Gan Ning's abduction of Lady Lu to force Lu Su into fleeing by sea took place in the first month of the new year.
By the time their boat drifted along the coast and finally reached Panyu, a full month had already passed.
During that time at sea, Lu Su and Gan Ning had pieced together a rough plan.
First, they would head to Cangwu Commandery and make contact under the pretext of Lu Su being an old acquaintance of Zhuge Kongming. After that, they would assess the situation and decide whether to enter Shu via the Zangke Route or travel upriver through Jiangling before turning west.
Lu Su, having made peace with himself for his mother's sake, still couldn't bring himself to defect to Liu Bei without reservation. After some discussion, he decided to accompany Gan Ning back to Linjiang County—Gan Ning's hometown—and let his mother rest there for a time before making any further decisions.
Under those circumstances, approaching Cangwu as one of Kongming's old friends was the most appropriate move.
And it wasn't even a fabrication. Lu Su corresponded regularly with Kongming by letter—calling them old friends was entirely accurate.
Still, when they discussed this aboard the ship, Gan Ning saw the situation with unsettling clarity.
"Given the state of the world," he said bluntly, "the only place that can truly shelter you now is under Lord Xuande."
Lu Su could only remain silent.
This was no longer an age of contending warlords. Anyone with eyes could see that reunification was drawing near. There were only one or two places left where a man could truly choose to stake his future.
After a moment, Lu Su turned the question back on him.
"If that's the case," he asked, "why don't you go to Lord Xuande yourself?"
Gan Ning snorted and said nothing.
That response made Lu Su purse his lips and chuckle softly, choosing not to press further.
He understood perfectly well. Gan Ning had his pride. If he went to Liu Bei only to live under the shadow of his own son, Gan Gui, how could he possibly accept that?
Lu Su wasn't the sort to mock another man's pride. He merely smiled and shifted the topic.
"You'd best prepare for the Zangke Route," he said.
Gan Ning nodded. Ideally, their path would take them from Panyu to Cangwu, then north along the Xiang River into the Yangtze, and finally back through the Yiling route to Linjiang County.
But…
The situation they'd seen when leaving Jiangdong was unmistakable. An army gathering at that scale wasn't doing so just to waste grain.
"Lu Ziming wants to hold Jiangdong," Lu Su said calmly, "to rule divided by the river."
"With that kind of strategy, he'll lock down Jiangling and sever Jing Province—then move quickly to take Jingnan."
Now that he was outside the game, even drifting helplessly at sea with no fresh intelligence, Lu Su still saw the board clearly.
He knew Jiangdong.
He knew Sun Quan.
He knew Lü Meng.
To him, Jiangdong's next move was nearly transparent.
"But…"
Following that line of thought, a note of concern crept in.
"The four commanderies of Jingnan border Jiaozhou. Nanhai Commandery, in particular, borders Guiyang to the north and Luling of Jiangdong to the east."
Gan Ning immediately recalled Sun Quan's earlier attempt to send Bu Zhi to Cangwu—an effort that had ended in embarrassment.
If war broke out now, there was no guarantee Jiangdong wouldn't take the opportunity to "incidentally" seize Nanhai as well, just to test Shi Xie's strength.
If that happened, disembarking at Panyu would be tantamount to walking into a net.
After thinking it through, however, Gan Ning shook his head.
"Unlikely. Jiangdong's navy will move through Jiangxia. The land forces will advance west from Yuzhang."
"In that case, they'll take Jingnan first. They won't bypass it to strike Nanhai."
"As for Sun Quan's talks with Cao Wei, we don't know the details. But Cao Cao won't march until the northern cold eases—second month at the earliest."
Counting on his fingers, Gan Ning continued,
"Jingnan's waterways are complex. The commanderies are remote, with mixed tribal populations. Even if Liu Xuande neglected its defense, Jiangdong would still need at least ten days to fully secure it."
"So if they were to move against Nanhai, it wouldn't be sooner than half a month after the war begins."
Only then did Lu Su finally relax.
He could reason all of this out himself, of course—but being adrift at sea, in utterly unfamiliar surroundings, had left him uneasy.
Listening to Gan Ning's orderly analysis, Lu Su couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Xingba's talent was something both he and Zhou Gongjin had always recognized. Yet after Gongjin's death, in Lü Meng's mouth Gan Ning had been reduced to nothing more than a duelist.
What a waste.
Gan Ning, for his part, couldn't care less. Once he finished laying out the situation, he grinned and wandered back to the bow to fish, clearly in high spirits.
Even Lu Su felt his own mood lighten as a result.
When they finally arrived at Panyu, the sight before them let both men breathe easier.
The harbor bustled with life—Han settlers, locals, and various tribes passing back and forth. Different languages overlapped in the air, creating a calm, uniquely frontier harmony.
The patrols maintaining order were still locals and tribesmen. There was no sign of Jiangdong soldiers.
That alone was enough to put them at ease.
Since that was the case, they needed to hurry on to Cangwu. Compared to the Yiling route, the Zangke road was far more difficult.
Even so, they had to gather intelligence first.
The decision was made quickly.
Lu Su stayed aboard to care for his mother. Gan Ning went ashore to inquire.
Lu Su watched as Gan Xingba casually stripped off his brocade robe and tied it around his waist, shoved his inner garment open to bare his solid chest, rolled up his sleeves to reveal a bracelet of beast bone, and tugged loose a few strands of his bound hair.
"Xingba's courage truly knows no equal," Lu Su murmured.
In this strange land, Lu Su moved cautiously. Gan Ning, on the other hand, looked like a fish returning to water.
That appearance would have marked him as an oddity in Jiangdong. Here, it was perfectly natural. He blended seamlessly into the crowd at Panyu's docks.
Standing on the deck, Lu Su gazed at the harbor in a daze—and suddenly recalled Zhuge Kongming's letters.
Kongming's correspondence was always measured. He never pried into Jiangdong's affairs. Occasionally, he even complained about the difficulties he faced.
What left the deepest impression, however, was Kongming's talk of "technical innovation."
"Gentlemen are not born different," Lu Su knew the saying well. "They are simply good at borrowing tools."
But what truly counted as "borrowing tools"? Kongming had explored the idea enthusiastically in his letters. At the time, Lu Su had dismissed it as clever rhetoric.
That was, until he saw the massive ships sailing from Jiangling to Jiangxia.
Only then did realization strike him.
Wait—you were serious?
Lu Su couldn't even grasp how those ships were built. He didn't understand how their giant ballistae differed from ordinary siege crossbows, nor what purpose the round mechanisms at the stern served.
Yet now, looking at the crude dugout canoes moored in Panyu's harbor, Lu Su suddenly understood Kongming's meaning.
Tribes who still ate raw meat marveled at dugout boats.
Those who built dugouts feared Jiangdong's navy.
And Lu Su—who had commanded that navy—envied the great ships of Jiangling.
Which meant those ships weren't the end either.
Freed from Jiangdong's constraints and looking back with fresh eyes, Lu Su found Zhuge Kongming increasingly unfathomable.
After a meal aboard ship, he still hadn't sorted it all out.
Then Gan Ning returned.
"This is Shi Hui," Gan Ning said, gesturing to the Han scholar beside him.
"His father is the Marquis of Longdu Pavilion, General Pacifying the South, and Administrator of Jiaozhi—Shi Xie."
Then he pointed at Lu Su without blinking.
"This is Lu Meng of Linhuai. His cousin is the Grand Commander of Jiangdong, General Lu Su."
Lu Su immediately felt that letting Gan Ning go ashore alone had been a terrible mistake.
At the same time, he understood perfectly well why Gan Ning had done it.
If anyone could clarify the situation in Jiaozhou, who better than this man?
Still, watching Gan Ning's expression, Lu Su couldn't help thinking—
Gan Xingba was about to stir up quite a storm in Jingnan.