Thief Emperor

Chapter 348: Pick a Character
From Zhao Cheng's perspective, the news about Guanzhong was simply heaven-sent. No matter from which perspective, it was worth his happiness.

He was happy because the court was facing a disaster.

From now on, there will be no more restrictions here in Jiangdong. As long as they can win the battle, they can grow wildly and become stronger without any worries. This is naturally a good thing.

More importantly, according to this situation, the fall of the Great Zhou Dynasty is not far away!
There was an irreconcilable feud between him and the Wu Zhou Dynasty, and there was no room for maneuver!
Zhao Cheng clenched his fists and looked up at the sky: "I just hope that God will let Wu Zhou last a few more years, until I can see with my own eyes that the Wu family is reduced to ashes!"

"It's a pity that the tyrant is already dead. I was not able to charge into the capital and stand before him with a knife in hand. I will never have this opportunity again!"

Su Sheng put his hands in his sleeves in front of him and shook his head slightly, saying: "Once Tongguan is breached, the imperial court will most likely flee. We will definitely be able to hold out for a while longer."

At this point, he sighed and said, "What the court has done in the past few years, as well as some of its ideas, are simply unbelievable. If the court could be a little more normal, why would the situation be like this?"

Unlike Zhao Cheng who was bent on revenge, although Su Sheng also hated the court because of his father's affairs, he still felt complicated when the news came.

After all, the Su family has always been a loyal subject of the Great Zhou.

If my father’s spirit in heaven knew the current state of the court, I wonder...what he would think?

While Su Sheng was thinking, Zhao Cheng sneered and said, "This is the end of fate!"

"Once your luck runs out, you'll naturally make stupid moves one after another!"

Zhao Cheng took a deep breath and said, "If the court had used Uncle Su as the commander-in-chief to fight against the bandits at that time, the current situation would not have been like this, and the Wei family would not have been so rampant and reckless."

"Then Wei Quanzhong was once Uncle Su's subordinate, right?"

Zhao Cheng snorted, "In the end, Uncle Su went home and became unemployed, but this guy surnamed Wei was promoted again and again by the tyrant emperor and became the governor of Shuofang. Now he is doing well."

"Their family has suffered the consequences!"

Su Sheng came back to his senses, patted Zhao Cheng on the shoulder, and said slowly: "Brother, I know you are anxious, and you have every reason to resent the court, but as your brother, I want to remind you."

"You can't bring your emotions into military affairs."

Su Sheng warned: "Since Erlang trusts you and me, we should lead the soldiers for him. We must not do anything unwise in the future because of our own likes and dislikes."

"Don't worry, brother."

Zhao Cheng calmed down and said with a smile: "Envoy Li has been very kind to me. I will not forget it. I will lead the troops well."

He exhaled a foul breath: "If I don't lead the troops well, how can I avenge my great hatred?"

"Brother, I will station troops by the river for a while. I will ride my horse to the riverside north of Changzhou to see where is suitable for stationing troops!"

"We'll meet again sometime, and I'll treat you to a drink then!"

Su Sheng also clasped his fists and said, "I have to rush back to Jinling too. As the news from the capital spreads, other places may..."

"It won't be peaceful."

The two of them bowed to each other and said goodbye.

…………

Just when Li Yun was actively preparing for war, Zhou Chang, the major general of the Pinglu Army, led 5,000 troops from Qingzhou to station in Sizhou.

Sizhou is only separated from Chuzhou in Huainan Road by a river.

More importantly, Chuzhou is only separated from Jinling by Yangzhou, which is quite close.

Obviously, at the same time when Li Yun received the news from the capital, General Zhou of the Pinglu Army also received the news from the west and made some responses of his own.

For example, deploy troops to the south and be prepared to enter Huainan Road and then Jiangnan at any time.

However, the Pinglu Jiedushi did not act without any scruples. He first had to guard against the covetousness of other local forces around him, and then he could consider how to expand his territory.

Therefore, before this, the Pinglu Army was actually more inclined to cultivate an interest spokesperson in Jiangnan rather than leading the troops themselves.

Now that the imperial court has become like this, General Zhou no longer has to worry about any pressure from the imperial court, so he begins to deploy his troops and prepare to implement his expansion plan.

At the same time, His Majesty the Emperor Wu Yuancheng in the capital finally made up his mind and began to prepare to leave the capital with the court, or the core part of the court and most of the imperial guards, and go to Xichuan to temporarily avoid the limelight.

At the same time, His Majesty the Emperor, in the name of the Emperor, sent letters to all the military governors throughout the country, ordering them to mobilize troops immediately to rescue the king and recover Guanzhong.

This method is still very clever. After all, once the Jiedushi of Shuofang takes action, there is no guarantee that the Jiedushis of other places will not be ready to act.

This imperial edict gave them a legitimate reason.

Once these forces moved, the Shuofang Army's military power was no longer absolutely invincible.

Perhaps, after all the forces have fought each other, the imperial court, with most of the imperial guards, will be able to fight back from Xichuan once again and return as the king.

This plan, which seems very clever but is actually mediocre, was definitely the idea of ​​Mr. Pei Sanlang.

The court moved almost overnight.

By the time the people in the capital realized what was happening, the court had already left the capital. The people in the capital, who had lost the court, or were abandoned by the court, almost immediately went from panic to chaos.

As a result, before the rebels even arrived at the capital, the city had become a living hell.

There are countless chaotic and tragic situations.

In the past, the prosperous and bustling capital city became a dream in just an instant.

In the city, people were killing people and setting fires.

Robbery and rape are everywhere.

It seems as if the former prosperity and bustle had never existed.

…………

On the other side, in Jinling Li Garden.

A young boy of about eleven or twelve years old knelt down in front of Xue Yun'er and Li Yun and kowtowed.

"Meet uncle and aunt."

This is the eldest son of Li Yun's brother-in-law Xue Shou, and also the eldest grandson of Master Xue. After Master Xue wrote a letter home, Xue Shou did not dare to go against his father's wishes and quickly sent his son to Jiangdong.

Because the world was in turmoil, the Xue family sent two followers to follow the caravan to Jiangdong. Although they encountered many problems along the way, they finally arrived in Jinling safely without any danger.

After arriving in Jinling, Li Yun immediately sent someone to welcome him to Li Garden. Although the little guy was not very old, he came from a scholarly family and knew the rules very well. After seeing Li Yun and Xue Yun'er, he kowtowed to them without saying a word.

Xue Yun'er quickly helped her eldest nephew up, brushed the dust off his knees, and scolded him, "We are all family, you can just call me aunt when you see me, why are you kowtowing?"

"Are you tired from the journey?"

When Xue Gui was a child, Xue Yun'er still lived in his hometown. She only came to Qingyang a few years ago and almost watched him grow up.

Xue Gui was very happy to see his aunt. He pulled Xue Yun'er's sleeve and talked to her for a long time.

Seeing the aunt and nephew talking, Li Yun did not interrupt them, but waited quietly by the side. When they had almost finished talking, Li Yun smiled and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to meet your father-in-law and mother-in-law."

Xue Gui responded and followed Li Yun obediently.

Mr. Li, together with Xue Yun'er, took his nephew all the way to the backyard of his own home, where they met Mr. Xue and Mrs. Xue, who were tending to a piece of idle land of only ten feet square.

After the old couple arrived in Jinling, they had nothing to do, so they opened a piece of land in the yard where they lived and grew some fruits and vegetables.

Xue Gui knelt on the ground again and kowtowed: "Grandfather, Grandmother."

The old couple were delighted to see Xue Gui. They hurried forward, helped Xue Gui up, and asked him many questions for a long time.

After a long time, Master Xue walked towards Li Yun who was sitting nearby and said with emotion: "Erlang finally has some free time today."

"On weekdays, I don't see your people for several days."

"When welcoming my nephew to my home, my son-in-law must be present, otherwise the child might think too much."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Besides, I've been so busy lately, it's time to take a break."

Master Xue sat down next to him, glanced at Li Yun, and said silently: "I have heard about some of the things happening in the capital. You have been so busy recently, probably because you are busy with how to deal with this matter?"

"Well, that's it."

Li Yun sighed: "Big things are coming, so I have to get busy. It's better for my mother-in-law to be so free and at ease."

Mr. Xue glared at him and scolded him with a smile: "These words are said by those old officials who pretend to be cultured on the surface but show off secretly. You have only been an official for a few years, and you also talk in this tone!"

Li Yun smiled but said nothing.

"A county magistrate was dismissed in Jinling Prefecture these days. Is my father-in-law interested in returning to his old job?"

Mr. Xue was startled, then looked at Li Yun.

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "I see, I still need to discuss it with my mother-in-law."

Master Xue coughed and said, "I need to think about this myself."

"Then there is one more thing."

Li Yun stood up, clasped his hands and said solemnly: "My son-in-law is already 23 years old, and still has no courtesy name. I have no teacher, so my father-in-law has been half my teacher in the past few years."

"Please father-in-law..."

"Give me a courtesy name."

　Collect the courtesy name of Li Shijun! Brainstorming!!!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)