Thief Emperor

Chapter 361: Fame
It was the middle of the night and the city of Yangzhou was in chaos.

Although the defenders in the city had basically stopped making any noise, Li Yun's troops quickly took control of the entire Yangzhou city at the speed of advancement.

But for the time being, I really don’t know where this Mo Sima has hidden.

By midnight, Li Yun no longer had the heart to dwell on this matter.

Yangzhou is his bridgehead in the north of the Yangtze River and also the most important prefecture north of the Yangtze River. He will definitely have to manage it carefully in the future. He will not stay in Yangzhou for just one or two days.

So he was not in a hurry to find Mo Sima tonight.

He first found a place to live in Yangzhou City, and then wrote a letter to his family in Jinling and Du Qian respectively.

After a little thought, he wrote another letter to Xu Ang in Wuzhou, preparing to transfer Xu Ang to Yangzhou.

Xu Ang became a bit strange after the death of his wife and son, but he did a good job in Wuzhou, and Wuzhou was in good order under his rule.

I didn't bring my personal emotions into work.

However, his way of doing things has become somewhat sinister now. He does everything according to the rules and no longer shows any humanity.

Moreover, if they can use heavy-handed tactics, they will basically use heavy-handed tactics.

Because of this, many people in Wuzhou suffered at his hands.

However, his personality makes him very suitable for following Li Yun to do things in Jiangbei at the moment.

After writing a few letters, it was already late at night. Li Yun yawned, stretched, got into bed and went to sleep.

At this time, it is better to ensure that you have plenty of energy.

After all, there are still countless things waiting for him to deal with in Yangzhou City tomorrow. In addition, the Pinglu Army outside the city has not left Jiangbei and returned to Qingzhou. Who knows when another war will break out.

When I woke up, it was already bright.

The sun had already climbed halfway up the sky.

Li Yun rubbed his eyes, stood up and stretched his body. He only felt some soreness in his muscles, but no pain.

This shows that the battle when entering the city yesterday was of moderate intensity and only barely allowed him to move around.

Seeing Li Yun coming out of the room, Meng Hai, who was guarding the door, bowed and said, "Sir, Yu Shijun and Lü Beijia from Yangzhou are waiting for you in the yard outside."

"besides…"

He looked at Li Yun and continued, "In the morning, Lieutenant Li sent someone to say that the Sima surnamed Mo had been captured and was waiting for the envoy to interrogate him."

Li Yun stretched and nodded, "Got it. Keep him in custody for now. I'll go and interrogate him after noon."

Meng Hai nodded, but still looked up at Li Yun, wanting to say something but hesitant.

Li Yun happened to catch a glimpse of his expression and frowned, "Is there something wrong?"

Meng Hai was still a little hesitant, but he gritted his teeth and said, "It's not a big deal. It's something that happened in our village. I was thinking about whether I should tell the envoy..."

"Your village..."

Li Yun touched his chin, reacted, and asked, "Have you received any news about those people who ran away from Hexi Village?"

"Ah."

Meng Hai lowered his head and said, "It was Meng Qing who asked someone to bring a letter to me, saying that he had contacted my father and wanted to take them to Yuezhou, or Jinling..."

Li Yun understood.

He was an eyewitness to the Hexi Village Massacre in Shidai County. He was also the one who released those people from Hexi Village. After escaping from the village, these people aspired to kill officials and committed several crimes. At that time, they were called Hexi thieves in Shidai County.

Until some time ago, Li Yun used their name and did some of his own things in Jiangdong.

Meng Qing was stationed with Deng Yang at the Tongguan Copper Mine in Yian County, Xuanzhou. Some time ago, due to an incident in the capital, Li Yun sent 500 men from Deng Yang's army to station near Xuanzhou City.

With these 500 soldiers and some connections with Deng Zhongming, the governor of Xuanzhou, he managed to control Xuanzhou.

The Hexi bandits had probably been in Xuanzhou for the past one or two years, so they got in touch with Meng Qing.

Thinking of this, Li Yun was suddenly stunned and figured out some of the key points.

Before this, when Li Yun was the Sima of Yuezhou and had some power, he thought about contacting these people to help them find a place to stay, but he was never able to get in touch with them.

And now, why are we suddenly connected?

It was probably because these "Hexi bandits" had also heard the news from the capital and knew that the Wu Zhou Dynasty was already in name only.

Therefore, their identity as traitors is no longer important.

That's why they contacted Meng Qing.

Before this, these people were afraid that their identities would implicate the young men in Hexi Village who followed Li Yun, so they never showed up.

It is conceivable that if the Wu Zhou Dynasty had continued to exist, these so-called Hexi bandits in Hexi Village would probably never show up in their lifetime.

Thinking of this, Li Yun sighed silently and asked, "How are they doing?"

Meng Hai lowered his head and said, "Not very good. They followed my father and escaped from Hexi Village. There were thirty or forty of them at first, but they were hunted down by the government and had no means of livelihood."

"Now...now there are only a dozen people left."

Li Yun was silent, then sighed and said, "I was also an eyewitness to what happened in Hexi Village. Let your family members move to Jinling. I will send a letter to Jinling, and they will arrange a livelihood for them."

Meng Hai lowered his head and knelt in front of Li Yun with a plop, his forehead touching the ground: "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir!"

Li Yun helped him up and frowned, "What are you doing?"

When Meng Hai stood up again, his face was covered with tears, his eyes were red, and he couldn't speak.

These young people from Hexi are no different from normal children in their daily lives, but almost all of them have their own tragic life stories.

After all, almost all the villagers of Hexi Village have died. Meng Hai usually just quietly ran errands for Li Yun and didn't say a word, but he was depressed for who knows how long.

Seeing him like this, Li Yun patted his shoulder and sighed: "How about you go back to Jiangnan from Liuhe first, meet your family, and bring the letter back to me?"

Meng Hai couldn't stop crying, his words were choked with sobs and he couldn't finish them, but he kept shaking his head.

"I...I will follow the Envoy."

After saying these few words, Meng Hai could no longer bear it, and he squatted on the ground, bursting into tears.

The crying was so miserable that it was unbearable to listen to.

Li Yun just patted him on the back silently and then walked out of the backyard.

As soon as he walked outside, the governor of Yangzhou, Yu Cong, and the deputy driver, Lü Yan, came over and saluted Li Yun, saying, "Envoy Li."

After the ceremony, both of them heard faint crying sounds coming from the backyard and looked up at Li Yun at the same time.

Li Yun sighed: "My little brother is very sad, let him cry."

"Both of you."

Li Yun pointed to the main hall in the front yard and said, "Let's sit down and talk in detail."

The two of them naturally nodded repeatedly.

Soon, the three of them sat down. Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea and wake up. Then he looked at the two men and said calmly, "Mo Daozheng has been brought to justice. Li will interrogate them later."

"You two came to see me so early in the morning, but what's the urgent matter?"

Governor Yu Cong had obviously not slept all night, his eyes were bloodshot. He took out a document from his sleeve, handed it to Li Yun with both hands, and said with a slightly lowered head, "Envoy Li, these are the families in Yangzhou City who may be involved with the Mo thief. It will be much easier for you to check according to this list."

Li Yun took the list and took a look. He saw that it was filled with names written densely on several pages.

Li Yun put the death list aside and said with a smile: "Envoy Yu is really fast. He compiled so many families who colluded with the rebels in just one night."

Yu Cong said in a deep voice: "It is reasonable to work hard for the court."

He took out another document from his sleeve and handed it to Li Yun, saying, "This is the document I wrote overnight and am going to submit to the court. Lord Li, take a look. If it's feasible, we can submit the document together."

Li Yun still took it, but did not rush to open it to check. Instead, he looked at Lu Yan and said with a smile: "There was quite a bit of unrest in the city last night. I heard that some people took the opportunity to cause trouble. Is everything okay at Lu Beijia's house?"

"Thank you for your care, envoy."

Lu Yan stood up and bowed his head and said, "Everything is complete."

Li Yun nodded and said, "Why did Lü Biejia come to see me this morning?"

"Is it because you want me to fulfill your promise?"

Li Yun thought for a moment and said calmly, "My words count. If Lu Biejia and his family want to leave Yangzhou, they can do so at any time."

Lu Yan breathed a sigh of relief, then lowered his head and said, "Sir, I want to send my family to Jinling."

"I can do some work for you in Yangzhou."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Didn't Lu Biejia want to stay out of this? Why did you change your mind?"

"Envoy..."

Lu Yan looked up at Li Yun, then at Yu Cong, then smiled bitterly and said, "I have read the document written by Yu to the court. It contains the details of how the city was captured, and my name is listed among them."

"We are already in the middle of it. I am afraid no one can get out of it."

Lu Yan lowered his head and said, "I only hope that you can protect my family."

Li Yun smiled and nodded, "These are all small matters."

He picked up the list, handed it to Lu Yan, and asked, "Has Lu Biejia seen this list?"

Lu Yan shook his head slightly.

Li Yun handed over the list. Lu Yan read it once, then looked at Yu Cong, and whispered, "Your subordinate...you can add some more."

Li Yun sighed and said, "That's amazing."

"Then let's follow the list first. As for Mo Sima."

"Do you think we should continue the trial?"

The two Yangzhou officers lowered their heads and said, "It all depends on your Majesty's wishes."

Li Yun glanced at the two men.

The two of them may not have any connection with the Pinglu Army, but they are definitely not clean.

But at this moment, he needed a few lackeys who could handle government affairs and punish people in Yangzhou, so after thinking about it, he said calmly: "Then keep him in custody for the time being, and you arrest and punish him first."

"We'll talk about the rest later."

The two chief officers looked at each other, seemed to be relieved, and nodded their heads in response.

So, Yangzhou City began to operate again according to Li Yun's will.

At this time, it was the turn of spring and summer in the first year of Zhaoding.

The news that Li Yun, the Jiangdong Recruiting General, defeated the 5,000 elite troops of the Pinglu Army with a force of more than 2,000 began to spread, with Yangzhou as the center.

For a time, the name of General Xiao Li began to spread throughout the world.

Even the imperial court, which was on the way to relocation...

Soon, you will hear this shocking news.

(End of this chapter)