Thief Emperor

Chapter 195 Can’t be opened!

Li Yun really needs a trustworthy businessman now.

In addition to doing business according to Li Yun's wishes, this businessman also has a more important task, which is to help Li sell the stolen goods.

And if he can expand his business by selling stolen goods, then in the future, Li's brilliant ideas can be put into practice as soon as possible and he can get rewards as soon as possible.

After much thought, Liu Bo, who has a calmer temperament, is the most suitable candidate.

"Smuggling salt?"

Liu Bo rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "This is easy to do, but I'll just sell the stolen goods, but my second brother still wants me to do some business."

Although Li Yun did not bring Liu Bo with him to rob the salt field, he did not deliberately hide it from him. After a few days, he certainly knew what he should know.

“It’s more than just selling stolen goods.”

Li Yun glanced at him and continued, "It's easy to smuggle salt. You should also learn how to do business. If you can find out some news from the outside world, then find out some news from the outside world."

"We will have more business to do in the future."

Li Yun now has almost no intelligence system.

Within Yuezhou, he also sent out a hundred or so people to various counties, so he was not completely in the dark, but he knew almost nothing about what was happening outside Yuezhou.

The last time I heard news from outside was from the observer Zheng Wei.

With Li Yun's current strength, it is obviously unrealistic and impractical to set up an intelligence agency all over the world.

However, if a caravan is formed to make money while doing business, and at the same time to gather some basic information so that Li Yun can have a more accurate assessment of the world situation, there will be no problem.

Liu Bo scratched his head. Seeing Li Yun's serious expression, he could only nod and say, "Okay, second brother. I'll go and prepare in the next few days."

Li Yun smiled and said, "You don't have to sell the salt for a lot of money. Just make a little profit and spread the knowledge. If someone asks you where the salt comes from, you just need to tell them one sentence."

"There's someone above you."

"Don't say anything else, got it?"

Liu Bo nodded slowly: "I... remember that."

…………

Although Jiangnan Road is not as prosperous as before, it is still relatively safe, and the war in the Central Plains has not spread here.

Moreover, many people from the Central Plains fled to the Jiangnan area.

Therefore, there was not much danger in doing business in Jiangnan Road. After receiving Li Yun's arrangements, Liu Bo began to make active preparations.

However, before Liu Bo had time to leave Yuezhou, Zhu Tong, the governor of Mingzhou, actually arrived in Yuezhou City.

Zhu Tong's arrival did not cause much waves in Yuezhou, and Li Yun did not take the Mingzhou governor seriously.

To put it bluntly, how many soldiers do you have in Mingzhou?

Now, there are only two aspects that can really worry Li Yun. The first one is naturally that the war in the Central Plains has now spread to Jiangnan Road. He is not yet prepared to deal with large-scale troops, and is unlikely to be a match for those rebels at this moment.

The second is that Zhao Cheng, who escaped from Jiangnan Road, returned to "avenge" Qiu Dian.

When Zhao Cheng's men escaped, he still had about 3,000 men under his command. Even if a few months passed and most of them abandoned him, Li Yun would have to be on guard as long as he still had more than a thousand men around him.

However, in this regard, Li Yun not only guarded against Zhao Cheng, but also had some expectations. If Zhao Cheng came back, and he could win Zhao Cheng back for his own use, it would be a great benefit for Li Yun and the entire Yuezhou!

Apart from these two points, everything else is just details.

However, since Zhu Tong had arrived in Yuezhou, Li Yun, the current leader of Yuezhou, naturally could not refuse to receive him. Early that morning, Li Yun personally led people to greet the governor of the neighboring state at the city gate, which was considered to be giving him enough face.

After all, from the perspective of real power, there is no difference between the two now, and there is nothing wrong with Li Yun just sending someone to greet them.

Zhu Tong was a middle-aged man in his early forties, of medium build, but very handsome, with a very beautiful, obviously well-groomed beard.

It can be seen that he was probably a handsome man when he was young.

After the governor Zhu got off the carriage, he saw Li Yun not far away. Li Yun smiled and walked forward, clasped his fists and said, "Li Zhao, the Sima of Yuezhou, greets the governor Zhu."

Zhu Tong looked Li Yun up and down several times, then he bowed his hands lightly and said, "So you are Sima Li. Sima Li is really a young and promising man."

Li Yun turned sideways, made a gesture of invitation, and said with a smile: "I have already prepared a banquet in the city, please come, Envoy Zhu."

"No need."

Zhu Tong looked at Li Yun with a cold face and said in a muffled voice: "I came here to ask Sima Li for advice."

The smile on Li Yun's face faded: "Please speak, sir."

"Someone from your place broke into Xiangshan County, Mingzhou, at night and robbed dozens of salt trucks from Xiangshan County! In total, they stole more than 100,000 kilograms of salt!"

"After these bandits entered Yuezhou from Mingzhou, they disappeared without a trace. This envoy sent people to investigate. The salt was eventually hidden in a manor outside Yuezhou City. It was guarded by the Yuezhou garrison and no one was allowed to approach!"

He looked up at Li Yun and said sternly, "Sima Li, how do you explain this matter?"

Hearing this, Li Yun couldn't help but look at the governor Zhu. Dark, damn dark!

That day, he robbed more than 20 vehicles in total. Each vehicle had only a few hundred kilograms of salt, and at most a little over a thousand kilograms!
Although there is no exact number, Li Yun can be sure that the amount of salt he brought back that day was probably about 10,000 to 20,000 kilograms.

During this era, in areas like Jiangnan Road, which are close to the sea and can boil salt, the price of a pound of salt is only a few dozen coins. In places that do not produce salt, it is possible to sell it for one hundred to two hundred coins.

Therefore, Li Yun estimated that the total amount of money stolen that night, including the property robbed from the salt merchants, was at most a few thousand strings of cash.

But when it came into the mouth of Governor Zhu, ten or twenty thousand kilograms of salt suddenly became more than one hundred thousand kilograms!

Damn it!
Li Yun had already started cursing in his heart.

When I was a bandit in Xuanzhou, I settled accounts for other people. Now that I'm a Sima in Yuezhou, do I have to settle accounts with you?

Then hasn’t my work as Sima been in vain?

Thinking of this, Li Yun's face darkened and he said in a cold voice: "Envoy Zhu, Yuezhou has just experienced a rebellion. There are indeed some rebels hiding in the mountains and fields. Your Mingzhou was robbed of salt. If the bandits really came to Yuezhou and hid, then I should help you find them. I will definitely help you find them."

"Envoy Zhu suddenly came to our door and said that it was our Yuezhou Army who stole your salt!"

"My Yuezhou Army is supported by the imperial court. Why would we steal your salt? If Envoy Zhu doesn't explain clearly today, I will never let you go!"

As soon as Li Yun said this, Li Zheng, who was nearby, stepped forward silently, and dozens of soldiers followed suit, which frightened Zhu Tong. Zhu Tong took a step back, but still refused to lose face, and gritted his teeth and said, "Sima Li, are you going to use force against me?"

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said softly, "What are you talking about, Lord Zhu? Let's talk about the matter at hand. When did we resort to force?"

"Well."

Zhu Tong heaved a sigh of relief and gritted his teeth, saying, "I have already sent people to keep an eye on the manor outside your city where the salt is stored. Sima Li, do you dare to go with me and take a look at the scene?"

At this time, a soldier hurriedly came near Li Zheng and said something. Li Zheng approached Li Yun and whispered, "Second brother, there are dozens of people, nearly a hundred people, who have arrived at the village near Yuezhou Camp."

Li Yun's face changed slightly, and he looked up at Zhu Tong with an uncertain expression.

This scene was seen by Zhu Tong. He sneered and said, "Sima Li, if you don't know about this, you should cooperate with me and catch the thieves in the Yuezhou army as soon as possible. You can also make meritorious contributions while serving your sentence. If you insist on doing so, you will be punished."

"You are also protecting your subordinates. No one in your entire Yuezhou camp can escape responsibility."

Li Yun raised his head and said with all his might, "I don't believe that anyone in my army would go to your Mingzhou to steal salt. Envoy Zhu, please lead the way!"

Zhu Tong sneered: "Don't regret it!"

After saying that, he turned around and got on the carriage.

Li Yun watched his carriage go away, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he said lightly: "Let's go too."

After more than half an hour, everyone finally arrived at a farm near Yuezhou Camp. At this time, Deng Yang was leading his men to confront the government troops from Mingzhou, guarding the farm gate and not letting anyone in.

Deng Yang heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Li Yun. He stepped forward and clasped his fists, saying, "General!"

Li Yun's face was gloomy, and he asked, "What's going on?"

Deng Yang bowed his head quickly and said, "General, these people claim to be Mingzhou's government troops. They said they were here to search for salt thieves and insisted on forcing their way in. I followed your instructions and did not let them in."

Mr. Li had a dark face and shouted, "Get out of the way and let them in!"

Deng Yang hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and then waved his hand to let the Mingzhou government troops in.

Li Yun looked at Zhu Tong and said coldly, "Envoy Zhu, if we can't find anything, we can each submit a petition and have it sorted out in the court!"

Zhu Tong also sneered and said, "If you find evidence, Sima Li should not blame me."

The two men turned their heads, and when Li Yun turned his head, a happy smile appeared on his face.

After more than half an hour, the Mingzhou soldiers finally came out of the farm. One of them was holding a wooden box in his arms. The leading lieutenant bowed to Zhu Tong and said, "Sir, no salt was found, but there were salt grains on the ground. Someone must have moved the salt bags in the farm."

Li Yun sneered and said, "This is the warehouse of Yuezhou Camp. What's wrong with storing some salt here?"

The captain looked at Li Yun and ignored him. He continued to say to Zhu Tong: "This box was hidden in the inner room, a very secret place. I felt that there must be something wrong with it, so I carried it out."

Zhu Tong's face was gloomy, and he shouted: "Then what are you still standing there for? Open the box and take a look!"

Li Yun's face changed drastically, and he quickly said, "You can't open it!"

Zhu Tong shouted again: "Open the box!"

The Mingzhou soldiers did not hesitate any longer and quickly opened the box. Inside the box were sheets of rolled-up wide paper, neatly placed together. There were four or five sheets in total.

Zhu Tong stepped forward, picked up the top one, and looked at it in his hand. Just as he was about to unfold it, he heard Li Yun shout, "You can't open it! That's..."

Envoy Zhu didn't listen to Li Yun at all and unfolded the very detailed map.

The map is a Yuezhou map with several points marked on it, most of which are in the mountains.

There are a few big words written on the top of this map.

Map of where the Yuezhou rebels are hiding.

(End of this chapter)