Thief Emperor

Chapter 418 The Poor Man

When Xue Song was young, he failed in examinations for many years and had no official title. Finally, he was recommended and became a county clerk in middle age. Later, he served as an official for half his life, and his last position was only a county magistrate.

Now, with just a slight pull from Li Yun, he was promoted several levels and became the governor of Luzhou.

For now, his position as governor was privately appointed by Li Yun, but Li Yun will submit a letter of recommendation to the court afterwards. Unless the court is particularly stupid, it will definitely give Li Yun this face and do him a favor.

After all, this place is already under the actual control of Li Yun.

Li Yun's words were somewhat joking, but when Master Xue raised his head and looked at the plaque of the Governor's Mansion in front of him, he was stunned and stood there, not saying a word for a long time.

Although he could not be considered a rare capable minister in the world, he was diligent in his work and never asked for money unless he had to.

However, after entering the officialdom in middle age and working diligently for more than ten years, he still had no hope of promotion in the end. Now, his previous wish seems to have been realized easily.

Xue Song couldn't help but be stunned for a long time.

After a long while, he came back to his senses and looked at his son-in-law with a complicated expression: "When I was an official in the past, I always heard people say that it is easy to be an official if you have someone in the court, it is easy to be an official if you have someone in the court."

"Before, I just watched my colleagues get promoted, but I couldn't feel it personally. Now..."

He laughed at himself and said, "I finally felt it."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Father-in-law is actually doing a good job in Qingyang. It's a waste of his talent to be the county magistrate for so many years."

Master Xue looked at Li Yun and asked seriously, "Are you serious?"

"Of course I take it seriously."

Li Yun stepped forward, pulled the old man's sleeve, and led him to the governor's mansion. He smiled as he walked, "I've been a governor before. It shouldn't be much more complicated than being a county magistrate. You can do it, father-in-law."

Mr. Xue glanced at Li Yun and said in a muffled voice, "You have never been a county magistrate, how do you know?"

Li Yun laughed: "There is no other way. My son-in-law has already been the Sima of Yuezhou since he started his official career."

Xue Shou, who was standing by, couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. He shook his head and said with emotion, "What my brother-in-law said is really infuriating."

Su Sheng, who was following Li Yun, said with a smile, "That's because you and your son have never seen Erlang on the battlefield. If you had seen him, you would know that being a state commander is an understatement for his talent."

Anyone who has seen Li Yun's demeanor on the battlefield is amazed.

That capable, sharp, and vigorous fighting style, coupled with his unparalleled momentum, will be freshly remembered by everyone who has seen Li Yun on the battlefield.

It is for this reason that Miss Liu and Miss Lu from Luzhou always remember Li Yun.

While a few people were chatting, they entered the governor's mansion. Su Sheng had already asked people to prepare wine and food, but there was still some time before the banquet. Li Yun temporarily settled his father-in-law and brother-in-law down and let them rest first. Then, under the leadership of Su Sheng, he left the governor's mansion and came to a courtyard in Luzhou city.

After pushing the door into the yard, before entering the house, Su Sheng smiled and said, "Meng Qing, guess who's here!"

Meng Qing's voice soon rang out from the room: "General Su."

Li Yun followed Su Sheng and pushed the door into the inner room. The room was filled with the smell of medicinal herbs. Meng Qing was tightly bandaged and lying on the bed. When he saw Li Yun, he widened his eyes and said in a lost voice: "Envoy... Envoy, why are you here!"

Li Yun put his hands behind his back, looked at Meng Qing, and then shook his head helplessly: "You kid, you are really..."

"Courageous."

"No."

Just as Meng Qing lowered his head and said nothing, Su Sheng beside him smiled and said, "Later I asked his subordinates, wasn't there a soldier named Cui Zhu who pulled him back that day? He was about to be torn into pieces by the Pinglu Army and would not have had a chance to survive."

"But it's also because he fights so fiercely."

Su Sheng looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "Some people have given him a nickname now, calling him Little Li Yun."

Hearing these three words, Meng Qing's face turned red, and he struggled to sit up, and hurriedly said: "General Su, don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense!"

"I…"

Meng Qing was quite excited: "How can my ability compare with the envoy's!"

The reason why he was excited was because Li Yun was in person, and this nickname was calling Li Yun's full name. Although calling Li Yun by his full name put him in a very high position, it was still not appropriate to do it in person.

Li Yun himself didn't care about these things at all. He just smiled and said, "I just fought a little fiercely, but I'm not afraid of death at all. This kid has developed his ruthlessness when he was in Shidai."

As he said that, he looked at Meng Qing and said in a deep voice: "Boy, don't fight like this in the future, do you hear me?"

Although Meng Qing was in awe of Li Yun, after hearing what Li Yun said, he looked up at Li Yun and said, "Envoy, if I had retreated out of fear at the gate of Luzhou that day, the entire formation would have been in chaos. We could only fight like that at that time."

Li Yun had heard about the battle situation that day. Hearing this, he frowned and said, "I didn't say you were wrong, but if you are injured, you must retreat to the rear to save your life. This applies to you and other brothers."

"The gate of Luzhou City is only about ten feet wide."

Meng Qing still insisted on his opinion and said, "In that situation, if the wounded soldiers retreated, it would also disrupt the formation."

Li Yun looked up at Su Sheng, who glanced at Meng Qing and scolded him with a smile: "You kid, you don't know what's good for you!"

Li Yun also laughed in silence: "With this stubborn temper, I wonder if he can adapt to the situation when he is on the battlefield in the future."

Meng Qing clenched his fist and said, "Sir, I can do it!"

Li Yun stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Take good care of your injuries. General Su has given you the credit for the victory in conquering Luzhou this time. When you recover, you will be in charge of a lieutenant battalion first, and you will be promoted to captain in a few months."

At this point, Li Yun paused, then said with a smile: "When the time comes, I will let you be on an equal footing with Deng Yang." Deng Yang is still a colonel, but he will soon be promoted to a captain.

The four former captains under Li Yun's command would also be promoted one level to generals.

Of course, Li Zheng, who has the least experience among them, needs to prove his achievements in "opening up the territory" in the south before he can be promoted to general, otherwise it would be a bit unreasonable.

Meng Qing's face turned pale and he shook his head, "Envoy, I... I am too young..."

"In troubled times, only ability matters, not age."

Li Yun said slowly: "If we talk about age, I am afraid I can't even be a brigade commander at my age."

When Li Yun first met Meng Qing in Shidai, he was less than fourteen years old. Now, after a few years, he is only seventeen years old. Relatively speaking, he is still quite young.

After expressing their condolences to Meng Qing, Li Yun and Su Sheng walked out one after the other. After they left the courtyard, Li Yun shook his head and said with emotion, "This kid has a miserable life. Back in Shidai, the government wanted to collect taxes, and the head of the village robbed his sister. Later, there was a civil uprising, and the head of the village was injured. Then the government sent people to kill him with knives."

"He is the only one left in his family."

Li Yun lowered his eyebrows and said, "What's even more pitiful is that later on, Hexi Village had a fight with the government because of their family's affairs, and only one-tenth or twelve percent of the entire village remained."

Su Sheng couldn't help but exclaimed when he heard this.

"this…"

It can only be said that it is pitiful for a family to be left with only himself, but there are hundreds of people in a village, and because there are only a few dozen people left in his family, the psychological burden is unimaginable for ordinary people.

It’s hard to say that Meng Qing wouldn’t feel that it was his own family that brought harm to the entire village.

This is also the reason why he went to the battlefield and didn't want to fight to the death. He really...

Not afraid of death.

As long as he could kill a few more government troops, Meng Qing would feel that his death was not in vain.

At this point, Li Yun looked back at Su Sheng and continued, "He needs to recover from his injuries. No matter what Deng Yang says, he should be under your command for the time being."

"Brother, please take good care of him, he..."

At this point, Li Yun recalled the young man who was trembling all over but almost beat the Shidai County Magistrate to death with a stick in the Shidai County Government Office. He was silent for a long time before concluding, "Not a very good fate."

Su Sheng patted his chest and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, Erlang, leave it to me."

At this point, Su Sheng smiled and said, "In another year or two, I will find him a marriage partner. After he has children, he will have something to worry about, and things won't be like this anymore."

"I hope so."

As they talked, the two walked out of the courtyard and walked on the streets of Luzhou. The streets were deserted and there were few pedestrians. Li Yun looked around and asked, "How many people are there in Luzhou City?"

Su Sheng thought about it, shook his head slightly and said, "Less than ten thousand."

Li Yun frowned slightly, but after nodding, he didn't say much, just sighed and said: "In troubled times, human life is like grass."

Su Sheng also nodded and asked, "After occupying Luzhou, what is Erlang going to do next?"

"I estimate that I still have a few months of free time. I will digest the new territory occupied by Jiangnan, and then I can prepare to meet the enemy."

"Meet the enemy?"

Su Sheng asked: "Where did the enemy come from?"

"I still do not know yet."

Li Yun smiled and said, "But I guess there should be enemies coming, otherwise it would be too easy for us to occupy Jiangdong."

While the two were talking, they had already walked back to the gate of the governor's mansion. At this time, a green sedan chair had been parked at the gate of the governor's mansion. Su Sheng glanced at it and then looked at Li Yun with a smile: "Look, they came to our door."

Li Yun walked forward thoughtfully. Before he got close, a woman in plain clothes walked out of the sedan chair. The woman looked to be about twenty years old, with a fair complexion and a very pretty appearance.

Because of the plain white, she looks more beautiful.

She was dressed in plain white, obviously not because she liked white, but because her family had encountered a major change, so she wore plain clothes.

Seeing Li Yun coming in front of her, the woman stepped forward and bowed: "I am Lu Huan, meeting Lord Li."

Li Yun was also looking at the woman, but he was not shy. He just waved his hand and said, "It was just a coincidence. Miss Lu, don't mind it."

"Speaking of which, I had just arrived in Luzhou and hadn't even rested when I was stopped by the girl."

Having said that, Li Yun paused and said with a smile.

"The girl is well-informed."

Lu Huan shook her head slightly.

"It's not that I'm well-informed, it's because you drove out the rebels and saved Luzhou from the dire situation. Many people in Luzhou..."

She looked up at Li Yun, then lowered her head again.

"They all recognize the envoy."

(End of this chapter)