Thief Emperor

Chapter 597 Provoking the Central Plains
The memorial from the Henan Province Recruiting Envoy was written in a very simple and clear manner.

That is, the three military governors left Guanzhong. Li Tong, the first to leave, has been away for more than a year, and Wei Quanzhong, the last to leave, has also been away for nearly a year.

Among them, the Fanyang Jiedushi had withdrawn 20,000 Fanyang troops out of Guanzhong because of the Khitan issue.

In other words, the only gateways to Guanzhong now are Tongguan and Xiaoguan in the north, which are home to the Hedong Army and the Shuofang Army garrisons respectively.

At first, the emperor could accept this situation completely.

After all, at that time, he was almost becoming a puppet emperor, or even had actually become a puppet emperor.

In that case, if the three men were willing to withdraw from Guanzhong, the emperor would probably agree to station troops in the capital, let alone the four passes.

But times have changed.

Now, several Jiedushi have been gone for about a year, and the shadow and pressure they brought to the emperor are far less than a year ago.

At this time, the gate to Guanzhong was wide open, which was unacceptable to the emperor.

This situation is like leaving the bedroom door wide open and allowing others to come in at any time. It's really insecure.

Moreover, the imperial guards have now recovered some of their combat effectiveness, and there is also Liang Wen in the Central Plains. From the perspective of military operations alone, it is not difficult to bring the four passes back under the control of the court.

Originally, the emperor would not think of this matter for the time being, but when Liang Wen mentioned it, he immediately felt like something was stuck in his throat. After hesitating for a long time, he still could not make a decision, so he had to leave the palace to ask Cui Yuan, a veteran of three dynasties in the court.

Cui Xianggong looked at the document in his hand and was silent for a long time. Then he looked up at the emperor and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, why bother to provoke those two Jiedushi at this time?"

"I didn't mean to provoke them."

His Majesty the Emperor lowered his head to drink tea, then sighed: "I just want to cover the doors and windows of my house, but you can't even shut the door and live your life, right?"

Cui Xianggong could fully understand the emperor's thoughts and knew why he came to find him. The prime minister whispered: "If these two Jiedushi are unwilling to withdraw from their respective passes, Your Majesty will inevitably make enemies with them if you want to close the gate of Guanzhong."

"Let's take a step back and say that even if these two Jiedushi realized the intention of the imperial court and were unwilling to fight with it, and took the initiative to withdraw their troops and give up the pass, they would definitely be on guard against the imperial court, and even..."

"It might lead to a war."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at Cui Yuan and whispered, "Even if a fight really breaks out, as long as we can close the four gates, I think it's worth it."

If Xiaoguan and Tongguan are closed, Guanzhong will once again become Guanzhong, and the emperor will be able to regain the sense of security he needs.

Prime Minister Cui looked at the emperor silently and asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think of the Shuofang Army and the Hedong Army compared to Wang Junping?"

What this means is that if Wang Junping could force his way through Tongguan, there is no reason why the two powerful military governors could not break in.

The emperor was silent.

Minister Cui then looked at him and continued, "Your Majesty, what you are thinking is that after the gates of Guanzhong are closed, the two Jiedushi will have no right to raise an army."

"But status is something that is hard to come by, but if someone forces it upon you, there is nothing you can do about it."

"For example, if there is no Wang Junping, they will make up a Wang Junping."

Hearing this, His Majesty the Emperor had already gotten the answer. He stood up silently, put his hands behind his back, and left.

Cui Xianggong also stood up quickly and escorted him all the way to the gate of Cui Mansion. He bowed to the emperor's sedan chair and said, "Your Majesty, I respectfully send you off."

The emperor looked back at him, but still said nothing and left silently.

Prime Minister Cui watched the emperor leave, remained silent for a long time, and then he let out a long sigh.

"The late emperor, you have chosen the wrong person."

He murmured, "It's over, it's over."

.........

Jinling New Town.

Du Qian, Yao Zhong, and Zhuo Guangrui followed behind Li Yun. The four of them were surrounded by guards as they walked in the new city. Li Yun pointed to a government office in front of him and said with a smile, "Brother Zhuo brought me here yesterday. This is the office he left for you, Brother Du."

Du Qian took a look and then laughed as well: "I heard that the person in charge was among several examinees. Although those people did not recognize the person in charge, they were frightened and kept silent. They did not dare to say a word."

Li Yun shook his head helplessly when he heard this.

Yesterday, he came to inspect the new city, and indeed there were some mistakes. He originally wanted to pretend to be a candidate, but those people went with Li Yun and didn't even dare to speak. His aura was still too heavy.

Seeing Du Qian mention what happened yesterday, Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "Speaking of which, among those people yesterday, there was a man named Chen Yi who had sharp eyes. He only followed me for half an hour and guessed my identity. He almost bowed down to me in front of everyone."

Li Yun paused and said to Du Qian, "When we hire people, sometimes the most valuable thing is this little bit of spiritual energy. Brother Du, please take another look at him. If it's appropriate, you might as well find him a talent reserve position and train him."

“It may be useful in the future.”

Du Qian thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Then let him come to my public housing to help out. He can be a clerk first. There are more and more things to do recently. Brother Juzhong and I are too busy to handle it."

Li Yun thought about it and nodded, "Brother Du, you decide."

Several people walked in the new city for more than half an hour and basically established the locations of several government offices in Jiangdong.

Soon, they arrived at the gate of a mansion in the center of the new city. Zhuo Guangrui pointed at the mansion under construction and said to Li Yun with a smile, "Shangwei, Li Garden is nice, but it is not worthy of your status now. This is the temporary residence we built for you."

"We have reserved a large piece of open space in the north of the new city so that we can build a palace in the future."

Li Yun looked up at the house, first praised Zhuo Guangrui a few words, then put his hands behind his back and said with a smile: "Let's go in and take a look."

At this moment, the house is still under construction, but it has basically taken shape. After a few people walked around, they sat down under the pavilion in the backyard of the house. Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said with a smile: "This place doesn't have a name yet. How about Brother Du help to give it a name?"

Du Qian thought for a moment and said, "How about calling it Qianyuan?"

Hidden dragon in the abyss.

Li Yun clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Okay, let's call it this."

After deciding on the name, Li Yun looked at the three people in front of him and said, "While it's still cool, let's talk about business."

"I will take the time to meet all the talents admitted by the literary society one by one during this period. As for the new city of Jinling."

"Brother Zhuo will be fully responsible for this and strive to complete it before the end of this year."

"The rest is about the land tax and the public land."

He looked at Yao Zhong and said, "Mr. Yao, can you work together with Mr. Fei to get this done?"

Seeing Yao Zhong's hesitation, Li Yun smiled and said, "If this is accomplished, it will be a great achievement for you. In the future, you will be second only to Brother Du."

Hearing this, Yao Zhong no longer hesitated, and immediately stood up and bowed his head and said: "Subordinates, I will do my best."

"Well, it will be much easier if we divide the work."

Mr. Li looked at the three people, then looked at Du Qian, and said with a smile: "Of course, Brother Du will be in charge of all these matters."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said, "Sir, I saw a piece of news yesterday that may be useful to you."

Li Yun was startled, then smiled and said, "What news? Brother Du knows it but I don't?"

"News from Central Plains and Henan Province."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and whispered, "Ruzhou in Henan Province and the surrounding prefectures and counties are all occupied by Liang Wen's troops. Over the past few years, the population of these places has directly decreased by 30% to 40%. "

"This Liang Wen, near Ruzhou, has already lost the support of the people. If he gets promoted, there is a lot that can be done."

Du Qian said softly: "As long as the Central Plains is in chaos again, in order to save the people of the Central Plains from the water and fire."

“At that time, it would be much more reasonable for the superior troops to enter the Central Plains.”

Li Yun touched his chin, looked at Du Qian, and said with a smile: "Brother Du seems to have a plan in mind."

"The superior asked Jiusi to send someone to cooperate with me."

This Du Shiyilang looked at Li Yun with a calm expression.

"I can guarantee that by the end of the year, Zhongyuan..."

"It will be chaos."

(End of this chapter)