Chapter 242

"Try it with me in charge?"

"I will definitely make him pay dearly! Hmph!"

Watching this guy act as if he were the greatest, the second greatest, and himself the third, invincible under heaven, Qin Jie was completely desperate.

This is a psychopath.

"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!"

Saying this, Zhao Ci drew the long sword from his waist and, amidst Qin Jie's desperate and terrified expression, slashed Qin Jie's throat with one stroke.

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

Feeling his life force rapidly fading, Qin Jie left these words in resentment and completely lost his breath; he was dead.

"Tch!"

Zhao Ci wiped the blood from his sword with Qin Jie's clothes and spat in disdain: "Then you will never have to wait!"

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

"My Lord! Zhao Ci has led his army to capture Wancheng, and the Administrator of Nanyang, Qin Jie, has been killed by him!"

A secret guard came to report.

"Hmm!"

Su Xuan nodded knowingly and waved his hand: "I know, you may go!"

"Yes!"

The secret guard retreated immediately.

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

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

He didn't even need anything else; just relying on the 6,000 Black Armor soldiers he commanded, he was confident he could take him down.

"My Lord! This subordinate requests to fight!"

"And me!!"

"Don't fight me for the vanguard position, okay? We joined later and are waiting to earn merits to pay off our debts!"

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

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

"..."

For a time, except for Xu Ding, who was left to guard Jianglingcheng, everyone else was vying to fight.

"You guys! You're going too far! Why can't I compete for the vanguard position just because I've broken through to the Heaven-Man Realm?"

"The Lord put great effort into cultivating me, and now that my strength has increased, shouldn't I serve the Lord even more?"

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

Even if he didn't need merits, 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 techniques and secret arts, many of which even he coveted.

How could he afford to miss out on merits?

"We have to be given some opportunities to grow, right?"

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

Zhao Yun replied with a grin.

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

"You brat!"

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

The Lord would definitely compete for hegemony in the future, especially seeing the current state of the world about to fall into chaos; it was even possible for the Lord to change the dynasty in the future.

There would likely be plenty of battles to fight, so he thought for a moment and simply waved his hand: "Fine! Then I won't fight you for the vanguard position this time, alright?"

"Hehe! Then many thanks, Brother Hansheng!"

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

Having directly eliminated the strongest opponent, the group then looked at each other.

"You guys! Everyone be quiet!"

Su Xuan saw all of this and felt somewhat amused; he raised his hand to quiet them.

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

"Don't be impatient!"

Su Xuan spoke immediately: "I already sent a memorial to the imperial court two days ago, and I believe the court's mobilization order should be coming down soon."

"That is when it will be time for you to exert your strength;"

"For now, stay calm and let the various armies prepare."

"Without the court's permission and mobilization order, I certainly cannot lead my army directly into Nanyang to suppress the rebellion; otherwise, I will be criticized, and the losses will outweigh the gains."

He did not want to give his enemies any handle to attack him at such a time.

He wanted the merits, 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.

"Yes!"

Zhao Yun and the others temporarily put aside their thoughts and cupped their hands to receive the order before leaving.

"These guys!"

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

Xun You immediately looked at Cheng Yu, as this matter had been entrusted to him.

Cheng Yu also stood up and replied: "Reporting to the Lord, everything is prepared!"

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

"Even the warships and transport ships are ready at the docks; the army can cross the river at any time!"

This time, they did not bring out advanced war machines like the Su-style repeating crossbows, Qin crossbows, Divine Arm bows, or Yuanrong crossbows...

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

The Great Han was still around, after all!

If they were exposed, they would certainly be coveted by the imperial court, He Jin, and the alliance of scholar-officials led by the Yuan Fu.

By then, if they found a way to incite the Son of Heaven to demand the manufacturing technology, should he give it or not?

Therefore, these could not be moved lightly for now; he had to wait until Liu Hong died, Dong Zhuo threw the government into chaos, 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 with satisfaction.

Cheng Yu handled logistics with ease; he didn't need to worry at all.

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: "Over the past few years, according to the Lord's requirements, we have sent generals to rotate and help train and control the 3,000 county soldiers of Dengxian. Although their combat power is not as good as our main force, it is not far off; they are the elites among elites;"

"Plus the city defenses that have been reinforced over the past two years, and General Gao Shun's skills, even if Zhao Ci's 50,000 troops were to mobilize in full, they could hold out for at least 10 days;"

"And our army can reach Dengxian from Xiangyang in less than half a day, so there is 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 rose in rebellion in Jiang Xia, the secret guards used golden eagles to transmit the information back to Jiangling in less than an hour.

PS: The new book is on the shelves, seeking first subscriptions, self-subscriptions, and support!