Thief Emperor

Chapter 279 You are welcome!

The case in Haiyan County had already been investigated in detail, and with the cooperation of His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu, it took another two days for Li Yun to basically investigate the case in Haiyan in detail.

Early that morning, Li Yun took the documents he had sorted out and handed them to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, with a serious face: "Your Highness, this is the evidence of Haiyan's crime that I sorted out. It is shocking."

"There are few clean officials in the entire Wu County. With this document, both Zheng Guancha and Xie Junshou cannot escape the crime. Your Highness can directly remove them from their posts and start confiscating their property!"

Wu Yuanyou took the evidence, read it through, and sighed deeply. Then he looked up at Li Yun and said, "According to the evidence, none of the officials in Wu County are clean, but I have considered it carefully these two days."

He looked at Li Yun and said with a wry smile, "Governor Li, if we really arrest all these people, who will take over the job of Wu County? With the court in this state, it will probably be difficult to send a new county governor or other officials for a while."

Li Yun said calmly: "Your Highness, these are the court's problems. Your Highness only needs to hand over the evidence and have the person executed."

"As for the vacant position."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Your Highness, there is a shortage of everything in this world, except for the right officials. As long as the court is willing to appoint someone, no matter what the local situation is, there will always be someone willing to take on the vacancy."

"That's what I said."

Wu Yuanyou shook his head slightly and said, "I am just worried that the new people sent here will not be able to control the already chaotic situation in Jiangdong. By then, Jiangdong may fall into chaos again."

Li Yun frowned slightly.

He was not worried about Jiangdong falling into chaos. Not to mention that he, Li, was there to keep it under control. Jiangdong might not necessarily fall into chaos in the future. Even if it did, it would be exactly what he wanted.

If Mr. Li reorganizes Jiangdong again, Jiangdong will take his surname Li.

After all, by then, no matter how stupid the local forces in Jiangdong are, they will know who has the final say in the entire Jiangdong.

However, after hearing what Wu Yuanyou said, Li Yun remained calm and said, "Then your highness means..."

"manage…"

His Royal Highness the King of Chu exhaled a breath of foul air, looked up at Li Yun, and said, "Let's do some of it."

"We will do 50% of the work and leave 50% of the officials for Wujun. This way, Wujun will not be in chaos and I can also do my job well."

Li Yun thought for a moment, clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness is so thoughtful, it is a blessing for the court. However, in my opinion, it is not necessary to do it at 50%. It can be 50% to 70%."

He said confidently: "As long as 30% of the officials remain, the local area will not be in chaos."

Wu Yuanyou readily agreed and said with a smile: "Then let's do this. When we get to Gusu City, we will discuss it carefully."

Li Yun nodded and smiled: "Your Highness, we can set off for Gusu City tomorrow morning."

Wu Yuanyou breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Li, the city of Gusu will not send troops to resist us, so they won't allow us to enter the city, right?"

This question made Li Yun stunned. He thought about it seriously and shook his head slowly: "I can't say for sure. If someone wants to fight to the death, they may really defend Gusu City."

"But your highness can rest assured."

Li Yun patted his chest and said, "With the combat power of the local troops in Wujun, even if they really defend Gusu City and don't let us in, I am confident that I can forcefully break into the city. By that time..."

There was a fierce light in Governor Li's eyes.

"Gusu City is full of rebels!"

…………

The next day, Li Yun, along with a group of imprisoned officials from Haiyan County, as well as Zheng Wei, Xie Shan and other people from Gusu City, left Haiyan County and returned to Gusu City.

It is worth mentioning that Li Yun also left a brigade in Haiyan County to prevent any further incidents from happening in Haiyan County.

Haiyan County is not too far from Gusu City. On the third day, Gusu City was in sight. Li Yun was riding on a horse. His Royal Highness the King of Chu, who was sitting in the carriage, lifted the curtain and looked up at Gusu City. He suddenly asked, "Governor Li, it looks like everything is calm."

Li Yun was also looking at the city. Hearing this, he smiled and replied, "Most likely they are afraid of your majesty and dare not do it again."

At this time, Li Yun had more than a thousand people under his command, and the scout camp was already organized. He knew more than an hour in advance that the gates of Gusu City were not closed.

This means that the possibility of them defending the city is slim.

After all, at this time, resisting the court would be tantamount to open rebellion, and there would be no room for maneuver at all.

Comparatively speaking, people in the south of the Yangtze River are relatively mild-mannered. If they were in the Central Plains or the north of the Yangtze River, they might have already raised the flag of rebellion by now.

When it was almost noon, the group finally arrived at the gate of Gusu City. At this time, all the officials in Gusu City had already gone out of the city to greet them. The middle-aged man who was in the lead first quickly looked up at the county magistrate Xie Shan who had been tied up, then hurriedly lowered his head, knelt on the ground with a plop, and kowtowed.

"Your humble servant, Shi Heng, the governor of Wu Prefecture, pays homage to His Majesty the King of Chu."

The so-called county magistrate is the assistant official of the county governor, similar to the Beijia in the state.

The reason why some places are called states and some are called counties is partly due to historical reasons and partly due to taboos. Most states and counties are of the same level.

Behind this County Magistrate Shi, a group of officials knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the King of Chu."

Wu Yuanyou lifted the curtain of the carriage and glanced at the officials kneeling on both sides, especially at County Magistrate Shi.

After Xie Shan left, apart from the people from the Inspectorate, it was County Magistrate Shi who was in charge of the entire Gusu City affairs. Gusu City had no armed resistance to Li Yun, so County Magistrate Shi must have contributed to it.

Thinking of this, Wu Yuanyou raised his hand and said calmly: "Everyone, stand up." After everyone stood up, His Royal Highness the King of Chu thought for a moment and said in a deep voice: "A lot of things have happened in Wu County in the past few days. I will sort them out in the next few days and then announce them to the whole city."

"From today on, the defense of Gusu City and all government offices in the city will be taken over by Governor Li's Wuzhou soldiers."

His Royal Highness the King of Chu said in a deep voice: "Everything will be dealt with after I have thoroughly investigated all the affairs of Wu County!"

Shi Heng and the others all raised their heads to look at Li Yun, then lowered their heads again, their voices trembling: "Your subordinates... obey your command!"

This is admitting defeat.

At this point, most of them had already known what had happened in Haiyan County, and had also learned something about the combat effectiveness of the Wuzhou soldiers. They knew that if they continued to resist, their fate would probably be even more tragic.

Therefore, they can only keep a low profile and allow themselves to be bullied.

After all, if you choose this path, there may be a way to survive.

Li Yun looked at His Royal Highness the King of Chu with satisfaction, and then said in a deep voice: "Li Xiao!"

Zhao Cheng stepped forward, bowed his head and said, "I'm here!"

"You will lead... six brigades to take over the various city gates of Gusu."

Zhao Cheng bowed his head and replied, "I obey your command!"

"Deng Yang."

"My subordinate is here!"

"You will lead four brigades to take over the various government offices in Gusu City and maintain order in the city. If anyone plots against you in the next few days, arrest them and put them in jail immediately."

At this point, Li Yun looked at Shi Heng and said with a smile: "We need to cooperate with the government offices in the city. If there is anything, report to me."

"I obey my orders!"

"Yang Xi..."

Li Yun said with his hands behind his back: "You lead a brigade and serve as His Highness's guard."

Yang Xi bowed his head respectfully and said, "I obey your command!"

At this point, all the troops around Li Yun were sent out. He looked at the Gusu City in front of him and said to His Royal Highness the King of Chu: "Your Highness, it's getting late. Let's go into the city."

Wu Yuanyou took a deep breath and waved his hand fiercely: "Enter the city!"

A group of more than a thousand people marched into Gusu City in a mighty procession.

This was the first time that Li Yun entered Gusu City. After entering the city, he looked left and right, feeling emotional.

It is much more prosperous than Yuezhou and Wuzhou.

As for Xuanzhou...it's even worse.

It was already afternoon when they entered the city. Li Yun had lunch with Wu Yuanyou, and then spent half a day finding a place to stay.

Then he threw Wujun County Magistrate Xie Shan, Haiyan County Magistrate Cheng and others into prison, and Li Yun sent people to take over the prison, fearing that they would die in prison for unknown reasons.

After everything was arranged, it was evening. Li changed into an autumn shirt and took Meng Qing and several other guards with him. He walked around the city and soon found out where the Zhuo family was.

They wandered to the door of Zhuo's house. Li Yun gave Meng Qing a look, and Meng Qing immediately went forward and knocked on the door.

Soon, the Zhuo family's doorman asked through the small door: "Who is it?"

"The city is in chaos right now, my master won't see any visitors!"

He spoke in Gusu dialect. Meng Qing scratched his head, not understanding. However, there was no need for him to explain. He just said, "Li, the governor of Wuzhou, is here to visit Master Zhuo."

The Zhuo family's doorman didn't know who Li, the governor of Wuzhou, was, but when he heard the word "governor", he did not dare to be negligent and turned around to report.

After a while, the middle door of the Zhuo family, which had been kept closed, opened wide.

An old man with half of his hair and beard white, who looked to be in his fifties, strode out. Before he came close, he bowed to Li Yun from a distance.

"You are so welcome, Lord Li. You are so welcome, Lord Li."

Li Yun looked up at the Zhuo family with their door wide open and smiled.

"How come Master Zhuo even opened the middle door? I am flattered."

"It should, it should."

Master Zhuo was very humble, leaning sideways and bowing his head slightly: "You are welcome, envoy."

Li Yun was not stage-frightened. He walked in with his hands behind his back. Along the way, he looked around the Zhuo family's house and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"Master Zhuo..."

"What a huge family business."

(End of this chapter)