Thief Emperor

Chapter 332 Breaking the Court's Restrictions
"Du Yihui!"

In the Jinling government office, an old man in thick green clothes glared at Du Qian, who was writing at his desk. He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, "What are you doing here!"

Du Qian frowned slightly, but he didn't stop writing. After he finished writing and dried the ink, he looked up at the old man in front of him and shook his head helplessly, "Isn't Mr. Wenchuan in Wuzhou? Why did you come all the way here?"

The old man in front of him was Gu Wenchuan.

Ever since he was ordered to go to Jiangnan to investigate Li Yun's affairs, he decided to stay in Jiangnan. If Li Yun had any rebellious intentions, he could report it to the court immediately.

But some time ago, Li Yun said that he was taking his family back to his hometown in Qingyang to visit relatives. At first, Gu Wenchuan didn't care much about it. After all, Li Yun's foundation was in Wuzhou, and he couldn't just abandon Wuzhou.

However, after staying in Wuzhou for a while, not only did Li Yun never go back, but later even the Wuzhou soldiers began to leave one after another. Now there are only a few hundred soldiers left in the entire Wuzhou, and Zhuo Guangrui is in charge of government affairs.

Gu Wenchuan naturally discovered something was wrong.

The army was too large in number, so its movements were not difficult to grasp. Moreover, Gu Wenchuan was an official, an imperial censor sent by the imperial court. Although the imperial court no longer had much power, when he asked questions in the local areas, the local people would not ignore him.

Soon, he heard the news that Li Yun had arrived in Jinling.

So Mr. Gu took a carriage and drove all the way to Jinling.

I don’t know if he was lucky or the security in Jiangdong was better now. Although he encountered some minor troubles along the way, the old man still arrived in Jinling City safely.

After arriving in Nanjing, he heard that the Recruiting Envoy's Office had officially taken over Nanjing and would also take over the entire Jiangdong.

The old man was furious and rushed to the government office, clamoring to see Li Yun. However, Li Yun was outside dealing with military matters and was not in the government office. Du Qian, who was in charge of this government office, invited him into the study.

As soon as he came in, the old man started yelling.

"How dare you ask me how I got to Nanjing! I am an imperial censor of the imperial court, and I was ordered to inspect Jiangdong. I can go anywhere I want. You, Du Shouyi, are the governor of Yuezhou. How did you end up in Nanjing?"

Mr. Gu shouted angrily, "What about Li Zhao? Let him come see me!"

Du Qian shook his head slightly, stood up and walked to the door of the study, closed the door, then turned back and pulled Gu Wenchuan's sleeve, pressed him into the chair, poured him tea, and sighed, "Mr. Gu, don't make any more trouble. If you make any more trouble, you might lose your life in Jiangdong."

Gu Wenchuan glanced at him, showing no fear at all. He sneered and said, "If I were afraid of death, I would have left Jiangnan a long time ago. From the tone of your voice, it seems that you are afraid of death, so you came to Jinling to work for that Li Zhao?"

"You are from a famous family, but..."

"All right."

Du Qian frowned, interrupted him, and placed the tea in his hand next to his hand, and said silently: "Sir, what kind of chaos is the court in now? You are the censor, I don't need to tell you, you know something about it."

"but…"

Du Qian sat back in his seat, his face calm as he said, "You've been to Wuzhou, and you should have been to Yuezhou as well. Are these two states now in great order?"

Seeing that Gu Wenchuan did not answer, Du Qian continued: "Soon, Jinling Prefecture and the entire Jiangdong will be well governed."

"It's better than the chaos and war in the Central Plains, right?"

Mr. Gu clenched his fists and was about to speak when he heard Du Qian continue, "Now, Envoy Li is the Recruiting Envoy of Jiangdong, and he can control the entire Jiangdong. Seeing that Jinling Prefecture is about to fall into chaos, it is legal for him to enter Jinling."

"As for the case files of the officials in Jinling Prefecture, if you want to see them, Mr. Gu, I can show them to you right now. The various cases of corruption are appalling."

"What's the problem with Envoy Li coming to rectify the administration of Jinling? Mr. Gu has always been famous in the officialdom for his integrity. Shouldn't the officials of Jinling do the same?"

Mr. Gu was speechless.

After a while, he thought of a way to respond. Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by Du Qian. Du Qian looked at Mr. Gu quietly and said silently: "Mr. Gu was ordered to inspect Jiangnan, which actually occupies the first two words of the position of observation and disposal. Now that the court is in chaos, it is still a question whether Guanzhong can be preserved. Mr. Gu will continue to stay in Jiangnan and observe carefully."

"If you can remember it, remember it. Just don't tell anyone about it, and don't go to Envoy Li to cause trouble."

"He is very busy now. Sometimes he can only sleep for a short time for several days and nights. He seems kind sometimes, but..."

Du Qian paused and continued, "Sometimes, I get very irritable and my mood fluctuates."

After Du Qian arrived in Yuezhou, he actually observed Li Yun for a period of time. Sometimes he felt that what Li Yun did made sense, such as the equal distribution of land, but sometimes he felt that Li Yun was too rash.

For example, go to Luzhou in person to fight the rebels.

It seems that this person is a complex of contradictions.

Of course Du Qian didn't know that there was a strange soul inside his partner's body.

At this point, Du Shijun paused and warned Gu Wenchuan: "He will really kill someone."

"If he kills you at this time, it won't cause any waves at all. No one will stand up to speak for Mr. Gu. Besides, this is a time of chaos."

"Mr. Gu needs to protect himself, even if it's not for himself. At this time, the Gu family also needs a backbone."

Du Qian thought for a moment and added, "Sir, if you insist on making things difficult for Li Shijun, it won't be too late for you to stand up and scold him if he fails in a few years."

Gu Wenchuan suppressed his anger and said, "Who do you think I am?" Du Qian smiled softly and said, "I think you are a smart man, and smart people don't do stupid things."

Mr. Gu lowered his head and took a sip of hot tea, then looked up at Du Qian, still somewhat puzzled.

"How could someone like you, Du Shiyi, get involved with him?"

Du Qian sat back in his seat and continued writing at his desk without raising his head.

"With my background, do I have to look down from a high place?"

He shook his head slightly.

"The old man is too pedantic."

…………

At the end of the year, Li Yun's family stayed in Qingyang to celebrate the New Year, but the Du family finally arrived in Jinling City successfully. Li Yun attached great importance to this matter and took time out to welcome the Du family at the city gate with Du Qian.

The two stood at the city gate, looking at the end of the official road at the same time. While waiting, Li Yun looked back at Du Qian and whispered, "Brother Du, I have been looking at the map for a long time and want to understand one thing."

Du Qian put his hands in his sleeves and asked, "What's the matter?"

"With our current abilities, we can't control the entire Jiangnan East Road."

"But it doesn't have to be limited to Jiangnan East Road."

Li Yun was quite excited at the moment, as he had just figured out this truth.

"In the entire Jiangnan East Road, the northernmost part is Jinling Prefecture, and the southernmost part is Zhangzhou. The two places are separated by a full 2,000 miles. If there is unrest in Zhangzhou, our troops will not be able to be sent there."

"If we send them over, it will be too late for anything. For a place like this, which is too far south, I can only lead it in name only. If they are willing to recognize my office, that would be great. If they are not willing, then for the time being..."

"Just ignore them."

Li Yun continued, "We can't control the areas too far south, but we can expand outward with Jinling Prefecture as the center, such as Yangzhou and Chuzhou next to Jinling, and my hometown Xuanzhou."

"Although these states do not belong to Jiangnan East Province, we do not have to be confined to the imperial court's system."

"If you can get it, you have to get it decisively."

Li Yun has been thinking about this issue these days. Jiangnan East Road is a long administrative division.

This kind of administrative division is not a problem in peaceful times, but once war breaks out, a force of Li Yun's size simply does not have enough power to rule.

It can even be speculated that the reason why the imperial court did not create circular administrative divisions was due to this consideration. Even if the position of a recruiting envoy was given, it would be difficult for local forces to control an entire prefecture.

Du Qian thought about it seriously, then slowly said: "This matter... is possible, but I am afraid that we can only start to do it after Guanzhong is conquered. There is another most important matter."

He looked at Li Yun and said, "Chuzhou in the north is close to the territory of the Pinglu Army. How long will it take Erlang to be able to fight the Pinglu Army without suffering any loss?"

"One year."

Li Yun said slowly, "It will take at least a year. After the New Year, I will start recruiting soldiers. With training and so on, in about a year, I expect we will have more than 15,000 soldiers."

"With so many troops, I am confident that I can occupy Chuzhou and face the Pinglu Army across the river."

Du Qian seemed to be thinking about something. While he was thinking, Li Yun patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Brother Du, look, is that carriage yours?"

Du Qian looked up, but saw only vague shadows and couldn't see clearly.

He smiled bitterly and said, "My eyesight is not as good as Erlang's."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Brother Du must have read too many books and is nearsighted."

"Shortsighted?"

Du Qian thought for a moment and said, "It seems that it is hard to see clearly from a distance."

Li Yun said with a smile as the carriage got closer.

"Almost. I saw the person we were escorting."

"Let's welcome them."

At this moment, even the calm and steady Envoy Du couldn't help but feel a little excited. He took a deep breath and said the word "good".

Then he strode forward.

(End of this chapter)