Thief Emperor

Chapter 707: A Smile When We Meet

Naturally, the victory report of the war had to be sent to Li Yun as quickly as possible. However, this time, Li Zheng was smart. He did not send a messenger to deliver the letter to Li Yun, but asked Zhang Hu to report the victory to Li Yun.

Before leaving, Li Zheng gave a few specific instructions.

"When you get to Second Brother, don't say too much. Just say you're here to report a victory. Don't make Second Brother angry again."

Zhang Hu was still a little unconvinced, and said in a muffled voice: "When did I make him angry? Didn't he just not stop and beat and killed a few people? In his early years, he beat and killed fewer people, didn't he?"

In his early years, when Li Yun just started his career, he appointed Zhang Hu as his captain of the guard, which is the position where Yang Xi is now. Zhang Hu has no problem with his fighting ability, but he is not very smart, and once a fight starts, he will get carried away and cannot stop.

At that time, he was the captain of Li Yun's guard. Sometimes when he got angry, Li Yun couldn't control him. Some people who Li Yun thought were unnecessary to kill died in his hands.

Moreover, he did not get along well with other people in Li Yun's original guard. Simply put, there was no problem for him to be a thug, but it was impossible for him to be a "leader".

Li Yun scolded him, but he refused to accept it.

It was also for this reason that Li Yun did not continue to use him and picked Yang Xi from the anti-theft team to replace him.

Later, the two brothers had a quarrel like this, and later, Zhang Hu followed Li Zheng and left Jinling.

Hearing Zhang Hu's words, Li Zheng frowned and cursed in a low voice: "You bastard, when will you wake up!"

"If you're still not convinced, then don't go see Second Brother. Just wait and see if you can still see Second Brother in a few years!"

Zhang Hu snorted, but his voice was much quieter. He turned his head away, his eyes reddened. "I followed my second brother and fought hard every time. Now that he's an official, he's different now. Don't you think so, Skinny Monkey?"

"He is no longer the same person as the second brother he used to be."

Li Zheng frowned, then sighed: "Forget it, forget it, you should just stay with me. Second brother doesn't have a very good temper either. If you two quarrel again one day, we might even start fighting."

He looked at Zhang Hu and snorted, "If you piss him off, he'll beat you to death."

"You are already twenty-six years old, and you have made no progress at all."

Zhang Hu clenched his fists and was angry for a long time. Then he turned his head to look at Li Zheng, snatched the letter of victory from his hand, and gritted his teeth: "I'll go!"

"Isn't it just bowing your head and admitting your mistakes?"

Li Zheng smiled. He patted Zhang Hu on the shoulder and said, "Listen carefully. When you get there, tell him about our great victory in Lingnan and give him the letter. Don't say anything else. If Second Brother asks about me, just tell him that I'm fine."

Zhang Hu responded, looked at Li Zheng, and sighed: "Shou Hou, I have figured it out in the past few years. At that time, my second brother had just become an official..."

He was silent for a while, then whispered, "Now, we are all grown up, don't worry, I won't do anything rash."

As he said this, he lowered his head to look at the letter in his hand, took a deep breath, and got on his horse: "Then I'm leaving, Skinny Monkey, please help me take care of my wife."

Li Zheng smiled at him: "Don't worry."

Zhang Hu got on his horse and took a few steps before turning back to Li Zheng, clasping his fists and shouting, "Thank you, General Li!"

Hearing the words "General Li", Li Zheng was stunned, then looked at Zhang Hu who was walking away and smiled dumbly: "After getting married, things are really different."

…………

Zhang Hu led a dozen knights of the Lingnan Army and headed north from Xunzhou. It took them almost half a month to reach Chenzhou.

After arriving in Chenzhou and entering the city, Zhang Hu jumped off his horse and couldn't help but tighten his clothes.

He was in Lingnan, still wearing light clothes, but at this time, autumn had already arrived in Chenzhou.

The temperature difference is too big.

Zhang Hu brought Li Zheng's documents all the way to the gate of Li Yun's Wuwang Xingyuan. Su Zhan came out to greet him. When he saw him, he immediately smiled and said, "Is it General Zhang?"

Zhang Hu looked at Su Zhan, somewhat puzzled.

Su Zhan quickly lowered his head and said, "I am Su Zhan, an attendant of the king."

Zhang Hu grinned and said, "Didn't Zhou Bi do this job before?"

If Zhou Bi was here, he would probably call him "Myna", but Su Zhan was not very familiar with the people in the old Cangshan village. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Brother Zhou has been transferred to the Privy Council and has been promoted."

Hearing the words "Brother Zhou", Zhang Hu was stunned and seemed to understand something.

Before we knew it, the little guy Zhou Bi had become someone else's big brother.

In a daze, he was led all the way to the door of Li Yun's study, but was not taken directly into the study.

Because at this moment, someone was meeting Li Yun in the study room. It was none other than Liu Zhiyuan, the governor of Chenzhou.

Liu Zhiyuan smiled and bowed to Li Yun, saying, "Your Majesty, half a month ago, I was ordered to accompany General Zhao to search for his relatives. After searching for a few days, there was no result. Later, General Zhao led his troops away. I ordered people to continue searching according to the clues General Zhao left. Now we finally have news. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I will be able to bring the people to Chenzhou."

Li Yun looked up at the fawning governor of Chenzhou in front of him, thought for a moment, and said, "After receiving Chenzhou, treat him well and don't neglect him. Then send someone to write a letter to General Zhao and tell him."

"If it's confirmed, I'll go and see him."

Liu Zhiyuan nodded quickly and said yes. Then he looked up at Li Yun cautiously. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I see that you have been in Chenzhou for a while and you don't even have a servant around you. It's really hard. I... I have a daughter who just turned fifteen this year. If Your Majesty doesn't abandon her, I am willing to send her to Your Majesty and serve Your Majesty."

Li Yun raised his head and glanced at him with a half-smile: "Do you want to be my father-in-law?"

"I dare not, I dare not." Liu Zhiyuan waved his hands and said, "I just want to serve the king. I don't ask for any title. If the king is satisfied, I will be satisfied with giving him a wife."

Li Yun now has a queen, two princesses, and a lady from the Fanyang Lu family.

For someone of his status, Madam is just an ordinary title for a concubine.

Li Yun shook his head: "Forget it, he is too young."

Liu Zhiyuan nodded quickly, said a few more polite words, and then retreated cautiously.

After he walked out of Li Yun's study, the counselor from the governor's mansion came up to him. Envoy Liu frowned and whispered to the counselor, "Bad news. The king doesn't like young people."

The master was in his forties, thin, with a mustache. Hearing this, he whispered, "Master, at the king's age, it's impossible that he doesn't like women. He doesn't like young women, so I think he likes young women."

"I will go look for it right away."

Liu Zhiyuan frowned when he heard this and said, "Your Majesty, I strictly forbid harassing the people. If he finds out, I'm afraid I'll lose my life."

The lawyer chuckled.

"Master, you are confused. There are so many gentlemen in this city who are vying to send women to the king."

"Why do we need to disturb the people?"

The two people were talking back and forth, and Liu Zhiyuan's eyes lit up. At this moment, Zhang Hu came towards him, glanced at the two people, passed by them, and soon arrived at Li Yun's study.

He strode into the study and looked up at Li Yun.

Li Yun was looking through documents and didn't seem to notice.

Zhang Hu looked at Li Yun seriously, took a deep breath, knelt down on his knees with his head touching the ground, and spoke in a rough voice.

"Zhang Hu pays respect to His Majesty!"

"I am here to deliver a letter under the order of General Li."

It was not until this time that Li Yun raised his head. He put down the brush in his hand and looked at Zhang Hu, who was kneeling in front of him with his butt sticking up.

There was a long silence in the study.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Yun finally stood up, walked to Zhang Hu, reached out his hand to help him up, and sighed: "After getting married and having children, you are really different from before. With your previous personality, you would never bow your head like this."

In recent years, Zhang Hu also found a marriage partner in the south and had a son last year.

Being a father, you naturally think more, otherwise, there wouldn’t be this scene today.

Zhang Hu raised his head, looked at Li Yun, then lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I was wrong before..."

Li Yun patted his shoulder and shook his head, saying, "You can still call me the same as before."

Zhang Hu responded and called him "Second Brother".

Hearing these two words, Li Yun also smiled, looked back at him, and said with a smile: "What are your plans?"

"Nothing planned."

Zhang Hu smiled at Li Yun and said, "I just came to see my second brother and apologize to him."

"I'm at Shouhou's place, and I have things to do too."

"Oh, right."

Zhang Hu handed the document to Li Yun and said with a smile: "I almost forgot the main thing. Lingnan won a great victory. We defeated the Lingnan army."

Li Yun took the document, unfolded it and read it through. His expression did not change much. Instead, he looked up at Zhang Hu and smiled.

"The war in Lingnan should be over soon. When the battle in the south is over, you can take your wife and children and follow the skinny monkey back to Nanjing."

"I haven't seen your child yet."

At this point, Li Yun was silent for a while, and then continued, "I'm afraid you haven't seen my children either, right?"

Zhang Hu thought for a moment and replied, "Master, I have seen him once."

"What do you mean by eldest son or not eldest son?"

Li Yun glanced at him and scolded him with a smile: "You keep talking nonsense."

He patted Zhang Hu on the shoulder and continued.

"I don't think it will be possible by the end of this year. Next year, when I have some free time, we can get together with the brothers from the old village and the next generation."

"Have a drink."

Zhang Hu looked at Li Yun and they smiled at each other.

"Yes, second brother."

(End of this chapter)