Thief Emperor

Chapter 328 Ever-changing
Du Qian’s meaning was very clear.

In the past, although Li Yun and the de facto local lords were trying every means to develop their own power, they all maintained a considerable degree of restraint.

Basically, we still follow the rules.

For example, if Li Yun wanted to lead his troops out of Wuzhou, he would first need to get the title of Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy, otherwise he would have no reason to send troops to other states and counties.

If the name is not correct, the words will not go well, and if the words are not good, then things will not happen.

The same is true for the local tyrants in other places. For example, the Pinglu Jiedushi is also in the east. In comparison, he can even be said to be the strongest military force in the eastern part of the Great Zhou.

However, although the Pinglu Army intended to make the entire Jiangnan region their own "resource package", and even sent many spies to try every means to infiltrate Jiangnan and support agents, they have not directly sent troops from beginning to end until now.

That's what the rules are.

The Great Zhou has been in existence for more than two hundred years, and everyone has become accustomed to working under this set of rules.

Even Li Yun, who had just arrived, had to use this set of rules to quickly grow stronger.

At this time, hearing Du Qian's words, Li Yun was stunned at first. He thought for a while, and then said, "Brother Du, tell me in detail."

Du Qian nodded silently. He held a cup of hot tea in his hand and took a few sips. After his body finally warmed up, he spoke: "Erlang is not as well-informed as I am about the news in the capital. After the death of His Majesty, there will definitely be chaos in the capital."

"The Central Plains outside of Tongguan is already in chaos. No one can say for sure if they will become even more chaotic if they take advantage of this opportunity."

"Once chaos breaks out, the whole world will lose its rules immediately. At that time, each place will govern itself and attack each other. Who knows."

"At this time, Jiangdong must be integrated and unified as soon as possible."

He looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Anyway, Erlang has already offended the court once because of the autumn tax issue. Now he is not afraid of offending the court a second time, so let's take some risks."

"I'm not afraid of taking risks."

Li Yun also took a sip of tea and said slowly: "If you want to control Jiangdong, the fastest way is to have the power to appoint officials and push your own people to various states and counties. Not to mention that I don't have this power now, even if I bite the bullet and do this, will the states and counties below recognize it..."

"I'm afraid it's hard to say."

"Of course, these can be solved by force, but the problem is that the troops under our command are not enough to be evenly distributed to the twenty states and counties in Jiangdong. Even if we take a step back, I have obtained enough troops in the past few months to garrison each state and county in Jiangdong, and even each county."

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and whispered, "We don't have enough civil servants to take care of these places."

Du Qian nodded silently: "I also thought about this when I was on the road. Erlang's foundation, after all... after all, is still a little too shallow."

If Li Yun came from a noble family or an official family, it would not be a big problem for him to get twenty or so civil servants to manage the prefectures and counties. But now, Li Yun only has two or three scholars under his command.

The entire Jiangdong has now been handed over to him, and he has no manpower to take care of it.

Du Qian rubbed his brows, and after a long while, he slowly said, "Let's start from Jinling Prefecture."

"First, establish your authority in Jiangdong and establish your dominant position. Then, win a battle against foreign enemies. Erlang's position in Jiangdong will be secure."

Li Yun shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I have been checking the accounts of Jinling Prefecture for some time. If you want to turn against me now, you can arrest all the officials of Jinling Prefecture at any time."

"But we have to fight a war against foreign enemies."

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "I can't find a suitable opponent now."

At present, the only external enemy that poses a threat to Li Yun is the Pinglu Army in Qingzhou.

If he could fight against the Pinglu Army, even if he just failed to be defeated, Li Yun would surely become famous and officially become the leader of Jiangdong.

But unfortunately, if the forces were equal, Li Yun would have little chance of winning in a battle with the Pinglu Army.

What’s even more terrible is that the Pinglu Army’s strength is several times that of Li Yun so far.

That night, Li Yun and Du Qian had a secret conversation in the study for the entire night.

It was not until the next morning that Du Qian, who had been traveling and staying up late, could no longer bear it and found a room in Li Garden to sleep in.

Li Yun, with dark circles under his eyes, began to plan his next move.

First of all, he transferred all the troops he could mobilize to Jinling Prefecture.

Now Li Yun has basically established the strategic decision to take root in Nanjing. Therefore, even if nothing happens in the capital, his soldiers will be concentrated in Nanjing one after another.

Now is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of this and send the troops directly over.

On the third day after Li Yun received the news of the emperor's death, Jinling Yin Song Zhen finally received the official document from the capital.

As the local government received the official news, white banners were soon hung throughout the city of Jinling, and mourning was everywhere.

For several days, Jinling City was filled with cries and weeping could be heard everywhere, but whether they were sad or not was only known to the people involved. Li Yun had no time to care about these formalities. He was concentrating on working with Du Qian to formulate and prepare a plan to take over Jiangdong.

That day, in Li Yuan's study, Du Qian pointed to Qiantang County on the Jiangdong map and said, "You can consider setting up a military camp in Qiantang. Qiantang County is in the center of Jiangdong. With the military strength here, no matter which state has problems, we can always respond."

Du Qian was talking to Li Yun while flipping through documents and analyzing some important information with Li Yun. While the two were talking, Du Laian's voice came from the door: "Master, Master..."

"A letter from home."

Du Qian stopped talking, looked outside the door, and frowned slightly.

However, he still glanced at Li Yun. After seeing that the latter did not object, he coughed and said, "Stop making so much noise, come in."

Du Laian opened the door carefully, handed the letter to Du Qian, and then bowed his head and said, "Sir, it was delivered by my family on horseback, not by the official post."

After hearing these words, Du Qian became serious. He lowered his head silently, opened the letter, and after just one glance, his expression changed drastically.

After reading it from beginning to end, Du Qian looked up at Li Yun, lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "Erlang, things are progressing much faster than you and I imagined."

He handed the letter to Li Yun, and then whispered: "On the third day after His Majesty's death, the rebels in the Central Plains seemed to have learned the news and began to concentrate their forces to attack Tongguan, hoping to break into Guanzhong."

"At that time, His Majesty had just passed away, and the important figures in the court were all arranging His Majesty's funeral affairs. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was busy succeeding the throne, and no one paid special attention to the battle situation in Tongguan. After several days of fierce fighting, Tongguan suffered heavy casualties and was already shaky."

At this point, Du Qian bowed his head and smiled bitterly, "It will take at least four or five days for the letter from the capital to arrive. This was the situation five days ago. It is probably unknown whether Tongguan is still in the hands of the court."

When he said this, his face turned pale.

"If tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of rebels enter Guanzhong, I'm afraid the capital will be in danger."

Du Qian's wife and children are almost arriving in Jiangnan now, which means that his personal family should not be in any danger at this moment.

However, the Jingzhao Du family, as the name suggests, is a large family based and rooted in the capital. Once something happens in the capital, the Du family will certainly not escape the disaster.

Li Yun had also finished reading Du Qian's "family letter" at this moment. He looked at Du Qian and murmured, "Isn't Tongguan a strong pass? It shouldn't be so easy for the rebels to take it..."

"The last time Wu Zhong led 30,000 imperial guards out of the country to meet the enemy, outsiders also thought so."

Du Qian narrowed his eyes and said softly, "But 30,000 imperial guards were wiped out in just half a month."

He laughed at himself and said, "Anything can happen in this court now."

Li Yun sat in his seat and thought for a long time. Then he looked at Du Qian and said in a deep voice, "Brother Du, don't go back to Yuezhou for now. Stay in Jinling and help me."

"I'll start making arrangements now."

Du Qian nodded silently, ground the ink and picked up the writing brush.

Li Yun said that he wrote, and soon orders were issued from this study room.

First of all, Zhao Cheng's mission of leading troops to Jinling remained unchanged. At the same time, he ordered Su Sheng to leave 500 people in Wuzhou, and the rest of the troops to go to Qiantang. In the name of Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy, they were stationed in Qiantang County to prevent chaos in Jiangdong.

The two of them worked until late at night.

The next morning, Li Yun arrived at the Jinling government office with his guard team of more than 100 soldiers.

In one hand he held the evidence related to the autumn tax that he had collected in Jinling during this period, and in the other hand he held the document from His Royal Highness the King of Chu. He arrested all the officials, big and small, in the Jinling government office, including Song Zhen.

"from now on."

Li Yun summoned all the people in the government office, then glanced at them and said expressionlessly.

"All the political affairs of Jinling Prefecture will be temporarily handled by my Office of Recruiting and Suppressing Envoys."

The captured Song Lingyin was furious and said angrily, "Li Shijun, where is your office?"

Li Yun was the new Recruiting Envoy, so naturally there wouldn't be any Recruiting Envoy's Office.

"right here."

Li Yun pointed at the government office with a calm expression.

"From now on, this is Li's office."

Li Yun paused and added.

"And also the Jinling government office."

(End of this chapter)