Thief Emperor

Chapter 322: Digging Up the Family's Grave

Li Yun really didn't know this news.

His intelligence network is no longer limited to the two states of Yuezhou and Wuzhou. He has more or less people in the entire Jiangnan area and even in the areas near Jiangnan.

But further away, his intelligence capabilities are quite limited.

The Du family is still rooted in Jingzhao, and Du Qian's father is one of the six ministers of the court. Naturally, his intelligence capabilities at the court are much better than Li Yun's.

Li Yun frowned slightly and whispered: "Although it is not unexpected, the court is still surprised..."

He did not continue.

But the meaning of the words is already very clear.

The imperial court can be said to be unexpectedly ignorant.

Since the death of General Su Jingsu and the deaths or defeats of 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers from the south of the Yangtze River under his command, the imperial court completely lost control of the east, especially the south of the Yangtze River region.

If the imperial court at that time could cherish General Su and protect his troops, with this army stationed between the Central Plains and Jiangnan, then no one in the entire Jiangnan, including Li Yun, would dare to move.

At least no one would dare to go against the court so unscrupulously.

After all, as long as the court gives an order, General Su will most likely side with the court.

In fact, it was precisely because of the importance of Su Jing's army that the imperial court eventually turned a blind eye to his troops, resulting in the annihilation of 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers from the south of the Yangtze River in the Central Plains.

The reason is not difficult to guess.

Su Jing's troops were able to play a decisive, even overwhelming role in Jiangnan, which meant that with the presence of Su Jing's army, the entire Jiangnan was actually not unable to go against the will of the court, but was unable to go against the will of General Su.

The imperial court was simply worried that, although Jiangnan was not in chaos, it had taken Su Jing's surname.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to eliminate this hidden danger. As Gu Wenchuan said, a chaotic Jiangnan will be easier to clean up when the imperial court has time.

As a result, some bigwigs in the court who thought with their butts made decisions that seemed like pigs.

To put it bluntly, no matter what era, there are very few stupid people in high positions.

If they really did something that was considered stupid by the world, it might just be because they were standing at a different perspective from the world.

But now, General Su's troops have been wiped out. In the whole of Jiangnan, Li Yun is the strongest, and his strength continues to grow stronger.

This is an established fact.

Since the imperial court appointed Li Yun as the commander-in-chief, it means that the imperial court is aware of this fact.

Since he has already realized it and has reached a compromise and tacit understanding with Li Yun, it would be a bit immature to send an observer to Jiangdong.

After all, although the Inspector was originally a temporary appointment like the Recruiting Envoy and had no rank, in recent decades, the Inspector has actually become the chief official of a region.

Envoy Du lowered his head and drank a sip of tea, then slowly said, "People in the officialdom like to do this. Sometimes, even when they know that a matter is hopeless, they still send people down, or even send people to die."

"It is for the sake of the Prime Ministers to feel comfortable."

Du Shijun smiled and said, "They feel that they have tried their best and fulfilled their duties. This way, no matter how things turn out, they will have an excuse to comfort themselves."

"We can also give an explanation to the higher-ups."

Li Yun was startled, then he smiled and said, "Brother Du still knows more."

"Not that I know much."

Du Qian pointed to his eyes and sighed slightly: "I have seen a lot."

He paused, then changed the subject and said, "I haven't received any news about the new candidate for Jiangdong Surveillance Commissioner, but I think he won't be very successful in the court, and he is probably an official who has been ostracized by the court."

"When he really arrives at the local office, Erlang, don't rush to take action against him, and don't rush to have conflicts with him. Wait and see."

Being the local chief in a territory where there is already a "military leader" is definitely a hell-level job, and an official who can be an inspector must have a high original rank.

Officials of this level would hardly be sent out to perform such duties unless the prime minister heard them cursing the prime minister's entire family.

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "Brother Du, who do you think I am? Am I the kind of person who gets into a fight when there's a disagreement?"

Du Qian smiled but said nothing.

After the two chatted about the new observer for a while, they changed the topic tacitly.

To put it bluntly, this inspector is not a big problem. Unless he arrives in Jiangnan and can conjure up 10,000 soldiers on the spot, even if he only holds the title, it will not have a big impact on Li Yun.

"From the end of this year to next spring, my attention will be on Jiangning, and I will try to take Jiangning down. This way, I will have a fixed place and won't have to travel around anymore."

Du Qian put down his teacup and said, "In fact, Qiantang County is the center of Jiangdong." "I need to be closer to the north."

Li Yun whispered, "When necessary, let's have a fight with the Pinglu Army! I want to see if these Jiedushi's soldiers are really so brave and invincible!"

The threat posed by the Pinglu Army to Li Yun is real.

After all, even if the imperial court recovered the Central Plains, it would take a long time to recover, giving Li Yun some buffer space.

If the Pinglu Army becomes unreasonable, it is possible that they will move south at any time.

If Li Yun really wants to gain a foothold in Jiangnan, or in such a place, he actually needs to fight such a battle to prove his strength to his opponent and the people of the world.

Prove yourself and be capable of occupying Jiangdong.

Otherwise, everyone would want to come to Jiangdong to get a piece of the pie.

After hearing what Li Yun said, Du Qian, who was a calm person, couldn't help but take a deep breath and murmured, "If a fight really breaks out next year, it will be your battle to gain a foothold, Erlang."

"If we can win, or even end up in a draw, we will have completely established a foothold in Jiangdong, and we can come and join you then."

Du Qian looked at the envelope on the table and said with a smile, "Maybe it will be ten or a hundred times what it is now."

"Let's not talk about that now."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Whether we fight or not is still uncertain, but I must occupy Jiangning."

He looked at Du Qian and continued, "But I haven't figured out how to get Brother Du to Jiangning to be the chief officer of Jiangning when the time comes."

"It's now Jinling Prefecture."

Du Qian lowered his head to drink tea, then said with a smile: "If Erlang can occupy Jinling Mansion, I have a good idea to transfer myself there."

Li Yun became interested and asked, "What's the solution?"

"Erlang occupied Jinling City the moment before, and I wrote a letter to impeach you. Then, let my father say a few words in the capital, and the court will immediately think that you and I are not on good terms."

"If my father tries harder, the court will probably transfer me to Nanjing in order to make things difficult for you, Erlang."

Mr. Li was stunned for a moment, then he couldn't help clapping his hands and exclaimed: "Excellent, wonderful."

He looked at Du Qian and said with a smile: "Brother Du is a scholar with many thoughts."

Du Qian shook his head and smiled: "Isn't Erlang also a scholar?"

This is a good thing to say.

After Li Yun "awoke" in the third year of Xian De, he has been eagerly absorbing the knowledge of this era. From the time when he was a captain in Qingyang until now, he has basically been reading books all the time.

Mainly, he needs to understand and integrate into this era through books.

“I just read some miscellaneous books.”

At this point, Li Yun suddenly said, "Speaking of books, books nowadays are either hand-copied or carved, and the prices are too high."

He said slowly, "After a while, when Jiangdong is settled, I plan to gather a group of craftsmen to research and come up with a new printing method to reduce the cost of printing books."

"If this method can be accomplished, the price of books under our rule will drop to 30% of the original price."

Du Qian was thoughtful after hearing this, and asked Li Yun a few more questions in detail. After learning about the printing technology, he was stunned for a while, and suddenly murmured: "If it can be done and promoted throughout the country, Erlang will kill all the noble families in the world."

The reason why aristocratic families have been able to thrive for so many years is largely because of the scarcity of knowledge carriers, which has allowed these families to monopolize knowledge.

Once knowledge becomes "cheap" and ordinary people can afford it, the aristocratic families will be doomed.

Li Yun was about to speak when he suddenly remembered that Du Qian was also from an aristocratic family, so he smiled and said, "Brother Du doesn't seem to like my suggestion."

"If Jiro can really do it, then..."

"go a head."

Du Qian closed his eyes and exhaled silently: "The ancient saints and wise men are not exclusive to the aristocratic families."

Although he said so, after he opened his eyes, he smiled bitterly and said, "But if it really happens, it will be difficult for there to be thousand-year-old aristocratic families in the world in the future."

Li Yun looked at him and asked with a smile, "Should there be?"

Du Shiyi looked a little confused. After a long time, he slowly shook his head.

"I do not know."

(End of this chapter)