Thief Emperor

Chapter 308 Intelligence Organization
In the Jiangnan region, it has been difficult to produce any powerful warlords since ancient times.

The imperial court was naturally aware of this. Therefore, even if the imperial court knew that the Hexi bandits were created by Li Yun, after weighing the pros and cons, it would be unlikely to support the Pinglu Army to go south to suppress Li Yun in the south of the Yangtze River.

The Pinglu Army is already quite powerful. If they have another Jiangnan to act as a "power bank" for them, and since the imperial court has no way to limit the number of vassal troops, it may not take long for the number of Pinglu Army to double!
By that time, it would be a real concern.

Moreover, Li Yun now still intends to pay some taxes to the court, but the Pinglu Jiedushi wants to eat up all the income in Jiangnan and has no intention of leaving any for the court.

Throw this guy named Fan to the court. As long as the court is not too stupid, it won’t take long for Li Yun to give some positive feedback.

Maybe he would even give Li Yun some support.

Although the imperial court is unable to provide any substantial assistance to Li Yun now, as long as it can help Li Yun legally, it will be of great help to Li Yun now.

And this guy named Fan...

Thinking of this, Li Yun glanced at Fan Can who had been tied up, stepped forward with his hands behind his back, and said calmly: "When Mr. Fan arrives in the capital, remember to tell the government about the crimes that Li committed in Jiangdong in detail."

Fan Can was already a little scared at this moment. He was also a smart man, so he could naturally imagine what kind of outcome he would face after being taken to the capital.

He looked up at Li Yun, forced a smile on his face, and whispered, "Envoy Li, Envoy Li."

"Can I have a word with you alone?"

He pleaded in a low voice: "Just two sentences..."

Li Yun glanced at him, then gave a look to the personal soldiers next to him. The personal soldiers immediately walked away, and soon there were only two of them left nearby.

Fan Shen finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Envoy Li, negotiating cooperation is just like negotiating a business deal. You have to raise the price and pay it back when it is done..."

"Your Excellency, you can put forward any conditions you want. We can discuss it slowly. There is no need to make things tense."

"You send me to the capital. In the end, at most I will die in the capital. Will it have any impact on my master?"

"Not at all."

Fan Shen whispered, "For this, the envoy will severely offend my master, and this will create a grudge between us. The gain will not outweigh the loss."

Seeing Li Yun's cold face and silence, Fan Shen quickly said: "The Pinglu Army fully supports the envoy to control Jiangnan. The income of Jiangnan will be divided between the Pinglu Army and the envoy..."

"What do you think, sir?"

"not so good."

Li Yun curled his lips and left with his hands behind his back: "Go to the capital and talk to the masters there about these things."

After saying that, Li left with his hands behind his back.

"Escort him to the capital immediately."

After giving this instruction, Li Yun left this courtyard and came to the next courtyard. He bowed to an old man in green and said with a smile: "Mr. Gu, have you seen everything?"

"If I, a Jiangnan native, don't fight for this place in Jiangnan, there will be others who want to fight for it. Look, the Pinglu Army hundreds of miles away has been attracted here."

In the past two days, Li Yun had already shown the document written by Mr. Fan to Gu Wenchuan. At this moment, Mr. Gu had a complicated expression. After a moment of silence, he looked up at Li Yun and asked, "This Mr. Fan said that the Hexi bandits were from your subordinates..."

"Seriously?"

Li Yun looked calm, looked at Gu Wenchuan, and said, "Sir, others may think so because they don't know where the Hexi thieves came from, but you, Mr. Dudu, should not think so."

"Where did the Hexi bandits come from and how did they get here?"

"Sir, you know it best."

Coincidentally, Li Yun and Gu Wenchuan knew each other before because of the incident in Hexi Village, Shidai County, and the Hexi bandits in Xuanzhou were indeed caused by Shidai County.

Gu Wenchuan was the person in charge of this case, and he knew exactly where the Hexi thieves came from.

Hearing this, Gu Wenchuan's face twitched and he said angrily: "Hexi Village, Shidai County, Xuanzhou, I have personally visited it!"

"There are less than 200 people in the whole village. The number of people who escaped may be less than 50. How can a few dozen people rob the autumn taxes of 20 states and counties in Jiangdong?"

Li Yun looked at Gu Wenchuan and said slowly, "Sir, the imperial court has increased taxes over the years, and the village in the world was almost wiped out because of resistance to taxation. Is it true that there is only one village in Hexi?"

“There are tens of thousands of Hexi villages in the world.”

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and continued, "Moreover, they definitely did not rob the autumn taxes of the twenty states and counties in Jiangdong. They may have only robbed two or three of them. It is even hard to say whether there was a bandit in Hexi."

"Sir, sometimes the tax thieves of the states are not in the flesh, but in ..."

Li looked at Gu Wenchuan and said calmly, "It's in people's hearts." This sentence made Gu Wenchuan stunned. After thinking silently for a moment, he shook his head and sighed, and said, "Forget it, I will report this matter to the court in writing."

"As for how the court decides, that is the court's business."

Li Yun smiled.

"I just want you to report the truth."

He paused and then asked, "Sir, today Li is going to take this man named Fan to the capital. Would you like to go back to the capital with us?"

“There are more people, and it’s safer.”

Gu Wenchuan shook his head firmly: "Old man, I will continue to stay in Jiangnan and report what you did to the court truthfully."

Li Shijun didn't care and smiled faintly: "Then it's up to you, sir."

…………

On the third day after Fan Can was escorted to the capital, Li Zheng and Liu Bo returned to Wuzhou one after another. After returning to Wuzhou, they learned that Li Yun was supervising the training of new recruits in the barracks. They did not dare to neglect it and hurried to the barracks to see Li Yun.

When they arrived at the military camp, Li Yun was exercising with several brigade commanders. With cheers, the four brigade commanders were thrown out one by one by Li Yun.

Zhao Cheng and Su Sheng, who were standing by, couldn't bear it any longer. After they shouted "OK", they took off their coats and went into battle shirtless.

Su Sheng looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "Sir, we two are more numerous than the enemy, so let's have a fight with you."

At this moment, Li Yun was also shirtless. He grinned and waved at the two of them: "Come!"

The two looked at each other, and then rushed towards Li Yun from the left and right.

At this moment, Li Yun had no armor or weapons, and since it was a military sparring, it was not easy to use heavy hands. Therefore, there would naturally not be an overwhelming scene in this sparring.

Two men pounced on Li Yun. After fighting for a while, Li Yun found an opportunity, grabbed Su Sheng's arms with both hands, and exerted force with his feet. With a low shout, the young general felt himself flying into the air and was thrown out directly.

Zhao Cheng on the other side was about to go up to support when he was bumped by Li Yun. He could only block with his two hands and his standing was unstable. He stepped back seven or eight steps before he could steady himself.

If it were on the battlefield, it would be a matter of life and death.

After playing for a while, Li Yun felt very happy and laughed, "Great! Great!"

The current Li Yun has been gradually influenced by the great village leader Li. At least his temperament has gradually become warlike.

Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

Zhao Cheng sighed and said, "Your Excellency is so brave and courageous, I have never heard of such a brave and courageous person before."

Su Sheng also sighed: "Even among the border troops, there are probably few who can rival you, Lord Envoy."

After listening to the flattery happily, Li Yun saw Liu Bo and Li Zheng who had rushed back from the corner of his eye. He called out to the people on the training ground to continue practicing, while he put on his coat and walked towards Li Zheng and Liu Bo. The two followed them tacitly.

After the three of them arrived at the big tent, Li Yun sat down at the main seat and motioned for the other two to sit down as well. After they both sat down, Li Yun looked at Liu Bo and said slowly, "It seems that something has happened with the Hexi bandits..."

Liu Bo was stunned, then shook his head and said, "This is impossible. Our actions are very secretive. Who can find out?"

"There is no airtight wall in the world."

Li Yun stretched his muscles and said calmly: "What's more, there are already many people watching Jiangnan Road. They have been keeping spies under their command for many years. It's not surprising that the news leaked out."

"Old Nine, I will give you an additional 50,000 strings of cash every year. From now on, your main focus will be on intelligence. Try to get this intelligence part ready within two years."

Liu Bo lowered his head quickly: "Yes!"

Li Yun pondered for a moment and said, "Now, I need to know the intelligence of the three places and the local situation. The more detailed the better. Lao Jiu, you can use this to practice."

Liu Bo lowered his head slightly and said with a smile: "Second brother, you say."

"One is Runzhou, and the other is Yangzhou."

These two states are the northernmost states in the eastern part of Jiangnan. They are likely to become Li Yun’s military defense line or military outposts in the future. He needs to act as soon as possible to take over these two states.

"In addition, there is also Yi'an County in Xuanzhou. The more detailed the better."

Liu Bo thought about it seriously and nodded slowly.

"Subordinates... obey orders!"

(End of this chapter)