Thief Emperor

Chapter 508 Don’t ask me!

The last sentence clearly had a threatening tone.

And this is a threat that His Majesty the Emperor cannot ignore.

The emperor really wanted to speak. Pei Huang, who was standing beside him, looked at Wei Quanzhong and said, "Your Highness, General Xiao is still in the capital and will leave in a few days. Since this matter involves the Fanyang Army, should we ask General Xiao to come over and discuss it together?"

General Wei was startled, then he said, "If Master Pei hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about it. Let's put this matter aside for a while, and discuss it again in a few days."

As soon as he said this, His Majesty the Emperor and Pei Huang looked at each other and frowned.

Obviously, Wei Quanzhong had made up his mind to have the court issue this edict, and the intention behind it was not difficult to guess.

As far as the current situation is concerned, Wei Quanzhong can only stay in the capital for another half a year at most. After half a year, even if he doesn't want to leave, he will have to leave the capital and Guanzhong.

At that time, at most he would be like the other two Jiedushi, controlling a pass in Guanzhong and leaving behind a part of the troops to hold the key to enter Guanzhong at any time.

As for the rest, they are just like other vassal states and other military governors, and they no longer have any advantages.

After two years of hard work, in the end, apart from the title of a prince in the court, some rewards from the court, some territories, and some women, he gained nothing else.

Of course, these "harvests" are actually relatively abundant, but if we look back, taking advantage of the chaos in the court, other Jiedushi who did not come to Guanzhong were also expanding rapidly. The most obvious among them were Zhou Xu, the Jiedushi of Pinglu, and Li Yun of Jiangnan.

The Pinglu Army originally occupied only ten states including Qingzhou, but now its territory has more than doubled and it is probably now in nearly thirty states.

Li Yun, who was originally unknown, now controls thirty states and makes a lot of money.

In comparison, the Shuofang Army's efforts and benefits were really disproportionate, and General Wei was of course unhappy.

Seeing that His Majesty did not speak, he bowed his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, when the country was in danger, we, the ministers, risked our lives to save it, but local villains like Li Yun, who used the name of court officials to expand their territory, are truly traitors to the country."

"The many local troops around him are also restless. Now that the imperial court has been restored, we can no longer sit idly by. At the very least, we should strip Li Yun of his official uniform and stop him from doing whatever he wants in the name of the imperial court."

"otherwise."

General Wei said in a deep voice: "Otherwise, we loyal ministers will not be convinced in our hearts!"

Wei Quanzhong’s intention was very simple. He first defined Li Yun as a traitor, and then ordered the local “princes” near Li Yun who had not come to support the court to besiege Li Yun.

If they obey, the southeast of the Great Zhou will immediately become a mess.

If they disobey, they will also be labeled as traitors.

Even if it continues like this, the Great Zhou Dynasty may become a joke in the end. However, the Great Zhou Dynasty does not belong to him, Wei. If it becomes a joke, it will not be him, Wei Quanzhong, who will become a joke.

Maybe this is exactly what he has in mind.

His Majesty the Emperor was silent for a moment, then bowed his head and said, "Mr. Wei, the court is now recovering from a serious illness. Shouldn't we rest for two years first, and then work out the rest slowly."

General Wei frowned and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the reason why Li Yun was able to rise to power is entirely due to his position as an official in the court. Even if the court does not issue an edict to punish him, at least his official position should be stripped away."

"In this way, the power under his control will be at least half destroyed, and may even collapse directly!"

"No one would be willing to follow a traitor and commit treason!"

His Majesty the Emperor looked at Pei Huang and finally said silently: "Okay, I agree."

"Li Yun was charged with the crime of leading troops without authorization to attack Ezhou, and all his posts were dismissed and he was demoted to a commoner."

At this point, His Majesty the Emperor paused, looked at Pei Huang, and slowly said, "Who should be sent to convey the imperial edict?"

Pei Huang thought for a moment and whispered, "Your Majesty, if you want to issue this decree, you should make dozens of copies at the same time and send them to the prefectures and counties in Jiangnan and Huainan to publicize it widely."

"As for Li Yun, Fei Xuan, the former governor of Jiangnan East Road, is still in Jiangdong. We can send the imperial edict to him and let him convey the imperial edict to Li Yun, and he will remove and take over all the powers in Li Yun's hands."

"it is good."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at Wei Quanzhong and said in a deep voice, "Then do as you say."

"General, are you satisfied now?"

Wei Quanzhong wanted to speak, but the emperor was also a little annoyed, and his voice was a little hoarse: "If the general is not satisfied, I will give this position to the general."

This was a rare moment of Wu Yuancheng's toughness. After hearing his words, even Wei Quanzhong was slightly startled, and then he quickly bowed his head and said, "I am terrified."

"Your Majesty is holy."

After saying this, he bowed his head deeply and left the Chongde Hall.

After he left, the Emperor heaved a sigh of relief and slumped down on the dragon chair. After a long time, he came to his senses and said slowly: "I really don't know... what will happen to Jiangnan Road."

Pei Huang whispered, "Your Majesty, Li Yun is quite capable. After this imperial edict is issued, it is unlikely that his army will collapse."

"But the officials of the Great Zhou in the states and counties under his jurisdiction will definitely have other ideas."

"In addition." Pei Huang took a deep breath and said, "The Pinglu Army near him and other local forces are eyeing the Jiangnan Road and several states in Huainan Road under his control."

Li Yun previously controlled the Huainan Road, and he did have influence in the nearby local forces, but firstly, he was strong enough, and secondly, he had a status in the imperial court. From now on, he no longer had this status.

It is not certain whether those people will attack him or not, but they will definitely covet the land of Jiangnan.

The emperor seemed to be thinking about something. Suddenly he looked at Pei Huang and asked, "Sanlang, is your family still in Jiangdong?"

"Still."

The emperor said silently: "Write a letter to him and ask him to tell Li Yun that..."

"It was Wei Quanzhong who did it."

Pei Huang nodded and said, "I obey your command."

He paused, and then asked, "Your Majesty, do you still want to send the two princesses..."

"He is pressing me so hard, what else can I give him?"

His Majesty the Emperor patted the small table beside him and said angrily: "That's it, come and kill me if you have the guts!"

…………

On the other side, after occupying Wuchang City, Li Yun's troops rested in Wuchang for four or five days. At this time, they had already raised their troops again and marched to the city of Ezhou.

To be precise, we have been fighting in Ezhou for two days.

Ezhou is a provincial capital, so it is definitely more difficult to attack it than a county town like Wuchang. After all, the city walls are much higher.

But it wasn't too difficult.

The Wuchang Army was originally a local army.

If the Eyue Surveillance Commissioner changed his name to the Wuchang Army Jiedushi, this army would be transformed into an elite force of the vassal state.

After two days of fighting, Ezhou was close to being breached several times and was on the verge of collapse.

If Su Sheng had not been so careful about his troops and did not launch a fierce attack, and had not thought of training new soldiers, Ezhou City would most likely have been captured by them by now.

That evening, Li Yun was drinking with Su Sheng in the camp.

The two of them clinked their glasses and drank the wine in one gulp. Su Sheng smiled and said, "I used to think that the Pinglu Army was just so-so, but now that I've fought with these local armies, I realize that the Pinglu Army is already quite good."

"But we can't blame the soldiers entirely. Today I went to the prisoner camp and asked a few prisoners from the Wuchang Army. Most of them haven't seen a cent of military pay for more than half a year."

Su Sheng looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "Erlang, you didn't see that when those people ate the food in our prisoner camp, their eyes lit up, just like starving ghosts reincarnated."

Now, the war in Ezhou is going smoothly, and there is no need for a long-distance march. In addition, Li Yun spent some money to get a lot of meat and send it up. Now the food for the troops on the front line has also caught up.

Although it is not as good as usual, it is much better than the Wuchang Army.

Hearing this, Li Yun also smiled and said, "Brother, you can pay more attention to the people in the prisoner camp. If they are useful, they can be directly sent to the Qiantang Army. Anyway, we are still recruiting soldiers, the more the better."

"But after we surrender, we must train them well and not let them bring the habits of the Wuchang Army into our Jiangdong Army."

Su Sheng nodded and was about to speak when Zhou Bi, who was not far away, ran over and half-knelt beside Li Yun. He lowered his head and said, "Sir, the man surnamed Lu from Ezhou City sent someone to deliver a letter saying that he wanted to negotiate with you."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said with a smile: "Now we know how to talk. Tell them to give up Ezhou City to me, and I will talk to Lu Yunzhang."

Zhou Bi responded and went downstairs to reply.

After Zhou Bi left, Li Yun continued to drink with Su Sheng. After the two clinked their glasses, Li Yun smiled and said, "This Lu guy is scared. I think he wants to give the prefecture of Jiangnan West Road to me and move to other prefectures."

Su Sheng nodded and laughed, "Children of noble families are not very courageous."

After a while, when Li Yun was talking to Su Sheng, Meng Hai, who looked anxious, also trotted over to Li Yun, lowered his head and handed over a document, saying, "Sir, the Nine Departments of the capital have sent me urgent information."

Li Yun frowned slightly, took the document and took a look at it, then a strange look appeared on his face.

He still read it again in disbelief, then looked at Meng Hai and said slowly: "Go tell Liu Bo immediately and ask him to send people to keep an eye on the people sent by the court to various states and counties. If you can stop them, stop them. If you can't stop them, just kill them directly."

Meng Hai nodded, said yes, then turned and left.

Li Yun looked at the document in his hand and suddenly smiled.

"This is because you don't allow me to be an official of the Great Zhou..."

He whispered.

"Don't ask me to be your official in the future."

(End of this chapter)