Thief Emperor

Chapter 677 Efficient Huang Dynasty

Li Zheng closed his eyes, thought for a while, and then said, "Before you arrived, Brother Jiu, I had already asked the people in the army. During the roll call in the past few days, Captain Luo Huai has disappeared. Most likely, he has escaped."

After saying this, Li Zheng looked at Liu Bo and said in a hoarse voice: "He is an old member of the anti-theft team, and he is from Qingyang."

Liu Bo narrowed his eyes and said in a muffled voice, "It's right to be nostalgic, but there's no need to be too nostalgic. There are so many people who came from the Anti-Theft Team. Almost all of them were born as bandits. They have seen the world again in recent years, so it's inevitable that they will have some different thoughts in their hearts. In recent years, the Inspection Department has caught people from the Anti-Theft Team for greed and taking advantage of the soldiers."

"Two years ago, your subordinate was killed by your second brother because he was greedy for money. Have you forgotten?"

Liu Bo reminded in a low voice: "In Jiangdong, soldiers get more than soldiers in other places, but officials get far less than generals in other places. Some people stand high and see the luxurious clothes and delicious food, and see what it's like up there."

"One hundred or two hundred strings of cash a month is not enough for them to spend."

Liu Bo does not belong to the army, probably because he is an outsider, and Jiusi is often exposed to information from the outside world, so he sees many things quite clearly.

Under Li Yun's command, the income of ordinary soldiers is definitely high. Although the income of generals is promoted step by step, it is still far less than the money earned through corruption.

In particular, when these people who have climbed up from the bottom are able to access news from the outside world, they will naturally feel some imbalance in their hearts.

Because of them, it could have been like this.

In this situation, naturally some people will be dissatisfied, and some people will want to pursue a better "future".

Liu Bo said softly, "Don't worry, Shouhou. This fleeing Captain Luo won't be able to escape. The Nine Departments and the Inspection Department will search Zhangzhou from top to bottom and make sure nothing is missed."

Liu Bo said slowly: "We, the people around the second brother, must not mess up the work. We must get the affairs of Zhangzhou and Lingnan done."

Li Zheng nodded slowly and said, "I know. I won't hold my second brother back."

Liu Bo took out a letter from his arms, handed it to Li Zheng, and said with a smile: "Second brother wrote to you, can you still move your hands?"

Li Zheng nodded and reached out to take it.

Liu Bo stood up and said, "You take a rest here first. I'm going to go see General Gongsun and express my condolences on behalf of my second brother."

"We can't make people feel uncomfortable."

Li Zheng nodded and said, "Just go."

Liu Bo got up and left, and Li Zheng opened the letter that Li Yun had written to him.

The letter basically contained some simple content. When it came to the last sentence, Li Zheng was slightly absent-minded.

"Take good care of your injuries and don't let your imagination run wild."

"When I have time, I will capture the governor of Lingnan and vent my anger on you."

He slowly put down the letter, his thoughts drifting away.

Since childhood, he has been Li Yun's follower, especially after Li Yun became successful in martial arts training when he was young. At that time, Li Zheng was still very thin, and whenever he encountered any problems or was bullied, Li Yun would step forward to help him vent his anger.

Li Zheng folded the letter and placed it beside the bed. He coughed twice and muttered to himself.

"My second brother is still the same second brother as before. He hasn't changed..."

…………

The fifth year of Zhaoding, mid-March.

The Jiangdong army launched their campaigns from Jingzhou and Xiangzhou respectively. The Jingzhou troops advanced westward and took Shanzhou directly, while the Xiangzhou troops were divided into two routes, attacking Fangzhou in the west and Junzhou in the northwest respectively.

This time, Li Yun did not go with the army, and he had to start learning how to stay in the rear.

After all, his mode of leading the army in person cannot continue forever. In the foreseeable future, he will definitely stay in the rear most of the time. In the future, if something goes wrong, he may just issue an edict and then wait for news with peace of mind.

When Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing led their troops into two groups, Li Yun stayed in the rear of Xiangzhou and gathered a group of talented people to his camp.

These were all well-known scholars in Xiangzhou. Moreover, the people summoned by Li Yun were not ordinary scholars, but had some biases.

There were five scholars in total, each of whom had studied abroad for many years and were basically good at drawing.

Li Yun met them personally.

At this time, Mr. Li had occupied Xiangzhou for some time. Because his administrative strategies were generally lenient, his reputation in Xiangzhou was not too bad.

Moreover, Li Yun had a violent machine in his hands. He could kill anyone's family if he wanted to. Under this premise, these five scholars in their forties certainly did not dare to be negligent and came obediently to attend Li Yun's banquet.

After a few glasses of wine, Li Yun stopped hiding his intentions and said with a smile, "Master, I have invited you all here today because I have something to entrust to you." Li paused and continued, "I want detailed maps of Dengzhou, Tangzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou."

These states are not far from Xiangzhou, and if Li Yun can occupy these four states, he will actually have entered the Central Plains.

Among these four states, the one that Li Yun was more interested in was Tangzhou, which was located northeast of Xiangzhou and due north of Suizhou.

There is nothing particularly surprising about this state, but the name makes Li Yun very interested.

With this place name, he could legitimately change his country's name to Tang in the future.

As for how to change it, that is also simple. Just let a few scholars study it and prove that his ancestral home is in Tangzhou.

This is very simple. His current will is to let those scholars write whatever he wants them to write, and they will not object at all.

After hearing what Li Yun said, several scholars looked at each other in surprise.

One of the older men stood up and bowed to Li Yun and said, "King Wu, although we are all good at painting, painting is not the same as drawing. Moreover, the maps of several states are too complicated. We..."

“It’s just too difficult.”

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea and said calmly: "If you want more people, that's easy. You guys take the lead. I'll get you as many people as you want."

"I can provide both the manpower and the material resources. I only have one request. Two months at most three months. I want a detailed topographic map."

The five people looked at each other, still without expressing their opinions.

Li Yun knocked on the table and said calmly, "Listen to what I have to say."

At this time, he had lost his patience and used this self-proclaimed name for the first time in front of others.

A group of scholars immediately lowered their heads and stopped talking.

"I won't let you work for nothing. For two months, each of the five of you will get 500 strings of cash."

At this point, Li Yun paused and continued, "I will set up a professional map-making department under the Privy Council, which means..."

"If you do well, you may be able to become an official in the future."

In this era, it was quite difficult for scholars to advance their careers, after all, the imperial examination system was not perfect.

It goes without saying that these local scholars who are proficient in painting will never have a career in officialdom.

After hearing what Li Yun said, the expressions of the five people changed drastically. Some of them knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Li Yun: "Students, we respectfully listen to the king's orders!"

The first person knelt down, and the remaining four people also knelt down one after another.

Li Yun looked at them and said with a smile, "Everyone, get up."

What he just said was not to fool them. The Privy Council would indeed set up such a functional agency.

In Li Yun's conception, the Privy Council was a higher-level military institution, with some auxiliary military institutions under it.

For example, the Audit Department.

As for the task of drawing maps, it was originally supposed to be the job of the Military Affairs Department, and Li Yun was also planning to assign it to the Privy Council.

Anyway, he is the founder of this country, and he can manipulate all kinds of systems as long as they are not too outrageous.

After dealing with these scholars, Li Yun asked Su Zhan to send them away. Just as he was about to find a place to sleep, not long after he entered the house, Su Zhan came back and bowed in front of Li Yun's door and said, "Your Excellency, the Governor of Xiangzhou requests to see you."

Li Yun stretched and asked, "What's the matter?"

Su Zhan quickly reported: "Reporting to the superior, the governor of Xiangzhou said that the land in Xiangzhou has been basically counted and the land can be distributed."

"So fast?"

Li Yun was a little surprised and asked, "What is the name of this Xiangzhou governor..."

Su Zhan answered quickly.

"My name is Huang Chao."

(End of this chapter)