Thief Emperor

Chapter 600: Southeast Local Emperor

Xue Yun'er frowned slightly. She looked at the girl in front of her and was about to ask, but Xiao Heng beside her said with a smile: "This is the daughter of the Fanyang Lu family. The Fanyang Lu family admires the might of Lord Li and wants to arrange this marriage."

As he spoke, he looked at Xue Yun'er and asked, "Madam, this is a good thing for the Fanyang Lu family, and it is also a good thing for the Jiangdong Li family."

Hearing the words "Fan Yang Lu", Xue Yun'er's slightly frowned brows relaxed.

What Xiao Heng said was not wrong, and he was even quite polite.

Because the Southeast Li Family he mentioned, that is, Li Yun's family, had no background before, and was not even a family, but in the future, it will definitely become the most dazzling family in the Southeast.

But this threshold is too low.

To put it bluntly, in the eyes of people of this era, no matter how powerful you are, you are just a country bumpkin or a nouveau riche.

In this situation, the more common practice is to marry into a wealthy and powerful family in order to raise one's own status. In other words, the daughters of these wealthy and powerful families, or their in-laws, naturally have added value.

The Fanyang Lu family is a typical wealthy and powerful family, and the top one among the wealthy and powerful families. Such a big family is willing to give a woman from the family to Li Yun as a concubine. Even if she is just a concubine, if the news gets out, it will be enough to make Li Yun and the Li family famous.

The name of the Southeast Li family can also spread.

"The girl from the Lu family in Fanyang."

Xue Yun'er said this softly, then raised her head and looked carefully at the woman in front of her. The previous unhappiness had disappeared.

In this era, women from wealthy families are indeed born to be more noble. More importantly, this nobility is not self-proclaimed by these wealthy families, but is recognized by the entire society from top to bottom.

Xue Yun'er came from a poor family, and she didn't think that there was anything arrogant about the girl from the Lu family. She was about to continue talking and ask the name of the girl in blue when Li Yun walked in. He walked straight to Xue Yun'er, took her hand, and then looked at the girl from the Lu family. After a quick glance, he looked up at Xiao Heng and said with a smile.

"The Major General came so quickly. I have only been back for half a month and the Major General has already arrived."

Li Yun was tall and walked fast. When he walked to Xue Yun'er and finished talking, Xiao Heng finally reacted and bowed his head and saluted: "Greetings, Lord Li."

Hearing the three words "Mr. Li", the girl from the Lu family also looked up at Li Yun. After being stunned for a breath or two, she lowered her head slightly and bowed, saying, "My concubine Lu Wan, greets Mr. Fu."

Li Yun just looked at her, nodded slightly, and then stepped forward to support Xiao Heng, and said with a smile: "Young General, you are too polite. This is Li Garden, and there are no outsiders. You don't have to address me by my official title. Besides, I am no longer a mansion lord."

Xiao Heng looked at Li Yun and shook his head, saying, "I have seen a lot on this journey from Fanyang, especially after crossing the Huai River, the states and counties we passed by have become less chaotic."

"After crossing the Yangtze River, I have even greater respect for you, Lord Fu. Today's Jiangnan is much more prosperous than before, especially the city of Jinling."

He said softly, "I came to Jinling City when I was sixteen or seventeen years old. The population of Jinling now is probably more than thirty percent compared to that time, right?"

Hearing him mention this, Li Yun felt a little proud. He held up a finger and said with a smile, "One time."

Yes, since the time Li Yun took over Jinling, the population of the entire Jinling Prefecture has doubled, from about 100,000 households to more than 200,000 households.

This is still a relatively conservative estimate. If we count carefully, the number may be even higher.

Of course, the reason for this result is not entirely due to Li Yun's governance, but more because there has been unrest in the Central Plains in recent years. First there was a severe drought, then there was Wang Junping's rebellion, and now there are warlords like Liang Wen, so that a large number of people in the entire Central Plains have left, and a large part of them fled eastward to Jiangnan Road and Jinling Prefecture.

Population is a resource. In addition, Li Yun needed a large population to build a new city. As for these refugees, it can be said that they were accepted regardless of their arrival. As a result, in just a few years, the population of Jinling Prefecture doubled.

Xiao Heng looked at Li Yun and exclaimed: "It's amazing, it's amazing."

"This time, my father not only asked me to come to Jinling to send someone to the Duke, but also wanted me to learn from him. My father said that the Duke has already started his own imperial examination in the southeast."

The major general of Fanyang said with emotion: "This is unimaginable in Fanyang and Hebei Province."

The military governors and military leaders in various places were far inferior to Li Yun in terms of the level of system establishment, and were not even on the same level.

For example, most local warlords and military governors controlled the local areas through the army or through their vested interests with local officials.

Their relationship with scholars was mostly through recruiting scholars as aides, entering their own shogunate, and giving them advice. In theory, it was a staff group.

It is completely on a different level from the civil service system established by Li Yun in Jiangdong.

Now, the only one who can be compared with Li Yun in terms of system is the Wu Zhou court, and the court is actually on the decline. Li Yun smiled and said, "Major General, you are good at talking, and you are more listenable than the young general in Qingzhou. It just so happens that I am discussing matters with several generals under my command today. They are all in the backyard at this time. I will take the young general to meet them and make them familiar with each other."

"Will the Major General go?"

Xiao Heng was surprised and delighted: "I couldn't ask for more, I couldn't ask for more."

After that, he bowed to Xue Yun'er and was about to leave with Li Yun. Li Yun also looked at Xue Yun'er and said with a smile: "Madam, I will leave these people to you. You settle them down. I will tell you the details later."

Xue Yun'er nodded first, then looked at the girl from the Lu family, then stepped forward and pulled Li Yun's sleeve, walked aside, and whispered: "Husband, the Fanyang Lu family is a top-notch wealthy family. The Lu family girl's marriage is a great thing for our family. Husband should at least say a few words to her, it's too cold to be like this."

Li Yun looked at Xue Yun'er and said with a smile, "It's not necessary to marry her in the first place. Besides, when she was talking to Madam just now, she was arrogant and had a bad temper."

"Let it dry first."

Mr. Li whispered, "We need to investigate whether these people are clean or not."

Xue Yun'er seemed to understand what Li Yun meant. She smiled softly and said, "My husband, you don't have to vent your anger for me. She didn't offend me in any way."

"Leave her alone for now. If she continues to make trouble, I will send someone to send her back to Fanyang."

At this point, Mr. Li glanced at the Lu family girl who was standing still, and said slowly: "There is no need to lift any door lintels in our family."

"Okay, let Madam handle the affairs of the mansion. I will take this Major General from Fanyang with me to take a look around."

Xue Yun'er nodded and said okay.

When he looked up again, Li Yun had already pulled Xiao Heng out of the main hall.

Behind Xue Yun'er, Miss Lu bit her lips lightly, feeling extremely angry.

Since she could remember, she had never been ignored like this because of her background!

Thinking of how she was forced by her family to go to Jinling as a concubine, she couldn't help but have red eyes and tears streamed down her face.

Xue Yun'er stepped forward, looked at her, and smiled softly: "Sister Lu, are you tired after all this journey? I'll take you downstairs to rest first."

……

On the other side, Li Yun took Xiao Heng to meet with his four generals, and then they had a meal together. After the meal, when everyone was drunk, Xiao Heng took Li Yun's arm and asked, "Lord Li, you promised to give us the mirror of Fan Yang..."

"Don't worry, Major General. I have already sent someone to ask, and there will be results soon. Tomorrow, I will go to the workshop in person. If there are enough telescopes, I will give them directly to you, Major General."

"Workshop..."

Xiao Heng pondered for a moment, then looked up at Li Yun and said, "Mr. Li, this workshop should be where the telescope was made, right? Can I go with you to the workshop tomorrow to take a look?"

Jinling Workshop hides all of Li Yun's advantageous projects. He rarely brings even the generals under his command into the workshop, let alone outsiders.

Xiao Heng pleaded several times, but was rejected by Li Yun every time. Finally, he had no choice but to give up.

After a long while, he looked at Li Yun again and said, "Mr. Li, my father said that you are not a quiet person. In the future, you will either go north to attack the Pinglu Army or go west to attack Shannan Road and then attack the Central Plains."

"Which way are you going to take?"

Li Yun smiled dumbly, shook his head and said, "General Xiao, you have misunderstood me too deeply."

"I have never had any ambitions, and now I have no other thoughts. I just want to defend the southeast and be the local emperor of the southeast."

"As for going north or east..."

Li Yun looked at Xiao Heng and smiled.

"I have no interest at all."

(End of this chapter)