Thief Emperor

Chapter 213 He owes me money!

This short sentence made Li Zheng almost jump up. He slapped Cao Yuan in the face and shouted, "You, what did you say!"

Cao Yuan was slapped in the face and didn't know what he said wrong. He looked at Li Zheng with some grievance. After hesitating for a while, he decided to tell the truth.

"General Zhao said that he would go back to Yuezhou to take a look..."

Li Zheng let out a strange cry of "Ah", turned his head, looked at his subordinates, and shouted: "Quick! Go and inform Sima Li, tell him that Zhao Cheng is near Yuezhou City!"

"I will chase him now and ask Sima Li to send everyone to stop Zhao Cheng!"

After saying that, Li Zheng no longer cared about Cao Yuan. He strode out, found a horse in the farm, and rode the horse to chase in the direction where Zhao Cheng left.

Soon, Yuezhou Camp received Li Zheng's message, but Li Yun only sent out a dozen riders to chase them symbolically, and did not mobilize anyone on a large scale.

In this era, there was no long-distance communication technology, which means that the speed of a running horse was almost equal to the speed of information transmission. In this case, it was impossible to set up checkpoints in advance to intercept, and if the gap in speed between the horses was not too large, the possibility of catching up was not great.

It doesn't take much effort.

Li Zheng led his men and chased them from day till night. Seeing that they were about to run out of Yuezhou border, he reluctantly rode back to Yuezhou camp.

By this time, it was already late at night.

Li Zheng, exhausted, walked all the way to Li Yun's tent. As soon as he entered the tent, he sat down and complained, "Brother, that guy ran too fast. I can't catch up with him!"

This result was within Li Yun's expectations. He just stood up, handed Li Zheng a glass of water, and asked with a smile, "Which direction did he run to?"

"southwest."

Li Zheng took a big gulp of water and took a deep breath before answering, "I chased him all the way to Shan County. When he was about to leave Shan County, I couldn't catch him anymore, so I stopped chasing him."

Li Yun hummed, and said calmly: "Then Zhao Cheng should be in Wuzhou. We stayed in Wuzhou for a while. I wrote to the officials in Wuzhou and asked them to help us see if we can find Zhao Cheng's whereabouts."

Li Zheng could only nod his head. After he heaved a sigh of relief, he asked, "Second brother, although Zhao Cheng ran away, I also captured five or six people today. Have you interrogated them?"

"I didn't judge."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Uncle San interrogated them, and Huzi went to help. It only took half a day, and they answered everything I asked, and were very honest."

Li Zheng couldn't help but shiver.

"Hu Zi didn't know how to control his strength..."

After saying this, he shook his head and did not continue to complain. Instead, he asked, "Did you find out anything?"

Li Yun thought for a moment and replied, "They probably don't know much. We only know that they arrived in the southwest, robbed several wealthy people there, and then found a place to hide, waiting for the right time to start a rebellion."

At this point, Li Yun smiled and said, "There is good news. Zhao Cheng's troops are far less numerous than when he left Yuezhou. Now there are only about 2,000 people left."

He paused and continued, "Maybe, there are not even 2,000 people."

Li Zheng grinned: "This is not surprising. All the people who followed Qiu Dian have dispersed, but now there are still 2,000 people willing to follow him. This shows that Zhao Cheng is really capable."

At this point, he couldn't help but clench his fists and said, "It's a pity that we didn't know he would come to Yuezhou in advance, otherwise if we had caught him, we wouldn't have to worry about the war later."

"I originally thought so, but now think about it, those 2,000 people have experienced war, they have weapons and armor, and with Zhao Cheng restraining them, they can still behave themselves."

"If Zhao Cheng were gone, these people would probably cause even greater unrest."

At this point, Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said softly, "I don't know how long Zhao Cheng has been secretly in Yuezhou. Has he found out anything?"

"Skinny monkey."

Li Zheng had recovered by now, and upon hearing this, he quickly said, "Second brother, tell me."

"Rest for two days, then take two hundred men to garrison in Shan County. Keep a close eye on what's happening in Wuzhou. If anything happens, send someone to report to me immediately."

Li Zheng nodded and said, "Okay!"

Li Yun looked at him and said, "There is one thing you must pay attention to. The county town of Shan County cannot be defended. If you encounter a large number of enemies, do not hesitate and retreat immediately."

"do you understand?"

Li Zheng nodded quickly: "Don't worry, second brother, I understand!"

Li Yun said "hmm", stood up, stretched, and patted Li Zheng on the shoulder.

"Have a good sleep today. There are still many things waiting for us two brothers to do."

Li Zheng took a deep breath.

"With my second brother here, nothing will be difficult."…………

A few more days passed.

The city of Yuezhou was calm and peaceful.

There was no sign of Zhao Cheng at all, and the people in each county were doing their own business, with no sign of unrest.

This was mainly because a riot had just occurred in Yuezhou, which caused the loss of 30% of the population of the entire Yuezhou, and the people no longer wanted to see war.

At the same time, the loss of 30% of the population objectively freed up a large amount of land, allowing the government to redistribute the land, thus objectively alleviating land conflicts.

For ordinary people, if there is no land conflict, there is actually no fundamental conflict. This is the case with the Chinese people. As long as they have food to eat, they are satisfied.

Not to mention, the government took the initiative to exempt the people from taxes for one year, and the people of Yuezhou were already very content.

Outside Yuezhou City, some unrest did occur, but compared with the unrest in Jiangnan Road, the scale was not very large.

On this day, when Li Yun was in the military camp considering whether to hold the first Cuju Competition of Yuezhou Camp, a minor official from the governor's office hurried to the military camp. After seeing Li Yun, he bowed to him and said, "Sima, the envoy asks you to come to the city immediately. There is something important to discuss!"

Li Yun said "Oh" and nodded, "Okay, I'll go into the city early tomorrow morning."

The clerk scratched his head and said, "Sima, the envoy said that this is a very important matter related to the war, please go over immediately."

Li Yun then looked up at the clerk, thought for a moment, and nodded, "I understand. I will go into the city to see the envoy in a moment."

The clerk then nodded in agreement and cautiously retreated.

After pondering for a while in his tent, Li Yun still couldn't make up his mind. After looking at the sky outside, he changed into casual clothes, mounted his horse, and rushed all the way back to Yuezhou City.

After entering Yuezhou City, Li Yun did not delay and went all the way to the governor's office. He successfully called for Envoy Du, who had been working hard during this period.

Li Yun forced a smile on his face and said, "The envoy has summoned me. What do you want me to do?"

Du Qian stood up, asked Li Yun to sit down, and then said, "Didn't Sima Li ask me to contact the nearby states and counties to exchange what we have?"

Mr. Li coughed and corrected, "Sir, I didn't ask you to make the contact. I suggested you to make the contact."

"Oh yes."

Du Qian smiled and said, "Suggestion, suggestion."

He reached out and poured tea for Li Yun, then continued, "Today, I received a letter from a neighboring state asking for help. A riot broke out there, and the county government office has been captured. Now many people are gathering together and preparing to attack the state capital."

Li Yun was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile: "Which state? Why is it so serious?"

"Mingzhou."

Du Qian replied: "Sima should also know that there are many salt fields in Mingzhou, and there are also many officials on the salt road. I guess these officials have always been accustomed to exploiting the people..."

"Sima is aware of the current predicament of the imperial court, and the people of Mingzhou are no longer as tolerant as before."

At this point, Du Qian handed over a letter and said, "This is a letter sent to me by Zhu Tong, the governor of Mingzhou. Sima Li, please take a look."

Li Yun had been preoccupied with Zhao Cheng's affairs these days and had no intention of caring about the affairs of the neighboring state. However, when he heard the word "Mingzhou", a smile appeared on his face.

When he heard the word "Zhu Tong", the smile on his face could no longer be concealed.

After receiving the letter, Li Yun was flipping through it to check it out when Du Qian, who was standing beside him, slowly said, "The riot in Mingzhou this time seems to have started from a few salt fields. But now, each state is busy with its own affairs. Sima Li, do you think we should go and provide some support?"

"go."

Li Yun answered without hesitation. He closed the letter and said with a smile, "I will go there myself."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun suspiciously and asked, "Why is Sima Li so happy all of a sudden?"

"Of course I am happy to be able to save the people from danger. Besides, Governor Zhu of Mingzhou and I have a history."

"At this time, I will naturally go to Mingzhou to help him."

"Oh?"

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "I didn't expect that Sima Li had a relationship with this Governor Zhu."

"It's not a friendship, it's mainly because he owes me money."

Mr. Li laughed.
"One thousand kan."

(End of this chapter)