Thief Emperor

Chapter 393 Soaring to the Sky
There are a lot of things going on in Jinling City right now.

The most troublesome thing is those "talented people" who come to Li Yun for help.

There are a lot of these people. Now there are more than a hundred of them in Jinling City. Most of them are so-called talented but unappreciated scholars, or those who have failed in examinations for a long time. Some of them are people from the martial arts world who have some skills.

There is chaos everywhere now. Those who think they are capable cannot bear being unknown, so they all want to find a lord to join them. It is hard to say whether they can achieve great things, but at least they can make a living for a few years.

Li Yun was sure that among these people, it would be extremely rare to find one useful talent among ten.

However, precisely because there are talented people here, Li Yun wants to meet all of them if he can.

After entering Jinling City, Li Yun ordered Zhou Liang to take his thousand subordinates and disband for three days.

Then he and Du Qian went to the main hall of the governor's mansion and sat down.

After they sat down, Du Qian first told Li Yun about the man who came to seek refuge. After a pause, he continued, "Also, Master Fei has returned from Changzhou. He has dealt severely with the two people in Changzhou."

At this point, he thought for a moment and continued, "I've been away from Jinling for about a month. There are many things I can't talk about right now. I'll sort out the urgent things to do tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and send them to Erlang."

Li Yun smiled and said, "That's great."

"I'm just going back home to take a look and rest for two days."

When Li Yun left Jinling and headed north, his wife Xue Yun'er was already pregnant. He hadn't seen her for several months and even lost contact for a while. So of course he had to go back home to see his family.

Du Qian nodded slightly, then looked at Li Yun and continued, "The good news is that this year's autumn grain is already being collected. With the battle in Jiangbei, it should be much easier to collect. If the autumn grain collection goes smoothly, nothing else will matter..."

"Erlang's conscription in Jiangnan will at least not have to worry about money and food for the time being."

By this year, Yuezhou's tax exemption has also ended, which means that Li Yun has at least ten states and counties under his command from which he can collect taxes and grain.

If Li Yun had planned to pay taxes and money to the imperial court before, now he no longer has any such idea at all.

At most, they would submit a memorial to the court, complain about their grievances, and request a few years of tax exemption. If the court did not want to lose face, it would accept the request no matter how angry it was.

In fact, at this time, being able to submit a letter to the court was already a sign of giving face to the court. Most local forces might simply ignore the court and do their own thing.

Li Yun nodded first, then smiled and said to Du Qian: "By the way, those so-called talented people who came to seek refuge, Brother Shouyi, help me meet them first in the next few days, pick out some who at least have some merits, and I will meet them one by one."

Du Qian was stunned for a moment, then nodded slightly.

Although Li Yun's words sounded light, they were actually very important.

Li Yun transferred part of the personnel rights of Jiangdong Group to Du Qian.

At least that's the current situation.

The two chatted for a while, and Li Yun could no longer suppress his homesickness, so he stood up and said, "Brother Du, I'm going home first. If you have anything, send someone to Li Garden."

Du Qian stood up, bowed and said with a smile: "I'll take Erlang away."

The two of them walked all the way to the gate of the governor's mansion. When they were about to part, Du Qian thought for a moment and said, "Erlang, if Mr. Xue hasn't thought of a suitable courtesy name yet, I think we can put it aside for a while."

Li Yun was a little surprised and asked, "What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for the imperial court to confer the title."

Du Qian smiled and said, "The Venerable has no words."

Mr. Li thought about it, and quickly reacted, and smiled dumbly: "Brother Du, this kind of words will easily make me feel proud, so I'd better not say it, don't say it."

Envoy Du still bowed and smiled, "Even if we choose one now, there won't be many people who can call Erlang by his courtesy name in the future."

Li Yun shook his head slightly: "Isn't it Brother Du?"

Du Qian shook his head slightly.

"When the imperial court grants him more titles, Erlang's official position will be far higher than mine, and I won't be able to address him as such."

Li Yun touched his chin and shook his head, saying, "Brother Shouyi is good in every way, except that sometimes he likes to praise me too much."

"It's not that I'm a pragmatic person, I've already lost my mind and don't know what to do."

"It is precisely because of Jilang's character that I speak like this."

Du Qian smiled.

"It's not a bad thing to have a higher heart."

Li Yun clasped his fists towards him and said, "Let's talk in detail in a few days. I'm going home now."

Du Qian bowed in return: "Erlang, take a good rest."

…………Li Yuan.

Li Yun, dressed in a green autumn outfit, returned home. As soon as he entered the front yard, a servant recognized him and shouted loudly.

"The envoy is back, the envoy is back!"

Li Yun pressed his hands towards these people, signaling them to be quiet. These servants immediately shut up and dared not speak.

It just so happened that a young man was practicing sword in the front yard. After seeing Li Yun, he immediately put away his sword, ran over in three or two steps, and knelt down in front of Li Yun with a plop.

"Meet Uncle!"

It was Li Yun’s nephew Xue Gui.

Li Yun helped him up and said with a smile, "I haven't seen you for a few months. You seem to have grown taller. Where is your aunt?"

Xue Gui lowered his head quickly and said, "My aunt is in the backyard."

Li Yun nodded and asked, "Is my father-in-law here?"

Xue Gui immediately said, "Grandfather is also in the backyard with grandma."

Hearing this, Li Yun patted his head and asked with a smile, "The Xue family is a family of scholars, why are you practicing sword here?"

Xue Gui bowed his head and replied, "It is my nephew's own hobby, and among scholars, many people practice swordsmanship."

"If you really want to practice martial arts, I'll teach you someday when I have time."

After saying that, Li Yun patted the child on the shoulder and strode to the backyard.

After arriving at the backyard, before Li Yun reached the bedroom, Xue Yun'er and others had heard the noise and came to greet her. She was just showing her pregnancy at this moment, and although it did not affect her movements, Liu Su still supported her from the side.

Li Yun rushed forward and supported Xue Yun'er on the other side.

"Madam, why did you come out? Go back and rest."

Xue Yuner rolled her eyes at Li Yun, then couldn't help but smile and said, "It's only been a few months, it's not like he can't move. My husband has been away for many days and finally came home, so of course I have to come out and take a look."

At this time, there was a break in the conversation between the couple, and Miss Liu on the side found an opportunity to bow and say, "Hello, brother-in-law."

Li Yun looked at her and said with a smile, "Are you used to living in Jinling?"

Liu Su lowered his head and said, "I'm used to it. I just disturbed my brother-in-law's family."

Xue Yun'er said angrily, "Why are you saying such polite words? His mind is full of fighting, and he is always out leading troops. If you hadn't accompanied me for the past two years, I would have been so bored."

A few people laughed for a while, and Mr. Xue and Mrs. Xue were also alarmed. Li Yun hurried forward and saluted the two elderly people.

After the greeting, although he shouldn't have disturbed Li Yun's reunion with his daughter and her husband, Master Xue couldn't bear it any longer and pulled Li Yun aside, asking in a low voice: "Erlang, what has happened to you in Jiangbei these past few months? I can only hear some sporadic news in Jinling City. I went to find Li Zheng, but that guy refused to say anything."

"More than a month ago, I went to ask Lord Du, but Lord Du was vague about it. Later, Lord Du also went to Jiangbei."

"I only vaguely heard that Erlang fought a battle with the Pinglu Army in Jiangbei and won."

At this point, Master Xue took a deep breath and whispered, "When I heard this news, I didn't believe it at first. Later, I heard it several times, and then I reluctantly believed it."

Ordinary people may not know what the Pinglu Army is, but Mr. Xue used to be an official in the imperial court, so he naturally knows what the Pinglu Army is like!
That is already one of the top military forces in the world!
"Until now, I haven't dared to tell Yun'er."

Master Xue said cautiously: "She is pregnant, and I am worried that she will be upset."

He looked at Li Yun, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Later, I heard a lot of news. They said that Erlang defeated the Pinglu Army in Jiangbei. Is it true?"

Li Yun looked at his old father-in-law and smiled silently.

"Father-in-law, this trip to Jiangbei is to fight with the Pinglu Army for Yangzhou. Since it is a fight, of course we have to fight. As for the result..."

Li Yun looked at Mr. Xue and said with a smile.

"Right now, Yangzhou is temporarily in the hands of my son-in-law."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Xue stood there in a daze, not saying anything for a long time.

After a moment, he turned his head to look at his daughter again, seemed to look at her belly, and then turned to look at Li Yun and sighed.

"Good son-in-law..."

"In just a few years, it has soared to the sky."

(End of this chapter)