Thief Emperor

Chapter 500 Let’s get started!
When the Great Zhou Dynasty first appointed military governors, there were only ten of them, such as the Jiannan Military Governor, the Shuofang Military Governor, the Hedong Military Governor, the Fanyang Military Governor, the Pinglu Military Governor, etc., all of which were relatively old military governor positions.

Of course, in the beginning, these Jiedushi were just official positions, with a term of three years, or sometimes only one or two years. But later, as the emperor was far away, the court could no longer control these Jiedushi who had complete autonomy in military, political and even financial affairs. These local Jiedushi gradually began to have a "lifelong tenure" and became hereditary.

Several decades ago, the imperial court of the Great Zhou Dynasty fought a war with certain vassal states because of this. However, seeing the scale of the military governors in various places today, one can guess that the imperial court actually suffered a loss at that time.

Therefore, we have to acknowledge the existence of Jiedushi and tacitly assume that some of them became hereditary. A typical example is the Jiedushi of Pinglu. The current Jiedushi of Pinglu, Zhou Xu, is the second generation Jiedushi of the Zhou family.

As time went by, the imperial court gradually weakened and added more military governors. For example, Huainan Road once had a Huainan military governor.

In the Jiangnan Road, it is possible that a Jiangdong Jiedushi will appear in the future.

The military governor of Wuchang Army belongs to this type.

Originally, there was indeed a local vassal state in Ezhou, called the Eyue Surveillance Commissioner, which had long governed Ezhou, Yuezhou, Qizhou, Huangzhou, Anzhou, and Shenzhou.

That is the place where Huainan Road, Jiangnan West Road, and Shannan East Road intersect.

The army under the command of the Eyue Surveillance Commissioner was called the Wuchang Army.

But all along, he was just an inspector. Now Li Yun is also an inspector, and he is the inspector of Jiangnan Road, whose territory is boundless. Theoretically, Li Yun can at least exercise supervisory power over the Eyue inspector in terms of administrative power.

This is what is called the word "observation".

Originally, the Wuchang Army had only more than 10,000 soldiers, less than 20,000, which was not as many as the Qiantang Army under Su Sheng's command. In addition, Li's power was strong. In Li Yun's opinion, it would not be difficult for him to take Ezhou and control the river port.

After all, Li Yun is half a level higher in rank and more powerful.

If it really doesn't work, both sides can cooperate.

But now, as soon as Su Sheng's troops arrived in Ezhou, the two sides had already become enemies.

Du Qian took the intelligence handed over by Li Yun and looked at it, then frowned and said, "If he is still the original Eyue Surveillance Envoy, at least he governs several states and counties that originally belonged to the Jiangnan West Road. The governor can legitimately send troops there."

"But now, he has been promoted to Jiedushi."

Du Qian looked up at Li Yun and said, "Then the states under his jurisdiction can be understood as the Wuchang Army's military farm states, and are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Dao level."

"I understand this point."

Mr. Li sat opposite Du Qian and said in a muffled voice, "I am angry about this. The imperial court is now in a state of panic and almost got bullied to death by Wei Quanzhong. Yet they still have the energy to meddle in the affairs of Jiangnan West Road and trip me up from such a distance."

Du Qian said helplessly: "We can see that Ezhou is important. There are so many people in the court, so it is impossible for them not to see it. Now the power of the Duke of Fu is one of the few in the world. The court obviously does not want to see the power of the Duke of Fu further."

"Promoting the position of Eyue Surveillance Commissioner can, to a certain extent, stop the expansion of the governor and restrict him to the Jiangnan Road."

Li Yun nodded: "I've thought of this too. I came to see Brother Shouyi today just to discuss whether or not we should fight."

Du Qian stroked his chin, pondered for a while, and said, "Sir, how many people are there in the Wuchang Army?"

"More than fifteen thousand people."

Li Yun said slowly: "The scale is quite large. He was originally a nail planted by the imperial court in the central region. He is currently the governor of Eyue... No, now he is the governor of Wuchang Army."

"This man's surname is Lu, and his name is Lu Yunzhang. He is in his forties. This is his fifth year as the governor of Eyue. In other words, he has been in charge of the Wuchang Army for five years."

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said softly, "What I am worried about is, if we fight, what pretext should we use to fight? If we fight without a pretext, even if we win, we may become the target of public criticism."

Originally, before this promotion, it seemed reasonable for Li Yun to send people to take over the defense of Ezhou. But now, the observer has been promoted to Jiedushi, and Li Yun’s qualification to send troops no longer exists.

Moreover, this is obviously the intention of the imperial court. If the fighting continues, it will definitely anger the imperial court. If the imperial court issues an order to attack, will those forces that have been coveting the Jiangnan Road attack Li Yun together?
These are hard to say. Things that are hard to say are risks.

Du Qian sat where he was and looked at the document brought by Li Yun again. After reading it carefully twice, he looked at Li Yun and said, "Sir, the intelligence said that our Qiantang Army had just entered Ezhou and was attacked by the Wuchang Army near Wuchang."

"In other words, they were the first to take action."

Du Qian said softly, "They started first, and it would be reasonable for us to do it later. As long as the Duke of Fu submits a written document to the court to explain the matter before taking action, I don't think we can't fight. But there is one thing that the Duke of Fu must pay attention to."

"You have to fight fast, the faster the better."

"The faster we win, the stronger we will be in the eyes of others. No matter if we have any status or not, others will not say much. But if we are slow, we may even suffer a loss at the hands of the Wuchang Army..."

Li Yun came to his senses, clapped his hands and smiled, "That's the truth, then there's nothing more to say."

He stood up, looked at Du Qian, and said with a smile: "I have to go out for a few days. Brother Shouyi, please take good care of Jinling."

Hearing this, Du Qian gave a bitter smile and said, "The Lord is going to go there in person again?"

“This is no small battle.”

Li Yun said seriously, "The Qiantang Army originally had more than 10,000 soldiers. In the past few months, they have recruited new soldiers, and now the number has reached nearly 18,000. Counting the number of Wuchang Army, this battle is only slightly worse than the battle in Jiangbei."

"Besides, this battle is very important."

Mr. Li said slowly: "I need to let the court and the princes from all over the world take another look at Jiangdong's attitude. I must go to the battlefield myself."

At this point, Li Yun had already walked to the door. He looked back at Du Qian and said with a smile, "Just as Brother Shouyi said, although our army advanced into Ezhou, they were the first to attack. We have to fight this battle."

Li Yun clenched his fists and said slowly: "I will go and see what the Wuchang Army looks like and how it compares to the Pinglu Army!"

After receiving the news, Li Yun knew in his heart that this battle must be fought, and what he was thinking about was when this battle should be fought and whether it should be fought at this time.

After discussing with Du Qian, he had completely dispelled his doubts.

This battle must be fought, and it must be fought quickly and fiercely!
Mr. Li has always been a practical man. After making up his mind, he first returned to Li Garden, wrote a letter to Su Sheng in the study, and then called Liu Bo over and asked him to shift the resources of the Nine Departments to Ezhou.

To put it bluntly, it means sending more spies over there to get more information.

Liu Bo knew Li Yun's temper, so he didn't waste any words and went down to work immediately.

After arranging Liu Bo's affairs, Li Yun looked at his family during dinner and said, "I have to go out in a few days."

He looked at Xue Yun'er and said with a smile, "It will probably take about a month for him to come back."

Xue Yun'er put down her chopsticks, looked at him, sighed faintly and said, "Just go ahead. You never went out without my permission."

Li Yun smiled and said, "You have to tell your wife, right?"

Xue Yun'er lowered her head and drank a mouthful of soup. Suddenly, her eyes rolled and she said, "My husband, please bring Sister Su with you."

She first looked at Lu Huan who was keeping his head down and saying nothing, then looked at Liu Su standing beside her and smiled softly.

"Not only can I take care of your husband's food, clothing and daily life, but I can also help you sort out the paperwork."

(End of this chapter)