Chapter 191

Speaking of this, Su Xuan continued: "Of course, the treatment in our army is also extremely high. The military pay is 30% higher than that of the elite troops in the imperial court, and various benefits and perks are incomparable to other factions."

"You can tell them all of this clearly and let them make their own choices!"

"Do not force them, understand?"

"Understood!"

Gan Ning nodded heavily and immediately ran to negotiate with these water bandits.

In the end, only about a hundred people left; the rest were all willing to follow Gan Ning and join Su Xuan's Jiangling Navy.

There was no helping it; Su Xuan's prestige was resounding even in Ba Commandery.

How could they be willing to give up such a good opportunity?

The hundred or so people who truly gave up did so partly because they couldn't leave their homes too far away;

and partly because they were worried they couldn't endure the strict military rules and discipline of Su Xuan's army.

After all, they had become water bandits because they were unruly by nature.

These people were not just a few months into the trade; they had all been subdued by Gan Ning along the way.

They were already veteran water bandits to begin with.

Afterward, Su Xuan had people let those who were unwilling to join leave, and then he took Gan Ning and the others on the return voyage.

As for the Su clan merchant fleet that had been intercepted by Gan Ning earlier?

The secret guards had just sent word that the goods had already been retrieved.

The journey there was slower against the current, but the return trip was with the current, and it took only a few hours to successfully return to the Jiangling naval base.

"You come with me to Jiangling city first; I will have someone settle you in."

"By the way, I will tell you about the Merit Pavilion and contribution points. You will likely need to borrow contribution points to exchange for some cultivation methods and resources, and you can also collect the monthly cultivation resources I have allocated for you."

"Then, come report to the navy, understand?"

After getting off the boat, Su Xuan said to Gan Ning.

As for the hundreds of Jinfan bandits who had just joined?

They had already been handed over to Huang Zhong to handle.

These people needed to be properly trained for a few months to shed all their bad habits and instill the will of a soldier before they could be incorporated into the regular army.

"Eh?"

Gan Ning was a bit puzzled and scratched the back of his head: "I have no objections; Lord, you just arrange it as you see fit."

"However, what are this Merit Pavilion and contribution points?"

"And about borrowing to exchange for cultivation methods—I already have cultivation methods. You even gifted me a top-tier martial technique once!"

"Is it really necessary?"

Before Su Xuan could speak, Xu Chu, who was on the side, couldn't help but laugh: "You kid, your knowledge is shallow, isn't it? Could the Lord be wrong?"

"That cultivation method of yours looks like it won't do; it can't compare at all to the divine techniques in the Merit Pavilion."

"Besides, with your aptitude, your current strength is actually lagging behind. Without the top-tier cultivation resources provided by the Lord,"

"it will be impossible for you to ever catch up!"

"The Lord is doing this for your own good!"

"Don't think that borrowing contribution points is a bad thing. I'd love to borrow some, but I haven't even had the chance!"

"Anyway, once your strength is powerful, you can just work hard to earn merit for the Lord and pay back the debt!"

"Improving your strength early is the most important thing!"

"Otherwise, if you miss the best age for cultivation, you will never be able to catch up to us!"

"Furthermore, without sufficient strength, what kind of merit can you expect to achieve?"

Unless it was a delay that would greatly affect their growth speed, Su Xuan generally would not approve their borrowing of contribution points.

This was to avoid people not working hard and only knowing how to freeload.

Or, using contribution points to exchange for all sorts of strange things.

For example, Guo Jia had used contribution points to exchange for quite a bit of spirit wine from the Merit Pavilion.

But he didn't exchange for it purely for cultivation; it was mainly for the pleasure of it.

But this guy didn't have enough contribution points.

He only exploited the loophole once before Su Xuan blacklisted him.

He was forbidden from engaging in these crooked ways.

Admittedly, after these years of training and growth, his physique and cultivation had come up;

as long as his drinking and playing weren't too excessive, it wouldn't affect his health and lifespan.

But Su Xuan would not completely indulge this slacker personality.

"Is that so? I understand! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Brother Xu!"

Gan Ning nodded in realization and immediately bowed to thank Su Xuan and Xu Chu.

"Haha! No need to thank me! You would have known eventually even if I didn't say anything!"

Xu Chu scratched his head and laughed: "You kid, you were so arrogant before; I didn't expect you to be quite willing to listen to advice!"

"Hehe!"

Gan Ning gave a sheepish smile.

There was no helping it; he had already been beaten up. If he didn't wake up and keep a low profile, he wouldn't be stupid.

Huang Gai had said before that this Xu Chu was also a great expert at the mid-stage of Danjin, much stronger than Huang Gai, and he was far from being comparable to him now.

Being arrogant in front of someone stronger than you isn't called arrogance; it's called being an idiot.

Gan Ning didn't want to be a fool a second time.

One month later,

On this day,

"Lord! Lü Bu from Bingzhou has contacted the secret guards, asking them to deliver a secret letter to you. Please take a look."

Jia San brought a secret letter and presented it to Su Xuan.

"Oh? Brother Fengxian? What could he have?"

Su Xuan was slightly stunned. While taking the letter, he asked in confusion: "Has anything major happened in Bingzhou recently?"

Jia San immediately replied: "There are no other major events! Even if there were, they have nothing to do with General Lü."

"The only thing related is that half a month ago, Ding Lord Yuan was appointed as the new Inspector of Bingzhou and concurrently as Cavalry Commandant."

"The intelligence from the secret guards says that Ding Lord Yuan intends to recruit Lü Bu and has already visited Lü Bu's residence once!"

"But Lü Bu seemed hesitant and delayed for the time being, saying he would give Ding Lord Yuan an answer in half a month."

"I imagine this is what General Lü is concerned about!"

He knew that when his good Lord got married, Lü Bu had come to Nanjun to ask his Lord about how he should walk his path in the future.

"So that's it! Then it's no surprise!"

Su Xuan nodded in understanding and opened the letter.

Sure enough, Lü Bu was asking for his advice on whether he should accept Ding Lord Yuan's invitation and enter his command.

In addition, Lü Bu also said that Ding Lord Yuan intended to adopt him as a foster son, and asked if he should agree?

"Sure enough, it happened after all!"

Su Xuan smiled slightly, immediately took paper and pen, and began to write.

Before long, a secret letter was written. He handed it to Jia San and said: "Immediately send this secret letter to Bingzhou and have the secret guards there deliver it to Lü Bu."

"Understood!"

Jia San immediately took the letter and left to carry out the order.

Su Xuan tapped his fingers on the table and pondered: "Ding Lord Yuan has already been arranged by the Lord Yuan clan to take charge of troops in Bingzhou! The time until Liu Hong passes away, He Jin dies, and Dong Zhuo starts his chaotic war is not far off!"

"It is time to prepare!"

"In Luoyang, there are still quite a few things worth plotting for!"

Whether it was the Imperial Jade Seal, the money and grain from Dong Zhuo's tomb raiding, or the population of Sili, Su Xuan wanted a share of the pie.

Oh! Right! He also had to take advantage of the time Dong Zhuo was raiding the tombs to get his hands on the ancient books within.

He needed to study them and see if there could be any new gains.

Su Xuan even wanted to know through the ancient books in the tomb what exactly had happened back then that led to the sealing of the world's spiritual energy.

"With Lü Bu joining Ding Lord Yuan's command, Ding Lord Yuan will inevitably expand his army on a large scale. I'm afraid it will be difficult to purchase warhorses from Lü Bu in the future!"

"And it won't just be from Lü Bu's side..."