Thief Emperor

Chapter 549 The Footsteps of War
"A famous name?"

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and smiled: "I am not going to hang out with the imperial court anymore, but apart from the imperial court, it seems that no one else can give me any resounding reputation."

He sat opposite Du Qian, tapped the table with his hand, and said, "Also, as Brother Du just said, I also think that the official titles given to them by the court this time will not be of much use."

Yes, among the generals, Deng Yang is right beside Li Yun, and Li Zheng is Li Yun’s brother who grew up with him.

In fact, the generals of the other two armies had no reason to betray Li Yun, let alone the ability to betray Li Yun.

When Li Yun was designing the military structure of Jiangdong, he had taken into account the extreme situation of betrayal by subordinates.

Therefore, he imposed some restrictions on the money and food supplies to each army. For example, Zhao Cheng, who was originally stationed in Fengyang, Haozhou. Not long after he arrived in Fengyang, Li Yun sent his elder brother-in-law Xue Shou to be the governor of Haozhou, in charge of the money and food supplies of Haozhou and Fengyang Army.

As for the current Qiantang County Magistrate, he was a county magistrate under Li Yun when he was in Yuezhou.

Even if Zhao Cheng and Su Sheng wanted to work alone one day, the middle-level generals under their command who came from the anti-theft team would be willing to follow them, and they did not have the ability to rebel against Li Yun.

The reason for these institutional restrictions is not that Li Yun does not trust Generals Zhao and Su, but that a perfect system must guarantee the core authority.

In fact, the Zhou Dynasty, which existed for more than two hundred years, must have had such a smoothly functioning and relatively reasonable system, and it had operated relatively well at least in the first hundred years.

"Not that it's useful."

Du Qian poured tea for Li Yun and said with a smile: "From ancient times to the present, the common people do not recognize anything else but the higher official. Whoever has the higher official position has the right to speak. Now that Erlang has no official position, I am worried that someone with ulterior motives will use this to cause trouble."

“Ordinary people don’t understand more complicated things.”

Du Qian handed over the tea and continued, "Besides, now we don't need the court to confer any official titles. Qiu Dian can still call himself the King of Yue. Now that Erlang occupies the Wu area in the Central Plains, it is only natural for him to call himself the King of Wu or the King of Xuan."

He paused, and then continued, "If Erlang's position is elevated to the king of a country, officials at all levels in Jiangdong will also be promoted. I think the timing is still appropriate now."

"By the way, we can also start building the palace."

Since ancient times, kings have been crowned according to the territory they occupied or their place of origin. If it is the former, Li Yun would naturally be the King of Wu.

If it is the latter, then it is King Xuan.

Li Yun thought about it seriously, shook his head slowly and said: "I still follow the same nine words as before, build high walls, store up food, and slowly claim the throne."

The lesson of Qiu Dian is still fresh in Li Yun's mind, and he still doesn't want to be too high-profile.

Moreover, there is no logic for him to declare himself king.

Zhu Taizu in another world was called King of Wu, and was conferred the title by King Ming. Calling himself King of Wu was too uncool. Even if he had the title, others might not recognize him.

The two discussed in detail for a while, and Li Yun tapped the table lightly and whispered: "Now, we have been fighting secretly with the court for several rounds. This situation will not continue forever."

"The three Jiedushi are not in Guanzhong now. The emperor, who has been suppressed for a year, must be stretching himself now. He is the emperor and has many innate advantages. As long as he is not too stupid, he will be able to recover some of his strength in a year or two."

"After he has recovered some of his strength, he will think about recovering the lost territory. He dare not touch the territories of the three Jiedushi, but he must be reluctant to let go of the fertile land of Jiangnan. Otherwise, he would not have sent so many people from the Imperial City Bureau to Nanjing when the situation is so difficult."

At this point, Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said softly, "I estimate that the war will start in the second half of next year, or the year after next at the latest."

Du Qian was stunned for a moment, then murmured: "Who will attack us? The imperial court should not have the ability to do so..."

Li Yun continued, "Tongguan is occupied by the troops of Li Tong, the governor of Hedong. If the imperial army wants to go east, they will definitely pass by Li Tong. In other words, if the court wants to take action against Jiangnan, the governor of Hedong will definitely have a part in it."

"As long as the imperial court promises benefits, the Pinglu Army may not hesitate to take action at that time."

"If there are other Jiedushi who want to come and have a share of the spoils, then we may have to face a war with both sides having more than 100,000 troops."

In terms of domestic affairs, Li Yun is certainly not as good as Du Qian, but in terms of military affairs, especially military insight, Du Qian is far inferior to Li Yun.

In fact, from the time the court dismissed Li Yun from his official position, Li Yun had already begun to speculate on the war that might occur in the next two or three years.

Now that Jiusi is gradually becoming stronger, more and more information can be collected. As the information is summarized to Li Yun, he can see more and more things.

Although the current emperor is a coward, he is still a young emperor after all.

The fact that Wu Zhou survived this catastrophe shows that the dynasty was not doomed. As the emperor, Wu Yuancheng, once he had caught his breath, there was no need to guess what he was thinking.

That’s ZTE!
At least, restore the financial and grain income of the previous emperor.

At this time, the person who seemed to have the best chance of taking it back was naturally Li Yun, who had only risen to power a few years ago.

At this moment, Li Yun was already preparing for the possible war. He was even willing to put the equal distribution of land on the back burner for a while, largely because of this, he wanted to prepare for the war.

Du Qian drank a sip of tea himself, and after a long while, he looked at Li Yun and said in a deep voice: "Then...then let's do it according to Erlang's idea, store up food, and slowly claim the throne."

"I will take care of the matter of storing up grain."

He looked at Li Yun and said seriously, "This year is a good year. After the autumn crops are fully harvested, there should be a lot of surplus." "If there is a war like Erlang mentioned in the next two years, I don't think it will be a problem for the army to have enough food for a year or two."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said, "If a war comes, and Erlang wins this one, then even if he doesn't become king, he will be the King of Jiangnan."

Li Yun waved his hand and said with a smile: "I don't really value these false reputations, but I think there is a high probability that this battle will break out."

"The court is doing all these things now. Isn't it just testing us, testing me?"

"They want to try and weaken the Southeast."

Mr. Li looked calm and said slowly, "Fortunately, I have not been idle in the past few years. When these people arrive, I will show them the good things I have prepared for many years."

…………

In the evening, Li Garden.

General Zhao Cheng and new general Deng Yang were already standing in front of Li Yun, bowing their heads in salute.

Su Sheng, who was farther away, was the last to arrive. Led by Zhou Bi, he hurried to Li Yun, bowed his head and clasped his fists in greeting, "Take the seat."

Li Yun looked up at him and smiled dumbly: "Brother, you actually rushed back for such a small matter. It's not necessary, it's not necessary."

Su Sheng looked at Zhao Cheng and Deng Yang who had already arrived, and smiled: "It seems that the court has sent more than just people to see me. Brother Zhao, what official position did the court give you?"

Zhao Cheng took a deep breath, clenched his fist and said, "Rehabilitate my father and confer him the title of Marquis, and let me inherit the title of Marquis of Shanyin."

Su Sheng's face turned a little unhappy when he heard this. He said in a deep voice, "It seems that they are all on the same path. These people in the court really don't care about their shame at all."

Zhao Cheng said "hmm", he stood up, bowed his head and said to Li Yun: "My lord, the eunuchs of the court insulted my father. I was so excited that I couldn't help but kill the two eunuchs. Now I think back, this was inappropriate and may cause trouble for you!"

"Please punish me!"

"OK OK."

Li Yun raised his hand and said with a smile: "If the court asks questions, they will ask you, not me. Then you can tell the court that you killed two impostors."

"It's not really a big deal."

"It's just right, you are all here."

Li Yun pressed his hands, motioning for the three to sit down, and then asked, "Did the Pinglu Army retreat?"

Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng looked at each other, then lowered their heads slightly and said, "The troops in Huangzhou have all retreated. The Pinglu troops in other states should also be gradually withdrawing from Huainan Road."

Li Yun clenched his fists and said slowly: "It's good to retreat. As long as we occupy Huainan Road, we will be complete for the time being."

He thought for a moment and continued, "After taking over Huainan Road, Jiangdong will have to carry out a new round of reinforcements and prepare for war. Since you are all here, we can spend a few days to discuss it properly."

All three of them nodded their heads.

Li Yun chatted with them for a while, then suddenly looked at Deng Yang and said with a smile: "Deng Yang, I remember you got married, right?"

"Yes, last year...last year a colleague in the army introduced me to one."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I was not invited."

Deng Yang was startled and said quickly: "The superior was busy at that time, so I didn't dare to disturb him."

Li Yun did not pursue the matter further, but looked at Zhao Cheng and said with a smile: "General Zhao, among the four generals under my command, you are the only one who has never been married. This time in Jinling, you can stay for a few more days. I will ask my wife to find a suitable family for you and marry you."

Having said that, Li Yun paused and gave the three of them a "vaccination".

"There may be wars next year or the year after next. You should get married as soon as possible. No matter what, you should first pass down the incense to General Zhao, so that you will have no worries when fighting in the future."

Zhao Cheng first asked who they were fighting against, and after roughly listening to it, he bowed his head slightly and said, "Then... Thank you very much, my Lord, and thank you, my Madam."

"Let's go."

Li Yun stood up and said with a smile: "The banquet is almost over. Li Zheng probably won't be back. Let's have a good drink today, the four of us."

"Tomorrow, we will discuss military affairs in detail."

The three of them stood up and saluted Li Yun.

"Yes, top position!"

(End of this chapter)