Thief Emperor

Chapter 628 Guiding the Country
Even Li Yun was stunned when he heard the news.

He has been "disconnected" from the Jiangdong intelligence network for quite some time.

Previously, when he was still communicating with the outside world, Zhao Cheng and Su Sheng had just started working in Jingxiang. How long had it been? When he returned to the Jiangdong intelligence network again, had Jingxiang and Su Sheng already taken over one state?

This is too fast!
Li took a deep breath and couldn't help but ask, "So fast?"

Meng Hai smiled at Li Yun, and then briefly told Li Yun a few important things. Finally, he said, "I will report the details to my superior later."

Li Yun said "hmm", looked at Feng Qi, and said, "Arrange accommodation for the brothers who came to support us. Also, someone has entered Chuzhou this time, and the Pinglu Army might be angry and embarrassed. If there is any more action, don't slack off on patrolling the city wall these two days."

"The wounded soldiers need to be properly treated."

Feng Qi bowed his head, clasped his fists, and replied yes.

Li Yun took Meng Hai to his residence for a detailed discussion.

After Li Yun and Meng Hai left, the captain Zhang Bai who came to support them touched Feng Qi's shoulder with his arm and said with a smile: "Big guy, how does it feel to fight with the superiors?"

Feng Qi looked at him and smiled: "That's so refreshing."

Zhang Bai laughed and said, "Before I came, General Deng said that this time, you defended Chuzhou and consumed so many Pinglu troops. You have made great contributions. After this battle is over, I will at least make you a deputy general when I return!"

"Vice general?"

Feng Qi glanced at him and asked, "Where did our deputy general come from in Jiangdong?"

"It will be available soon."

Zhang Bai smiled and said, "Captain Chen, General Xiao Meng and the others will soon be promoted to deputy generals. Each of them will lead several captain battalions. Big guy, you will be the same as them soon!"

At this point, Zhang Bai couldn't help but say, "It's really enviable."

Feng Qi thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "That's no use."

"Why is it useless?"

Zhang Bai winked at him and said with a smile: "Let's not talk about what will happen when you become the emperor in the future. Even now, I heard that our Jiangdong Army will soon be dividing the land."

"Divide the land?"

Feng Qi had a good relationship with Zhang Bai and asked, "What do you mean by dividing the land?"

Zhang Bai said softly, "This is what you, a big guy, don't understand."

"We are all from Jiangnan. We were officials in Jiangnan before. At that time, the land in Jiangdong had an owner, so it was not easy to divide it."

"Now, the superior is going to lead us to expand our territory. From now on, all the land we conquer will belong to the superior."

"I heard…"

Zhang Bai lowered his voice and thanked him, "In the future, it is possible to award land according to military merit, so that the brothers below will not end up with nothing after fighting for their lives with the upper-level officials."

"Divide the land, divide the land..."

Feng Qi muttered a few words, then looked up into the distance, feeling yearning in his heart. He murmured, "Can we, the bandits born in the mountains, also have our own land?"

"What bandits?"

Zhang Bai hit him and corrected him: "From now on, we will be from the anti-theft team!"

Feng Qi reacted and grinned: "Yes, we are from the anti-theft team!"

…………

On the other side, in Li Yun's residence, Meng Hai had roughly told Li Yun about what was happening outside. When it came to Yangzhou, he said, "Jinling received a letter from the higher-ups, and Mr. Du went to see Captain Qian in person. Captain Qian finally dispatched another 2,000 men to urgently support Yangzhou. They had already entered Yangzhou before the Pinglu Army attacked Yangzhou."

At this point, Meng Hai paused and continued, "With a garrison of more than a thousand people in Yangzhou, with a total of three thousand people, it is not a big problem to defend Yangzhou. However, it may be difficult to defend other counties in Yangzhou."

Hearing this, Li Yun's face became somewhat serious. He asked in a deep voice, "Has Jinling started recruiting militiamen?"

It's his biggest concern.

The militia system, or the local militia system, was a method Li Yun came up with when he was still relatively weak in order to deal with the Pinglu Army. At that time, each prefecture and county under his rule sent some people to participate in three months of training each year to serve as militia.

These people worked as farmers in their spare time and joined the army in wartime. Although Li Yun did not pay them much, participating in the militia could deduct taxes.

At that time, Li Yun's system of dividing the land tax by the land had not yet been implemented, so every family had to pay a Ding tax, which is the so-called head tax.

Joining the militia can exempt one's entire family from paying the poll tax, so a large number of militias emerged during that period.

And now, it's time to use them.

Because there were only more than 3,000 troops left in Nanjing, and another 2,000 were sent north to Yangzhou, which means that the remaining regular army may be only the size of a captain's battalion.

Li Yun used Jiangdong's military force to the utmost.

But if the Pinglu Army fails to take Chuzhou and then Yangzhou, they are likely to go crazy and cross the river directly from Yangzhou to attack the core of Jiangdong!

That is, several states and counties with Jinling as the core, especially the city of Jinling.

Jinling City is Li Yun’s ultimate base camp. His family and the families of core generals are all in Jinling. Once Jinling falls, they will be busy outside, but when they turn back, they will find that their hometown has been robbed!

This kind of thing must never happen.

"Don't worry, my lord. Mr. Du sent letters to all the prefectures and counties immediately. Now the militias in all the prefectures and counties add up to several thousand people. They are now in Jinling and Runzhou, guarding the Yangtze River. In addition, there are several thousand more in Yangzhou."

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

"The Pinglu Army will not dare to make any moves."

Li Yun's expression eased slightly and he breathed a sigh of relief.

The key to this matter is whether Zhou Xu is willing to fight to the death with him.

He made no progress in Jiangbei, so it seemed that he had no choice but to go south to Nanjing to vent his anger. However, if he crossed the Yangtze River, Du Qian would definitely move Li Yun's family out of Nanjing as soon as possible.

By that time, the two sides would be at the point of a fight to the death.

As long as Li Yun withdraws his troops, he can encircle the Pinglu Army in his own territory, grind them to death, and then digest them bit by bit!
But Zhou Xu did not do such a crazy thing. Besides the fact that the loss outweighed the gain, it was obvious that he had no intention of fighting to the death with Li Yunyu.

After reporting on the situation in Yangzhou, Meng Hai talked about some things in Jingxiang, and then said: "According to the intelligence, the Hedong Army stopped after reaching Xuzhou and did not make any further moves."

Hearing this, Li Yun couldn't help but smile: "It's not that these people are a mob, but they are indeed a group of scattered sands, without any cooperation. Only Zhou Xu is an honest man."

The Hedong Army was also an old vassal state. Li Yun had previously deployed most of his troops in Jingxiang because he was worried that the support from the Hedong Army would prevent him from capturing Jingxiang.

Now it seems that the Hedong Army...will not listen to the imperial court.

Meng Hai lowered his head and continued to report.

"General Su and General Zhao are currently deploying defenses in Xiangzhou. After Xiangzhou is deployed, they will deal with Jingzhou. Both generals said..."

"We can withdraw 20,000 troops at any time to support Jiangbei."

Li Yun thought about it for a while and said, "Well, let them send 10,000 men each to Jiangbei. Let Chen Da and Meng Qing lead their troops respectively and temporarily station them in Fengyang to wait for my next order."

Jingxiang has already been conquered, so there is no point in deploying too many troops. It is better to return to Jiangbei and have a good fight with General Zhou!

Meng Hai nodded quickly and said, "I will release the pigeon in a moment."

At this time, Meng Hai was also trapped in the encirclement, so it was naturally impossible for him to rely on manpower to deliver the letter.

Fortunately, Jiusi already has a lot of experience in the application of carrier pigeons, and this kind of "high-altitude long-distance wireless communication" will not cause any major problems.

"also."

Mr. Li took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He paused for a long time before speaking: "Send someone to contact the Hedong Army in Xuzhou and tell them that the war in the southeast has nothing to do with them. If possible, I will go there in person and meet their people in the future."

"Yes."

Meng Hai nodded again and talked about Tongguan. When Li Yun heard that Tongguan had been occupied by Liang Wen, he was not surprised. He just said slowly: "The old emperor's vision is really average. It's not surprising for the emperor to do anything now."

"Things about the Wu Zhou court..."

Li Yun looked calm.

“No need to pay any more attention to it.”

(End of this chapter)