Thief Emperor

Chapter 558 Shaky
The New Year's Festival of the third year of Zhaoding arrived as scheduled.

Jinling is still relatively lively.

Here, since Li Yun's arrival, not only has the previous order been restored, but the officials have become more honest than before, and the people's lives have become much better.

In addition to accepting many refugees from the Central Plains, the population of Jinling has also increased to a certain extent. Overall, it is much more prosperous than before and has almost caught up with its heyday more than a hundred years ago.

Li Yun is not idle at this year's end.

Recently, almost all the aristocratic families in the world have sent people to Jinling to see him, and some have even settled down in Jinling.

These people who come from great families for generations are not necessarily from the main family. Some are branches that have branched out. But no matter where they come from, these people are hungry for hosts.

On the afternoon of the twenty-ninth day of the lunar year, a middle-aged man named Zheng, after going through many channels, finally entered Li Yun's study. He looked at Li Yun, then bowed politely and said in a low voice: "Zheng Hao from Xingyang, greetings to Mr. Li."

This was the first time Li Yun had heard of this name. He looked up at the well-dressed middle-aged man who was about thirty years old, and said with a smile, "Are you from Xingyang?"

"Yes."

Zheng Hao lowered his head slightly and said, "I came all the way from Zhengzhou."

"rare."

Li Yun smiled and said, "In the past two months, Cui, Lu, Li, and Zheng have all sent people to see me, but few of them are from their own families. It seems that the people who came this time are from Zheng's family in Xingyang."

"Yes."

Zheng Hao lowered his head slightly and said, "Mr. Li, our Zheng family is different from other families. Most of them just think that Mr. Li will occupy the southeast in the future and establish a separatist dynasty, but in my opinion, Mr. Li's ambition is far more than that."

Li Yun smiled and asked, "How did you know that?"

"I won't hide it from Mr. Li."

Zheng Hao bowed and said, "I didn't just arrive in the southeast recently. I arrived in the southeast this summer. In the past six months, I have been traveling to various states and counties in the southeast."

He looked at Li Yun, changed his address, and said, "I only brought a servant with me. I traveled in the southeastern states for half a year. Apart from having my belongings stolen twice, I didn't encounter any other disasters."

“Even people who steal things are rare.”

He looked at Li Yun and exclaimed: "It is easy for the world to be in chaos, but difficult to bring about order. It is unimaginable that someone like Mr. Li can create an orderly world in a chaotic world."

Li Yun looked him up and down, and said with a smile: "It is said that people who are well-educated speak more pleasantly. What they say makes me feel warm inside."

Li Yun knew very well that Zheng Hao must have exaggerated what he said.

Due to the shortage of manpower, he has not yet fully controlled some of the southeastern states and counties. The public security in some states has been resolved, while in other states it is not much different from before.

At most 30% of what Zheng Hao said was true, and the other 70% was just flattery.

Mr. Zheng looked calm, still lowering his head and said, "I entered Jinling City last month and have been watching the situation in Jinling. I haven't shown up much until two days ago, when Lord Li executed your army's captain Yu Huan in Jinling. Only then did I truly believe that Lord Li is a great leader of the time."

At this point, he bowed his head deeply and said, "Zheng of Xingyang is willing to serve Lord Li!"

Li Yun looked at him silently, then stood up, reached out to support him, and said lightly: "No need to be polite, let's sit down and talk."

A normal entrepreneur, at Li Yun's stage, would be extremely surprised to see someone like Zheng Hao.

Because, at this stage, usually the territories are already there, but there is no sufficient civil service system to manage these territories well.

But as long as these noble families join in, the local civil service problem can be solved immediately.

But doing so, of course, comes at a price.

At this time, employing the literati recommended by the Zheng family could certainly enrich the administrative system immediately, but it was also a tacit acknowledgement that the Xingyang Zheng family had been successfully reincarnated once again.

After the two sat down again, Li Yun reached out and knocked on the table, and said, "What can the Zheng family bring to Jiangdong?"

Zheng Hao was very confident and said, "Mr. Li, I know that Mr. Li is in need of talents. For so many years, the Zheng family has always valued the word talent. As long as Mr. Li gives this matter to the Zheng family, within half a year at most, the Zheng family will be able to bring Mr. Li a large number of talents who are capable of being used and loyal to him."

He looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Besides, Lord Li's mansion is short of people. The Zheng family can send a legitimate daughter to Lord Li's mansion."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and a smile appeared on his face.

He reached out and knocked on the table, then said, "Mr. Zheng, let me tell you my conditions."

"The Zheng family is a family that has existed for hundreds or thousands of years. Since the Zheng family thinks highly of me, Li, I welcome you to come over, but there is one thing I have to say."

Li Yun said in a deep voice: "Unless you are a talent who can assist the king, you can become an official in Jiangdong, but you must pass my assessment."

Zheng Hao was startled and asked, "What kind of assessment does Lord Li have?"

"To be precise, it should be an exam."

"After the spring, I will hold the Jinling Literary Society in Jinling. After the Jinling Literary Society, you can meet me again and become an official in Jiangdong."

Zheng Hao was startled, then looked at Li Yun and said, "Mr. Li, the children of our Zheng family and the talents recommended by the Zheng family must be many times better than the talents you recruited through any literary gathering. Don't you need to go through so much trouble?"

"If he really has the talent to assist the king, let him come to see me directly, otherwise..." Mr. Li said slowly: "All of them will have to take the exam."

This is a very serious question.

Due to practical constraints, it is impossible for Li Yun to manage all the states and counties by himself, so he needs to have his own civil service system, but his civil service system is different from that of the Great Zhou.

Simply put, he could accept the existence of aristocratic families with a scholarly background, but he could not accept that aristocratic families that had been prominent for hundreds or thousands of years still maintained their authority among him.

What is the core competitiveness of the aristocratic families?
First, it is the knowledge that was once monopolized.

The second and more important point is that after they use their first-mover advantage and occupy social resources, they have the right to recommend people in the court.

They mastered the upward channel.

This matter is absolutely not allowed in Jiangdong.

Although Li Yun has not yet been able to complete the leap in production methods, he can at least take this era and take a big step forward in the selection system.

"As for marrying your daughter to me."

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "For the time being, I am not planning to take in any more concubines."

When one reaches Li Yun's level, taking a concubine in the future would most likely be a political operation.

For example, if someone can bring him enough political benefits, the price is anyone can come in, as long as the person is not born ugly, then everything can be discussed.

But he couldn't marry a daughter of Zheng.

In other words, none of these old families are capable of this.

Li Yun was not prepared to elevate the status of these people any further.

Even if he had to use them to do things, Li Yun would definitely transform them little by little from so-called aristocratic families into gentry.

"Mr. Li's words are somewhat unbelievable."

Zheng Hao was obviously serious. He looked at Li Yun and said slowly, "I need to discuss this matter with my family elders."

"it is good."

Li Yun stood up, clapped his hands and said with a smile: "It just so happens that I have something else to do today, so let's talk about this first."

After he stood up, he looked at Zheng Hao and suddenly said with a smile: "Zhengzhou, are you all right now?"

These words made Zheng Hao's expression change slightly.

Zhengzhou...of course not good!
If their hometown was safe and sound, they could just wait in Xingyang and wait quietly for the world to restore order or for the next winner to emerge. There was no need to rush out and take sides.

But some time ago, the court appointed Liang Wen, the governor of Ruzhou, as the recruiting envoy of Huainan Road. Since this incident, Liang Wen not only recruited soldiers and horses, but also became more and more arrogant.

Zhengzhou is near Ruzhou.

Some time ago, Liang Wen went to Xingyang and asked Zheng to marry her two daughters to him so that he could raise the family status quo.

This one incident alone almost destroyed the Zheng family of Xingyang.

After finally dealing with the situation, the Zheng family immediately frantically tried to find a way to deal with the matter.

The first solution is to completely kill Liang Wen.

The second method is much simpler, which is to find a new and suitable place for the Zheng family to stay in advance, just like what we are doing now, and place new bets.

At this moment, Zheng Hao was obviously the latter, and he had even made it clear that the entire Xingyang Zheng family would turn to Li Yun.

But now, some of them have retreated.

After hearing what Li Yun said, Zheng Hao's expression changed. He looked up at Li Yun and said in a hoarse voice: "Mr. Li, you..."

Before he could continue speaking, Zhou Bi's voice came from the door.

"Superior, urgent military information!"

Li Yun stood up, walked to the door, looked at Zhou Bi, and asked, "Where is the military intelligence?"

"From Hebei Province."

Li Yun then unfolded it and took a look, immediately frowning slightly.

The Khitans in the north came back and took advantage of the slackness of the Youzhou defenders to launch a fierce attack on Youzhou. At this time, Youzhou, and even the Fanyang army, were already on the verge of collapse!

"That was a really vicious beating."

Li Yun put away the information, then looked to the north, sighed and said, "I don't plan to celebrate the New Year."

(End of this chapter)