Thief Emperor

Chapter 606: Taking advantage of the situation
From the moment he decided to send troops to the southeast, Li Yun had never thought about fighting on a single front.

Because even if the imperial court did not take any action, the Pinglu Army would most likely take some small actions.

It cannot be said that at this moment, Li Yun is completely confident in dealing with all external threats, but he has made corresponding preparations.

What is to come will always come.

Du Qian looked at Li Yun, thought for a moment, and said, "What you mean by taking the position is that the plan to occupy Jingxiang remains unchanged, and Generals Su and Zhao will still be in charge. You take the position and go to guard Jiangbei?"

"That's pretty much what it means."

Li Yun said slowly: "That's my idea, but we have to adapt to the situation. Pei San only went to Qingzhou and Taiyuan, which doesn't mean we have two more enemies."

"The name of Wu Zhou still has some use, and our Jiangdong has been too fat and too conspicuous recently, so it might attract some other flies."

Du Qian frowned slightly and whispered, "Sir, isn't our decision to move westward a little too hasty?"

“Don’t be impatient.”

Li Yun said firmly: "I have thought about this for a long time. When I just came back from the north, I asked the third brother of the Du family about it in detail. With Jiangdong's current financial resources, our maximum military strength is about the current number."

"If we delay it for a few more years, there will only be this many soldiers, but if we delay it for a few more years, we won't have the same vigor as we have now."

At this point, Li Yun looked at Du Qian and asked with a smile, "It seems that Brother Du thinks we will lose?"

Du Qian shook his head: "After Southeast is completely built into a country, it will be difficult to lose when you come to power. I just think it's not easy to win."

From Du Qian's perspective, today's Southeast has long been an independent kingdom. This new kingdom is full of vitality and the overall situation is positive.

With such a large rear base, which is a solid backing for the front-line troops and the support of various human and material resources, it would be very difficult for the Jiangdong Army to suffer a major defeat.

But winning is not easy.

Li Yun said softly: "In the past few years, the workshop has spent a lot of our resources. Some things have never been used after they were made. I think it's time to use them now."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun, thought about it, and shook his head: "I don't understand anything about military affairs, so I won't say much. Anyway, with the current national strength of Jiangdong."

Du Qian was very confident and said, "I don't think we can lose. At most we will be beaten back to the southeast. At worst we just have to wait a few more years."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "Brother Du said before that he was sure to cause chaos in the Central Plains. How are the preparations going now?"

Du Qian thought about it, then lowered his head to calculate the time, and replied: "You can make a fuss now, but if you want to make a big fuss, you have to wait until the autumn grain collection."

“It will take about two more months.”

"Ah."

Li Yun also thought about it carefully for a while, and said: "Then wait until the court harvests the autumn grain, and then let the Central Plains go into chaos."

Du Qian nodded in agreement. After hesitating for a moment, he whispered, "If a fight really breaks out, those people will definitely use the title as an excuse. If it doesn't work, I will draft the document to honor the King of Chu as the emperor and let the King of Chu make him a king. This way, the title will be given."

Li Yun smiled and said, "If we can't win, or if we suffer a loss, we'll just do it this way. At least we'll have something to say then."

"If we can win, there will be no need for the Wu family to confer titles on us."

If the situation requires, Li Yun would really respect the King of Chu as emperor. After all, at this time, he really lacks a title.

In another world, the two emperors who came from grassroots also initially got their titles from others. Emperor Taizu of Han was conferred the title of King of Han by the King of Chu, and Emperor Taizu of Ming was conferred the title of King of Wu by the King of Ming.

The names all come from other political systems.

As for Li Yun, there is no such political system to confer titles on him. If the King of Chu is not respected as the emperor, he can only establish his own status and conquer the world in the future, which will be relatively difficult.

Everything has to wait until Li Yun actually fights the enemy before taking any action.

After chatting with Du Qian for about half an hour, Du Qian got up and said goodbye to go make some preparations for food and fodder, while Li Yun called out to Su Zhan.

Su Zhan quickly pushed the door open and said with his head lowered, "Go up."

Li Yun glanced at him and said, "Go, call Meng Hai and General Deng Yang, and ask them to come to Li Garden. I have something to tell you."

Su Zhan did not dare to neglect it, and quickly lowered his head and said, "Yes."

He was about to leave when Li Yun called him back. He only heard Li Yun saying, "Go and call Li Zheng as well."

"Yes."

Su Zhan quickly lowered his head.

Among the few people, Meng Hai was in the government office of Jiusi, while Deng Yang was in the Jinling Army camp outside the city. Li Zheng, who was in the city, was the closest, so he arrived the fastest.

Only half an hour later, Li Zheng arrived at Li Yun's study. There was no one in the study at this time, only the two brothers, so he didn't hesitate to find a chair and sit down, saying with a smile: "What do you want to talk to me about, brother?" Li Yun looked at his face and smiled: "During this period of time, I have been staying in Jinling, and I have finally been with my brother and sister-in-law for a while. Are you inseparable?"

Li Zheng smiled and said, "No way, second brother, don't talk nonsense."

"I'm afraid you can't stay in Jinling for long."

Li Yun put down the brush in his hand and said, "I plan to let you lead the troops to go south again."

Li Zheng was startled and asked, "Second brother, there is a rebellion in the south? Do you want me to lead the troops there?"

"No."

Li Yun shook his head, and then told Li Zheng about the current situation, and then said: "I should have asked you to stay in Jinling for a while longer, but the enemy may attack the southeast, and there are Su and Zhao in the west, and they will lead the attack."

"Only you and I are brothers in the north and south. I will be in charge of the north, and you will take... seven or eight battalions of lieutenants to garrison the south to prevent any accidents."

Li Yun didn't know whether there would be enemies joining the war from the south, but he knew that there was a Lingnan Jiedushi in the south.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible for him to leave the south completely undefended.

As for Li Zheng, he had been fighting in the south for a long time before. During this trip to Fan Yang, Li Zheng also grew a lot. It was most appropriate to send him to the south at this time.

Li Zheng nodded slowly and said, "No problem, second brother. I can leave in the next two days."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door. Meng Hai bowed his head and said outside, "Master, your subordinate is here."

"Come in and talk."

Meng Hai pushed the door open and walked in. He saluted Li Yun first and called him to his seat. Then he looked at Li Zheng and said with a fist, "General Li."

Li Zheng waved his hand at him and said with a smile, "We are old acquaintances, why are you so distant?"

Meng Hai also smiled and changed his words: "Third Master."

If Li Zheng was ranked together with the Li Yun brothers, he would indeed be the third child, but they were not real cousins, so they had never been ranked that way before.

Li Yun clapped his hands and laughed, "That's a good name. Xiao Hai, you're getting smarter."

Meng Hai smiled and said, "After following the leader for so long, of course you have to be smarter."

He looked at Li Yun and asked, "Sir, you asked me to come here. Is there anything you want me to do?"

Li Yun said, "You can send letters to General Su and General Zhao through the Nine Departments. Tell General Su that he is in charge of the affairs of Jingxiang. As long as the time is right, let him take action directly. Also, tell him clearly that I will not send him any reinforcements for at least three months."

"Also, tell General Zhao that all his soldiers along the Huai River defense line can follow him to the front line. I will personally lead the troops to take over the Huai River defense line. Let him cooperate with General Su. Take over Jingxiang for me before the end of the year!"

Meng Hai wrote it down, and then said, "Sir, do you have the document?"

"Yes, I have written it."

Li Yun handed him the two documents on the table, then looked at Meng Hai and said, "Please keep an eye on this matter yourself and make sure there are no mistakes."

"Yes!"

Meng Hai quickly lowered his head and said, "Don't worry, it won't go wrong."

"I'll do it right away."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "Everyone in your Meng family has contributed a lot now. I have made a note of it for you."

At that time, there were not many survivors from the Meng family in Hexi Village, Shidai County. In addition to the two brothers Meng Qing and Meng Hai, there was also Meng Hai's father, who brought a dozen or so Meng family members and is now responsible for minting coins for Li Yun.

Nowadays, most of the new money in Jiangdong is minted by the Meng family. This family has really made a great contribution to Li Yun.

Meng Hai bowed to Li Yun and said, "The Meng family is grateful that you can provide a living for us."

After saying that, he retreated cautiously.

Li Zheng looked at the direction where Meng Hai left and said, "Tsk, tsk!" "Second brother really found a nest of treasures when he was in Shidai. This little Meng is not much worse than General Meng in the army."

Li Yun laughed and was about to speak when Deng Yang, who was panting, ran over and saluted with his fists clasped: "Your subordinate greets you, my superior!"

"Meet General Li!"

Li Yun motioned him to sit down, poured him a glass of water, and said calmly, "Haven't you always wanted to fight?"

"Now, here's your chance to fight."

(End of this chapter)