Thief Emperor

Chapter 277 Gaining momentum
Li Yun frowned.

He folded his hands in his sleeves and looked at the governor of Wu County, his face expressionless.

As he expected, these local officials, regardless of their personal abilities, were all good at talking. With just a few words, County Magistrate Xie completely shirked all responsibilities during this period.

If Li Yun really followed him to the Gusu Prison to see the Sima of Wujun, it is estimated that by then, the Sima Zhou would have committed suicide out of fear of punishment and died in prison.

Seeing that County Magistrate Xie not only did not show any sign of submission, but instead wanted to turn the tables, Li Yun naturally would not give him a good look. He said coldly, "Officials in Haiyan County colluded with assassins to assassinate His Royal Highness the King of Chu, and at the same time falsely reported a rebellion, and then even resisted the Wuzhou Heavenly Soldiers. Now Haiyan County has been breached by Li, and all the officials in the city have been captured."

At this point, Li Yun glanced at the officials from Gusu and emphasized, "These officials have all confessed. His Royal Highness the King of Chu is drafting a memorial to the court."

Xie Shan frowned and said in a deep voice: "Is there such a thing?"

He stepped forward, clasped his hands and said, "Li, the governor, Haiyan County is a subordinate county of Wu County. I am the governor of Haiyan County. If something like this happens in Haiyan County, I have no choice but to take responsibility."

"This officer wants to see the confession of the Haiyan official and the case file of this case."

"It is naturally my duty to thank the county governor."

Li Yun sneered: "Such a big responsibility, you can't shirk it even if you want to!"

After that, he turned aside and said, "Xie County Magistrate wants to see the confession file?"

He made a gesture of invitation and said, "Then please go into the city."

Xie Shan frowned and was about to walk in when Zheng Yu stepped forward, grabbed Li Yun's arm, shook his head and sighed, "Li, Governor, we are old acquaintances. I met you when you first came under General Su's command. Later, you were promoted all the way, and it was not necessarily without my help. Now..."

"Can we talk for a few minutes in private?"

Li Yun looked at Zheng Wei.

He and this Zheng Guancha were indeed old acquaintances, but they did not have any friendship. Moreover, Li Yun disliked him and even wanted to take this opportunity to get rid of him.

In the past, Li Yun was of low status and thought that Zheng Wei was quite charming. But now, as he rises step by step and stands higher and higher, Li Yun has seen Zheng Wei clearly.

This is an extremely incompetent local official.

If he had had some ability, the Qiu Dian Rebellion would never have become so serious, and Zhao Cheng's Wuzhou Rebellion would never have broken out.

In fact, just now outside the city, it was County Magistrate Xie who was talking. You know, the office of the Inspector Zheng Wei is in Gusu City. Although he has no direct jurisdiction over the county magistrate, he is still Xie Shan's superior.

If he could be more powerful, Xie Shan, the county magistrate, would have a status similar to that of a county magistrate in the inner city, and would not even have the right to speak.

But now, it is obvious that Zheng Guancha was not able to suppress County Magistrate Xie. In fact, County Magistrate Xie often had a louder voice.

Hearing what he said, in front of so many people, Li Yun couldn't refuse him directly, so he walked a few steps to a secluded place. Zheng Yu followed him. The two walked under a big tree. Zheng Yu whispered, "This time, some people in Wu County really went too far."

He looked at Li Yun, paused, and continued, "But Erlang, those are only some of the families in Wu County. Most families are law-abiding and will not go against the court like this."

Listening to him calling "Erlang" in a friendly manner, it was clear that he was putting himself in the position of an elder, which made Li Yun feel goose bumps all over his body.

After a pause, Zheng Yu continued, "Since someone has made a mistake, an explanation must be given. We will go in and see His Royal Highness the King of Chu. This old man and County Magistrate Xie will definitely give His Royal Highness a satisfactory explanation."

Li Yun looked at him and asked with a smile, "What kind of explanation do you plan to give to Your Highness?"

"Anyone who dispatched troops out of the city to kill the Wuzhou soldiers, whether they were the initiators or the ones who carried them out, will be guilty of treason. Gusu will definitely arrest them all and hand them over to Your Highness for questioning."

"If there are some big families involved behind this, no matter which family it is, even if they are the family of the prime minister in the capital, they will be severely punished and will not be tolerated."

"besides…"

Zheng Wei whispered, "Your Highness, don't you want to check the salt road? This old man and County Magistrate Xie will write a list for Your Highness, and I guarantee that Your Highness can find what you want on the salt road."

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "If there is a list, it means there are people who are not on the list."

Zheng Wei took a deep breath, looked up at Li Yun, and continued: "Every family not on the list will donate money to the court to help it through the crisis."

At this point, he looked up at Li Yun and continued, "Erlang came to Wujun this time, although he followed the order of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, but there are indeed many extraordinary things. As long as His Royal Highness agrees to do this, no one in the entire Wujun or even Jiangdong will investigate the extraordinary actions of the Wuzhou soldiers."

“This Haiyan County…”

He turned his head to look at the county and continued, "Just do what Erlang found out.

At this point, Duke Zheng looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Is Erlang satisfied now?"

There was no expression on Li Yun's face, but he was very annoyed in his heart.

You guys are so good. Even before the people arrive, the negotiation plan has been prepared behind the scenes. The Jiangnan forces will bleed a little and give it to the King of Chu to take back to the capital. The two sides will stop at the right time. Jiangnan will not be hurt, and His Royal Highness the King of Chu will make a lot of money.

It seems that everyone is happy, but...

Where is my share?
I worked so hard to come to Wujun, am I really here to be Wu Yuanyou's bodyguard?

Thinking of this, Li Yun's expression became a little unfriendly.

He looked back at the officials from Gusu outside Haiyan City, and became ruthless. If all else fails, he can send someone out to arrest all of them, or kill them all. Then he can take Wu Yuanyou back to Gusu and investigate and rob as he pleases...

wrong!

They should be able to confiscate the house however they want!

Li Yun sneered, "Sir, I don't think that I and the Wuzhou soldiers have done anything out of the ordinary. The one who is really out of the ordinary is the government of Wujun!"

"More than 400 people came out to kill the prince and the governor. What's the difference between this and treason?"

"Can this matter be handled by just throwing out a Sima?"

"The Lord and that County Magistrate Xie are thinking too simply!"

Zheng Wei whispered, "This is indeed a bit out of line. When I found out, I was furious. But Erlang, think about it carefully. In the final analysis, this matter is still because of the court..."

He didn't continue speaking, but just sighed: "If it were in the past, this would never have happened anyway."

What he meant was that the imperial court was weak.

Moreover, now is a time when the imperial court is struggling to make ends meet. For Jiangnan, it even seems like it is in name only.

Zheng Yu looked up at Li Yun again and continued, "In the past, there would be no such thing as you leading troops from Wuzhou thousands of miles away to attack the imperial court county, right?"

Li Yun smiled.

"Mr. Zheng, first of all, I am here on the orders of the imperial envoy, and secondly..."

He looked at Zheng Yu and said slowly, "Does the Lord mean that the imperial court can no longer control Jiangnan, so Gusu City can send troops to kill the imperial envoy and kill me."

"That's great."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "Then there is no need to say anything else, Lord. Let those nobles in Gusu go back and get people. Let's have a good fight in Wujun, a fight of life and death!"

"Who wins and who has the final say, will it work?"

Zheng Wei frowned and whispered, "Isn't it inappropriate for Erlang to keep pressing like this..."

"I didn't push forward."

Li Yun stopped talking nonsense with Zheng Wei, and looked at him, and suddenly smiled: "It's just that when the mansion divided the accounts, I was omitted."

After that, he strode towards the city gate, then turned around to look at Xie Shan and shouted, "Xie, listen carefully. You sent troops from Gusu City to kill His Royal Highness the King of Chu and me. Hundreds of people have witnessed it. To this day, I still have dozens of captives from your Wu County!"

"This is fucking treason. It's not something that some shitty Sima can get away with!"

"You, the county magistrate, are to blame!"

"Now, tie yourself up and go forward with me into the city to see His Royal Highness the King of Chu. You can confess your sins and still have a chance of survival. Otherwise, you will definitely die!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Shan frowned and turned to look at Zheng Wei, who also had a gloomy face.

Li Yun...didn't give him any face at all.

Xie Shan took a deep breath and shouted, "You don't have the final say!"

"Your Highness, the Prince of Chu, please come out and speak!"

Li Yun sneered: "You will naturally be able to see His Royal Highness the King of Chu in a while, come on."

He shouted in a low voice and waved his hand: "Take them all and tie them up and bring them into the city!"

Upon hearing this, Deng Yang and Zhao Cheng's eyes lit up and they rushed forward with their men.

Xie Shan shouted: "Li Zhao, you..."

Before he could finish his words, he was held down by Deng Yang and his men. The more than one hundred people outside the city had no ability to resist and were quickly captured.

Li Yun put his hands in his sleeves, turned around to look at Zheng Wei, and said lightly: "Master, please come with me into the city."

Zheng Yu looked up at Li Yun, and after a long while, he said silently, "Is this what Li the governor meant, or what His Royal Highness the King of Chu meant?"

"This is what the Great Zhou law means!"

He turned around to look at the people who had been arrested and sneered, "Officials present here, if there is any one who has not taken advantage of the Jiangnan Salt Road, I will release him immediately and kowtow to you to apologize!"

Li Yun did not directly answer Zheng Wei's question, but he had actually already answered it.

Zheng Wei looked at Li Yun deeply, then walked towards the gate of Haiyan County, sighing with emotion as he walked.

"Great, great."

(End of this chapter)