Thief Emperor

Chapter 169 They volunteered!

Suppose, suppose this is a relatively reliable world, a relatively stable and relatively healthy court.

Li Yun would never be so radical.

Because by doing this he violated the rules of the operation of the state apparatus and was likely to attract the iron fist of the state apparatus.

But now, he does it without any burden.

Even Qiu Dian and his men could not suppress the local armies of the imperial court. Now, it can be said that fires are breaking out everywhere. This corrupt empire is already aging.

The state apparatus can hardly function normally.

In addition, Jiangnan Road is in chaos. Now, at least at the local level, the county magistrate is better off taking charge!
Not to mention a third-rank official, even if it was a royal prince, Li Yun would dare to offend him as long as it was in his interests.

Moreover, Li Yun is not alone now, he also has a backer, and the backer is not small! Just in the current Jiangnan East and West Roads, it can even be said that he has the biggest backer!

The fate of the Zheng family really scared the families in Qiantang City. In the next two or three days, people from these families waited at the door of Li Yun's residence day and night, hoping to meet Li Yun to clear up the misunderstanding.

On the evening of the third day, Li Yun once again held a banquet in the yamen and invited the heads of these families to attend the meal.

This time, their attitude was completely different from last time.

Gao Zheng, the most cowardly head of the Gao family, knelt on the ground and kowtowed when he saw Li Yun again.

Fortunately, Li Yun was quick to support his arm and gently held him with one hand, so he could no longer kneel down. Li frowned and asked, "What is Master Gao doing?"

"Don't dare, don't dare."

Gao Zheng stood up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowed to Li Yun and said, "I was disrespectful to General Li last time. After I went back these few days, I felt very guilty and couldn't sleep all night, so I must apologize to General Li in person."

Li Yun curled his lips and ignored him. Instead, he glanced at everyone and said calmly, "I know that many of you have blamed me for the Zheng family's affairs. I want to explain this matter, but I'm afraid you won't believe it. Let's sit down first and talk while we eat."

Mr. Li sat down on his own, and waited until everyone was seated before he slowly said, "Yes, the Zheng family had some unpleasantness with me, and that night their house was burned down by thieves. Few people in the family escaped."

"But you can also think about it from another angle. Maybe the rebels hiding in the city also knew that the Zheng family and I had a conflict, so they did this and wanted to put the blame on me."

Li Yun looked at everyone and said, "Everyone, does what I said make sense?"

"Yes, that makes perfect sense!"

Ding Jun of the Ding family applauded, with a sincere look on his face: "The traitor is so treacherous. He knows that he has no way to continue to occupy Qiantang, but he still came up with this idea to put the blame on General Li. He deserves death!"

After him, several others echoed him.

Li Yun looked calm and continued, "Whether you believe this statement or not, it has nothing to do with me."

"But there is one thing that Li wants to tell you."

"I sent people to investigate during these three days."

Li Yun said calmly: "In the past two months since the rebels entered the city, all of you here have had some connection with the rebels. You have all had some contact or dealings with them to some extent."

“Some even took the initiative to invite the rebels to dinner and sent gifts.”

Li Yun looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Does this make sense?"

Everyone stood up, looked at each other, and then looked at Li Yun, and said in unison: "General Li, the rebels... the rebels have robbed our property, and we are going to donate it all to the court to be used to suppress the bandits!"

“We don’t want it anymore!”

Others echoed and said, "Yes, I don't want to wait anymore."

Ding Jun bowed his head and pleaded, "General Li, after the rebels entered the city, they burned, killed, looted, and were extremely vicious. We were also afraid, so we pretended to be friendly with them. But we have all received the grace of the country for generations, and our hearts have always been with the Great Zhou!"

Li Yun looked at everyone and frowned, "Do you think I collected all this evidence to take your property?"

After hearing this, several middle-aged men didn't know what Li Yun meant, so they all stood there in silence, not daring to say a word.

I was afraid of saying something wrong and angering this evil star.

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said with a smile: "Everyone's property belongs to whoever it belongs to. As long as you can prove that it belongs to your family, you can take it back."

"but…"

Li Yun looked at everyone and continued, "The country is in danger now. The general is suppressing bandits and rebellions, and the war is also hard. I hope that everyone can be generous and take the initiative to donate money and materials. I will escort them to Yuezhou and hand them over to General Su on the front line."

The family heads looked at each other, and without hesitation, they nodded and agreed, saying, "General Li, just ask for as much as you want. For the sake of the imperial court to suppress the rebellion, we will do our best to give it to you."

"Since this is a fundraising campaign, it's not about how much I want, but it depends on your willingness."

Li Yun thought for a moment and said, "Oh, I also want livestock like pigs, cows, and sheep. I'll take as many as I can get in the next few days."

"When the time comes, I will report your contributions in detail to the general. When the general submits the documents to the court, the suspicion of your collusion with the traitors will naturally be dispelled."

He clapped his hands and smiled, "What do you think?"

"I am willing to wait, I am willing to wait!"

A bunch of former powerful family heads raised their hands one after another, ready to spend money to avoid disaster, fearing that Li Yun would say "You can go back now" again.

Mr. Li smiled and said, "There's no rush for this. Today we're mainly here to treat you all to a meal. We'll talk about the rest after we finish eating." Then he clapped his hands and said, "Serve the food."

Meng Hai outside the door responded, and soon the dishes were served.

This meal was a great time for both host and guest.

………………

Three days later, in the government office's study, Li Zheng placed a bill in front of Li Yun, and said with a "tsk tsk" sound, "Second brother, these rich families are so damn rich. After being plundered by the rebels, they are still so rich! Rich as hell!"

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "The rebels at most ate and drank them. Zhao Cheng left in a hurry, and leaving the city meant fighting. It was unrealistic to take away too much property."

At this point, Li Yun paused and asked, "How much?"

"There are hundreds of thousands of coins in cash!"

"There are even more other things, such as pigs, cattle, and sheep, countless in number. Add them all together, I'm afraid they are worth tens of thousands of coins!"

Li Yun thought about it and said, "We'll keep half of the cash and 10% of the pigs, cattle, and sheep to be slaughtered for the brothers to eat."

Li Zheng blinked, looked at Li Yun, scratched his head and said, "Second brother, where are the rest?"

"I will take him to Yuezhou tomorrow and hand him over to General Su."

Li Zheng exclaimed, reached out and touched Li Yun's forehead, and asked, "Second brother, you have been a soldier and you have become stupid, and you still want to give me money on your own initiative?"

Li Yun glanced at him and shook his head slightly: "You, you are still short-sighted."

"The Zheng family is gone for no reason, and so many families in the city are giving us money. Do you think you can just pat your stomach and eat it?"

"wishful thinking."

Li Yun stood up and said in a muffled voice: "If we don't do this from beginning to end, there will be endless troubles later. Now we can only raise the flag and let the old general take the blame for us."

"These treasures must be given away, otherwise we will have to spend them in the mountains even if we survive."

Almost every family in Qiantang City has a background. Li Yun is only a seventh-rank military officer and may not be able to do his job well, so he cannot handle this matter.

If he insisted on resisting, he would have to become a bandit again.

Li Zheng didn't understand why, but he nodded and said, "Then I'll go prepare a carriage for my second brother."

"Ah."

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said, "I'm not in Qiantang. You and Uncle San should lead the army well and don't let them go out and cause trouble."

"Don't worry, second brother."

Li Zheng smiled and said, "Keep the mission accomplished!"

………………

The next day, Li Yun drove more than 20 vehicles and left Qiantang, heading towards Yuezhou.

Most of these cars contained livestock and other things, and only two of them were loaded with valuables.

After walking for several days, they finally arrived at Yuezhou Camp. Li Yun called Su Sheng and said with a smile, "Major General, I brought a gift for the general."

When Su Sheng saw these animals, his eyes lit up. He patted Li Yun on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Good boy!"

"I'll take you to see my father."

Li Yun nodded and followed Su Sheng. Soon he met General Su smoothly.

At this time, General Su's troops were also resting, and Su Jing had some free time. When Li Yun walked in, General Su was flipping through a thin book.

Li Yun clasped his fists and saluted: "I greet the general!"

Su Jing first motioned Li Yun to sit down, then said, "I heard that you brought more than 20 vehicles with you. What did you bring?"

"Mainly livestock such as pigs, cattle and sheep."

Li Yun smiled and said, "General, the battle in Yuezhou is not going smoothly. Do you need some meat dishes to boost morale?"

Su Jing was silent for a while, then nodded silently: "On behalf of the soldiers, thank you."

"In addition to the livestock, there is also some money, about 70,000 to 80,000 strings of cash, for the general's military pay."

Su Jing was stunned, then looked at Li Yun and sneered: "It seems that you have made a fortune in Qiantang."

"Heaven and earth, conscience!"

Mr. Li cried out that he was innocent.

"These were all donated voluntarily by the kind-hearted wealthy people in Qiantang!"

(End of this chapter)