Thief Emperor

Chapter 260: Li Erlang, a Loyal and Patriotic Person

The three of them returned to the dinner table again, and His Royal Highness the King of Chu raised a glass of wine and toasted Li Yun.

Li Yun could only raise his glass, and the two of them quickly drank it all.

After putting down the wine glass, His Royal Highness the King of Chu looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "I have heard about Governor Li's deeds a long time ago. It is rare for him to rise to his current position from an unknown person in two years since the founding of the Great Zhou."

He paused and continued, "Now, everyone knows that the court is in a critical moment. At this time, it needs heroes like Li Shishi to stand up and help the court to quell the chaos."

He smiled and said, "Right now, my king is inspecting Jiangnan, which is extremely important to the court. As long as Governor Li can fully assist me, I will report the truth to the court after I return to the capital."

"By then, the imperial court might promote and employ Governor Li once again."

He paused for a moment and continued, "Isn't Governor Li older than me?"

Li Yun replied: "I am twenty-two years old this year."

"Well."

Wu Yuanyou smiled and said, "He is one year younger than me."

"Heroes come from young people."

He looked at Li Yun and asked with a smile, "Will Governor Li help?"

Li Yun gritted his teeth, hesitated for a long time, then bowed his head and said: "Your Highness, there are indeed bandits in Yuezhou. I can't take out 900 of the 1,000 Yuezhou troops and give them to you. Otherwise, Yuezhou will be empty and the rebels will definitely take advantage of the chaos. I can transfer 200 people to accompany and protect Your Highness."

"Two hundred people are enough to protect His Highness."

The expression on Wu Yuanyou's face froze.

The number of ceremonial guards and attendants accompanying him on this trip totaled more than two hundred people.

And...did he transfer troops from Yuezhou to protect himself?
In order to have enough military force to complete this salt inspection!
Du Qian's expression changed again, and he cursed: "Your Highness's entourage is more than 200 people!"

Li Yun refused to give in and glared at Du Qian: "What does Envoy Du mean?"

"At least five hundred."

Du Qian said coldly: "I am the governor of Yuezhou. I will make the decision on this matter. If anything happens in Yuezhou, I will be responsible!"

These words were very righteous, and Wu Yuanyou couldn't help but look at Du Qian with gratitude in his eyes.

But he was smart and knew it was not a good time to quarrel with Li Yun, so he stood up and said with a smile: "Li, let's go to the side and talk."

Li Yun stood up as he said and followed him. The two of them came to the railing outside the private room. Wu Yuanyou stood with his hands behind his back and looked into the distance. The night wind blew through his clothes, making His Royal Highness the King of Chu feel a lot cooler.

The mood also became better.

He turned around to look at Li Yun behind him, but he could only look up. His mood, which had just improved, became worse again, so he continued to look into the distance and did not look at Li Yun.

"Li, I know you have an important responsibility, so I won't make it difficult for you. As long as you are willing to help, we can discuss any conditions."

Mr. Li's face darkened, and he bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying, "It must be that scholar surnamed Du who spoke ill of Mr. Li to His Majesty! Mr. Li is indebted to the country, and I only care about official business. How could I ask for any conditions from His Majesty?"

At this point, Li Yun gritted his teeth and said, "Forget it. I will send half of the Yuezhou soldiers to protect the prince along the way. As for the safety of Yuezhou, I will recruit some militiamen to prevent the remnants of Qiu Dian from making trouble again!"

Li Yun's words surprised His Royal Highness the King of Chu.

He originally had no doubts about Du Qian's words, but when he heard Li Yun say this, he felt that the governor Li in front of him was loyal to the country.

Wu Yuanyou shook his head and threw away all the random thoughts in his mind.

He turned around again, looked up at Li Yun, and asked, "You are welcome, Governor Li. If there is anything I can help with, I will definitely help."

Li Yun thought about it seriously, and then said, "Since Your Highness is here to inspect the salt industry in Jiangnan, I know a place that will surely help Your Highness gain something."

Wu Yuanyou was a little curious and asked, "Where?"

"Mingzhou."

Li Yun replied: "There are many salt fields in Mingzhou. Local officials have colluded with salt officials and have embezzled a lot of money and grain from the court over the years. Your Highness only needs to go to Mingzhou and do a little research, and you will find some clues."

Wu Yuanyou's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Does Governor Li really have no other requests?"

Li Yun shook his head slightly: "I have no more requests."

"it is good."

Wu Yuanyou clapped his hands and smiled, "My next state will be Mingzhou."

He looked at Li Yun and asked, "Does Governor Li have a grudge against the officials of Mingzhou?"

"Yes." Li Yun nodded without hesitation, "There was a robbery at the Mingzhou Salt Field in the first half of the year. The Mingzhou governor Zhu Tong actually ran to Yuezhou and said that it was our Yuezhou government who did it!"

Li Yun clenched his fist and groaned, "They only had one salt field robbed, and only about 10,000 to 20,000 kilograms of salt were lost. In the end, the amount reported was as high as more than 100,000 kilograms!"

"I suspect that the robbery was planned by Mingzhou officials themselves in order to settle accounts with the Mingzhou Salt Road!"

"This matter is extremely hateful. I have remembered it till now. When Your Highness arrives in Mingzhou, I will definitely investigate Mingzhou thoroughly!"

"I want to vent my anger for the court and for me, the officials!"

"it is good!"

Wu Yuanyou clapped his hands and said with a smile: "If what Governor Li said is true, I will definitely investigate the matter of Mingzhou Salt Road to the bottom of it."

As he spoke, His Royal Highness the King of Chu turned around and stretched out his hand to hold Li Yun's sleeve, and said with a smile: "Let's go, let's eat, let's eat."

He pulled Li Yun to the table, turned to Du Qian and said with a smile: "Brother Shouyi, Governor Li is not as difficult to talk to as you say. There must be some misunderstanding between the two of you."

"Come on, come on."

He picked up the wine glass and said with a smile: "Let's drink together. From now on, you two will not work together in the same state, and the conflicts between you will disappear. After drinking this glass of wine, you will all be friends from now on."

Li and Du looked at each other and drank the glass of wine reluctantly.

After the meal, the atmosphere became more harmonious. After drinking for half an hour, Li Yun could still drink, but His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu could not bear it anymore. As for Du Qian, he was already lying under the table.

Li Yun stood up and arranged for someone to escort His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu out of Ningcui Tower first. Then he held the railing and returned to the private room. At this moment, Du Qian had already sat up and was eating his food by himself.

Li Yun walked up to him and sat down, smiling and saying, "Brother Du has a really good alcohol tolerance. He drank so much just now, but nothing happened to him."

Du Qian smiled and said, "If you don't have a good drinking tolerance when hanging out in the capital, you'll probably end up being sold and counting money for others. When I was in my teens, my brothers took me out to drink, and I learned how to drink."

"correct."

Seeing Li Yun sitting down, Du Qian smiled and asked, "What conditions did he agree to?"

When the two of them were discussing today's event, they only roughly outlined the framework and left the rest up to chance. Therefore, Du Qian had no idea about the specific conditions Li Yun had proposed to Wu Yuanyou.

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said dumbly: "What benefit can he give me?"

"Besides the job of Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy, other benefits are of no use to me. He can't give me this job, so I simply didn't mention it."

At this point, Li Yun lowered his head and smiled, then said, "However, I led him to Mingzhou. There are so many salt fields in Mingzhou, so it's a good idea to start the investigation of the salt route from here."

"Mingzhou can't stand the investigation. There will definitely be some dirt on the surface. In order to establish his authority, Erlang will probably deal with a large number of officials, at least deprive them of their property and send them to the capital."

Hearing this, Du Qian understood Li Yun's intention. He put down his wine glass and murmured, "People in other states and counties outside Mingzhou must be in a panic. But there are only a few hundred people around the King of Chu. Maybe someone will take a risk..."

Having said that, he looked at Li Yun.

The latter chuckled, squinted his eyes and whispered: "Then we can march out of Yuezhou with justification."

Du Qian took a deep breath.

As long as the Yuezhou Army can legally and reasonably leave Yuezhou and go to other states and counties in Jiangdong, even if they cannot stay there reasonably for the time being, they will definitely be able to bring back a considerable amount of resources.

More importantly, we must let other states and counties see the power of Yuezhou!
At the same time, it also allowed the imperial court and Wu Yuanyou to see the true strength of the Yuezhou Army.

Comparatively speaking, doing so can indeed make the most of the use of His Royal Highness the King of Chu.

"if…"

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and asked, "What if the states and counties don't resist?"

"There's nothing we can do about it."

Li Yun shook his head and said, "All the states and counties did not resist the imperial court, which means that the imperial court's majesty is still there, but I think this possibility is not high."

"Those salt merchants in Xiangshan County dared to instigate salt households to kill officials and rebel just for a little tax revenue. The King of Chu came here almost to confiscate their property. Some people will sit back and wait to be killed, but there will definitely be people who resist."

Du Qian nodded slightly, then muttered: "Mingzhou..."

He seemed to remember something, looked up at Li Yun, and suddenly said: "By the way, Erlang, speaking of Mingzhou, I heard a few days ago that the governor of Mingzhou, Zhu Tong, was robbed by bandits..."

"Did you know about this?"

　Brothers, one hundred votes short, please help me!!!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)