Thief Emperor

Chapter 727 Returning home in glory
The west gate of the capital city was wide open.

A bearded, tall and thin middle-aged man in his forties, escorted a heavily tied-up man to his knees. He bowed his head respectfully and said, "General, the traitor Zhou Hu has been captured by me. Please punish him!"

This man is indeed Yang Hou, a general under Liang Wen.

Zhou Hu is another great general.

At this time, Wei Quanzhong was standing in front of the two men, with his hands behind his back, looking at Yang Hou and also at Zhou Hu who was tied up tightly.

After watching for a long time, Wei Quanzhong shook his head and sighed: "If Liang Wen was as smart as you, he might still be alive and kicking right now."

He smiled and said, "You have a lot of troops under your command, but you come to the capital to serve as a dog for the emperor's son. How stupid."

As he said this, he looked at Yang Hou and said with a smile: "General Yang is very righteous, and I am very pleased. In Guanzhong, General Yang should be remembered as the greatest meritorious service. From now on, General Yang will follow me. Whatever Liang Wen gives you, I will double it."

At this time, Yang Hou also heard what Wei Quanzhong wanted to hear, he immediately changed the address, bowed deeply and said: "Thank you, my king!"

"Your Majesty, this Zhou Hu..."

"Should I kill him immediately?"

"Confused."

General Wei smiled and said, "If I wanted to kill him, why would I ask you to capture him alive?"

At this point, he raised his knife and cut the ropes on Zhou Hu, and said calmly: "I will spare your life because of your loyalty. Are you willing to follow me and work together for the great cause?"

Zhou Hu gritted his teeth and said, "I will follow the Marshal and won't follow anyone else!"

After saying that, he looked up at Yang Hou, his eyes filled with endless anger: "Go ahead! Even if I die, I will not let this damn Yang Hou go!"

General Wei was not in a hurry, he just smiled and said: "Your general was just captured by the emperor and taken to Shuzhong, he may not be dead. Even if he is dead, you follow me, one day in the future, you may be able to kill the emperor and avenge Liang Wen."

Zhou Hu widened his eyes, looked up at Wei Quanzhong, and didn't speak for a long time.

General Wei looked at him with a half-smile, then waved his hand and said calmly, "Take him away and let him calm down."

Soon, Zhou Hu was dragged away.

General Wei patted Yang Hou on the shoulder and smiled: "Brother Yang, I took the capital, and you have made great contributions. Let's go into the city. Whichever woman in the city you like will sleep on your bed tonight!"

Yang Hou took a deep breath and bowed his head, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, but of course, you have to choose the woman first."

Wei Quanzhong looked at him with a half-smile, then said with a smile: "I almost forgot, General Yang has been in the capital for a while, and he probably has gotten enough sleep."

Yang Hou didn't know what Wei Quanzhong meant, so he lowered his head and didn't dare to speak.

General Wei laughed, pulled his sleeve, and entered the capital together.

When Wei Quanzhong went to Beijing for the second time, his mentality was very different from the last time.

At this time in the capital, there were no longer the two hateful military governors Li Tong and Xiao Xian, and no longer the cowardly emperor. No one could restrain him at all!
That night, the Shuofang Jiedushi, who had been promoted by the previous emperor, moved into the palace without any hesitation and slept on the dragon bed.

For the next three days, the Shuofang Army looted the capital city to vent their anger.

The subordinates selected several young women with outstanding looks and good family backgrounds from the robbed women and sent them to Wei Quanzhong's bed. General Wei was very happy and, together with his subordinates, enjoyed himself for three days.

Three days later, General Wei finally came to his senses from his gentle state and met Cui Shao, who had been asking to see him for several days. After Cui Shao explained the pros and cons, he finally came to his senses. He sat on the throne in Chongde Hall, summoned his subordinates, and ordered in a deep voice: "In the capital, officials and their families are not allowed to move without permission, let alone rob their families!"

If you want to be an emperor, you cannot persecute the nobles, and you cannot persecute the officials in the capital, because these people can build government offices, build administrative systems, and build a new dynasty.

Otherwise, no matter how much territory you occupy or how many troops you have, you are essentially still a warlord.

Can't last long.

General Wei was born a peasant, and he was able to make it to where he is today, so he was certainly not a fool. He had already understood the interests involved, and during the meeting in the Chongde Hall, he restrained his subordinates with a very stern tone.

After being scolded by him, many of these generals lowered their heads in embarrassment.

After all, in these three days, everything that needed to be snatched had been snatched, and everything that needed to be slept had been slept.

It is impossible to ask them to return the things they stole, and it is even more impossible to ask them to restore the innocence of those women.

Fortunately, there are many people in Beijing.

No matter how evil the tens of thousands of soldiers do, only a small number of people will be harmed.

Restraining subordinates at this moment will always have some effect.

After a meeting, many generals left. Cui Shao stood in front of Wei Quanzhong and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, we should issue a notice to inform the world that our Shuofang Army is coming to the capital to serve the king and protect him."

"It's just that the emperor left first and we didn't have time to catch up." Wei Quanzhong disagreed and said calmly: "Ji Zong, are you too cautious? How many people in the world are still on the side of Wu Zhou?"

"At this time, shouting such words is completely useless. It is better to think about how to take control of all the states in Guanzhong as soon as possible."

"Then subdue the officials left in the capital."

At this point, Wei Quanzhong's eyes were somewhat excited, and he said in a deep voice: "The emperor ran away in a panic this time. He did not bring many officials from the court with him. I guess he didn't expect to come back."

"Wu Zhou is dead!"

Cui Shao frowned, and was about to say something when a messenger rushed in from outside the door, knelt on the ground, bowed his head and kowtowed: "General, urgent news from the Central Plains!"

Hearing these four words, the smile on Wei Quanzhong's face suddenly froze, and he even frowned subconsciously.

During this period, things went so smoothly for him in Guanzhong and the capital, and his life was so "good" that he almost forgot about the troubles in the Central Plains, and almost forgot that there was Li Yun behind him stirring up trouble.

General Wei frowned and said in a deep voice, "Read it."

The messenger looked up at Cui Shao, then lowered his head and read: "General, the major general wrote to say that Luoyang City has been surrounded by the Jiangdong Army, and the Jiangdong Army has begun to attack Luoyang, but not fiercely."

"The major general said he could hold out for three months to six months."

"However, the Jiangdong Army has more and more people besieging the city. It will be difficult to send letters out in the future."

General Wei nodded and said in a muffled voice: "This kid surnamed Li is really brave. He arrived right after I left."

"Any more news?"

"And, and."

The messenger bowed his head and said, "Our men in the Central Plains came back to report that the Jiangdong Army, in addition to besieging Luoyang, has also allocated a considerable portion of its forces to begin occupying the prefectures and counties around Luoyang, and the speed is quite fast. Wherever they go, almost no one can stop them."

"Occupy the states and counties..."

Wei Quanzhong thought about it, but didn't understand Li Yun's intention.

In his eyes, the current situation should be a large-scale military operation, and dispersing troops to various states and counties would be quite foolish.

After thinking about it, Wei Quanzhong could only think that it might be Li Yun who felt that it was hopeless to capture Luoyang and wanted to take the opportunity to occupy the prefectures and counties near Luoyang and make a fortune in these prefectures and counties.

After listening to the report, General Wei waved his hand to dismiss the messenger, then he looked at Cui Shao and said slowly: "Ji Zong, the Hedong Li family has been timid and unwilling to come forward. I can't move now. You go to see that Li Hao for me."

"Tell him that if he doesn't move forward, the Central Plains will fall into the hands of the thief Li."

Cui Shao nodded his head first, then he looked up at Wei Quanzhong and couldn't help but persuade him: "Your Highness, this is already a chaotic time. The people in various places that have suffered from war are living in misery."

"How could Li Yun, a mere bandit, become so powerful? Because he could pretend to be kind and deceive the people. After being deceived by this bandit, the people under his rule rushed to join the army!"

"This thief is gradually gaining strength."

"Your Majesty, the most important thing at this moment is to gather people's hearts."

"He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world."

"OK OK."

General Wei was a little impatient: "You nobles are all the same. I already know this."

He said calmly, "You can leave now."

Cui Shao was silent for a while, then he sighed and lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, my uncle should still be in the capital. I want to go see him."

"You go, you go."

Wei Quanzhong smiled and said, "I will assign you a team of soldiers. You can go home and show off your power. It can be considered a great return home."

Cui Shao shook his head.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

He sighed.

"I am currently at the Cui family..."

"I'm afraid it can't be considered a return home in glory."

(End of this chapter)