Thief Emperor

Chapter 547 Deep-rooted
"Take it!"

Su Sheng had a cold face and ordered his men to tie up the two eunuchs sent by the court.

The two eunuchs were quickly pinned down. As they were being tied up with ropes, the two eunuchs cried out in grievance, saying loudly, "General Su, General Su, we are envoys from the imperial court, envoys from the imperial court!"

Su Sheng had a dark face and a gloomy expression.

It is not known whether the emperor's trick is useful to Li Yun, but for Su Sheng, it is already very useful.

His father had died at the hands of the imperial court, and Su Sheng hated the imperial court to the core. Now, several years had passed. The imperial court had the nerve to send someone to posthumously confer a title on his father!

This did not make him feel grateful, but made him feel even more disgusted, and immediately reminded him of his father's tragic death.

Moreover, this matter was not just to disgust him. Now Li Yun no longer had a position in the court. Notices were posted all over Jiangdong. The court turned around and not only conferred a title of nobility on him, but also appointed him as the governor of Huainan Road!
What is the intention?
Even though he knew Li Yun's temper very well, and knew that Li Yun would not change his attitude towards him because of this incident, but if it got out, the impact would definitely not be very good.

Who knows, some scheming villains might take advantage of this to cause trouble!

Su Sheng looked at the two men with a cold face and asked, "Who did the court send the imperial edict to? Is it just the two of you in Huangzhou, or are there others with you?"

Su Sheng had led the army until now, and his men had killed countless people. At this moment, he was furious and murderous, which frightened the two eunuchs and made them lower their heads quickly. He said, "General Su, we don't know about the other imperial decrees, but we are accompanying some people from the Imperial City Department to help announce the general's appointment to all states and counties."

This is actually a relatively routine matter. In an era when communication was basically done by walking, it was not enough to have an imperial edict to appoint the person concerned. Basically, there had to be a written document sent to all the government offices under his jurisdiction.

In this way, efficiency will be higher, otherwise the appointment will be in vain.

Now, the court has appointed Su Sheng as the Surveillance Commissioner of Huainan Province. The normal operation should be to simultaneously issue documents to all prefectures and counties in Huainan Province.

Su Sheng's face darkened as he said in a deep voice, "Someone come!"

Captain He Jun was on duty nearby at the time. Upon hearing this, he hurried over and said, "General's order!"

Su Sheng looked at him and shouted, "Go, lead your battalion to various prefectures and counties. If you see anyone from the imperial court advertising any documents, arrest them immediately and bring them back!"

He Jun was born under the command of General Su Jing. Upon hearing this, he did not hesitate and immediately bowed his head and said, "I obey your command!"

Su Sheng took a deep breath and said, "Ask Yu Ye to send these two eunuchs to Jinling and hand them over to the higher-ups for disposal!"

He Jun nodded his head and was about to leave when Su Sheng stopped him again and frowned, "Forget it, the war in Huainan Road is about to end, and I am no longer needed in Huangzhou. I will go back to Nanjing in person."

In matters like this, even brothers have to settle accounts clearly.

What's more, Su Sheng and Li Yun can only be considered as brothers in the same school, and are far from being real brothers.

……

On the same day, two eunuchs who claimed to be angels came to General Zhao Cheng’s camp in Gwangju and read the imperial edict in front of Zhao Cheng.

But at the end, the content was a little different from Su Sheng's.

"The late emperor listened to slander and mistakenly killed loyal officials, causing the Zhao family to suffer injustice until now. I have ordered the relevant government offices to conduct a thorough investigation."

"General Zhao Tong was wrongly accused. All his official titles and ranks are now restored. He is granted the title of Marquis of Shanyin and posthumously conferred the title of Duke of Yue."

"His son Zhao Cheng inherited the title of Marquis of Shanyin and served as the Recruiting Envoy of Huainan Road."

When Zhao Cheng heard the words "Marquis of Shanyin", a ferocious look appeared on his face. When he turned around and looked at the soldiers in the tent, his face had turned completely black.

"Take them, take these two!"

Zhao Cheng shouted angrily.

Soon, the guards stepped forward and controlled the two eunuchs.

General Zhao sat in the main seat and said viciously: "He pretended to be an imperial envoy and falsely conveyed the imperial decree. He should be taken out and executed!"

Military orders are as firm as a mountain. Although several soldiers hesitated, they quickly nodded and prepared to take the two men away and kill them. Meng Qing in the tent stood up and clasped his fists and said, "General, this matter is very serious. Should we ask the superiors first before killing them or not? Or should we escort these two men to Jinling and let the superiors deal with them?"

At this time, the Pinglu Army was already in the process of retreating, so Zhao Cheng's troops had basically already settled in Guangzhou, waiting for the Pinglu Army to completely withdraw from Huainan Road. Then they would take over the remaining states and return to Nanjing to celebrate their success and receive their rewards.

So Meng Qing was in Zhao Cheng's tent at this time.

Zhao Cheng looked at Meng Qing and shook his head slightly: "I must kill him. If I don't kill him, it won't be enough to show my intention."

General Zhao ordered his men to push the two eunuchs to the open space in the middle of the camp. Then he personally drew the sword from his waist and without hesitation stabbed the two eunuchs to death one by one with two strikes, amid their screams.

After executing the two eunuchs, he looked at Meng Qing and said in a deep voice: "This matter is neither big nor small, General Meng, take your men to Guangzhou to have a look around."

Meng Qing hurried forward, clasped his fists and bowed his head, saying: "As you command." Zhao Cheng then explained some military matters, then led his mount, took only four or five followers, and rode back to Jinling.

Compared with Su Sheng, Zhao Cheng knew clearly that he and Li Yun were not particularly close, so he became even more panicked.

As a "native" born and raised in this era, such things are too sensitive for him.

If it is not handled properly, there may be endless troubles later!
On the very night when the two generals set out to return to Jinling, people from the Nine Departments found some clues and went to Li Yuan to report some relevant situations to Li Yun.

Moreover, after the last incident, Jiusi is now much more cautious. Liu Bo even went to Li Garden in person and told Li Yun some details of the situation.

Li Yun was in the study. After listening to Liu Bo's report, he patted his shoulder and smiled, saying, "Don't worry, don't worry. It won't be a disaster."

If Li Yun had risen to power suddenly like Wang Junping, he should have been panicking right now, because the imperial court was actually trying to touch his military power.

But Li Yun's foundation for development is quite solid.

In the past two years or so, his power has indeed expanded very quickly, but in the beginning, Li Yun really took one step at a time, step by step.

You know, when he started to lead his own team, Wang Junping had not even started the rebellion. And by the time Wang Junping had become a behemoth with more than 100,000 people, Li Yun at that time had only 2,000 people under his command.

The middle-level generals he personally trained and who came from the anti-theft team were his most solid foundation of military power. These tactics of the court could hardly shake his foundation.

At least not at this stage.

This trick might still be useful a dozen or twenty years later, but Li Yun will be completely different from what he is now.

Liu Bo looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Second brother, General Deng has people from the imperial court. I'm afraid the imperial court will also send people to the other two generals and the skinny monkey. Should we call them back to Nanjing through the Nine Departments and ask them about the situation in detail?"

"Need not."

Li Yun said softly, "Let's wait until tomorrow. Deng Yang will most likely come to find me tomorrow. As for the other two generals."

"At least write to me."

Liu Bo was still a little hesitant.

He and Li Yun truly share a community of interests, and he did not participate in the initial stage of the Jiangdong soldiers, that is, the anti-theft team stage, so he is feeling a little unsure now.

Li Yun comforted him with a few words, and Liu Bo nodded. He told Li Yun some other things and then stood up to say goodbye.

"Brother, it's getting late. You must be busy with other things. I won't bother you anymore. I'll go back first."

Li Yun grabbed him, looked at the sky outside, and said with a smile: "It's not like there are no guest rooms in Li Garden. It's so late, and you don't even have a home. Where are you going to go back?"

"Just stay here."

Liu Bo thought about it and finally nodded.

Last time, because of the assassination of Zhou Chang, Li Yun scolded Jiusi and naturally scolded Liu Bo as well. These were originally work-related matters, but as a result, the two brothers became more estranged.

However, these are just minor frictions that can be resolved by just drinking a few drinks and laughing it off.

That night, Li Yun was busy until very late. The next morning, before he woke up, he was pushed awake by Liu Su who was lying next to him.

"My dear, Dong'er just came over and said that General Deng brought two imperial envoys to the mansion."

During this period, whenever Li Yun went to bed late, he would sleep at Liu Su's place. Hearing this, he rubbed his eyes, looked at the sky first, then got up sleepily and put on his clothes.

As soon as he walked to the front yard of Li Garden, he saw Deng Yang, who was in plain clothes, waiting in the front yard. After seeing Li Yun, he hurried forward and knelt down directly: "Take the seat!"

Li Yun stepped forward and helped him up, smiling and asked: "What official position did the court give you?"

Deng Yang was stunned at first, then he felt that his boss was prophetic and mysterious, so he lowered his head quickly.

"To take the position, they...they asked me to be the defense envoy of Jinling Prefecture, Runzhou, and Changzhou."

"And you made me a general..."

Li Yun laughed when he heard this.

"The official is really not small."

(End of this chapter)