Chapter 150

"What if I were in his shoes?"

"I would absolutely make him pay a heavy price! Hmph!"

Watching this guy act as if he were the greatest, the earth the second, and himself the third—as if he were invincible—Qin Jie fell into total despair.

This man is a lunatic.

"Forget it! Why am I saying so much to a dead man?"

"No matter what happens in the future, you won't see it. You might as well just go die for me!"

As he spoke, Zhao Ci drew the long sword from his waist and, amidst Qin Jie's desperate and terrified expression, slit Qin Jie's throat with a single stroke.

"Heh... I'll be waiting for you in the underworld. You... you will come to keep me company very soon! Heh..."

Feeling his life force rapidly fading away, Qin Jie left behind these words of unwillingness before he completely lost all breath and finally kicked the bucket.

"Pah!"

Hearing this, Zhao Ci immediately wiped the bloodstains off his sword with Qin Jie's clothes and spat in disdain, saying, "Then you will never get to wait for that!"

In Xiangyang County, separated from Nanjun and Fancheng by a river,

"My lord! Zhao Ci has already led his army to capture Wancheng, and the Nanyang Prefect, Qin Jie, has been executed by him!"

A secret guard came to report.

"Hmm!"

Su Xuan nodded in understanding upon hearing this and waved his hand, saying, "I know. You may go."

"Understood!"

The secret guard immediately withdrew.

The next moment, Huang Zhong stood up, cupped his hands, and requested, "My lord! This subordinate wishes to serve as the vanguard, march into Nanyang, take Wancheng, and behead the rebel leader Zhao Ci!"

He certainly knew Zhao Ci; in Huang Zhong's eyes, that guy was nothing but trash.

He didn't even need anything else; relying solely on the 6, 00 Profound Armor Army he commanded, he was confident he could take him down.

"My lord! This subordinate requests to fight!"

"And me too!!"

"Can't you all stop fighting me for the vanguard position? We joined later and are still waiting to earn merit to pay off our debts!"

"Exactly! Exactly! Huang Hansheng, why don't you just sit this one out?"

"Huang Hansheng, you've already broken through to the Heaven-Human Realm, give the young ones a chance!"

"....."

For a moment, everyone except Xu Ding, who was left to guard Jiangling City, began to request to fight.

"You guys! You're going too far! Just because I broke through to the Heaven-Human Realm, why can't I compete for the vanguard position?"

"The lord put great effort into cultivating me; now that my strength has increased, shouldn't I be serving the lord even more?"

Hearing Zhao Yun take the lead in trying to exclude him, Huang Zhong was so angry he blew his beard and glared.

Even if he didn't need merit anymore, he still had to prepare for Huang Xu!

Moreover, the Merit Hall still had many good things; in the past two years, the lord had created quite a few divine arts and secret techniques, many of which even he coveted.

How could he afford to miss out on merit?

"We still need some opportunities to grow, don't we?"

"In the future, the lord can't just rely on you alone, right? Can you handle it all?"

Zhao Yun replied with a grin.

The two had a good relationship; neither would get angry over this level of joking.

"You brat!"

Huang Zhong heard this, and although he was unconvinced, he had to admit that what Zhao Yun said actually made a lot of sense.

The lord would definitely compete for the world in the future, especially given the current signs that the world was about to fall into chaos; it was even possible for the lord to overthrow the dynasty in the future.

He figured there would be plenty of battles to fight, so he simply waved his hand and said, "Fine! Then I won't fight you for the vanguard position this time, alright?"

"Hehe! Then many thanks, Brother Huang Hansheng!"

Zhao Yun and the others were overjoyed upon hearing this and cupped their hands to thank Huang Zhong.

Having directly eliminated the strongest opponent, the group then began to look at each other.

"You guys! Everyone, be quiet!"

Su Xuan saw all of this, feeling somewhat amused, and raised his hand to quiet them down.

Immediately, Zhao Yun and the others quieted down, looking at Su Xuan with eager eyes.

"Don't be impatient!"

Su Xuan spoke immediately: "I already submitted a memorial to the imperial court two days ago; I believe the court's transfer order should be coming down soon."

"That will be the time for you to exert your strength;"

"For now, stay calm and let each army make preparations."

"Without the court's permission and transfer order, I certainly cannot lead my army into Nanyang to suppress the rebellion now; otherwise, I will be criticized, and it will do more harm than good."

He didn't want to give his enemies any handle to attack him at such a time.

He wanted the merit, but he didn't want to leave any flaws for others.

Furthermore, this would also allow him to justify why he didn't go to rescue Qin Jie, leaving others with no room to blame him.

"Understood!"

Zhao Yun and the others finally put their thoughts aside for the moment, cupped their hands, and left to carry out the orders.

"These guys!"

After they left, Su Xuan shook his head with a smile and looked at Xun You and Cheng Yu: "Gongda, Zhongde, has the grain and fodder been prepared? Are there any other issues with logistics?"

Xun You immediately looked at Cheng Yu; this matter had been entrusted to Cheng Yu.

Cheng Yu also quickly stood up and replied: "Reporting to the lord, everything has been prepared!"

"Not only the grain and fodder, but all military equipment has also been fully prepared!"

"Even the warships and the ships for transporting troops and horses are already prepared at the docks; the army can cross the river at any time!"

This time, he did not bring out advanced war machines like the Su-family repeating crossbows, Qin crossbows, God-Arm bows, or Yuanrong crossbows.

Because it was not yet the time for these things to be exposed.

The Great Han was still standing, after all!

If they were exposed, they would certainly be coveted by the imperial court, He Jin, and the gentry alliance led by the Lord Yuan family.

At that time, if they found ways to incite the Son of Heaven to demand the production technology, would he give it or not?

Therefore, these could not be moved lightly for the time being; he had to wait until Liu Hong kicked the bucket, Dong Zhuo disrupted the government, and the warlords rose up before bringing them out.

By then, it would be impossible for anyone to force him to hand over these military technologies.

"Hmm!"

Su Xuan nodded in satisfaction.

Cheng Yu handled logistics with ease; there was absolutely no need for him to worry.

Su Xuan then looked at Xun You: "Has everything been arranged in Dengxian?"

"Reporting to the lord! Everything has been arranged!"

Xun You immediately cupped his hands and said: "Over these years, in accordance with the lord's requirements, we have sent generals to rotate and help train and control the 3, 00 county soldiers in Dengxian. Although their combat power is not as good as our main force, it is not far off; they are the elite of the elite;"

"Coupled with the city defenses reinforced over the past two years and General Gao Shun's abilities, even if Zhao Ci's 50, 00 troops were to launch an all-out attack, they could hold out for more than 10 days;"

"And it takes less than half a day for our army to reach Dengxian from Xiangyang, so there is absolutely no need to worry about the safety of Dengxian."

That's right, over the past two years, Su Xuan had not relaxed his training and control of the Dengxian county soldiers at all.

Nor had he forgotten to strengthen the city defenses of Dengxian.

The moment Zhao Ci rebelled in Jiangxia, the secret guards used golden eagles to transmit the information back to Jiangling in less than an hour.

— Author's Notes —

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