Thief Emperor

Chapter 358 The power of new gadgets!
Yangzhou is the first step in Li Yun's military expansion, and it is also an extremely important step.

If he could take control of Yangzhou, then this would become his stronghold between the Yangtze River and the Huai River. With such a big city, even if two thousand people were not enough, Li Yun could transfer another two or three thousand people from the rear.

After all, for him now, the threat mainly comes from the north.

If there were a few thousand people guarding Yangzhou, the Pinglu Army would need at least several times the number of troops to capture Yangzhou, that is, more than 10,000 or even 20,000 people, to be able to storm Yangzhou.

This number of people is already a heavy blow to the Pinglu Army, and the Pinglu Army is unlikely to choose to do so.

After all, the Pinglu Army only had a staff of 50,000 men in the court. Even though the Pinglu Army had begun to expand wildly in recent years, General Zhou had to turn his attention to the south of the Yangtze River in order to raise military funds for the expansion.

But at most, there are only about 60,000 to 70,000 people.

If all the military forces were consumed in the south of the Yangtze River, once a large-scale war broke out, the Pinglu Jiedushi would most likely be the first to be eliminated.

"Envoy Li."

Lü Biejia lowered his head and sighed, "Whether the people are harmed or not is actually not that important to the envoys."

Li Yun sneered and said, "What matters is whether the officials are not harmed in the slightest."

"right?"

Lu Biejia nodded slowly: "That's about it."

"Go back and tell Envoy Yu."

"Just say that my previous call to Yangzhou, exterminating three clans, only targets those who have colluded with the Pinglu rebels."

“No one else will be held accountable.”

This Lü Beijia sighed, bowed his head and saluted, saying: "Li Shijun, if you take this to Yu Shijun, I'm afraid the city gate will never be opened."

"Don't be busy."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I have something else to say."

"Tell the envoy that Li will enter Yangzhou one day. If I can't get in this time, I will come again next time. If I can't get in next time, I will come again next time."

"But if I can't get in this time."

Mr. Li stood up and said slowly: "Then next time, the officials of Yangzhou and I, Li Yun, will be mortal enemies."

This Lü Biejia lowered his head and thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "Envoy Li, if that's the case, then Yangzhou City will be even less likely to open the gates to you. What's more important is..."

"Sima Mo in Yangzhou City defected to the Pinglu Army early in the morning..."

Li Yun was stunned.

At this moment, he had already made preparations to come again next time, but he heard some different meanings from the words of this Mr. Lu.

Because the conversation between the two had ended, he didn't need to say anything more, and Li Yun didn't ask him any more questions.

He took the initiative to leak the information to Li Yun.

Li Yun thought for a while. Then he looked at this Lu Biejia and suddenly smiled: "I understand. At this moment, they could have sent anyone to discuss the terms with me, but they chose to send Lu Biejia."

"It was me who took the initiative to ask to leave the city."

Lu Yan looked at Li Yun and said in a deep voice, "Envoy Li, it is easy to get Yangzhou to open. You just need to promise to let the original officials govern Yangzhou after occupying it. They will most likely open the city gates and welcome Envoy Li into the city."

“But now, things are a little different.”

Li Yun had already thought about it clearly. He looked at Lu Yan and asked with a smile, "In the city, it is not Envoy Yu who has the final say, right?"

A habitual way of thinking misled Li Yun.

He tacitly agreed that each province and county was headed by a governor.

But in fact, the governors of various states were more like the former Yuezhou governor Du Qian, who only took care of government affairs. As for the military affairs of a state, they were mostly handled by the Sima.

It is common sense that the state Sima is under the control of the governor.

But the imperial court...has collapsed!

This common sense no longer exists.

Lü Biejia took a deep breath and continued, "Sima Mo has already joined the Pinglu Army. He wants to take Yangzhou City and exchange it for a better future with the Pinglu Army."

"But Yu Shijun is from Chuzhou, and he has received many letters from Chuzhou recently."

"The local officials of Chuzhou have all been replaced by the Pinglu Army and replaced by people from the Zhou family."

Having said that, Mr. Lu looked at Li Yun steadily.

"I probably understand."

Li Yun touched his chin and said with a smile: "Lü Biejia and Yu Shijun want to use me to regain control of Yangzhou."

Lu Yan shook his head slightly.

"Envoy Li, the world has suddenly become like this. What everyone thinks is no longer the same as before. I cannot tell you what Envoy Yu is thinking, but right now, I just want to... just want to get my family out of Yangzhou."

"As for the rest, don't think about it."

Li Yun was startled, then he clapped his hands and said with emotion: "Lu Biejia, you are such a smart man."

Now the situation in the whole world is very clear.

At a time when various places were engaged in competition and disputes, even in Yangzhou City, Sima had the final say, and the same was true in most other places.

To put it bluntly, now you need soldiers in your hands before your words will be effective.

At this time, Lu Yan no longer expected to control Yangzhou. No matter who entered Yangzhou City, they, the civil servants without soldiers, would not be able to continue to control Yangzhou City.

Either obey one side or obey the other.

The lack of national laws and disciplines meant that no matter whether it was the local Jiedushi or military leaders like Li Yun, there was nothing they could do to restrain them. Compared to joining one side, Lü Yan wanted to take his family away from Yangzhou, a place of trouble, and return to his hometown to hide, study, and avoid this chaotic world.

After Li Yun sighed, he asked, "Since Mo Sima is in charge of Yangzhou, how is Lü Biejia going to help me?"

"Everyone in the city is Mo Sima's man, and the guards at each gate are all Mo Sima's confidants. It is impossible to open the gates of the city."

Li Yun was surprised and asked, "What does Lü Biejia mean, to open the gate from outside the city? How to open the gate from outside the city?"

"Use me."

Lü Biejia pointed at himself and said, "I am leaving the city. Mo Dao knows about this. He also wants Li Shijun to withdraw his troops and leave Yangzhou. So as long as I go back, I can enter the city again."

"Envoy Li, select a few strong men to follow me and say we are going in to choose gifts. When we reach the city gate, once it is opened, a few strong men will hold the gate, and Envoy will use fast horses to lead people to rush through, or..."

"Or maybe the gates could be opened."

Li Yun was stunned.

"Lü Biejia is really brave, he actually took the initiative to bring up this..."

"wrong."

Li Yun looked at Lu Yan and shook his head slightly, saying, "No, no, Biejia Lu, you hardly take any risks."

"Yes."

Lu Yan bowed slightly and said, "If you fail to capture the city, I will just say that I knew nothing about it and was fooled by you."

"If you can capture the city, I want to take my family and the little wealth I have saved over the years and leave Yangzhou in one piece."

Li Yun thought about it and said, "I agree to this."

Upon hearing this, Lü Biejia took a deep breath and asked, "When will you take action, sir?"

"Just this afternoon."

Li Yun said slowly: "When I'm ready, let's do it."

Lu Yan lowered his head and said, "Your Excellency is straightforward. I will wait for you."

After saying that, he walked out.

Li Yun called Zhao Cheng and Zhang Hu in and told them the plan. After that, Zhao Cheng shook his head and said, "Sir, this Lu guy can only take ten people to the city gate at most. If there are more, the people in Yangzhou will definitely get suspicious."

"These ten men cannot wear armor yet."

"There can't be any of our people within the sight range of the tower. It's almost impossible to seize the city gate by this method."

"This Lu looks like a scholar, and all his ideas are based on his own imagination."

"Absolutely unreliable."

Li Yun looked at Zhao Cheng and said softly, "It will be difficult to succeed according to his method, but I have some new ideas."

Zhao Cheng was stunned, then looked at Li Yun and frowned: "You want to go by yourself? That's impossible!"

"Absolutely not!"

Li Yun shook his head slightly: "Several people are going to open the city gate, and they cannot wear armor. Even if it is for the sake of Jiangdong, I will not take the risk."

"However, it just so happens that I brought some new gadgets from Jiangdong, which might be useful. Since this Mr. Lu brought it up, let's give it a try."

He explained his plan in detail to the two people. Zhang Hu nodded repeatedly, but Zhao Cheng was still a little hesitant.

However, thinking that the cost of trial and error was not high, he nodded and agreed.

After another half hour, Li Yun was ready.

When Lu Yan left Li's camp, he brought eight people with him. Each of these eight people carried a cloth bag on his back.

After Lü Yan arrived at the gate of Yangzhou, he shouted to the defenders to open the gate. A middle-aged man on the tower shouted, "Master Lü, what are these people doing? Why are they all carrying bags?"

"What else could it be for?"

Lü Biejia cursed, "Those who were sent by Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy to choose gifts, once you have chosen, carry them back in these bags!"

The person guarding the city gate was a captain. He looked at the eight people under the city, then looked at the camp not far away, and indeed did not find any unusual movements, so he waved his hand and ordered the gate to be opened.

Even if these eight men are strong enough to fight ten people at once, without armor, they will not be able to hold out for more than a few rounds before being stabbed with transparent holes all over their bodies.

Yangzhou City is a big city with heavy gates. It takes several people to open it together. As the gate creaked open, a gap opened up soon enough for a single person to pass through.

"Master Lu, come in!"

Lu Yan took a look inside through the crack in the door and was hesitating whether to open the gate wider when a man patted him on the shoulder from behind.

"Stand back!"

Lu Yan subconsciously stepped back and glanced back, only to see a cloth bag being thrown by the man through the crack in the door into the corridor behind the city gate!

There was a faint smell of burning.

Then there was a loud "bang"!
A huge noise exploded in the city gate!

Lu Yan was completely stunned!

Just when he was confused, the second cloth bag had already been thrown in!
Soon, another loud noise was heard!
This is gunpowder, being used in this scenario for the first time. The Yangzhou defenders were originally local troops, and were by no means elite. They were stunned on the spot by this sudden change!

Even though it did not cause too many casualties, the sound of thunder and fire scared most of the soldiers out of their wits and they fled in all directions!
Not far away, Li Yun, who had already mounted his warhorse, shook the reins and shouted angrily as soon as he heard the noise.

"Follow me!"

"Take the city of Yangzhou!"

More than 200 people, riding horses, rushed towards Yangzhou City at the fastest speed!
　Xiaoman did a quick check and found that the Yangzhou city at that time should not have an inner city. Whether it existed or not, dear readers, just assume it didn’t exist!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)