After hearing Liu Zhang's words, Gan Ning's blood immediately surged, and the last trace of doubt in his heart completely disappeared.
If Liu Zhang abides by the emperor's orders and keeps guarding his one-third of an acre of land, what's the point of having a powerful naval force?
But there is a guarantee that is different, which shows that Liu Zhang has the ambition to dominate the world!
Liu Zhang himself is a clan member of the Han Dynasty. After gaining control of the world, he might as well ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor!
Wouldn't Gan Ning have the opportunity to become a minister of Conglong?
Thinking of this, Gan Ning became even more excited and once again made his solemn promise to Liu Zhang.
"My lord, leave everything to the general! The navy of Jingzhou and Yangzhou, the general will definitely crush them!"
"good!"
Regardless of the outcome, having this domineering confidence was enough to put Liu Zhang at ease.
"A single thread cannot make a thread, and a single tree cannot make a forest! Can Xingba understand this truth?"
Gan Ning also read poetry and books, so he understood this simple truth.
"What do you mean, lord?"
Liu Zhang looked in the direction of Jingzhou, with a trace of hope in his eyes.
"Xingba, after so many years of fighting, I have learned a truth. No matter how powerful a person is, it will be difficult to achieve great things! If you want to make an immortal contribution, you cannot do without the help of many talents!"
"I fought in the Yellow Turbans at the age of fifteen. Without the help of these powerful advisers and generals around me, I would definitely not be where I am today."
Looking at Liu Zhang's admiring and expectant eyes, Gan Ning nodded with some understanding.
"My lord, does he have someone he likes?"
"That's right! We are in troubled times right now, and heroes will emerge from troubled times! I don't dare to expect all the world's talents to be under my command, but I am also looking forward to the help of talents like Zhang Liang and Chen Ping!"
Looking at the Yangtze River rolling down in front of him, Liu Zhang's mind couldn't help but drift into the distance.
I don’t know how many talents have gathered on both sides of the Yangtze River!
Originally, Liu Zhang did not have such long-term thinking. After all, it involved too much and could easily have counterproductive effects.
However, Gan Ning's submission made Liu Zhang's mind active!
If Gan Ning surrendered to Liu Zhang normally, he would not dare to take any risks. What if he sent Gan Ning to Jingzhou or Yangzhou and never returned?
Then Liu Zhang lost his wife and lost his troops!
But things are different now. Gan Ning is loyal, and the monarch and his minister hate each other so late! Gan Ning has no reason to betray him!
"My lord, give your orders! Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, Gan Ning will never even frown!"
Gan Ning was extremely excited. Liu Zhang trusted him as much as his reborn parents!
"Xingba, I have ordered you to lead the Jinfan Camp down the river, but you cannot use the banner of our Yizhou Army and still use your previous name, Jinfan Thief!"
By letting Gan Ning use the banner of a bandit, it would be less likely to attract Liu Biao's attention and he could move more freely.
"As you command!"
"I don't expect too much, general. You only need to find four people for me during this trip. If nothing can be done, you must also find three of them!"
Liu Zhang thought about it carefully and found that two of them should not be difficult, while the other two said it was not very good.
"Lord, if the other party would rather die than surrender, how should we act? Should we..."
Gan Ning's face hardened, and a trace of killing intent burst out from his eyes.
Liu Zhang's eyes narrowed slightly, and what Gan Ning said was indeed a method. However, after thinking about it again and again, Liu Zhang still gave up.
If the killing was in vain, it meant that Liu Zhang had become cowardly in his heart. He was afraid of the talented people in the world, so he could only cover it up with killing.
"No need, everyone has their own ambitions, and there is no need to force it. However, talented people who are willing to come, remember to move to Yizhou with their families."
Gan Ning nodded. This kind of thing was no different from the previous robbery. It was not too simple for him.
"As ordered, please tell me, my lord, who the four people are."
Liu Zhang leaned close to Gan Ning's ear and began to whisper in a low voice.
Gan Ning's face started to look astonished, but gradually became serious.
Three days later, Gan Ning was ready. Under Liu Zhang's farewell, he led the 600 Jinfan Battalion down the river and headed straight for Jingyang.
After appointing Xu Huang to take full charge of Yufu's defense, Liu Zhang did not stay here any longer and led Dian Wei and Yan Yan back to Zhi County.
Zhi County is not very far from Jiangzhou, so there is no need to separately garrison soldiers. The magistrate of Zhi County is still a descendant of the original Yan family.
Liu Zhang led all his soldiers, together with Yan Yan and his ten thousand men, back to Jiangzhou.
Bajun has been completely calm, and the post of governor of Bajun has become a top priority.
Bajun has a vast territory and is connected to Jingzhou, so Liu Zhang must appoint people who are smart and trustworthy.
After much deliberation, Liu Zhang could only leave Xun You as the governor of Bajun for the time being, and then select a candidate after the people of Bajun were completely convinced.
Although all the 14 counties of Bajun had surrendered, Liu Zhang still did not dare to be careless. Not only did he leave Xu Huang to guard Yufu, but he also left Wu Yi, Wu Lan and an army of 10,000 to Xun You to make his own arrangements.
In the blink of an eye, it was already December, and the New Year was approaching soon. Even though Liu Zhang was reluctant to leave, he could only say goodbye to Xun You.
It lasted three months. In fact, the battle with Zhao Wei only lasted for one month. It was also the fastest pacification of a large county by Liu Zhang.
This is a result that Liu Zhang could not have imagined when he launched a three-pronged expedition against Shu County!
With the pacification of Bajun, Liu Zhang's soldiers were completely liberated.
The Han Xing Camp under Zhang Liao and the Po Army Camp under Zhang Ren have been in Bajun for a year, and now they can all follow Liu Zhang back to Chengdu.
Huang Zhong, Dian Wei, Zhao Yun, Tai Shi Ci, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Ren, and Yan Yan, together with an army of 70,000, finally escorted Liu Zhang to Chengdu, Shu County at the end of December.
The Yizhou government office had successfully moved to Chengdu, and Jia Xu led a group of civil and military officials to welcome the victorious army ten miles away to praise Liu Zhang's great achievements.
It only took Liu Zhang nine months from the time he sent troops from Luocheng in March 192 AD to the time he led his army back to Chengdu in triumph in December.
In one fell swoop, Shu County, Jianwei County, and Ba County were pacified, and the three forces of Jia Long, Ren Qi, and Zhao Wei who openly opposed Liu Zhang were completely eliminated.
This trip not only recovered the three most prosperous armies in Yizhou, but also recovered countless civil servants and generals!
Civil officials such as Yang Hong, Fei Shi, Zhang Yi, and military generals such as Gan Ning, Yan Yan, Shen Mi, and Lou Fa!
Except for Yan Yan's 10,000-strong army which remained unchanged and still belonged to his command, all the other prisoners were sent to farm in Shu County.
After nine months of conquest, the grain reserves of the original Hanzhong County and Guanghan County were squandered by Liu Zhang!
Fortunately, Chengdu, Shu County, and Jiangzhou, Ba County, seized countless military rations, but they still could not supply Liu Zhang for his wanton squandering.
As his territory expanded, prisoners increased, and soldiers under his command surged, Liu Zhang needed more and more food. Although he had more than a million stones of food, it was not enough to squander it!
This does not include Liu Zhang’s need to pay ‘salaries’ to his subordinates!
The imperial court could no longer count on him, and all future expenses for Yizhou would fall on Liu Zhang himself.
In other words, not only food and grass, but also money became a problem that Liu Zhang had to face.