Chapter 156

So, it was better to be low-key.

Of course, he would eventually have to hand over a small portion to appease the Son of Heaven and bribe the Son of Heaven and Zhang Rang, so as to facilitate receiving rewards later.

After all, he had pacified Zhao Ci's rebellion and recovered Nanyang and Jiangxia, hadn't he?

This was a great merit.

"Understood! This subordinate understands!"

Cheng Yu smiled knowingly and cupped his hands.

He liked this kind of work.

It was already dusk, and Su Xuan did not intend to march on Wancheng overnight.

In any case, the rebel leader Zhao Ci was dead, and his main force had been captured; the remaining troops in Wancheng couldn't stir up any trouble.

The Dark Guards were secretly watching there and could send a golden eagle message at any time, so there was no need to worry.

Su Xuan immediately had Huang Zhong, Zhang He, and the others escort the tens of thousands of captives to Xinye City.

They handed all the captives over to Zhou Cang and the Black Tortoise Battalion soldiers.

They rested in Xinye for one night.

Early the next morning, after breakfast,

Su Xuan personally led 4, 00 Black Armor Army soldiers, over 3, 00 Brave Cavalry Battalion soldiers, and 800 Personal Guard soldiers to set off for Wancheng.

Considering there were too many captives in Xinye City, relying solely on 2, 00 Black Tortoise Battalion soldiers was still a bit unsafe.

Therefore, he left behind 2, 00 Black Armor Army soldiers to assist Zhou Cang and Cheng Yu in escorting the captives and the seized grain and supplies to Nanjun.

Xinye City was only a few dozen miles from Wancheng.

Su Xuan and his men were all elite iron cavalry, and it took them only over an hour to successfully arrive at Wancheng.

With the cooperation of the Dark Guards in the city, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Su Xuan, Zhang Liao, and others first led the Personal Guard soldiers to infiltrate the city in batches.

Then, working from the inside and outside, they directly seized the East Gate.

Without much effort, they successfully took Wancheng and slaughtered all the rebel troops in the city.

Because, after Su Xuan broke the city, he ordered someone to use a spear to carry Zhao Ci's head to persuade them to surrender, and the vast majority of the rebel troops in the city lost their will to fight and chose to surrender.

Therefore, only about a thousand were killed; these were considered Zhao Ci's die-hards or relatives.

The remaining nearly ten thousand were all captured.

They were prepared to be sent to Nanjun later, also to be organized into engineering teams, reclamation camps, or mines, becoming free labor.

You know, most of these people were young and strong!

If it weren't for Zhao Ci, where would he find so many good, strong young men to serve as free labor?

Only needing to provide a bite to eat, no wages required.

Of course, in this era, many commoners and refugees couldn't even guarantee a meal; even without wages, as long as they were given food, they would likely be very willing to work for Su Xuan.

But Su Xuan couldn't do that entirely.

He couldn't treat these refugees who couldn't survive as cattle and horses.

He needed to differentiate the treatment of prisoners of war.

Currently, Nanjun actually already had many engineering teams, textile workshops, furniture workshops, and even mines and agricultural reclamation camps, which had long been recruiting refugees to work and farm.

Not only did they provide food, but if they worked well, they also received a certain wage every month.

Because of these policies, over the past year or so, Su Xuan had absorbed a large number of refugee populations from various commanderies.

This had caused Nanjun's population to grow by nearly 100, 00.

Fortunately, he was very wealthy and could continuously earn a large amount of money through the Su Clan Chamber of Commerce and unique products.

Through the Su Clan Chamber of Commerce and the Zhen Clan Chamber of Commerce, he could purchase a large amount of cheap grain to maintain all of this.

Of course, these refugees also brought Su Xuan a large amount of value through their work.

Whether it was repairing bridges, paving roads, building cities, working in workshops, mining in mines, or participating in reclamation and farming in agricultural camps, none of it was useless work.

It was of huge help to the development of Nanjun and the development of Su Xuan's industries.

In addition, a large amount of money was seized.

It was all plundered by Zhao Ci from Wancheng.

Converted into money, it was no less than 100 million.

Su Xuan set aside ten percent, mainly in antiques, calligraphy, and paintings, prepared to hand over to the Son of Heaven.

Anyway, these things had no value to him, and if he wanted to exchange them for money, he would have to spend effort to sell them.

Troublesome!

The rest, he secretly had people transport out of Wancheng and send to Nanjun.

After successfully recovering Wancheng, another 3 days passed.

Good news came from Jiangxia from Gao Shun and Old Dian Wei.

They had successfully recovered Jiangxia and cleaned up the remnants of Zhao Ci's army there.

Only then did Su Xuan submit a memorial and send someone on horseback to Luoyang.

This couldn't go through the carrier pigeon or golden eagle communication channels.

It would expose his new communication methods.

Nanyang Wancheng was not far from Luoyang, and in just over a day, the memorial had been delivered to Luoyang and reached the hands of the Son of Heaven, Liu Hong, in the palace.

At the same time, Jia Yi once again quietly arrived at Zhang Rang's mansion with 2 million coins and eight pieces of glassware.

He presented the local specialties and stated his purpose.

"Tsk tsk! The General Who Pacifies the South is worthy of being the General Who Pacifies the South! He is truly capable!"

"Zhao Ci hadn't even stirred up any trouble before he was already dealt with!"

Zhang Rang praised and then promised: "Rest assured! Since the General Who Pacifies the South is so sincere, I will speak well of him in front of His Majesty!"

"Tell me! Does the General Who Pacifies the South have any special requests this time?"

Jia Yi immediately said: "That he does not! The only thing is that my Lord does not wish to be transferred away from Nanjun. As for other rewards, the Marquis can decide as he sees fit!"

"Understood!"

Zhang Rang nodded knowingly: "Actually, even if he didn't say it, his position as Administrator of Nanjun likely wouldn't change!"

"Because, other than that, with the General Who Pacifies the South's merit, if he wanted to be transferred to a civil post, he could only be transferred to Luoyang!"

"This is something that people from all sides likely wouldn't be happy to see."

"Fortunately, the General Who Pacifies the South clearly doesn't want to come to Luoyang, which makes it simple."

After several years of contact, Zhang Rang also roughly understood what kind of person Su Xuan was.

Without a doubt, this was a person with great ambition and extreme intelligence.

He was single-mindedly focused on developing and solidifying his foundation in the local area and temporarily did not want to come to the right-and-wrong place of Luoyang.

He couldn't be smarter.

Of course, it was just that Zhang Rang couldn't see through it and didn't know that the Great Han was about to face great turmoil and that a chaotic world was coming; otherwise, he wouldn't think so.

"Then I will trouble the Marquis! If there is nothing else, I will take my leave!"

As he spoke, Jia Yi cupped his hands and left.

"Hahaha!"

In the imperial palace, after Liu Hong finished reading the victory memorial submitted by Su Xuan and the attached report of the spoils, Liu Hong couldn't help but laugh heartily: "Good! Good! As expected, it is still my General Who Pacifies the South who handles things in a way that makes me most reassured and most satisfied!"

"This Zhao Ci came aggressively with great momentum, yet in just a few days, he was annihilated by the General Who Pacifies the South, and Nanyang and Jiangxia were both recovered. This is truly wonderful!"

Liu Hong even thought that if all the generals were as decisive as Su Xuan, it would save him worry.

That way, he wouldn't have to worry and get a headache every time the suppression of rebellions in various places didn't go smoothly.

"Rang-fu, tell me, how should I reward the General Who Pacifies the South this time? How about transferring the General Who Pacifies the South to Luoyang to take up a post?"

Zhang Rang was shocked when he heard this. How could the Son of Heaven think this way?

Fortunately, he calmed down the next moment and thought to himself, next, it's time for my performance........

Immediately, he bowed respectfully: "Your Majesty! How to reward him is naturally for Your Majesty to decide. How would this old servant dare to comment?"

The usual tactic of advancing by retreating.

It really made Liu Hong feel extremely comfortable. He pointed at Zhang Rang from a distance and laughed: "You old thing only knows how to make me happy."

"Speak! It was I who asked you to analyze it for me. You are forgiven."

"Understood!"

Zhang Rang immediately cupped his hands and took the order, organized his thoughts, and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, this old servant believes it is better to let the General Who Pacifies the South continue to stay in Nanjun!"

"The reward can completely be to promote his military rank and title; it is not necessary to transfer him to the capital."