Chapter 91: As the old saying goes, a husband’s debt is repaid by his wife. Please subscribe.-My Father Is Yuan Shu? But I Want to Be Cao Cao(We are all men like Cao Cao.)

The rear study in the mansion of the grand commandant was Chu Feng's usual place of learning.

At that moment, Gan Qian and Mi Zhen were walking toward it at an unhurried pace. They had already guessed why Chu Feng had summoned them, and their hearts were faintly tense.

At the study door stood Xu Chu, his tiger eyes fixed upon them. His ferocious look frightened the two women so badly that they trembled. He motioned for the matron beside him to search them. After confirming that nothing was amiss, Xu Chu glared at them once more.

"Lord, they are here!"

"Let them in." Chu Feng's indifferent voice came from within.

"You'd best behave, or else I will tear you apart!" Xu Chu snapped in a low voice, then stepped a little farther away and stood guard in silence.

Even so, that threat left the two women taut with fear.

When they slowly entered, they saw Chu Feng seated, calmly drinking tea. They curtsied and said, "This servant greets the General. May I ask why the General summoned us so late at night?"

Chu Feng set down his teacup and looked over. Gan Qian's dress was rather fine, adding a few points to her allure. As for Mi Zhen, her expression was somewhat unsettled.

"Nothing much. Just a small matter I would like to trouble the two ladies with," Chu Feng said, lifting his cup again for another sip.

"What sort of small matter?" Mi Zhen asked hurriedly. "So long as my sister and I are able, we will do our utmost!"

"Naturally, it is within your ability. As for whether you can do your utmost, that remains to be seen."

"I believe you both know that Liu Bei and my father had old enmities from years ago. Now Liu Bei has attached himself to Cao Cao and become his hound, intending to help Cao Cao scheme for my cities. How can such a thing be endured?" Chu Feng said, striking the table and rising to his feet.

The sound startled both women.

"G-General, in the struggle among the warlords, enmity is inevitable. This servant truly cannot do anything about it," Mi Zhen said weakly.

"You of course cannot do anything about it. But that does not erase the new and old grudges between my Yuan clan and Liu Bei. This debt must be repaid," Chu Feng barked.

"And as the wives and concubines of that man..."

As the ancients said, when the husband owes a debt, the wife repays it. It would not be too much to let the two of you pay a little interest first, would it?

Chu Feng knew well that, in the broadest sense, the feud between the Yuan clan and Liu Bei was entirely natural. But who told him he was a Yuan? In this world, self-preservation came before all else; if there was a grudge, then there was a grudge.

Besides, Liu Bei was still aiding Cao Cao in his tyranny. If not for his own extraordinary methods in years past, once Cao Cao took Nanyang and joined forces with Liu Bei, they might already have broken through Shouchun.

By then, the women mocked by Guan Yu and Cao Cao would have been his own wives. In this world, the weak are prey to the strong; it has always been so. He would not feel the slightest pity for these warlords.

"Interest?"

"The husband owes a debt, and the wife repays it?" Mi Zhen murmured.

"General, we are but lowly servants. How... how are we to repay the General?" Mi Zhen's voice trembled. Though she had thought of many things on the way here, now that the moment had come...

"What do you think?"

...

The fourth update: Gan, Mi again and again; flying!

The last book was banned. This one has to be more restrained. If there is a chance, let's fly in the group chat!

That night, Chu Feng sighed in emotion.

He had taught them all night and was utterly exhausted, but when he looked at the reward in hand, all the hardship was worth it.

Though this time the item did not look especially remarkable, cotton was far more important than most other things. In the late Han winter, common folk all wore hemp cloth. If there were cotton-padded clothes to ward off the cold, far fewer people would freeze to death each year, and winter campaigns would also reduce noncombat losses.

Cotton clothing was far better than hemp garments.

Moreover, cotton stalks could be used as fuel, and cottonseed could be pressed for oil. Industrial extraction was probably still out of reach for now, but after processing it could also be used to feed livestock.

It was a thing of great benefit to both state and people.

In the days that followed, Chu Feng spent his daylight hours personally touring the fields with his officials, going down into the soil to plow and sow, laboring alongside the people during the spring planting. Only then could he learn of the problems faced at the very bottom.

At night, however, Chu Feng was driven nearly dry by Great Bridge. Her ardor was so fierce that Chu Feng was listless even the next day and could not attend to state affairs.

There was no helping it. Qiao Rui had specially warned Great Bridge that a child born of her would raise her standing, and also told her that Chu Feng was about to take several more concubines. This left Great Bridge unable to sit still.

Though Chu Feng valued the Qiao family, cases of a primary wife being set aside because of heirs were everywhere, especially among the feudal lords. She did not want to grow old, lose her status, and be left alone in an empty chamber. Thus Great Bridge cast aside her reserve, caring for nothing but bearing Chu Feng a child.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the first month of the third year of Jian'an.

Chu Feng formed an alliance with Lu Bu. At the same time, he dispatched eight thousand troops, claiming them to be thirty thousand, and declared that he would defend the fortress to the death and fight Sun Ce to the bitter end, drawing the attention of the entire realm.

At the beginning of the second month, Cao's general Xiahou Yuan led troops to relieve Xiao Pei, only to be defeated by Gao Shun. Xiao Pei fell, and Liu Bei, Xiahou Yuan, and the rest fled to Xu Chang with the remnants of their forces.

At the same time, the deputy general Gan Ning led three thousand troops, claiming they numbered ten thousand, and sought to cross the ravines and rush to the fortress in aid. But Zhou Yu, the garrison commander at Niuzhu, discovered their movement at once.

He immediately led the three armies to strike while they were halfway across. Gan Ning, having already been on guard, abandoned more than a hundred corpses and fled upon hearing the news.

By the ravine,

Watching Gan Ning's forces flee in disarray by boat, Zhou Tai could not help waving the battle blade in his hand and said resentfully, "Not satisfying, not satisfying at all. Could it be that Chu's army are all cowards? The moment they see us, they run!"

Chen Wu laughed heartily. "Are Chu's troops not cowards? Still, thank goodness the governor predicted their movements in advance and sent men to keep watch, or else they really would have made it ashore."

Zhou Yu rested a hand on his sword and gazed over the great river, full of lofty spirit. "A mere trick. I had already guessed that Chu Feng, with his schemes exhausted, would want to aid the fortress by taking advantage of boats and landing from the shallow banks."

"The governor's planning is beyond compare. We are all in admiration!"

The generals all offered their praise, sincere in their admiration.

"Mm." Zhou Yu smiled faintly, watching the departing flotilla and murmuring, "One day, Bo Fu will stand upon the natural barrier of the Yang River and accomplish a hegemonic enterprise."

"Very well. Send word to Bo Fu and tell him that Gan Ning has been routed. Have him press hard to take the fortress and prepare for a counterattack. If we are too slow, I fear all the lands north of the Yang River will belong to Cao."

Zhou Yu's words rang with force.

The strategy he had set was to seize and hold the south of the Yang River, advance into Jing Province, and then turn to Shu. In this way, he could watch the fortunes of the Central Plains from the sidelines and strike when the moment was right.

At this moment, on the river east of Niuzhu,

Chu Feng rode a boat downstream along the river. With him were Liu Ye, Liang Gang, Chen Ji, Xu Chu, and Zhao Fan, along with several thousand troops, all intending to slip quietly to the bank near Dantu.

Laughter rang continuously across the boats.

"Lord, even if Zhou Yu calculated a thousand times, he would never have thought the Lord would take such a dangerous path to seize Dantu. Even if he notices now that our army has crossed east, there is nothing he can do."

Chen Ji laughed brightly.

"Lord's plan is truly marvelous. By now Zhou Yu is probably already at the ravine intercepting Gan Ning. By the time he turns back to Niuzhu, our army will likely have already taken Dantu."

Leaning on his sword, Liang Gang also laughed.

"You are all generals, how can you be so careless? Even the most tightly woven net has a hole, much less human affairs? Who can truly foresee everything?" Chu Feng rebuked them, looking at the pleased generals.

Seeing this, Liu Ye stroked his beard and nodded.

Unhurried, neither arrogant nor impatient. He had the bearing of a great commander.

Their lord's progress was something he and Lu Su had witnessed firsthand: from impulsive whenever trouble arose, he had now become ever more thorough, mature, and steady.

With his lord's prestige added to that, great achievements were within reach.

"Your Lordship speaks wisely. However, whether it is Zhou Yu or Sun Ce, their eyes are already fixed on the shores of the fortress."

"If Your Lordship triumphs, you may take Dantu and advance to threaten Wu Commandery, endangering Sun Ce's foundation. Even if it were all for nothing, at worst we would merely lose a fortress."

Liu Ye smiled as he stroked his beard.

"What the counselor says is reasonable!" Liang Gang chimed in.

Chu Feng himself secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but as commander of the three armies, how could he ever show carelessness? Underestimating the enemy leads to defeat. Yuan Shao at Guandu, Cao Cao at Red Cliffs, Sun Quan at Hefei, Guan Yu in the later stages of the Xiangfan campaign.

Throughout the history of the Three Kingdoms, those who fell because of overconfidence were countless. How could he repeat their mistakes?

"Enough. Sail at full speed. We must establish ourselves in Jiangdong and force Sun Ce into a decisive battle in Wu Commandery." Chu Feng raised a hand, his expression solemn.

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