Thief Emperor

Chapter 149: Old Business

Ideally, if Li Yun could have a base, a place where he had the final say on all military and political matters and outsiders could not interfere, he could try to divide the land equally.

Then only land tax was collected, not poll tax.

In this way, not only can people's lives be greatly improved, but output can also be increased.

However... for now, these are still only in the conception stage, and there are too many difficulties to face.

Not to mention whether the imperial court would allow Li Yun to do whatever he wants after arriving in Wuzhou, even if the imperial court did not interfere in Wuzhou's affairs, doing so would completely offend the gentry and the aristocratic families. These people would definitely find ways to collude with outsiders to overthrow Li's "tyranny".

Therefore, as things stand at the moment, these are temporarily unavailable.

It cannot be done because the fist is not big enough and the cause is not legitimate enough.

But, you must always have dreams!
Li Zheng rubbed his eyes, got out of bed, and looked at the lines Li Yun was drawing on the table. After looking at it for a long time, he didn't understand it. He looked outside and said, "Second brother, it's so late, go to bed quickly."

Li Yun looked up at him and said with a smile: "It's a good thing that you woke up. I have something to discuss with you."

Li Zheng stretched and sat down: "Second brother, you say."

"In a few days, we will go to Wuzhou for garrison. We will have an entire state to maneuver."

"General Su allowed me to command two battalions of lieutenants, which will have more than a thousand men. We can select the men tomorrow. I was thinking that since we have reached this scale..."

"Should we call Lao Jiu and the others from Lingyang Mountain to Wuzhou? We will settle down in Wuzhou from now on."

Li Zheng was stunned and asked, "Second brother, are you not going back to Xuanzhou, but to Qingyang?"

"We have to go back, and now we are considering where we can really gain a foothold."

Li Zheng scratched his head and said, "Second brother, I think you are too impatient. We don't know what Wuzhou is like yet. We have to go and see it before we know. I think it's a bit too rash to put all your wealth in Wuzhou now."

"Besides, my second sister-in-law is still in Qingyang, and you still have to go back to Qingyang. Let's go to Wuzhou first and see what the situation is."

"What second sister-in-law?"

Li Yun glared at him and scolded him with a smile: "What nonsense are you talking about?"

"You still want to hide it from me."

Li Zheng curled his lips and said, "When we were in Qingyang, I followed you every day. From time to time, you went to the backyard to see the second sister-in-law. Some of the brothers in the county government said that they saw you holding hands!"

He said sourly: "When you sent your sister-in-law back to Qingyang, we thought you were possessed by a ghost! I didn't expect you to think about it for so long..."

Li Yun was speechless.

These people are really gossipy.

He stood up, blew out the light, walked back to his bed and lay down.

"go to bed!"

Li Zheng rolled his eyes at him, stretched himself, and returned to his bed. He covered himself with the quilt, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

…………

In the next few days, Li Yun took Zhou Liang, Li Zheng and others to select hundreds of new soldiers, most of whom were from Xuanzhou.

Although the dialects of each county and even township in Xuanzhou are different, at least they are understandable. In addition, with fellow villagers gathered together and led by Li Yun, the cohesion will be stronger.

On the fourth day, after selecting the personnel, Li Yun went to the commander's tent to ask for General Su's military order and the key note that could control the local area. Only then did he give the order and let the thousand or so people set off and leave Linshui.

Zhou Liang led them in the front, Li Zheng was in the middle, and Li Yun was walking at the end.

After a thousand people had left Linshui, Li Yun turned around and said goodbye to General Su.

Li was about to leave Linshui, when Major General Su Sheng stepped forward, untied his sword from his waist, handed it to Li Yun, and said, "Brother Li, I see that you are good at archery and long weapons, but you still lack a handy short weapon. This sword is what I got when I was young, and it is quite sharp. Wear it on your waist."

People who really use long weapons on the battlefield often carry a short weapon with them, most of which are short swords or daggers.

After all, if your spear skills are not proficient, someone might get close to you, and once they get close, it will be difficult to use the spear.

Moreover, spears are not easy to carry. Take Li Yun for example, his spear is a big spear, more than ten feet long. It is okay to carry it on the battlefield, but in daily life it can only be placed on the weapon rack.

Having a sword like this is quite practical.

He didn't act pretentiously. After taking the sword, he smiled and asked, "Major General, does this sword have a name?"

Su Sheng was a little embarrassed and said, "It didn't have a name originally. I gave it a name at that time, but it doesn't sound good, so let's not talk about it..."

Li Yun understood, smiled and did not ask any further questions.

When people get a sword as a teenager, they usually give it a rather childish name. This young general was probably one of them, but now he’s too embarrassed to say it.

Li did not act pretentiously. After accepting the three-foot-long sword, he hung it on his waist, clasped his fists towards Su Jing and his son, and said, "General, Major General, goodbye."

Su Jing put his hands behind his back and nodded, saying, "I am already 70% to 80% confident of defeating the rebels. When we meet again next time, it will probably be the time when we will succeed."

Li Yun looked thoughtfully in the direction of Qiantang County City, without asking any further questions, and saluted again with his fists clasped.

"Then I wish the general success soon."

After saying this, Li Yun turned and left.

Seeing Li Yun and his subordinates walking further and further away, Su Sheng said with a smile: "Although Brother Li was born in a small place like Qingyang, he is really heroic and is not inferior to those people from big families." General Su put his hands behind his back and returned to the military tent, frowning: "I don't know why, but I always feel that there is something wrong with this kid."

Su Sheng accompanied his old father all the way back to the commander's tent and said with a smile, "Maybe it's his personality. He doesn't seem like a county head."

After the father and son returned to the general's tent, they sat down one after another. Su Sheng looked at his father and asked, "Dad, how are you going to attack Qiantang next?"

General Su looked at Qiantang County on the map and sighed silently: "That little guy..."

Now that there were no outsiders around, he finally stopped calling Zhao "thief".

After all, it could be said that Zhao Cheng grew up under his care.

Su Sheng whispered, "After what happened to Uncle Zhao's family, he can't help but hold a grudge. There's nothing we can do about it."

"The emperor's mood is unpredictable. Who would have known that he would kill Uncle Zhao's entire family for such a small matter..."

"Okay, shut up."

General Su came back to his senses from his memories, stopped his son, and said in a low voice: "What nonsense are you talking about?"

It is very likely that the court's eyes and ears are everywhere in the army.

General Su paused and continued, "After my army has trained for another month, we will attack Qiantang. They..."

Su Jing sneered: "You can't hold on for long."

………………

Wuzhou is only about 300 kilometers away from Linshui. If the people Li Yun had led earlier walked at their speed, the distance could be covered in five or six days.

But now, he has added a lot of new recruits, and their marching speed cannot keep up, so the speed has slowed down.

Fortunately, Li Yun also needed some time to study the map of Wuzhou. After they finally arrived at Wuzhou, Li Zheng came over to ask about the next move.

"Second brother, shall we go directly to Wuzhou city?"

"What are you going to do in the state capital?"

Li Yun glanced at him and said unhappily, "I told you to read more serious books and maps on weekdays."

Li Zheng scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed, and then continued: "Where are we going?"

"Dongyang County."

Li closed his eyes, and a rough map drawn on a geographical atlas appeared in his mind. Then he said, "That is the border between Wuzhou and Yuezhou. If the enemy of Yuezhou wants to escape from Wuzhou to the south, they will either go from Dongyang or from Wushang, which is a little north of Dongyang."

"We will be stationed in Dongyang and guard against Wushang at the same time."

Li Zheng nodded first, then seeing that there was no one around, he said, "Brother, if the rebels really come to Wuzhou, what should we do?"

"If they all come, there will be no other good solution. We can only stay in the county town or retreat to the state capital. However, seeing that General Su is confident, this should not happen."

"Let's first station in Dongyang and train these 1,000 men."

At this point, he looked at Li Zheng and said, "Hey, Skinny Monkey, have you ever thought that one day we can actually lead a thousand people?"

"No…"

Li Zheng shook his head and murmured, "There are almost thirty Cangshan villages..."

"Our next and most important thing is to make these 1,000 people our own people."

He thought about it for a while and continued, "We will probably reach Dongyang the day after tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Skinny Monkey, go to Dongyang tomorrow and get some money to buy some pigs and sheep."

Li Yun paused and continued, "Buy more to ensure that everyone can eat meat."

If you want to capture a man's heart, you must first capture his stomach.

In this age when having enough food is a luxury, a superior who can allow his subordinates to have a meal of meat from time to time and have a taste of naughty food must be too popular!
Li Zheng felt a little distressed and muttered, "We haven't made any money from this rebellion yet, but the money is just flowing away."

Li Dazhaizhu laughed and scolded: "Having manpower is the biggest source of income!"

"Besides, once we get to Dongyang, we'll naturally have income."

Li Zheng was curious and asked, "What is Second Brother planning to do?"

Li Yun answered calmly.

"Of course, I'll do my old job."

Li Zheng was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed: "Second brother, you still want to snatch..."

"What nonsense?"

Li Yun interrupted him and said seriously.

"We are going to suppress the bandits, suppress the bandits!"

　My friend’s new book, Jin Yong’s martial arts novels, you can take a look if you are interested!!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)