The sight of the slightly younger and less scarred Gan Ning surprised those from Riverside, especially the masked Gan Ning that had accompanied them. The younger Gan Ning headed around the table and stood beside Zhou Yu as he looked down on the map.
"You can speak in front of our new allies." Zhou Yu explained as he urged Gan Ning to continue.
"As previously discussed, The Han Dynasty is painfully declining day by day. Lord Cao Cao is becoming more arrogant and will eventually usurp the throne and declare himself as Emperor. The southern territories of the Dynasty in Jing Province are fertile, whilst being accessible in terms of travelling by land or River. Based on my observations and experience of Liu Biao, he won't last much longer and his sons are incapable and weak, whilst his wife's family ply for power. My lord, you should take control of these lands soon, before Cao Cao seizes them later." Young Gan Ning explained.
"Or someone else." Zhou Yu agreed, "There are many hungry eyes, especially that there are no longer any difficult opponents such as Yuan Shu or Yuan Shou to keep them in check."
"I do not disagree, but for our guests and my returned brother, what is your plan" Sun Quan asked. Young Gan Ning looked at Sun Ce in surprise, having originally wanted to join him instead of Liu Biao.
"The best plan now is to attack Huang Zu at Jiangxia. Huang Zu is past his prime and indecisive. He has a lack of funding, supplies and cheats those around him. He and his close confidents only look out for their own interest, whilst his other officers subordinates are disillusioned. His ships are equipment are badly maintained and their granaries are emptying. If we attack now, we will win, opening up Jing province and the lands beyond." Young Gan Ning concluded.
"As I have said previously. We have not finished pacifying our own lands in Wu. This could lead to more chaos." Zhang Zhao said from beside him. "We should first finish what we are doing, before pushing on."
"Zhang Zhao, your logic has always been thorough and that is why I entrusted my brother to you." Sun Ce interrupted, before Young Gan Ning could reply. "However, with Officers such as Huang Gia and Jiang Qin watching over the land whilst we are here, then the rear will be safe."
"If you do not mind me intruding." Subutai said with a slight grin, "From what I know, if you win here you are declaring yourself as the Warriors that you are, if you retreat then others will take the opportunity from you. You may not get a chance like this again."
"I agree." Zhou Yu echoed, "What did the scout reports bring back?"
"As expected, the Navy at Jiangxia numbers slightly more than us at over thirty thousand. The ships are not in great condition and the military are unprepared for an attack." Young Gan Ning explained, whilst Masked Gan Ning was holding in the urge to face palm at his slightly younger self.
"Xingba, I will leave you to take charge of this campaign, with Zhou Yu as the Supreme Commander for the overall strategy." Sun Quan explained. With this decided the group gathered around the table to discuss the plan.
"We should first send forwards some challenges to weaken their morale." Young Gan Ning explained, as he pointed at the map. "Before moving in with our naval forces here and here."
Dom heard some whispering behind him. The Officers in the room went quiet as they realised their guests were discussing something. After they finished whispering, Xun You explained the plan to Dom who agreed with it. Young Gan Ning wasn't sure about the new guests, but as Sun Quan and Zhou Yu were giving them the respect to talk, he waited. After a few seconds, Xun You stepped forwards.
"I do not disagree with the plan, we will place our two ships are part of the Vanguard for this initial clash, they are build to split ships in half and can cause chaos in the initial charge. However we have some other ideas on how we can win this with minimal losses." Xun You explained, before pointing at areas on the map. "I recommend that we bring the capital ships further in, so as to block the river here and here. We should also send our land forces to capture this peak that over looks the River. Once we have claimed this area in the battle, we should then use our land forces to attack Jiangxia from behind, causing confusion in the ranks."
"Our targets should be the enemy capital ships." Subutai continued, "We should also strike fast and hard. From what you Zhang Zhao mentioned, your rear is still in need of pacification. To resolve that, you need Warriors. Strike fast and hard, so that they tremble and surrender."
"I can understand why my brother has joined you." Sun Quan smiled, "It seems you have similar mindsets."
"General Subutai and Strategist Xun You have much more knowledge and skills than I could dream off." Sun Ce replied honestly.
"If we take the peak here, we could launch fire arrows down at the ships below." Zhou Yu explained. "Actually, let's not use your ships in the vanguard. Let's do a feigned retreat and pull their forces out of their camp. We can then use the Peak to cut them off, whilst your ships and some of our Mengchong can ambush them from the flank."
Dom could see that Xun You and Subutai were trying to give them the best opportunities to claim merits, where as Zhou Yu was thinking from a strategic perspective on what would be the best chance of victory in total, rather than allowing Riverside to score more points.
"If you will allow it Brother, I will lead the Vanguard then." Sun Ce declared, which caused some eyes to roll in the room.
"I thought you had learnt to be less rash?" Zhou Yu teased, whilst Sun Quan and Dom both laughed.
"This is to avenge my father, I want to lead from the front." Sun Ce replied, however he was also aware that Riverside needed Merits and knew this was the best opportunity for them.
"Then I would also like to lead the Vanguard alongside Lord Sun Ce." Ling Tong, the youngest in the room declared. Sun Ce clapped his hands in praise, whilst the others looked unsure.
"What are your thoughts Gan Ning?" Zhou Yu asked, as it was supposed to be his plan but it had been taken over by the others in the room. Ling Tong seemed unimpressed by this question and wanted to say something, but Lu Meng placed his hand on him again.
"This plan is better than mine, so I am happy to follow with this." Young Gan Ning explained, who received praise from Sun Quan for his attitude.
"You are still the overall commander for the battle, but this plan makes the most sense." Zhou Yu agreed. "So our Vanguard will be led by Sun Ce and Ling Tong. They will have an initial clash and feign retreat. We will then ambush the enemy with a secondary Vanguard led by the Riverside ships and our navy under Dong Xi with Xu Sheng in support. Once the Ambush has hit, our main Navy under Gan Ning, with Lu Meng in support will come in and close them in. Whilst this commences, we will also dispatch a force to claim the peak."
"I would recommend General Subutai to lead on this." Dom put forwards, having not spoken much in the meeting, but as the leader of the Riverside forces, his voice held some weight. "Our forces are small, but elite."
"I would second this." Sun Ce agreed, "General Subutai is excellent and the other Generals that have come are exceptional."
"Very well, General Subutai will lead on the land." Sun Quan agreed with a smile, before turning back to Zhou Yu.
"That is fine with me, General Cheng Pu will support you and lead our army. We can dispatch around five thousand troops to follow General Subutai's vanguard." Zhou Yu agreed as he looked around the room. "We have a plan, now we just need to see it through."
"Prepare your troops for now, we shall feast this evening and depart in the morning." Sun Quan ordered, before turning to Dom and his group. "Please can you stay behind."
The Officers all bid farewell and left the room in groups, whilst Dom and his entourage remained behind. Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao also stayed behind, as well as Zhang Zhao. Sun Ce smiled in Dom's direction, and he wondered what was about to be discussed.
"My brother has told me a lot of things, most of which sound unreal. Your arrival, ships, strange weapons, mounts and armour however does corroborate his story slightly." Sun Quan began, his tone polite and unchallenging. "In times like these, when the Han Dynasty is falling and chaos is erupting across the lands, it doesn't totally surprise me that even stranger things can happen. It is good that he has been reunited with his wife, and even his father in law."
"We have sent a messenger to Elder Qiao's estate. We will gather the family belongings and servants and hopefully you can take them with you when you return." Zhou Yu explained politely.
"We may need to think on how this works." Dom replied honestly, his mind wondering if the Sun Quan and Zhou Yu in front of him, were from the same place as his Sun Ce, Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao and Elder Qiao. Before arriving, he assumed that they would all be the same, however with there being two Gan Ning's, Dom was slightly worried.
Xun You seemed to have an idea on what he was thinking, as did Sun Ce who seemed aware of the Younger Gan Ning's arrival from his early conversations with his brother and Zhou Yu before Dom arrived. He leant in to Dom's ear and whispered to him. Dom thought on the implications on what Xun You had just whispered to him, and decided to test the waters.
"When did you last see Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao or their father?" Dom asked Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, who seemed confused at the question, but Sun Ce seemed to understand.
"Well, my wife is beside me right now, but if you are talking before that." Zhou Yu said whilst thinking, "It must have been around two months ago before I departed on campaign. As for Elder Qiao I haven't had chance to visit him for several months."
"I have been a terrible brother." Sun Quan exclaimed, turning to Sun Ce apologetically. "I hadn't seen Da Qiao for a similar time period as I have also been on campaign."
Dom's mind tried to work out the situation, the Da Qiao in Riverside had known Gan Ning enough to know his name, however the Gan Ning of this time would most likely have not met Da Qiao yet, if at all. No one had questioned the presence of Xun You, who similar to Liao Hua were much younger than their versions in this time. Dom wasn't sure if that was because they hadn't crossed paths with the Sun family, Xun You was known to be reserved and quiet, where as Liao Hua wasn't as outstanding in his earlier years. His worry was that they would search for these family members, and a situation would arise where there would be two of the same person, leading to confusion.
Dom's Gan Ning was older than the current Gan Ning at this battle, which made sense to him as to why there could be two of them, however he felt uneasy at the thought of the rest of the situation. Before Dom could ask a question, Xun You stepped forwards. Whilst Sun Ce also seemed to be in deep thought.
"By any chance had your new General Gan Ning met Lady Da Qiao before?" Xun You asked, which caused raised eyebrows across the others in the room. Zhou Yu seemed the most confused as his mind was quite capable. Part of him understood that their could be some reasons as to why Xiao Qiao was with Sun Ce, but the link with Gan Ning seemed strange.
"When Gan Ning joined us several months ago, we invited him to several feasts where he would have met her on occasion." Zhou Yu explained, "Even though we thought Bofu was dead, we still treated his wife who is also my sister in law, with the prestige that she deserved. She is often invited to key meetings and her children are growing well with our support."
Dom turned to the Masked Gan Ning that stood with them, who nodded his head in agreement at the comment, partially relieving Dom's worries. However, before he could change the conversation, Zhou Yu spoke.
"May I politely ask, who is the man behind the mask?" Zhou Yu asked. "He seems quiet and patient but I have noticed that you all seemed to refer to him throughout this meeting, it would be great to know the man who is so knowledgeable."