"My lord, General Xuan Gao, this battle has completely ruined the reputation of our East China Sea Territory."
"In the battle of Pengcheng, Xuangao used 20,000 men to fight against an army of 200,000 men. In just one day, he defeated them to a pulp. Now in Pengcheng County, those aristocratic families are very afraid of the lord's army."
Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia controlled An Xiao, and they were the first to understand the news delivered by An Xiao.
"Haha! It seems that Xuan Gao beat those people to the bone."
When Su Fan heard this, the corner of his mouth curled up slightly. Of course he was also happy. Not only the aristocratic families in Pengcheng County were afraid of Su Fan, but now the entire Xuzhou aristocratic families also knew Su Fan again.
On the Xiapi side, the opposition to Su Fan's move was also much smaller.
All this is strength, so powerful that even these aristocratic families dare not provoke them easily.
"My lord, there is news from Xiapi that Chen Gui went to the governor's office and resigned from the position of governor of Xu."
"Oh! It seems that the Chen family also understands that the situation is irreversible, so they are very smart and take a step back first."
Su Fan naturally understood Chen Gui's plan. Chen Gui had previously objected to Tao Qian letting Su Fan take over and become the leader of Xia Pi.
After Su Fan showed his strength, no one in Xuzhou resisted. Tao Qian, who was the strongest, had to entrust Xuzhou to Su Fan. In the past, if Su Fan was not strong enough, they and other aristocratic families could still resist if they joined forces.
But in the battle at Pengcheng, Su Fan showed strength, which made Chen understand that even without Tao Qian's help, Su Fan was powerful enough to sweep through the entire Xuzhou.
Several major families in Pengcheng joined forces and mobilized more than 400,000 soldiers and horses. However, they were defeated after not even being able to resist for two months.
Although these big families were not exterminated in the end, some of their main figures were killed and most of their interests were annexed. It can be said that the family power has plummeted.
I don’t know how long it will take to recover. Even if the master behind them is Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu finally defeated Su Fan, so what. Is it possible that Yuan Shu will return all the rights and interests that originally belonged to several major families to them.
Of course it's impossible.
The competition between aristocratic families is also quite cruel. Now that you have fallen, you can never stand up again.
Even if Yuan Shu is willing, the aristocratic families under Yuan Shu are absolutely not willing to see that one more aristocratic family means one more person to share the flesh.
Chen Gui understood that in Xuzhou right now, no one could compete with Su Fan. They were desperately resisting, but to no avail.
Even if they come together with Yuan Shu, let's not say whether they can defeat the army of the East China Sea Territory after Yuan Shu arrives. Aren't they afraid that Yuan Shu's arrival will lead the wolf into the house?
The Chen family has retreated, and now the only one openly resisting is the Cao family.
But how long can the Cao family resist? Many small families below him are no longer willing. After all, no matter who is the master of Xiapi, it will not have a great impact on them.
Su Fan's arrival would not be able to take away all their benefits.
In this case, why should we go against such powerful princes?
The opposition in Xiapi weakened, and Tao Qian sent people again to invite Su Fan to Xiapi.
Su Fan naturally did not refuse.
He is bound to win Xiapi.
Tao Qian was very smart. When he was challenging Dong, he felt Su Fan's strong power.
If he were ten or twenty years younger, he might still have the ambition to compete with Su Fan, but at his age now, he doesn't have much ambition anymore.
The only thing he couldn't let go of was his family, especially his two sons.
Neither of his two sons were smart, and they weren't even considered masters of defense, so he didn't dare to push them forward.
In this troubled world, if you have no ability and still want to occupy a high position and power, it is really no different from seeking death.
Having been in the officialdom for so many years, Tao Qian was well aware of this truth, so he chose to entrust Xuzhou to Su Fan only after communicating with Su Fan and conducting an in-depth investigation of Su Fan's character.
He believed that the latter also understood what he meant.
"Zhicai, Fengxiao, on my trip to Xiapi, you two will come with me and take a look at the Chen family. I heard that Chen Deng and Chen Yuanlong of the Chen family are quite extraordinary. He is the son of the Chen family's Qilin."
"It seems that the lord admires him very much?"
Xi Zhicai laughed when he heard this.
Su Fan shook his head: "This man may have some intelligence, but as far as I know, he is too selfish, or he values his family too much. He can be used but cannot be reused."
This world is also about family, country, and world. Family comes first and country comes after.
However, not everyone is like this. People like Xun Yu and others are also from first-class families. Although they also value their family, after joining Su Fan, they regard Su Fan's place as the overall situation.
Of course, taking care of the family is also an easy thing.
They are not too selfish, which is why Su Fan values Xun Yu and the others the most. As for Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai, they have no family, Xi Zhicai is completely a commoner, and although Guo Jia is said to be from the Guo family of Yingchuan, he is a commoner.
Therefore, they were loyal to Su Fan and the East China Sea Territory, and regarded the East China Sea Territory as their own.
Not to mention the military generals, most of the military generals are not from a very high background.
What they thought was very simple, that is, to secure more territory for Su Fan, grant him the title of general, and then revitalize the family.
Throughout history, Chen Deng was definitely capable. It can be said that he was not bad in domestic affairs and military affairs. Even if he was not as good as Xun Yu and others, he was still considered first-rate.
However, he was never able to get into Cao Cao's core because he was too selfish.
Cao Cao's ability to recognize people is not bad.
He's just a bit of a slut.
Su Fan's words made Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai suddenly understand that they would have a way to deal with Chen in the future.
They also understood that Chen was unable to enter the core of the East China Sea Territory.
...
Go to the Chen family in Xiapi.
Chen Gui went to the governor's office and voluntarily resigned from his position as chief governor. When he returned home, he recruited his sons.
Then he looked at his four sons and said expressionlessly: "For my father, step back from the position of chief historian!"
"What? Father, you..."
The eldest son Chen Hua was shocked when he heard this. He was the governor of Xu. He was the person closest to Tao Qian, and he was in charge of the army for Tao Qian. His power was second only to Tao Qian.
This position is very heavy.
"Yuanlong, what do you think?"
Chen Gui glanced at his eldest son, shook his head secretly, and then looked at the second eldest son, Chen Deng, who was also his legitimate son.
He has great expectations for Chen Deng.
And Chen Deng did not disappoint him. After a moment of silence, he said slowly: "My father resigned from Changshi, but in order to reassure Tao Shijun, he also reassured Suzhou Mu."
"That's right! We all underestimated this Suzhou Mu. We didn't expect that he was hiding in the East China Sea. We originally thought he didn't have much ambition, but we didn't expect that he was indeed a hidden dragon with hidden origins."
Chen Gui sighed with emotion. The battle of Pengcheng naturally attracted the attention of all the major families in Xuzhou.
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