Thief Emperor

Chapter 202: The Sound of Firecrackers
Through Meng Qing's brief words, although Li Yun had never met his new boss, he had some initial impressions of him.

Yuezhou had just been in turmoil, and in everyone's opinion, it was definitely unsafe at this time. Moreover, it was almost the end of the year, so even Li Yun ran to Qingyang to celebrate the New Year with the Xue family.

Normally, officials in the court must celebrate the New Year at home and wait until the beginning of spring, at least after the Lantern Festival, before they set out to take up their posts. If they travel by sedan chair, they should normally arrive in Yuezhou in March or even April of the next year.

However, this new governor arrived in Yuezhou before the New Year.

If we calculate the time, he should have just received the appointment document and set out from the capital.

This matter was originally very strange, but after hearing that Du Qian was very young, Li Yun didn't find it strange anymore.

Most young people are still full of energy and tend to be idealists.

"I know the thing."

Thinking of this, Li Yun looked at Meng Qing, patted the young man on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "You boy, you seem to have grown a lot taller."

Meng Qing lowered his head and chuckled.

Li Yun remembered something and asked, "Have your elders in Hexi Village contacted you?"

Meng Qing shook his head and said honestly: "I haven't been contacted."

Li Yun touched his chin, thought for a while, then said with a smile: "Yes, the contact is most likely to be with Meng Hai. If you can contact them, please tell them for me that if they have any difficulties, they can seek refuge in Yuezhou."

"I will protect them."

Meng Qing first looked up at Li Yun, then shook his head and said, "You are an official of the court now, we can't cause you any more trouble."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Just do whatever I tell you to do."

Meng Qing lowered his head and replied yes.

"The New Year is just a few days away. Don't rush back to Yuezhou these days. Follow me in Qingyang and you can run errands for me."

Meng Qing was overjoyed and nodded quickly: "Yes!"

Among the young men in Hexi, only Meng Hai, who is two or three years older than him, is currently working for Li Yun. Most of the work he does is just running errands, which makes Meng Qing quite envious.

Now, Li Yun finally agreed to let him do something, and the young man was very excited.

After all, the change in Hexi Village was caused by the conflict between his family and the head of the village. Later, the situation deteriorated again and again, to the point that only one in ten of the hundreds of households in the entire village of Hexi Village remains.

This incident made Meng Qing feel extremely guilty. He wanted to do something for Hexi Village. But for him now, what he could do was to help Li Yun as much as possible to repay Li Yun for taking them in.

"All right."

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Wait for me in front, I will take you back to where I live later."

Meng Qing nodded his head.

Li Yun had already turned around and was about to go back to his seat to eat, but suddenly he remembered something and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"

Meng Qing lowered his head, hesitated for a moment, and finally shook his head.

"Wait here."

Li Yun walked back to the back hall, found the Xue family's servant, and asked him to serve a large bowl of rice and a bowl of vegetables. He personally carried them to Meng Qing, handed them to Meng Qing, and said with a smile: "There is a family banquet in the back, it is not convenient for you to eat with us. I guess you will not feel comfortable if you go. You can take the rice to the front and eat. I will find you after I am done."

Meng Qing reached out to take it and almost burst into tears.

It was not just because of this meal, but mainly because of Li Yun's unintentional and approachable concern, coupled with Li Yun's kindness to Hexi Village, which deeply touched his heart.

After taking the food, he quickly turned his head away so that Li Yun would not see his red eyes.

"I...I'm going to eat."

He took the food and ran away in a hurry, not daring to look back at Li Yun.

It was also at this moment that this young man, who was not even fourteen years old, made up his mind to follow General Li for the rest of his life and repay General Li's kindness.

At this moment, Li Yun certainly didn't think so much. In his eyes, Meng Qing was still a child, and a somewhat pitiful child.

After finishing the child's meal, Li Yun returned to his seat, sat down again, and said with a smile: "There is something going on in Yuezhou."

"I apologize for the delay."

He is now the new son-in-law of the Xue family, so naturally no one said much. Mr. Xue just looked at him thoughtfully, but did not say anything.

The meal continued.

After dinner, Li Yun was about to go talk to Miss Xue when he was pulled into the study by Mr. Xue.

"Tell me what happened in Yuezhou."

Xue Song had no interest in Yuezhou's affairs. In fact, at this moment, he had no interest in officialdom, let alone power.

However, he knew Li Yun's "background" and was worried that something might happen in Yuezhou that Li Yun would not be able to handle. With his many years of experience as an official, he could now give Li Yun some guidance.

Li Yun did not hide anything and told the whole story, then he said with a smile: "I originally thought that my superior would not arrive in Yuezhou until next spring or even early summer, but I didn't expect him to come so early. It seems that he is a governor who wants to do something."

"The surname is Du..."

Mr. Xue pondered for a while and said, "This person should be the son of an official in the capital. There is no prime minister with the surname Du, but the Minister of Rites seems to have the surname Du."

Although he was in the officialdom, he was only a relatively grassroots official after all. He mainly heard about the affairs in the court and his memory was not very accurate.

But even so, he is much more well-informed than Li Yun.

Mr. Xue mentioned the Minister of Rites, then looked at Li Yun and reminded him, "When you go back, don't use force or violence. Follow the rules of the court. As long as you respect and praise this official son, there shouldn't be any conflict with you."

Li Yun smiled and nodded: "Father-in-law, I have always followed the rules and of course I will not use force or violence against my superior."

Master Xue glanced at Li Yun, his eyes full of undisguised doubt. "It's only a few days before the Chinese New Year. Since your superior is here, do you want to go back to Yuezhou and meet him?"

"Otherwise, even if Envoy Du doesn't say it, he will blame you in his heart for neglecting your superiors."

Li Yun shook his head: "There's no rush to go back and see him. Let's wait until after the New Year. Not to mention the governor, even if he's the prime minister, he can't stop people from getting married, right?"

Master Xue thought about it and nodded slightly. He didn't say anything more, but sighed silently: "I'm only a governor in my twenties. I've been an official for so many years, and I really don't know where I've ended up."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Isn't it because father-in-law is not sociable? If he were more sociable, he wouldn't still be a county magistrate."

Mr. Xue groaned.

"Well, it's getting late, you should go back too."

He seemed to be a little angry because of what he just said, so he said in a stronger tone: "You are not allowed to stay in the county government office any longer."

Thus, Li Yun's attempt to have a secret meeting with Miss Xue at night failed.

Mr. Li smiled silently, looked at the stingy old man in front of him, clasped his fists and said, "Then father-in-law, please go to bed early. I will go back first."

"Go! Go! Go."

Master Xue waved his hand and said, "You are a man with your own ideas. You can handle Yuezhou's affairs on your own. But there is one thing I want to remind you of."

"Please enlighten me, father-in-law."

"You... need to change your mindset."

Xue Song raised his head, looked into the eyes of his son-in-law, and spoke word by word.

"No matter what you want to do, the tricks used in the mountain villages will never work in Yuezhou."

Li Yun has also noticed this problem, and he is consciously changing his thinking mode and work style little by little.

However, most of the people under his command are originally bandits, and this transformation cannot be accomplished overnight.

But we still have to keep going.

To transform from being the "chief" of a mountain village, to becoming the backbone, the absolute core, and even in the future, to becoming the "lord"!
"I'll take note of what my father-in-law said."

Li Yun lowered his head slightly, clasped his fists and left.

After leaving the study, he did not stay in the county government office for long, but returned to his residence in Qingyang to rest.

In the blink of an eye, a few days passed and it was the New Year's Day of the fourth year of Xian De.

Since the marriage has been arranged, Li Yun will naturally spend this New Year's Day with the Xue family.

At this time, Jiangnan West Road and Jiangnan East Road had not yet been affected by the war in the Central Plains, and the New Year Festival in Qingyang was still quite lively. On the first day of the New Year, Li Yun took Miss Xue hand in hand and walked on the road, and the sounds of laughter and play could be heard everywhere.

Suddenly, a familiar crackling sound caught Li Yun's attention.

He looked back and heard bursts of firecrackers ringing in his ears.

But they were not firecrackers made of gunpowder, but real firecrackers, hollow bamboo sections that exploded when burned by fire, making crackling sounds.

Li Yun stared at the burnt bamboo in the child's hand, lost in thought.

Miss Xue, who was standing by, followed his gaze and blinked: "Have you never seen firecrackers?"

Li Yun came back to his senses and said with a smile: "I have seen it before, but I have never seen firecrackers like this."

"Isn't that what firecrackers are?"

Miss Xue felt very strange and asked, "What other firecrackers are there?"

"Wait two years, and I'll show you how to make it. Then you'll know that kind of firecrackers are much louder than this kind of firecrackers."

Li Yun's tone was relaxed, but his mind was already filled with a thousand thoughts.

Obviously, gunpowder was not popular in the Zhou Dynasty.

But can gunpowder change or determine the outcome of a war?
I'm afraid it won't work.

At least not primitive gunpowder.

Moreover, the development of gunpowder weapons is also a long process. It is not suitable for the current situation of sudden changes in the world. At most, it can be used as an auxiliary.

Cold weapons are still the main theme on the battlefield.

Thinking of this, Li Yun looked up at the sky.

At this time, it was already the fifth year of Xian De.

It has been a year and a half since Li Yun became "Li Yun".

This is also his third year in this new world.

Li Yun was lost in thought for a while, then looked down at Miss Xue's hand, and said with a smile, "I recently got a nice book. Would you like to come over to my place and read it later?"

Miss Xue blinked: "What book?"

“It’s a very exciting book about two villains fighting each other.”

Miss Xue seemed to understand something, lowered her head slightly and blushed.

"Okay... I'll go check it out with you later..."

(End of this chapter)