Chapter 399

“That’s right!”

Xu Shu also nodded with longing: “The sages of the pre-Qin era also had their limits and were still human, but the Lord clearly has no limits and has already transcended the mundane.”

“I heard the Lord also plans to establish an Eternal Dynasty of Luck in the future. Do you know about this?”

“Hmm!”

Lu Su nodded: “Although I don’t know much, I do know a little!”

“The Lord himself didn’t intend to hide it from us;”

“I have to say, the Lord’s ambition is truly great. If the Eternal Dynasty of Luck can really be achieved, then in the future, not only will the subjects under the Lord’s rule live the beautiful life they dream of, but they might even have the opportunity to transcend the mundane and become the immortals and deities of myth;”

“Let alone us! In the future, there is an even more beautiful and fantastical life waiting for us!”

Eternity!

Although he was not a person who pursued immortality, if he could live longer and follow Su Xuan to witness more and more wonderful futures, he was naturally extremely willing.

Over the next few days, Shi Xie’s troops constantly gathered here, constantly contending with Su Xuan’s army, and even attempted to crush Su Xuan’s army with an absolute numerical advantage.

The result, however, greatly exceeded their expectations. The enemy army was not crushed as they had expected; instead, it continued to maintain a balance. No matter how the numbers increased or how they attacked, it seemed they could not crush the enemy army and could only barely fight to a draw.

This left Shi Xie and his son extremely puzzled.

“What is going on? Over these past few days, the number of troops we’ve gathered has increased by several times, so why are we still only able to fight to a draw?”

“Are the troops recruited later too weak? Or is the enemy army too powerful and has been hiding their strength all along?”

Shi Xie couldn’t help but frown.

Shi Xie’s son also frowned: “But if the enemy army really had the ability to defeat us from the beginning, why would they hide their strength and drag it out, giving us the opportunity to gather so many troops? Isn’t this just asking for trouble?”

“It couldn’t possibly be to gather us all up and wipe us out in one go, right?”

Shi Xie shook his head: “How is that possible? We already have over a hundred thousand troops under our command!”

“We are already in an invincible position; even if the enemy army is arrogant, it’s impossible for them to defeat us!”

“Perhaps we have overlooked something!”

“Or perhaps, the enemy army is just the type of force that gets stronger when facing the strong and weaker when facing the weak?”

Shi Xie would rather believe this than believe that the enemy army was doing it on purpose, to finish the job in one battle.

If that were really the case, just how arrogant would the enemy army have to be?

Meanwhile, on the northern border,

Huang Zhong and the others were also keeping in constant contact with Gan Ning’s side through the Secret Guards, and at the same time, they clearly knew how many troops Gan Ning had attracted.

“What a brilliant move! To actually wait at ease for the exhausted, showing weakness to the enemy to gather them all in one place—this is to finish the job in one battle!”

“Yuanzhi and Zijing have truly great schemes!”

“Since they have already achieved this much, we cannot let them look down on us!”

“Pass my military order! Tomorrow, cook at the fifth watch and depart at the sixth watch to begin attacking the various cities of Taking Jiaozhou!”

“The decisive battle is about to begin!”

“This time, we must sweep through all the cities of Taking Jiaozhou in the shortest possible time, not giving the enemy too much time to react!”

Since Gan Ning and the others had already attracted the vast majority of the enemy’s forces, if they still couldn’t sweep through Taking Jiaozhou in a short time, it would really be inexcusable.

“Understood!”

The generals all cupped their hands to receive the order and then began to act one after another.

Even if Huang Zhong hadn’t said it, they were prepared to do so anyway!

These were all bright, shining merits! How could they miss them?

Although the biggest credit had already been taken by Gan Ning and the others, at least a small portion of the credit was still left, right?

They couldn’t delay too long, or else, once Gan Ning and the others finished off those gathered enemy forces, they would probably come out to snatch the credit too!

That was absolutely not allowed!

Subsequently, Huang Zhong and the others attacked from multiple routes, and in less than ten days, they swept through the entire Taking Jiaozhou, easily occupying all the commanderies and counties.

Then, they began to cooperate with the dispatched officials to reform and govern the commanderies and counties of Taking Jiaozhou.

Similarly, on the very day Huang Zhong and the others launched their large-scale offensive, Gan Ning’s side also went full-force and launched a fierce attack on the enemy army.

Although their numbers were small and the enemy was several times their size,

With the powerful force of the army and the coordination of artillery and muskets, the battle lasted only a few hours before it ended.

In the end, over 10,000 enemy soldiers were annihilated, and the remaining 50,000-plus soldiers all chose to surrender.

There was no other way; the enemy army was too fierce.

Their broadswords and weapons couldn’t even cut through the enemy’s armor.

And the enemy’s weapons were all sharp enough to cut iron like mud, killing them instantly.

The key was that every single enemy soldier was an expert capable of taking on ten or more, and with those terrifying firearms, the battle was a one-sided slaughter from the very beginning.

Facing such an invincible enemy, what was the use of having more numbers?

Furthermore, because the numbers were too large and half of them were barbarians who were not under unified command, the command was chaotic, and once morale collapsed, the speed of surrender was even faster!

“Tsk tsk! This battle! I’ve never seen one so easy! It would take more time than this just to catch a hundred thousand pigs!”

“As a result, an army of over a hundred thousand was actually crushed and captured by us in half a day! If the facts weren’t right before my eyes, I wouldn’t dare believe it was all true!”

After the battle, Gan Ning looked at the soldiers receiving the prisoners and the dense, endless sea of surrendered troops, and couldn’t help but click his tongue.

Although the enemy was several times their size, the final battle process was too easy, giving him a sense of unreality.

“Actually, this is quite normal, isn’t it?”

Zhou Tai, who was to the side, smiled lightly: “What are our army’s conditions? What are the enemy’s conditions?”

“Not to mention the artillery and muskets this time, just the cultivation resources the Lord has invested in the past are an astronomical figure!”

“We have to achieve some results to be worthy of the Lord’s investment, don’t we?”

Of course, while he said that, Zhou Tai’s heart was also not calm.

He had long known that his Lord’s army was far more powerful than other warlords.

But he never had a clear concept of just how powerful.

Now, he finally had one.

It was a complete crushing!

No wonder the Lord didn’t care about temporary territorial expansion and didn’t care about other warlords constantly expanding their territory and increasing their armies.

How could an ordinary elite army compare to an army of martial artists?

They were simply not in the same dimension.

This world was destined to belong to his Lord from the very beginning; no matter how hard other warlords try now, they are ultimately just making wedding clothes for his Lord.

With this concept, Zhou Tai’s confidence grew even stronger, and he admired his Lord even more.

“That’s true! Haha!”

Gan Ning heard this and couldn’t help but be happy, putting his hands on his hips: “It’s not that the enemy is incompetent, but that our army is too strong! The Lord is too willing to invest!”

“This time, my First Navy has become famous in one battle. I believe our reputation will soon spread throughout the world! Hehe!”

He was a relatively flamboyant person who liked to show off, so naturally, he couldn’t be modest.

Just like how he liked to wear brocade clothes.

“Empty fame has no meaning!”

Zhou Tai heard this, and although he was also excited and proud, he shook his head calmly: “I am more concerned with merits and real benefits!”

“With the merits from this time, I think I can exchange for all the divine techniques and supernatural powers I currently need, pay off my debts to the Lord, and I shouldn’t lack cultivation resources for a short time!”

“Next, I can make a good push to raise my strength to the Gang-Qi realm as soon as possible.”

“Currently, our strength is still a bit low! General Huang Zhong and the others are already veteran peerless experts of the Heaven-Human realm!”

“We are still spinning around in the Dan-Qi realm; it’s too slow!”

At this rate, when will they be able to reach the first tier?

“That’s true!”

Gan Ning heard this, and the smile on his face faded quite a bit, his brows slightly furrowed: “Those monsters have such good martial arts talent! Even though we have practiced the Tendon-Changing and Bone-Forging Divine Art and are constantly improving our bone quality and aptitude, they are also improving theirs!”

“Plus, they are older and have practiced for far longer than us! It’s really hard to catch up for a while!”

“Fortunately, the higher the realm, the greater the difficulty of improvement and the more time it takes;”

“As long as we have sufficient resources and unremitting effort, we will eventually have a chance to catch up!”

“However, we still have to continue to earn more merits later.”

In literature, there is no first place; in martial arts, there is no second place. Even if they respect the old seniors, it doesn’t stop them from having a heart that wants to surpass them!

“I hope so!”

Zhou Tai heard this, secretly clenched his fists, and nodded in agreement.

At the Government Hall of the Zou Qian Prince’s Mansion in Xiangyang City,

“Haha! Huang Zhong, Gan Ning, and the others really didn’t let me down! In just ten days, they have already taken the entire Taking Jiaozhou territory without causing too much damage to the people of Taking Jiaozhou. Not bad! Very good!”

“Yuanzhi and Zijing’s planning this time was very successful!”

“Zhicai, Tian Yuanhao!”

Speaking of this, Su Xuan looked at Xi Zhicai and Tian Feng and instructed: “From now on, the governance and development of Taking Jiaozhou will be fully handed over to you!”

“Of course, Guo Fengxiao will also fully cooperate with you!”

“You must complete the rectification and preliminary development of Taking Jiaozhou within one year, and at the same time, complete the first phase of Taking Jiaozhou’s transportation construction and mining area development. Do you have any problems?”

The sooner Taking Jiaozhou is thoroughly developed, the sooner costs can be recovered and profits gained.

Among these, what Su Xuan valued most was the issue of grain cultivation.

With sufficient grain and provisions, he could better conquer other commanderies and counties in the future and settle the people of those areas, allowing them to live good lives as well.

“Understood!”

Xi Zhicai, Tian Feng, and Guo Jia all cupped their hands to receive the order.