Thief Emperor

Chapter 545 Restore the Central Plains!

Li Yun is a particular person.

Now that the matter has been basically investigated clearly, it was indeed his and Jiangdong Group's fault, and this fault almost led to Zhou Chang's death in Jinling, then as a man, he must take the responsibility that he should take.

If you bury your head and act like an ostrich, pretending nothing happened, that would be very narrow-minded.

Zhou Chang was able to sit up at this time. He put on his inner clothes and sat up reluctantly. He asked the maid beside him to tidy up his messy hair. Then he looked at Li Yun with a smile on his pale face: "Uncle...Uncle, have you found out?"

"I checked about 70% of it."

Li put his hands in his sleeves, looked at Zhou Chang, and said slowly: "Someone from the Imperial City Department must be involved in this matter, but it is hard to say whether there are other forces involved."

"Although it was done by the Imperial City Division, this is Jinling. If something happens to the young general, I cannot shirk my responsibility."

"We can discuss the conditions we agreed on previously."

Li Yun said calmly: "I still want Huainan Road, but you can give me more for other conditions."

"Major General, you can make your request now."

Zhou Chang looked at Li Yun and said with emotion: "I have met many people over the years, including princes, nobles, and sons of aristocratic families. But there are really few people who are as generous and open-minded as my uncle."

He paused and asked, "Can you put forward any conditions?"

Li Yun held up five fingers and said, "It's worth at most 50,000 strings of cash."

"This price is my bottom line, no negotiation."

The young general laughed at himself: "It turns out that my life is only worth fifty thousand in the eyes of Lord Li."

Li Yun looked at him.

"Fifty thousand is not a small amount."

He said silently: "The pension for a soldier in Jiangdong is only 20 strings of cash. A major general alone is worth two and a half battalions of lieutenants of mine."

"Besides, the Major General is not dead yet."

It was the first time Zhou Chang had heard of this kind of calculation. He was stunned for a while, then came to his senses, coughed once or twice, and said, "I want 50,000 strings of copper from my uncle. Will you give it to me?"

"Give."

Li Yun looked calm: "I am a person who always keeps my word."

Zhou Chang was very excited.

However, he still suppressed his greed, thought for a while, and said through gritted teeth: "A real man should stick to his words. Since I have already made an agreement with Mr. Du, I will not regret it now!"

"We will still follow the original conditions."

"I just hope that my uncle can really fulfill his promise."

Li Yun promised Zhou Gui that if the Pinglu Army and the Fanyang Army fought, he would never get involved.

Li Yun was stunned for a moment, then looked suspicious and said, "Could it be that you Qingzhou have already started a fight with the Fanyang army?"

Zhou Chang said calmly: "It's just a small conflict."

"What a little conflict."

Li Yun smiled and said, "You guys have kept it a secret so well that I haven't heard any news so far."

"Because it is indeed a small conflict. If a large-scale fight really broke out, Jiangdong would definitely not be unaware of it."

He looked at Li Yun, coughed twice, and said, "I didn't really respect you at first, but after what happened today, I am convinced."

"We two families, if we can be neighbors for a long time in the future."

Zhou Chang smiled at Li Yun and said, "I will accept this generational title, and my descendants will also accept it."

Li Yun looked at Zhou Chang and smiled too, but did not respond.

He didn't think that the two families could be neighbors for long, let alone for future generations.

However, he could more or less guess why the Zhou father and son showed "goodwill" towards him.

On the one hand, it was because their family and the Fanyang Army were indeed about to fight.

On the other hand, after this period of time, judging from the performance of various states and counties, General Zhou has clearly realized that his killing of Gu Wenchuan has offended too many scholars.

It is basically impossible to compete for the world again.

For the Zhou family, the best situation is to establish their own territory and then trust in the wisdom of future generations.

Showing goodwill to Li Yun is also to leave a way out for his family.

…………

In the capital, outside the palace, a middle-aged man in a military officer's uniform, led by eunuch Gao, came to the palace gate. Before he entered the palace, he saw a group of palace servants tied up tightly, kneeling in rows at the palace gate.

The middle-aged man lowered his head slightly and asked, "Eunuch, who are these people..."

Eunuch Gao glanced at the palace servants, then looked at the middle-aged man, and said indifferently: "They are all traitors. They will be beheaded at noon."

The middle-aged man seemed to be thinking about something.

These eunuchs and palace maids were most likely those palace servants who secretly defected to General Wei Quanzhong when he was in the capital.

Now, General Wei has left the capital, and these people have lost their support. They have been put on the list one by one by the Emperor.

Eunuch Gao didn't even look at these people, but said, "Envoy Liang, you have never been to a court before. When you meet His Majesty later, you must pay attention to the etiquette and rules."

This middle-aged man called Liang Shijun was none other than Liang Wen, the former general under Wang Junping. It was said that he was the hero of the Great Zhou Dynasty who finally killed Wang Junping, and he was now the governor of Ruzhou.

This was not his first time entering the capital, nor was it his first time entering the palace.

On the contrary, he was quite familiar with the palace.

The last time, he entered the palace with Wang Junping. He was given a lot of gold, silver, money and women. It can be said that he was reluctant to leave the palace.

This time, he came to meet the emperor as a minister of the Great Zhou.

Sometimes the encounters in life are so wonderful.

Under the leadership of Eunuch Gao, he soon arrived outside the Chongde Hall. Eunuch Gao was about to go in to report, and asked Liang Wen to wait outside the hall. Liang Wen took out a bead the size of a longan from his arms, put it slightly into Eunuch Gao's hand, and bowed his head and said, "Eunuch, please bear with it."

Eunuch Gao smiled and said, "What are you doing, Lord Liang? We are all family members, why are you being so polite?"

Although he said so, Eunuch Gao just moved his hand slightly and the bead disappeared. He quickly went into Chongde Hall to report, and not long after, Liang Wen was summoned in.

After walking all the way before the Emperor, Liang Wen kowtowed respectfully, and in a very standard manner.

Not only did he kneel correctly, but his butt was also raised high. The standard was already a little exaggerated.

Obviously, this guy practiced a lot in private.

His Majesty, at this moment, was chatting with Pei Huang about Jiangnan. When he mentioned that the Imperial City Division had suffered heavy losses in Nanjing, His Majesty was quite annoyed and clenched his fist and said, "This Li Yun is really impossible to train. If the court had not promoted him out of turn, he would not be where he is today!"

"Now, he is completely unwilling to be a subject of our Great Zhou!"

Pei Huang also frowned and echoed, "This man has indeed shown his rebellious nature. The Imperial City Division reported that he has now sealed off His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu. The people of the Imperial City Division can no longer contact His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu."

"Perhaps they will use His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu to do something."

The emperor wanted to say something else, but the eunuch Gao beside him finally took advantage of the opportunity and said, "Your Majesty, Liang Wen, the governor of Ruzhou, has arrived."

The emperor then turned his head and looked at Liang Wen, who was kneeling on the ground with his butt raised high.

He was a little surprised.

After Wang Junping's rebellion, the court's prestige was greatly damaged. It had been a long time since anyone had knelt so properly before him.

In fact, it has been a long time since anyone has kowtowed to him properly.

The emperor gave Pei Huang a look, and Pei Huang immediately stood aside sensibly and said nothing.

"Liang Qing, get up!"

Liang Wen nodded his head and after getting up, he still stood respectfully.

The emperor looked at Pei Huang and asked, "Do you know why I want you here?"

"know."

Liang Wen bowed his head and said, "After the thief Wang, the Central Plains was in chaos and has not been quelled until now, so that tax collection is not smooth and government orders are not implemented."

Having said this, he knelt on the ground again, touched his head to the ground, and kowtowed, saying: "I am willing to do my best to conquer the Central Plains and restore the Great Zhou for Your Majesty!"

The emperor looked at him and asked, "How many soldiers do you have?"

"Your Majesty, I was hiding in the enemy army. After the enemy army was defeated, I gathered a part of them, about 8,000 people. Later, I was ordered to work in Ruzhou and gathered some more soldiers. Now the number of people has exceeded 20,000."

The emperor said "hmm" and asked, "If I let you do it, how long will it take you to restore the Central Plains?"

"Your Majesty, there are no more major bandits in the Central Plains!"

"Next year, before this time next year, I will definitely be able to serve Your Majesty and the court!"

Having said this, he raised his head and quickly looked at the emperor, then quickly lowered his head.

"Restore the entire Central Plains!"

(End of this chapter)