748: On the eve of the great battle, taking advantage of the chaos

Of course, they certainly existed, but there weren't as many as Su Chen had imagined.

According to his calculations, basically everyone should have condemned the Seventh Prince for founding a nation, but now it seemed that more than half of the people remained silent, and some even defected to him.

At least compared to his judgment, the situation was much better.

Great Yu Dynasty.

Inside the Imperial Palace.

A pale, incredibly weak-looking middle-aged man sat on the Dragon Throne, holding a memorial with eyes full of rage.

"Damn it... Su Chen!"

His fists clenched tightly, and panic stirred in his heart.

Or rather, he had been panicking these past few days; he was worried that if he couldn't find Su Chen, the injuries on his body would be enough to take his life.

Suddenly, he recalled their previous duel. Su Chen could always pull out vast amounts of money; did he also have a large military force in his hands this time?

The last time he wanted to target Su Chen, he found that he simply couldn't do it.

Would it be the same this time?

No!

It absolutely cannot be so!

If he failed again this time, he would truly be defeated, and by then, he would have lost completely.

But he didn't know how to kill Su Chen. Now, he didn't even know where Su Chen was, yet Su Chen had directly established a nation and openly provoked him, which was enough to show that Su Chen had absolute certainty; otherwise, it would be impossible.

What on earth should he do!

At this moment, he no longer had his former composure; his mind was in complete disarray.

He didn't know how to defeat Su Chen. Even with such a massive advantage, he still felt a sense of panic when facing Su Chen.

"What is going on? Why does he have such confidence?"

Enveloped in massive panic, he ultimately chose to send troops to attack, but he only sent a hundred thousand to test the waters... When Su Chen received the news at Green Wolf Mountain, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

As expected, everything was developing according to his predictions.

Ye Tianran was afraid of death.

After living for countless years and plotting so much, wasn't it all just to become stronger?

Such a person would definitely be very afraid of death. He lacked the courage to stake everything on a single throw. He was wary of Su Chen, which could stem from many aspects, such as worrying that Su Chen possessed the strength to rival the Great Yu Dynasty.

It was also possible that after all his troops were sent out, Su Chen would attack the capital.

Su Chen received several reports: a hundred thousand troops were heading for the Great Qian Empire, and another two hundred thousand were guarding the gates of the Imperial City.

This further confirmed Su Chen's suspicion.

Ye Tianran was afraid of death, very afraid.

If Su Chen were fearful and sought compromise, Ye Tianran would be very confident; but if Su Chen was aggressively clamoring, Ye Tianran would definitely be terrified.

"Mister, what should we do next?"

Su Chen was drinking tea as a woman in red danced gracefully before him. Facing the Seventh Prince's question, he spoke calmly.

"I will send someone to deal with these hundred thousand troops."

"Yu Dong."

As his voice rang out, Yu Dong immediately stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

"Young Lord."

Su Chen spoke indifferently, "No need to stop our pace. Notify Zhou Guanhai to have him occupy Xuanzhou and Luyang Prefecture. Let them discuss and arrange the specifics themselves; I only need to see the results."

Su Chen had already summoned all of his troops previously; this time, he wanted to make the biggest possible scene.

"As you command!"

After receiving the order, Yu Dong turned and left.

The hundred thousand troops did not march quickly. It took nearly half a month for them to encounter Su Chen's three fierce generals, who led fifty thousand troops to intercept them about thirty li outside of Xinyang.

Their goal was not to slaughter these hundred thousand troops, but merely to stall them.

The real objective was to take Xuanzhou and Luyang Prefecture.

The three fierce generals were all skilled in the art of war. Facing a hundred thousand troops was actually more than manageable for them; while repelling them might be difficult, keeping them tied up was certainly no trouble at all.

Su Chen's goal was not to govern this country; the reason he wanted more territory was to recruit more soldiers.

Basically, wherever he went, those noble families who enjoyed oppressing the common people were all wiped out, not a single one left, and their wealth flowed into the hands of ordinary people.

This improved the lives of the commoners, so they had not a single complaint against Su Chen and were even very happy.

Although they hadn't worried much about food before, in ancient times there were always social hierarchies, and they also wanted to live better.

Additionally, the treatment in the Great Qian Empire's army was simply too good—basically triple the military pay, and every meal included meat until they were full. So in this half-month period, thirty to fifty thousand people joined the army.

Although these people could not yet produce actual combat effectiveness, it was enough just to bolster their momentum.

Su Chen also dispatched many hidden guards to slaughter officials throughout the Great Yu Dynasty, throwing it into complete chaos.

Only in troubled waters can one catch fish.

Su Chen understood this principle well, so he first made the Great Yu Dynasty very chaotic, causing leaks to appear in this iron barrel so that he would have a chance to crush this giant beast.

The establishment of the Great Qian Empire, coupled with his secret troublemaking, caused the Great Yu Dynasty to fall into extreme internal strife in just three months. Many commoners died, and many people cursed the Great Yu Dynasty.

Su Chen continuously sent people to attack other prefectures. Xuanzhou and Luyang Prefecture had already been taken, and now one-third of the entire East Prefecture was under Su Chen's command.

Next, he did not continue to expand, but instead leisurely played with several little beauties in Green Wolf Mountain.

It would be difficult for Su Chen to continue progressing.

After all, he only had so much manpower; he was doing all this just to stall for time.

In fact, up to now, he was almost eighty percent certain of winning.

Even if Ye Tianran wanted to force a fight with him now, it would be impossible to crush him. With the four prefectures surrounding them and Su Chen now having over three hundred thousand troops, they could hold off even a million-strong army for a long time.

Moreover, Su Chen didn't just have this many.

His Sign-in System was constantly increasing on its original basis.

In the first year, the troops signed in totaled a hundred thousand; the second year, two hundred thousand; and the third year, nearly five hundred thousand.

Additionally, Ye Tianran was very afraid now. He worried about being ambushed, so he acted somewhat timidly. Unless it was in the last year or two before his death, he would definitely not launch a major offensive.

But by that time, even a full-scale attack would be futile.

Furthermore, Su Chen had already been secretly inciting some military leaders to defect.

The methods of incitement included poisoning them, poisoning their children, or kidnapping their families, etc. He basically did whatever was most insidious.

Although the results weren't great, so far only two people were willing to cooperate with Su Chen.

And these two people didn't have many soldiers under them, only thirty to fifty thousand.

But it was enough...