Thief Emperor

Chapter 107 Recruiting Envoys

If it were in the past, Li Yun would not have been able to do this.

Because the bandit team is expanding, the loyalty of the team needs to be guaranteed. Therefore, Li Yun needs to be cautious every time he recruits people and cannot make any mistakes.

But now it’s different. He has the document from Governor Cui and can expand the bandit-suppression team without restraint.

At most, officials of the imperial court would bring up the fact that he employed bandits, but this was not an uncommon thing in official circles, and he could get away with it by saying it was for the greater good of the imperial court.

All in all, there is nothing wrong with doing this legally, and it is not difficult to put into practice. The real difficulty lies in controlling this surrendered bandit army, making them truly obedient and willing to work for Li Dadu.

Li Yun stood at the head, looking at the people below, and said in a deep voice: "You who have entered the village have blood on your hands to some extent. Follow me to fight the bandits. As long as you can kill a bandit or capture a bandit, you will be rewarded."

"All sins are forgiven."

"I assure you that the government will not pursue your past crimes any further."

"If you make a contribution, you might even get a reward."

Now these bandits are already tied up prisoners. They had no choice in the first place. Now the tough guy who beat them up not only doesn't send them to jail, but also paints a big pie for them. Naturally, no one would disagree.

As a result, everyone shouted loudly, saying that they were willing to follow Li Yun to fight the bandits.

Li Dutou nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "That's great."

"Untie them all."

At Li Yun's command, someone came forward and untied the ropes for these people.

Not counting the families of the bandits, there were more than fifty real bandits in the Qihuzhai. Nearly twenty of them died in one day and one night. Now the bandit leaders have been sent to Shidai County, and the remaining basic members are only a little over twenty people.

When they were tied up, they had to behave themselves, but now that the ropes were loosened, some of them began to look fierce.

Others, however, could not help looking around with their eyes wide open, obviously trying to find an opportunity to escape.

Li Yun looked at these people leisurely and continued to talk about some rules for the future. Suddenly, one of the bandits jumped out and ran directly into the forest.

This is Xianyu Mountain. They have lived here for too long. Once these bandits sneak into Xianyu Mountain, it will be extremely difficult to find them.

Li Yun was prepared. He picked up the spear at hand and threw it with all his strength. The tip of his spear was heavy to begin with, and coupled with his extraordinary strength, the spear pierced into the man's back and almost penetrated him!

The man screamed, fell to the ground, thrashed around a few times, and then lay motionless.

Li Yun went up the mountain, pulled out his spear, wiped the blood off the spear head with a cloth, and continued, "If there are those who don't know what's good for them, whether they want to surrender to another village or try to escape, they will all be dealt with in the same way."

At this point, he looked at everyone and said slowly: "If anyone is not convinced, come forward and fight with Li. If you win, I will let you go!"

These words made everyone present's eyelids twitch.

Li Yun had been killing people everywhere in Qihuzhai for a day and a night. Who would dare to fight him now?

"Since no one has stepped forward, let's just do it this way."

Mr. Li looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "From now on, we will form a team of five. If anyone in the same team runs away!"

"The whole team will be sent to prison and handed over to the authorities for handling!"

"If anyone finds that their companions are about to escape, or are planning to harm them, they can report it to me or to someone above them. As long as the report is verified, I will immediately release the person who reported it!"

After issuing the rules, he turned around and looked at Zhou Liang, saying, "Uncle San, please work hard for a few days and watch over them for me."

"If anyone does anything wrong, kill him immediately."

Zhou Liang nodded first, then thought for a moment, lowered his head and said, “Some of the smart ones will not believe the words of the village chief to absolve him of his guilt, so I’m afraid they will still run away.”

"They run their own way."

Li Yun smiled and said, "If they can run away, it's their ability. If they can't, that's their fate."

"For the next village, let these people charge in the front."

Li Yun said calmly: "If they go to other villages, they won't recognize them as bandits. Then, they will have to fight even if they don't want to."

Zhou Liang had already walked to the side with Li Yun. He looked at the bandits who had calmed down and asked in a low voice, "Captain, if they really did something good, would you really let them go?"

Mr. Li looked into the distance and said with a smile: "There are nearly ten counties in Xuanzhou, and there are countless villages and countless bandits. If we can roll down little by little and crush all the villages in Xuanzhou, then the ones left in the end..."

"They are all people who have rolled in blood. If this group of people are willing to follow us at that time, it will naturally be a good thing."

"If you don't want to follow us, we'll let you go."

At this point, Li Yun stretched his body and said slowly: "Uncle San, you have to be strict with them, but give them food when they should eat and meat when they should eat."

"By then, even if we have finished suppressing the bandits, they will not leave unless we chase them away. This is the way the world is."

Li Dadu curled his lips. "They don't have anywhere else to go."

Zhou Liang lowered his head slightly: "I understand, Village Chief."

Li Yun looked back at him and said with a smile, "I will not participate in the next village. Third Uncle, you and Hu Zi and the others, take these people and our brothers to test the waters."

"If everything goes well, we will follow today's practice. Send the bandit leader to Shidai, and keep the remaining bandits who are willing to surrender. Those who are unwilling will be thrown into the Shidai prison, or directly killed."

Zhou Liang nodded his head first, then looked up at Li Yun and asked, "Village Master, you..."

"I'm going to Shidai."

Mr. Li said slowly, "That guy surnamed Gu has been collecting donations for so long, it's time for him to go and get the money back."

…………

After Li Yun handed over the task of suppressing the bandits to Zhou Liang and Zhang Hu, he took Li Zheng and returned to Shidai County.

When they arrived at Shidai County Office, Li Yun was invited by County Magistrate Zhang to sit in the main hall. After sitting down, County Magistrate Zhang personally poured tea for Li Yun and praised him, "The people below came back and told this county that Li Dutou killed seven or eight bandits by himself. He was really brave and unparalleled."

"It's commonplace. I'm sorry to make you laugh."

After taking a sip of tea, Zhang Xianzun continued, "However, as for the remaining bandits in Qihuzhai, Captain Li is planning to..."

"Of course, we use them to suppress the bandits."

Li Yun sighed and said, "If the government could give me 500 soldiers, I wouldn't have resorted to this desperate measure. Now I don't have enough manpower, so I have to resort to this expedient measure."

County Magistrate Zhang nodded slowly and said, "This is also a method. The state asked Li Dutou to suppress the bandits, but did not provide him with troops, money or food. If he wants to accomplish this, it seems that he has no choice but to take an unconventional approach."

He paused and continued, "During the days that Captain Li was away from Shidai, our county, together with Mr. Gu and other gentry, has been collecting donations for Captain Li to suppress the bandits. Over the past few days, we have collected almost 2,000 strings of cash."

"This money will be handed over to Li Dutou later."

Li Yun looked at County Magistrate Zhang, thought for a moment, and said with a smile, "Your Excellency has worked hard these past few days, so why not keep some for yourself? I only need 1,500 strings of cash."

"This county has already said a few days ago that Captain Li will fully support the bandit fight in Shidai."

County Magistrate Zhang said slowly: "This county will give all the money to Li Dutou. I only hope that Li Dutou can avenge the murder of this county!"

Li Yun rubbed his brows and said helplessly: "County Master, the whereabouts of the Hexi bandits are unknown..."

"Our county has been sending people to investigate. If you have any news, please inform Captain Li immediately."

Li Yun nodded and said with a smile: "In this case, it is my duty to do so."

Zhang Xianzun took a deep breath, stood up and bowed to Li Yun: "Please, Captain!"

Li Yun stood up to return the greeting, looking at the county lord in front of him, feeling helpless.

This young county magistrate had no idea that the Qingyang captain in front of him had a deep connection with the Hexi bandits.

…………

For more than a month afterwards, Li Yun basically kept suppressing bandits in Shidai, and his strategy of using bandits to defeat bandits went extremely smoothly.

In just over a month, the number of "bandit soldiers" under Li Yun had exceeded 100. These people were disrupted and mixed together, and with the system of collective responsibility of five people in a team, no one dared to defect for a long time.

In addition, Li provided them with very generous food and drink, and before they knew it, many of these bandit soldiers had made up their minds to follow Li Yun.

Just as Li Yun was vigorously advancing the bandit suppression campaign, as the weather gradually warmed up, a team of officers and soldiers surrounded a sedan chair and entered Xuanzhou City with gongs and drums.

Xuanzhou Governor Cui Shao came out of the government office to greet him. After seeing the person in the sedan chair, Cui Shao bowed and saluted: "Your humble servant Xuanzhou Cui Shao, I pay my respects to the Recruiting Envoy."

The sedan chair was pushed down, and a middle-aged man stepped down from it. He quickly stepped forward to support Cui Shao, and said with a smile, "You're welcome, you're welcome."

He pulled Cui Shao's sleeve, appearing extremely friendly: "We are not strangers. Before leaving the capital, I even met Prime Minister Cui."

Cui Shao breathed a sigh of relief and asked with a smile, "How is my uncle?"

The envoy nodded and said with a smile: "Prime Minister Cui is in good spirits and in good health."

Having said that, he looked at Cui Shao again.

"Chengzong, what is the current situation of bandits in Xuanzhou?"

"At the beginning of the year, it was pretty bad, but now..."

Governor Cui lowered his head and thought about it, and his expression became a little strange.

"much better."

　I'm recommending a friend's book. If you're interested, you can go and have a look.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)