Thief Emperor

Chapter 365 Small Court

For Li Yun, the area south of the Yangtze River, even though he did not have control over it for the time being, did not pose a big threat to him. After all, there were no vassal states or decent military leaders in the entire southeast.

His main pressure comes from Jiangbei and the Central Plains.

At this stage, the main point of conflict is in Jiangbei, between Yangzhou and Chuzhou.

Therefore, he needed to spread his spies in Jiangbei first.

Li Yun took a map of Huainan Road from his desk, handed it to Liu Bo, and said, "Old Nine, this is a map of Huainan Road."

"From now on, you will stay in Jiangbei and spread our spies out. At least in this area of ​​Jiangbei, I want to be alert and vigilant."

Li Yun paused and added: "Both the overt and covert lines need to be arranged. If you are short of money or manpower, tell me."

Intelligence ability is the ability that Li Yun lacks most urgently and needs most now.

As long as the intelligence capability is strong enough, one can anticipate the enemy's moves when advancing and avoid harm when retreating. A sufficiently powerful force must also have sufficiently strong intelligence capabilities. Otherwise, not only will it suffer losses in small matters, but it may even lead to strategic misjudgments.

One careless move can lead to complete failure!
Previously, Li Yun had actually spent a lot of resources on intelligence capabilities. Now, Li Yun has already had preliminary intelligence capabilities in several prefectures and counties in Jiangdong with Jinling as the core.

But it's not enough.

This time, he was determined to improve his intelligence capabilities, even if he had to invest a large portion of what he had gained in Yangzhou.

Liu Bo thought about it seriously, then lowered his head and said, "Second brother, although I have been doing this for a while, after all, I have never been exposed to this before, so I haven't done it very well."

"When I was in Jinling a few days ago, I went to see Lord Du and asked him if there was a similar organization in the capital. Lord Du said yes."

"I plan to spend some money and invite a few people from the capital through the relationship of Du Shijun. Someone will teach..."

"Things will be much easier."

Li Yun touched his chin and chuckled, "If I want to invite someone now, I guess I'll have to ask Xichuan for help."

“It doesn’t matter where you invite me.”

Liu Bo said seriously: "As long as we can invite talented people, it will be worth it."

"It's up to you."

Li Yun only thought about it for a moment before agreeing with him. However, after a pause, he continued, "But if you really dig someone up from the imperial court, you have to be careful about whether you can control them and when you can use them."

“Be careful too.”

"Don't worry, second brother."

Liu Bo smiled and said, "When we invite people back, we will only let him teach others and not let him do anything."

Li Yun nodded and said, "Then you should get started. Spread the intelligence in Jiangbei for me as soon as possible."

Liu Bo replied yes, then stood up and said, "Second brother should have something to say to Mr. Xu. I will go and get familiar with Yangzhou City first."

"You go ahead."

Liu Bo stood up, clasped his fists to both of them, then turned and left.

After he walked out of the study, Li Yun looked at Xu Ang, who had been silent, and asked, "It's been a while since we last met. Brother Xu, are you all right?"

Xu Ang immediately lowered his head, thought for a moment, and said, "It's okay."

Li Yun saw that his expression was still gloomy and he sighed slightly, but he did not mention his sad story. Instead, he said, "What do you think of Yangzhou, Brother Xu?"

"My Lord, Yangzhou is where the salt merchants gather. It is a big city similar to Nanjing, and its location is also very important."

"If we can take control of Yangzhou, it will be of great benefit to you... and to us."

Li Yun said "hmm" and said slowly: "I asked Brother Xu to come here just for this matter."

"Now that I have just arrived in Yangzhou, many things can only be done by Yu Cong and others, but after all, it will not last long, the two chief officials of Yangzhou City."

Li Yun stroked his chin and thought for a while, then said, "That deputy driver Lu Yan can be considered for use, but as for the governor Yu Cong, he can never be used."

"Brother Xu, please go to the Governor's Mansion in the next few days and take over the affairs of the Governor's Mansion in my name, so that Yu Cong can have some free time."

"At the same time, once Brother Xu settles down, we will investigate all the wealthy families in Yangzhou City."

Mr. Li paused for a moment and continued, "For those who are willing to cooperate, we will leave them some assets to live on, and for those who are unwilling to cooperate."

"They just dig up old scores."

Hearing this, Xu Ang looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head and said, "Don't worry, sir. I will do it."

He was silent for a while, then added: "In this world, there are few wealthy people who don't do evil. If you want to investigate, you can find out."

"I will definitely help you get this done."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I know Brother Xu's methods. I only remind Brother Xu of two points. The first point is to be a little more lenient and not let too many people die."

"The second point is..."

"Be careful of your own safety."

Li Yun said softly, "Once we investigate in detail, I'm afraid there will be many people who want to kill Brother Xu and take his life."

"I'm not afraid." Xu Ang looked up at Li Yun. Instead of fear, he smiled. "If I die, you will have an excuse to clean up the entire Yangzhou."

Li Yun was stunned, then shook his head slightly and sighed.

The former magistrate of Xu County no longer took his own life seriously.

Such people are often efficient and terrifying when doing things.

He was silent for a while, then reached out and gently patted Xu Ang's shoulder.

"Live well and don't think too much."

Xu Ang bowed.

"As long as I live, I will repay you for one day."

………………

In a blink of an eye, nearly a month has passed.

Xichuan, Longzhou.

The emperor's imperial palace is stationed here.

At this time, the entire "imperial court" had arrived in Xichuan, and the main gate of Xichuan, Jiange, had been closed. In other words, at this point, the court was completely safe.

At least, it is impossible for the rebels occupying Guanzhong to cross Guanzhong, cross Jiange, and chase here.

After His Majesty the Emperor arrived in Longzhou, he fell ill and had to stay here temporarily. Up to now, he has not moved for five or six days.

His Majesty the Emperor was in a very low mood along the way, and except for some important matters, he almost no longer dealt with court affairs.

Although the current court no longer has any government affairs to speak of, there are still documents and memorials sent from all over the country, as well as a series of intelligence.

Apart from being handled by several prime ministers in the Council of State, most of these things were handled by the Emperor's brother-in-law, Pei Huang, also known as Pei Sanlang.

At this moment, although he was still on the road of "escape", some people had already privately called Pei Huang "Prime Minister Pei".

At this time, in a study room in the headquarters, Pei Huang was processing some documents with several other prime ministers. Prime Minister Cui Yuan piled up several documents on the table and sighed: "Jiangdong Road and Huainan Road are also in chaos."

Pei Huang was frowning as he read a piece of intelligence from Guanzhong. Upon hearing this, he put down the intelligence in his hand and asked, "What do you mean, Prime Minister Cui?"

"Just let Sanlang see for himself."

Cui Yuan handed over the document and sighed, "First, the Pinglu Army sent troops south from Qingzhou and occupied Chuzhou in Huainan Road. Then, Li Zhao, the commander of the Jiangdong Recruiting Army, also sent troops north. The two sides fought outside the city of Yangzhou and a great battle took place."

Prime Minister Cui said angrily: "They have already started to fight for territory! They are so reckless, are they still the subjects of the Great Zhou?"

Pei Huang took the documents and read them through.

Among these documents, there is a joint letter from Li Yun, the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy, and Yu Cong, the Governor of Yangzhou, as well as a letter from Zhou Xu, the Jiedushi of Pinglu.

Although both sides have different opinions, they are actually talking about the same thing.

Battle of Yangzhou.

After a while, Pei Huang finished reading the document in his hand, and was a little dazed. He murmured: "Then Li Zhao..."

"You actually have some skills."

No one present had ever seen Li Yun, or even heard of his name. Cui Xianggong thought for a moment and asked, "Does Sanlang know this person?"

"I know."

Pei Huang said with emotion: "I met him when I first arrived in Jiangnan to investigate the rebellion in Shidai County, Xuanzhou, and I met him again when I was the governor of Qiantang County."

“I was there when he got married.”

Pei Huang put down the document and said silently: "I just didn't expect that in a few years, he has become quite powerful and even dared to fight against the Pinglu Army."

Cui Xianggong asked: "What is the character of this Li Zhao?"

Pei Huang tried hard to recall, then shook his head slightly and said, "There have been so many things in the past year that I can't remember them clearly, but I remember that he was very good at fighting."

"Besides, he was brought out by Su Jing."

Cui Yuan was stunned and fell into silence.

"The one brought by Su Jing is Su Jing's student?"

"I don't think he can be considered a student, but it was Su Jing who recommended him to be a local official in Yuezhou, and then he..."

"It took me step by step to get to where I am today, this person."

"The ambition is not small."

Pei Huang was about to speak when a young man hurried forward, bowed his head and said, "Mr. Pei, gentlemen, Minister Du wants to see you."

Pei Huang looked at several prime ministers, then nodded slowly.

"Please let Mr. Du in."

(End of this chapter)