Thief Emperor

Chapter 222: More than ten years of hard work!

After communicating with Du Qian, Li Yun left the governor's office contentedly. He did not stay in Yuezhou City for long. After having a meal in Yuezhou, he returned to Yuezhou Camp outside the city.

At this time, Zhao Cheng's pressure was imminent. If Zheng Wei ordered Yuezhou to send troops to quell the rebellion, Du Qian could refuse for a while, but not forever.

Therefore, sooner or later, Li Yun will have to confront Zhao Cheng.

Unless he wanted to give up his official status at this point in time and become a rebel like Zhao Cheng, otherwise, at this moment, at least on the surface, he could not directly disobey the court represented by Zheng Yu.

Of course.

If the difference in military strength is not too big, it is impossible for Li Yun to fight with Zhao Cheng in Wuzhou. After all, Zhao Cheng's skill of leading troops in battle is inherited from his family. He is much more professional than Li Yun... at least the current Li Yun.

However, the person who was most stimulated by Zhao Cheng's capture of Yuezhou was not Li Yun, but Zheng Yu of Wujun. After all, this was a matter of Jiangdong Province, and Zheng Yu had to be involved in it first.

At that time, the troops Zhao Cheng would face would not be just the Yuezhou troops, but all the troops that Zheng Wei could mobilize in the entire Jiangdong Road.

This mobilization process cannot be completed in a day or two. It may take one or two months or even longer.

Therefore, Li Yun still has some time to "develop", and he must seize every bit of time to make himself and the Yuezhou Army as powerful as possible.

After returning to Yuezhou Camp, Li Yun immediately called Zhou Liang into his tent. After pulling Zhou Liang to sit down, Li Yun didn't waste any words and went straight to the point to express his thoughts.

"We... still have to recruit soldiers."

Li Yun clenched his fists and said in a deep voice: "This time, the scale will be bigger, and we will have to double our number!"

Zhou Liang stared at Li Yun, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

The current number of people in Yuezhou Camp is 1,500. If it doubles, it will reach 3,000!

If Yuezhou could still afford to support 1,500 people, it would no longer be able to support them if the number reached 3,000.

Zhou Liang took a while to come back to his senses. He whispered, "General, we have more money and food now. It is not difficult to feed 3,000 people, but..."

He looked at Li Yun and continued, "But we have no reason to recruit soldiers."

Now, the number of people in Yuezhou Camp has actually exceeded the standard, 500 more than the normal establishment.

However, in this era when everyone is drawing a salary without doing anything, Li Yun went against the trend and paid for the employment of 500 more people out of his own pocket, and no one cared or investigated.

But if the number of people doubles, it will be difficult to hide.

"If there is no pretext for conscription, then we can do it secretly."

Li Yun tapped the table lightly and said, "Double the number of people stationed in Yuezhou, so that the number of people in Yuezhou Camp will appear to be smaller. Tell the new recruits in Yuezhou to take advantage of the four days of rest each month to recommend their fellow townsmen to join the army. Each recommended recruit will be rewarded with one string of money."

Zhou Liang was silent for a while. He looked around and lowered his voice: "Captain, you are in charge of Yuezhou now. One thousand or fifteen hundred people are not a big problem. If it reaches three thousand people, Yuezhou alone may not be enough. Although the accumulated money and food are not small, they will be exhausted in the future."

"Although the matter of Wuzhou is important, I feel that this is not just a matter of Yuezhou. The village chief does not need to be too anxious."

Zhou Liang hadn't called Li Yun "Village Leader" for a long time. During this period, even when they were in private, he called him general.

This time, he rarely restored his previous name.

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "Uncle San, you still don't have a long-term vision."

"Right now, Jiangdong's affairs are naturally not just about Yuezhou, but in the future, we will definitely not be limited to just Yuezhou."

"And if we want to grow and develop in Jiangdong, Zhao Cheng is the biggest obstacle."

Li Yun knocked on the table lightly and whispered, "If we don't destroy Zhao Cheng, we may only be able to stay dormant in Yuezhou in the future. As long as we destroy Zhao Cheng..."

"There will be more than just Yuezhou to support us."

"At this time, while we have obtained a batch of money and food, of course we need to recruit more soldiers, the stronger the better. There is one thing, Uncle San, you must remember."

Zhou Liang was startled, then lowered his head and said, "General, please teach me."

Li Yun clenched his fist and took a deep breath: "As long as you are strong enough, you don't have to worry about having nothing to eat!"

"This sentence is equally applicable everywhere!"

…………

Just as Li Yun expected, the Wuzhou city only held out for three or four days under Zhao Cheng's attack before Zhao Cheng broke into the city.

But this time, it was very different from the last time we captured Qiantang.

The last time Zhao Cheng attacked Qiantang, he suffered a huge loss and too many lives were lost, so after entering Qiantang County, Zhao Cheng was no longer able to restrain his subordinates and could only let them vent their anger in the city.

This time, firstly, attacking the city did not take much effort, and secondly, the people left around Zhao Cheng could be considered his loyal followers, so it was not as difficult to restrain them as before.

After entering Wuzhou City this time, they would still rob things, but under Zhao Cheng's clear prohibition, there were basically no incidents of killing or injuring people.

There were only a few cases of rape. After spending a whole day tidying up Wuzhou City, General Zhao stood on the city wall and stared at Yuezhou in the northeast.

One of his subordinates stood in front of him respectfully, bowed his head and said: "General, Wuzhou City has been cleared, all the government troops have been cleared out, and the money and grain of the big households have been counted."

Zhao Cheng hummed, and said silently: "Slaughter the pigs and sheep, and get some beef to reward the brothers."

The deputy general's surname was Min, and his name was Min Xiong. He was an old friend who had followed Zhao Cheng in the uprising. Upon hearing this, he first waved his hand to call his subordinates and ordered them to do the job. Then he still stood in front of Zhao Cheng, looked up at Zhao Cheng, and said, "General, we have occupied Wuzhou City, and you don't seem to be very happy."

Zhao Cheng took a deep breath, frowned slightly, and said softly: "I deliberately slowed down the siege, hoping to attract some reinforcements from Yuezhou in a few days and consume some of Yuezhou's troops to facilitate our next move, but now..."

Zhao Cheng looked back at the Wuzhou City behind him and shook his head slightly: "We have gained nothing but a city. I am now thinking whether we should give up this city after a few days of rest, so as not to be hindered by such a city."

Min Xiong was stunned, then whispered: "General, we have finally conquered this city. Even if we have a stronghold in the future, why should we abandon it?"

Zhao Cheng shook his head and said, "It's just a state capital, not a state. It's not very useful. If the government troops surround us, we will suffer."

"Then I will take my men and occupy the remaining counties in Wuzhou first. I heard that the people in Dongyang County are wealthy, so I will take my men to Dongyang immediately."

"Once the troops are dispersed, they are more easily controlled by others."

Zhao Cheng still shook his head and said slowly: "Rest for a few days first, and then we will replenish some troops in Wuzhou."

The way the rebels replenish their troops is very different from that of the government troops. The government troops need to recruit soldiers on a large scale, but for the rebels, it is much easier.

Get a few officials from Wuzhou, tie them up, and let the local strong men go forward and chop them up. Even if they don't want to join the rebels, they will have to do so!

Min Xiong bowed his head and said, "I'll do it right away!"

Zhao Cheng waved his hand: "You go."

During the whole process, he did not look back, but just stared at Yuezhou in a daze.

Because at this time, General Zhao didn't know what he should do next.

He only wanted to fight against the government troops and avenge his family, but he had no plan at all. Especially at this time, his plan for Yuezhou failed, and he felt even more confused.

"Li Zhao..."

Zhao Cheng repeated the name and said slowly: "You are really patient. Let's see if you can resist the order of the court..."

…………

Just as General Zhao in Wuzhou was talking about Li Yun, Li Yun, who was busy with the conscription plan in Yuezhou Camp, looked at the wooden box in front of him, which was about one and a half feet long and one foot wide. He looked up at the person who delivered the box and was a little confused.

After being stunned for a while, he asked, "You said, this was specially sent to me by General Su?"

The man bowed his head and said, "Yes, I am a relative of the general. I received a letter from the general in my hometown. The general asked my family to deliver this box to Sima Li."

As he spoke, he handed a key to Li Yun.

Li Yun took a deep breath, took the key and opened the box.

The box was almost full of pages of paper. Some of the pages contained dense text, while others contained pictures. They were neatly stacked in the box.

Li Yun scratched his head: "This... this is..."

The Su family member lowered his head, his voice trembling a little: "This is the master's manuscript."

"This is the hard work of the master during his ten years of idleness at home, and he has not yet had time to compile it into a book."

Li Yun was stunned.

"This this…"

He was stunned for a long time, and his scalp felt numb. After scratching his head, he muttered, "Why did you send it to me?"

He and General Su have some connection.

There are also some friendships.

However, since the two of them did not become each other's disciples and they did not spend every day together, their friendship was not that deep.

At least it is not deep enough for General Su to entrust his efforts to it!
The Su family member shook his head: "I don't know..."

Li Yun suddenly had an idea. He looked at the manuscripts and murmured, "Yes, maybe it's because the general saw that I and the court..."

He repeated the remaining half of the sentence silently in his mind without saying it out loud.

"We are not on the same path."

(End of this chapter)