Chapter 553: Chapter 264: Establishment of the Vertical Alliance

The rebellion in Su Country had been going on for half a year.

Actually, when Lu Yuan sent a messenger in the first month and arrived in Su Country in the second month.

By then, Su Xuange had already led troops to suppress the rebellion of the Seven Islands Assembly.

Not only did he recapture Ningyue Mansion in one fell swoop, but he also personally led the troops to sea and swept across the seven main islands of the Seven Islands Assembly.

He killed more than half of the Assembly’s elite, even the president, vice-president and a few other top leaders, one by one, were killed under Su Xuange’s sword.

Without these figures leading the way, the remaining remnants scattered, but they were no longer a threat. At most, they became pirates, which could be slowly eliminated in the future.

With the elimination of this Assembly, Su Xuange suddenly relieved the worries around the capital, then immediately headed north to suppress Guangchang Road.

When the messenger of Chu State arrived, Su Xuange had already led the troops to wipe out the thieves on Guangchang Road in Shi’an Mansion and was preparing to continue his efforts to lead the troops into the old nest of Guangchang Road, Cangwu Mansion, and completely eliminate this gang of bandits.

It could be said that, at that time, the external rebellion had reached a critical moment.

So when faced with the messenger from Chu State, who said he wanted to invite Su Country to jointly suppress the southwestern Yi people.

After the shock, Su Xuange couldn’t help but feel tempted.

Lu Yuan and the courtiers had discussed well before.

Given the situation in Su Country, they indeed couldn’t afford too many troops and couldn’t support Su Xuange’s ambitions.

Now this rebellion has spread to half of the country. Although it can be settled now, it only slightly eliminates the immediate threat.

If the problem of the huge military expenses of Su Country is not solved, even if the current rebellion is eliminated, the poor financial situation will still be a huge hidden danger, like a buried bomb, not knowing when it will be detonated.

So for Su Xuange.

Either he gave up his ambitions, cut down the army, and after suppressing the rebellion, he would fully recuperate and restore national strength.

Or he would seek another place to conquer. By external pressure and by gaining external benefits, domestic contradictions could be eased.

Which choice to make, with Su Xuange’s temperament, it goes without saying.

He, without any hesitation, chose to join the alliance and jointly conquer the southwest Yi people.

It’s just that the internal rebellion in Su Country has not yet been quelled, so even if Su Xuange is very tempted, he has not agreed outright.

He simply asked the messenger from Chu to rest well and ordered his country to take good care of him.

Then he focused his attention and worked hard to suppress the rebellion.

With the strength of an Inborn Grandmaster, Su Xuange successively rallied the scattered prefectures and counties’ soldiers from various places, concurrently issued a batch of militias to support him, coupled with his own Forbidden Army, quickly pulled up an army of 100,000 people to suppress the rebellion.

With such strength, it wouldn’t be too difficult to suppress Guangchang Road.

In just over a month of fighting, Su Xuange led his troops to break Guangchang Road, captured more than 30,000 of them, and killed the main forces of these thieves in one fell swoop.

Not only did he recapture Cangwu Mansion, but he also broke through the Mountain Gate of Guangchang Road, cutting down its Dao master with his sword.

With the death of the Dao master of Guangchang Road, those believers he had gathered and the remaining Daoists fell into a state of being leaderless.

In just over ten days, the remaining tens of thousands of Guangchang Road bandits collapsed and scattered, and the rebellion in the northern part of Su Country was completely suppressed.

By this time, Su Xuange had finally managed to suppress most of the rebellions in his country.

The remaining leader of the rebellion, Dufchang, while constantly sending troops to support the Seven Islands Assembly and Guangchang Road in these days, also continued to carry out raids.

However, earlier on, Su Xuange had ordered those county soldiers from the prefectures of Yongxi and Heping Mansion, which were located to the north and west of Gaoliang Mansion occupied by Du Chang, to strictly guard all thoroughfares, directly sealing off Gaoliang County’s northward and westward routes.

The county soldiers from these two prefectures combined had a total of over 10,000 troops. With the addition of some militia from the countryside, they had an enormous force of no less than 40,000.

Although Dufchang had been constantly recruiting soldiers and horses since the uprising, increasing his troops to more than 50,000.

But most of them were a ragtag army, with few elites.

To break through the blockade of these two prefectures was extremely difficult, even impossible.

So for half a year, Dufchang was anxious but could only watch as the Seven Islands Assembly and Guangchang Road were consecutively pacified.

Now that the news of the collapse of Guangchang Road in the north has been passed back, the rebels in Gaoliang Mansion have heard the news and knew that, within the country, they were the only remaining rebellion.

One by one, their morale could not help but waver.

A considerable number of rebels, fearing Su Xuange’s military prowess, simply packed up and fled back to the countryside, becoming good people once again.

There were also some who directly took boats across the sea, choosing to head south to the vast ocean to avoid this inevitable defeat.

Some even made contact with Nanhai Country in the east and defected to them.

Under this series of escapes and hiding, the original 50,000 troops under Dufchang’s command suddenly dissipated more than half.

Only the remaining 10,000 or so people with no way out, who also hated Su Country to the bone, continued to hole up in the Gaoliang Mansion city, preparing for the last resistance.

But by this time, the complete elimination of this last batch of rebels had become a foregone conclusion.

It would take only one trip for Su Xuange to lead the troops to Gaoliang Mansion, and within ten days or half a month, Dufchang could be completely wiped out.

It was under this situation that Su Xuange was finally able to spare some energy to respond to Lu Yuan’s request for an alliance.

He quickly found the messenger and said bluntly, “I and the King of Chu have always been allies. Now that the King of Chu has the ambition to conquer the Yi people and create new territories for the descendants of the Three Emperors, I naturally cannot fall behind.”

Ask the messenger to tell the King of Chu that when the first month of next year comes, I will be able to stabilize the country after suppressing the rebellion within the country.