Thief Emperor

Chapter 321 Jiangdong Observation Envoy

Yuezhou City.

Li Yun and Li Zheng were walking together on the streets of Yuezhou City, but Li Zheng was walking in front, Zhou Liang was following closely behind, and Li Zheng was at the end.

As Li Yun walked, he looked back at Zhou Liang and said with a smile, "Uncle, how do you feel about being on your own in Yuezhou during this period of time?"

Zhou Liang lowered his head slightly and said, "I just did some of my duties. According to...according to the general's orders, I recruited some new soldiers."

"At this moment, there are a total of 1,500 people in the Yuezhou camp."

"Good thing."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I am now only serving as the governor of Wuzhou. That is to say, our soldiers will no longer have to stay in Wuzhou and Yuezhou. Uncle San will no longer have to stay in Yuezhou alone. We will discuss this later."

"We can prepare to join forces now."

Zhou Liang was stunned for a moment, then asked, "General... where do you want to go?"

"Jiangning."

Li Yun smiled and said without hesitation: "It's the largest city in Jiangdong, but it's not certain whether we can take Jiangning."

"If we can't control Jiangning in a short period of time, we will move to Wujun. It's also a big city. The last time I went to Wujun, I started to covet it."

Yuezhou is a big city, but Wuzhou is not a particularly big city. However, neither of these two cities is as suitable as Jiangning to be a base camp.

Li Yun now needs his own "political center", a place where he can settle down completely.

There are several alternatives, Yuezhou, Wujun, Qiantangjun, or Jiangning.

Relatively speaking, Qiantang County is actually a more reasonable place, because it is located in the center of Jiangnan East Road, while Jiangning is at the northernmost part of Jiangnan East Road.

But Li Yun still wanted to go to Jiangning.

Because it is the northernmost part of the eastern route of Jiangnan, it can be the first to sense the movements in the north, especially the movements of the Pinglu Army.

As for the southern states and counties…

It is important, but throughout history, it has always been a relatively docile place. It only needs someone to manage it, and there won't be too much turmoil.

"Jiangning..."

Zhou Liang was stunned at first, then asked, "General, is this appropriate?"

"Not very suitable."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Nothing we do is suitable. Once we accomplish it, it will naturally become suitable."

Theoretically speaking, a recruiting envoy has no qualifications to rule Jiangning.

Because Jiangning County had actually been promoted to Jinling Prefecture several decades ago, and the rank of local officials there was higher than that of Li Yun, the governor.

Just because people are used to calling it that, people still call it Jiangning.

And the Recruiting Envoy is a person without rank.

Theoretically speaking, Li Yun, as the Recruiting Envoy, can only go to Jiangning to perform the mission of recruiting troops, but he has no right to stay in Jiangning permanently, let alone be the master of Jiangning.

But in this world, theory is no longer useful.

If it really doesn't work, fight a few battles and the local officials will naturally behave themselves.

Li Yun, the general, now has about 7,000 soldiers and horses under his command. To put it bluntly, in the Jiangdong area, whoever he says is a thief is a thief and can be conquered.

Even with the identity of the Recruiting Envoy, some local bandits and robbers could be converted to civil servants of the court through Li Yun.

However, Jiangning is the old capital of the previous dynasty after all, and the local forces are a mixed bag. It is still unknown whether Li Yun can take over Jiangning and when he can take over Jiangning.

You need to take it step by step.

However, what is certain is that Li Yun must take over several states and counties in the southeast and north of Jiangnan as soon as possible. In this way, even if the Pinglu Army really loses its mind one day, Li Yun can rely on these states and counties to deal with the Pinglu Army.

The three of them walked and chatted, and soon they arrived near the Governor's Mansion of Yuezhou. Li Yun looked up at the Governor's Mansion, then turned back to look at Zhou Liang and Li Zheng, and said with a smile: "You go to the Yuezhou Camp outside the city and wait for me. I will go to discuss some things with Envoy Du, and then I will go out of the city to find you after the discussion."

They both nodded, clasped their fists, and turned away.

Li Yun strode towards the governor's mansion.

At this moment, he had left Yuezhou for some time, but most of the guards at the gate of the governor's mansion were soldiers from the Yuezhou camp. The leader recognized him and immediately invited him in.

Soon, Li Yun met Du Qian who was reviewing documents in the back court of the governor's mansion.

At this moment, Du Laian had already informed in advance. After seeing Li Yun, Du Qian stood up, bowed, and said with a smile: "When did Erlang come?"

"I just came into town today."

Du Qian ordered Du Laian to serve tea. After the tea was served, he dismissed Du Laian. Then he looked at Li Yun and asked with a smile, "Are you from Qingyang?"

"Ah."

Du Qian nodded slightly.

"This shows that Erlang's affairs in Xuanzhou have been settled."

"All sorts of things."

Li Yun frowned and said, "I really have no reason to send people to stay in Yi'an to manage Yi'an's political affairs. I have no choice but to leave a school lieutenant camp in Yi'an County to take care of the copper mine."

At this point, he laughed at himself and said, "It's actually just seizure."

Du Qian smiled and said, "All things are created by nature, and none of them belongs to an individual. Isn't that all usurpation?"

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "Brother Du is still the best person to talk to."

As he spoke, he looked at the documents on Du Qian's desk and asked, "Brother Du, what are you busy with?"

"I have finished my political affairs and am writing a letter home."

At this point, Du Qian's eyes also showed some anxiety: "My family has left the capital and is on the way to Jiangdong."

It was normal for local officials to bring their families with them when they took up their posts. Du Qian had been an official in Jiangdong for a year, so it was reasonable for him to send his family with him at this time. The court could not say anything.

Li Yun felt something vaguely and asked, "Something happened in the capital?"

"Shouldn't Jiro know this?"

Du Qian sighed and whispered, "Your Majesty...is seriously ill. We may hear the news of his death at any time. Once your Majesty dies, there will be no one in the capital who can suppress everyone."

"There's no telling when chaos will break out, so we need to get them out of the capital and take shelter in Jiangdong."

"It just so happens that I'm also in Jiangdong, so it's reasonable for them to come over."

Li Yun nodded slightly.

He knew in his heart that the reason why the Du family made this decision was probably because of some other reasons besides the possibility of chaos in the capital, but Du Qian did not say it and Li Yun did not ask.

"correct."

Du Qian remembered something and said with a smile, "I forgot to congratulate Erlang for his promotion to Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy. From now on, when I see Erlang, I have to address him as Senior Envoy."

When the imperial court appointed such regional officials, it had to issue written notifications to all states and counties within the region, otherwise the position would seem out of place.

Du Qian had obviously received the letter from the court.

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "How can there be an envoy who has never even been to the capital?"

Du Qian smiled meaningfully: "Erlang will go when he has a chance."

Li Yun shook his head and changed the subject, saying, "I came to see Brother Du not only to discuss the follow-up matters, but also for this matter of recruiting envoys."

He took out a rather heavy envelope from his bosom, placed it in front of Du Qian, and said slowly: "After the news of my appointment as the Recruiting Envoy spread, many people came to Wuzhou to look for me."

"This is the list of these people, as well as some brief resumes compiled by Liu Bo."

Du Qian took the envelope, thought about it, then reacted and asked with a smile: "Are you all here to seek refuge with Erlang?"

"It is."

Li Yun said softly: "Some said they wanted to become my disciples, some wanted to be my retainers, and some wanted to be my staff."

Du Qian took it, stretched out his hand to feel the thickness, and smiled: "It seems that there are many smart people in the world, and many of them are ready to bet on Erlang."

Li Yun realized that something was not right in this world even when he was a bandit.

Others can naturally see it as well.

Since we can see it, we must take some countermeasures, such as finding a hill to place our bets.

Zhu Min, the "military advisor" under Qiu Dian, was such a character.

Li Yun's current separatist tendencies are becoming more and more obvious, and his separatist tendencies are reasonable and legal, and he will not be attacked by the court in the short term.

In comparison, he is much more stable than Qiu Dian.

In terms of hard power, he is not much different from Qiu Dian.

This would naturally attract some speculators and some officials from Jiangdong to come and "surrender".

"A mixed bag."

Li Yun smiled and said, "There are people in the north who want to get involved in Jiangnan. Maybe one of them is here."

Du Qian was startled, then he became serious and asked, "Jiedushi of Pinglu?"

Li Yun nodded slightly.

Du Qian lowered his head and thought for a while, then slowly said, "This is indeed a matter."

He looked at the envelope in his hand again and said, "Let me help Erlang screen these people."

"That's exactly what I meant."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work again, Brother Du."

"this is nothing."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "The New Year is coming soon, Erlang is not in Qingyang to celebrate the New Year, but hurried back to Jiangdong, is that right..."

"What's the matter?"

"Have."

"I want to start collecting the fall taxes that the states and counties didn't pay last year."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Anyway, they must have collected it from the people, but they just didn't hand it over to the court."

"Afterwards, it will definitely not be returned to the people."

"If this thing is done, it doesn't matter whether there is money or not. The key is to establish my authority. Then I will..."

"I went to Jiangning."

"Jiangning..."

Du Qian lowered his head, repeated it silently, then looked up at Li Yun.

"There is one thing, do you know, Jiro?"

Li Yun was startled: "Brother Du, tell me."

"This time, in addition to appointing Erlang as the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy, the court also appointed... a Jiangdong Observation Envoy."