Thief Emperor

Chapter 319: Asking Saint An
For the newly appointed governor of Xuanzhou, the officials of Yian County are now targets that he must eliminate.

At least to shut them up.

Because Governor Deng knew very well that since the court had turned a blind eye to the actions of the Governor of Wuzhou and even gave him the post of Recruiting Envoy, it meant that, at least in the short term, the court no longer had any control over Jiangnan.

The imperial court had actually compromised, that is to say, in this case of Yi'an, the imperial court would approve it in whatever way "Li Zhao" reported it.

To put it more bluntly, if Li Yun reported the corruption of Yi'an officials, the court would definitely deal with it without any objection.

And if Li Yun added the name of Governor Deng, the court would most likely deal with it together.

Because a governor of Xuanzhou is too insignificant compared with the overall situation of the court.

Therefore, at this time, he must bow his head if he can. If he really wants to go against this Jiangnan bully who is called the governor but is actually a military leader, he, Deng, will definitely die a miserable death.

Li Yun was too lazy to have any conflicts with the new governor of Xuanzhou.

After all, for him, there are only two important things in Xuanzhou now. One is some relatives in Qingyang, and the other is the copper mine in Yian. The rest are unimportant.

After Governor Deng arrived in Yi'an County, Li Yun did not let him leave and allowed him to stay in Yi'an County for one night. The next day, Li Yun took the memorial he had written overnight and found the Governor of Xuanzhou named Deng Gao.

"Brother Zhong Ming."

After one night, Li Yun became much more polite. He handed a memorial to Governor Deng, whose courtesy name was Zhongming, and said with a smile, "This case is not a small one. Fortunately, the criminals have confessed their guilt, so the matter is not that complicated. I wrote this memorial overnight last night, and I wrote down everything that happened in the case."

He looked at Governor Deng and said with a smile, "Brother Zhong Ming, please sign your name. We will submit a joint petition to the court. Then, my trip to Xuanzhou to handle the case will not seem so abrupt."

"It will also avoid embarrassing the Xuanzhou government."

Deng Zhongming's face turned pale.

The military leader in front of him was clearly in a state of separatism. The imperial court must be annoyed with him. If he signed a joint statement with him, the imperial court might believe that he was on the side of Li Zhao.

Governor Deng waved his hands and said, "This is a case handled by the envoy. How can I take credit for it? Absolutely not. Absolutely not."

Li Yun glanced at him and said calmly, "I am from Xuanzhou. Lord Deng is the father and mother of Xuanzhou. We have a long history. If I bypass the Xuanzhou government and deal with all the officials in a county in Xuanzhou, Lord Deng will probably lose face, right?"

"It's OK, it's OK."

Deng Zhongming lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "The case judged by the envoy..."

When he was about to continue to refuse, he suddenly saw Li Yun's smile gradually fade away. Envoy Deng stopped talking abruptly. After taking a deep breath, he lowered his head and said, "Then... let's do as you wish. I will go with you..."

He swallowed and said, "Let's submit a joint petition together."

Li Yun nodded in satisfaction, patted Envoy Deng on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Come on, Brother Deng, come with me and go in to sign."

Governor Deng had no choice but to follow Li Yun obediently and signed the memorial tremblingly. After he signed, Li Yun blew the ink dry and immediately handed the memorial to Meng Hai, instructing him, "Send it to the capital immediately by flying horse."

Meng Hai nodded, turned around and left with the memorial in his arms.

Governor Deng subconsciously stretched out his hand to stop him, but in the end he didn't say anything. After a long while, he turned his head to look at Li Yun, lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "Sir, if I have any difficulties in the future."

"Please help me, sir."

Li Yun nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry, Bao La, Bao La."

………………

The news that the Emperor had suddenly fallen ill and was on his deathbed spread quickly throughout the country.

After all, when a "small military leader" of Li Yun's level knew about it, most of the local forces had probably already known about it.

The response to this is different in every place.

The next day after receiving the news, Pinglu Jiedushi Zhou Xu sent more spies to Jiangnan to investigate the situation there.

He had no intention of sending troops to Jiangnan, but as the closest military governor to Jiangnan, he desperately needed Jiangnan's resources so that he could support more troops.

At the same time, he began to actively contact local gentry in Yangzhou, Jiangning and Wujun.

Now, no Jiedushi would take the initiative to turn against the court. After all, everyone is waiting and watching. Since they are not prepared to turn against the court, they will naturally have to support their own agents.

Previously, he sent people to find Li Yun in order to cultivate Li Yun as his agent for interests in Jiangnan. Now that Fan Can has been sent to the capital and the imperial edict of reprimand has been issued to Qingzhou, he naturally would not seek cooperation with Li Yun anymore.

However, there are more people in Jiangnan and more forces.

If Li Yun is not tactful, there will naturally be someone who is tactful.

As the Emperor fell unconscious, rumors began to spread wildly across the country.

Some people said that the prince had poisoned the emperor, and the emperor suddenly became seriously ill because of the poison. Others said that the prince had murdered the emperor and usurped the throne, and that the emperor was dead now, and the prince would soon ascend the throne.

However, more people said that the Emperor died of a sudden illness, but the Crown Prince concealed his illness and kept the news a secret.

But no matter which statement is true, the same intention is that with the complete fall of His Majesty the Emperor, the court's influence on the local areas seems to have been further weakened.

In addition to the Pinglu Jiedushi starting to take some tentative moves and taking further actions towards Jiangnan.

There were also changes in other military governors in various places.

For example, the Jiedushi of Fanyang, further north, began to ask the court for military pay on the grounds that foreign races were ready to make trouble.

Other military governors also took actions.

However, the one who made the biggest move was naturally Wei Quanzhong, the governor of Shuofang, who was still in the Central Plains.

He was just outside Tongguan, so he naturally received the news much earlier than other Jiedushi. In fact, when other Jiedushi just received the news, Wei Quanzhong had already completed a new round of attacks on the rebels.

In this battle, the Shuofang Army sent a vanguard of 5,000 people, which defeated more than 20,000 rebels in two states of Henan Prefecture. This battle not only caused the rebels to retreat step by step, but also brought the rebels' morale to an extreme low.

Some small groups of rebels have begun to mutiny.

At the same time, those high-ranking rebels who had originally scoffed at the idea of ​​amnesty were now beginning to waver in their hearts, and many of them had begun to bring up the issue of amnesty in front of Wang Junping.

There is no way, the disparity in combat power is too great.

The rebels would have to lose at least two to three people, or even more, before they could replace a Shuofang Army soldier on the front battlefield.

This is still an ideal state.

The reality is that once the two sides start fighting, it won’t be long before the rebels begin to retreat on the front battlefield due to heavy casualties.

Some rebels who had fought with the Shuofang Army for a long time even suffered psychological trauma. When they saw the Shuofang Army's flag, they lost all their will to fight.

The strength of the Shuofang Army made the rebels clearly aware of the gap. For at least three years, none of their armies could confront the elite Shuofang Army head-on.

As for whether it can be achieved in three years... no one can say for sure.

After all, it’s hard to say whether they will still be there after three years.

The Shuofang Army, which had just given the rebels a slap in the face, did not occupy the territory they had captured after the battle. Instead, they began to retreat and gave up the territory.

The Shuofang Army, or Wei Quanzhong himself, is most afraid that this rebel army will suddenly accept the imperial court's amnesty or simply stop rebelling.

In that case, the Shuofang Army would lose its excuse to stay in the Central Plains. If they continued to stay, the other Jiedushi would most likely become restless.

If they don't stay...

But I'm not really willing to do that.

Therefore, after the Shuofang Army finished this battle, it immediately began to shrink its territory.

At the same time, General Wei Quanzhong gave up the idea of ​​leading 10,000 elite troops into the pass, and only brought 100 personal guards with him, and was finally allowed to enter Tongguan.

After passing the customs, he rushed to the capital.

After arriving in the capital, General Wei did not even take a moment's rest and headed straight for the imperial city. He went all the way to the gate of the imperial palace, where he was stopped by the guards guarding the gate.

General Wei did not rush into the palace, but knelt down at the palace gate with a plop and bowed his head deeply.

"Your Highness, I, Wei Quanzhong, have been summoned to the capital to see Your Majesty!"

The former Jiedushi of Shuofang was an important figure in the imperial court. Now that the Central Plains was in such chaos, the Lord of Shuofang was killing people in the Central Plains like a god of war. Naturally, no one dared to neglect General Wei.

Soon, several prime ministers arrived at the palace gate. Prime Minister Cui Yuan stepped forward, helped General Wei up, and then forced a smile on his face.

"The general has just arrived in the capital and has been traveling a long way. Even if His Majesty summons him now, it would be impolite. It is better for him to rest in the Ministry of Rites for a day or two. When His Majesty summons him, he will naturally be able to see His Majesty."

Wei Quanzhong first looked up at Cui Yuan, then slowly stood up. Suddenly his eyes turned red, and he whispered, "Prime Minister Cui, I heard some bad news in the Central Plains."

"That's why I hurried to the capital."

He almost shed tears: "Your Majesty promoted me. If it weren't for Your Majesty, I would probably still be a soldier. Your Majesty is like a reborn parent in my heart."

"Choi Sang-sang..."

General Wei's eyes were red and he almost shed tears.

"Your Majesty, how is your Majesty doing now?"

(End of this chapter)