Thief Emperor

Chapter 484: Meeting Jiangdong
If a person in power wants to form a force that is closely united around him, he must do four things.

Nepotism.

Of course, the premise is that these close people should have the corresponding abilities, otherwise no one will do the work and big problems will arise over time.

Li Yun is now in a situation where the Jiangdong empire has basically completed the foundation-building stage, but the ruling core has not yet been fully established. Taking advantage of the New Year period, Li Yun has tried his best to arrange corresponding positions for those who are capable of doing things around him.

In a blink of an eye, the end of the second year of Zhaoding passed, and time came to the first month of the third year of Zhaoding.

During the half month from the first day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Jiangdong, like the imperial court, had a routine holiday, so Li Yun was a little free, but not completely free.

He only spent four or five days at home with his family and a few old brothers, and then devoted himself to the work of the new year, because this year was extremely important for Jiangdong.

If he could have a smooth transition this year and get the Jiangnan West Road that he should have, Li Yun would no longer have to worry about the internal affairs of Jiangnan in the future. He would only have to look towards the Central Plains and Guanzhong.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, the four generals under Li Yun all came to Li Garden. Among them, Li Zheng had returned to Jinling to celebrate the New Year before the New Year, and Zhou Liang was also very close. Only Generals Zhao and Su rushed to Jinling after celebrating the New Year in their respective garrisons.

At this time, the four generals were sitting in Li Yun's study, quietly looking at the map that Li Yun had hung high in front of them.

This map is not a particularly detailed map because the scope of the map is very large, almost including all of Li Yun’s current nominal territory, that is, Jiangnan Road and Huainan Road.

Li Yun pointed at the location of Jiangnan West Road, then looked at Su Sheng and said, "Brother Su, if you station troops in Qiantang, then these states are the closest to you."

He pointed at Raozhou, Jiangzhou, Hongzhou, and Ezhou, and said softly, "These three states are very important. If we control these three states, we can control the waterways of the Yangtze River. No matter what we do in the future, it will be much more convenient."

Su Sheng looked at the map, thought for a while, and asked, "Does the Lord want me to conquer these states after the New Year?"

"It can't be called an attack."

Li Yun smiled and said, "These three states are all in Jiangnan West Road. I am the governor of Jiangnan Road, and they are all under my jurisdiction. Now there are no big forces in the entire Jiangnan Road, and the Pinglu Army will not go south for the time being. These places, at most... just have some local forces."

"Brother Su, you need to station troops in these states in the most stable way possible."

Su Sheng thought about it, nodded first, then smiled and said: "The locations of these three states are important, but they can only control the Yangtze River, not the Huai River. In my opinion, if we take advantage of the situation and go north to occupy Jingxiang and other two states, we can directly control the Huai River!"

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "No, don't forget that half of Huainan Road is still in the hands of the Pinglu Army, and Jingxiang is in Shannan East Road, not Jiangnan Road. If I occupy Jiangnan West Road, it is legitimate and reasonable. If I go north to occupy Jingxiang, then..."

"Then the tiger and wolf's nature will be fully revealed."

Li Yun reached out and knocked on the table, and continued: "We can hide now, so we should continue to hide. It would be best to let those who look at Jiangnan think that our ambition is only in Jiangnan."

Su Sheng responded and said, "Don't worry, Lord Fu. I've made a note of it. When I return from Jinling, I will arrange for people to go to these states to investigate."

Li Yun nodded, thought for a moment, then looked at the other three people and said slowly: "Our territory has grown, and the army must be expanded again, but this expansion is different from the last one, we have to keep a low profile."

The last time Jiangdong expanded its army was after Li Yun clashed with the Pinglu Army in Jiangbei and found that his own troops were seriously insufficient. At that time, on the one hand, there was a real need for troops, and on the other hand, there was also a need to intimidate the enemy to avoid war. Therefore, the momentum of conscription was very strong, and notices were posted in various counties and prefectures in Jiangdong, for fear that others would not know that he, Li Yun, had tens of thousands of troops under his command.

But this time, Li Yun didn't want too many people to see him.

He sat down and said, "Each army is still recruiting soldiers on its own, but if it is possible not to post notices, then don't post them. It is best to let the soldiers under your command go back to their hometowns to recruit people, of course."

"There's no need to be sneaky. If you really need to post a notice, you can do so. It's up to you how you arrange it."

Zhao Cheng thought for a moment and asked, "Sir, how many additional troops are you going to send this time?"

“I want to multiply.”

Li Yun said in a deep voice: "However, there is no need to complete the increase within this year. You are all generals leading troops. I will only give you a general guideline. You can arrange the specific matters yourself."

Li Yun is still very confident about the generals under his command. He will try his best to delegate power if possible. Otherwise, if he has to take care of everything, his work efficiency will be much lower, which is not conducive to expansion at the current stage of career growth.

Of course, Li Yun didn't completely give up his power and not care about it at all.

First of all, most of the middle-level generals of the Jiangdong army were trained by him, and the replacement of these middle-level generals must be approved by him. In other words, it is difficult for these generals to be truly independent without the personnel power over the middle-level generals.

Moreover, among the four generals, Zhou Liang was near Jinling, and Li Zheng was like a brother to Li Yun, so there was no possibility of any mistake.

As for the other two generals, Zhao Cheng stationed his troops in Fengyang, Haozhou. After the New Year, Li Yun's elder brother-in-law Xue Shou happened to be appointed as the governor of Haozhou and was fully responsible for the logistics of the Fengyang army.

Li Yun will also arrange a suitable county magistrate to Qiantang County, where Su Sheng is stationed, this year.

And to put it bluntly, although Li Yun's territory is much larger now, it is still far from being far away from the emperor. He can reach military camps in various places in Jinling by riding a horse in two days.

No need to worry about loyalty.

The four of them stood up, bowed their heads and clasped their fists towards Li Yun: "As you command!"

Li Yun pressed his hands, motioning the four people to sit down, then he sorted out his thoughts and continued, "Li Zheng."

Li Zheng stood up and bowed his head and said, "I'm here!"

"In the first half of this year, you must occupy the entire southern part of Jiangnan East Road, and then begin to extend to the northern part of Jiangnan West Road. Cooperate with General Su and strive to completely occupy the entire Jiangnan Road before next year."

Li Zheng took a deep breath and said, "I obey your command!"

Li Yun motioned him to sit down, then looked at Zhao Cheng and said with a smile: "General Zhao, your task this year is heavier. In addition to recruiting soldiers, you need to build up the defense line of Huainan Road. At the same time..."

He paused and whispered, "At the same time, I will have Jiusi move to the west of Huainan Road. You must also be prepared to seize the entire Huainan Road. Three years, at most."

"If we don't go looking for the Pinglu Army, the Pinglu Army will definitely come looking for us."

Zhao Cheng also stood up and nodded.

The tasks of the three generals have been arranged now, and only Zhou Liang is left. Li Yun thought about it and smiled, "You three have tasks in the war. General Zhou's troops are stationed in our hinterland and are relatively idle. My idea is that the recruitment of soldiers should be mainly done by General Zhou."

"In addition to the troops you can each recruit on your own, he will recruit new soldiers here, give them a simple training for two to three months, and then assign them to the rest of the armies."

"To control the number of additional troops."

Mr. Li chuckled and said, "Every month, the rosters of new recruits from each army are sent to me, and I am responsible for the unified deployment and arrangement."

"Does anyone have any questions?"

Having said that, and since the four of them were convinced by Li Yun, there would naturally be no problems. Everyone stood up, bowed their heads and clasped their fists to Li Yun and said, "I obey your command!"

"Well."

Li Yun also stood up and said with a smile: "This year, apart from our own affairs, maybe someone will come to cause trouble for us. If someone really comes, there is nothing to say. If an enemy comes, we will fight him with our troops and if a flood comes, we will block it with earth."

"Wait for the specific situation, and I will deal with it in detail at that time. If necessary, I will personally go to each army and lead the troops in battle."

Li Yun looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Today's meeting ends here."

He paused, looked at Liu Su who was sitting in the corner of the study and taking notes, and said, "We have already recorded the content of today's discussion. Since no one has any objections, I will have someone transcribe a copy and send it to you later."

"If there are no special circumstances, we will handle it accordingly."

The four of them nodded again, but they all quickly glanced at Miss Liu who was sitting in the corner taking notes.

But I didn’t dare to look at it any more.

When everyone was leaving the study, Li Yun remembered something and called the four people to stop. He said with a smile, "I almost forgot. My brother is getting married on the tenth day of the first lunar month. Generals, please stay and have a drink of wedding wine in Jinling before returning to your respective armies."

Zhou Liang already knew about this matter in advance. After all, he would have to be Li Zheng's elder by then.

Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng were both startled, then they both clasped their fists towards Li Zheng and said with a smile, "Congratulations, General Li."

Li Zheng took a deep breath and clasped his fists in return.

"Happy together, rejoice together."

(End of this chapter)