Thief Emperor

Chapter 162 The war begins!
After staying in Yuezhou for three days and drinking with Su Sheng, Li Yun returned to Shan County with twenty scouts and some horses.

After arriving in Shan County, the first thing he did was to call Li Zheng and ask Li Zheng to follow these scouts and learn all their skills.

In the future, Li Zheng will be responsible for setting up scout camps or some intelligence agencies.

Li Zheng has always known that he came from a self-taught background, and now he has more and more people under him, and he is also very anxious. Therefore, after Li Yun said this, he immediately took it seriously and started to hang out with these scouts.

Li Yun himself spent several days writing a document, and then sent someone to invite the county magistrate Zhuo Guangrui in.

During the few days that Li Yun was away, County Magistrate Zhuo was very sensible and stayed in Shan County honestly without interfering in any of Shan County's affairs.

He didn't even return to the county government office to live, but lived in a house in the county town, which he bought when he was the county magistrate.

Self-knowledge is a very rare skill. No matter who you are, as long as you know yourself, you will generally not commit suicide easily.

After Li Yun asked someone to invite him, County Magistrate Zhuo quickly came to the county government office. After seeing Li Yun, he bowed and saluted: "General Li."

Li Yun motioned him to sit down, then smiled and said, "How is Magistrate Zhuo preparing?"

"The 25,000 strings of cash have been moved to the county town."

"It can be sent to General Li anytime."

Li Yun sighed and said, "He is really rich and powerful."

You know, when Li Yun kidnapped the uncle and nephew of the Gu family, he only asked for five thousand strings of money, and these five thousand strings of money had already made the Gu family feel a little painful.

"Not deep pockets."

County Magistrate Zhuo smiled bitterly and said, "It is necessary to spend this money. If this matter is not resolved, the Zhuo family's property will be nothing but a dream."

At this point, he sighed and said, "It was because I was afraid of death that I committed this sin."

In fact, he felt a little aggrieved.

At that time, Qiu Dian rebelled because he had a conflict with the officials when they were building the city wall. However, he was not responsible for this matter at all. By the time he reacted, Qiu Dian had already led people into the city and killed people everywhere.

If he hadn't run fast, he would have been dead by now.

If he had stayed in Shan County and died in office, the court would not only not hold his family accountable, but would also issue an imperial decree to reward him. However, if he ran away like this, he would be committing a serious crime.

Li Yun smiled faintly: "Zhuo County Magistrate is a wise man."

He pointed to a few papers on the table and said, "This is the document I wrote these two days. County Magistrate Zhuo, please take a look and see if you are satisfied. If you are, then we can have a happy cooperation."

County Magistrate Zhuo stood up quickly, picked up the document written by Li Yun with both hands, took a glance at it, and said, "General Li's handwriting has a unique flavor."

Li Yun in another world is considered a half calligraphy enthusiast, but he writes with a hard pen and is not very proficient in using a brush. After coming here, he practiced for a while, but his style has not changed and the strokes are still very hard.

It's a bit like iron painting and silver hook.

Li Yun lowered his head and drank tea without responding.

Only then did County Magistrate Zhuo read it carefully.

Li Yun's document roughly described the situation in Shan County, but it was not written according to Zhuo Guangrui's ideas. The document only wrote that after Wang's army arrived in Shan County, they received some help from Zhuo Guangrui. Only after they broke into the city did they know that he was the magistrate of Shan County.

This document is different from the one written by County Magistrate Zhuo in that in the former, he himself was the leading figure, while in this document written by Li Yun, Li Yun is naturally the leading figure.

After reading it, Magistrate Zhuo took a deep breath, looked up at Li Yun, and murmured, "General Li, if I report it like this, my life and property may be saved, but I will most likely lose my position."

Mr. Li smiled dumbly: "At this moment, County Magistrate Zhuo is still thinking about this seventh-rank official position?"

He looked at County Magistrate Zhuo and said calmly, "I can send this document to General Su, and have him report it to the court. It will be much more useful than if I send it directly."

There are so many officials in the world, and everyone has to submit documents to the court. The court is extremely busy, so even if many local officials report to the court, the court will not see it.

Maybe he was thrown into a corner by some minor official in the Government Affairs Hall.

As an official of Su Jing's level, and a general leading the troops, the documents he handed in would definitely be seen by the prime minister in the Council of State Affairs, and would most likely be sent to the emperor.

Zhuo Guangrui lowered his head, and after a long while, he gritted his teeth and said, "In that case, thank you very much, General Li!"

"Zhuo immediately asked someone to deliver the money to General Li. I wonder if it should be sent to the county government or to General Li's family?"

"Send it to the military camp."

Li Yun stood up and yawned. "It's not very useful for me to have money. This money can let the king's army have more meat, prepare more arrows and armor, and put down the rebellion in Yuezhou sooner."

He looked at Zhuo Guangrui and said with a smile: "This can also be regarded as the credit of County Magistrate Zhuo."

Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Zhuo stood in awe, then bowed to Li Yun and said sternly, "I am judging others by my own standards."

"Can't talk about it."

Mr. Li said, "Since Magistrate Zhuo has returned to Shan County, he should go back to the county office and handle Shan County's affairs temporarily. I come from a rough background and I am not good at handling these matters."

"How can this be possible?" Magistrate Zhuo waved his hands quickly: "Zhuo is a criminal..."

"Isn't it true that you are not guilty yet?"

Li Yun smiled and said, "Let's wait until the court decides what to do. How about that?"

Li Yun really didn't have the energy to deal with the affairs of the county government. It's not that he didn't know how to try and judge cases. Besides trying cases, the county government also had a lot of messy things to do, which was very exhausting.

Li Yun's intended destination was not Shan County, so there was no need to seize the power of Shan County by force, so he simply handed it over to Zhuo Guangrui.

Zhuo Guangrui thought about it, took a step back and bowed.

"In this case, I'd better obey your command respectfully."

Li Yun thought for a moment and added, "Zhuo Zhixian, the Yuezhou Rebellion started from Shan County. In the final analysis, it was the Shan County government that abused the people and caused the unrest. I have been in Shan County all this time. I hope you will treat the people well and not cause any more trouble. Don't even think about making back the tens of thousands of strings of money from the people, otherwise..."

"Don't blame Li for turning against you."

County Magistrate Zhuo bowed his head deeply and said, "I'm willing to sacrifice my life to save my family, how can I ask for anything else?"

"If Zhuo has ever abused the people, I would rather die by General Li's sword."

Li Yun said "hmm".

"I've made note of what Magistrate Zhuo said."

………………

Turning a corner, another half a month has passed. It is July now and the weather is getting hotter day by day.

Although there were a few rains in Jiangnan Road, they were just a drop in the bucket. They had no other effect except making the air more humid and hot.

The severe drought in the Central Plains continues.

If it hasn't rained by now, it means that by this autumn, most places in the Central Plains will face a total harvest failure.

The court will have to collect taxes in the second half of the year, and at that time there will definitely be even larger-scale chaos.

At this time, General Su of Jiangnan Road had been attacking Yuezhou for nearly twenty days, and Yuezhou City was already on the verge of collapse.

Zhao Cheng, who was in Qiantang, could no longer hold back, or could no longer bear the pressure, and opened the city gate in mid-July.

General Zhao, holding a spear and wearing silver armor, fought his way out of Qiantang City.

Outside the city was guarded by Deputy General Jiang Yan. In terms of military strength of both sides, Zhao Cheng had a slight advantage, with more than 10,000 men, while Jiang Yan's troops were less than 8,000.

Zhao Cheng's troops were the elite main force of the rebels, and their combat effectiveness was also strong. The two sides fought outside Qiantang City for four or five days. Jiang Yan was defeated and retreated towards Yuezhou.

General Su Jingsu outside Yuezhou City attacked Yuezhou mainly to fight the reinforcements coming to rescue him. Now he began to organize his troops and sent a large number of troops to fight Zhao Cheng.

The battlefield spread out between Qiantang and Yuezhou, and the entire battlefield stretched for dozens of miles.

At this time, Su Jing was stationed in the central army and commanded with confidence.

However, Zhao Cheng lacked the ability to command long-term, multi-threaded operations, and for a while he was unable to focus on one thing while focusing on another.

In many places, the army has been relying entirely on its generals to command the battles alone.

At this time, Li Yun, who was still training and stationed in Shan County, received an order from General Su.

When Chen Da hurriedly handed the order to Li Yun, Li was practicing shooting with his bare chest, covered in sweat, as if he had just been washed.

After hearing Chen Da's voice, he threw the spear to the ground and asked, "What's the matter?"

Chen Dazheng looked at the trembling gun handle, and after coming to his senses, he shook his head and said, "Boss, it was a direct order given to you. I didn't dare to read it."

Li Yun picked up the clothes beside him and wiped the sweat off his face. Then he took the order, unfolded it and took a look at it, then frowned.

Chen Da asked, "Boss, what does the general want us to do?"

Li Yun did not answer, but just said: "Go and call everyone here to prepare for the meeting."

After Chen Da turned around and ran away, Li Yun looked at the order with a frown.

"Order me to cut off Zhao Cheng's retreat back to Qiantang? Prevent him from retreating back to Qiantang?"

"Even if he returns with only a few remnants of his army, how can I resist him?"

Thinking of this, Li Yun's brows suddenly relaxed and he muttered to himself.

"I wonder how many people Zhao Cheng has left in Qiantang County..."

　I'm stuck, so I just finished it now, sorry sorry!!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)