Thief Emperor

Chapter 688 Clever means
Li Yun was very happy.

Because he is indeed short of manpower now. Not only in the newly conquered areas, but even in the dozens of original prefectures and counties in Jiangdong, the officials under Li Yun are not enough.

After all, the earliest batch of Jiangdong students who had been admitted to the imperial examinations up to now had only been there for three years. In three years, they had not even completed a term as a county magistrate, and they had not grown up at all.

If a group of people from aristocratic families could come and surrender, Li Yun could arrange them in the Jiangdong territory, and then arrange Jiangdong's original confidants to the five states of Jingxiang, as well as some newly conquered states and counties.

His talent gap was filled in an instant.

Moreover, it is not necessary to give these people high positions and generous salaries. They can be used according to their abilities. What he gives to these children from aristocratic families is not high positions and generous salaries, but an opportunity to develop in Jiangdong.

And through these people, he can also establish some contacts with the aristocratic families in the Central Plains and Guanzhong. Even if it is just some intelligence gains, it will be of great benefit to the Jiangdong Army.

Thinking of this, Li Yun at the dinner table looked at Wang Yan with even more affectionate eyes.

The behavior of these noble families secretly surrendering is actually not surprising at all. They have been doing this from ancient times to the present. For these people, when dynasties change, they just change jobs, change employers, and continue to be their managers.

Now that the Wu Zhou Dynasty is doomed, these people naturally have to find some way out for themselves and their families.

Moreover, they would definitely not be looking for Li Yun alone. Many aristocratic families have already established some connections with Wei Quanzhong.

Even Liang Wen, who was now entrenched in Guanzhong and guarding the Wu Zhou Dynasty and had reached a strange cooperation with the emperor, had been given a lot of things and women by many aristocratic families, both openly and secretly.

"Prince Prime Minister."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I can definitely agree to what you said, but I still have a lot of military affairs to deal with. There are many details that I can't discuss with you in detail."

"Since you are already here, there is no need to rush back to Guanzhong. Let me write a document and send it back to Nanjing. Prime Minister Wang will take the trouble to go to Nanjing and stay there for a while to discuss the detailed regulations with my Prime Minister."

"Xiangbang?"

Wang Yan was stunned for a moment, then he understood and asked, "Your Majesty, are you talking about Du Shiyi?"

Li Yun offered him a glass of wine and said with a smile: "Yes, nowadays, all the affairs of Jiangdong are basically handled by me, the Prime Minister. He is from the Jingzhao Du family, and the Prime Minister Wang probably knows him."

"He is familiar with the officials in the capital and the noble families in various places. If he takes charge of this matter, we can save a lot of trouble."

Wang Yan had a complicated expression. After a long while, he slowly said, "Du Shiyi, in his early years in the capital, was also quite famous... OK."

"I will leave for Jinling tomorrow."

Li Yun clinked glasses with him with a smile.

"Here, cheers."

This banquet was a great pleasure for both the host and the guests. After Su Zhan sent the drunk Wang Yan to his residence, Meng Hai was already standing in front of Li Yun. He bowed to Li Yun and said, "Take the seat."

Li Yun handed the list of the Imperial City Division that Wang Yan had given him to Meng Hai, and then said, "The intelligence in Guanzhong said it was a list of the Imperial City Division. Go check it out."

Meng Hai lowered his head to take it. Just as he was about to respond, Li Yun reminded him, "Remember, after confirming it, don't alert the enemy. Follow them for a while and see if you can pull out more people along the way."

"also."

Li Yun said softly: "When you start, don't clear out all the people on this list. Leave some behind and keep an eye on them."

Meng Hai took it and nodded, "Go ahead, I'll remember that."

Li Yun glanced at him and said calmly, "There are too many people in the Imperial City Division in Jiangdong. It's impossible to clear them out. Let's take this opportunity to clean out a group of people. It would be best to find a way to plant a few of our people in the Imperial City Division."

"Within two years, at least under our jurisdiction, the influence of the Imperial City Department must be reduced to the lowest level."

Today, the Wu Zhou Dynasty is on the decline, and they don't actually have too many resources to develop the Imperial City Division. In fact, after the Wang Junping Rebellion, the Imperial City Division had already suffered a heavy blow. The current Imperial City Division is only a part of the Imperial City Division at its peak.

Moreover, there is no way to develop the Imperial City Bureau, which means that the Imperial City Bureau is now a "stock" institution and it is unlikely to have any additional growth. After this round of cleanup is over, the Imperial City Bureau will not be able to make much waves in the prefectures and counties under Li Yun's rule.

Of course, this premise is that the list provided by the Wang family is correct.

If there is no problem with this list, Li Yun will at least give the Wang family a position of governor in return.

The premise is that the Wang family’s abilities are not too bad.

In fact, the people who can be sent out by various families to do things at this time cannot be too bad in ability.

Meng Hai lowered his head and said, "I understand."

"it is good."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Go and do your job. If you do a good job, I will give you a promotion."

As Li Yun's follower, Meng Hai had a fairly high starting point after entering the Nine Departments. Now, he was already an important figure in the Nine Departments. If he was promoted again, he would basically be one of the several directors under Liu Bo.

Meng Hai was very calm. He lowered his head and smiled as he said, "For us Hexi people, we are happy to work for the higher-ups. It doesn't matter if we get promoted or not."

After saying this, he bowed his head, saluted, and carefully retreated.

Not long after he left, Su Zhan also came back to report, bowing his head and saying, "Sir, the one surnamed Wang has been arranged."

Li Yun looked at him, smiled and said, "I'm not happy."

Su Zhan took a deep breath and shook his head: "No."

He lowered his head and said, "My elder brother has told me that I am a follower of the superior. In this position, I should not have my own ideas. I will do whatever the superior says."

Li Yun patted his shoulder and said softly, "Brother Su taught you very well."

"Don't worry, don't worry."

Li Yun looked up at the door and said calmly, "Master Su's account will be settled sooner or later."

Having said this, he looked at Su Zhan and said with a smile, "Today, a batch of good things have just been delivered from Jinling. Wait a moment, I'll get you one."

After that, he walked into the inner room. Not long after, he took out a newly printed book and handed it to Su Zhan, saying, "Master Su spent more than ten years writing this handwritten book. It was later sent to me. I read it several times and gave it to General Zhao Cheng to sort out."

"At the end of the year, Brother Su also helped me sort it out. After the final draft was completed, it was handed over to the workshop in Jinling for engraving and printing. Now it is finally a book. This is the first batch of prints, and Jiusi just sent it to me today."

Su Zhan was the son born after General Su retired to his hometown. Due to the huge age difference between him and his old father, he rarely communicated with General Su.

Later, General Su died in the process of suppressing the rebellion. At that time, Su Zhan was actually only eleven or twelve years old, and his feelings were not particularly deep. It was only under Su Sheng's teaching that he remembered his father's great revenge.

Now, seeing the book with the words "Su Gong's Art of War" written on the cover, Su Zhan, who was already sixteen or seventeen years old, felt his heart tremble inexplicably. He took the book with both hands, flipped through two pages, then took two steps back, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to Li Yun.

"Thank you, my Lord. Thank you, my Lord!"

When Li Yun helped him up, he found that the young man was already in tears.

Seeing this, Li Yun sighed softly, "Although Master Su never accepted me as his disciple during his lifetime, he sent the letter to me. According to Brother Su, he accepted me as his disciple."

"You and I are brothers."

Li Yun looked at him and smiled softly, "These are what I should do. This book is the life's work of Master Su. When you take it back, study it carefully. If you don't understand anything, you can ask me directly."

Li Yun thought for a moment and continued, "Others who learn military tactics usually only have a book and a teacher at most. But you are different. You are with me, which means you are in the army. You can learn a lot of things by reading."

At this point, Mr. Li patted him on the shoulder and said seriously, "You can't be my follower all your life. I plan to send you to the army in the future. You must work hard, follow the example of your father and brothers, and inherit the family tradition."

Su Zhan put the "Su Gong Military Strategy" into his arms, wiped his tears with his hand, and said with his head down: "Su Zhan, I will definitely live up to the expectations of my superiors!"

.........

The next day, people from the Nine Departments sent Wang Yan to Jinling, but Li Yun did not wait for the people from his own headquarters. He still left Xiangzhou with only two hundred personal guards and rushed to Tangzhou.

His camp was left behind and slowly headed towards Tangzhou.

The speed of traveling on horseback is naturally very fast. In two days, Li Yun had arrived at the front-line army in Tangzhou and was invited to the general's tent to sit down.

On that day, he went to the commander's tent, and almost all the officers above the rank of captain in Zhao Cheng's army were present.

When everyone saw Li Yun, they all knelt on the ground and called him "Your Majesty".

Li Yun sat down at the main seat, raised his hand to signal everyone to stand up, then looked at Zhao Cheng and asked, "General Zhao, what's the situation on the front line..."

Zhao Cheng bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying, "My Lord, the military governor of Zhongwu Army, Zheng Can, will personally command Yuzhou, and they will only defend and not attack..."

At this point, Zhao Cheng smiled bitterly and said, "It will be difficult to take Yuzhou in a short time."

Li Yun raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

He read about the battle situation here in the military newspaper every day, and he was definitely not satisfied with Zhao Cheng's reply.

He looked at Meng Qing again, and Meng Qing immediately lowered his head and said, "Sir, the Zhongwu Army is basically in Yuzhou. They obviously want to stop our army and buy time for the Shuofang Army."

Li Yun nodded, tapped the table with his hand, and narrowed his eyes.

"That General Wei has not even arrived in the Central Plains yet, but his methods are already very powerful."

(End of this chapter)