Thief Emperor

Chapter 269 Outside Gusu City
After all, they were only resting temporarily in Yuezhou and could not stay too long. Early the next morning, Li Yun led his soldiers and continued to rush towards Wujun.

Du Qian personally saw Li Yun off all the way to five or six miles outside the city. Before leaving, he bowed to Li Yun and said with a smile: "When Erlang finishes his business in Wujun, he will come back from Yuezhou. When he returns, I will prepare some more wine and meat in Yuezhou to entertain the brothers."

Li Yun also had a smile on his face. He shook his head slightly and said, "It will take at least a month or more for me to come back. By then, Yuezhou will probably be ready for harvest. Brother Du, just focus on your own business and don't worry about us."

"This is me."

Mr. Li patted his chest and said, "I will never let the brothers go without food."

The reason why the Yuezhou Army, or the soldiers under Li Yun's command, can now follow Li Yun so unitedly is actually largely due to the food issue.

Humans are still animals in essence. Since they are animals, food is their top priority. In this era, as long as they can eat well and have enough food by following Li Yun, they will rarely have any other thoughts.

Li Yun has always attached great importance to this.

The two men saluted each other and were about to part when a horseman came running over from a distance. After arriving in front of Li Yun, the man on the horse dismounted, ran to Li Yun in three or two steps, bowed his head and saluted: "General!"

Li Yun was about to mount his horse and leave, but when he saw this, he frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

"News from Songzhou."

With both hands, he handed a letter in a blank envelope to Li Yun.

Li Yun reached out to take it, pulled out the letter, took a look at it, and frowned.

Du Qian, who was standing by, seemed to be thinking about something and asked, "Did General Su get into trouble?"

Li Yun came back to his senses, uttered "hmm", and handed the letter to Du Qian, sighing silently: "The court has issued another decree, ordering General Su to march in and suppress the bandits, General Su..."

"He was carried into the barracks."

Previously, due to manpower issues, Li Yun's information was quite isolated. However, after Liu Bo went out, he was able to place some people outside, especially in Songzhou, where he placed two people to pass on information.

Of course, these people can only be called informants at present. They are far from being spies, let alone die-hard fans. However, for Li Yun at this stage, they are quite enough.

After reading the news, Du Qian couldn't help but frowning. He looked up at Li Yun, shook his head and whispered, "This is to force General Su to death."

Li Yun rubbed his eyebrows and remained silent for a long time.

Du Qian thought for a moment and said, "Erlang, hand over the people over there to me. I will sort out the information. If there is anything important, I will have someone pass it on to you immediately."

He paused, then continued, "Songzhou's arrival here was at least six or seven days ago. Now... there's no point in worrying."

“It hasn’t gotten to that point.”

Li Yun shook his head and sighed: "I just feel sorry for General Su."

Li Yun and Su Jing had a relationship of several months, but it was far from the level of master and apprentice or father and son. Besides, at this moment, he really couldn't help much.

After thinking for a while, Li Yun got on his horse and clasped his fists, saying, "Brother Du, I'll go to Wujun and deal with Jiangdong's affairs first. Please help me pay attention to the news in the Central Plains. If..."

He said no more.

But Du Qian understood what he meant. If General Su's troops were to be defeated, he should be notified in time.

Du Qian nodded silently and said, "It will be dangerous to go to Wujun. Erlang, please take care of yourself."

Wu County is one of the most prosperous counties in the entire Jiangdong region. Just talking about Wu County's capital, Gusu City, it is not much worse than Jiangning City.

It is also one of the places with the strongest local power, and it can be said that it is a gathering place for wealthy people. Li Yun's trip, together with the 500 people from Deng Yang, only adds up to 1,500 people, and it may not be possible to travel through the entire Wu County.

Li Yun smiled and said, "Don't worry, I know what's going on."

Having said this, he turned around to look at Zhao Cheng who was not far away and shouted in a low voice: "Let's go!"

After the horse started running, Li Yun clasped his fists towards Du Qian from a distance, then galloped out on his horse.

Yuezhou City is about three hundred and sixty to seventy miles away from Gusu City, the capital of Wujun. Li Yun and others followed the official road all the way towards Wujun.

At this time, the normal marching speed of an army was not easy to cover forty or fifty miles a day. Fortunately, the food under Li Yun's command could keep up. Even the new recruits became stronger after being raised by him for several months, and could easily walk sixty miles a day.

They did not have much delay along the way, and on the night of the seventh day, they saw Gusu City not far ahead.

At this time, they were only ten or twenty miles away from the outside of Gusu City.

However, it was getting dark, and there was no need to hurry at this time. Li Yun asked Zhao Cheng to find a suitable place to set up camp and prepare to rest.

When Zhao Cheng led his men to set up camp, Li Yun instructed Meng Qing to go to Gusu City and call back Deng Yang, who was guarding the King of Chu, to the army for questioning.

Meng Qing was very efficient. He nodded immediately and rode out on his horse. On this side, although the tents for the thousand men had not been set up yet, Li Yun's big tent had been set up. He entered the big tent and began to look through the documents that had been sent to him from various places during the day.

After reading for a while, he felt sleepy. Li Yun resisted the sleepiness and finished reading some important documents. Then he lay on the table and fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up in a daze, it was almost midnight. Li Yun rubbed his eyes and got up to stretch his body.

Just as he heard some movement in his tent, Meng Qing's voice came from outside: "General, Captain Deng is here."

Li Yun yawned.

"Everyone come in, everyone come in."

Deng Yang walked in front, and Meng Qing walked behind. They entered Li Yun's tent one after another. They bowed their heads and clasped their fists together and said, "General!"

Li Yun smiled and said, "You've been here for a while, right?"

Deng Yang lowered his head quickly: "I just arrived not long ago."

Li Yun glanced at Meng Qing and scolded him with a smile: "You boy, why didn't you wake me up?"

Meng Qing scratched his head and didn't dare to speak.

Li Yun pointed and said with a smile, "Sit down and talk."

Deng Yang then sat opposite Li Yun, and Li Yun asked: "It's not clear in the document. You have been following the King of Chu. Tell me, what happened in Wujun during this period of time?"

"Yes."

Deng Yang lowered his head and said, "I followed the King of Chu all the way to Wujun and stayed in Gusu City for a few days. Duke Zheng followed the King of Chu all the way and was very polite, and we had no problems at all."

"Then one day, His Royal Highness the King of Chu was leaving for Haiyan County to investigate the salt road, and Duke Zheng followed him all the way. He only stayed in Haiyan for a day or two, and was assassinated on the way. His Royal Highness the King of Chu's carriage was shot through by arrows."

Li Yun frowned: "Were you the one who brought the guards that day?"

For guards in this era, sending people to check for ambushes and traps in advance is a relatively basic operation.

Deng Yang shook his head and said, "That day, Duke Zheng came to us and told us that the soldiers from the Observation Office would escort the King of Chu and asked us not to follow them."

Li Yun nodded slightly: "Go on."

"After His Royal Highness the King of Chu was assassinated, not long after he retreated to Haiyan County, riots broke out in Haiyan County. According to the news from Wu County, the number of people was between 2,000 and 3,000, and the scale was huge."

"Therefore, I escorted the King of Chu all the way back from Haiyan County to Gusu City. During this time, we heard that the rebels in Haiyan County were going to attack Gusu City. The people in Gusu City were all scared and panicked."

Li Yun stroked his chin, thought for a while, and then asked, "Have you seen those rioters in Haiyan County?"

"I've seen it."

Deng Yang nodded and said, "I saw hundreds of people in Haiyan County that day, but after returning to Gusu City, I never saw the turmoil again."

Li Yun nodded and said with a smile: "How does His Royal Highness the King of Chu react?"

“It started with fear.”

Deng Yang thought for a moment, and then said, "After returning to Gusu City, he became very angry, hiding in his residence and refusing to come out, refusing to see anyone, and kept writing documents and had them sent to the capital. I don't know what the prince is writing, but I heard that..."

He scratched his head: "They are all complaining to the court."

Li Yun smiled dumbly when he heard this. Just as he was about to speak, Zhao Cheng's voice suddenly came from outside the tent: "General, someone broke into our camp at night!"

Li Yun's smile faded, and he frowned and asked, "Who is it?"

Zhao Cheng paused and replied, "He claims to be Wu Yuanyou, the King of Chu."

Li Yun was startled, then stood up and said to Deng Yang with a smile: "Did you bring him here?"

Deng Yang shook his head: "I don't know."

Mr. Li stood up, stretched, then took a step, lifted the curtain and walked out.

"I'll take a look."

Several people came to the gate of the camp and saw His Royal Highness the King of Chu, dressed in purple, breaking into the camp, shouting as he went.

"Let the king in, let the king in!"

His Royal Highness the King of Chu shouted.

"Someone out there is trying to kill me!"

(End of this chapter)