Thief Emperor

Chapter 206: Paying money!

Yuezhou City, in Cuiyun Tower.

Li Yun invited Envoy Du to sit at the main seat, took up the wine glass, and said with a smile: "I was not in Yuezhou when you took office last time. Please forgive me for my impoliteness."

"Where."

Du Qian had also been sizing up Li Yun. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "I heard from the people at the state government office earlier that Sima Li went back to his hometown to propose marriage. How is the marriage going now?"

"It's going well. It's been settled."

The two clinked their glasses, and Li Yun smiled and said, "We'll get married in May."

"congratulations."

Du Qian drank it all in one gulp with a faint smile on his face, but he was still looking at Li Yun.

"When the time comes, Du will definitely go over to join in the fun."

From the moment they met, he had been keeping an eye on Li Yun, and his gaze would become solemn from time to time.

Although Du Qian is young and a little willful, he is a smart man. Although Li Yun has not been in Yuezhou during this period, Du Qian has already clearly understood who is in charge of Yuezhou.

After he came, the situation remained the same.

Because if it were a normal situation, after he took office as the chief of Yuezhou, the original officials of Yuezhou would definitely show their intention to serve him, at least to test the waters. But up to now...

not a single one.

Even during this period, when he went down to various counties, the heads of the counties only treated him with respect and showed no intention of wanting to join him as the chief constable.

If it were in the past, Du Qian would not care much. He was the governor appointed by the court. In terms of law and power, he was naturally the boss of Yuezhou. With the power granted by the court, these local officials had to cooperate with him no matter what. But now the biggest problem has come.

There is a big problem in the court.

Civil unrest continues in various places, and the rebels in the Central Plains have even captured Luoyang. Does the court have the energy to take care of the local areas now?

The answer is probably no.

It will be difficult to have this ability for at least two or three years.

But if we put aside the power granted by the court, Du Qian is very clear that he is in Yuezhou...far inferior to the tall Sima of Yuezhou in front of him.

"Thank you, Envoy."

Li Yun smiled, poured him more wine, and asked, "Is the envoy married?"

"I am already twenty-five years old."

Du Qian sighed and said, "Of course we are married, but now there is unrest everywhere, so I didn't bring my family to Yuezhou."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It is indeed not peaceful right now, but if the envoy does not bring his family with him, the people of Yuezhou may feel uneasy."

Du Qian looked up at Li Yun and said with a smile: "I have been walking around these days and I have seen that the people of Yuezhou are now very at ease. Sima Li is really very clever. He has quelled the unrest in Yuezhou in just a few months."

He paused and continued, "When I came from the capital, I followed the Pei family's convoy all the way to Qiantang, and stayed in Qiantang County for a few days. The people's livelihood in Qiantang is now..."

“It’s far from recovered.”

"Comparatively speaking, Yuezhou under the rule of Li Sima is much better than Qiantang County."

He smiled and said, "Since I took office as the governor, I have nothing to do."

Li Yun shook his head and said, "The population is far from recovered. Your Excellency is too flattering."

At this point, Li Yun toasted him with another glass of wine and said with a smile, "By the way, do you know Mr. Pei from Qiantang?"

"I recognize it."

Du Qian said honestly, "We are of similar age and live in the same capital. We have known each other since childhood, but after growing up, we don't interact much anymore."

"So..."

Li Yun raised his glass and smiled, "Your Excellency is indeed from the family of Du Shangshu..."

Before Li Yun finished speaking, he was interrupted by Du Qian. He waved his hand and said, "Don't mention it. The affairs of the elders in the family have nothing to do with our generation. Although I was able to become an official because of some family connections, I also passed the imperial examination on my own."

Li Yun praised.

"Your Excellency is amazing."

These were just polite words and Du Qian didn't care at all. After a few drinks, his face turned a little red. He looked up at Li Yun and his tongue became bigger.

"Li... Sima Li, there is something I can't figure out, and I want to ask you for advice."

Li Yun poured him a glass of wine and said with a smile, "Just ask, sir."

"These past few days, I've visited various counties and found that Sima Li has expropriated unclaimed lands and used them as public land for the government. The county governments should not agree to this. Even if they agree, they are pretending to obey but secretly violating the rules. But now, all the counties are actually doing things in accordance with the rules." "I... don't understand."

Du Qian looked up at Li Yun, exhaled a breath of alcohol, and asked, "Why can Sima Li make them do what he said?"

Li Yun thought for a moment, then looked at Du Qian and said with a smile, "Do you really want to hear it, sir?"

"Want to hear it."

Du Qian said seriously: "This skill is very important. If I can also learn this skill, it will be much easier for me to be an official in the future."

Li Yun laughed and said, "All the counties have been ravaged by the rebels. When I arrived in Yuezhou, the counties below didn't even have yamen runners. So in order to make the counties run smoothly, I sent 20 brothers to each county to serve as temporary yamen runners."

“Now, most of the people who run errands in the counties are still them.”

"That's it, that's it."

Du Qian looked up at Li Yun and said with a wry smile, "I may not be able to learn this method. I'm afraid I don't have that many people to use."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Your Excellency has arrived in Yuezhou. Aren't all the soldiers in our Yuezhou camp your subordinates?"

Du Qian stood up shakily and was about to speak when he fell to the ground with a thud, his legs flying in the air.

Li Yun hurried forward and helped him up. He then asked Du Qian's servant Du Laian to come over, help Envoy Du into the car, and then sent him back to the governor's office.

After Du Qian left, Li Yun looked at his receding back, touched his chin, and seemed to be thinking about something.

These young men from aristocratic families are not all as arrogant as Pei Huang and Cui Shao. For example, the newly appointed Envoy Du is much more amiable.

Of course, it could also be because he was very smart and saw through the current situation in Yuezhou, so he maintained harmony with Li Yun.

After watching Du Qian go away, Li Yun called his subordinates and ordered: "The Yuezhou rebels are still hiding in the dark. Now that the envoy has arrived, you must protect the envoy Du well and don't let the rebels take advantage of the opportunity."

This subordinate was Li Yun's old subordinate in the anti-theft team. Now, like Deng Yang, he was also a brigade commander. Hearing this, he bowed his head deeply and saluted with his fists: "Yes!"

…………

On the other side, Du Qian, who was drunk, was helped by Du Laian back to the bedroom in the back hall of the governor's office. Du Laian finally helped Du Qian to the bed. Looking at Du Qian who was already unconscious, he couldn't help but muttered: "It's really strange, young master, you were a big drinker in the capital, weren't you?"

At this point, Du Laian's expression became tense.

"Did that Li drug the young master?"

Thinking of this, he hurried to the door and looked outside to see if there was anyone following him. After finding no movement, he carefully closed the door.

When he looked back again, Du Qian, with a flushed face, had already sat up and was sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze.

Du Laian was startled and almost jumped up: "Sir, you..."

He scratched his head before reacting and heaved a sigh of relief: "I said, Sir, you can't get drunk so easily, it turns out you were just pretending!"

He moved a small stool and sat in front of his master, and asked curiously: "Master, that Li Sima seems quite kind, what happened that scared you so much that you pretended to be drunk?"

Du Qian came back to his senses, glanced at him, then shook his head and sighed: "I tell you, you don't understand."

"Why don't I understand?"

Du Laian said, "If it doesn't work, we can write a letter to the master. The master can dismiss him from his post as the Sima of Yuezhou with just one piece of paper, and then you can recommend an obedient Sima of Yuezhou."

Du Qian looked up, glanced at Du Laian, and said unhappily, "Not to mention that my father works in the Ministry of Rites, and he cannot be dismissed as the Sima of Yuezhou with a piece of paper. Even if he can, once this document arrives, I'm afraid you and I will both lose our heads."

This frightened Du Laian again. He exclaimed, "Does he dare to kill us?"

"This Li Zhao was recommended by General Su... When I met Pei Huang in Qiantang, Pei Huang told me that he was a very powerful person."

"I didn't think much of it at the time."

Mr. Du narrowed his eyes and exhaled a breath of alcohol: "Now it seems that he is really amazing."

Du Laian scratched his head: "I didn't notice it."

"That's because you're stupid. Looking at the entire Great Zhou, is there any Sima in any state who can do the same as him and exempt the land from taxation?"

Confiscating some ownerless land and distributing it to tenants is actually equal distribution of land, but it is not as thorough as before.

"More importantly...more importantly, before he came back, I flipped through some documents from the Yuezhou government office and saw some of the expenses of the Yuezhou Camp. I made a rough estimate..."

"If I'm not mistaken, he, the Sima of Yuezhou..."

At this point, Du Qian's face, which was originally flushed from drinking, turned a little pale.

"I have been paying money to Yuezhou..."

(End of this chapter)