Thief Emperor

Chapter 298 Recruiting Envoys

At the gate of the governor's mansion, Li Yun looked at this man who was once a big shot in his eyes with a smile.

Gu Yuan and Gu Wenchuan.

He turned slightly sideways and said with a smile, "Mr. Gu, it's windy outside, let's go inside and talk."

Gu Wenchuan looked up at Li Yun and without further ado, he walked directly into the Governor's Mansion. After reaching the main hall of the Governor's Mansion, Li Yun personally poured him tea, and then the two of them sat down.

After sitting down, Li Yun still looked at Gu Wenchuan with a smile on his face, and said with a smile: "I heard Mr. Gu just say that you have already visited Wuzhou Camp. It seems that you have not just arrived in Wuzhou."

If we talk about Li Yun's current combat power alone, at least in the Jiangnan area, he can be considered very strong.

However, his intelligence capabilities are still relatively weak. After all, his intelligence agency is still in its infancy. Even if he has some intelligence capabilities, he has arranged them to spy on the war in the Central Plains and the Wujun Salt Road.

There is no way to do anything more delicate.

For example, for a court official like Gu Wenchuan, if Li Yun's intelligence ability could be improved by two or three levels, then as soon as Gu Wenchuan set foot in Wuzhou, someone would immediately deliver the news to his desk.

But now, Li Yun really knew nothing about Gu Wenchuan's appearance, and didn't even know when he arrived in Wuzhou.

Mr. Gu lowered his head to drink tea, then slowly said: "It has been four or five days."

Li Yun nodded and asked, "What do you think of Wuzhou?"

"I have come a long way, and among the prefectures and counties that have experienced war, Wuzhou is quite good."

He looked at Li Yun and praised him, "When Governor Li was a captain in Qingyang, it was a waste of his talent."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Sir, that's a compliment."

"The reason why Wuzhou was able to restore order and not become chaotic like other places is that I now have enough troops to suppress any unrest."

He looked at Gu Wenchuan and said with a smile: "The original court was the same."

Gu Wenchuan looked at Li Yun seriously, exhaled slowly, and said, "One thing is one thing. I don't deny that you have the skills to keep the people in peace, but you privately recruited soldiers and mobilized troops, which is tantamount to treason, which is another matter."

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea, shook his head and smiled, "The court is worthy of being the court, it really knows how to send people. To be honest, sir, I am very busy every day now and don't have much time to chat. If the court sends someone else to do your job..."

Having said this, Li Yun said "Hey" and didn't continue.

Instead, he changed the subject and said, "However, since you are here, I will talk to you for the sake of our old friendship."

Li Yun put down his teacup and said slowly, "Mr. said that I secretly transferred troops to Luzhou. Luzhou was occupied by the rebels. The rebels burned, killed and looted everywhere in Luzhou. At least several thousand people died in the city and outside the city. I saw with my own eyes that there were many female corpses with their clothes stripped off in the ditches on both sides of the official road."

"Our Wuzhou is a thousand miles away from Luzhou. Of course I can choose not to go, but where is the imperial division?"

"If I don't station troops in Wuzhou, and there is unrest in Wuzhou, can the court send reinforcements to suppress the unrest in Wuzhou?"

"The rebels killed their way all the way from Guangzhou and Shouzhou to Luzhou. They probably killed more than 10,000 people along the way. Where is the imperial court?"

Li Yun put down his teacup, looked at Gu Wenchuan, and said, "General Su was seriously ill and was carried into the military camp to fight the rebels. In the end, he died on the battlefield. The court can say that the Shuofang Army had ulterior motives and did not move. Then why didn't the court, with so many imperial troops, march out of Tongguan to help General Su quell the rebellion in the Central Plains?"

"In the past few years in Jiangnan, you have witnessed the rebellion in Shidai County, Xuanzhou. Other rebellions you have not experienced include the rebellion of Qiu Dian in Yuezhou, the rebellion of Guo Ming in Xiangshan County, the rebellion of Zhao Cheng in Wuzhou, and the rebellion of Haiyan County in Wujun."

"With so many chaos happening, the imperial court doesn't intervene at all. If the local government doesn't strengthen itself, will they just sit there and do nothing?"

Li Yun looked at Gu Wenchuan and said calmly, "Mr. Gu, do you want me to learn from other government officials, abandon my office, abandon my people, and take my family to escape for my own life?"

"Mr. Gu is a great scholar of the time, and I, Li, am just a superficial warrior. I can't figure out these questions, so please teach me, Mr. Gu."

"If you can teach me clearly, I will disband all the troops in Wuzhou, tie myself up and go to the capital, and ask to be beheaded."

Gu Wenchuan naturally couldn't explain these questions clearly. Not only he couldn't explain them clearly, no one in the court could explain them clearly either.

However, Li Yun's words still made Mr. Gu's face turn red. He lowered his head to drink tea, his hands were shaking, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "It seems that the master has nothing to teach me."

Gu Wenchuan blushed and sighed, "I'm afraid no one in the world can teach you."

Li Yun poured him more tea and said with a smile, "I followed you before, in Shidai County, and we skillfully captured several thieves. At that time, I knew that you were not one of those corrupt scholars who don't know how to adapt."

"Let's not talk about formalities. I just want to ask you one question: why did the court send you to Wuzhou?"

Li Yun sat back in his seat and said slowly, "If you want to hold me accountable, you can read the imperial edict now."

Gu Wenchuan looked at Li Yun and groaned, "If there really is such an imperial edict, I'm afraid I'll die of a sudden illness the moment I finish reading it."

Li Yun laughed: "That's not the case."

He looked at Gu Wenchuan and said seriously, "Sir, the situation is like this. I am not a three-year-old child. It is useless to talk nonsense. We are old acquaintances. Let's talk about something real."

"Then I will tell you a few truths."

Mr. Gu sat in his seat and said silently: "The court originally meant to issue an imperial edict to you, ordering you to lead troops to the Central Plains to fight against the bandits, but some people felt...felt it was inappropriate, so they sent me to take a look at Wuzhou and see what the situation was."

“Not appropriate…”

Li Yun pondered over these three words, then looked at Gu Wenchuan and said with a smile: "The court is worried that if I disobey their orders, they will not be able to do anything to me for a while, and in the end it will not only be unhelpful to the situation, but also lose the court's dignity, right?"

Gu Wenchuan was silent again. After a while, he looked up at Li Yun and said with emotion: "It's been two years since we last met. The former Captain Li has become so smart." "It's not that I'm smart."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I feel that I am not much different from Li Dutou two years ago. It's just that the master looked down on people based on their official positions and didn't take me seriously at that time."

Gu Wenchuan was stunned and fell silent again.

At that time, he really didn't care much about Li Yun.

"Li, I have the imperial edict with me. If I order the troops of Wuzhou to rush to the Central Plains immediately, what will you do?"

Li Yun did not hesitate and said solemnly: "Li was promoted by the court, so I will obey the imperial edict and gather the troops soon."

"However, Wuzhou has limited troops. I'm afraid they will be a drop in the bucket when we reach the Central Plains battlefield. Therefore, I plan to recruit another group of soldiers from Jiangnan to rebuild General Su's Jiangnan troops."

"Once the army was formed, Li Zhao immediately led it to the battlefield to suppress the rebellion."

Li Yun's words were righteous, but Gu Wenchuan clearly heard the mockery and even ridicule of the court in his words.

The old man sat there, his mind full of thoughts, and he couldn't utter a word.

Li Yun looked at him and suddenly smiled and said, "I have figured it out now. I just saw you outside. You said those words to scare me so that I would lead all the Wuzhou soldiers and rush to the Central Plains immediately."

At this point, Li Yun couldn't help but frown and said, "Two years ago, when I followed you to Shidai, I thought I was brave and resourceful. The impression I left on you at that time..."

"Is it that stupid?"

Gu Wenchuan smiled bitterly and sighed: "It's true that I...have some...wild ideas."

"I should have known earlier that Governor Li... is definitely not an ordinary person, as he has made Wuzhou what it is now."

Li Yun rolled his eyes and said, "Well, sir, you tell the court that I am willing to obey the court's arrangements. After a while, when the troops in Wuzhou have rested, I will immediately rush to the Central Plains to quell the rebellion in the Central Plains for the court."

Gu Wenchuan frowned and asked warily: "What do you want to do?"

Li Yun looked aggrieved and shouted, "Sir, you still have the imperial court, so you want me to go to the Central Plains to quell the rebellion? I am willing to go."

Gu Wenchuan took a deep breath and shook his head repeatedly: "This matter... this matter will be discussed later."

Li Yun was about to speak when someone suddenly walked into the main hall, bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying, "Envoy, Lieutenant Li has returned with his troops."

"It will take more than half an hour to reach him outside the city."

Li Yun nodded first, indicating that he understood, then he turned his head to look at Gu Wenchuan, and said with a smile: "Sir, haven't you been talking about Luzhou? Now our Wuzhou soldiers in Luzhou have returned, sir, do you want to go with me to take a look?"

Gu Wenchuan stood up and looked at Li Yun: "Go."

Li Yun smiled and took him all the way out of the city. The governor's mansion was not too close to the city gate. When the two men arrived at the city gate and Li Yun took the old man all the way up to the city wall, the troops led by Zhao Cheng were about to arrive outside Wuzhou City.

Standing on the city wall, the entire team looked like a long dragon.

Gu Wenchuan stood on the city wall, stunned.

Although he had never fought in a war, he could see that there were at least three thousand soldiers under the city, or even more!

He stared at the soldiers blankly and said, "This...you...you..."

Theoretically, a state should have only one thousand soldiers, but now, there may be four thousand soldiers just under the city wall!

Including the troops of Wuzhou Camp and those new recruits, the current strength of Wuzhou alone may be around five to six thousand people!

Although Gu Wenchuan had known for a long time that the local army in Wuzhou was overstaffed, he did not expect it to be so much overstaffed. He was so shocked that he was speechless.

This is already an army of considerable size!
"Don't be surprised, sir."

Li Yun said expressionlessly: "These are most likely the defeated troops under General Su."

Upon hearing this, Gu Wenchuan fell silent.

Li Yun looked at him and said calmly: "Sir, you are a smart man. You should be able to figure it out. The court is unable to take care of other places. Jiangnan actually needs such an army to maintain local stability."

Mr. Gu closed his eyes: "But this matter should be done by someone sent by the court..."

"They are all working for the court, what's the difference?"

Li Yun pointed at the army under the city and said half-jokingly: "Sir, please write to the court and ask the court to appoint me as the Jiangnan Road Recruiting Envoy."

"I promise that I can not only keep the roads in Jiangnan clean for the imperial court, but also send troops to help the imperial court suppress the rebellion. This way, once the imperial court has dealt with the rebels in the Central Plains, it will be able to regain a peaceful and prosperous Jiangnan."

Gu Wenchuan had a blank expression on his face: "At that time, was Jiangnan still the Jiangnan of the imperial court?"

"Why not?"

Li Yun smiled and said, "Sir, have you forgotten that there is no strategic location to defend Jiangnan? I can't establish my own regime even if I want to."

"Sir...will you consider it?"

(End of this chapter)