Thief Emperor

Chapter 464: Jiangbei in the Palm!

The fall of Chuzhou was not a surprise. Both Li Yun in Chuzhou and Zhao Cheng in Yangzhou had anticipated this.

Taking over Chuzhou is only the first step. The most important thing is whether we can occupy Chuzhou afterwards!

If Chuzhou could be occupied, even if the battle in Jiangbei ended here, Li Yun would still make a lot of money, and a huge fortune.

His Jiangbei plan has been more than half successful. As for the remaining states and counties between the Yangtze River and the Huai River, they can be conquered slowly over time.

The most important thing is to open up the passage between Li Yun and Huai River.

Since ancient times, to guard the Yangtze River, one must guard the Huai River!
Li Yun’s current base camp is in Jinling, right on the bank of the river. If his northern border is on the river, then it means that his base camp, Jinling, is the border.

The border can only remain stable during its rising period, but this cannot last forever.

If you want to obtain a relatively stable and long-term environment where you can grow and develop with peace of mind, you must push the defense line to the Huai River. Only in this way can Li Yun settle down and have a stable development opportunity.

At the same time... he began to move forward and backward freely, taking full control of the initiative in his own hands.

This is the three-year goal that Li Yun set for himself and the Jiangdong Group. He plans to occupy most of the areas south of the Huai River within three years, that is, to hold the entire southeast in his hands.

By then, he will no longer be just an ordinary separatist force in a place, or an ordinary warlord, but one of the few separatist forces in the world!

One of the few great warlords in the world!

His reputation will spread from being known in Jiangdong to being known throughout the world!

Of course, this is all a story for later!

Everything will have to wait until Chuzhou is completely occupied.

After entering Chuzhou, Meng Qing began to arrange matters concerning the defense of the city, while at the same time sending people to deliver a letter to Li Yun and Zhao Cheng respectively.

The letter to Zhao Cheng was delivered to Yangzhou City in just one day, while the letter to Li Yun took one and a half days, almost two days, to reach Li Yun in Chuzhou City.

This was because the Pinglu Army's siege of Chuzhou was no longer very tight, and it was very likely that a part of the Pinglu Army had turned back to rescue Chuzhou. Therefore, Meng Qing's secret letter was able to pass through the Nine Departments and was smoothly delivered to Li Yun.

When Li received the letter, he was discussing the follow-up arrangements with Su Sheng. After reading the letter handed over by Meng Hai, he slapped his thigh with joy and almost jumped up: "Okay, okay, okay!"

Li Yun shouted “Hello” four times, then laughed and said, “Meng Hai, Meng Hai!”

Meng Hai lowered his head quickly: "I'm here!"

"Quick, write a letter to General Zhou and ask him to find a way immediately. Bring all the troops from Runzhou to Jiangbei. Don't go anywhere else. Ask him to go directly to Chuzhou to support Chuzhou!"

Li Yun paused for a moment and continued, "At the same time, send a letter to General Zhao in Yangzhou and ask him to send people to clear a section of the river on the north bank of the Yangtze River to help the friendly troops in Runzhou cross the river!"

Meng Hai rarely saw Li Yun so excited, so he didn't dare to neglect him and quickly bowed his head and said, "I obey your command!"

He was about to turn around and leave when Li Yun stopped him again. Li Yun changed his tone and said, "Forget it, forget it. Sending letters is too slow. Let's use a carrier pigeon to send a letter to Yangzhou. Let General Zhao send troops to clear the river. At the same time, send someone to the south bank to notify General Zhou!"

Meng Hai lowered his head and said, "I'll do it right away!"

Li Yun said "hmm" and smiled brightly: "Meng Hai."

Meng Hai stopped and said, "I am here."

Li Yun stood up, walked to him, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: "Meng Qing has made such a contribution at this age."

"Your Meng family is going to produce a powerful figure."

Meng Hai and Meng Qing are cousins, and he is also Meng Qing's cousin. Hearing this, Meng Hai trembled, took a deep breath, bowed his head and said to Li Yun: "The Meng family of Hexi Village thanks you for your cultivation!"

After saying this, he retreated respectfully, his hands trembling slightly, unable to hide his excitement.

He is several years older than Meng Qing and has followed Li Yun for several years. Now he is in his early twenties, so naturally he has a lot more on his mind.

Moreover, he has always been with Li Yun, from being an attendant before to being in charge of intelligence liaison. He is quite familiar with the situation in Jiangdong.

Jiangdong today has the aura of a great country; even Meng Hai can see it.

And in the future, once it really becomes a country, their Hexi Meng family will become a very prominent family in this country!
This is something that the people of Hexi Village never dared to imagine before!
Never dreamed of it!

And now, it may soon come true, and he can't help but be excited!
With excitement in his heart, Meng Hai lowered his head and left, striding to do his work. Li Yun turned his head to look at Su Sheng who was reading the intelligence, and laughed: "Brother, I won the bet!"

"Now that we have Chuzhou, our trip to Jiangbei will not be in vain. No matter how many battles we fight later, we will still make money."

At this moment, Su Sheng was carefully reading the intelligence sent by Meng Qing. After he finally finished reading it, he looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "This little Meng seems to be born to do this job. Which young man of 17 or 18 years old can go to the battlefield and command thousands of people like him and still be so calm and composed?"

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea, shook his head and smiled: "I don't think so. I think the reason why Meng Qing is fearless is mainly because he is not afraid of death."

At this point, Li couldn't help but sigh: "He always wanted to die on the battlefield killing government soldiers. If he killed one more government soldier, he could avenge his family. If he died at the hands of government soldiers, he could be reunited with his family."

Su Sheng couldn't help but frowned when he heard this, and sighed: "There are quite a few people around Erlang who have grudges against the court. Meng Qing is like this, Zhao Cheng is also like this, and even I have a grudge against the court because of my father."

"It's not that there are many people around me who have grudges against the court."

Li Yun said, "There are too many people in the world who have grudges against the imperial court. Otherwise, the imperial court would not have reached this point."

As he spoke, he looked at Su Sheng and said with a smile: "If we gain power in the future, brother should also pay attention to restraining the people around him, otherwise, there will be more and more people who are hostile to us."

Su Sheng was about to answer with a smile, but suddenly he was startled, as if he had thought of something, so he lowered his head to drink a sip of tea, looked up at Li Yun, and said, "Don't worry, Erlang, our family tradition has always been very upright. Before I close my eyes, no one in the Su family will make it difficult for you to do things."

"If there really is one, there is no need for you to show up. I will punish them."

Li Yun laughed in silence and toasted him with tea instead of wine: "Brother, your words are too serious. These words are too serious."

"The general is my benefactor and also my mentor."

Li Yun said softly: "I won't treat the Su family unfairly."

The two clinked their teacups and drank from them.

After finishing the cup of tea, the two continued to discuss the war in Jiangbei. As they talked, they talked about Zhou Xu of the Pinglu Army. Li Yun smiled and said, "In the current situation, it may be too late for him to save Chuzhou. If he wants to return to Chuzhou to besiege and kill me, it may be difficult."

"Even if he attacks Chuzhou with all his might, at most he can force me to abandon the city and break out, but he won't kill me. But if he fights like this, I don't know how many more people in the Pinglu Army will die."

Li Yun looked at Su Sheng and said with a smile: "Brother, if you were Zhou Xu, what would you do now?"

Su Sheng held the teacup in his hand, thought about it seriously, then shook his head slightly and said, "There is no good way. Now the only way for Zhou Xu to threaten Erlang is to take 10,000 or 20,000 troops and turn around to attack Luzhou. If Luzhou can be captured, it can also bring some trouble to Erlang."

"But if he really fights like this, firstly, our Chuzhou troops can support Luzhou, and secondly, his territory in Jiangbei will probably be completely destroyed."

Su Sheng said slowly: "The gain is not worth the loss."

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea and said with a smile: "He is too greedy."

"Now, it depends on whether he can break the obstacles in his heart."

Su Sheng was a little curious and asked, "What do you mean?"

"If he can stop caring about his face and admit defeat in time, and start gathering his troops now, Huainan Road still has Haozhou, Shouzhou, Guangzhou and other prefectures for him to occupy. By then, it will be almost Huainan Road, half for him and I, but I will occupy the east side of Huainan Road and he will occupy the west side. In a short time, I will not have the spare energy to drive him out of Huainan Road."

"And he will not be stopped by me in the north of the Huai River. He can leave some forces in the south of the Huai River, just like I buried troops in Yangzhou in the past, waiting to take action slowly in the future."

"If this General Zhou is still stubborn and wants Chuzhou, Chuzhou, and even Yangzhou."

Li lowered his head, drank a sip of tea, and smiled at Su Sheng: "When General Zhou's troops cross the river, I will turn around and bite him hard to vent my anger at being surrounded and beaten."

Su Sheng lowered his head and thought about it seriously. After a long time, he looked up at Li Yun and couldn't help but sigh.

"Erlang is getting more and more powerful now. Even though you are in Chuzhou, the entire Jiangbei is already in your hands."

Li Yun shook his head.

"I spent an unknown amount of money and materials in Jiangbei, and deployed an unknown number of people. Before I came to Jiangbei this time, Jiangbei..."

He lowered his head to drink tea and chuckled.

"I have seen it clearly."

(End of this chapter)