Thief Emperor

Chapter 675: Another round of external conquest

Li Yun's face changed.

He sobered up almost immediately.

In the entire Jiangdong, and even in the world, apart from his own wife and children, the person closest to him is his cousin Li Zheng.

Although they are distant cousins, they are from the same clan and family, and are much closer than outsiders.

He took several deep breaths, and even coughed violently several times because of the difficulty in breathing. Then he raised his head and looked at Meng Hai, saying in a hoarse voice: "What do you mean by seriously injured? Being shot by several arrows is considered a serious injury?"

Li Yun's voice became angry, and he asked: "What do Jiusi do for a living? On their way south, shouldn't they be under the jurisdiction of Jiangdong? How could they be ambushed and assassinated by outsiders?!"

Meng Hai had never seen Li Yun so angry before. He was so scared that he immediately knelt down, his voice trembling as he whispered, "My Lord, you know that the southern part of Jiangdong has always been...always short of manpower, and the control is also very weak. Only...only General Li Zheng's troops are stationed there."

"They sneak in in small groups, which makes them hard to detect, and, and..."

Meng Hai was a little panicked and whispered: "Moreover, General Li Zheng did not inform Jiusi of his return trip. It should be, it should be..."

He lowered his head and said, "We should have informed their Zhangzhou headquarters camp. If there is a problem... it is also a problem with their headquarters camp."

Li Yun closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said nothing.

Meng Hai breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "General Li Zheng was hit by two arrows in the back, one in the leg, and one in the right arm. Fortunately, the enemy was far away, and only the arrow in the shoulder penetrated two inches into the flesh. The other arrows did not penetrate too deep. Although the wound is serious, the people from the Nine Departments reported that his life will not be in danger for the time being."

Li Yun then opened his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Continue reporting."

"Yes."

Meng Hai said quickly: "The incident happened in Tong'an, Quanzhou, not far from Zhangzhou. It happened about four days ago."

"General Gongsun, who was traveling with us, was also shot with an arrow, which hit his right shoulder."

Li Yun looked gloomy.

In this era, medical skills were still good, but sanitary conditions were not up to par, and wounds could easily become infected and fester. Therefore, even an arrow hitting the foot could cost a person's life.

Not to mention someone like Li Zheng, who was hit by four arrows in a row!

Fortunately, Li Zheng is still young and has a high chance of surviving the attack. However, even if he does, he will most likely suffer from some sequelae.

Li Yun looked at Meng Hai and asked, "Did Jiusi find out anything?"

Meng Hai nodded and said, "There were only a dozen assassins in total, and they were either killed or captured on the spot by General Li Zheng's escort. The Nine Officials questioned two of them, and they both said they were sent by the Lingnan Jiedushi."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes: "Is there any Imperial City Division among them?"

Meng Hai lowered his head and dared not speak, but the meaning was self-evident.

Mr. Li groaned, his anger bursting out. Under the influence of alcohol, he punched the table hard.

There was no way the table could withstand his incredible strength and it immediately broke into pieces, shattering all over the floor.

Meng Hai was so frightened that he lowered his head and dared not say a word.

"listen."

Li Yun took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Pass on my order. Have Liu Bo go to the south in person and investigate the matter thoroughly. Then report to me. Then write a letter to Zhou Bi of the Privy Council's Inspection Department and ask him to leave Jinling and go to the north. In the name of the Inspection Department, cooperate with the Nine Departments to investigate all the people in Li Zheng's army."

"If we find out the spy inside."

Li Yun said expressionlessly: "Don't hurt anyone, send the person to me intact."

"Their family members were also controlled."

At this point, Li Yun said expressionlessly: "I guess, if it is really Li Zheng's subordinates who defected to the enemy and did this, then he will most likely not dare to stay in the army. After the Ninth Division arrives in Zhangzhou, write down the names of all the generals or soldiers who have left the Zhangzhou military camp recently and whose whereabouts are unknown."

At this point, he clenched his fists and said in a low voice: "Jiu Si and Jiang Dong will hunt these people down for the rest of their lives."

Meng Hai wiped the sweat from his forehead and lowered his head quickly: "Yes, I will send the message right away, I will send the message right away."

After that, he stood up, hesitated for a moment, and then bowed his head to Li Yun and said, "Sir, I know you are angry, but at this time, you must take care of yourself."

After saying this, he clasped his fists, bowed his head, and walked out cautiously.

This is what only an ordinary person would say. Ordinary outsiders would not dare to say a word at this time.

After Meng Hai left, Li Yun squinted his eyes and was no longer sleepy. He was now entrenched in the southeast, but the southeast was actually a long strip. Li Yun had a good grasp of the northern part of the southeast, but the entire southeast strip was more than 2,000 miles long, and Li Yun had a poor grasp of the southern part.

It can even be said that there is only military occupation and civil governance has not yet been promoted.

Thinking of Li Zheng's matter, Li Yun could no longer sleep. He stood up, opened the door and walked outside. He looked up into the air and said to himself, "It would be nice if there was another Du Shiyi."

After saying this, Li Yun glanced at Su Zhan, who was standing at the door with his hands hanging down, and said slowly: "Go and pass on another message to Jiusi. From today on, Jiusi must report Li Zheng's situation to me every day."

As Li Yun's follower, communicating with Jiusi is also one of his daily tasks. Su Zhan lowered his head quickly and said, "I'll go right away."

Just as Su Zhan was about to leave, Meng Qing, whose face was red from drinking, ran over. After seeing Su Zhan from a distance, he immediately came up to him and asked, "Brother Su, what's going on here?"

Just as Su Zhan was about to speak, Zhao Cheng and a group of generals came over.

They all lived not far from Li Yun, so they didn't hear any other sounds, but many of them heard the sound of Li Yun smashing the table.

Su Zhan quickly shook his head and said with a wry smile: "My fellow generals, I am only an attendant of the king. Most of the things, I cannot say unless the king tells me."

He was Su Sheng's brother, so these generals naturally would not make things difficult for him. After asking a few questions, they stopped asking. Meng Qing bravely came to the door of Li Yun's room and knocked on it.

"Master, are you alright?"

After a while, Li Yun's voice was heard from inside.

"fine."

The voice paused for a moment, then said, "All gone."

Meng Qing responded, turned around to look at the generals nearby, and waved his hand.

Everyone noticed that the atmosphere tonight was not right. No one dared to speak and they all dispersed. Even Zhao Cheng did not say much.

That night, apart from a handwritten letter from Li Yun that was sent out, nothing else major happened in Xiangzhou City.

……

The next day, Li Yun got up almost at noon. After a simple lunch, he inspected the military camp accompanied by Zhao Cheng and others.

The generals under Zhao Cheng's command were even closer to Li Yun. Li Yun recognized some of the old captains who often made mistakes and had never been promoted. Therefore, the overall atmosphere of this inspection was quite good.

Nearing evening, Li Yun went to the commander's tent and almost all of Zhao Cheng's important generals, about a dozen or twenty people, were present.

Li Yun sat in the main seat, looked at Zhao Cheng, and said, "General Zhao has also seen the matter of rewarding the troops in Jingzhou. In the next few days, our troops in Xiangzhou will also do the same."

"The military merit system will be posted in the barracks tomorrow for the brothers to see. As for how to award specific military merits, I have already drafted it when I was in Nanjing. In the next two days, General Zhao and Meng Qing will look over them one by one. If there are any problems, we will make specific changes."

"No problem, just follow the rules I drew up."

Zhao Cheng smiled and said, "Brothers in the army have all heard about the story of our comrades in Jingzhou and have been envious for a long time. Now that he has been promoted to this position, the brothers have finally waited for it."

Li Yun smiled and said a few more words to them, then he reached out and knocked on the table and said, "In addition to the military merit title, there is one more thing I want to inform you about later."

"The itinerary of officers above the rank of lieutenant must be kept strictly confidential. Apart from reporting to superiors, there is no need to inform anyone else, especially not in advance."

"General Zhao, General Meng."

Li Yun said in a deep voice: "This matter must be implemented as soon as possible. Those people outside are no match for our Jiangdong Army on the front battlefield, and they have already started to use some tricks."

Zhao Cheng seemed to be thinking about something, but he still bowed his head and said, "I obey your command."

Meng Qing also bowed respectfully and said, "I obey your command."

Li Yun said "hmm", reached out and knocked on the table, and said lightly: "Next, it's about advancing into Junzhou. General Zhao, do you have a plan?"

"Have."

Zhao Cheng said without hesitation: "Sir, our army will send 5,000 vanguard troops to occupy Junzhou in five days, led by General Meng."

Li Yun nodded slowly and added.

"Dengzhou in the north must also be taken over within two months."

(End of this chapter)