Thief Emperor

Chapter 350: Battle for a Foothold!

Throughout history, the beginning of a rebellion has often been related to superstition.

Examples of another world abound.

What is this, the writing in the fish's belly, the howling of a fox, and the saying "Don't say the stone man has only one eye".

If you look closely, it seems that every change is closely related to this kind of ghost and god belief.

In the final analysis, it is because many years of royal power have brought stubborn thinking inertia to everyone.

For example, the current Wu Zhou Dynasty, everyone with a discerning eye knows that it is already on the decline, but if this dynasty now conferred the title of duke or prince on the military governors of various places, the military governors of various places would still accept it with a smile.

However, if members of the royal family of Wu Zhou arrived in a certain place, the local people would still think that they were from a royal family, and wherever they went, a group of people would rush to kneel down before them.

It is necessary to use ghosts and gods to break this stubborn thinking inertia, or to break the people's fear of royal power.

After all, from a legal point of view, the royal power on earth comes from heaven, and the emperor is the son of heaven.

Therefore, even if there is a change of dynasty, the mysterious God must send down some signs.

This method, at least in this era, is very useful. After all, more than 90% of people at this time cannot read and are not well-educated.

Feudal superstition is sometimes also a tool.

So, a few days later, the Recruiting Envoy’s Office posted a notice.

Announce to everyone in Jinling City that from today on, he, Li Zhao, will officially change his name to Li Yun.

The content of this notice was very simple, it only mentioned the name change.

However, after this notice was posted, rumors began to spread throughout Jinling City. Some people said that they saw a big monk with golden light all over his body entering Li Garden a few days ago.

Some people also said that an old Taoist priest with white hair and a youthful face entered Li Garden.

Some fortune tellers took this opportunity to start interpreting this word, and soon the rumor about Yun Conglong spread throughout Jinling City.

Then, it spread to nearby states and counties.

If this rumor had spread when the imperial court was in good order, it would obviously not be very beneficial to Li Yun, but now, it would have some benefits.

At least it conveyed some implicit meaning to the nearby states and counties.

He, Li Yun, has great ambitions.

After the notice was posted, Li Yun's courtesy name was still not decided. Firstly, he was not very satisfied with the two options given by Mr. Xue, and secondly, he was too busy to have time for a coming-of-age ceremony.

This matter can only be put aside for now.

Let's finish this part first, and then come back to deal with this matter.

What kept Li Yun busy was naturally military affairs.

With another round of new conscription, the number of troops under Li Yun's command is now roughly close to 10,000.

At this level, the number of people under his command is very close to that of Qiu Dian back then, and in terms of combat effectiveness, it is far superior to Qiu Dian's troops.

Such crazy recruitment will naturally not be without cost.

Because Li Yun’s military expenditure was quite exaggerated.

When Qiu Dian rebelled, he had no concept of military expenditure at all. Whenever he and his people conquered a place, they would kill and rob, leaving chaos wherever they went.

But now, as long as Li Yun works with him, he can earn one string of money a month during the training in the recruit camp. When the training is completed and the recruits are assigned to different camps, they can earn two strings of money a month.

In addition, officers at all levels will increase their salaries, so the military salary expenses for these 10,000 people will be at least 30,000 strings of cash per month.

Including armor, weapons, arrows and the like.

Military expenditure is quite huge.

The reason why Li Yun was able to hold on during these few months was mainly because he almost controlled the salt roads in Jiangdong. Together with the copper mines in Xuanzhou, he now had just enough to use the salt.

If we recruit more soldiers, we won’t be able to bear it.

If they want to maintain it in the future, or if they want to further expand it, they will need more money and food. The nearby states and counties will definitely not be enough.

Li Yun needs money and food from all twenty states and counties in Jiangdong to support his army!
In Li Garden, Li Yun took the account from Du Qian, looked through it, and said with a wry smile: "This account is a bit too exaggerated."

Du Qian reached out and poured a cup of tea for Li Yun, and said, "Erlang's current method of raising soldiers is definitely not feasible. If you recruit more soldiers, you can only get one string of money a month."

"Only elite soldiers can earn two strings of cash a month."

Du Qian continued: "Even so, this is much stronger than the armies in other places."

"If we want to continue recruiting soldiers and expanding the army, this is the only way."

The economic problem is a very realistic problem.

In fact, the rise and fall of every dynasty is closely related to economic issues.

If Li Yun had unlimited money and food to spend now, he wouldn't even have to keep a low profile, let alone be stuck here as the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy.

Just raise the flag of rebellion, and it won't take long to raise an army of hundreds of thousands of people! Du Qian paused and continued: "We spent so much money, but most of the time, our Jiangdong soldiers are in the barracks and don't go to the battlefield."

"Or, we can change it so that the military pay is halved during off-season, and then returned to the existing pay during wartime."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and whispered, "To put it bluntly, Erlang has spent so much money to raise an army, but it has not yet shown any results."

From the very beginning, Li Yun had been training his army according to the scale of elite soldiers.

The food and wages of his army were incomparable to those of other local armies.

It was precisely because of this that he was able to confront Wujun’s 400 government troops head-on with only a hundred-something men.

This practice of raising a "professional army" is actually rare in this era.

In order to save costs, the imperial court only recruited soldiers in times of war in many places, and sent them home during peacetime to farm.

Only extremely elite troops would probably be kept alive.

Li Yun rubbed his swollen and painful brows and said, "I have considered this matter before. This cost will not last long."

"But I still think that quality is more important than quantity."

He said in a deep voice: "That's why I want to fight with the Pinglu Army to see if my elite soldiers with full pay can defeat the Pinglu Army in the north who have almost no food or pay."

"This opportunity will come soon."

Li Yun whispered: "The Pinglu Army has already entered Chuzhou, and I am going to lead the troops to Yangzhou."

"They arrived in Chuzhou with 5,000 people."

"I plan to lead a battalion of lieutenants and my guards to Yangzhou."

This was something Li Yun had planned long ago. He needed a battle to show himself and at the same time prove that there was nothing wrong with his idea of ​​training troops.

If the combat effectiveness of an army with full pay and the best food is not much different from that of a normal army, then Li Yun will have to change his ideas about training troops in the future.

Du Qian thought for a moment and understood what Li Yun meant. After thinking for a while, he looked at Li Yun and asked, "What excuse do you want to use to go to Yangzhou?"

"Excuse?"

Li Yun said calmly, "There is no need for any excuses. When the Pinglu Army went south, they didn't make any excuses."

"If it doesn't work, just say that I heard there was a civil uprising in Yangzhou and I'll take some people over to take a look."

Du Qian thought about it and said with a smile: "If Erlang can lead his men to defeat the 5,000 soldiers of the Pinglu Army in Huainan Road, we can take the opportunity to occupy Yangzhou, even if it's just for a while."

"We in Jiangdong don't have to worry about the expenses for the next two years."

Although there were many salt fields for drying salt in Jiangdong led by Li Yun, the place where Jiangdong salt merchants really gathered was in Yangzhou.

Because almost all salt and important materials had to be transported from Yangzhou, the big salt merchants were concentrated in Yangzhou.

A large amount of wealth from the south of the Yangtze River is also gathered here.

As Du Qian said, even if we just go into the city and plunder the rich, we will have enough money to cover our expenses for the next one or two years.

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and chuckled, "The spring sowing in all the prefectures and counties seems to be going well. I will leave the political affairs of Jiangdong to you, Brother Du, for the time being."

"Remember, all documents should be issued in the name of the Recruiting Envoy's Office."

At this point, Li Yun stood up and said, "I will immediately ask Zhao Cheng to station at the riverside... It will be easier to cross the river by boat now since Huainan Road has not yet formed a defense."

"In a few days, I will go to Zhao Cheng's army in person."

He smiled at Du Qian and said, "Brother Du is in Jinling, waiting for my good news."

"The Jiedushi of Pinglu, Zibo and Qing is one of the few Jiedushi in the world."

Du Qian chuckled and said, "If Erlang can defeat them with fewer men, then not only will he be famous in Jiangdong, but the whole world will also hear of Erlang's name."

"Even if the imperial court knew about it, they would probably promote you, Erlang."

Li Yun hummed, and said slowly: "This battle is the battle for us to gain a firm foothold."

"If we win, the summer and autumn taxes from other prefectures and counties in Jiangdong will be handed over to Jinling!"

At this point, Li Yun grinned and said, "If we don't win, I'm afraid we'll have to keep our heads down for a while."

"If we fail to win, Erlang must withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River as soon as possible."

"With the natural barrier of the river, we have many opportunities...

Li Yun did not answer, but turned his head to look outside the door and whispered slowly.

"I fought several battles in Jiangdong and everything went smoothly. I'm so curious..."

"The quality of these military commanders."

(End of this chapter)