Thief Emperor

Chapter 218: Saying one thing and thinking another!

"purchase?"

Li Yun only had to think about it for a moment before he understood what Envoy Zhu was thinking. He smiled and said, "He's a living person, and a wanted criminal of the imperial court. How are you going to buy him? Are you going to buy him to exonerate him?"

Zhu Tong smiled and said, "Of course not. I wish I could turn this traitor into ashes. How could I possibly help him get away with this?"

The governor of Mingzhou looked around and whispered, "I don't ask for anything else. I just ask Brother Li to give me a share of the credit for capturing this thief alive when he reports to the court. Just say that it was you who sent people to capture this thief."

At this point, he coughed and said, "Brother Li, you also know that in the second half of this year, I will take office as the governor of Mingzhou. By then, no matter whether the war in the Central Plains has subsided or not, I will go to the capital to report on my work and wait for the arrangements of the Ministry of Personnel. Now it is still the first half of the year, and the arrangements of the Ministry of Personnel have not yet come down. If you, Brother Li, can..."

He smiled and said, "As long as Brother Li can help, you can set any conditions. If it's doable, I will definitely do it for you without hesitation!"

Li Yun then pretended to be enlightened and said with a smile: "So this is how it is bought. However, the envoy has not been here for the past two days because Xiangshan has been suppressing the rebellion. If we report it like this, it may be a bit of a loophole, right?"

"I may not be in Xiangshan, but I can arrange things."

Governor Zhu said with a smile: "Brother Li, you have just entered the officialdom and you are not very clear about it. How can you be an official?"

"The most important thing is two words: flexibility!"

"If things remain the same, nothing can be accomplished, and nothing can be done well."

He looked at Li Yun and said, "Brother Li should submit a memorial to the court in the next few days. Let's sit together, communicate with each other, and submit this document."

Zhu the governor coughed and continued, "I know that you are quite interested in money, brother Li. How about this, once this matter is done, in addition to the original 10,000 strings of money, I will give you another 10,000 strings of money, a total of 20,000 strings of money!"

"I will immediately send someone to Yuezhou!"

Seeing that Li Yun remained calm, Zhu Tong continued, "I also have a set of armor in my collection. It was General Xue's armor back then. It's perfect for a hero like Brother Li. I'll give it to Brother Li as well!"

Li Yun laughed, looked at Zhu Tong, and said, "Envoy Zhu, it is illegal to privately store armor."

“That’s for the people.”

Zhu Tong said casually, "For those of us in the officialdom, collecting a few sets is a hobby. More than a decade ago, there was a minister in the court who was reported for privately collecting armor. His Majesty said that if there are less than five sets, it is considered a hobby and will not be investigated."

Li Yun said with a smile: "Envoy Zhu, the rioters in Xiangshan County killed officials and caused trouble, which is equivalent to rebellion. This Guo Ming is the leader of the rebels. If he were put on the scale, I'm afraid his value would be more than 10,000 strings of money."

To be honest, considering the purchasing power of copper coins in that era, ten thousand strings of cash was indeed a lot. When Li Yun kidnapped Xue Yun'er, County Magistrate Xue couldn't even take out five thousand strings of cash to use connections in the state. On the one hand, this shows that Xue Song had some conscience, and on the other hand, it also shows the value of being rich.

Ten strings of cash could support a middle-class family for a year!

Even though this amount of money was not small, in Li Yun's opinion, it was still too little.

Although he has not carefully counted what he has gained in Xiangshan this time, even a rough calculation would probably reveal that it is far more than 20,000 strings of cash.

The smile on Zhu Shijun's face faded. He looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Brother Li, we have some friendship. This time, I won't ask for a penny of the things you got in Xiangshan County. Can't you do me a favor in this matter?"

Hearing this, Li Yun couldn't help but curse Zhu Tong in his heart.

The benefits of Xiangshan County were gained by my own ability and should not be shared with you!
If it was the hot-tempered Li Yun from his early years, he might have already cursed at this moment, but the current Li Yun was able to control his emotions very well. He smiled and said, "Envoy Zhu, those are for the court and have nothing to do with me."

"This Guo Ming is not only a credit to Lord Zhu, but also to me. It is a great credit. Maybe the court will see that I am effective in suppressing the rebellion and let me be the governor of a certain state. Lord Zhu, what do you think?"

Before Zhu Tong could speak, he heard Li Yun say, "I have a relationship with Envoy Zhu. How about this? I will change the conditions."

Li Sima smiled and said, "I can give you some of the credit for arresting Guo Ming. In the memorial, we will say that you asked me to come to Xiangshan and told me the location of the rebel leader Guo Ming."

"I don't want the 20,000 strings of cash, but I want 20,000 dan of grain. I want you to send someone to Yuezhou. How about that?"

Zhu Tong's face darkened.

Li Yun added: "Under normal circumstances, 20,000 dan of grain can be purchased with only 10,000 strings of cash. Is that not embarrassing for you, Lord?"

Before the rebellion of Qiu Dian in Yuezhou, the price of grain in Jiangnan Road was about 40 to 50 coins per dou. At that time, one guan of money could buy more than two shi of grain.

But that was two years ago.

After the Yuezhou Rebellion and the Central Plains Rebellion, it goes without saying that the grain price in the Central Plains skyrocketed. The grain price in Jiangnan Road was also affected. It is still hard to say whether one string of money can buy one stone of grain.

It's not just a matter of price, but more of a matter of food sources. Many large grain producers are hoarding grain and are unwilling to sell it, so finding a large source of grain is also a big problem. Zhu Tong looked at Li Yun and frowned, "Brother, how many people do you have? What do you need so much grain for?"

"Yuezhou is going to build a Changping warehouse, and I am ready to contribute to the people of my hometown."

Zhu Tong frowned: "At this time, even if I have money, I don't know where to buy food for you."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Why do you have to buy it somewhere else, sir?"

Zhu Tong's expression changed slightly when he heard this: "You mean, we'll deliver grain to you from the Mingzhou warehouse? No, that won't work. If we deliver grain to you in Yuezhou, what will we do if Mingzhou is short of grain?"

Every prefecture and county has its own granary to prepare for emergencies, and Mingzhou is no exception.

"Your Excellency has money, so you can slowly make up for the shortfall. Besides, you will be leaving office in half a year. By that time, whether Mingzhou is short of food or not, what does it have to do with you?"

"At worst, we can just fill in the missing grain in the granary at the market price. Your Excellency is not short of money."

Seeing that Zhu Tong was still a little hesitant, Li Yun said slowly, "Sir, how about we just forget about this?"

Zhu Tong gritted his teeth, looked up at Li Yun, and said slowly: "Let's do it this way!"

"Let's finish the memorial together in the next few days to avoid any mistakes!"

"Of course there is no problem in writing a memorial, but I have to wait until the envoy starts to deliver grain to Yuezhou before I can submit my memorial."

Zhu Tong nodded and sighed, "Brother Li, you are really smart. I don't know whether Zhu made a profit or a loss in this deal."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out of Li Yun's study, glanced outside, and cursed: "I have been in Xiangshan for more than an hour. Where is the magistrate of Xiangshan?"

"Are there any rules?"

He was the governor of Mingzhou, and Xiangshan County was under his jurisdiction. Normally, when he arrived here, the magistrate Xu would greet him with great fear and trepidation. But today, although he did not notify him in advance, Xu Ang had not shown up until now, which made Envoy Zhu very angry.

He suffered a loss at the hands of Li Yun, so naturally he wanted to find someone to vent his anger on.

Li Yun walked silently behind him and said with a smile: "Your Excellency may not know that Magistrate Xu's entire family has suffered in this incident. He is probably still in a coma. Please give me some face and don't make things difficult for him."

"Let's go. I'll treat you to a drink."

Zhu Tong then snorted, "People like this from a small family just don't follow the rules! Forget it, for your sake, Brother Li, I won't bother with him."

"Let's go, Brother Li, you lead the way."

Hearing him say "small family" who he didn't know who he was talking about, Li Yun's facial muscles twitched and he said with a smile: "It seems that the envoy is of noble birth."

"My family is also ordinary."

Zhu Tong said calmly: "It's just that we are from a scholarly family, so we have been learning the rules since we were young."

Li Yun said "Oh" and asked, "Will the envoy leave at the end of the year?"

"Yes, I am going to the capital to report on my work."

Li Yun walked beside him and said with a smile: "When the time comes, I will go and see you off."

"no, I'm fine."

Zhu Tong waved his hands repeatedly and said with a smile: "How dare I trouble Brother Li."

The two walked almost side by side, sneering at each other in their hearts.

In his heart, Envoy Zhu was naturally cursing Li Yun, this stinky soldier who asked for such a huge profit. If it weren't for the assessment by the Ministry of Personnel, he would never have stooped to making any deal with this stinky soldier!
Li Yun also smiled coldly in his heart.

You are leaving at the end of the year, and you will probably have to start moving your property and family out of Minnesota in the middle of the year!

I want to see whether the wealth you have collected and your family can leave Jiangdong!

(End of this chapter)