Thief Emperor

Chapter 531: Advancing to Huainan
When he heard Zhao Cheng's name, Liu Su stopped what he was doing, but didn't say much and remained silent.

Li Yun was reading a document sent by Du Qian at this moment. After noticing Liu Su's reaction, he suddenly remembered something, stood up and walked to Liu Su, stretched out his hand to hold her hand, and whispered: "Otherwise, I will ask someone to send you back to Jinling first."

"I am going to the north just to take a look at the situation there. I will be back to Nanjing soon to take care of some important matters. You don't have to follow me."

There was a grudge between Liu Su and Zhao Cheng.

Although at that time, Zhao Cheng followed Qiu Dian in the rebellion, and he and Liu Xiang, the then governor of Qiantang County, served different masters.

although

Although it was Zhao Cheng who collected and buried Liu Xiang and his wife after the city was captured, it is an indisputable fact that there was hatred between Liu Su and Zhao Cheng for killing their father and mother.

In the first half of the year, when Li Yun officially took a concubine, Zhao Cheng had already heard of Liu Su's identity. He even went to apologize at that time, but at that moment, neither Li Yun nor Liu Su could say anything, and the matter ended up in nothing.

Liu Su looked up at Li Yun, shook her head slightly and said, "My husband, many people know that I followed you to the army. If I return to Nanjing at this time and do not go north with my husband, I am afraid that General Zhao will think too much."

She paused, then continued, "If there is a rift, it will ruin Jiangdong's great cause."

Li Yun was startled, then shook his head and said, "It's not that serious. Just go back and I'll talk to Zhao Cheng. Nothing will happen."

Liu Su said softly, "My husband needs General Zhao's help at this time, so of course we have to reassure him. Don't worry, my husband... It's been a few years since that incident, and I... I feel much more at ease now."

Li Yun looked at Liu Su thoughtfully, then sighed: "You always remember it in your heart."

She looked up at Li Yun, then lowered her head again and said softly, "My husband, do you not allow me to remember? If my husband does not allow me to, I...I will forget it."

"Humans are not plants or trees, so it's natural that such things are not easy to forget."

Li Yun touched her head and sighed softly: "If you want to remember it, just remember it."

Liu Su reached out and hugged Li Yun's waist, tears streaming down his eyes as he cried silently.

She hugged Li Yun and cried for a long time before she reached out to wipe her tears and gritted her teeth and said, "My husband, I have always told myself in my heart that the one who killed my parents was not General Zhao, but the traitor Qiu Dian."

"It was the rebels who killed my parents."

At this point, she couldn't help shedding tears and said, "But when I think of him, I still feel uncomfortable."

Li Yun said softly: "I'll have someone take you back to Jinling."

Liu Su took a deep breath and shook her head stubbornly: "My husband works hard every day. I cannot become a hindrance to him at this time. I will go north with him."

Seeing her expression, Li Yun thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay then, don't worry, I'll be in Shouzhou for about ten days or half a month, and then we'll set off to return to Jinling."

Liu Su said, "Hmm," and said, "I'll go get ready."

After saying that, she wiped her tears with her sleeves and went to prepare things.

Li Yun looked at her back, thoughtfully.

I don’t know whether Zhao Cheng will feel relieved or... more worried when she goes to see him this time.

If you think further.

The current situation is getting better and better. Regardless of whether we can unify the world, there are no major problems in Jiangdong Kingdom anymore.

Will this old grudge today lay some hidden dangers in the distant future?
I'm afraid no one can explain it clearly.

Li Yun shook his head, put these messy thoughts behind him, and continued to look through the documents sent by Du Qian.

The general meaning of the letter sent by Du Qian was that he had spent a long time searching for a group of talents in Jinling, about twenty to thirty people, through various channels, including recommending talents from various counties and visiting great scholars.

These twenty or thirty people were all selected by Du Qian.

What Du Qian meant was that as long as Li Yun came back to see him, he could start arranging for these people to go down and work.

This matter was not something Du Qian acted on his own, but something Li Yun had discussed with him before leaving Jinling.

At the beginning, Li Yun founded the Youth Version of the Old Department in Nanjing and set up a Personnel Department. The person in charge of the Personnel Department was none other than Du Qian, who was also in charge. He originally had the responsibility to fill the official vacancies in Jiangdong.

After thinking for a while, Li Yun picked up the brush and wrote a letter back to Du Qian. His replies were always concise, with only a few simple words.

"If there is any vacancy among them, you can make your own decision."

"If you still have doubts, please wait for me in Jinling."

…………

The next day, Li Yun arranged for Captain He Jun to lead the troops to garrison Qizhou, while he himself led his guards all the way north to Shouzhou.

To be precise, it should now be called the Guard Camp. After so much development, his personal guards have reached nearly 500 people, successfully reaching the scale of a colonel camp.

However, after reaching this scale, it would be too extravagant to provide everyone with a horse as before. Only half of the 500 people were equipped with horses.

Because of this, Li Yun asked the half without horses to return directly to Jinling with the wounded including Yang Xi. The remaining half with horses followed Li Yun and headed directly north from Qizhou to Shouzhou.

The roads in Qizhou are mostly mountainous, but after reaching Shouzhou, the roads become much flatter.

At this time, the Jiusi, which Li had spent a huge amount of money to set up, had invested almost all of its available resources in Huainan Road. Not long after Li Yun entered Shouzhou, people from the Jiusi came to greet him.

During this period, although Li Yunren was in Qizhou, he was also paying close attention to the battle situation of Zhao Cheng's troops every day. At this time, Zhao Cheng had successfully occupied most of Shouzhou and almost drove the Pinglu Army from Shouzhou to Guangzhou.

This was quite a remarkable achievement. After all, Zhao Cheng was not facing the Wuchang Army with its silver-plated spears, but the Pinglu Army with considerable combat effectiveness.

At this moment, Shouzhou City was already in the hands of Zhao Cheng, and the front line of the battlefield between the two sides was near Huoqiu. Li Yun did not go to Shouzhou City, but directly brought his guards all the way to Zhao Cheng's camp in Huoqiu.

When Li Yun was still more than ten miles away from Zhao Cheng's camp, Zhao Cheng led his generals out of the city to greet him. After seeing Li Yun's mount, he led his subordinates to half-kneel on both sides of the road and bowed his head and said, "Your subordinate Zhao Cheng, I pay my respects to the Lord!"

Li Yun jumped off his horse and helped Zhao Cheng up first. Then he raised his hand to all the generals and said with a smile, "Everyone, get up, everyone."

All the generals then stood up.

After Zhao Cheng was helped up by Li Yun, he looked up and saw Liu Su behind Li Yun. He breathed a sigh of relief, stepped forward, bowed deeply to Liu Su, and clasped his fists, with his hands already raised above his head.

"I've met Mrs. Liu."

Originally, according to the rules, only the wife could be called Madam. For example, in Li Yun'er's family, only Xue Yun'er could be called Madam Li. However, Zhao Cheng felt guilty about Liu Su, so he also called her Madam, but added the surname Liu to distinguish her.

Liu Su forced a smile on her face and said softly, "General Zhao, there is no need to be so polite. I am not your wife."

Zhao Cheng still lowered his head: "The mansion master's business is prosperous, and Madam Liu will be the lady sooner or later."

The current Li Yun can no longer be constrained by the ordinary people's system of one wife and multiple concubines. Boss Cao in another world has several wives, and the principle is roughly the same as that of Li Yun now. They are the masters of one place, and even if they are concubines, the people below them must respect them more or less.

After all, this is the one who can influence others' lives.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere between the two, Li Yun stepped forward, grabbed Zhao Cheng's sleeve, and said with a smile: "General Zhao, how is the battle in Shouzhou going?"

Zhao Cheng quickly glanced at Liu Su, and when he saw that the latter did not look unhappy, he heaved a sigh of relief, and then bowed his head to Li Yun and said, "Sir, I encountered at least five or six thousand Pinglu troops in Shouzhou. If we had not taken advantage of the situation to break Shouzhou, it would have been difficult to take Shouzhou City until now."

Li Yun had read the military report about Zhao Cheng's capture of Shouzhou City. At that time, Zhao Cheng sent troops from Fengyang, launched a surprise attack on Shouzhou, and rushed directly to the capital, cutting off the food supply route of the Pinglu Army.

There may not be much food stored in Shouzhou City. After less than ten days of siege, the Pinglu Army in Shouzhou City broke out of the city and gave up Shouzhou City.

Speaking of the war, Zhao Cheng was obviously much more excited. After telling Li Yun the details, he suddenly reacted and lowered his head and said, "Sir, I have prepared wine and food to welcome you. Let's go to the camp now. After entering the camp, I will report the battle situation in detail."

Li Yun did not refuse and quickly brought his group to the Fengyang Army camp. At the entrance of the camp, the flag with the word "Li" was already hung high and the commander's tent had already been vacated for Li Yun.

After entering the general's tent, Li Yun did not rush to eat, but hung up the map. He pointed his finger on the map and said, "If General Su and Commander Chen are both successful, then only four states, Guangzhou, Shenzhou, Anzhou, and Mianyang, will be left in Huainan Road. They are not in our hands."

He looked at Zhao Cheng and said with a smile: "As long as our Fengyang Army can take over Guangzhou and Shenzhou, the Fengyang Army will be the first to win the battle for Huainan Road this time."

Zhao Cheng looked at the map and asked, "Sir, how long do you plan to fight this battle?"

Li Yun smiled and said, "Of course we will keep fighting until we completely conquer Huainan Road."

"My expectation is to completely occupy Huainan Road before the end of this year. If we can do it by then, I will reward all the brothers who fought in the Huainan Road battle in Jinling according to their merits."

Zhao Cheng nodded and was about to speak when a messenger rushed in, bowed his head and saluted, "Sir, General!"

Li Yun didn't say anything. Zhao Cheng frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"

"The Pinglu Army sent a letter."

The messenger looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head and said, "It's for the Lord."

Li Yun smiled dumbly: "They are well-informed. I just arrived and their letters have been delivered."

Zhao Cheng was a little embarrassed and whispered, "It should be because my subordinates hung up the flag of the Duke of Fu in advance, so these Pinglu soldiers noticed it."

Li Yun took the letter and took a look at it. The content of the letter was quite simple.

The general meaning is that he has a very good relationship with Gongsun Hao, and he asks Li Yun to release Gongsun Hao.

The last sentence consisted of these eight words.

"I am willing to exchange Gongsun for ten thousand gold coins."

There are two words in the signature below.

Luo Zhen.

Another deputy general of the Pinglu Army.

(End of this chapter)