Chapter 117

“If you don’t meet the requirements, then we will keep extending the duration until you do.”

“I refuse to believe I can’t improve your physical fitness.”

“Huh? You can’t be serious, right?”

Upon hearing this, Guo Jia let out a miserable howl and looked at Su Xuan with pleading eyes.

But Su Xuan remained unmoved. He looked at Xu Chu and said, “Zhongkang, I’ll leave the training of this guy to you! Work with Su Zhan and drill him well!”

“Understood!”

Xu Chu immediately accepted the order and grinned at Guo Jia and Su Zhan.

This made both of them shiver involuntarily, a bad feeling washing over them.

Five days later,

Su Xuan had finished his preparations.

Since the various armies had been initially assembled, Su Xuan did not delay any further. He immediately led his men across the Han River, entered the territory of Nan Commandery, and then marched south through Fancheng, Yicheng, and Dangyang. It took two days to arrive at Jiangling City, the capital of Nan Commandery.

Before they even reached the city gates, the local officials had already come out to greet them at a pavilion ten miles away.

“We respectfully welcome the Administrator, we respectfully welcome the General Who Pacifies the South!”

“No need for such formalities! Everyone rise! Follow me into the city!”

Su Xuan waved his hand, not paying much mind to it. He immediately led these people forward, arrived at the gates of Jiangling City, and headed straight inside.

Afterward, he had Xu Chu take over the Administrator’s Mansion and Huang Zhong take over the commandery troops.

At the same time, he arranged for the various armies to be stationed outside the city.

Xi Zhicai, Cheng Yu, Xun You, and others also took over the administrative affairs of the Nan Commandery Administrator’s Mansion.

Meanwhile, Xun You also began to set up the framework for the General Who Pacifies the South’s Mansion.

Everything began to run in an orderly fashion.

As for the General Who Pacifies the South’s Mansion?

Su Xuan had already ordered Huang Huang Chengyan to come and help design and supervise its construction a few days prior.

Furthermore, now that he had his own territory, the Armory Department, his steel-smelting workshops, weapons workshops, hydraulic forging workshops, textile workshops, and so on, all had to be gradually relocated to Nan Commandery.

Otherwise, once the struggle for hegemony among the warlords began, who knew if these industries would be seized by others if left in Nanyang?

He certainly wanted to seize and occupy Nanyang himself.

But the timing was not yet ripe; he had to wait until Liu Hong died and Dong Zhuo occupied Luoyang before he could act step by step.

Therefore, it was better to move these important assets to his own territory first!

Some workshops could even take this opportunity to expand their scale.

This would allow them to manufacture and accumulate even more things for him.

Of course, the secret base west of Dengxian would not be completely abandoned.

It would be temporarily sealed, and it wouldn't be too late to restart it once he had taken Nanyang.

Because Su Xuan was originally from Jingzhou, Dengxian was only separated from Nan Commandery by a river. Coupled with the marital ties between the Su family and the Huang, Pang, Cai, and other families, Nan Commandery could actually be considered his own private territory.

Added to his current prestige and status, taking control of Nan Commandery went quite smoothly; no one short-sighted jumped out to cause him trouble.

Of course, there were quite a few mountain bandits and barbarian disturbances within Nan Commandery.

Su Xuan handed these matters over to Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Old Dian Wei, and Zhang He to lead their respective armies to handle.

It just so happened that as they reorganized and formed their troops, they needed real combat to integrate and improve.

These bandit and barbarian disturbances provided the perfect experience.

Meanwhile, the Su Chamber of Commerce and various workshop centers migrated to Nan Commandery, especially Jiangling City.

This caused the economy of Jiangling City to begin developing at a visible speed.

Jiangling City also quickly became prosperous.

It was almost different every few days.

The number of people coming and going for business and procurement also increased.

Added to the migration of tens of thousands of troops, military families, and workshop workers to Jiangling, it was impossible for Jiangling City not to develop.

The city gradually became crowded.

Su Xuan had long anticipated this and began to renovate and expand Jiangling City.

During this period, Zhen Yi also arrived in Jiangling City with Zhen Jiang and a large dowry.

He met Su Xuan.

"Uncle, Jiang'er, you are here! Quickly! Come in and sit!"

Although Su Xuan was somewhat surprised, he roughly understood some of Zhen Yi's thoughts and immediately warmly invited them into the mansion.

After they sat down and were drinking tea, Zhen Yi said: "Worthy son-in-law, we came this time, firstly to discuss matters of commercial cooperation;"

"Didn't you say last time that you hoped for further commercial cooperation between our two sides?"

"Hmm!"

Su Xuan nodded affirmatively: "That is indeed the case! Later, I will introduce my second brother, Su Yu, to you, Uncle!"

"Currently, he is mainly in charge of the affairs of the Su Chamber of Commerce;"

"When the time comes, you can discuss specific matters with my second brother. We won't let you suffer any losses!"

The Zhen clan had a large scale in Jizhou and could indeed help him.

"Hey! That's not an issue!"

Zhen Yi waved his hand upon hearing this: "Why talk about suffering losses? Isn't that being too formal?"

"Once you and Jiang'er are married, we will be one family. There is no such thing as suffering losses, as long as we can help you, that is enough!"

"This time, I am prepared to have my second son, Zhen Yan, stay here. Firstly, as a liaison for the Chamber of Commerce;"

"Secondly, to have him establish a branch of the Zhen Chamber of Commerce here;"

"In the future, it will specifically coordinate with the Su Chamber of Commerce;"

"If you need anything from us in the future, we can help with procurement and transportation, such as grain."

"That is acceptable!"

Su Xuan nodded with a smile: "Not to mention anything else, I definitely have a large need for grain and even warhorses;"

"Jizhou is a major grain-producing province, unlike Nan Commandery, which has many mountainous areas and not as much fertile land."

"Brother Zhen Yan, if you are willing, you can come to my Governor's Mansion to serve as a Grain Officer. Are you willing?"

Su Xuan said, looking at Zhen Yan.

"I..."

Zhen Yan was stunned upon hearing this. Zhen Yi, who was to the side, saw this and scolded him with a sense of 'hate that iron does not become steel': "What 'I'? Why don't you thank your brother-in-law quickly?"

"Thank you, brother-in-law!"

Zhen Yan then reacted and quickly bowed to thank Su Xuan.

"It's nothing!"

Su Xuan waved his hand with a smile: "We are all family, it is only right to look out for one another!"

"I hope you work hard. The position of Grain Officer may seem simple, but it is actually very important. I hope you do not disappoint me."

"Coincidentally, this should be an area you are skilled in."

"Yes!"

Zhen Yan immediately responded respectfully.

Afterward, Zhen Yi chatted with Su Xuan for a while, learning about the situation in Nan Commandery.

Finally, Zhen Yi looked at Zhen Jiang and then said to Su Xuan: "Worthy son-in-law! This time I have brought Jiang'er and her dowry to you in advance!"

"This is what I am thinking!"

"After you and the Xun clan are married, choose a suitable date nearby to marry Jiang'er as well. How about that?"

Zhen Jiang glanced at Su Xuan upon hearing this, her pretty face slightly flushed.

"Haha!"

Su Xuan saw Zhen Jiang like this, smiled and nodded to Zhen Yi: "That is fine! Let's arrange it that way!"

"Additionally,"

Saying this, Su Xuan looked at Zhen Jiang again and said: "Jiang'er, since you are here, you can start getting in touch with the affairs of the Su Chamber of Commerce and start helping out;"

— Author's Notes —

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