Thief Emperor

Chapter 124 Famous General
After leaving Xuanzhou, Li Yun did not go anywhere else and went straight back to Tianmu Mountain because he was worried that something might happen in Tianmu Mountain.

Fortunately, there was no response from Yuezhou. When Li Yun returned to Tianmu Mountain, everything was fine. Li Yun first arranged for everyone to evacuate Tianmu Mountain and return to Xuanzhou. At the same time, he called Deng Yang, one of the captains of the anti-theft team, into a separate room.

Deng Yang clasped his fists and saluted Li Yun: "Captain, what do you want from me?"

Li Yun motioned him to sit down, then asked with a smile: "How did you become a bandit in the first place?"

"My uncle took me to the mountain."

Deng Yang replied: "There was no food at home, so my mother asked me to follow my uncle. My uncle was from the village, so he took me into the village."

Li Yun thought for a moment and continued to ask, "What about your uncle?"

"died."

Deng Yang looked at Li Yun, still without any emotion: "But he didn't die at the hands of the anti-theft team. He died before you guys came."

Having said this, Deng Yang did not continue.

Li Yun looked at him and said, "I will take them away from Tianmu Mountain and return to Xuanzhou now. The court will send people down soon. By then, the entire anti-theft team will become the court's army and have a legitimate identity."

At this point, Mr. Li paused and continued, "But I want to keep you in Tianmu Mountain."

Deng Yang thought for a moment and asked, "Is it because Tianmu Mountain is so important?"

"Yes."

Li Yun nodded and said, "You are now the captain of a team. I will give you four or five more teams, and you will be their captain."

"You guys will stay in Tianmu Mountain and continue to be stationed in the Tianmu Mountain Stronghold. I can leave all the food and property in the Tianmu Mountain Stronghold to you."

"I need you to stay here."

Deng Yang looked at Li Yun for a long while before he spoke: "Captain... aren't you afraid that I will run away with them?"

"If he runs away, I'll just think that I made a mistake."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Let's go our separate ways."

Seeing Deng Yang remained silent, Li Yun continued, "Don't worry, although the twenty or thirty of you can't be enlisted in the army, I will still give you a proper identity after the Yuezhou incident is over. At that time, it's up to you whether you return to the army or become civilians."

"it is good."

Li Yun wanted to say more when he heard Deng Yang say, "Captain, I am willing to take them to stay in Tianmu Mountain."

He looked at Li Yun and said, "But, Captain, I have been around Tianmu Mountain for a few days. Every place in this big camp that can be defended needs manpower. If those people from Yuezhou come back and bring another 300 people, we will have only 20 or 30 people and will have no choice but to abandon the camp and flee."

"But don't worry, Captain."

Deng Yang patted his chest and said, "They can't occupy this village forever. We all grew up in the mountains and can hide in the mountains. When they leave, we will continue to occupy the Tianmu Mountain Village for the captain."

Deng Yang clenched his fist and said, "If there are less than a hundred people coming, I will lead people to fight them."

As he spoke, he took a deep breath and continued, "The village is not stable. Captain, please move all the food in the village away and leave us with enough food for thirty people for one month."

"Money, I need to leave more for you."

Li Yun nodded with a smile and said, "Don't worry, I left people in Tianmu Mountain not to let you go as a surprise force, but to help me occupy this village."

"This is an excellent base. It may be of great use in the future."

Tianmu Mountain is located at the junction of Ningguo and Qiantang County, and the mountain is quite high. For a normal army, it may not be surprising, but for Li Yun and his gang of bandits, it is an excellent stronghold.

Once Qiantang County was also captured, when General Zhao expanded towards Xuanzhou, Tianmu Mountain would become a nail between Xuanzhou and Qiantang County.

More importantly, once Li Yun, or the forces under his command, are threatened and have no way to continue cooperating with the government, Tianmu Mountain will become their retreat, or at least a temporary base for them to move to other places.

Deng Yang clasped his fists and said, "Captain, there is no need to explain. Since you trust me, I will definitely occupy this village for you!"

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Okay, I believe you."

"Another point, you are not bandits anymore. You should control your subordinates in Tianmu Mountain and behave yourself."

"Yes!"

…………

After arranging the matters in Tianmu Mountain, Li Yun left Tianmu Mountain with a group of his subordinates.

At this time, because there were only 20 to 30 people left on the mountain, he only had about 150 people under his command. The group left Tianmu Mountain and began to retreat to Xuanzhou. When they passed by Touao Village, the villagers took the few eggs left in their homes and forced them on Li Yun. Li Yun refused to take them, and several elderly people simply knelt on the ground.

Some women forced things into the hands of the anti-theft team members, making these bandits who used to roam the mountains and fields helpless.

Some of the bandits, who were almost forty years old, were so excited that they danced with joy and didn't know what to do.

The surviving village chief of Touao Village found the leader Li Yun, and without saying a word, he knelt down and kowtowed to Li Yun several times.

"You have avenged our Tou'ao Village. You will be Tou'ao's benefactor forever!"

Li Yun helped him up and shook his head, saying, "We are a bandit-hunting team formed by the government. It is our duty to suppress bandits. But we are late. Please get up quickly, old man."

The old village chief looked up at Li Yun and sighed, "I know you are from the anti-theft team. The military officer surnamed Chen has already said so. But Captain Li, you have a Qingyang accent. You are from Xuanzhou's anti-theft team."

"We are no longer in Xuanzhou."

As he spoke, he pulled Li Yun's sleeve and said, "Captain Li, there are still more than ten or twenty young and strong people in our village. If you are short of manpower, I will let them all follow you. It can be regarded as repaying your kindness."

Li Yun was silent for a while, then sighed: "Father-in-law, if it were in the past, I would have agreed, but there are too few people in Touao now, let them stay and reproduce."

Upon hearing this, the old man also looked gloomy. He held Li Yun's hand and talked for a long time before letting the anti-theft team leave Touao Village.

After walking out of Touao, some captains who were already familiar with Li Yun walked behind Li Yun, scratched their heads and said, "I have done bad things for half my life, and now I am suddenly doing good things. It feels really weird."

Li Yun smiled and glanced at him.

“It’s good to remember this feeling.”

As he spoke, he looked forward and said, "Let's go back to Xuanzhou!"

After arriving in Xuanzhou, the group did not go to the closer Xuanzhou City, but took a detour to Qingyang County. It took them three or four days to finally get back to Qingyang County. Li Yun took more than a hundred people directly into the city and spent a lot of effort to arrange accommodation for them.

After arranging these people, Li Yun took He Gang to Qingyang County Government alone and met County Magistrate Xue, whom he had not seen for some time.

After seeing Li Yun, Master Xue was also relieved. He looked at He Gang who was being held by Li Yun and asked, "What is this?"

"Noble man."

Li Yun grinned and said, "What a rare noble man."

Master Xue frowned: "Why are you talking so illogically?"

Li Yun escorted He Gang, who looked aggrieved, to the wing room of the county government office, and asked Chen Da to bring people to watch him. Then he returned to Mr. Xue and said with a smile: "County Master, this is the brother-in-law of the Yuezhou rebel Qiu Dian."

"This is the person that Governor Cui has always dreamed of."

Magistrate Xue was stunned for a moment, then he understood and sighed: "Then... for Governor Cui, he is indeed a noble man."

He paused and looked at Li Yun: "You asked Chen Da to bring back a letter saying that Qingyang no longer needed to recruit soldiers. What did you mean?"

This time the conscription was an imperial decree, so Xue Song was naturally prepared to carry out the imperial order meticulously.

"Qingyang only recruited about two or three hundred soldiers. My anti-theft team now has more than a hundred people. Cui Shao agreed that the anti-theft team would use Qingyang's list and join the rebellion suppression army."

"Here in Qingyang, just recruit a few more casually."

"By the way, County Master."

Li Yun asked, "I heard from Cui Shao last time that the military commander from the imperial court will be coming soon. When will he arrive in Xuanzhou?"

"We are already on the way. It may take five days at the shortest and ten days at the longest. It's just..."

Master Xue looked at Li Yun and said, "At that time, at most, the new recruits will be asked to meet him at the designated place. They will not come to Xuanzhou, let alone Qingyang."

"Of course I understand that."

Li Yun pondered for a moment and asked, "What is the name of this marching commander?"

"My surname is Su, and my name is Su Jing."

Mr. Xue looked at Li Yun and added.

"A famous general who has been unemployed for many years."

(End of this chapter)