Thief Emperor

Chapter 60 Famous in Xuanzhou!

In the past ten days or so, Liu Bo and Li Zheng have already locked on another copycat for Li Yun.

This mountain stronghold is the only medium-sized or large mountain stronghold left within dozens of miles of the Cangshan stronghold.

This time, when Li Yun gathered the staff of the county government and prepared to go out of the city to suppress the bandits, the runners of the Qingyang Anti-theft Squad had completely lost the fear and panic they had the first time. Instead, every one of them was eager to try.

Because every time they followed Li Dutou to do work, they could almost always get some benefits, either cash or some valuable small items.

These extra incomes can be taken home directly to supplement the family expenses, making the income of these anti-theft teams much higher than that of other yamen runners, even those who can get gray income!
Now, some ordinary yamen runners would find Li Yun and ask to join the anti-theft team, but they were all sternly rejected by Li Dadutou.

The reason why he recruited the yamen runners into the anti-theft team was mainly because he couldn't directly recruit all the people in Cangshan Village into the anti-theft team!

Now, the people who originally joined the anti-theft team have become familiar with the team and have become half of their own people. Naturally, he will not introduce new faces and cause trouble for himself.

This time the bandit suppression went relatively smoothly.

With Liu Bo and others scouting the area in advance, Li Yun only took one night to wipe out the village of about 20 people.

To be precise, it is not annihilation.

Because when the anti-bandit team rushed into the village, before they had time to launch a large-scale attack, the bandits in the village suddenly dropped their weapons and surrendered.

This made Li Dadu, who was just about to go out to do some activities, look depressed.

When it was about to dawn, Li Yun ordered his runners to escort the bandits back to Qingyang County, while he himself sat down in a village called Lao Huzhai. A group of people from Cangshan Village sat around him.

Village Chief Li looked up at the sky, then waved his hand and said, "It's almost time, let's move back. After this trip, our village will rest for a while. We won't have to work for at least two or three months."

Everyone cheered and went to move their things. Li Yun saw a familiar figure in the crowd and waved, "Hey kid, come here!"

A young man walked up to Li Yun with his head lowered, holding the corners of his clothes with both hands, at a loss.

Li turned his head and looked at the leader Liu Bo, frowning and said, "Why did you let Meng Hai come too? Isn't this nonsense?"

Liu Bo sat next to Li Yun and coughed, "He insisted on coming, and Uncle San agreed, so I brought him out to see the world."

Meng Hai lowered his head and said, "Village...Village Master, we can't eat for free. We want to contribute to the village."

Li Yun glanced at him, then sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Go ahead. Next time you want to work, you'll need my approval."

Meng Hai nodded happily and turned to help move things.

Liu Bo sat next to Li Yun and laughed, "Second brother, when we followed our elders down the mountain to work, we were his age. You were a little younger than him then. It's nothing."

Li Yun looked up at the rising sun in the east without saying anything.

Liu Bo looked around and whispered, "Second brother, what's strange is that the people in this village surrendered just like that?"

"Even if Second Brother's fame spreads across Qingyang, it won't make these bandits drop their weapons and surrender."

After the bandits were caught, if they had killed someone, they would usually be beheaded.

As a bandit, it is difficult to avoid killing people, and it is difficult to explain the matter clearly. It is not that you have never killed anyone just because you say you have not killed anyone.

Therefore, unless the previous bandits had directly lost their combat effectiveness, they would have resisted to the end.

But today, the bandits surrendered!
Li came to his senses, looked back at Liu Bo, and said, "These bandits are very well-informed."

Liu Bo scratched his head: "What news?"

"A few days ago, those bandits we captured in the county jail were taken away by the court."

"what?"

Liu Bo's eyes widened: "Who is so capable?"

"He was sent into exile."

Mr. Li rubbed his temple and curled his lips: "I don't know which smart person came up with this method, but no matter what, this method can be implemented, which shows that some places in the court should be..."

"There is a great shortage of troops."

Mr. Li took a look at the village and frowned, saying, "It's only been a few days and the news has spread to these villages. It seems that the people in Qingyang County are not clean either, and someone passed the news to them."

Liu Bo chuckled, "It's good that they surrender. If we fight to the end, we will inevitably suffer some casualties." Chief Li stood up, stretched his body, and asked, "Old Nine, how many people are there in the village now?"

Liu Bo knew that Li Yun was asking about the village's fighting power, not counting the women and children, but he still asked, "Does it include the children from Hexi Village?"

"Count it in."

Liu Bo then lowered his head to calculate and said, "There were originally 34 people in our village, but later some of my second uncle and third uncle left, and only about 20 people were left who could work."

"But recently, the village has become richer, and some of the elders in the village have brought their nephews and nephews into the village. Together with the dozen young men from Hexi, there are now almost fifty people."

Mr. Li lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, "From today on, we must be more cautious when people enter the village. At the same time, we must complete the purchase of land and construction of the village as soon as possible. Recruiting villagers is much easier than expanding the village."

After all, being a bandit is not a good profession.

In this era, although the building is about to collapse, it has not collapsed yet. If children from ordinary families are asked to work as thugs on a farm, they will generally not refuse. However, if they are asked to become bandits, these people will have to think twice.

Liu Bo responded and said with a smile: "Then I will have to let Shouhou stay in the mountains for a while. After all, I don't have a household registration in the court yet, so I can't buy land."

"That's easy. I'll ask Skinny Monkey to come back later."

At this point, Mr. Li sneered and said, “Come to think of it, the landlord named Zhao at the foot of our mountain even went to the county government to find me and wanted to sue our village.”

Liu Bo was stunned, then burst out laughing.

"Then he really found the right person!"

Li Yun also had a faint smile on his face and said, "I'll leave the affairs of the village to you. I'm going back to the county town now."

Liu Bo responded, then stood up and watched Li Yun disappear into the morning dew.

After going down the mountain, Li Yun rode his horse and returned to Qingyang before the other yamen runners. After arriving at the county government office, he tied up the horse and just sat down to drink a few sips of tea when he saw Mr. Xue walking in from outside.

Li Yun quickly stood up and said with a smile: "I was just about to go find the county lord, why is the county lord here?"

Mr. Xue sat down by himself, then looked at Li Yun and asked, "Did the bandit suppression go smoothly this time?"

“It went quite smoothly.”

Li Yun smiled and said, "Many bandits have surrendered without a fight."

Master Xue was about to drink some water, but when he heard this, he frowned slightly and snorted coldly: "It seems that they already know that they don't have to die."

Li Yun smiled and didn't respond.

Mr. Xue continued, "I guess the imperial court is going to suppress the bandits on a large scale, or recruit them."

Li Yun seemed to be thinking about something, and asked, "Because we need to replenish our troops?"

"Ah."

Master Xue nodded silently: "Although I don't know who came up with this idea, if these vicious bandits were put on the battlefield, they would definitely be better at fighting than the imperial court's soldiers."

Chief Li sneered and said, "Those bandits won't obey orders. When they are on the battlefield, they will probably just rush to the front and die."

Mr. Xue glanced at Li Yun and continued talking to himself.

"Wait a month or two, and the imperial court will issue an order."

Mr. Li smiled and said, "That's nothing. The small villages in Qingyang are probably scared out of their wits and have dispersed. There are not many large and medium-sized villages left. I plan to make plans in the next few months. By the end of the year, I plan to flatten the Ten Kings Village in Lingyang Mountain."

"By next year, there will be no more bandits in Qingyang!"

Master Xue glanced at him and asked, "What about the Cangshan stronghold?"

"You may not know, but after my persuasion, the Cangshan Village has turned over a new leaf."

Mr. Xue snorted and did not continue talking. Instead, he took a sip of tea and spoke lightly.

"Once the imperial court issues an order to suppress bandits, it may be your chance. You are now well-known throughout Xuanzhou. There are no bandits in Qingyang anymore. Governor Tian may want to use you..."

"To suppress the bandits in Xuanzhou."

(End of this chapter)