Thief Emperor

Chapter 301 The Last Jump
Li Yun knew very well what the court lacked now.

Lack of money and food.

Otherwise, the imperial court would not have sent the King of Chu to Jiangnan to get money and food.

Now, it is impossible for Henan Prefecture in the Central Plains to collect money and grain, and even the entire Central Plains is affected by the rebels. It is difficult to collect autumn taxes, and the imperial court has to support the Shuofang Army. At this time, the problem of money and grain will only become more and more serious.

It may be able to be maintained for one or two years, but if it goes on for a long time, the imperial court may be forced to send troops out of Guanzhong.

What Du Qian said was right. What the imperial court hopes most now is to maintain the status quo in the local areas until they have recovered. However, the premise is that the core interests of the imperial court cannot be damaged.

Money and grain are the core interests among core interests. Li Yun is sure that once the money and grain from the east route of Jiangnan cannot be delivered, the court will become anxious.

As soon as he was in a hurry, he got the position of the Recruiting Envoy.

The states in the eastern part of Jiangnan are full of bandits, and they even dare to rob the imperial court of taxes and grain. So it is only natural to station a recruiting envoy in Jiangdong to fight against these "bandits" who take advantage of the situation to rob.

Of course, the imperial court could also send down a general from the sky, but at this time, if those people in the imperial court really sent down a general, it is estimated that this general would be a short-lived ghost who had offended too many people in the imperial court.

This was actually a game between Li Yun and the imperial court.

The world is already in chaos, and everything that should be exposed has been exposed, so there is no need to hide it anymore.

However, doing so is not completely without cost. According to the current situation and what Wu Yuanyou said before he returned to Beijing, the Great Zhou, which has existed for more than 200 years, is not as fragile as it seems. A rebellion in the Central Plains probably will not cost it its life.

By doing this, Li Yun would undoubtedly offend the imperial court. Once the imperial court has recovered from the chaos in the Central Plains, it might turn around and settle accounts with Li Yun and others who had ulterior motives in the local area.

But that will be at least two or three years later.

After all, even if the rebels in the Central Plains were to disappear immediately, the imperial court would need some time to stabilize the Central Plains first, and then recover some strength before it could start to deal with the affairs in the south of the Yangtze River.

And two or three years later, Li Yun might be able to compete with the imperial court in the Jiangnan area.

In troubled times, you must fight for what you should fight for! And the sooner the better. If you shrink back and fret, you will never achieve anything great in your life.

The next morning, Li Zheng and Liu Bo, along with two captains' battalions, quietly left Wuzhou.

They are Li Yun's most trusted confidants, and this is also their expertise, so there shouldn't be any big problems in doing this.

After all, this matter does not require them to intercept successfully 100%. They only need to randomly rob four or five states, or even two or three states. Even if some states have already sent money and grain out, other states will stop sending money and grain to the court.

Li Yun’s goal was achieved.

Besides, it is only the beginning of October and there is still a month before the deadline for autumn taxes. Even when the court was peaceful, local prefectures and counties would not be so enthusiastic about paying taxes, let alone now.

The next day, Li Yun got up from the bed early in the morning. As soon as he woke up, Xue Yun'er and Dong'er in the room naturally woke up as well. Dong'er hurried to get hot water, while Xue Yun'er got up and found a new set of clothes for Li Yun.

After helping Li Yun put on new clothes, Xue Yuner combed Li Yun's hair and said with a smile: "This autumn coat is pretty good, isn't it?"

Li Yun looked at himself in the bronze mirror and said with a smile, "Not bad."

"It makes my husband look even more heroic."

Xue Yuner stood behind Li Yun, put her arms around Li Yun's neck, leaned over to his ear, and whispered softly, "Someone spent more than half a month making this for you."

Li Yun looked back at her and chuckled, "Did Madam do this herself?"

"It's not me."

Xue Yuner smiled and said, "I haven't learned it yet."

Li Yun was stunned, thinking about something.

"My husband, have you guessed it?"

Xue Yun'er put the crown on him and snorted, "Since that day when you lifted her quilt, you haven't spoken to her for a month. My husband is really heartless."

Li Yun finally understood who she was talking about, and said helplessly: "I have been very busy recently."

"Just wait a few days."

He stood up, put his hand on his forehead, and said softly: "Wait a few days, I will talk to her."

As he said that, he looked at Xue Yun'er and shook his head, "Madam, you too, have caused all this trouble."

"Where is the right and wrong?"

Xue Yun'er put on his coat and said softly, "Our Li family is small."

"Besides, it's a turbulent time now, and my sister is helpless and has nowhere to go. She's in love with you, so why doesn't she stay with me to keep me company? Isn't that a good thing?"

After putting on the crown, Xue Yun'er thought for a moment and said, "By the way, Li Zheng is not young anymore, we need to find him a marriage partner. As a brother, you are not paying enough attention, so I will find him a suitable marriage partner during this period of time."

Li Yun hummed, and said with a smile: "I've been very busy recently and have no time to take care of this matter. Since Madam is willing, please help him take care of it. He is indeed at the age to get married." Xue Yun'er helped him put on his coat and said slowly: "Since my husband has chosen this path, the Li family must prosper."

Li Yun naturally knew what she was talking about. He didn't say much, just said "hmm", got up and took the hot water that Dong'er had poured for him to wash his face, then said, "I'll go see Du Shouyi first, and when I come back in the evening, I'll discuss this matter with Madam."

"Go ahead, husband."

Xue Yuner smiled and said, "I'll go talk to Sister Su in a bit."

Li Yun smiled dumbly, and the couple parted ways. He went all the way to the front yamen, and soon saw Du Qian who had just gotten up. Li Yun walked up to him and said with a smile, "Good morning, brother Shouyi."

Du Qian shook his head: "For so many years, I have been getting up at the crowing of the rooster. I have long been used to it."

Li Yun pulled his sleeve and said with a smile: "Let's go and eat something on the roadside."

Du Qian smiled and nodded. Soon the two of them sat down at a roadside stall near the governor's mansion. After breakfast was served, Li Yun ate a few big mouthfuls, then looked at Du Qian and said, "Brother Du, we are not particularly short of money and food right now, but we are short of copper, iron, and craftsmen, especially skilled craftsmen."

"I've had an idea about copper and iron these days."

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said softly, "My hometown is Xuanzhou, there is a county called Yi'an County."

"Rich in copper mines."

Li Yun said softly: "I sent someone to inquire about it. There are not only copper mines in the area, but also copper smelting workshops."

The Tongguan Copper Mine in Yi'an County is a very famous copper mine in the entire Xuanzhou and even in the western part of Jiangnan.

However, naturally, only the imperial court could monopolize this kind of copper mine, and because it involved coin minting, the imperial court had extremely strict control over it.

It is much stricter than the Salt Road.

Du Qian took a leisurely bite of breakfast, then looked at Li Yun and asked, "What is Erlang going to do?"

"Not ready yet."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It's just one county, and it's my hometown. I think it won't be difficult to get it. The more difficult thing now is the lack of craftsmen."

No matter what era, craftsmen are a very important group for a collective. If Li Yun can have a group of craftsmen of hundreds of people, many of his "wonderful ideas" can be put into practice.

Of course, if there are enough craftsmen, the most important thing now is to equip the soldiers under his command. After all, although there are several thousand soldiers in Wuzhou now, most of them have almost no armor.

Not only iron armor, but even leather armor is scarce.

"Recruiting craftsmen... can be done together with recruiting soldiers."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "Erlang is the governor of a state. He can also directly issue an imperial decree to transfer all the craftsmen from the counties to the city."

"That won't work."

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "Each county should retain some craftsmen. We can't call them all to the state. Sword-making is important, but plow-making is equally important."

"We can't be too hasty about this matter. We still have to do it step by step."

Hearing Li Yun's words, Du Qian was stunned at first, then he became serious, and the way he looked at Li Yun became different again.

Apart from anything else, with this kind of insight, Li Yun has already surpassed most of the military generals in this world, including the Jiedushi who commanded their own troops.

After they had breakfast, they walked towards the governor's mansion one after the other. Du Qian walked behind Li Yun. After entering the governor's mansion, he looked at Li Yun and said, "I received a letter from my father last night."

Li Yun stopped, looked at Du Qian, and asked, "What did Minister Du say?"

"My father said that the Shuofang Army and the imperial court will make a big move before the New Year. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already said that it will be in the first half of next year at the latest..."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and continued, "Completely resolve the rebellion in the Central Plains."

Li Yun pondered for a while and said, "I'm afraid this depends on whether General Wei from Shuofang agrees or not."

"The Crown Prince has summoned Wei Quanzhong to the capital."

Du Qian smiled and said, "Erlang, do you think he will come to Beijing?
Li Yun narrowed his eyes: "He must go."

"Ah."

"If he doesn't dare to go, the Shuofang Army will immediately be in a dilemma."

Du Qian said slowly: "But in my opinion, even if the chaos in the Central Plains can be resolved in the end, it is also the court's..."

"The last jump,"

(End of this chapter)