Thief Emperor

Chapter 183 A bold move
After chatting with General Su Jingsu for a while and making some promises, Li Yun happily left General Su's residence with the documents.

At night, he was dragged by Major General Su Sheng to have a big drink. Both of them were drunk and confused, and then they went back to their respective residences.

On the next morning, when Li Yun was feeling groggy, he remembered that the army was about to set out. He quickly changed into military clothes and went to see them off.

The sun was already high in the sky and it was really late. Fortunately, it would take some time for an army of more than 20,000 to march away. Li Yun, Li Zheng, Zhou Liang and others managed to catch up with General Su and went to see them off.

After escorting the army for twenty or thirty miles, Li Yun finally said goodbye to Major General Su Sheng on horseback by clasping his fists. Then the three of them rode on their horses and watched the army disappear from their sight bit by bit.

When the army finally disappeared from sight, Li Zheng's tone was already filled with excitement that could not be concealed.

"Second brother, this Yuezhou..."

He clenched his fists and said in a trembling voice: "Is it us who have the final say?"

Zhou Liang, who was standing by, coughed and corrected him, "It is the village chief who has the final say."

Li Yun smiled, not nitpicking, and said with a smile: "The new governor of Yuezhou, the deputy governor and other officials will have to wait until the beginning of next spring to come. We have the final say in these few months."

"If we do a good job in the next few months, when the officials from the imperial court arrive, we will still have the final say in Yuezhou."

At this point, Li Yun turned his horse's head, facing the direction of Yuezhou, and said in a deep voice: "Let's go back to Yuezhou to discuss matters!"

…………

In Yuezhou City, Li Yun sat in the main seat. His subordinates like Li Zheng, Liu Bo, Zhou Liang, and more important people like Chen Da were all seated. Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea, sorted out his thoughts, and then said: "Now, Yuezhou is under our management. The most urgent thing is, there are a few things I want to talk to you about."

"The first thing to do is to repair the city wall of Yuezhou."

Yuezhou was besieged by Su Sheng for several months, and catapults were often used to smash the city walls, especially the western city wall, which was now full of potholes and needed repair.

After all, the city is the face of a city.

"You, Lao Jiu, will be responsible for this matter."

At this point, Li Yun paused, looked at Li Zheng, and said, "Li Zheng, take my documents and go to each county to see the situation in each county."

In the past, everyone was a bandit in the village, so there was nothing wrong with calling each other nicknames. But now that they are working in an official capacity, Li Zheng also has his own subordinates, so Li Yun can no longer call him skinny monkey.

At least you can't shout like that when there are a lot of people around.

As a leader, you need to save face for your subordinates and let them establish authority. This way, there will be less work to do and you won’t have to do everything yourself.

"If there is a county magistrate, have him come to Yuezhou to see me. If there is no county magistrate, have the manager of the county government come to see me. If there is nothing..."

Li Yun thought for a while and said, "Report it too. We will send people down to take care of the affairs of each county."

Yuezhou was the first state to fall, and all the counties had been occupied by the rebels. Therefore, theoretically, most of the county magistrates fled, and one even died at the hands of the rebels.

However, when Su Jing besieged Yuezhou City later, all the county towns had been restored. Now some county towns have county magistrates, while some do not.

Liu Bo scratched his head and said, "Second brother, even if a county magistrate comes to Yuezhou, will he listen to us?"

Li Yun sneered: "If they don't listen, there are naturally ways to make them listen."

Now, Li Yun’s goal is to govern Yuezhou as soon as possible.

Only when Yuezhou is well governed, prosperous and strong can it provide Li Yun with more nourishment and allow him to support more people.

However, it is not an easy task to govern a state well. You should know that Yuezhou alone, including the state seat, has six counties, and each county is not small.

The people of one state add up to more than 100,000 households!

Such a large territory and so many people are a huge test for Li Yun, who previously only managed a few villages and a few hundred people.

At the same time, it is also an excellent exercise opportunity!

If he can manage Yuezhou well, he will be able to manage a larger territory in the future.

Mr. Li took a deep breath and said, "It's settled. Li Zheng, you will leave tomorrow and take 200 people to visit the counties. If there is chaos in the area, leave some people there to maintain order."

"There are those who are disobedient and take advantage of the chaos to cause trouble."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Catch him and send him to the state, and treat him as a traitor!"

This is where Li Yun's confidence comes from now. He has soldiers in his hands and the documents left by General Su. In the entire Yuezhou territory, no one who makes trouble for him dares to oppose him.

Once a traitor’s hat is put on you, no one can get rid of it!

It can be said that whoever he calls a traitor is a traitor. This also applies to the county magistrates. Anyone who does not follow Li Yun's orders can be arrested on this charge, without even having to report to the court, let alone impeachment.

This kind of arbitrary power is far beyond the reach of local officials such as the Beijia and the Inspector General!
After arranging matters in each county, Li Yun looked at Zhou Liang again and said, "The third thing is to restore the order in Yuezhou City. Chen Da, I'll leave this matter to you. Take the brothers to patrol Yuezhou City for a while and restore the order in the city."

"If anyone causes trouble, just take them to jail and I'll handle it."

Chen Dalian nodded quickly and said, "Yes!"

"The gates of Yuezhou need to be guarded by our people. In addition, those scattered rebels may cause trouble at any time, so we cannot underestimate them. Uncle San, you should pay attention to this matter. If you find a large-scale rebel group, report to me."

"I'll take care of it myself."

Zhou Liang bowed his head deeply: "Yes!"

"One last thing."

Li Yun said slowly: "Post notices throughout Yuezhou, saying that the court has reduced Yuezhou's taxes and levies. From now on, until the fifth year of Xian De, which is the end of next year, the court will not ask the people for a penny or a grain of food. If local officials, village heads, and village chiefs ask for money from the people again, they can come directly to Yuezhou City to report to me."

"We will deal with them one by one, and will not let them off easily!"

When these words came out, everyone was stunned. They all looked at Li Yun. Liu Bo scratched his head and whispered: "Second brother, has the court reduced the tax and grain?"

"No."

Mr. Li stood up, stretched, and said, "Yuezhou has such a big mess, and a large number of people have left."

“If we don’t post notices like this, how can those who have fled come back?”

"As for the imperial court's money and grain..."

Li Yun stroked his chin and said, "It is definitely impossible to collect taxes this year. As for next year... Next year, we will tell the court that the rebels are not all gone, the local area is still too chaotic, and we cannot collect taxes."

Liu Bo scratched his head.

"If we do this, it's fine since there are no officials in Yuezhou this year, but when the officials from the imperial court arrive next year, I'm afraid they will all file a petition together to sue you, my second brother."

Li Zheng glanced at Liu Bo and corrected him, "This is called impeachment."

"We'll think about next year's affairs next year, and when next year comes, we'll find a way to deal with it. Now let's post the notice first."

"If the imperial court sends someone to ask about it next year, the worst that can happen is that the rebels posted it in the name of the government. Besides..."

Mr. Li said, "Hey!" and said slowly, "It's hard to say whether the court can take care of Yuezhou next year!"

The chaos in the Central Plains will probably intensify by next year. By next year, it is hard to say whether the imperial court, which is already plagued by all kinds of problems, will be able to know about Yuezhou's affairs, let alone interfere in Yuezhou's affairs.

Moreover, these local officials are not all brainless.

They also knew that the more chaotic the world was, the more they must not offend the generals who held military power. If they angered these generals, their entire family might end up dying if they were not careful.

Today, Yuezhou is in a state of disrepair. If we want to quickly restore Yuezhou to its vitality, we must take drastic measures.

As for other things, put them aside for now.

As Li Yun made the decision, soon, one policy after another came out of his mouth and was written down one by one by the people listening.

When he had almost finished talking, Li Yun stood up and clapped his hands, saying, "These are the main things. Let's get these things done first."

"Everyone, it's not difficult. Just think of Yuezhou as a particularly large village. If we manage this village well, we will have accomplished our mission."

When he said this, everyone else stood up and nodded in agreement.

Li Zheng, Zhou Liang, and Chen Da left one after another to do things according to Li Yun's instructions. Only Liu Bo stayed beside Li Yun and said to him with a smile: "I originally thought that we came to Yuezhou to act arrogantly, but I didn't expect that my second brother came to Yuezhou to act like a great official."

Li Yun stretched his shoulders and said calmly: "The world is getting more and more chaotic. If we don't manage Yuezhou well, we will end up like Qiu Dian."

"and…"

“People know best who is good to them.”

Li Yun turned his head to look at Liu Bo and spoke slowly.

"Only when the people recognize us, can Yuezhou truly be our place of foothold."

(End of this chapter)