"This ship is too small!"
Gan Gui carefully wiped down the Eight-Ox Repeating Crossbow, his eyes shining with an indescribable hunger.
During the test firing, even sealed inside the cabin, he had felt the entire hull tilt under the recoil. Now that they had returned to shore and he was back on deck, he could already see faint cracks spreading at the base of the crossbow mount.
"This is only a prototype," Guan Yu replied calmly.
He was still bare-chested, sweat drying on his skin, looking no different from the boatmen and laborers who earned their living on the river.
In Gan Gui's eyes, Guan Yu was a fierce hero of the age. Back in Jiangdong, his old man—Gan Ning—had once said that Guan Yu's valor was no less than his own. Yet here was such a legendary general, one who could charge into enemy ranks and seize banners single-handedly, personally building and testing warships.
And more astonishingly—it was working.
General Guan respected talent deeply. He ate and slept with the sailors, and when conducting naval drills, he always asked questions humbly, seeking advice without arrogance. Gan Gui often felt overwhelmed by the honor of being consulted.
And now, with this new ship…
In the future, General Guan could use this navy to run rampant across Jiangdong.
That thought alone made Gan Gui's blood burn.
Unable to hold back, he spoke up.
"General Guan, this ship is truly too small. If it were as large as the Sun Marquis's flagship and fitted with these paddle-wheels, it wouldn't interfere with oars or sails at all."
He grew more animated as he spoke.
"And we could mount several repeating crossbows on each side. In naval combat, these crossbows would shatter enemy sampans and ferries—men and ships alike—into splinters!"
Gan Gui spoke with mounting excitement. Guan Yu listened intently, not interrupting.
In Gan Gui's vision, such a great vessel would ride the wind under sail when favorable, and rely on paddle-wheels and oars when sailing against it. Once engaged, all the crossbows would fire together—a floating fortress without equal.
"And if we modify the bolts," Guan Yu added, following the thread of thought naturally, "fastening hemp ropes to their tails so they lodge into enemy hulls—then our soldiers could haul enemy ships in for boarding."
He paused, then looked up thoughtfully.
"But there is one problem. The shipwrights of Jiangling lack the techniques to build vessels of that scale."
Gan Gui's face lit up at once.
"I am willing to make the journey to Jiangdong!"
The Ambush at Zigui
While Guan Yu was pondering improvements to his fleet, a column of men was already winding westward along the Yiling Road beyond Jingzhou.
Pang Tong rode his horse through the steep terrain, his complexion slightly pale. As he looked ahead at his lord—walking on foot at the front of the column—his eyes filled with unmistakable gratitude.
Sensing his gaze, Liu Bei turned back and laughed easily.
"Shiyuan, you could have waited for news in Linju. Why insist on coming yourself?"
Pang Tong shook his head and lowered his voice.
"Li Yi does not know you, my lord. He knows only me. If you arrived without me, how could this plan succeed?"
That was undeniable. Liu Bei stopped persuading him and turned his attention forward.
Jagged rocks and narrow ravines filled the road ahead. For a moment, Liu Bei drifted into thought—ten years from now, would this be the very land where he would line up more than fifty camps, only to unwittingly make Lu Xun famous?
"My Lord," Huo Jun reported as he returned from scouting ahead, "Zigui is ten li away."
"Rest here and reorganize," Liu Bei ordered.
It was February, the depth of winter. Fortunately, thanks to Kongming's coal powder and the "instant grain powder" distributed beforehand, the march was not overly arduous. For this expedition, Liu Bei's main force of three thousand men had all been equipped with puttees—leg wrappings. This simple invention had already proven its worth by increasing marching speed, astonishing the generals, who now tried to outfit as many of their own troops as possible.
After a short rest, Liu Bei divided his forces. He advanced with Pang Tong and one thousand men, while Chen Dao, Huo Jun, Feng Xi, and Zhang Nan followed behind with two thousand as support.
Outside Zigui, Li Yi was already waiting.
"To think Zhou Gongjin died so young," Li Yi sighed inwardly. He had planned everything. When he first heard Zhou Yu was gathering troops at Chaisang, Li Yi had already begun dreaming of how grand a mansion he might buy in Jiangdong.
But events turned with frightening speed. It was not until last November that he learned Zhou Yu had died suddenly, leaving Jiangdong's invasion of Yizhou uncertain.
Fortunately, almost at the same time, a secret letter arrived from Pang Tong.
The sender claimed to be Zhou Yu's personal aide, acting on his dying instructions to contact Li Yi and coordinate with Jiangdong to attack Liu Bei from both sides.
Li Yi had remained cautious. If the merit of surrendering Yizhou was gone, he still needed some achievement to present himself to Jiangdong. He had heard of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei—if Jiangdong was strong, he would gladly trample Liu Bei to gain favor. But if Jiangdong was faltering…
Then he would simply bind Pang Tong and send him to Chengdu in exchange for a reward.
With that in mind, Li Yi welcomed Pang Tong.
"General! They've arrived!" A sharp-eyed soldier reported.
At the head of the column was a scholar on a white horse. Watching the disciplined troops emerge from the gorge, Li Yi felt a subtle heaviness strike his chest.
But they're only a thousand men. I have a fortified city and two thousand defenders behind me. What is there to fear?
"General Li," Pang Tong called out loudly, "a guest has come from afar. It's bitterly cold—will you not invite me inside to speak?"
Li Yi hesitated.
"You mentioned in your letter that you brought documents…"
At that moment, "Official Pang" rode forward alone by several dozen paces. Drawing a letter from his robe, he said,
"The letter is here. You may examine it yourself."
Li Yi wavered. Seeing that Pang Tong was accompanied by only one "old soldier," he finally rode out from his formation. He wanted to see for himself what terms the Sun Marquis had prepared.
As he approached, Pang Tong's impatient expression—entirely convincing—dismissed Li Yi's last trace of doubt. He leaned forward to take the letter. Mansions, fertile lands, beautiful women—perhaps all of Jiangdong lay within this envelope.
At that very instant, the "old soldier" beside Pang Tong lifted his head.
His eyes were bright, heroic, filled with an indomitable spirit that bowed to no man.
A long blade flashed from its scabbard, white as silk in the dim light.
Li Yi clutched his throat instinctively. He could feel his strength—and his dreams of Jiangdong—pouring stubbornly through his fingers.
Before soldiers on both sides could react, the "old soldier" leaned down and severed Li Yi's head in one clean stroke. He vaulted onto Li Yi's horse, raised the head high, and roared:
"I am Liu, Imperial Uncle of the Great Han! Li Yi intended to betray his lord for personal gain. If you do not surrender now—do you mean to rebel against the Han?!"
Liu Bei's soldiers shouted in unison:
"Betraying his master for gain!"
A thousand men stepped forward together and roared:
"DO YOU MEAN TO REBEL AGAINST THE HAN?!"
At the same time, column after column of soldiers poured out from the rear gorge, stamping in unison and shouting:
"BETRAYING HIS MASTER! DO YOU MEAN TO REBEL?!"
The soldiers outside Zigui wavered, exchanging glances.
We're rebels now?
And the one facing us is the Imperial Uncle Liu, famed across the land for benevolence?
The silence broke quickly. Someone threw down his weapon. Soon after, the thousand-plus soldiers Li Yi had led out of the city surrendered one after another.
The Occupation of Zigui
For the common people of Zigui, daily life did not change much at first.
That morning, they had watched General Li lead his troops out of the city. By evening, however, the soldiers who returned were not General Li's men.
The unfamiliar faces, accents, and probing gazes soon made the elders realize—this army came from elsewhere, likely Jingzhou.
Yet the people quickly dismissed the thought of invasion. If the city had truly been "taken," why was there no looting?
Zigui held refugees from the eastern regions, such as a certain Mr. Li who had fled from Yanzhou to Yuzhou, then to Jingzhou, and finally—upon hearing Cao Cao was coming—bought a boat and traveled upstream to settle here.
From Mr. Li's calm recounting, the people of Zigui gained a vivid understanding of what it meant when "rebels arrive like a comb, and soldiers arrive like a rake."
Cities burned. Women abducted. Forced labor. Massacres.
Each word drained the color from their faces.
But today's soldiers were different. Though there was undisguised greed in their eyes when they looked at civilians, every time they glanced at the generals leading them, the fear in their expressions was even stronger.
Ahead, Chen Dao listened carefully to his lord's orders.
"Shuzhi," Liu Bei said, "take the personal guards and maintain order. Anyone who disturbs the people is to be executed on the spot. They receive five hundred in monthly pay—then they must obey military law."
"I will also trouble the Military Advisor to issue a public notice. Print it with woodblocks and post it throughout the city to explain the situation."
Pang Tong received his instructions as well. After a moment's thought, Liu Bei continued:
"Shuzhi, send another squad to seal Li Yi's estate. Inventory what remains. Give the servants and laborers funds to return home and dismiss them. As for Li Yi's relatives—keep them confined for now."
"My lord is truly benevolent," Pang Tong said sincerely.
Watching Chen Dao depart to carry out the orders, Liu Bei sighed.
"It is thanks to Shiyuan's talent that Zigui was taken without harming a single commoner."
Pang Tong shook his head.
"It is also because Gongyan extracted detailed information from the light-screen."
The light-screen had never mentioned Li Yi by name. But after Kongming and Jiang Wan sifted through the information, one suspicious detail stood out.
During the Battle of Hanzhong and the Alliance at Xiangshui, Zigui and Wu County were under Liu Bei's control. So why, when General Yunchang met disaster, did he flee toward Shangyong instead of retreating to Zigui?
Even with Liu Feng and Meng Da stationed at Shangyong, if Guan Yu had passed Linju and entered the Yiling Road—terrain easy to defend and hard to attack—he could have escaped.
There was only one explanation.
During the "White-Clothed Crossing of the River," Zigui and Wu County had rebelled.
Given Li Yi's history of betraying his masters—first Liu Zhang, then Zhao Wei, then Liu Zhang again—he became the prime suspect.
Pang Tong's involvement completed the puzzle. The waters near Yiling were treacherous, riddled with hidden reefs, rendering naval forces useless—so why had Zhou Yu been so confident in invading Yizhou?
Because Li Yi was aiding him.
Thus, Pang Tong, Zhuge Liang, and Jiang Wan concluded that alongside the White-Clothed Crossing, there had likely been an attempt to persuade Li Yi to defect. This also explained how Lu Xun knew the terrain so intimately during the Battle of Yiling—he had likely relied on guidance from the turncoat Li Yi.
For this reason, Pang Tong volunteered for an extremely dangerous plan: using Zhou Yu's dying wish as a pretext to meet Li Yi and find an opportunity to kill him. With the leader dead, the city would fall.
Liu Bei had considered it far too risky, but Pang Tong insisted.
In the end, everything unfolded with astonishing smoothness.
Zigui fell without a single drop of civilian blood being spilled—and they could now advance even farther west.