Thief Emperor

Chapter 341: The Art of Throwing Money
The father and daughter of the Jiang family, along with a group of servants, were taken back to Changzhou City by Li Yun and his men.

On the way, the old man kept complaining, and his daughter also cried and shouted. Li Yun got tired of listening to him, so he drew his sword, and both the father and daughter became quiet, not daring to say a word along the way.

On the other side, Yang Xi also brought people to capture the Song family who had fled south.

The Song family has more people, about a dozen or so.

When he was brought back to the city, it was already very late. Li Yun did not even sleep, but interrogated Jiang Ju all night.

Facing Li Yun who was sitting in the main seat, Mr. Jiang was not very flustered. He answered whatever Li Yun asked. After a few questions, he looked up at Li Yun and said, "Envoy Li, you relied entirely on your conjectures on my collusion with the rebels."

"Is there any evidence at all?"

"You are the imperial court's recruiting envoy. You can't handle a case without any evidence, right? Otherwise, what's the difference between you and those evil thieves who kill people everywhere?"

Li Yun rubbed his brows because he was a little tired, lowered his head and drank a sip of tea, then looked at the old man in front of him and said lightly: "I called you back to question you, but I didn't say that you colluded with the rebels. Why did you admit it yourself?"

"Moreover."

Mr. Li looked at Jiang Ju and said slowly, "Leaving aside the riot this time, your Jiang family was not clean in the past. Just flip through the files in the governor's mansion and you will find that the Jiang family has many cases."

"I'm afraid that the previous officials of Changzhou, including the current governor Wu Bian, have accepted bribes from your family?"

Mr. Jiang's expression changed slightly, and then he whispered: "Li Shijun, this is something that the Inspector General should be in charge of. You are the Recruiting Envoy, and only matters related to bandit unrest should be handled by you!"

"I can manage it, I don't need you to teach me."

Li Yun glanced at Mr. Jiang and said in a deep voice, "I will only ask you one question now, and nothing else."

"The Jiang family moved out of Changzhou City a few years ago. Where did they move to?"

Li Yun said sternly, "He moved to Qingzhou, didn't he?"

After all the calculations, among the people Li Yun offended, the only one who had the ability to stir up trouble in Jiangdong without leaving much of a trace was the Jiedushi of Pinglu, Zibo and Qing.

Mr. Jiang's eyes flickered, but his face showed no expression. Instead, he said silently, "If Envoy Li wants to investigate this matter, he can certainly find out."

"I will send someone to investigate."

Li Yun said coldly: "I am asking you now."

Mr. Jiang still couldn't resist Li Yun's questioning. After wiping the sweat from his forehead, he whispered, "I...my family moved to Yangzhou."

"That's great. We are very close to Qingzhou now."

"I don't understand why Envoy Li keeps talking about Qingzhou."

Mr. Jiang looked at Li Yun and gritted his teeth and said, "What does our Jiang family have to do with Qingzhou?"

"Whether it matters or not, you said it but it doesn't count."

Li Yun stood up, glanced at Master Jiang slowly, and said calmly: "But I have a few words to tell Master Jiang. I am very busy now and I don't have time to spend long with you in Changzhou. After I execute those traitors tomorrow, I will leave Changzhou."

"So, I don't have time to waste on you. For some things, I don't need evidence."

Evidence is only needed to investigate a case.

Now Li Yun is starting a business, fighting for territory, or engaging in a political struggle with certain people.

In political struggle, there is no need for evidence, only suspicion is enough.

Suspicion arises, guilt is established.

But now Li Yun believes that the incident in Changzhou must be closely related to the Pinglu Army. It was General Zhou in the north who was trying to deceive him.

that's enough.

Anyway, in the future, during the expansion process, there will inevitably be some conflicts with the Pinglu Army. Since there will be conflicts sooner or later, it is possible that they did it.

It doesn’t matter actually.

Li Yun walked to the door, looked back at Master Jiang, and said slowly: "If there is a chance, I will go to Yangzhou and take a good look at your Jiang family."

Mr. Jiang's expression finally changed.

Li Yun didn't look at him again and turned away.

If the imperial court still had authority, and Li Yun was an official in the local government, he would have to get to the bottom of this matter.

But now, if he still focuses his energy on these trivial matters, he will not even be qualified to be a local lord. It would be better for him to go back to the mountains and be a bandit.

From the moment he arrived in Changzhou, Li Yun was very clear about the purpose of his trip, which was to quell the local rebellion and demonstrate his own strength.

As for other minor details, it would be best if we could find them out, but if we can’t…

The Jiang family and others are highly suspicious, and they are local families that have been causing great harm in the local area.

He who deserves to die must die.

…………

the next day.

At the intersection of Changzhou City where the beheading took place, more than a hundred thieves and villagers who had caused chaos were neatly tied up and knelt in the open space at the intersection. Some of the more than a hundred people were trembling with fear, while others clenched their teeth and said nothing.

Behind them, there were soldiers from Jiangdong, each holding a steel knife, and many of them had sweat on their foreheads.

These people are naturally Li Yun's subordinates.

Although they have all been to the battlefield, many of them have never killed anyone personally.

This is a very common situation. In fact, when a large number of soldiers arrive at the battlefield, they spend most of their time running around following the main force. Some of those who are luckier may not be able to fight in a few battles even after fighting for several years or even more than ten years.

These one hundred or so men had never seen blood, and they were the ones who carried out the executions to build up their courage.

Li Yun sat in the position of supervising the execution. On his left and right sat the two chief officials of Changzhou. Li Yun glanced at them and said slowly, "You two, after executing these traitors today, the three of us will submit a memorial to the court to report the matter."

"Then, I will leave Changzhou and return to Jinling."

The governor Wu Bian was a coward and nodded his head repeatedly in agreement.

Wan Yong was quite a man, but in this situation, he couldn't say anything and just nodded silently.

Seeing that they turned around, Li Yun threw the execution order on his desk to the ground, indicating that the execution should begin.

After doing this, Li Yun still looked at the two people, and then continued: "In addition, I will also write a letter to report you two."

When Wu Bian heard this, his expression suddenly changed.

Wan Yong, who was standing by, gnashed his teeth and said, "What a coincidence! I was just about to write a letter to report to Lord Li!"

"Then let's impeach each other."

Li Yun looked calm and said bluntly: "Such a large city was occupied by more than 200 rebels, causing heavy casualties among the people in the city. If I were you, I would crash into my head and die here to thank the people of Changzhou!"

At this moment, Li Yun once wanted to capture the two men directly and kill them with a single blow to vent his anger. However, although killing the chief officer of a state was not a big problem for him now, it would always cause some trouble.

By that time, the rumor that Li Yun instigated the bandits to cause chaos might really spread throughout Jiangdong.

Therefore, this matter needs to be slowed down.

He would leave people in Changzhou to keep an eye on these two people, and when the storm was over, neither of these two local officials, who were either stupid or evil, would be able to escape.

Just as Wu Bian was about to bow his head and beg for mercy, he suddenly heard a scream. He subconsciously turned his head and saw more than a hundred long swords being raised high on the execution ground, and then falling down.

But he was not a professional executioner after all, so the beheading was extremely unprofessional. After this cut, half of the more than 100 people were not dead and crawled on the execution ground wailing.

More than half of the soldiers dropped their swords and lay aside vomiting.

Wu Bian happened to see this scene. The governor of Changzhou turned pale all of a sudden and couldn't help but go to the side and vomit violently.

Li Yun stood up and ordered his men to clean up the execution ground. Then he said in a deep voice to the crowd of onlookers: "My fellow villagers, I am Li Zhao, the Recruiting Envoy of Jiangdong!"

"The chaos in Changzhou has come to an end!"

"If anyone harbors evil intentions and causes trouble again, they will still end up like this!"

He looked around and shouted, "This matter will not end here. The Recruiting Envoy will investigate it thoroughly, but anyone involved in the case will end up like this!"

After that, Li Yun took a deep breath and continued, "I am the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy. This kind of unrest in Changzhou has happened to local officials and I have also been involved. If any civilians in the city die at the hands of these thieves, the Recruiting Envoy will give each person six strings of cash."

"In a few days, the Recruiting Envoy will come to Changzhou to distribute money."

At this point, Li Yun walked into the crowd and continued to shout: "If anyone dares to spread rumors again, we will catch them and treat them as traitors!"

"Immediately execute him without mercy!"

After saying that, Li Yun stood up and strode away.

The onlookers looked at each other before they reacted and cheered in the direction of Li Yun.

"Envoy Li, Envoy Li!"

"Envoy Li!"

The cheers were getting louder and louder.

Among the onlookers, there were a few people with strange expressions. After seeing this kind of momentum, they looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.

This method of directly giving money to show favor is much more effective than those rumors.

Li Yun himself left the crowd amid cheers.

"Lu He, you take 500 people and stay in Changzhou temporarily to maintain order in and outside the city."

Li Yun climbed onto his horse, looked at General Lu, and took a deep breath.

"After a while, I will send someone over to take care of the follow-up work in Changzhou."

Lu He bowed his head deeply without hesitation.

"I obey my orders!"

(End of this chapter)