Thief Emperor

Chapter 238 The official meeting between the two thieves
At the dinner table, Duke Zheng was very happy. He pulled his two subordinates, Du Qian and Li Yun, and kept drinking.

This battle of Wuzhou was indeed extremely important to him, as he was about to take office as the Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangdong. Originally, due to the Qiu Dian Rebellion that occurred during his tenure, not only would he have no hope of promotion, he might even be arrested and taken to the capital to be punished.

However, this was not a peaceful time, and he had connections in the court, so the punishment from the court did not fall on him in the end.

And now, with the military achievement in the Battle of Wuzhou, he can even directly ask for credit from the imperial court. Then, after this term as the Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangdong, he may be able to make further progress.

In the past, if Zheng Wei wanted to make progress, he naturally wanted to go to the imperial court and become a minister in one of the six ministries or even go a step further and become a prime minister.

But now, Zheng Wei no longer wanted to be an official in the imperial court. He still wanted to stay in the local area, but he no longer wanted to be an inspector.

But the Jiedushi!
The Inspector General only had the power of supervision over the subordinate states and counties, but had no administrative power, let alone personnel power.

As for military power, one can only temporarily control the local army when something happens in the local area, but the Jiedushi is completely different.

The Jiedushi have always been stationed on the border. For example, Wei Quanzhong, the Jiedushi of Shuofang who has now arrived in Henan Prefecture, has nearly 100,000 troops under his command. He is directly responsible for all military and political affairs within Tuntian Prefecture!
He could even directly appoint officials to the Tuntian Prefecture.

Moreover, in recent decades, as the voice of the imperial court has become smaller, this situation has become more and more outrageous. Some Jiedushi even minted their own coins and made their own laws, and have become small kingdoms.

Today, the Great Zhou Dynasty is clearly in decline, so the Zheng family will naturally have some plans of their own. They do not have any ambition to fight for the world, but just want to have the power to preserve themselves in troubled times.

Even if all the border troops had positions and there were no vacancies for him, as long as he had the title of Jiedushi, even if he continued to stay in Jiangdong, it would be a big step forward for Zheng Yu.

Besides, with this commendable achievement, even if he could not become a governor, being an official in the capital would be a good thing for the Zheng family.

From any perspective, the quelling of the Wuzhou Rebellion was of great help to Zheng Wei.

After a few drinks, Zheng Wei's face was already red. He patted Li Yun's shoulder and said with a burp, "Li... Li Sima, this time... your contribution is huge. The court will definitely reward Sima Li generously."

"It's a pity that Sima Li got married too... too early."

Li Yun's face darkened slightly.

He no longer had the patience to deal with these cunning bureaucrats. Every word they said was convoluted but full of their own little thoughts, which made Li Yun quite disgusted.

Du Qian stepped forward in time, toasted Zheng Yu with a glass of wine, and said with a smile: "Mr. Zheng's strategic planning is a great achievement."

After a few more drinks, Li Yun looked at Zheng Wei who was already drunk and slowly stood up.

Du Qian seemed to have seen through his thoughts and said with a smile, "Sima Li has drunk too much. Go and have a rest first. I will accompany Lord Zheng and have a few more drinks."

Li Yun clasped his fists towards Du Qian and left silently.

After he left, Zheng Yu, whose face was already red, raised his glass and clinked it with Du Qian's. Suddenly, he smiled and said, "My dear...my dear nephew, can you control him?"

Du Qian clinked glasses with him and said with a smile, "Why would we suppress such a hero?"

"Master, in this world, the Great Zhou is in need of people like Li Zhao. We should not suppress him."

"If troubled times come, Li Zhao might be the key figure in saving the Great Zhou."

Zheng Wei looked up at Du Qian and said with a smile, "It seems that my dear nephew admires him very much."

"Unfortunately."

Zheng Wei sighed and shook his head, saying, "If he could marry the daughter of a wealthy family, he might have a bright future. The daughter of a county magistrate..."

Du Qian smiled and said, "You can't say this to someone's face, or you'll offend them."

Zheng Wei hummed, looked at Du Qian, and said, "Wei Quanzhong has entered Henan Province. Does my nephew know about this?"

Du Qian nodded silently: "I heard some things."

"Only 5,000 vanguard troops."

Zheng Wei seemed to be drunk, and said with emotion: "They defeated the rebels twice, compared to the imperial guards..."

Having said this, even though he was drunk, he didn't continue talking.

Because the following words are too taboo.

However, this is also what many people in the world are thinking.

General Wei had only 5,000 vanguard troops, but he had already defeated the rebels twice. This performance was much better than the tens of thousands of imperial guards who were killed by the rebels in just half a month!
This display of strength and weakness was seen by everyone in the world. The strong performance of the Shuofang Army could be said to have given the Imperial Guards a slap in the face.

It can even be said that it was a slap in the face to the imperial court, a slap so loud that it shook the heavens.

With the performance of the Shuofang Army, it seems that it is only a matter of time before Henan is pacified. But after the rebellion in the Central Plains is quelled, can the relationship between the various border armies and the court maintain the same as before?

I'm afraid we have to put a question mark on this.

Du Qian silently lowered his head, drank the wine in the glass, looked towards the direction of the capital, and said nothing.

The Imperial Guards need to work hard. If they are not ruthlessly reorganized, they will become completely rotten.

Now, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has begun to supervise the country.

Governor Du drank by himself, with a myriad of thoughts in his mind.

Does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have such courage and skill?

…………

Three days later, Zheng Yu, Du Qian and Li Yun finally reached a consensus in their memorials. After submitting their memorials together, Li Yun handed over the vacant Wuzhou to Zheng Yu. He took Du Qian and more than 800 Yuezhou soldiers, left Wuzhou and returned to Yuezhou.

After two days of traveling, everyone returned to the vicinity of Yuezhou City. Li Yun asked the soldiers who followed him to the battle to rest for three days and return to the camp after three days. Everyone dispersed happily. At this time, it was already late April.

The seeds sown in Yuezhou in spring have already grown, and the roadsides are lined with lush green crops, which looks quite pleasing to the eye.

Moreover, at a glance, there are very few wastelands to be seen. In other words, after Yuezhou experienced turmoil, at least the fields near Yuezhou City have been utilized.

Du Qian and Li Yun walked side by side on the road outside the city. Governor Du looked around and couldn't help but smile: "Yuezhou will not collect money and grain this year. When the grain arrives this year, the people will be able to recover."

Li Yun felt much more comfortable when he looked at the crops.

Yuezhou was recovered under his leadership. When Du Qian came, Li Yun had already done most of what he needed to do. Now that he saw results, he was naturally happy.

It is difficult to understand this sense of accomplishment without personal experience.

After Du Qian and Li Yun chatted for a while, he suddenly asked, "Sima Li will go back to Qingyang in a few days, right?"

"Yes."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I was just about to tell the envoy about this. I need to ask for a few days' leave from him."

"Starting a family is the most important thing. Sima Li, just go ahead. Give me an invitation and I will definitely be there."

At this point, Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "You can also send an invitation to Pei Huang. I will take him with me. If I don't look for him now, I'm afraid I won't be able to find him in the future."

Li Yun was startled and asked, "What do you mean?"

"The Crown Prince has started to supervise the country. He and the Crown Prince grew up together, and now he has become the Crown Prince's brother-in-law."

Du Qian laughed and said, "The position of Qiantang County Magistrate cannot keep such a great Buddha like him."

Li Yun sighed: "It's really like sitting in the sky, with blue and purple looking down."

After Du Qian and Li Yun talked about a lot of court affairs, the two of them walked to the gate of Yuezhou City. Li Yun clasped his fists and said goodbye to Du Qian, "Your Excellency, please go into the city first. I'm going to go to the Yuezhou camp to take a look and sort out the records of merit this time. When I'm done, I'll go into the city to visit your Excellency."

Du Qian bowed and smiled, "I haven't been back to Yuezhou for many days, and I guess I have a lot of things to do. When I'm done, I'll treat Sima to a drink."

The two parted at the city gate. Du Qian entered the city, while Li Yun went all the way to Yuezhou Camp. However, he did not return to the camp, but came to a farm near Yuezhou Camp.

At this time, Zhou Liang was living in this farm. When he saw Li Yun coming, he quickly welcomed Li Yun in and bowed his head and said, "General."

Li Yun hummed, and then said, "No one has seen him, right?"

Zhou Liang shook his head and said, "Zhou Bi is the one who delivers the meals."

Zhou Bi is Zhou Liang's son. He was brought out from Cangshan Village by Li Yun. However, he was still young, only about the same age as Meng Qingnian, so he was not able to fight in the battlefield. He just followed his father or Li Yun to run errands and pass messages.

Li Yun nodded and said with a smile: "Uncle San has been living here these days?"

"Yes, but it's not because of this person. After there were only a few people in the camp, I have been living in this farm."

Li Yun took a deep breath and said, "Where is he? Take me to see him."

Zhou Liang nodded and led Li Yun to a separate small courtyard in the backyard of the farm. At the door of the courtyard, a boy of about fourteen or fifteen was guarding. After seeing Zhou Liang and Li Yun, he quickly stood up, at a loss as to what to do.

"Dad, second... second brother..."

It was Zhou Liang’s son Zhou Bi.

Zhou Liang glared at him, but before he could say anything, Li Yun stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Good boy, now you can help with something."

He gestured and said with a smile, "It seems to be a little taller too."

While talking to Zhou Bi, Zhou Liang had already unlocked the door, and then handed Li Yun another key, and Li Yun then stepped in.

The yard was rather shabby and deserted.

Li Yun walked to the door of the house, took out a key from his arms, and unlocked the door.

In the room, Zhao Cheng, dressed in cloth with his hair loose, was looking up and down at Li Yun who pushed the door open.

Li Yun was also looking at him and said with a smile, "General Zhao, we meet again."

"Why... did you save me?"

Zhao Cheng's voice was hoarse.

This is the problem he has been unable to figure out in the past few days.

Li Yun found a stool and sat down, then motioned Zhao Cheng to sit down as well, and said straight to the point: "I want General Zhao to do something for me."

Zhao Cheng still looked alert.

"You are the Sima of a state, you have plenty of subordinates to work for you, why take the risk and use a traitor like me?"

"Because of something."

Mr. Li looked calm.

"Only traitors would dare to do that."

(End of this chapter)