Thief Emperor

Chapter 585 The battle between gentlemen
The commander-in-chief of the army is the marshal.

At the beginning, Su Jing was given this position to go to Jiangnan Road to suppress bandits.

This position is similar to that of a Jiedushi, but somewhat different. The territory under the jurisdiction of a Jiedushi is relatively fixed, but for the position of a marching chief, as long as the position is in the territory where the title is, he is basically in charge of wherever he goes.

He holds all military and political power.

For example, Xiao Xian was the commander-in-chief of Hebei Province, which meant that he could control all the prefectures and counties in Hebei Province wherever he went.

This position was quite powerful in the peaceful times of the past. It could almost be said to be the most powerful official outside the capital. After all, the territories of the various military governors in the past were far from being as large as this one.

But now, such positions are commonplace.

After all, even without the imperial appointment, Xiao Xian could still control the prefectures and counties in Hebei Province.

However, the court's appointment of General Xiao as the commander-in-chief of the Hebei Road was a routine operation, but the appointment of Li Yun as the deputy commander-in-chief was somewhat bizarre.

Because Li Yun had no intention of participating in this war with the Khitan for a long time, at least not now.

The main purpose of his trip to the north, apart from gaining some reputation, was to see what the Khitan, a powerful enemy he might face in the future, looked like.

Of course, after what has happened recently, he now has more ideas, such as getting some war horses back.

But no matter what, he has nothing to do with the position of deputy marshal.

Hearing what General Xiao said, Li Yun was startled at first, then shook his head slightly, and said with a smile: "I am a commoner. I came to Hebei Road just because I received a letter from the general and brought some Jiangnan heroes to support the general."

"I would never dare to accept an appointment from the imperial court."

General Xiao looked at Li Yun and asked with a smile, "Are you angry? Or is it for some other reason?"

Li Yun did not answer directly, but smiled and said: "General, how about we go into the city and discuss it in detail?"

"it is good."

Xiao Xian agreed readily, and the two of them walked almost side by side into Jizhou city together.

Xiao Heng, Zhou Chang, Li Zheng and others followed behind the two of them, all of them tacitly keeping a distance and not getting close.

Major General Zhou Chang looked up at the two people walking and chatting in front of him, and his emotions were quite complicated.

Unconsciously, this cheap uncle who was the same age as him seemed to have really reached the level of the previous generation and was no longer on the same level with him.

Even his uncle, General Xiao, treated Li Yun as a peer.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chang turned his head to look at Xiao Heng who was traveling with him. Xiao Heng also turned his head to look at him at this moment. The two "cousins" looked at each other. Although they did not speak, the feelings in their hearts at this moment were probably 70% to 80% similar.

……

At noon, several banquet tables were set up in Jizhou City. The generals of Fanyang Army, Pinglu Army and Jiangdong Army sat together to eat, which was rare.

General Xiao clinked glasses with Li Yun, then looked at the generals at the tables, then looked at Li Yun, and sighed, "I wonder if there will be such a harmonious scene in the future."

Li Yun clinked his glass with him, raised his head and drank it all, then said with a smile: "As long as we keep a peaceful mind, there is always a possibility."

After the two of them drank a few glasses of wine, they stood up tacitly, left the table, and talked as they walked.

"I know that there were some conflicts between Lord Li and the imperial court."

General Xiao looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "But no matter how contradictory it is, in my opinion, if the court gives you an official position, you should accept it honestly. If the court says anything nonsense, just treat it as fart."

Seeing that Li Yun remained silent, General Xiao smiled and said, "Mr. Li is unwilling to accept the official position of the court. Does he want to start a new business?"

At this point, without waiting for Li Yun to respond, he said leisurely: "Starting a new business would expose our true colors and we are likely to be attacked by the crowd."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I am guarding the small piece of land in Jiangdong. Who would want to attack me? General, you are so far away. In addition, the Khitans are causing trouble. I don't think they will have the time to do so. The Pinglu Army will also stop for the time being."

"Otherwise, I have nothing to fear."

"Zhou... Ahem, Zhou Xu is not a good guy. He is now making peace with Lord Li because there is no profit to be made. If Jiangdong is in danger, Zhou Xu will definitely be the one who rushes over and tears off a piece of flesh."

"I accept the position, I accept the position."

General Xiao looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "Otherwise, Lord Li would seem too inappropriate. Besides, let me say something bolder."

General Xiao put his hands in his sleeves and said calmly, "Now, every place and every family is starting a new business. After the Wu family's business was overturned, it is difficult to continue."

"Now, all that's missing is someone to smash the sign."

He looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "Brother Li, if you are not going to be the one who smashed the sign, then it is better for you to accept the position of an official of the court. In the future, you don't need to rebel against the Wu Zhou court. You only need to kill the person who smashed the sign, and you will be the winner in the end."

As the situation changes, every important figure who reaches the level of Jiedushi will actually stand in a very high position to assess the situation.

Li Yun was like this, and Xiao Xian was naturally the same.

The same was true for the Jiedushi of other places. Everyone was thinking about the future, and they were all in it, moving towards this future.

Li Yun was somewhat surprised by Xiao Xian's statement.

Because he had previously believed that the future would most likely enter a long period of chaos, and the Wu Zhou Dynasty might become one of the parties in this chaos.

He looked at Xiao Xian and asked, "General, who is the one who smashed the sign?"

"I originally thought it would be Wei Quanzhong."

General Xiao raised his head and looked forward, as if he was recalling the crazy days in the capital.

"General Li was the first to leave the capital, and Xiao left shortly afterwards. At that time, we were actually all waiting in our hearts, waiting to see Wei Quanzhong go crazy and completely smash the Wu family's reputation."

He said this lightly.

But to Li Yun, it sounded quite significant.

The four words "smash the signboard" sound easy to say, but if it is actually done, nine out of ten members of the Wu family and court officials will probably die!

"But to our surprise, that madman Wei Quanzhong surprisingly calmed down. Soon after, he left the capital and returned Guanzhong to the court."

"This shows that Wei Quanzhong is not stupid."

General Xiao paused and continued, "It's not so clear now, but there's a new figure in the Central Plains, Liang Wen. He recaptured the Eastern Capital not long ago and is now a popular figure in the court."

Xiao Xian looked up at the sky and said slowly, "I have read the information about this person in detail some time ago. It is quite interesting."

"It depends on whether the emperor can control him. If not, this guy... hey..."

General Xiao said softly: "It is very likely that you will become the one who destroys the signboard."

Li Yun seemed to be thinking about something for a long time before he looked at Xiao Xian.

"Been taught a lesson."

After saying these three words, he smiled at Xiao Xian and said, "But the court position... If the court gives me the title of Jiangnan Jiedushi, I will accept it. As for this post as Hebei Dao Deputy Marshal..."

“It’s really a bit confusing.”

"It was probably the idea of ​​that kid from the Pei family."

General Xiao smiled and said, "I have dealt with that guy many times in the capital. He is not stupid, but he has never seen what people below him are like since he was a child. He does things on impulse and often thinks he is smart."

General Xiao looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "Whether I hold an official position in the court or not has nothing to do with me. I came to Jizhou to express my gratitude to Brother Li and to discuss business with him."

He looked at Li Yun and asked, "Brother Li, can you let me take a look at that telescope?"

Li Yun took out the telescope from his arms and handed it to Xiao Xian. After playing with it for a while, General Xiao gave it back to Li Yun and said with emotion: "It's amazing."

He looked at Li Yun and said seriously, "How about exchanging two thousand horses for ten from Brother Li?"

As the commander-in-chief, General Xiao knew very well that one or two of these things could only be used as toys and were of little use.

At least ten of them are needed to be useful on the battlefield.

If we want to imitate it, who knows when it will be?
Li Yun looked at Xiao Xian, thought about it, and said with a smile: "At this price, I should have sold it to the general, but I am afraid that this thing will be used on my own head in the future."

General Xiao smiled and said, "Brother, this thing is very useful to our border troops. Let's think of it as a way to protect the Han Empire and to stop the Khitans. How about that?"

He paused and continued, "As for the future dispute between our two families, let's put it another way. Just based on the kindness of Brother Li sending troops north today, our two families will have a gentlemanly dispute."

General Xiao added: "The disputes between gentlemen never cease to inspire incense."

Li Yun looked at Xiao Xian, thought about it carefully, and said, "For three thousand war horses, I will give the general twenty of these mirrors."

This is an absolutely worthwhile deal.

Because this thing is still very rough and the polishing precision is not enough, it must continue to iterate and improve in the future.

It's quite cost-effective to exchange it for a war horse.

"it is good."

General Xiao nodded happily. He looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "This deal is not only for the mirror, but also for Brother Li's kindness in coming to our aid from a thousand miles away."

Li Yun also laughed.

"With the general's words, I am heading north this time."

"Even if it wasn't in vain."

(End of this chapter)