Thief Emperor

Chapter 499 New Jiedushi!

After fighting a battle with the Pinglu Army and reaching a mutual compromise, Li Yun believed that he would have a period of stability for about two to three years, after which he might face turmoil in the world.

In fact, after the battle of Jiangbei, things turned out just as he expected. In the past six months, there has been no major turmoil in Jiangdong, and his main energy has been focused on strengthening his strength.

The armies of Li Zheng and Su Sheng were also managing the western route of Jiangnan in an orderly manner, and everything was going smoothly.

However, this relatively stable situation did not last as long as Li Yun expected. In just half a year, the situation in Guanzhong changed again.

If the three military governors could have stayed in the capital and checked each other, then the situation would have been pretty much as Li Yun had expected, and the chaos in the world would have been delayed by two years.

But now, General Li Tong has already left the capital, and the Fanyang Army is about to leave. Only the Shuofang Army has not yet expressed its position. It is foreseeable that once only the Shuofang Army is left in Guanzhong.

Wei Quanzhong had to either kill the emperor directly or withdraw from Guanzhong.

After all, the Shuofang Army's current strength in Guanzhong is actually only about 40,000 to 50,000 people, and 10,000 of them are new recruits added in the past year.

The imperial guards that the court brought back from Xichuan numbered about 40,000 to 50,000 people. In addition, the court had been in Guanzhong for many years, and the people in Guanzhong were naturally on the side of the Wu Zhou court. Once the turmoil broke out, General Wei could not kill all the people in the court and then massacre all the people in Guanzhong.

Regardless of whether he has the ability to do so, if he really did so, the military governors and local forces across the country, including Li Yun, would probably send troops to attack him.

Moreover, if he really did something to massacre the imperial court, he would immediately become a "big treasure" in the eyes of the military governors of various places.

Whoever kills him and avenges the Emperor of Zhou, then establishing a new dynasty will not be so unreasonable.

It is conceivable that Wei Quanzhong will most likely leave the capital.

At this time, the weak imperial court was no longer able to control the local areas. If the three military governors all left, the Wu Zhou imperial court could only control Guanzhong and the capital area at most.

Local forces across the world will be caught in a long and passionate melee.

Until one day, the winner is truly decided, or no one can beat the other, and each of them will mark out a piece of territory, close the door and become his own little emperor.

Li Yun and Du Qian soon came to Li Yuan's study. After Li Yun unfolded a large map, Du Qian pointed at the location of Ezhou and said, "Sir, if the world is not in chaos, Ezhou can be taken down slowly. After all, Ezhou also belongs to Jiangnan West Road and is nominally under your rule."

"After we take Ezhou, we will be able to move forward and backward more freely in Jiangdong. When we take Jingxiang later, we will have the momentum to conquer the whole world."

"But now, I'm afraid the progress needs to be accelerated. Other things can be put aside, but this matter must be done as soon as possible."

He paused and continued, "At this time, I'm afraid it's not just us in Jiangdong who think this way. Military towns, military governors, and local forces all over the world are trying their best to expand their territory."

Du Qian tapped the table lightly, setting the tone: "Soon, the court will be completely useless and exist in name only."

With three military governors in the court, their words still carried some weight, but the three governors could not be close to each other. Wei Quanzhong, the most ambitious one, was temporarily unable to control Guanzhong by his own, and he did not have enough strength to deal with the attacks from the princes of the world.

Now, the three Jiedushi will probably have to withdraw from Guanzhong one after another. In this way, although on the surface it seems that the court has gained "freedom" and a certain degree of autonomy, it is actually a violent machine.

Without sufficient violent support, no one will pay attention to the court anymore.

In other words, the big fight that Li Yun originally thought would come in about two years will now come ahead of time!
At this time, Li Yun's eyes also fell on the map. He first glanced at Guanzhong, shook his head slightly and said, "Wei Quanzhong is really too stupid."

The current strength of the Shuofang Army is not enough to hold the emperor hostage and control the princes. If they want to do that, they must have at least 200,000 or 300,000 troops and occupy the entire north.

If General Wei had been smart enough, he should have been able to foresee the current embarrassing situation. At that time, he could either turn the tide, defeat Wang Junping outside Tongguan, save the Zhou court from the brink, and then gain a lot of benefits from the court based on his merits.

Or, after recovering the capital, they should be more respectful to the emperor, at least maintaining the apparent relationship between the monarch and his subjects, so that the princes from all over the world would have nothing to say.

By then, if he could win over a group of scholars, he could at least rely on the imperial court to gain some political benefits and expand his own power.

Instead of being like now, although he has gained a lot of benefits, he is in a difficult situation and has offended most of the scholars, ending up with a bad reputation.

After commenting on Wei Quanzhong, Li Yun's eyes fell on the territory of Jiangnan West Road again. He pointed his finger at Ezhou and said slowly: "The Qiantang Army has been heading to Ezhou ten days ago. Military reports are sent back every day. If everything goes well, there should be results in the next few days. If not..."

Li Yun looked towards Ezhou, took a deep breath, and said, "Then we can only see it with swords and guns."

Du Qian thought for a moment and said, "Last year, the autumn grain harvest in the prefectures and counties of Jiangdong went smoothly. At least here in Jinling Warehouse, a lot of grain has been accumulated. Judging from the number of General Su's troops, the grain in Jinling Warehouse alone can support the Qiantang Army for more than a year."

Hearing this, Li Yun smiled and said, "Brother Shouyi is really capable. If Jiangdong achieves something in the future, Brother Shouyi will be the first contributor."

Du Qian waved his hands repeatedly and said with a smile: "Did you forget? Since the third brother came, the money and grain issues have been mainly handled by the third brother, and have little to do with me."

Li Yun smiled dumbly and changed his words: "Then put it another way." "The Du family is the most meritorious official in Jiangdong."

Du Qian took a deep breath, stepped back, bowed to Li Yun and said, "Thank you for your compliment, Lord."

Li Yun was startled, then smiled and said, "There are only two of us here, why are you so polite, Brother Shouyi?"

Du Qian straightened up and said to Li Yun with a smile: "After the battle of Jiangbei, in my heart, the Duke of Fu has become the ruler of the southeast and the future monarch. The law and etiquette cannot be abolished."

Li Yun looked at him thoughtfully, then chuckled and said, "It's too early to talk about this before your mission is accomplished."

Du Qian shook his head and said, "Your Excellency should not underestimate yourself. Looking through the history books, there are many rulers who founded countries throughout history whose territories were not as vast as the prefectures and counties you govern today."

"Today, Lord Fu can be said to have accomplished a great cause."

Du Qian paused and added: "In the future, it all depends on whether we can achieve great things."

"Great cause."

Li Yun smacked it and couldn't help being fascinated. He was stunned for a while before turning back and smiling at Du Qian.

"Brother Shouyi, you scholars speak in a pleasant way."

Du Qian also smiled and said, "I'm just telling the truth."

…………

In the blink of an eye, five days passed.

That afternoon, Li Yun left Li Garden in person, holding a piece of intelligence just delivered by the Ninth Division, and went all the way to the Jinling government office, where he met Du Qian who was working in the government office, and Yao Zhong who had set up a table next to Du Qian.

Seeing Li Yun coming in, Yao Zhong quickly stood up and bowed respectfully, "Mr. Fu."

Du Qian also stood up and bowed, saying, "Master."

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

Li smiled, turned around and said to Yao Zhong: "Mr. Yao, please go out and stretch your body. I have something to say to Brother Shouyi."

Yao Zhong quickly lowered his head, answered yes, and carefully retreated. Before leaving, he was sensible enough to close the door.

Li Yun looked at him and asked, "Is this Mr. Yao useful or not?"

Du Qian smiled and said, "He is very useful. He has a method for everything he does and knows a lot. It is much easier for me to have him help me here."

Du Shijun thought for a moment and added, "But the biggest problem with this person is that he is too smooth. He doesn't want to offend anyone and is always respectful to everyone he meets."

"No character at all."

Li Yun touched his chin and said, "He has been a commoner for forty years and finally got an official position. It is not surprising that he behaves like this. As long as he can help Brother Huiyi, let him continue to serve here."

Du Qian nodded in agreement, then looked at Li Yun and asked, "Why did you come here directly to look for me? Is there something important?"

"Yes."

Li Yun took out the intelligence of the Nine Departments from his sleeve and placed it in front of Du Qian. He smiled bitterly and said, "Brother Shouyi is really good at predicting things. After Su Sheng's troops arrived in Ezhou, they were attacked near Wuchang and suffered a little loss."

Du Qian was startled and asked, "Who is the other party?"

"He claimed to be the military governor of Wuchang."

"He is the former Eyue Surveillance Commissioner. Su Sheng sent back news that the court promoted him to Jiedushi last month. Damn it."

Mr. Li cursed, quite indignant.

"I haven't even become a military governor yet, but he has!"

(End of this chapter)