Chapter 245: The Navy Returns North Looking at the somewhat empty warship, Gan Ning smacked his lips with a hint of regret. “This is the last ship.” Tian Hu nodded: "General, we should go back." Gan Ning looked at the surging Yangtze River with a little reluctance: "What a pity! If Liu Xuande and Sun Bofu were not so difficult to deal with, if you give me half a year, it would not be a problem to recruit another million people." When Tian Hu heard this, his expression looked a little strange, but he didn't say anything. After being together for so long, he has also figured out Gan Ning's temper and personality. This is just bragging, just listen to it. In his opinion, even if Sun Ce and Liu Bei did not appear, it would be very difficult to attract the people now. Population is something like this. Too much of it can be a source of trouble, but too little of it is equally bad. With the large outflow of population and inflow of resources in the past two years, the lives of people in the southern states have improved, and the wealthy families have become even richer, and gradually a situation of more land than people has emerged.
Nearly half of the population is gone, and the freed-up resources are enough to improve the quality of life of the rest of the people several times. Under such circumstances, the powerful families in the south were no longer willing to engage in population trade. Because originally they controlled perhaps only about 30% of the population, but after removing half of the population, the proportion of the population they occupied reached an astonishing 70%. Because while they are trafficking in human beings, they are also attracting a lot of refugees. This proportion is already extremely high. You should know that at the end of the Han Dynasty, only about half of the people in the Central Plains were controlled by aristocratic families. When the powerful families in the south realized this and reached a consensus, Gan Ning's business became increasingly difficult. This ship could originally carry up to 20,000 refugees per trip, but now it can only carry 5,000 people, and that’s enough for half a month. They actually realized a long time ago that the good days were over. Among the troops under Tian Ze, the richest one is the navy led by Gan Ning. The profits from population trade are so huge that even if Gan Ning gets a little bit of the profit, that little bit of profit would be enough for the soldiers under his command to become rich. Tian Ze and Chen Gong were not unaware of this, but they turned a blind eye to it. After all, Gan Ning did a great job, and its significance is even more important than Tian Ze's capture of Hebei. With a population of tens of millions, even if Tian Ze reaches that position in the future, it would not be an exaggeration to grant him the title of marquis. However, it is estimated that many of Gan Ning's soldiers will choose to retire after returning to Youzhou, because with enough wealth, they will naturally desire to live a stable life. But this kind of thing is not a big deal. Tian Ze has no shortage of soldiers, so he can just recruit another group to replace them. "Hu Zi, do you think we will have a chance to fight with Yuan Benchu after we return?" Gan Ning asked. "It's unlikely. Yuan Benchu might be even more difficult to deal with than Sun Bofu." Tian Hu said honestly. Since Sun Ce went to Jiangdong, they have had many conflicts with him.
Although they had the upper hand in terms of military strength, the combination of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu was too powerful and elusive. They would not engage in a long battle and would withdraw without losing many soldiers, but they would intercept some of the people they recruited. Gan Ning had tried to chase and kill Zhou Yu before, but he couldn't catch up with too many troops, and he was easily ambushed when his troops were too few, which tortured Zhou Yu a lot and tempered his character. Gan Ning, who had always been a robber, suddenly became the one being robbed. It is estimated that the number of refugees who were robbed in the past six months totaled more than 100,000. However, Gan Ning did not suffer any loss, because Sun Ce's arrival caused a reshuffle of the forces in Yangzhou, and more people poured in, definitely far exceeding the number that Sun Ce had intercepted. Therefore, Gan Ning did not make a big fuss about Sun Ce charging some "brokerage fees". "Does Yuan Shao also have navy under his command?" Gan Ning asked disdainfully. Gan Ning acknowledged that Yuan Shao was powerful, and that he was able to fight Tian Ze with the strength of one state, which was unmatched by any other princes in the world. However, when it came to naval forces, none of the northern princes could be taken seriously by him. Shallow water cannot support a real dragon. Compared with the well-developed water system in the south, it is difficult for the northern environment to cultivate a strong navy, of course, except for the navy of Gan Ning. "No, but they have ports, cities, and cavalry. Didn't General Han Dang almost fall into the trap?" Tian Hu said truthfully. The northern part of Donglai, where Han Dang led his troops, was also in Qingzhou. Although it was easy to defend and difficult to attack because of the mountains, Yuan Shao had tried to take it. When Ju Shou first decided to blockade Youzhou, he actually realized the problem after learning that Qingzhou and Tianze were attracting refugees from the south. The navy under Tian Ze's command is too strong. Even if they defended Bingzhou and Jizhou, Tian Ze could rely on his powerful navy to bypass Qingzhou and attack from both sides. While Gan Ning and others were busy recruiting refugees, Yuan Shao also designed a plan to lure and ambush Han Dang's navy, and almost succeeded. But after all, the navy was inferior, and Han Dang acted very steadily, and only lost a thousand soldiers before escaping. As for the Donglai front, the Tianze Army relied on the mountain range for defense and was impenetrable. The 50,000 logistics troops led by Guan Hai were not just for show, so Yuan Shao had little chance of taking them down. Moreover, this location was not only useless, but also not conducive to Yuan Shao's combat. After weighing the pros and cons, Yuan Shao gave up this place. "Humph!" Gan Ning said nonchalantly, "That's because General Han is too rigid. If it were me, I would have launched a surprise attack with a small group of elite troops. How would Yuan Benchu be prepared?" "I'm afraid Yuan Shao also has countermeasures like Sun Bofu, then..." Tian Hu said in a low voice. Gan Ning's best small-scale sneak attacks were nothing more than a gift to Zhou Yu, who completely suppressed them and suffered a lot. "That's enough! Sun Bofu, Sun Bofu, if Hebei weren't so far away from here and if Sun Bofu and we didn't have any conflicting interests, I would have killed Sun Bofu long ago, with his limited military strength." Gan Ning said angrily after being exposed by Tian Hu again. "Sun Bofu has a lot of soldiers now, more than 30,000. And nearly half of them were snatched from us." Tian Hu continued to say suicidal things. Gan Ning took advantage of Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu also took advantage of Gan Ning. Not only did he seize a large number of people from Gan Ning and manage them directly as Sun Ce's own private households, but he also plundered and captured a number of bandits raised by Gan Ning. You know, these pirates are not only rich, but also have been trained very effectively by Gan Ning. With a little training, they can become qualified navy. Gan Ning originally wanted to take these people away, but was instead taken away by Zhou Yu.
Thanks to Gan Ning's foundation, Sun Ce now has both money and soldiers, and both sides have achieved what they need. But this made Gan Ning very unhappy. He originally thought that Sun Ce was doing odd jobs for him, but in the end he was used by the other party. "boom!" Gan Ning, unable to bear it any longer, punched Tian Hu on the head. The force was just right to make Tian Hu squat on the ground with his head in his hands in pain, and he no longer had the heart to argue. "Why don't you just say less? Why do you have to be so talkative?" After saying this, Gan Ning still looked in the direction of Yangzhou with displeasure, his eyes slightly fixed. Tian Hu, who was rubbing his head, looked at Gan Ning's eyes and was suddenly shocked: "General, you are not going to..." "The overall situation is the most important thing!" Hearing Tian Hu's words, Gan Ning rolled his eyes at him. I thought he was a steady person, but I didn't expect that after getting to know him, he would become such a shameless person. "Don't worry, I'm not that stupid. Now is not the time to go to war with Sun Bofu. One day I will let him see how powerful I am!" During the years of fighting with Sun Ce, Gan Ning's arrogance was much reduced. He no longer believed in his own talents and began to focus on his ability to command naval operations. Because he found that his talent would also be restrained, and once restrained, he would be defeated by a general of Sun Ce's level. There is always someone better than you, and he is not strong enough. (End of this chapter)