Thief Emperor

Chapter 334: The First Year of Zhaoding
The Recruiting Envoy was not in charge of government affairs, but was only responsible for suppressing bandits.

Obviously, the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy had seriously crossed the line, and did it blatantly.

This made Fei Guancha very annoyed.

He was originally the Minister of Justice of the imperial court, and was known as the Iron-faced Man.

Although he is not from the Censorate and basically has no control over officials, he has indeed dealt with many family members or children of high-ranking officials in recent years and is quite popular in the capital.

Even the prime minister's son was exiled by him last year.

Being the son of a prime minister, he ended up being exiled. Just think about how much evil he had done.

But Fei Tiemian was eventually kicked out of the capital by a prime minister and sent to the countryside to be the inspector and governor of Jiangdong.

Originally, this kind of job transfer could not be regarded as demotion. After all, a local inspector was theoretically also an important official. Therefore, Fei Xuan did not think much about it at first. He even did not spend the New Year at home and rushed directly to Jiangdong.

The Inspector General did not have a fixed office, but the previous Inspectors of Jiangdong, including the former Inspector Zheng Yu, were all stationed in Gusu City. Originally, this Lord Fei should have gone to Gusu after taking office, but as soon as he arrived in Jiangdong, he heard about Li Yun.

So he changed his mind and went directly to Jinling.

Then, he saw the official documents from the Recruiting Envoy's Office all over the city.

The Duke of Fei gritted his teeth in anger, and after closing the door, he became even more furious and said to his two followers: "I have been an official for twenty years, and I have never heard of any government office!"

"I have never heard of any military envoy issuing orders!"

"This Jiangdong is really a mess."

Mr. Fei said with a gloomy face: "I said that Min Fang would not let go of that matter so easily. Now it turns out that she has been assigned such a difficult task."

Min Fang is one of the five prime ministers of the court and is currently the second prime minister in the government hall after Cui Yuan.

This name may sound strange in another world, but in this era, "Fang" is indeed a male name.

One of the followers smiled bitterly and said, "When Prime Minister Min sent someone to look for you, if you had just given him some slack, even if he was sentenced to imprisonment, the Min family would have remembered your kindness and would have directly exiled him three thousand miles away, bringing disgrace to the Min family."

"Of course I hate you, Master."

Fei Xuan was a man with a fiery temper. He was drinking tea at the moment. Hearing this, he became even more angry and slammed the table fiercely: "That little beast should have died!"

The attendant was also in his forties. He had followed Fei Xuan for more than twenty years and had long been accustomed to his temper. Upon hearing this, he just sighed silently and said, "Master, what are you going to do about this Jiangdong matter?"

"It seems that the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy is very powerful now."

Fei Xuan put down the tea bowl, feeling confused.

No matter how upright and impartial he is, he still needs the power granted by the court before he can display his abilities. Now, he is very clear about the current situation of the court.

It was already difficult for the imperial court to provide him with any support.

In this situation, how should he, as an inspector, exercise his power? He couldn't just raise his fists and go to fight with the soldiers under the commander, right?

"The situation is more serious than we imagined. Now, we can only take it one step at a time. First, we need to figure out the situation in Jiangdong, and then we can proceed slowly."

The follower heaved a sigh of relief after hearing him say this.

He was very worried that his master might get hot-headed and do something stupid, and the three of them might die immediately in Jiangdong and not even be able to leave Nanjing City.

That night, Fei Xuan sat in a chair and almost did not sleep all night.

But the next morning, when the sky just got bright, Fei Xuan, who had only slept for a short while, woke up his two followers and said in a deep voice: "I thought about it all night last night. Jinling is not a place to stay for a long time. If we stay in Jinling, we can't accomplish anything. Let's go to other prefectures in Jiangdong. If that doesn't work..."

"Let's go to the far south."

Fei Xuan clenched his fist and said, "That kid surnamed Li has only been in power for two years. No matter how fast he is, he can't control the entire Jiangdong. Let's go to the south of Jiangdong and give the north to him."

"He is the Recruiting Envoy, and I am the Observing Envoy."

Master Fei made up his mind and urged, "Get up quickly, get up quickly, and leave Jinling City as soon as possible!"

"To avoid long nights and too many dreams."

At his urging, the two followers quickly packed their luggage and prepared to leave. The three of them had just gone downstairs and walked to the door of the inn. Before they had time to talk to the shopkeeper, Fei Xuan glanced and suddenly saw two rows of armored soldiers standing neatly at the door of the inn.

Fei Xuan frowned and put the money in his hand on the counter to pay. The shopkeeper was trembling with fear and quickly pushed the money back, saying carefully: "Sir, someone has already paid for the room for the three of you."

Fei Xuan took a deep breath, silently took the money back and put it in his arms. He was not afraid and strode towards the door.

As soon as he reached the door, a tall young man came towards him with a smile on his face. He bowed his head slightly and clasped his fists, saying, "Are you Mr. Fei?"

Fei Xuan looked up at the young man in front of him. He wanted to keep a straight face, but he was a little worried that the young man would get angry, so he forced a smile on his face and bowed, "Is it Envoy Li?"

Li Yun smiled and said, "I am Li Zhao, your humble servant. I have come to pay a special visit to the Lord. How come the Lord did not write to the local government office when he arrived in Jiangdong?"

Fei Xuan did not answer the question directly, but said silently: "Envoy Li is well-informed."

"Can't talk about it."

Li Yun shook his head and sighed, "To be honest with you, my Excellency, I have always been the least informed, and suffered a lot in this regard. It was not until New Year that things got a little better." Intelligence organization is indeed Li Yun's weak point, and objective conditions do not allow it.

After all, if you want to build a good intelligence system, in addition to investing a lot of resources, it is best to have relevant professional talents and long-term accumulation.

These three things are the only resources Li Yun has at the moment.

Liu Bo was in charge of this matter. Although Liu Bo spent a lot of time on it, he had no experience and the time was too short.

Now Li Yun’s intelligence capabilities still mainly rely on scouts in the army.

The reason why Fei Xuan and his three servants were discovered this time was mainly because these three people entered the city.

Since taking over Jinling, Li Yun has spent a lot of time and effort on this city, especially worrying about any unusual movements in the city. In recent times, he has deployed a lot of manpower to keep an eye on every aspect of the city.

By chance, Fei Xuan and the other two were discovered, and after a night of confirmation, their identities were finally confirmed.

After the two chatted for a while, Li Yun smiled and said, "Since the superior has arrived, there is no reason for me not to entertain him. I have prepared a banquet, please do me the honor."

Fei Xuan looked at Li Yun and took a deep breath.

"Envoy Li, it's really..."

"You are young and promising."

He pronounced the four words "young and promising" with great emphasis.

“The world is in chaos.”

Li Yun sighed and said, "So, a reckless person like me has the opportunity to stand out through military merit."

"If there is peace and prosperity, I would rather not be so successful."

Fei Xuan did not gain any advantage in the verbal battle.

Li Yun led the way and asked with a smile, "Where do you plan to work? Gusu or Jinling?"

Fei Xuan and Li Yun were walking side by side. Hearing this, he turned his head and glanced at the young man, then smiled and said, "Do I have any choice?"

"Naturally."

Li Yun looked calm: "There are so many prefectures in Jiangdong, you can go wherever you want."

Li Yun's bottom line for this observer is that he cannot directly go against him or sing a different tune.

Nothing else has any impact on him.

As for this inspector, whether he can set up a new base in other states and counties and pose a threat to Li Yun.

Li Yun had no worries at all because this was basically impossible.

It’s not a question of ability, but a question of mindset.

There are only so many people in a state. If Lord Fei is really loyal to the court and not greedy or possessive, he will not be able to support many troops.

Unless he was like Li Yun and went out to do some of his old trade during the initial accumulation period, there would be no possibility of raising an army.

An honest official would never do such a thing.

It is even more difficult for corrupt officials to do so. Which corrupt official would be willing to invest all his savings into the imperial army?
Only an ambitious person or an "entrepreneur" can take the path that Li Yun has taken.

But this Lord Fei is obviously not like that.

"This official..."

Fei Xuan looked at Li Yun, then frowned slightly and said, "Prepare to visit various states and counties and then decide where to work."

"That's great."

Li Yun said, "But now all the states and counties are unstable. Would you like me to send some people to the governor to serve as escorts?"

"No need."

Fei Xuan shook his head and said, "I want to go around by myself."

After saying this, he suddenly looked around and saw a group of yamen runners posting new notices on the street. As soon as the notice was posted, it was quickly surrounded by many people, who were talking about it.

Fei Xuan looked at Li Yun and asked, "Envoy Li, what does this notice say?"

"Oh."

Li Yun also took a look and said with a smile, "We just received the document from the court yesterday, informing us that the new era has been established, so we posted it on the notice today."

"This year is not the sixth year of Xian De, but..."

"The first year of Zhaoding."

(End of this chapter)