"This ship… it is still too small."
Gan Gui carefully ran a cloth over the housing of the Eight-Ox Crossbow, his eyes shining with a strange excitement.
Even during the test firing, while standing inside the cabin, he had felt the entire vessel tilt under the force of the release.
Now that they had docked and returned to the deck, the evidence was plain to see.
Thin cracks, delicate as spiderweb, had begun spreading outward from the base of the crossbow mount.
"This is only a prototype," Guan Yunchang replied, still bare-chested and glistening with sweat, looking no different from the common men who made their living on the river.
Yet that contrast only deepened Gan Gui's admiration.
Back in Wu, his father had often spoken of Guan Yu's name.
A warrior whose ferocity could rival the greatest men of the age.
A hero who could break formations and seize enemy banners by sheer force.
And now that same man was personally inspecting ship damage, discussing balance, hull stress, the legendary general asked for advice with a genuine desire to learn. And now, with this revolutionary vessel...
The more Gan Gui watched, the more convinced he became.
This was not empty experimentation.
This would change naval warfare.
Guan Yu crouched beside the mounting base, fingers pressing against the cracked timber.
Gan Gui could no longer hold back his thoughts.
"General Guan," he said, stepping closer, "the problem is not the weapon. The ship itself is too small."
He spread his hands, illustrating the scale.
'Imagine if this vessel were as massive as the Marquis of Sun's personal flagship. If we placed these circular water-wheels on such a giant, they wouldn't interfere with the oars or the sails.
We could mount several repeating crossbows on each side. In an engagement, those crossbows would turn enemy skiffs and ferries into splinters, men and wood alike, completely pulverized."
Guan Yu's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"And if the bolts were modified," he said slowly, his tactical instincts immediately following the thought to its conclusion, "hemp ropes could be attached."
Gan Gui's expression brightened.
"Yes!"
"Once the bolts bite into an enemy hull, we could reel them in directly."
Guan Yu nodded.
"Then boarding actions become inevitable."
The image was immediate in both men's minds.
A massive warship advancing against the current.
The paddle wheels churning the river.
Crossbow bolts like iron spears punching through hulls.
Ropes tightening.
Enemy vessels dragged helplessly alongside.
Then came the boarding.
Blades.
Blood.
The river running red.
"But there is one problem," Guan Yu said at last.
"The shipwrights in Jiangling do not yet possess the skill to build such giants."
Gan Gui grinned, and for the first time there was something almost wolfish in his expression.
"I am willing to make a trip back east."
His meaning was obvious.
Shipbuilders.
Craftsmen.
Technical knowledge.
Wu possessed what Jing Province still lacked. Whether by persuasion, inducement, or less honorable means, Gan Gui was clearly already thinking several moves ahead.
While Guan Yu remained wholly absorbed in 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 Jing Province.
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.
Kongming's pre-cooked grain flour allowed quick meals without slowing movement.
More importantly, all three thousand 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 one thousand men forward with Pang Tong.
Chen Dao, Huo Jun, Feng Xi, and Zhang Nan followed with the remaining two thousand 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 a thousand men, Li Yi thought, calming his nerves. I have a fortress behind me and two thousand 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, Imperial Uncle 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 thousand 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 silence broke the moment the first spear clattered to the ground.
After that, surrender spread like collapsing dominoes.
Within moments, more than a thousand 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 harrasses the civilians is to be executed on the spot. Since they receive five hundred 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 Kongming 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.