you dislike the shipwrights."
A rare flicker of amusement passed through Guan Yu's eyes.
Gan Gui leaned closer to the weapon.
"But I would not waste all of them on the sides. Give us a few forward-facing weapons. Let the enemy see this ugly thing coming toward them and wonder whether Heaven itself has decided to throw furniture at their fleet."
Guan Yu nodded slowly.
"Then the ship would be difficult to board."
"That is the idea," Gan Gui said, and beneath the jokes, his mind was already working through the possibilities. "If they cannot approach us safely, they will try to flee. If they flee, we chase them. If they turn and fight, we keep our distance and shoot them. If they somehow reach us, then we board them."
Guan Yu looked at him.
"You seem very fond of boarding."
"I am a Jinfan pirate, through and through," Gan Gui said, as though that explained everything. "It would be strange if I suddenly developed an interest in accounting, right, General?"
He turned back toward the crossbow.
"There is another possibility."
"What?"
"Attach a rope to the bolt."
Guan Yu's eyes narrowed.
Gan Gui's grin slowly widened.
"You shoot the bolt into their hull. The rope follows. If the hull is strong enough, we use the winch to drag them toward us. And if the hull breaks, then we have saved ourselves the trouble of boarding."
Guan Yu gave him a long look.
Gan Gui raised both hands.
"What? I am thinking about efficiency."
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Then Guan Yu nodded. "That could work."
Gan Gui's expression brightened. "Now we are talking."
He turned toward the shipyard and gave a sharp whistle.
Gan Gui pointed toward the ship.
"Boys, look carefully. That is our future."
Old Man Liu squinted at it.
"To me, it looks expensive."
"It is."
"Looks heavy."
"Very."
"Looks like it would sink if we make one mistake."
Gan Gui nodded cheerfully.
"Exactly, old man. So let us make sure we do not make a mistake."
A'Hei was already preparing his brush.
"Captain, what should I record?"
"Everything."
"That is unusually responsible of you."
"I am capable of surprising people."
Gan Gui glanced toward Guan Yu.
"Write this down properly. We need larger hulls, stronger frames, better paddle mechanisms, and craftsmen who know what they are doing."
A'Hei paused.
"Where shall we find them?"
Gan Gui's smile became considerably more troublesome.
"That, my dear A'Hei, is why we are going east."
Old Man Liu immediately frowned.
"Into Wu territory?"
"Not necessarily."
"That sounded like yes."
"It sounded like opportunity."
"I think it just looks like trouble."
Gan Gui slipped an arm around the old man's shoulders and began steering him toward the others.
"Old Liu, you have been with me long enough to know that those are usually the same thing."
A'Shan looked uncertainly toward Guan Yu.
"Captain, are we stealing shipwrights?"
Gan Gui stopped.
"Where are your manners, damn it? Stealing is such an ugly word."
"Aha, then good captain, what word should I use?"
"Recruiting."
"By force, right?"
Gan Gui thought about it.
"If necessary."
Old Man Liu snorted.
"That is just another way of stealing."
"Bloody hell, Old Liu. Manners, manners... please."
A'Hei lowered his brush. "Should I write that?"
"Absolutely not. Write that we are offering skilled craftsmen generous employment, a bright future, and enough gold to make their wives cry with joy."
"Oh, and what happens if they refuse, Captain?"
"Of course, then we make them a second offer. We are good people, after all."
"And what does the second offer contain?"
"Less hope and gold, and their wives cry for real."
A'Hei stared at him.
Gan Gui shrugged.
Lao Zheng finally laughed.
"Hahahaa, I knew it. That sounds more like you."
Gan Gui gave him an offended look.
"I am a respectable naval commander now."
Big Nose Zhang snorted.
"Cuihh... but you are still a brat. You were sleeping under a fishing boat three weeks ago."
"Hey, hey... I was inspecting its hull from underneath."
"You were snoring."
"That was part of the inspection."
Guan Yu watched them and sighed. Big Brother, what kind of trouble have you invited? This kid's brain is not normal.
Gan Gui noticed it and immediately pointed at him. "General, you heard nothing."
"Ohh, strange. My hearing suddenly became very bad."
"Excellent General. I like you more and more, General,...hahaha."
Gan Gui climbed onto the rail and looked out across the Yangtze. His expression softened as he watched the current carrying leaves and scraps of reed downstream.
The river had been his father's kingdom.
He had grown up learning its moods, its hidden shoals, its treacherous currents, and the tricks that could make a smaller vessel appear where no enemy expected it. Ships were not merely weapons to him. They were freedom, livelihood, escape, and sometimes the difference between waking up in a warm bed and waking up with an arrow in his back.
Now someone had given him the chance to combine everything he knew with a weapon powerful enough to change the balance of the river.
He smiled.
"General Guan."
"What is it?"
"If Lady Huang can build one ship like this, then I want to see what she can do when I give her a proper hull."
Guan Yu nodded.
"Then go and find her the craftsmen she needs."
Gan Gui's grin became positively wicked.
"Gladly."
He hopped down from the rail and started toward the shipyard gates.
"Come along, boys. We have shipwrights to find, fortunes to acquire, and a great many people who are about to discover that refusing me is surprisingly inconvenient."
Old Man Liu groaned.
"I already regret this journey."
Gan Gui laughed over his shoulder.
"You regret every journey until the money arrives."
"That is because you spend the money before we get home."
"Details."
The silver bell at Gan Gui's waist chimed as he walked away.
Behind him, the great paddle wheel creaked slowly against its supports, while the Eight-Ox Crossbow rested on the deck like a sleeping beast.
Gan Gui glanced back at it once.
His smile widened.
For the first time, he was not merely inheriting his father's river.
He was beginning to imagine what he might do with it.
---
While Guan Yu remained wholly absorbed in a headache named Gan Gui and the refinement of his fleet, another force was already moving west.
A column of troops wound through the Yiling Road at the western edge of Jingzhou.
The cliffs on both sides rose steep and jagged, like the fangs of a giant beast.
Pang Tong sat atop his horse, his face visibly pale as he looked up at the towering rock walls hemming them in.
Then his gaze drifted toward Liu Bei.
Their lord was walking on foot at the head of the column.
No carriage.
No horse.
Marching beside the men.
That sight stirred something deep in Pang Tong's chest.
Respect, something close to loyalty beyond words.
Liu Bei seemed to sense the gaze and turned back with an easy smile.
"Shiyuan," he said, "I told you before that you could wait in Linju for the good news. Why insist on coming?"
Pang Tong shook his head.
"That Li Yi does not know Your Lordship. He only knows me."
His voice was calm, but absolute.
"If I were absent, how could the plan succeed?"
Liu Bei gave a slow nod. There was no arguing with that.
Ahead, the road twisted through broken stone and canyon bends, harsh and treacherous.
For a moment, Liu Bei's thoughts drifted.
Would this truly become the road where, in another future, he would lose fifty camps and become the stepping stone for Lu Xun's rise?
The thought lingered like frost.
"My Lord."
Huo Jun returned from the vanguard.
"Zigui lies ten li ahead."
Liu Bei raised a hand.
"Rest the troops. Reorganize formation."
Though it was still the bitter heart of winter, the march had been far less punishing than expected.
Coal powder braziers provided warmth during halts.
Zhuge Liang's pre-cooked grain flour allowed quick meals without slowing movement.
More importantly, all 3,000 elite troops had been issued leg-wraps.
Simple cloth bindings.
By stabilizing the leg muscles, they significantly increased marching speed, a feat that had left the other generals marveling and scrambling to equip their own units.
After the brief halt, Liu Bei divided the force.
He personally led 1,000 men forward with Pang Tong.
Chen Dao, Huo Jun, Feng Xi, and Zhang Nan followed with the remaining 2,000 as reserve support.
---
Outside the walls of Zigui, Li Yi was already waiting.
"To think that Zhou Gongjin was such a short-lived soul," Li Yi sighed.
He had planned everything out.
When he heard that Zhou Yu was gathering troops at Chaisang, Li Yi had already started imagining how large of a mansion he would buy in the East. But the world changed faster than he could have anticipated.
It wasn't until November of the previous year that he learned of Zhou Yu's sudden death. Whether Eastern Wu would continue the invasion of Yizhou became a gamble.
Fortunately, alongside the news of the death came a secret letter from Pang Tong. The man claimed to be Zhou Yu's personal confidant, entrusted on his deathbed to seek out Li Yi and coordinate a pincer attack against Liu Bei.
If Sun Wu succeeded, he would trample Liu Bei and claim merit.
If Wu failed, he would simply seize Pang Tong and offer him to Liu Zhang for reward.
Either way, he intended to profit. Thus, he was more than happy to see Pang Tong arrive.
"General, they've arrived!"
A scout pointed toward the canyon entrance. A scholar on a white horse emerged first.
Only 1,000 men, Li Yi thought, calming his nerves. I have a fortress behind me and 2,000 defenders. What is there to fear?
"General Li, a guest has come from afar! In this cold weather, will you not invite me inside to talk?" Pang Tong shouted from a distance.
Li Yi answered cautiously. "Your letter mentioned documents."
Pang Tong urged his horse several dozen paces forward. "The letter is here. Come see for yourself."
Li Yi narrowed his eyes.
Li Yi saw that Pang Tong was accompanied by only a single, elderly soldier.
He spurred his horse forward, eager to see what terms the Marquis of Sun had prepared for him. Beautiful mansions, fertile lands, and young concubines might all be contained within that letter.
As he drew near, Pang Tong's expression of feigned impatience dispelled the last of Li Yi's worries. He reached out to take the letter.
Then the "old soldier" beside Pang Tong lifted his head.
In that instant, the world changed.
His eyes were sharp as drawn steel.
A blade flashed from the scabbard like white lightning.
Li Yi's hand flew instinctively toward his throat.
Too late.
Warm blood surged between his fingers.
His vision tilted, his dreams of mansions, titles, and women in Wu spilled out onto the winter earth.
Before anyone could react, the old soldier leaned forward and severed Li Yi's head with one clean stroke.
Then he vaulted onto Li Yi's horse in a single motion.
He raised the head high, his voice exploded across the battlefield like thunder.
"I am Liu Bei, Liu Huangsu of the Great Han!"
The words struck like a hammer.
"This traitor sought to betray his lord for personal gain!"
His sword pointed toward the defenders.
"If you do not surrender, do you mean to rebel against the Han itself?!"
The 1,000 men behind him roared as one.
"Betraying the lord for personal gain!"
One step forward.
"Do you mean to rebel against the Han?!"
Then from the canyon behind them came the thunder of marching boots.
Rank after rank emerged.
Shields.
Spears.
Banners.
Voices rolling together like a landslide.
"Betraying the Han!"
"Do you mean to rebel?!"
The defenders outside Zigui wavered. They looked at each other in confusion and fear. Are we rebels now? Is the man across from us truly the virtuous Imperial Uncle Liu?
The stillness broke the moment the first spear clattered to the ground.
After that, surrender spread like collapsing dominoes.
Within moments, more than 1,000 men laid down their arms.
---
For the common people of Zigui, life didn't seem to change much at first. They had seen General Li Yi lead his troops out in the morning, but by evening, the men returning were not his.
The faces, the accents, and the way these soldiers looked at the city told the elders everything they needed to know: these were outsiders from Jingzhou.
Have we been conquered?
The thought was quickly dispelled. If they were being conquered, where was the looting? Zigui was home to many refugees from the East, including a certain Master Li who had fled from Yanzhou to Yuzhou, then to Jingzhou, and finally upstream to Zigui to escape Cao Cao.
In his grim stories, Zigui's residents had learned that bandits come like a comb, but soldiers come like a heavy-toothed harrow. Every term, looting, kidnapping, forced labor, slaughter, was enough to turn a man's face white.
Yet these troops, though clearly curious about the city and its riches, looked more afraid of their own commander than tempted by the civilians.
In the vanguard, Chen Dao listened to his Lord's instructions.
"Shuzhi, please take the personal guards and maintain order in the city. Anyone who harasses the civilians is to be executed on the spot. Since they receive 500 coins a month, they must follow military law."
Chen Dao bowed deeply.
Liu Bei turned toward Pang Tong.
"Shiyuan, issue a public notice. Use the woodblocks. Post it throughout the city so all may know the situation."
Liu Bei paused before continuing.
"Shuzhi, send another squad to seal Li Yi's estate. Inventory the wealth. Give the servants and laborers enough money to return to their homes and dismiss them. As for Li Yi's relatives, keep them under guard for now."
Pang Tong looked at him with genuine admiration.
"My Lord is truly benevolent."
Liu Bei exhaled softly. "It is thanks to your plan, Shiyuan, that Zigui was taken without a single civilian death."
Pang Tong did not take the credit. "It is thanks to the detailed information Gongyan extracted from the Light Screen."
The Light Screen had never mentioned Li Yi by name, but after Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wan meticulously filtered the data, they had found the inconsistency. During the Hanzhong campaign and the Xiang River Treaty, Zigui and Wu County were still in Liu Bei's hands. But why, then, did Yunchang not retreat toward Zigui when he was defeated, but instead fled toward Shangyong?
Even if Liu Feng and Meng Da were in Shangyong, passing through Linju to enter the Yiling Road would have been an easier path for escape, given its defensible terrain. There was only one explanation: during the Crossing the River in White Robes, Zigui and Wu County had already rebelled.
Given Liu Bei's methods of pacifying the people, the only one who could have facilitated such a betrayal was the local commander, Li Yi.
Li Yi had originally rebelled against Liu Zhang alongside Zhao Wei. After Zhao Wei's defeat, Li Yi had switched sides and killed him to rejoin Liu Zhang. It was a move of pure convenience. Like Pang Xi, as his power grew, he had ceased to respect Liu Zhang.
Pang Tong's arrival had completed the puzzle. The waters near Yiling were treacherous and full of hidden reefs, making navies nearly useless. Why then was Zhou Yu so confident in invading Yizhou? It had to be because he had Li Yi's internal support.
Pang Tong, Zhuge Liang, and Jiang Wan had theorized that the plan to persuade Li Yi to surrender was likely moving in tandem with the White Robes operation.
This also explained why Lu Xun, an outsider from the East, was able to navigate the terrain so effectively during the Battle of Yiling. He likely had the help of the turncoat Li Yi.
Thus, Pang Tong had volunteered for this high-stakes gamble: he would meet Li Yi under the guise of Zhou Yu's dying wish and cut the traitor down when he was most vulnerable. Without a leader, Zigui would be unable to resist.
Liu Bei had thought it too risky, but Pang Tong had been adamant. In the end, the results were perfect. Zigui was taken without a battle, and the road to the west lay wide open.