Thief Emperor

Chapter 540 Betrayal of Huainan
At this time, becoming sworn brothers was still a very serious matter.

In particular, when Li Yun and Zhou Xu became sworn brothers, it was a relatively formal ceremony. The two of them set up an altar and burned books together to worship the heavens.

In other words, the two of them informed their superiors about this matter.

Although Li Yun did not take this seriously, and General Zhou might not really take it seriously either, but no matter what, on the surface, the two men were brothers.

Even General Zhou Xu had tacitly agreed to this matter.

Because in his opinion, this is the current situation in the world.

Although Li Yun in the south was fighting with him for the Huainan Road, Xiao Xian in the north had already returned to Fan Yang and was eyeing him covetously.

However, no one has the ability to destroy anyone else.

In General Zhou's opinion, the situation for the next few decades will probably be settled in the next two years, and Li Yun and the Pinglu Army are destined to be neighbors.

In fact, as General Zhou had anticipated, the Li family of Jiangdong and the Zhou family of Qingzhou would probably live together for more than one generation.

Under this premise, he was willing to acknowledge Li Yun as his sworn brother.

As for Zhou Chang, he had to be acknowledged even more.

The quarrel between the two sides in Huainan Road is at most a quarrel between brothers. If he showed his teeth to Li Yun, to put it more seriously, it would be unfilial.

Although Li Yun was two years younger than him, it was really annoying to hear him calling him nephew. But no matter how annoyed he was, he had to acknowledge Li Yun as his uncle.

"uncle."

Zhou Chang looked at Li Yun deeply and said, "It's not good to stay at the door all the time, right?"

Li Yun laughed loudly and said, "My nephew has come from afar, so I can't let you wait at the door. I have already set up a banquet in my house, please come and invite me."

Li Yun led the way in front, and Zhou Chang followed behind him. Not long after entering the garden, they arrived at the main hall. Although the other members of the Li family did not go out to greet Zhou Chang, they still greeted him in the main hall. The eldest wife Xue Yun'er stood in the middle, Liu Su stood on Xue Yun'er's left, holding Li Yun's eldest son Li Yuan in her arms, and Lu Huan, dressed in blue, stood on Xue Yun'er's right hand side.

Li Yun stood next to Xue Yun'er, looked at Zhou Chang's face, and introduced him with a smile: "This is your aunt."

Zhou Chang's face darkened, but he still gritted his teeth, bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying: "My nephew Zhou Chang, meet your aunt."

Li Yun stood in front of Liu Su again and was about to speak when Zhou Chang was already looking at him viciously.

Obviously, he would never accept a concubine.

Fortunately, Xue Yun'er had already spoken, and said with a smile: "Major General, you are too polite. The banquet has been set up, please take your seat."

They were of the same age. When Zhou Chang saw Xue Yun'er helping him out of the predicament, he couldn't help but look up at Xue Yun'er and immediately felt a liking for her.

However, when he thought of Li Yun, the thoughts in his mind disappeared in an instant.

Soon, the two of them entered Li Garden together. The banquet had not yet started, so Zhou Chang was invited by Li Yun to the back hall to talk.

After entering the back hall, Li Yun sat in the main seat and looked at his peer in front of him with a smile.

"Major General, it's been a while since we last met."

It's okay to take advantage of someone in terms of seniority for a while and have fun, but there's no need to take advantage all the time. Firstly, it's meaningless, and secondly, although Li Yun and Zhou Chang are of the same age, they are definitely not of the same generation.

Li Yun is already on the same level as General Zhou. If he continues to get entangled with Zhou Chang, he will lose his status in vain.

Major General Zhou Chang looked at Li Yun, his expression becoming a little complicated for a moment.

They are old acquaintances. Zhou Chang had met Li Yun when Li Yun was still the Sima of Yuezhou. In the blink of an eye, Li Yun is no longer on the same level as him.

"Yes."

The major general took a deep breath and said, "Uncle, you should have guessed the purpose of my visit this time."

"The war in Jiangnan Road has not stopped yet. My father and uncle are sworn brothers. There is no reason to hurt their relationship like this. If the war continues, I am afraid that outsiders will take advantage of it."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I've already said that I'm no longer working in Jiangdong, so I can't take care of Jiangdong's military affairs any more."

Zhou Chang had a blank expression on his face: "Uncle, this is meaningless."

"It's meaningless."

Li Yun looked at him with a smile.

"Although it's boring, I have to say it, lest the major general catch me and cause me trouble."

Zhou Chang frowned, then said, "There is no need to distinguish right from wrong in the Huainan Road matter. Now let's just talk about how to deal with it. How about that?"

"Right or wrong, I am not wrong either."

Li Yun lowered his head and took a sip of tea. "I was recovering the territory of Jiangnan West Road at that time, so it was reasonable. It was you in Qingzhou who had the unclear relationship with that Lu first."

Zhou Chang also lowered his head and drank a sip of tea, then continued, "I came here on my father's orders to make a truce with my uncle."

"Uncle, there is no need to say anything else. Let's discuss the terms."

Li Yun looked at him and suddenly asked, "Did the Fanyang army move?"

After asking this question, Li Yun stared at Zhou Chang's expression, trying to see something from his face.

After Li Yun returned to Jinling from Shouzhou, he still read the battle reports from the army on time every day. At this moment, the battle line is still on the Shouzhou-Guangzhou line. The good news is that Su Sheng successfully captured Huangzhou, and Chen Da has also occupied Shuzhou after a month of hard attack, and is currently digesting it.

However, there is still no end in sight to driving the Pinglu Army out of Huainan Road.

Since they did not suffer a serious loss on the battlefield, theoretically speaking, the Pinglu Army should not be so anxious to come and seek peace.

There was no expression on Zhou Chang's face, he just shook his head slightly.

"Uncle, you are overthinking. The Fanyang Army is very honest and there is no unusual movement."

"That's fine, that's fine."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It would be best if the Lu army was pacified, and both the north and the south were at peace, so that my brother could live a peaceful life for a few years."

At this point, he looked at Zhou Chang and said, "How about the Pinglu Army withdrawing from Huainan Road and leaving Huainan Road to me completely?"

Li Yun didn't have the confidence to make this request.

Because he knew very well that the task he assigned to his subordinates to drive the Pinglu Army out of Huainan Road before the end of the year would probably not be easy to accomplish before the end of the year.

If you expect to get something you can't get on the battlefield at the negotiating table, you can only hope that the other party is a wimp.

Otherwise, it will be difficult to accomplish.

To Li Yun's surprise, Zhou Chang did not immediately turn hostile. Instead, he looked at Li Yun seriously and said, "We can talk about this. Do the conditions that your uncle talked to Zhou Gui about before still count?"

Previously, when Li Yun met Zhou Gui, he told him that as long as the Pinglu Army withdrew from Huainan Road, Li Yun would never join forces with the Fanyang Army to attack the Pinglu Army from the north and south after a conflict between the Pinglu Army and the Fanyang Army in the future.

Li Yun smiled brightly and said, "It counts, it counts."

The young general did not respond, but continued, "Our General Gongsun from Qingzhou."

Li Yun smiled and said, "As long as you give up the Huainan Road, I will personally send General Gongsun to the north of the Huai River."

Zhou Chang looked at Li Yun and was silent for a long time. Finally, he said, "Huainan Road is a good place. We have paid a considerable price for it. We can't just give it up like this. Uncle wants to give us 100,000 strings of money from Qingzhou. In addition, I want 200,000 kilograms of salt from Jiangdong."

After hearing this, Li Yun finally figured things out.

The Pinglu Army is probably in...an economic crisis.

This is a bit strange.

Because although the Pinglu Army doubled its size in a short period of time, their territory also more than doubled. Previously, Qingzhou and ten other states could support a Pinglu Army. It doesn't make sense that now with more territory, they can't support 100,000 Pinglu Army.

Mr. Li thought about it for a while, then chuckled and said, "Do you want copper?"

Zhou Chang looked at Li Yun and exhaled slowly: "It would be even better if there is one."

"Money is easy to talk about. I can give you the salt in two years. That's no problem."

Li Yun smiled and said, "But I can't give it to you for free. I want food in exchange."

After a round of rapid expansion, the Pinglu Army has now occupied almost the entire eastern region of Henan Province, which is basically plains and produces the most grain.

“There is no food now.”

Zhou Chang said in a deep voice: "We in Qingzhou are also short of food."

"You can't let me send you so many things for no reason."

Li Yun frowned: "What am I going to do then? Pay compensation and beg for mercy?"

Zhou Chang was furious: "Huainan Road, there are still four states in our hands!"

Li Yun said softly: "But those four states are all in the westernmost part of Huainan Road, and Pinglu Army is in the easternmost part of Henan Road, which is a big gap."

"Support and troop transportation are all problems."

Li Yun looked up at Zhou Chang and continued, "Even with the closure of the Huai River, grain transportation will become a problem."

Zhou Chang lowered his head and said nothing.

Li Yun sighed and said with a smile: "My dear nephew, if you have any difficulties, just tell me directly. Why do you have to insist on it?"

"But what I'm curious about is, the Pinglu Army has taken over so many places, why is it now..."

"It seems that the more you eat, the poorer you get?"

"Too much military expansion."

He glanced at Li Yun and gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Li, you recruited soldiers and also provided them with food and wages. After the news spread to Qingzhou, the people in the Pinglu Army were also in a panic."

"We were forced to follow suit and pay salaries."

He looked at Li Yun dimly and sighed.

"And we in Qingzhou are still short of a Du Shiyi."

(End of this chapter)