Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

After waiting at the gate of the Du Mansion for a quarter of an hour, the housekeeper Qian Hui finally came out of the gate and said to Su Zhengyang in a friendly manner: "Captain Su, please follow me. Our master is very happy to know that Captain Su is here to visit us."

Su Zhengyang signaled Liu Gangding to hand the gift he had bought to Butler Qian. Butler Qian smiled and said, "Captain Su is so polite. Why do you need to bring any gifts when you come to visit our Du Mansion?"

Su Zhengyang smiled and said, "We still have to be polite."

As they were talking, they walked through the front yard, the middle yard, and came to the reception room in the back yard. Along the way, Su Zhengyang observed that the decoration of the Du Mansion was extremely elegant and luxurious. There were no less than thirty or forty servants serving the Du family in the mansion, which was extremely extravagant.

In the reception room, seeing Su Zhengyang walking in with his head held high, Du Yuxin did not act arrogantly. He stood up and said to Su Zhengyang politely, "Captain Su's visit really makes our Du Mansion proud. In my early years, I met your father once in Jiangbei. I still cannot forget your father's demeanor. Captain Su, you are also very handsome and dignified, and you are worthy of being the son of a general."

Su Zhengyang smiled shyly and said, "Uncle Du, you are really too kind. I didn't expect that you and my father are old acquaintances. I just happen to have something today and I need your help."

Du Yuxin was slightly stunned. He didn't expect that this boy was so shameless and would just take advantage of the opportunity.

After a moment's silence, Du Yuxin said, "Then I will be so generous as to call you Nephew Su. Nephew, if you need any help, just tell me. I will never refuse to help you if I can."

Su Zhengyang got straight to the point and said, "I heard that there is a large training ground two miles west of the county town. It was built by your eldest son, Du Xiaojun."

"I would like to ask you to lend this training ground to the security team temporarily. What do you think?"

Du Yuxin did not agree. Instead, he drank a sip of tea slowly and asked with a sharp look in his eyes: "My dear nephew, forgive me for being frank, but you came to the Sanjiang County Security Corps just to improve your qualifications and gain some experience in leading troops. Why bother? Just stay here for a few years in peace, and when you return to Jiangbei, you can join the regular army."

Su Zhengyang had already thought of his words, and he stared at Du Yuxin with a somewhat sincere look and said, "Uncle Du, to be honest, since my father's death, our Su family's influence in Jiangbei has been much less than before. If it were before, I wouldn't have needed to come to this remote place. I could have led the troops directly after leaving the Military Academy."

"But the present is different from the past. If I don't make some achievements here, I won't have a place in the army when I return to Jiangbei in the future."

Du Yuxin still refused to give in and continued to test him, "Then why are you so concerned about the security team, nephew?"

"To be honest, Uncle Du, I heard that there are several bandits near Sanjiang County, especially a group led by Liu Chengxu on Fengshan Mountain. They constantly robbed the property of passing merchants and caused trouble to the local area. I developed the security team in order to completely wipe out these bandits, so that I can have achievements to show for myself when I return to Jiangbei in the future."

When Liu Chengxu was mentioned, the old fox Du Yuxin's face darkened, and he said in a deep voice: "My dear nephew, what you said is right. Especially this Liu Chengxu, he has robbed the goods of my Du Family Company more than ten times in a row, and has repeatedly killed people. He is simply lawless."

"But this group of bandits is not easy to deal with. I strongly supported the former head of the security group, Wang Er, and gave him money and equipment. However, he led hundreds of people from the security group to the mountains to suppress the bandits. Not only did he fail to hurt Liu Chengxu, but he also lost his life on Fengshan Mountain. Since then, these wealthy merchants in our county have been completely disappointed with the security group."

Su Zhengyang stood up and said in a sonorous and powerful voice: "Please rest assured, Uncle Du, as long as you lend me the training ground, I will definitely train a brand new and highly combat-effective security team to eliminate the banditry for Sanjiang County."

"Uncle Du, when I return to Jiangbei in the future, I won't be able to take these trained security guards with me. They can be added to Brother Du's army, killing two birds with one stone."

Su Zhengyang's words were well-reasoned, three-tenths true and seven-tenths false, and his attitude was extremely sincere, which instantly moved the old fox Du Yuxin.

In his opinion, what Su Zhengyang said made a lot of sense. Once the security corps developed, not only would he have the opportunity to eliminate his biggest worry, but in the future, whether he would add these soldiers to his eldest son's troops, or find a way to use his connections to let his younger son take over the security corps, it would be of great benefit to the Du family.

After weighing the pros and cons, Du Yuxin slammed the table and said, "Great! You are indeed worthy of being the descendant of Lord Su. My dear nephew, since you have such ambitions, I, as your uncle, will naturally support you with all my strength. How about this? Not only will I lend the training ground outside the city to the security team, but I will also donate another 500 yuan to the security team every month for your development."

Su Zhengyang was overjoyed. He didn't expect that there would be an unexpected surprise on this trip. Although five hundred dollars was not a lot, it was better than nothing.

Du Yuxin also calculated very clearly that once Su Zhengyang left in the future, the final control of this well-trained security team would still fall into the hands of the Du family, and all the Du family would have to pay was a few thousand dollars a year and an idle training ground.

The atmosphere between the two sides became more and more harmonious, and they were talking happily. At this time, Du Xiaofeng, the second son of the Du family, walked in from outside, looked at Su Zhengyang in surprise, frowned and shouted: "Why are you in our Du family? Who invited you here?"

Du Yuxin glared at his son and angrily scolded him, "Rebellious son, what's your attitude? Captain Su is a distinguished guest of our Du family. Who are you showing this stinky face to? Get out right now."

Du Xiaofeng looked at his father, but finally didn't dare to say anything more. He snorted coldly and turned away.

Du Yuxin explained, "My dear nephew, our second son is ignorant and has a worse temper than anyone else. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

Su Zhengyang had already achieved the purpose of this trip and was in a good mood. Naturally, he would not argue with this playboy.

Du Yuxin immediately changed the subject, arranged for people to prepare a banquet, and kept Su Zhengyang in his house for dinner.

In fact, the reason why Du Laoer had such a great resentment towards Su Zhengyang was mainly because his father had already smoothed out the relationship to let him be the head of the security team, but who knew that Su Zhengyang was officially appointed at this time, which was like an interference. Of course, the Guo warlords also took into account that the Du family was already very powerful in Sanjiang County, and by the way, they gave face to Su Zhengyang's brother-in-law and gave this position to Su Zhengyang.

After finishing the meal, Su Zhengyang took Liu Gangding away from the Du Mansion. On the way, Liu Gangding looked at the completely different Su Zhengyang and said with emotion: "Young Master, in the past, you only knew how to compete with others in the brothel and make trouble all day long. Now you seem to have become a different person. If the commander knew about this, he would be relieved."