Thief Emperor

Chapter 307: Impartial Law Enforcement Li Erlang

Li Yun was naturally suspicious about Fan Can's identity, so he sent Liu Bo to investigate.

But after meeting him, Li Yun was already 70% to 80% convinced.

It is difficult to deceive people by their words and actions without special training.

Li Yun has been an official for nearly two years now, and he has thousands of people under his command. In addition, he has been fighting on the battlefield for many years and has an intimidating aura. Ordinary people may not be able to speak clearly in front of him. They lack confidence and it is impossible for them to complete a complete conversation with him.

Regardless of whether what Fan Can said was true or not, Li Yun had to make corresponding preparations.

However, this kind of preparation is not military for the time being.

The Pinglu Army was at least six hundred miles away from Jiangdong. Even if the Pinglu Army moved south immediately, it would take at least half a month to reach Runzhou, the northernmost part of Jiangdong, and a whole month to reach Wuzhou.

Moreover, without the imperial court's approval, the Pinglu Army would not do such a thing for the time being.

Analyzing the current situation, if what Fan Shen said is all true, what the Pinglu Army needs is only the wealth and resources of Jiangnan, not the territory of Jiangnan.

Occupying the territory in the south of the Yangtze River is not justifiable in terms of morality, and it would also consume a huge amount of resources. The Pinglu Army would not easily go south, nor would they dare to do so.

What they need more is to treat Jiangnan as their rear base and their own resource package.

But no matter which one it was, Li Yun couldn't accept it.

Although he has not yet taken over Jiangnan, he has actually regarded Jiangnan, especially Jiangnan East Road, as his own place and does not allow external forces to interfere.

Not long after Fan Can left, Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng arrived at the governor's mansion one after another.

After the two sat down in front of Li Yun, Li Yun went to the part about the Hexi bandits and explained the general situation. Then he said, "It seems that the Pinglu Army may have the idea of ​​intervening in Jiangnan. It is unlikely that they will go south directly, but it is not impossible. We have to be on guard."

Su Sheng lowered his head and thought for a while, then he said "Hey", and whispered: "I have heard of this Zhou Xu. He inherited the position of Jiedushi of Pinglu from his father. His father Zhou Meng was quite a character and was very good at fighting. This Zhou Xu."

"After inheriting the Pinglu Army's fortune, his abilities haven't necessarily improved much, but his pomp and circumstance is extremely grand. It is said that in Qingzhou, if he takes a fancy to a girl on the street, the family must send their daughter to him on the same day. If they wait for his personal soldiers to snatch her away, the lives of the whole family will be in danger."

"In his governor's mansion alone, there were hundreds of women using beauty bowls."

In recent decades, the imperial court's control over local military governors has become increasingly weak. In the earliest times, the term of office of the Jiedushi was three years or five years, but in recent decades, most of the Jiedushi in various places have been lifelong.

The father died and the son took over.

Some of the vassal states have been in power for three generations.

The Pinglu Jiedushi is a typical example, but it has only been passed down to the second generation. These local Jiedushi are in charge of military and political power, and they have the final say on personnel appointments, and they even mint their own coins and make their own laws.

Since the imperial court's laws could not control it, things naturally became lawless.

The evil of human nature is revealed vividly.

Su Sheng looked at Li Yun and continued, "Erlang, don't worry about the Pinglu Army. If the Pinglu Army wants to grow stronger, it can only go north to control Youyan, or go to the Central Plains and participate in the melee in the Central Plains."

"They want to go south."

Su Sheng smiled and said, "But in the north, there is also a Fanyang Jiedushi."

After all, Li Yun still knew too little about the court, especially some information in the officialdom. He knew less than Du Qian, or even Su Sheng.

After hearing Su Sheng's words, Li Yun calmed down a little.

Judging from the current information from all sides, things are much more optimistic than he originally expected.

The main thing was that the secret matter of the Hexi bandits was lightly mentioned by that person named Fan, which made Li Yun a little confused.

Now that I have calmed down, many of my thoughts have become clearer.

During the whole process, Zhao Cheng didn't say much, but just stood there quietly waiting for Li Yun's next order.

His family fell into poverty when he was young, and he had never been in the court, nor had he been exposed to much information about the court. In many ways, he was not much different from Li Yun.

Li Yun closed his eyes, thought for a while, and then exhaled: "I am a little anxious."

He opened his eyes and smiled at Su Sheng: "Just now, I was planning to ask Brother Su to go with me to Runzhou and Yangzhou to investigate the case."

Before King Wu Yuanyou of Chu left, Li Yun asked him for a document. The content of the document was very simple. After Wu Yuanyou left, Li Yun helped him do the things he had not finished, such as continuing to clean up the salt roads in Jiangdong, and Yangzhou, the old nest of the Jiangdong salt merchants.

Although there are many salt fields and salt merchants in places like Wujun, the salt transportation center of the entire Jiangdong is in Yangzhou. The Yangzhou salt merchants are also the most famous group in the entire Jiangdong.

The geographical location of Yangzhou is at the northernmost part of Jiangdong and is closer to the Pinglu Army. Just now, Li Yun was even ready to take an army to clean up Yangzhou and then deploy defensive fortifications with Yangzhou as the core.

Now it seems that there is no need to be so anxious.

Zhao Cheng, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. He looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "It is normal for you to be anxious. If you are not anxious about everything, you will become a god."

This may sound like flattery, but there is nothing wrong with it.

After all, the little bit of Jiangdong's foundation was built up by Li Yun with great effort, and it was just starting out. It was suddenly facing a major threat, so naturally Li Yun was the most anxious.

The mentality of starting a business and working for others is of course very different.

After Li Yun pondered for a while, he said, "We still have to do what we should do. In the future, Brother Su will lead his own battalion, and you will also help lead the new recruits battalion." "Then, I will recruit another 1,000 new soldiers in Wuzhou. This matter of recruiting soldiers..."

He looked at Zhao Cheng and said silently, "Leave it to you, General Zhao."

The two of them stood up and saluted: "Yes!"

After finishing the official business, Zhao Cheng smiled and said to Li Yun: "Erlang, I will take people to arrest that Fan guy. He dares to be so presumptuous in our Wuzhou territory. I will kill him with a knife and send his head to Qingzhou. Let's see if that Zhou guy dares to directly dispatch troops to the south."

There was also some murderous intent in Li Yun's eyes.

When he was in the mountains before, he had never suffered any bullying. Now that he has changed from Li Yun to "Li Zhao" and become an official, he has started to suffer bullying for no apparent reason!

Especially the one with the surname Fan, his attitude was very arrogant.

Just now, Li Yun was really frightened by him. Now that he came to his senses, he was of course feeling annoyed.

However, he did not agree with Su Sheng's opinion. After stroking his chin and thinking for a while, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I have a better way to deal with him."

"You two just need to take care of the recruitment and new soldiers. I will take care of this Fan guy."

Zhao Cheng and Su Sheng looked at each other and nodded silently.

When the two left, Su Sheng looked at Li Yun deeply, his eyes full of emotion.

When he first met Li Yun, Li Yun was just a captain who joined the army. Li Yun at that time was more immature than Li Yun is now.

Now, Li Yun, who has become the governor of Wuzhou, is still a little immature in some areas, but his growth rate is already extremely terrifying.

At least, now there is the outline of a local lord.

After Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng left, Li Yun called Meng Hai and ordered, "Send someone to keep an eye on that guy named Fan, and bring him to the governor's mansion in three days."

Meng Hai was now much more mature than before. He bowed slightly and said in a calm voice, "Yes."

…………

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

On the fourth day, before Fan Can had the chance to leave Wuzhou City, Meng Hai escorted him and his luggage to the governor's mansion.

Fan Can was a little flustered at first, but after seeing Li Yun, he regained his composure, bowed to Li Yun and said with a smile: "I thought it was a thief who wanted to kill me, it turned out to be Envoy Li. Envoy Li asked me to come over, and sent someone to pass on the message."

"Why so rude?"

Li Yun sat in his seat, lowered his head to drink tea, then slowly put down the teacup and said lightly: "Tied."

Soon, Fan Can was tied up.

He remained calm, looking at Li Yun and shouting, "Envoy Li wants to kill me? Fan will not return to Qingzhou within a month. My master will naturally understand Envoy Li's intentions!"

"By then, you will be ruined and it will be too late to regret!"

Li Yun looked at him and sneered, "I am an official appointed by the court. How could I take human life lightly?"

"You, you pretended to be the envoy of the Pinglu Jiedushi, framed the Pinglu Jiedushi, and then defrauded me. All these are extremely serious crimes!"

Li Yun pointed at the two letters on the table and said in a cold voice: "These are the letters you sent out in the past three days. They are all here. I have read them. There is evidence that you framed me and the governor of Pinglu!"

"come."

Li Yun shouted, then looked at Fan Can quietly.

Several guards at the side immediately bowed and clasped their fists: "Subordinates are here!"

"This man is extremely evil, but I am involved in the case and cannot try him."

"Send a prisoner cart to take this man to the capital and hand him over to the government office in the capital to be questioned!"

"Everything will be decided by the court."

Upon hearing this, Fan Can's face changed drastically.

During these three days, he sent two letters to Qingzhou, mainly to report the situation in Wuzhou. Unexpectedly, they were both intercepted by Li Yun.

If it were handed over to the imperial court, the Pinglu Army's intention to control Jiangnan would be fully exposed!

And he... will become living evidence. By then, will General Zhou still recognize him as his subordinate?
"Envoy Li!"

He immediately panicked and shouted, "This is all a misunderstanding!"

Li Yun had a blank expression on his face and waved his hand.

"Take away."

(End of this chapter)