Thief Emperor

Chapter 546: Re-sealing and Rewarding
The situation in Guanzhong has become very strange now.

If Guanzhong is compared to a big house, although the three Jiedushi have left, they have each left people to guard the several gates of this big house.

They can come back in any time.

But it is not so easy for people in the house to go out.

For example, the current Emperor is trying his best to reorganize the imperial guards after they were "magically reformed" by the three military governors.

Not to mention how long it would take for him to completely eliminate the influence left by the three Jiedushi. Even if he could completely control the Imperial Guards now, he couldn't send them out.

Three of the four passes in Guanzhong have been occupied by others. How can the imperial guards get out?
But at this time, the emperor was unwilling to stay in Guanzhong and be the emperor of the capital.

At the very least, he wanted to take back the core area of ​​Central Plains.

So, he wanted to seek help from outside.

Liang Wen, the Ruzhou governor who was recruited, was praised by Eunuch Gao in front of the emperor. As a result, he was summoned to the capital and appeared before the emperor.

It has to be said that Liang Wen is a very courageous person.

He was born a rebel, and even if he was recruited by the government, it still couldn't change his identity as a rebel.

Moreover, at this time, he had already established his own power near Ruzhou. If an ordinary person were in his position, most of them would honestly enjoy the life in Ruzhou and be their own local emperor.

But Liang Wen is very ambitious and courageous.

In order to gain the emperor's trust, he actually went all the way into the capital and knelt before the emperor.

The emperor looked at Pei Huang, then at the middle-aged man kneeling before him, and said in a deep voice: "I want to restore order in the Central Plains, restore the court's tax revenue, and restore the Eastern Capital as soon as possible."

"Since you dare to agree to this, I will let you do it."

"I can appoint you as the Henan Road Recruiting Envoy to help the court and restore the Central Plains."

"We will strive to restore the taxation of all prefectures and counties in Henan within two years."

“It was done.”

The emperor looked at Liang Wen, who was sticking his butt out, and said in a deep voice: "I have another great reward. It is not impossible for you to be made a marquis or a prime minister in the future."

Liang Wen knelt on the ground and touched the ground with his forehead: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After he kowtowed several times, he looked up at the emperor and suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "I have one more thing I want to report to Your Majesty in private."

The emperor frowned, but soon relaxed his brows. He waved to the palace servants, and soon all the eunuchs and palace maids who were serving him retreated.

But Pei Huang did not leave.

Liang Wen did not dare to let Pei Huang leave. After everyone had left, he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, if I am lucky enough to help the court recover the Eastern Capital, then I can..."

At this point, Liang Wen paused and said in a deep voice: "Then we can join forces with the Imperial Army to attack from both the east and the west and take Tongguan back into the hands of Your Majesty!"

Hearing this, the emperor and Pei Huang looked at each other, both a little surprised.

His Majesty the Emperor looked at Liang Wen, thought for a moment, then frowned and said, "Nonsense."

"Which of the four passes in Guanzhong is not in my hands? Are the Hedong garrison at Tongguan not my army?"

Liang Wen was still kneeling on the ground, not saying a word.

His Majesty the Emperor and Pei Huang looked at each other again. After rolling for a while, Pei Huang coughed and said, "Envoy Liang, the most urgent task is to restore the Central Plains and the Eastern Capital first, and then other matters."

"It won't be too late to talk about it after you have restored Dongdu."

"Yes."

Liang Wen said respectfully: "I am sorry for what I said."

The emperor waved his hand at him and said, "Well, you've been exhausted from the journey, go down and have a rest first."

"Yes."

Liang Wen got up from the ground and retreated respectfully.

Pei Huang looked at his departing figure, thinking deeply. After a while, he looked at the emperor and whispered, "Your Majesty, Liang Wen is from Wang Junping's army. I think he can be used, but he cannot be trusted completely."

"I always feel that this person..."

Pei Huang pondered for a moment and continued, "Although it looks submissive, it is somewhat dangerous."

The emperor snorted, "How many soldiers does he have? He can't be more dangerous than Li Yun, this Li Yun!"

The emperor clenched his fist and said, "How audacious!"

"You dare to wantonly execute the people from the Imperial City Bureau just because of a disagreement!"

Pei Huang nodded first, then whispered, "He has uprooted most of the roots that the Imperial City Bureau had planted in Jinling."

"What's even more regrettable is that Zhou Chang is not dead yet."

His Majesty the Emperor clenched his fists, and after a long while, he exhaled a breath of turbid air and asked, "Was the assassination of Zhou Chang done by the Imperial City Bureau?"

"uncertain."

Pei Huang shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, Jiangdong is too far away from Guanzhong. When we were arranging our personnel, we could only let the people of the Imperial City Division do their own thing. The entire Imperial City Division in Jinling was in charge of a man named Zhang He." "He can decide his own actions in Jinling, and when I assigned Zhang He the task, I did ask him to... stir up trouble in the southeast."

"Lest Li Yun become more powerful again."

At this point, Pei Huang looked at the emperor and said softly, "So, Zhang He had a motive to assassinate Zhou Chang. However, after this incident, the Imperial City Division of Jinling was cleared out by Li Yun. There is still no news about Zhang He. It is not clear whether it was done by the Imperial City Division."

"It's hard to say."

The emperor was still a little annoyed: "Then Li Yun must have found out something."

"Even if he had found out about the Imperial City Bureau, he could have expelled the man from Nanjing and released him back to the court. But he killed him directly, showing that he didn't even take me seriously!"

Of course His Majesty the Emperor is angry.

Although the Imperial City Bureau is a government office that is not very visible to the public, it is indeed an official government office of the imperial court. When you, Li Yun, discovered the people from the Imperial City Bureau and dealt with them directly without any hesitation, you were directly going against the imperial court.

He even fell out with the imperial court.

After all, Li Yun's way of handling things is almost the same as how he dealt with local spies.

As the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the emperor certainly felt uncomfortable.

If he still had enough ability at this moment, he would definitely issue an imperial edict to punish the enemy and send troops to attack without thinking twice.

Unfortunately, he is too weak now.

Pei Huang sighed and said, "Your Majesty, after several actions in Jiangnan, Li Yun's power has grown. Now, it is no less powerful than those vassal towns with a population of 100,000."

"The court really doesn't have any good way to deal with him right now."

"Besides, I heard."

Pei Huang looked up at the emperor, then lowered his head and said, "Recently, many families have sent people to Jinling to meet with Li Yun."

The emperor had a blank expression on his face: "These people have always been like this since ancient times. What's so strange about this?"

Pei Huang sat face to face with the emperor. He took out a document from his bosom, handed it to the emperor with both hands, and said, "Your Majesty, please have a look. This is the detailed information I have collected about Li Yun's troops in Jiangdong."

"Du Shiyi of the Du family should be working for Li Yun now. However, these civil servants are useless in this chaotic world, so don't worry about them. What I noticed is that Li Yun has four generals under him, namely Su Sheng, Zhao Cheng, Li Zheng, and Deng Yang who was just promoted."

"These four generals command almost all the troops in Jiangdong, and Li Yun himself no longer directly commands troops. This may be an opportunity."

"Among these four generals, Su Sheng is the son of General Su Jing, and Zhao Cheng is the son of General Zhao Tong. They are all former officials of our Great Zhou."

"This Li Yun is unwilling to accept the position. Your Majesty can give these four generals heavy titles."

Pei Huang said softly: "Let them have enough official titles to take charge."

"Not only did they confer titles on them, but they also conferred titles on all the officers under their respective command who originally had no official positions."

"In this way, even if Li Yun, a white-collar worker, can temporarily suppress them with his prestige, over time, I'm afraid there will be resentment between them."

"If these four people turn against each other in the end and fight each other, Li Yun of Jiangdong will be defeated without any attack."

The emperor took the document handed over by Pei Huang, read the contents carefully, and then clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Good!"

"It seems that Sanlang has really put a lot of thought into this. Among these four people, Su Sheng is the one who is most likely to be promoted. Although his father suffered a defeat, he was not convicted."

"You can let him take over his father's official title."

The Emperor's eyes were burning: "Sanlang, you should handle this matter immediately, and then have the people below issue the imperial edict as soon as possible."

"Remember... spread the word."

Pei Huang bowed his head deeply: "I obey your command."

…………

Ten days later, in Huangzhou.

Two eunuchs dressed in blue, holding the imperial edict from the court in their hands, called themselves angels, and walked into Su Sheng's army and unfolded the imperial edict in front of Su Sheng.

Su Sheng looked at the two eunuchs coldly and stood without bowing.

The two eunuchs, as if they didn't see it, directly unfolded the imperial edict and read it to the end in a whisper.

After reading for a long time, he finally got to the point.

"General Su Jingsu has served the country with loyalty and made great contributions. He is granted the title of Marquis of Runan and posthumously the title of Duke of Ying."

"His son Su Sheng inherited the title of Marquis of Runan and was granted..."

The eunuch looked at Su Sheng and continued, "Appoint him as the Inspector General of Huainan Province."

Su Sheng had a blank expression on his face and said nothing.

On the same day, the four great generals of Jiangdong, except for the new general Deng Yang from Jinling, the other three all received the imperial edict from the court.

One by one, they were rewarded heavily.

(End of this chapter)