Thief Emperor

Chapter 330: Peaceful Years

That night, even Li Yun himself was not idle.

He led half of the troops brought by Zhao Cheng and began to take over all the city gates of Jinling.

This process was not smooth, as the defenders at some city gates were very hesitant. However, with the title of Li Yun as the Recruiting Envoy and the presence of so many fierce and vigorous soldiers from Wuzhou, by dawn, all eight city gates of Jinling City were taken over by Li Yun's troops. At the same time, the original defenders at the eight city gates were also taken over by Li Yun in the name of the Recruiting Envoy's Office.

When it was dawn, Li Yun stood on the east gate of Jinling, looking at the huge city of Jinling in front of him, with a blazing light in his eyes!

Although this was a bit risky, although the step was too big, and although it was a bit unstable, the feeling of taking a big step forward was really like a dream!

Overnight, the actual controller of this big city became a man named Li.

The city of Jinling has the same surname as him, Li!

Including the troops Zhou Liang brought from Xuzhou and the city defense troops he took over in Jinling, Li Yun's military force in Jinling totaled about 5,000 people.

With these troops, it means that even if the Pinglu Army now surrounds Jinling City, Li Yun will be able to hold out for a long time if he has enough money and food.

During this period of time, Li Yun's performance in this city can be described in four words.

Do whatever you want!

Du Qian was standing behind Li Yun at this moment. He was looking at the Jinling City and at Li Yun in front of him. After a long while, Du Qian said with his hands behind his back, "This is a big city that can be used as a foundation. Throughout history, among all the heroes who have taken this city, I'm afraid you, Erlang, are the one who had it the easiest."

The forces that have the ability to take over Jinling City are already overlords, and even have the foundation to establish a country. But Li Yun is still far from that.

He took advantage of the geographical location, some reputation in the imperial court, and his courage to capture this big city!

Li Yun retracted his gaze, turned back to look at Du Qian, and said slowly: "Because it is easy to get, the real difficulty lies in whether we can keep it."

If a hegemon had taken this city, his power would most likely be in a stage of continuous outward expansion, so there is no need to consider whether he can defend the city. However, Li Yun is still very immature in all aspects.

In particular, he had never fought even a tough battle to prove his strength, so even if he temporarily occupied the city, he would not be recognized by others.

Someone might come and snatch it at any time.

Du Qian nodded silently and whispered, "The crown prince has already ascended the throne in front of the late emperor's spirit and is preparing for the coronation ceremony. However, the battle at Tongguan is extremely difficult, and the imperial guards have sent troops to support Tongguan several times."

"Right now, the upper class in the capital are in a panic, and many families are preparing to flee the capital for refuge."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes: "The Shuofang Army is still not moving?"

"Moved."

Du Qian sneered, "Wei Quanzhong was heartbroken over the death of the late emperor and fell seriously ill. He is still bedridden. His son is now leading the Shuofang Army. Although they have followed behind the rebels, they have only fought a few times in ten days. It is better to say that they are driving the rebels into the pass rather than saving Tongguan."

"If we really force the rebels into a corner, they might be able to break into Guanzhong."

Du Qian whispered, "It's been more than 200 years since the imperial court was founded. Most of these imperial guards are from the great families of Jingzhao. I don't think they can fight or shed blood. I think it's hard to say."

Among Li Yun's people, only Du Qian knows the most about the affairs in the capital.

He grew up in the capital, so he naturally knew what the capital was like.

The imperial guards near the capital are the highest paid and best-equipped army in the entire Great Zhou. In the earliest times, these young men from Guanzhong were indeed able to sweep the world without any rivals. However, over two hundred years have passed, and human relationships have become complicated. As long as one lives in the capital, who doesn't have a relative who is an official?

In addition, there has been no war for many years, and some of the imperial guards are just going through the motions in their training. How much combat effectiveness can this imperial guard have...

It's hard to comment.

Judging from the fact that 30,000 imperial troops were defeated by the rebels in just half a month, the combat effectiveness of this imperial army was even far inferior to that of Li Yun's Wuzhou troops.

Li Yun sighed and said with emotion: "This Shuofang Jiedushi really lives up to his name, Quanzhong... Quanzhong."

At this point, he turned around to look at Du Qian and asked, "Brother Du, where are your family members?"

Du Qian was silent for a while, then he sighed and said, "It's probably fine."

"The imperial court definitely doesn't have the courage to wipe out the imperial guards."

"Perhaps, as soon as Tongguan is breached, the imperial court will flee the capital with the imperial guards and seek refuge in Xichuan. By then, once the gates of Xichuan are closed, no one will be able to get in."

Du Qian sneered, "It's not like our ancestors haven't done it before."

Li Yun thought about it, then shook his head slightly and said, "If the new emperor fled in a hurry not long after ascending the throne, it would be a real loss of face."

Du Qian lowered his head, sighed, and stopped talking.

He was from Jingzhao and definitely had feelings for the capital, but in the current situation, he had no way to deal with it. In the final analysis, it was all because of four words.

The branches are strong and the trunk is weak.

If the imperial army's combat effectiveness was a little bit stronger, with more than 200 years of residual power, it would be impossible for the major military governors, including Wei Quanzhong, to go so far.

But the fact is... it's rotten to the core.

It’s not that the Wu Zhou court was incompetent. This was the case at the end of every dynasty.

In fact, it was already very remarkable that the Wu Zhou court could maintain an imperial guard of more than 100,000 people near the capital.

Of course, this could also be the result of a struggle among forces within the capital. After all, the local people in the capital also need the "employment quota" of these hundreds of thousands of imperial guards.

"After occupying Jinling, there is no turning back."

Li Yun's eyes fell on the big city again, and then he slowly said: "The chaos in the capital will soon spread to Jiangnan. By then, the prefectures and counties in Jiangdong will most likely be in turmoil again. This time, I, as the Recruiting Envoy, will clean up the entire Jiangdong."

Du Qian nodded slightly, and a smile reappeared on his face. He said, "The inspector from the court should arrive after the New Year. When he arrives in Jiangdong, Wujun or Jinling Prefecture, he will see soldiers from the Recruiting Envoy's Office inside and outside the city."

At this point, Envoy Du's expression became strange, and he said with a smile: "The expression is probably the same as when I first arrived in Yuezhou."

Hearing this, Li Yun also turned around to look at him and smiled dumbly: "Brother Du had just arrived in Yuezhou at that time, what was he thinking about?"

Du Qian touched his nose and said, "Of course I think Erlang you are going to rebel."

He paused and continued, "After staying for a while, I realized that this counter-attack seems to be necessary."

Li Yun laughed when he heard this.

Soon, he remembered another thing and said, "Brother Du should write to the court to impeach me now, saying that I occupied Jinling Mansion by force."

"The court might transfer Brother Du to Nanjing to be the governor of Nanjing. It just so happens that Brother Du's family members who are on the way will also rush to Nanjing to celebrate the New Year."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and asked, "What about Song Zhen?"

"There are so many prefectures and counties in Jiangdong, so there must be a place for him to go, but it all depends on how the court arranges it."

At this point, Li Yun suddenly understood and said softly, "Yes, the court is probably not interested in the affairs of Jiangnan now."

Du Qian nodded gently and said slowly: "In this case, there is no need for us to hide anything. Let one of Xu Zhuo and the other person take charge of Yuezhou's affairs, and I will stay in Jinling."

"The imperial court has no time to take care of the affairs of Jinling Prefecture right now."

At this point, Du Qian put his hands behind his back and looked towards the city of Jinling, which was still peaceful as it was still dark.

"There are only ten days left until the Chinese New Year."

Envoy Du looked calm and said slowly, "This may be the last peaceful year for the people of the world."

At this moment, the winter wind blew in the early morning. Li Yun tightened his robe and spoke slowly.

"The Jiangdong under our rule will always enjoy peace."

"One day, the people of the world will live in peace again."

Du Qian turned his head to look at Li Yun, then fell into deep thought and did not speak for a long time.

Li Yun suddenly said, "I wonder if Zhou Chang, the son of the Zhou family, is still in Jinling City."

Du Qian thought for a moment and asked, "What does Erlang mean?"

"I'm thinking."

"When will we have the confidence and ability to go and see..."

"The Pinglu Army in the north."

　Recommend a new book by an old author! Also talk about the city gate issue.

　　Regarding the number of Nanjing city gates, the background of this book is similar to the late Tang Dynasty, but it is not clear how many city gates there were in the Tang Dynasty. There were thirteen gates in the Ming Dynasty, but after some thought, it was not appropriate, so I decided to change it to eight. This is my personal fabrication.

(End of this chapter)