Chapter 229

As for paying back the money?

No rush! He believed the Nanyang noble clans and powerful families wouldn't be in a hurry for a while, and wouldn't dare to be.

He still had time to slowly scrape Nanyang clean.

He wanted to cheat these Nanyang noble clans and powerful families to death.

Cheat them so they wouldn't be able to cause him trouble in the future.

Cheat them so they wouldn't be able to support Su Xuan.

He wanted to see how Su Xuan would rely on these Nanyang noble clans and powerful families to control Nanyang and strengthen himself in the future, heh heh!

"Hiss!"

Yan Xiang heard this, looked at Lord Yuan Shu, and gasped: "My Lord, you are going to cheat these Nanyang noble clans to death!"

"With the reputation of the Lord Yuan clan, it is indeed possible to make these Nanyang noble clans and powerful families bleed heavily to borrow money to support you, my Lord;"

"But as I said before, even if they can't do anything to you after we leave Nanyang, if you go too far, it will still have a certain impact on your and the Lord Yuan clan's reputation!"

A small loss would be fine.

For the sake of the Lord Yuan clan's name, they would have to swallow their anger and endure it for the time being.

Hoping that if Lord Yuan Shu becomes successful in the future, they can find him and gain some benefits from these debts.

But if you cheat them to death, when they run away from Nanyang, these people will definitely not be able to endure it.

They will definitely go everywhere to proclaim Lord Yuan Shu's "great achievements."

Making his stinking reputation resound throughout the entire Great Han.

Making him a well-known deadbeat.

"It's fine!"

Lord Yuan Shu didn't care at all: "It's just a bit of reputation. I believe that with me, and with the reputation and prestige of the Lord Yuan clan, we can handle it;"

"This is just a drop in the ocean! It won't have any impact on my Lord Yuan clan."

In Lord Yuan Shu's heart, his Lord Yuan clan was invincible in the world.

"Fine! As long as you are happy, my Lord!"

Yan Xiang heard this, and although he was very speechless and worried, he understood Lord Yuan Shu's temper; continuing to persuade him would have no effect, so let it be!

Indeed, the impact shouldn't be too big, right? Probably...

3 days later,

Lord Yuan Shu summoned all the Nanyang noble clans and powerful families he could gather,

And then, in the name of the Lord Yuan clan, he borrowed money and grain from them.

Of course, before this, Lord Yuan Shu had already sent people to Xinye to inform Su Xuan that he agreed to the negotiations and the redemption of the people.

However, he needed a few days to scrape together the money and grain.

Su Xuan was naturally happy to see this.

As long as the money was paid, it was fine.

With the name of the Lord Yuan clan, plus Lord Yuan Shu's strength and coercion, these noble clans and powerful families, to a greater or lesser extent, all allocated and borrowed quite a bit of money and grain.

Finally, they managed to scrape together 2 million shi of grain and 600, 00 gold.

This money and grain, not to mention emptying these noble clans and powerful families, at least half of it was gone.

And this was only for the big clans; the small families were at least 70% emptied.

Any more, and they wouldn't have any left.

Lord Yuan Shu was very satisfied with this, constantly painting a bright future for these Nanyang noble clans and powerful families, saying that after he succeeded, there would be generous rewards.

Then, he ordered the people of these families to transport the promised money and grain to Wancheng as soon as possible.

At the same time, in the Grand Tutor's Mansion in Luoyang,

"Haha! This Su Xuan's actions are really fast! He actually took the bait so quickly, directly starting a war with Lord Yuan Shu, and even wiped out 50, 00 of Lord Yuan Shu and Sun Sun Jian's troops;"

"Is Su Xuan too powerful, or are Lord Yuan Shu and Sun Sun Jian too useless? This battle didn't even last a day, right?"

Dong Zhuo received the news from Nanyang and couldn't help but laugh heartily.

At the same time, he was quite wary of Su Xuan's strength.

Back during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he took over the Jizhou battlefield, only to be defeated by Zhang Jiao.

But when it was replaced by Su Xuan and General Huangfu Song, the result was completely different.

Su Xuan directly raided Zhang Jiao's lair and killed Zhang Jiao head-on.

This comparison made it hard for Dong Zhuo not to be wary of Su Xuan.

Li Ru spoke at this time: "I'm afraid Su Xuan and his troops are indeed very elite;"

"Similarly, most of Lord Yuan Shu and Sun Sun Jian's troops were recruited and trained not long ago, and coupled with their carelessness, it's not surprising that they failed so quickly!"

"I only hope that Su Xuan can completely eliminate Lord Yuan Shu and Sun Sun Jian next. In that way, we can widely publicize that he has already allied with Father-in-law;"

"By then, even if Su Xuan is unwilling, he will have to join our side;"

"Lord Yuan Shao and other warlords will likely not accept him anymore!"

It was very important to be able to pull a powerful warlord like Su Xuan into his own camp in advance.

Otherwise, given the strength Su Xuan had shown so far, Li Ru was really a bit worried.

"Oh?"

Dong Zhuo heard Li Ru's suggestion, and his eyes lit up: "This is good! This is good! I was just wary of him;"

"But if I can subdue him and make him one of our own, it would be completely different!"

"Uh..."

Li Ru was slightly stunned, then smiled bitterly: "Father-in-law, forcing him to stand on our side and form an alliance with us is already the limit!"

"It is basically impossible for you to subdue him, Father-in-law!"

"For such a heaven-defying figure, it is likely basically impossible to be subdued!"

If it were him, if he had been appointed a general and enfeoffed as a marquis at 17, and was now the master of a province with countless civil officials and fierce generals under his command, he would not be willing to submit to others either!

If Dong Zhuo really sent someone to attempt to subdue Su Xuan, it might directly cause Su Xuan to turn against him and become their mortal enemy!

Because, in the heart of such a proud person, this was a kind of insult.

"Eh?"

Dong Zhuo was also startled, frowned, and looked at Li Ru: "Is there really no way to subdue him?"

"Absolutely impossible!"

Li Ru shook his head: "If it were you, Father-in-law, if you had been appointed a general and enfeoffed as a marquis at 17, and were now the master of a province, would you be willing to submit to others?"

"That is naturally impossible!"

Dong Zhuo shook his head directly, and also understood;

Then, somewhat unwillingly, he said: "Then can we strengthen the relationship and become true allies or even one family?"

"What do you think if I marry Dong Bai to him as his wife?"

"Can I get his wholehearted help or even his defection?"

For such a powerful opponent, if possible, it was better to make him one of his own.

"Impossible!"

Li Ru smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Father-in-law, have you forgotten? Su Xuan's legal wife is a daughter of the Xun clan, the daughter of the great Confucian Xun Shuang, and she has already given birth to Su Xuan's eldest son;"

"I heard that the couple has a very good relationship, and Su Xuan seems to be a romantic, treating every one of his wives and concubines very well, almost treating them all equally;"

"Unless you are willing to let Dong Bai become his concubine, he will not agree to the marriage alliance."

Moreover, there was one thing he hadn't said yet.

That was, your status as Dong Zhuo is strictly speaking incomparable to Xun Shuang's!

Even if you control Luoyang now, command hundreds of thousands of troops, and have become the Grand Tutor of the current dynasty, it is the same.

In the eyes of the noble clans and the people of the world, your influence and status are not as good as someone like Xun Shuang.

Let alone Dong Zhuo's granddaughter.

If Dong Zhuo really had the status of Xun Shuang in the hearts of the scholars, he wouldn't have ended up in this situation today.

Perhaps, he would have already completely controlled the imperial court and gradually controlled the world.

Su Xuan marrying Dong Bai would basically have no benefits for him, but a whole bunch of disadvantages.

— Author's Notes —

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