Chapter 630

"What on earth is going on? Over these past few days, the number of troops we've gathered has increased by at least several times, so why can we still only 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 delay time, giving us the opportunity to gather so many troops? Isn't this...?"

"It couldn't be to gather us all up and wipe us out in one go, could it?"

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 kind of troop that becomes strong when facing the strong and weak when facing the weak?"

Shi Xie preferred to believe this rather than believe that the enemy army was doing it on purpose to achieve the whole task in one battle.

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

Meanwhile, on the northern border,

Huang Zhong and his men 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.

"Good means! To actually wait at ease for the exhausted enemy, showing weakness to the enemy to gather them all in one place—this is to achieve the whole task in one battle!"

"Yuanzhi and Zijing have such great planning!"

"Since they have already done this much, we cannot let them look down on us!"

"Pass my military order! Cook at the fifth watch, depart at the sixth watch, and begin the conquest of all the cities in Taking Jiaozhou!"

"The decisive battle is about to begin!"

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

Since Gan Ning and his men 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.

"Yes!"

The generals all cupped their hands and accepted the order, 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 greatest credit had already been taken by Gan Ning and his men, at least a small portion of the credit was still left, right?

They couldn't delay too long; otherwise, once Gan Ning and his men solved those gathered enemy forces, they would likely come out to snatch the credit!

That would absolutely not do!

Next, Huang Zhong and his men attacked from multiple directions, and in less than ten days, they swept through the entire Taking Jiaozhou, easily occupying all the commanderies and counties of Taking Jiaozhou.

Then, they began to cooperate with the officials sent to carry out reforms and governance in all the commanderies and counties of Taking Jiaozhou.

Similarly, on the day Huang Zhong and his men launched their large-scale offensive, Gan Ning also went all out and launched a fierce attack on the enemy forces.

Although their numbers were small and the enemy forces were several times theirs,

with the powerful martial force of the army and the cooperation 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 cut through the enemy's armor at all.

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 who could take on ten or more, and with those terrifying firearms, the battle presented a one-sided slaughter from the very beginning.

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

Furthermore, because there were too many people, half of whom were barbarians, they were not under unified command, and the command was chaotic. 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 crushed and captured in half a day! If the facts weren't right in front of me, 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 forces were several times theirs, the final battle process was too easy, giving him a sense of unreality.

"Actually, this is very normal, isn't it?"

Zhou Tai, who was on the side, smiled lightly: "What are our conditions? What are the enemy's conditions?"

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

"We have to achieve some results to be worthy of the Lord's investment, right?"

Of course, while he said that, Zhou Tai's heart was not calm either.

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

"Oh no!"

Chen Gong sighed: "It's over! I'm afraid Xuzhou can't be held!"

"My Lord, we should make plans early!"

Hearing Chen Gong's words, Lu Bu was stunned: "Chen Gongtai, things haven't reached that point yet, right? My troops and Liu Bei's haven't lost much. If we gather our troops together, we should still be able to fight Cao Cao in Xiapi, right?"

Although he also really thought that Xuzhou should be lost sooner or later, he didn't expect Chen Gong to think so too.

This didn't look like Chen Gong's personality!

"It's useless!"

Chen Gong shook his head bitterly: "More than half of Xuzhou will soon fall into Cao Cao's hands. Even if we combine our troops with Liu Bei's, we won't be able to hold on for long!"

"Not to mention anything else, just the grain and fodder alone, I'm afraid Xiapi won't be able to support it for too long."

"However, resistance is necessary!"

"At least, I have to let Cao Cao hit a wall in Xiapi and suffer some bitterness, so I can vent my anger a little;"

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!"

Hearing this, although Zhou Tai was also excited and proud, he shook his head calmly: "I care more about merits and real benefits!"

"With this merit, I think I can exchange for all the divine techniques and magical powers I currently need, pay off the debts I owe the Lord, and I shouldn't lack cultivation resources for a short time!"

"Next, I can properly charge forward and raise my strength to the Gangjin Realm as soon as possible."

"Currently, our strength is still a bit low! General Huang Huang Hansheng and the others are already veteran Heaven-Man Realm peerless experts!"

"We are still spinning around in the Danjin Realm; it's too slow!"

Being so slow, when could they reach the first tier?

"That's true!"

Hearing this, the smile on Gan Ning's face faded a bit, and he frowned: "Those monsters have such good martial arts talent! Even though we have already practiced the Tendon-Tempering and Bone-Forging Technique and are constantly improving our root bone quality, they are also improving their root bone quality!"

"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 efforts, we will always have a chance to catch up!"

"However, we still have to continue to earn more merits."

There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts; even if they respected the old seniors, it didn't prevent them from having a heart that wanted to surpass them!

"I hope so!"

Zhou Tai nodded in agreement, secretly clenching his fists.

In the administrative hall of the Prince's Mansion in Xiangyang City,

"Haha! Huang Hansheng and Gan Ning really didn't let me down! They took the entire Taking Jiaozhou in just ten days without causing too much damage to the people of Taking Jiaozhou. Not bad! Very not bad!"

"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: "Next, the governance and development of Taking Jiaozhou will be fully handed over to you!"

"Of course, Guo Fengxiao must 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. Is there any problem?"

The sooner Taking Jiaozhou is thoroughly developed, the sooner costs can be recovered and benefits obtained.

Among them, what Su Xuan valued most was the issue of grain planting.

With sufficient grain and supplies, he could better conquer other provinces and commanderies in the future and settle the people of other provinces and commanderies, letting them live good lives too.

"Yes!"

Xi Zhicai, Tian Feng, and Guo Guo Fengxiao all cupped their hands and accepted the order. ===== CHAPTER 632 =====