Sun Quan had maintained regular correspondence with Lü Meng and was fully aware of the situation in Jingnan.
The advance into Jingnan had proceeded in an orderly fashion. The blueprint for dividing the realm along the river, jointly sketched by Lü Meng and Lu Yi, was steadily becoming reality before his eyes.
Jiangling was indeed hard to take. But once all of Jingnan had fallen, Jiangdong would possess ample capital to engage in a prolonged stalemate.
Jiangling could hold for a month, but could it hold for half a year? For a full year?
Once Jiangling finally fell, the division along the river would be set, and Jiangdong could rest easy without further worry.
Under such circumstances, Sun Quan ultimately could not restrain his swelling confidence. He gathered guests atop a high terrace, filled goblets to the brim, and hosted a grand banquet for relatives and friends.
Incense curled upward from the braziers. Wine warmed the blood, and faces flushed with mild intoxication.
An inner attendant hurried in, leaned close to the Lord of Jiangdong, and whispered a few words into his ear.
Those few short sentences were like a basin of cold water poured straight down, instantly dispersing the pleasant haze that had risen with the wine.
"Impossible."
That was Sun Quan's first reaction. But he immediately cut himself off, waved a hand behind him, and turned into the rear hall.
The sudden disappearance of the banquet's host did not stir much commotion.
Once inside the rear hall, Lu Yi saw that Sun Quan had already reached up and taken down a sword from the wall.
Lu Yi remembered this sword well. Its original owner had been the General Who Broke the Barbarians, Sun Jian. It was not a famed blade, yet it had witnessed the rise of the Sun family in Jiangdong and thus carried immense symbolic weight.
After the campaign against Jiangxia, this sword had been hung up and left untouched. Even during last year's expedition against Hefei, it had not been taken down. And now…
"The inner attendant reports that a fleet is advancing straight toward us," Sun Quan said. "The ships fly banners bearing the characters Liu and Guan. One warship in particular is enormous, like a treasure ship."
The treasure ship was Sun Quan's own flagship. Its hull was massive and its cost exorbitant.
Because of its sheer size, it moved slowly. Sun Quan usually treated it as a floating palace rather than a warship. He had never imagined that Liu Bei's side would possess something similar.
A flicker of shock crossed Lu Yi's face, but comprehension followed at once.
"Something must have gone wrong at Jiangxia. This fleet slipped past the defenses and is striking directly at Jianye to relieve the pressure on Jingnan."
Sun Quan nodded and began to don his armor. Lu Yi hurried forward to assist him.
As he changed, Sun Quan continued to analyze the situation calmly.
"Your judgment is correct, Boyan. For this fleet to appear so suddenly, they must have deliberately avoided engaging Ziming."
"They intend to use a sudden thrust to disrupt Ziming's formation."
With that, Sun Quan made his decision.
"Boyan, draft a letter at once and affix my seal. Send a trusted courier to bypass White Capital Mountain, avoid the enemy fleet, and deliver it to Ziming."
Lu Yi nodded. He immediately pulled over a sheet of paper. As he ground the ink, he looked up at Sun Quan, his eyes asking what to write.
"Order Lü Ziming to press the attack with all speed. Pay no heed to Jianye," Sun Quan said with a cold smile.
The intention of this fleet was far too obvious in Sun Quan's eyes. It was nothing more than a desperate gambit.
And the more desperate it appeared, the more it proved how overwhelming Jiangdong's advantage in Jingzhou truly was.
Sun Quan was barely past thirty, yet a ruthless resolve rose within him. The defeat at Hefei had its reasons. Did they truly think him a useless lord, someone anyone could swagger up to and pluck at will?
Lu Yi froze for a moment, but said nothing in the end. He lowered his head, finished writing, stamped Sun Quan's seal, and hurried out to find a reliable messenger.
Sun Quan, now fully armored, returned to the banquet hall.
The sight of him in full battle dress finally sobered the revelers who had been drinking themselves senseless. Some had already caught the scent of something amiss.
One glib fellow thought Sun Quan was playing at some new diversion. Chuckling, he raised his goblet and stepped forward to tease him, only to be kicked to the ground without mercy.
At last, the banquet truly woke up.
"The enemy fleet has taken a dangerous course," Sun Quan announced. "They seek to threaten Jianye and force our armies at the front to withdraw."
As he spoke, he slowly drew his sword.
This was no famed blade. Its rasping sound as it left the scabbard was harsh and grating, forcing the young elites present to hold their breath.
"In my view, this battle concerns the very survival of Jiangdong's foundation. The army in Jingnan must not retreat a single step."
Some of those quickest to read the wind were already nodding vigorously, though it was unclear whether they agreed with Sun Quan's words, with the sword in his hand, or with the soldiers who had quietly filled the surroundings.
Gripping the sword once wielded by his father and elder brother, Sun Quan let its tip point diagonally toward the ground. His voice was slow, but unwavering.
"Jianye now stands in peril. We all bear responsibility for its defense."
"I ask you all to ascend the walls with me and live or die together with Jianye."
When Lu Yi returned after making the arrangements, this was the scene that greeted him.
Deep down, Lu Yi understood Sun Quan's intent. He wished to prevent the great families from stirring trouble during the city's defense. Still, such forceful measures did not sit well with Lu Yi.
After grumbling inwardly for a moment, Lu Yi read the situation clearly enough. He silently took his place behind Sun Quan and said nothing.
Events unfolded smoothly. Though a few young elites were weakened by drink and unsteady on their feet, they were still helped by soldiers and "resolutely" climbed up the walls, vowing to share Jianye's fate.
Sun Quan stood at the fore, sheltering himself behind the thickest section of parapet. He gazed at the enormous ship offshore, its silver bell and brocade sail glaringly conspicuous. His heart burned with anger, yet his expression grew calmer by the moment.
Under Gan Gui's orders, the Jingzhou fleet advanced methodically toward the docks, then turned broadside one by one.
The sight of the ships made the Jiangdong elites stare in disbelief.
As natives of Jiangdong, they were no strangers to warships. But mounting bed crossbows directly onto ships was something they had never seen before.
They could not help but wonder how such massive crossbows, set along the gunwales, were supposed to deal with boarding actions.
That question vanished almost immediately.
At Gan Gui's command, a series of sharp vibrations tore through the air. Everyone felt the stone beneath their feet tremble faintly.
A thinner section of parapet was pierced clean through. Several bolts sank more than halfway into the wall, their shafts protruding and quivering.
A few massive bolts flew higher than the wall and punched through the gate tower. One corner of the eaves exploded apart, leaving gaping holes behind.
The power of the heavy crossbows was terrifying. The Jiangdong elites dropped flat at once, pressing themselves low, wishing they could dig holes in the wall and crawl inside.
Gan Gui, however, grumbled aloud.
"This is the heart of Jiangdong, yet Sun Quan built such a sturdy city. Who was he guarding against?"
Without hesitation, he ordered the ships to coordinate their firing sequence and begin sustained volleys.
He further instructed that the heavy crossbows aim as much as possible at the tops of the walls.
After the battle of Jingxiang, Guan Yu had summarized several uses for the great crossbows. One classic method was to saturate the walls to shatter the enemy's nerve, then climb up and take the city.
But Gan Gui knew himself. In terms of sheer martial presence, even his own father fell short of the awe inspired by Guan Yu, who seemed like a god of war descended.
What Guan Yu considered steady and reliable did not suit him.
Thus Gan Gui chose a simpler objective. Smash the parapets first and leave the defenders nowhere to hide.
The accuracy of the great crossbows was not easy to control. Yet after an entire afternoon of relentless firing, more than half of Jianye's parapets had collapsed.
The Jiangdong elites sprawled on the ground, scrambling away from the wall. Sun Quan alone maintained a steady composure, lying prone beside a collapsed section and watching intently throughout the afternoon.
What he was most certain of was that the fleet's methods differed completely from before.
Bolts did limited damage to large ships like mengchong, but they were devastating to small craft.
As someone who also possessed giant vessels, Sun Quan understood better than anyone the advantage a massive hull held against smaller ships.
That the Jingzhou fleet could drive such huge ships at speed already compensated for their greatest weakness.
And beyond that, after the initial barrage, the massive ship fell silent.
That calm, measured posture chilled Sun Quan to the bone, as if the enemy were plotting something ominous.
As night slowly enveloped the river mouth, Sun Quan accepted some simple food from Lu Yi. Before he could take a bite, he saw the giant ship begin to move.
Gan Gui carefully ordered the crew to adjust the ship's heading, turning its bow sideways toward Jianye, then inching forward.
Only when scouts who had jumped down earlier to check the water depth signaled that the bow risked grounding did they halt. The distance to the city wall was now less than three hundred paces.
At the bow stood a new device added to the ship.
It was still a heavy crossbow, but different from the others. It had more iron components, and the body itself had been altered.
These modifications allowed it to mount a special bolt.
The bolt was almost entirely iron and tremendously heavy. Barbed hooks gleamed coldly at its head, while a thick, tough rope was attached to its tail.
Under the careful aim of several veteran operators, the crossbow was adjusted and trained on Jianye's city gate.
Three hundred paces was not far, but these were newly made bolts, and the rope dragged behind them. The crew missed twice.
On the third attempt, after holding their breath, the sound that followed was a crisp thud.
Gan Gui burst into laughter. It had hit.
No orders were needed. The anchor lines at the stern were tightened to fix the ship's position. Inside the hull, Zhao A and the others threw their weight onto the treadwheels. The great round drums at the stern began to turn, hauling in the rope.
The rope ran through a fixture on the main mast, reached the bow, passed through the new crossbow, and finally connected to Jianye's gate.
As the axles turned and the rope drew tight, the sealed city gate quickly began to emit strained creaks.
Gan Gui laughed loudly. There was hope yet.
This contraption had originally been designed for naval combat. Strike the enemy ship, then surge forward at speed, leaving no room to evade and guaranteeing a hit.
Using it to hook a city gate had been a spur of the moment idea. The results, unexpectedly, were excellent.
The scene was so striking that sweat beaded on Sun Quan's brow.
The disastrous defeat at Hefei still visited his dreams from time to time.
As one who had lived through it, Sun Quan perhaps understood better than anyone how utterly he had lost and how Zhang Liao had triumphed.
In the Art of War and the Six Secret Teachings, traces of that victory and defeat could be found.
But what lay before his eyes now was something entirely different.
Sun Quan strained to comprehend this fleet, yet understanding changed nothing. The gate remained in grave danger.
For a moment, regret crept into his heart. Had he set aside his resentment and spoken frankly with Liu Bei after Hefei, might Jiangdong's fleet also have become like this?
He could even tell that this chained crossbow was not meant for sieges. After a short while, the iron bolt slipped free.
Yet Jianye was already taking a one sided beating. This setback changed nothing.
Sure enough, the sailors soon hauled the bolt back aboard and fired again.
Sun Quan wanted to curse, but he suppressed the urge. He glanced at the wall behind him, littered with upturned backsides, shook his head, and headed down. The breach of the gate was inevitable. He needed to defend Jiangdong itself.
Sun Quan leading the descent felt like a pardon to the others. They surged after him, desperate to escape the hellish heights, even jostling him aside.
The thunderous crash from the gate below and the panicked shouts of soldiers made Sun Quan disinclined to scold anyone.
With Sun Quan's arrival, order was quickly restored near the gate. At a glance, he spotted the commander of the attacking fleet.
Too young. That was his first impression.
A spark of admiration even rose in his heart. But as he looked at the veteran guards beside the young commander, something about them seemed oddly familiar.
That thought was swept away when Gan Gui spoke with blunt sincerity.
"Marquis Sun, would you care to surrender?"
Sun Quan flew into a rage. He raised his sword and pointed it straight at Gan Gui, speaking each word with force.
"The Sun family has only sons who die in battle."
A flash of disappointment crossed Gan Gui's face, then vanished. He changed the subject.
"Why do I not see General Gan among your ranks?"
At those words, and recalling the brocade sail and silver bell, realization struck Sun Quan.
"Gan Ning's son? Gan Gui?"
Gan Gui found nothing surprising in that. His father had never held deep roots in Jiangdong and had never been within Sun Quan's circle of favored men. It was only natural that attention on the next generation was scant.
The fact that Sun Quan even remembered his name was unexpected enough.
Seeing Gan Gui nod, Sun Quan laughed in fury.
"Gan Xingba fled in secret, and you dare ask me?"
Gan Gui stared, then exchanged looks with his guards. The old veterans burst into loud praise.
"Worthy of Old General Gan."
At last, the knot in Gan Gui's heart came undone. Though he had spoken boldly, he had feared Sun Quan might seize his father as leverage. That would have been troublesome indeed.
With his worries dispelled, Gan Gui cast an amused glance at the Jiangdong elites behind Sun Quan.
Once, he had yearned to stand among them. Now, looking back, he found it laughable.
Shaking his head, he said, "Marquis Sun, consider today's greeting a repayment of my father's past kindness. Tomorrow, I will return to conduct a true siege."
Sun Quan stood where he was, watching Gan Gui withdraw. The desolation in his heart was his alone to know.
Though Gan Gui promised to return the next day, vigilance was still required.
Yet what arrived the following morning was not another attack.
Lu Yi knocked on Sun Quan's chamber door and brought urgent news.
"An emergency report from Wu Commandery. The Shanyue tribes have risen in force. Yangxian has fallen, and they are now besieging Piling."