Thief Emperor

Chapter 192 Li Zhao put on a mask!
At present, there is absolutely no way to clean up the Central Plains battlefield with Su Jing’s troops alone.

After all, although Su Jing could be regarded as a famous general of the time, he was not yet at the level of being able to defy the heavens. In addition, he was constrained by the imperial court, so there were many things he could not do freely.

As for the imperial guards near the capital, they had no way to move.

This is not a question of considering the situation, but a question of considering the problem from the perspective of people.

Because anyone who has served as an official in the court for a period of time knows that the current emperor is an extremely selfish emperor and an extremely insecure emperor.

Because of this, he would never use the imperial guards easily.

Firstly, they were worried that after the imperial guards were dispatched, the defenses near the capital would be left unattended, and the military governors of the border areas would take advantage of the situation and invade.

The more important concern is that if the imperial guards are defeated by the rebels in the Central Plains, the situation will become even more out of control.

The military governors and border troops in various places will immediately discover the weakness of the imperial court. At that time, the imperial court's orders may not be issued, and they will immediately fall into a situation of local autonomy.

At this time, only the border troops could be mobilized.

The border troops' combat effectiveness is far superior to that of the rebels. As long as the border troops enter the battlefield, they will be able to disperse these rebels in one or two years.

But the problem is that the Zhou Dynasty court has reached this point, and in the end it may be easier to invite the gods than to send them away!
General Su closed his eyes, took a long breath, and then said, "Sheng'er."

Su Sheng lowered his head quickly: "The child is here!"

"I told you to write."

General Su said slowly: "Write a letter to the court to explain the situation in the Central Plains."

"Tell the court that we can only advance slowly from the east to the west to prevent the rebels from escaping to the east. As for the west and north, where the rebels are numerous, we can only rely on the court to send more troops."

"If we can encircle them from all sides, we only need to win one battle against the rebels, and then the troops will surround them and the rebels will disperse. If the rebels occupy Luoyang and entrench themselves in Henan Prefecture, it will take at least one or two years or even a long time to form a situation of encirclement and suppression."

"I hope the court will make a decision soon."

Su Jing took a deep breath and said, "Otherwise, things will get even more out of control."

Su Sheng looked up at his father, scratched his head, and whispered, "Dad, it seems that we shouldn't say such things..."

"Who should say it then?"

General Su glanced at his son and said in a deep voice, "Are you counting on the Council of State and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to tell His Majesty?"

"Don't be so long-winded. Just write down what I say. At times like this, you must be responsible. If you are timid, you won't get anything done."

"If you anger the emperor, the worst that can happen is that you and I will go back to our hometown and farm."

Seeing that his old father was angry, Su Sheng didn't dare to say anything more. He could only lower his head and write a memorial to the court according to his old father's orders.

The situation in the Central Plains fell into a stalemate.

…………

On the other side, in Yuezhou City, after dealing with government affairs for a few days, Mr. Li felt that he could not continue like this.

It's not that he was incapable of handling these political affairs. In fact, governing was not as difficult as he imagined. It was just a matter of nodding and shaking his head. He had some experience in this area in his previous life. After looking through some of the original documents of Yuezhou, he realized that handling them was not as difficult as he imagined.

It can even be said that he is very familiar with it.

What really worries him is the financial problem.

Now, he still has about 40,000 strings of cash in his account. If you include the money and grain from the Ten Kings Mountain, it would be at most 50,000 strings of cash, plus several hundred or thousands of stones of grain.

If the grain promised by Zheng Wei can be distributed in full, this number can still increase.

But, that’s all.

In the past month, all the expenses have amounted to several thousand strings of cash, plus Li Yun is preparing to expand the army, build barracks, and resume production.

He made a rough estimate these days and found that the existing money and grain, if added together, would only be enough for a little over a year if the original number of people remained unchanged.

However, if Li wants to continue expanding, the time may be shorter.

Maybe by the second half of next year, Mr. Li’s Yuezhou Group will have financial problems!

"We can't continue like this!"

After settling the accounts, Li's eyes turned red, and his eyes were full of ferocity.

If you don't become a householder, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are.

In the past, he could live a good life by doing some robbing, stealing things, and extorting old friends of the Gu family. But now he suddenly starts to be the manager of such a big family, which makes Li feel a lot of pressure.

He suddenly slammed the table and said this, which startled Liu Bo, who was helping to handle official business. Liu Bo put down the book in his hand, looked up at Li Yun, and scratched his head: "Second brother, what's wrong with you?"

Li Yun stood up, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Laojiu, you deal with these messy things here. I have to go out for something."

Liu Bo was stunned and asked, "Where are you going, second brother?"

Li Yun stood up and strode outside.

"Make money!"

……

Two days later, in an empty house in Yuezhou City, Li Yun looked at Deng Yang in front of him, then looked at the nearly 100 people behind Deng Yang, and nodded with satisfaction. He patted Deng Yang on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Very efficient."

Deng Yang bowed his head slightly and said, "According to the general's order, we are all old members of our former anti-theft team, waiting for the general's orders."

The three words "anti-bandit team" sound nice, but in fact, the one hundred people in front of them were all bandits who had been defeated by Li Yun in the past and followed Li Yun to fight bandits.

So is Deng Yang.

Ever since Deng Yang was given an important position, these people have been vaguely surrounding Deng Yang.

Li Yun looked at these people and said with a smile: "Brothers, most of you have become officers now, right? Among you, is there anyone who is not a captain?"

Only two or three people raised their hands.

Li Yun waved at the two or three people and said with a smile: "Come on, come on, come forward."

The three men came to the front in a carefree manner, two men in their thirties and a boy of about sixteen or seventeen.

Li Yun smiled and asked, "Everyone has become the captain, why aren't you three the captains yet?"

The man grinned, showing his teeth: "Fight."

"drink wine."

The other man answered.

The young man lowered his head in embarrassment and said, "Fighting..."

Mr. Li said, "We are a team of anti-theft people. Fighting is not a common thing. How come you didn't become the captain because of fighting?"

Deng Yang, who was standing by, finally couldn't help coughing and said, "General, the three of them should add the word 'often' before what they said..."

Li Yun was stunned, then he smiled silently.

"So you are three troublemakers. Be careful or I will expel you and send you back to the mountains."

Upon hearing this, the three men's faces changed. They simply knelt down in front of Li Yun and begged for mercy.

Although these people were originally bandits, most of them did not have an easy life. For some at the bottom of society, whether they could have enough food depended entirely on the "market conditions".

After following Li Yun, they could earn money, eat meat, and have many brothers who would live and die together. More importantly, many of them had become official soldiers of the imperial court.

Naturally, the three of them didn't want to leave, and were unwilling to do so.

"Okay, just kidding."

Li Yun reached out and helped the three people up. Then he looked at everyone, narrowed his eyes, and said softly: "You all came from the anti-theft team, and now you are all officers. Some of you are already captains, managing a lot of people. In the future, there will be plenty of opportunities to be promoted to brigade commanders and lieutenants."

At this point, Li Yun paused and continued, "But I asked Deng Yang to invite you here today because I want you to follow me and do some of my old business."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Is there anyone willing to work with me?"

When everyone heard this, they all looked excited.

Even Deng Yang immediately became interested and asked, "General, what's your job? Take us to suppress the bandits?"

Li Yun shook his head and said with a smile: "It's still a little bit of the old business ahead."

Deng Yang was stunned and asked, "Is it... robbery?"

Mr. Li touched his chin, thought for a moment, and then nodded, "That's about right."

Deng Yang scratched his head: "But, aren't we already the government troops of Yuezhou?"

"We are not robbing in Yuezhou."

Li Yun patted his shoulder, looked at everyone, and said with a smile: "Speak to me whether you will go with me or not!"

Everyone said in unison, "Yes, yes!"

"it is good!"

Li Yun took out a black mask from his arms, held it in his hand, and said with a smile: "Today, I will take you to do something big!"

It is already difficult to make a fortune through conventional means, but since the world has become chaotic, Li Yun does not have to follow the rules of the court.

What are the highly profitable businesses in this era?

Three words!
Salt, copper and iron!
And there is a salt field in Xiangshan County, Mingzhou, near Yuezhou!

Li Yun put the mask on his face and held a mace in his hand. He finally transformed from Yuezhou Sima Li Zhao into the leader of Cangshan Village, Li Yun.

He waved his hand and said in a deep voice.

"From today on, our name will be..."

"Hexi thief!"

"set off!"

(End of this chapter)