Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 696 Young man, broaden your horizons a bit.

Han Zhenchuan is still too young, or perhaps Han Che is dreaming too much.

He wants to negotiate with Zhou Lan now, but will Zhou Lan negotiate with them?
The problem facing Zhou Lan was not how to recapture the four major border towns in the west, but how to defend against the attack of the Great Yue Dynasty while simultaneously conquering the Uriyang Kingdom.

Han Zhenchuan lowered his head, not daring to look at Zhou Lan again, and said in a low voice, "If Aunt needs anything, my Han family is willing to follow your lead!"

Zhou Lan smiled, and Wang Yunqiao next to her also smiled.

"Heh, you'll follow my lead without question?"

"Was this your idea or your father's idea?"

Han Zhenchuan stammered, "It was my dad's idea!"

"Heh, your dad's still so brainless!" Zhou Lan sneered.

Han Zhenchuan was even more embarrassed. He wanted to refute Zhou Lan, but he didn't know how to say it.

Seeing his expression, Zhou Lan softened her tone slightly and asked, "Tell me first what methods you have to help us retake Anxi Town and Wusi Town!"

Han Zhenchuan's expression shifted, and he quickly said, "The Sun family wants to establish their own power with an army, but many generals in Anxi Town and Wusi Town are unwilling to follow the Sun family in doing foolish things!"

“My father has already contacted six military commanders. As long as my aunt is willing, they will immediately pledge allegiance to the new dynasty and can drive the Sun family out of Anxi Town at any time!”

Zhou Lan's expression remained unchanged. "What are the conditions?"

“One Duke and five Marquises, all of whom hold hereditary titles!” Han Zhenchuan said.

Zhou Lan laughed, "You wish!"

Do you think the new dynasty of Da'an is surnamed Han?

"You think so too?"

Han Zhenchuan ignored Zhou Lan's sarcasm and said, "No, I know this request is too unrealistic. I think one marquis and five earls would be enough!"

Zhou Lan looked at him, seemingly lost in thought.

How old is your father?

"I'm fifty-eight this year!"

“He’s getting old!” Zhou Lan said.

She was ten years older than Han Che, but she could casually say that Han Che was old.

Because she is a congenital martial artist, while Han Che is not.

Zhou Lan added, "You've probably stayed in this remote place for too long, and you've lost track of what the world is all about!"

What she said was not a lie at all, but the absolute truth.

The western border towns are far from the capital, making the transmission of news extremely inconvenient. In the past, when there were post roads connecting to the imperial court, many messages could be sent over. However, since the chaos that ensued, the post roads have long been abandoned, and the post stations along the way have all been closed. If you want to know any news, you can only send someone to inquire.

It can be said that the western border towns were at least three months behind in receiving the news, and the information they received was not comprehensive.

Zhou Lan ignored Han Zhenchuan and turned to Wang Yunqiao, saying, "Spread the word that the soldiers of Suzhou Town and Tingzhou Town have rendered meritorious service in resisting the Great Yue Dynasty. After the Great Yue Dynasty is defeated, I, the general, will personally petition the court for their merits and rewards. They can be granted the titles of four second-class earls, which will be hereditary!"

"They also sent someone to Anxi Town to deliver a message to the Sun family, telling Sun Yunbo that he must send troops to conquer the Great Yue Dynasty within a month. If he can defeat the Great Yue Dynasty, the Sun family's marquisate can be preserved. If he does not comply, he will be considered a traitor, and his family will be exterminated!"

"Damn it, do you think I'm some kind of pushover? You think anyone can come and negotiate with me like that!"

She originally wanted to delay a little longer to see how many capable people were still available in the four border towns, but now she couldn't care less about that.

The army of the Uriyang Kingdom is located north of Longbei Town, and she needs to deal with the Uriyang Kingdom first.

However, we cannot relax our efforts in the four western garrisons. The situation in Sichuan and Chongqing should not be too serious, as the Taiping Army is in Sichuan and Chongqing, and the Yunling Garrison has a large army in Tibet. Guo Ying should be able to stabilize the situation there.

However, she has to rely on herself in Longxi. She is currently hampered by a lack of troops, but that doesn't mean she is completely helpless.

Four second-class earls would be enough to make the generals of Suzhou and Tingzhou fight tooth and nail.

As for the Sun family, Zhou Lan wanted to see if Sun Yunbo's head was full of mush!
Upon hearing Zhou Lan's words, Han Zhenchuan's expression changed drastically. "Aunt!"

Zhou Lan gave him a cold look. "You're quite smart, but you're too young. Didn't your father tell you that the world now belongs to the Yang family?"

"By the way, your father probably doesn't understand what the Yang family represents. Hmph, go back and tell him to stop daydreaming and to stay put!"

If others don't understand the Yang family, how could Zhou Lan not understand them?

She may not know how powerful the Yang family is now, but she is very clear that the Yang family now has the confidence to contend for the throne.

She was previously the garrison commander of Beiyuan Town, and under her command were Song Dashan, Yang Chengze, Yang Chengxu, and Yang Mingzhen. She also had Wang Yunqiao and Song Hao by her side, as well as many other members of the Yang family.

Leaving aside other matters, let's just talk about Wang Yunqiao and Song Hao. Wang Yunqiao is now nearly fifty years old, and her cultivation has already reached the Innate Realm.

Song Hao has also entered the Innate Realm.

Just by looking at Wang Yunqiao and Song Hao, one can guess that the Yang family now has quite a few innate martial artists.

What's most terrifying about the Yang family now isn't how much territory they occupy or how many soldiers they have, but how many innate martial artists they possess.

One innate martial artist cannot influence the course of the world, but what about ten?

Twenty?

Thirty?

Dozens of innate martial artists united together are enough to dominate the world.

The key is not how many innate martial artists there are, but how many innate martial artists can be gathered together. The reason why Da Rong was in such a passive situation before was because Emperor Yanping's reckless actions caused the morale of the court to drop, and from nobles to civil officials, from innate martial artists to martial arts forces, everyone broke away from the control of the imperial power.

As a result, after Emperor Jianxing ascended the throne, he was no longer able to win over those innate martial artists.

Do people like An Yuxing and Zhang Luan really have no feelings for Da Rong?

No, they all have deep feelings for Da Rong, but they are unable to serve Da Rong.

Back then, Da Rong was a quagmire; anyone who went in would get covered in mud and couldn't do anything.

Therefore, An Yuxing, Zhang Luan, and others had no choice but to leave Darong.

If they don't leave Darong, and if Emperor Jianxing is willing to trust them, then they can still support the Darong empire.

Emperor Chengping once relied on a group of innate martial artists to control the court, but unfortunately Emperor Jianxing, Chen Zhaojun, did not have Emperor Chengping's ability and ultimately failed to win over those innate martial artists.

Now the Yang family can do it, and Yang Zhengshan can do it too.

Yang Zhengshan had a vast network of connections, high prestige, and the stronghold of Chongshan Town and Liaodong, which enabled the Yang family to rule the world.

Neither Sun Yunbo nor Han Che understood these things; they were still using the same methods they had used to deal with Da Rong to deal with the new Da An dynasty.

This makes them look a bit silly.

Compared to them, Guo Ying was much more shrewd. After learning that the Qu family had sided with the Yang family, Guo Ying understood that the gap between the Guo family and the Yang family was too great, and the Guo family was simply not qualified to compete with the Yang family for the world.

Therefore, Guo Ying boldly chose to join the Yang family, giving up control of Yunling Town, and went to Sichuan to take over the Taiping Army, while also sending his family to the capital.

Han Zhenchuan stared blankly at Zhou Lan. This was completely different from his plan before he came. He thought Zhou Lan would happily accept the surrender of the Han family, but it turned out that Zhou Lan didn't care about the surrender of the Han family at all.

He could even sense that Zhou Lan still looked down on his Han family.

This made him very anxious.

"aunt!"

With a thud, he knelt down directly in front of Zhou Lan.

"Shut up! This is the military. There is no aunt here. There is only Zhou Lan, the Left Commander of the Central Military Commission and the General Who Conquers the North!" Zhou Lan said coldly.

"see a visitor out!"

Wang Yunqiao stepped forward and said, "Please!"

"General, wait, I have something else to say!" Han Zhenchuan said hurriedly.

At this moment, he had lost all composure; only anxiety and panic remained.

Wang Yunqiao glanced at Zhou Lan, and seeing Zhou Lan's cold face, she stopped being polite, reached out and grabbed Han Zhenchuan by the collar, dragging him out of the tent.

"I can walk by myself, General, General, I can walk by myself!" Han Zhenchuan was dragged out of the tent and came to his senses. He stopped calling for Zhou Lan and instead begged Wang Yunqiao for mercy.

Wang Yunqiao let go of him and helped him stand up.

"We've known about your little schemes for a long time. After all, you're not the only ones who've come to surrender!"

"Oh, you're still too young!"

"Young man, broaden your horizons a bit, don't just focus on this little patch of land to the west!"

Perhaps because Han Zhenchuan was handsome, or perhaps because Wang Yunqiao thought Han Zhenchuan wasn't too bad, Wang Yunqiao even gave Han Zhenchuan a few pointers.

Han Zhenchuan stood up and gave an awkward laugh.

"Thank you for your guidance, General. May I ask your honorable name?"

Wang Yunqiao looked at him with a gentle smile, "You don't even know me?"

"Uh!" Han Zhenchuan was stunned again.

"Then you are truly ignorant!" Wang Yunqiao said with a smile.

At this moment, Wang Yunqiao was dressed in full iron armor, exuding a remarkable aura.

She wasn't saying this because she thought she was so famous, but because since Han Zhenchuan was here, shouldn't he at least find out who was with Zhou Lan?
If intelligence gathering is inadequate, then actions will naturally lack structure and method.

"I have followed General Zhou for thirty years. My master is Yang Zhengshan."

"Yang Zhengshan!" Han Zhenchuan wasn't so ignorant as to not know Yang Zhengshan.

He stared at Wang Yunqiao with his mouth agape in astonishment.

He truly hadn't expected that the woman in front of him was actually Yang Zhengshan's disciple.

"You're quite clever. I'll give you a couple more pointers! Go back and have a good talk with your father. You only have one chance now: persuade the Sun family to surrender to the new dynasty. That way, your Han family can be saved. Otherwise, your Han family will die along with the Sun family!"

After saying that, Wang Yunqiao left with a faint smile.

A moment later, Wang Yunqiao dispatched squads of scouts to relay Zhou Lan's words to all sides.

The four second-class earls were like carrots, dangled in front of donkeys by Zhou Lan, enticing the generals of Suzhou and Tingzhou to work even harder to resist the attack of the Great Yue Dynasty.

Previously, Zhou Lan only talked about rewarding merit, drawing a pie in the sky that no one knew if it was real or not. Now, Zhou Lan has added a few more strokes to this pie, drawing meat on it, which has increased its allure several times over.

Those generals who still wanted to defect to Da'an had to perform their best.

As for whether they wanted to dominate a region, of course they did, but they didn't have the strength to do so, so they could only surrender to the new Da'an dynasty.

(End of this chapter)