Thief Emperor

Chapter 793 Justified

The battle has reached this point, and the rest is actually "garbage time".

All the suspense has been resolved, and Li Yun has people available under his command, so there is naturally no need to stay on the battlefield to do these subsequent finishing work.

After all, he doesn't need any credit.

Because all the credit of the Jiangdong Army came from him.

As for how much can be gained from this battle on the northern front, it depends on the subsequent performance of the soldiers on the western front. At that time, Li Yun only needs to take a look at the reports and approve a batch of documents.

In fact, this situation will most likely become the norm in the future.

After establishing his capital in the Central Plains, apart from the relatively threatening forces such as Shuofang, there would not be many wars that would require him to lead the army in person.

After talking to Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing for a few words, Li Yun handed over all the troops except his own guard camp to Zhao Cheng and Meng Qing. At the same time, he also handed over the command of the entire northern battlefield to Zhao Cheng.

Giving this simple "harvest time" to Zhao Cheng would not always be beneficial. If the results on the northern front were normal or exceeded the standard, then there would naturally be no problem. However, if the results were not satisfactory, Li would be angry with Zhao Cheng.

After the three men met, Li Yun spoke a few words to Meng Qing alone, and then took Meng Qing for a tour around the army.

Afterwards, Li Yun rested in the army for two days, then led his guard camp and the injured Su Zhan, withdrew from the battlefield, and rode back to Luoyang.

The border between Zezhou and Huaizhou is not far from Luoyang. It only takes a day's ride on horseback. Li Yun took care of Su Zhan, who was injured, a little. However, it took a day and a half, that is, at noon of the second day after departure, to return to Luoyang.

When Li Yun returned to Luoyang, Du Qian, Yao Zhong, and other officials were all waiting at the door. When Li Yun's mount approached, everyone knelt on the ground and kowtowed in salute.

"Greetings to the King."

"Greetings to the king!"

Even Du Qian knelt on the ground. Li Yun got off his horse, glanced at the people kneeling on both sides, then walked towards Du Qian, stretched out his hand to help him up, shook his head and smiled, "Brother Shouyi, why do you want to show such a great courtesy?"

Du Qian stood up, looked up at Li Yun, and then said with a meaningful smile: "The Highness has personally decided on Zhongyuan. From now on, anyone who sees the Highness must kowtow to him, otherwise it would be impolite."

Li Yun laughed in silence, then looked at Yao Zhong next to him and said with a smile: "Mr. Yao, please stand up too. Stand up."

He looked around and said with a deep laugh, "Everyone get up, everyone get up."

After all the officials stood up, he turned to look at Du Qian and Yao Zhong, and said with a smile: "You two, I have worked hard for more than a month on this trip, and finally I have conquered a peaceful Central Plains for you. You two must govern this Central Plains well for me, and don't let my hard work go to waste."

Although the battlefield on the northern front was still going on at this time, the outcome was already determined. That is, for quite a long time, no one dared to invade the Central Plains.

To be precise, for a long time in the future, I'm afraid that only Li Yun will invade others, and no one else will dare to invade Li's territory.

Du Qian and Yao Zhong looked at each other and said with a smile, "Brother Juzhong, please remember this well. This Central Plains will be under the rule of Brother Juzhong from now on."

Yao Zhong quickly lowered his head and said, "I will always be under the rule of the superior and Prime Minister Du."

Li Yun smiled dumbly and did not respond. Instead, he looked at Du Qian and asked, "Has the Hongnong Yang family come to see Brother Du recently?"

"Been here."

Du Qian bowed slightly and said with a smile, "This family is very polite. They don't have the spirit of a thousand-year-old family at all. They even took the initiative to tell me that they want to donate some money and food to our Jiangdong Army to provide for our military pay expenses."

Li Yun smiled and said, "This family is so slippery. I didn't find any chance to cause trouble for them. But it's okay. Since the Hongnong Yang family is sensible, I won't cause trouble for them."

"correct."

Li Yun looked at Yao Zhong again and said, "Mr. Yao, the autumn crops in the Central Plains will not be harvested this year, but after the new year, the spring sowing must be done well to ensure that all prefectures and counties in the Central Plains resume production as much as possible. Tell the people below that as long as they actively cooperate with the government, they can resume farming."

"Next year, I can stop collecting money and grain from them."

Yao Zhong took a deep breath and whispered, "My Lord, I will definitely take care of the spring sowing. As for whether to collect money and grain next year, I think there is no need to decide now. We can talk about it next year."

He thought for a moment and said, "I think that the money and grain from the Central Plains can be collected normally next year. Your Majesty is away at war and may not know that last month, some people took the initiative to come to the government office to hand in their money and grain."

Li Yun looked at Yao Zhong and was a little surprised: "Is there anyone who is willing to pay money and grain?"

Du Qian smiled and said, "Now that you are in power, you have already gained the support of the people in the Central Plains."

Li Yun thought about it and said, "With those sensible aristocratic families, we are not short of money for the time being. At this time, we must try our best to win over the people's hearts."

"You don't have to worry so much about money and food."

He put his hands behind his back, looked at the officials nearby, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, even if I have no money, I will not treat you unfairly." Yao Zhong quickly nodded his head and dared not say anything else.

In this way, Li Yun was welcomed all the way into Luoyang City and returned to his headquarters in Luoyang.

That day Li Yun found a doctor from Luoyang to treat Su Zhan.

Later, he had a meal with Du Qian and Yao Zhong at his own headquarters. At the dinner table, the three of them decided on the structure of Luoyang and the Central Plains for the next few years.

After the meal, Li Yun personally saw Du Qian and Yao Zhong off. When they reached the door, Li Yun looked at them and said in a deep voice, "You two, the military and politics have always been separate. We are not at a disadvantage in the military, and the Jiangdong Army has even won a great victory by fighting one against two."

"In terms of politics, you two must not let down the Jiangdong Army's efforts and the lives of so many Jiangdong Army soldiers who died in battle."

Du Qian knelt on the ground without saying anything, bowed his head deeply and said: "I will do my best."

Yao Zhong was a little slow to react. When he saw Du Qian kneeling, he knelt down as well and quickly lowered his head.

"Don't worry, my lord. If I do anything illegal, I am willing to die!"

…………

In a blink of an eye, ten days passed.

Time came to the late autumn and early winter of the sixth year of Zhaoding.

In the Luoyang headquarters, Li Yun, who had been resting for several days, was wearing an outer robe and playing chess with Du Qian.

Li Yun would definitely not be able to beat Du Qian, a son of an aristocratic family, in playing Go. However, Li Yun had some accomplishments in chess, and his chess skills were similar to Du Qian's. The two of them often had a lot of fun playing chess.

At this moment, the game had already reached the back stage, and neither side could do anything to the other. Just when Li Yun was about to advance to general again, Meng Hai trotted over, ran in front of Li Yun, lowered his head and said, "Sir, military report from General Zhao of Zezhou!"

Li Yun then looked up at Meng Hai, then turned his head to look at Du Qian, and said helplessly: "Let's draw, let's draw."

Du Qian smiled and nodded, accepting the draw.

Li Yun flipped through Zhao Cheng's military newspaper and said, "When I played chess with Brother Shouyi, three or four out of ten games ended in a draw. I wonder if Brother Shouyi is in control of the game."

Du Qian quickly shook his head and said, "I am on par with the top players in chess, how can I control the board?"

"Yes, it is true that no one can do anything to anyone else."

Li Yun shook his head slightly, opened Zhao Cheng's document, read it carefully, then closed it with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Brother Shouyi, we can have a good New Year when we return to Jinling this year."

Du Qian smiled when he heard this: "It seems that General Zhao has achieved great results in the battle."

Li Yun handed over the document and said with a smile, "Brother Shouyi, please read it yourself."

Du Qian took the document with both hands, unfolded it and took a look.

He read the document quickly, then looked at Li Yun and said with emotion: "We killed more than 20,000 enemies, captured thousands of prisoners, and dispersed the enemy troops. This time, the Hedong Army was seriously injured."

At this point, Du Qian was also a little excited. He couldn't help but say: "From now on, the upper position will completely occupy the Central Plains and the world."

"Out of ten, seven or eight out of ten are in the upper ranks!"

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "How can it be so exaggerated?"

"It's just that we are indeed in a good momentum right now."

Du Qian was all smiles: "It's more than just a good momentum."

"When your Highness returns to Jinling to celebrate the New Year this year, the most important thing he should do is to think about Yu Ji's affairs."

Li Yun was speechless: "Are you so anxious?"

"That's how anxious I am."

Du Qian said this in a serious tone.

"The position is not right..."

"Then the words don't flow."

(End of this chapter)