Thief Emperor

Chapter 836 Generals Gathered
At the beginning, when Li Yun went down the mountain to start his business, he was short of people. He once asked the village chief of Lijia Village at the foot of the mountain if there were any young and strong people who would go to Qingyang with him to work as yamen runners.

After all, we are of the same clan, so I can use it with confidence.

However, Cangshan Dazhai had a bad reputation at that time, and the old man was afraid to avoid it, so he hurriedly refused.

To this day, Li Yun certainly wouldn't show off anything on purpose, but he still really wanted to know whether the old village chief was still alive.

Meng Qing looked at Li Yun and asked, "Sir, the war in Hebei Province..."

"The overall situation is almost settled. With Generals Su Sheng and Zhao Cheng here, there won't be any major waves. However, we will need an army stationed in the south of Youzhou in the future."

"Hengzhou also needs an army stationed here."

Meng Qing thought about it seriously and asked, "Shangwei, Hedong, Youzhou, Guanzhong, Shuzhong, and some other places, are you not going to fight?"

"Of course I have to fight."

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea and said calmly, "It's just that the money and food can't sustain it. Mr. Du means that we should rest for three to five years and accumulate some energy before taking action. My attitude is that we can take a rest for one to two years at most and then we can take action."

At this point, he looked at Meng Qing and said with a smile: "These places will probably have to be conquered by different troops. If I let you lead an army, where would you go to conquer?"

Meng Qing bowed his head slightly, then said, "I want to attack Youzhou or Shuzhong."

He looked up at Li Yun and said seriously, "Guanzhong is also fine."

Li Yun smiled and said, "These are all very difficult."

Meng Qing took a deep breath, stood up, clasped his fists towards Li Yun and said, "I have been cultivated by you for many years. When the time comes for me to be used, I will naturally pick the hard bones to chew. If I can't chew it, I will be sorry for your cultivation over the years."

Li Yun looked at him and smiled, "Don't be so reserved. Sit down and talk. Sit down and talk."

What is direct lineage?

If the generals who came from the anti-theft team are Li Yun's direct subordinates, then people like Meng Qing, Li Zheng, and Chen Da are the most direct of the direct subordinates. They are a small group of people that Li Yun can completely trust.

And this small group of people may even be the cornerstone of the stability of the new dynasty's regime in the future.

Because if they don't have any problems, the direct line of the anti-theft team in the outer circle will not have any problems, and those further out will be even less likely to have any problems.

Power is often consolidated layer by layer.

"When we return to Jinling, I will find you a wife. At your age, it's time for you to get married."

Meng Qing took a deep breath, stood up and clasped his fists, saying: "Over the years since I took over, you have treated me like your own parents. These things..."

"Subordinates all follow the orders of their superiors."

Hearing this, Li Yun was quite moved. He stood up and patted Meng Qing on the shoulder.

"Good boy, good boy."

"Tonight, let's have a good drink together, brothers."

Meng Qing did not hesitate, and bowed and said: "I obey your command!"

…………

In a blink of an eye, another ten days passed.

At this time, the fighting on the Dingzhou battlefield had come to an end.

After suffering heavy casualties, the Fanyang Army still refused to surrender to Li Yun. Xiao Heng led the remnants of the Fanyang Army in Dingzhou and the Fanyang Army in Yingzhou and Mozhou areas, and marched north to Yizhou.

Only two or three thousand Khitan cavalrymen in Cangzhou escaped, and most of the rest were annihilated by Su Sheng's troops, and a number of Khitans were also captured.

After the defeat of the Fanyang Army, the Hedong Army did not dare to fight in Hebei Road, and completely retracted its tentacles and retreated to Hedong Road.

In this way, although Li Yun did not occupy all the prefectures and counties in Hebei Province from Youzhou to the south, they were already in his pocket. In the next period of time, he only needed to send people to take over these prefectures and counties one after another, and there would not be too many obstacles.

At this time, the King of Wu's carriage coming from Jinling had just arrived in Yingzhou, Hebei Province, and stopped in Hejian.

Because Li Yun himself was in Hejian at this time.

Except for Li Yun, all the important generals from various aspects of Hebei Province rode fast horses to Hejian to participate in this "meeting" which was very important for the entire Hebei Province.

That morning, Zhao Cheng, who had been riding a horse all the way, dismounted at the gate of an inconspicuous mansion in Hejian City. After confirming with his entourage that this was the place, he lowered his head, tidied his clothes, turned around and walked into the mansion.

Not long after he walked in, he saw General Su Shengsu resting under a pavilion in the courtyard. Zhao Cheng hurriedly stepped forward, clasped his fists in salute, and said with a smile: "Brother, you look so leisurely."

Su Sheng stood up and returned the greeting, cupped his fists towards Zhao Cheng and said with a smile, "Brother, you came so quickly. Didn't you take a break along the way?"

"so far so good."

Zhao Cheng smiled and said, "Yu Ye and He Jun are already capable of handling matters on their own. If we leave the military affairs to them, there won't be any major problems. After I received the news from Jiu Si, I came here immediately, although it was a bit urgent."

“But we still took breaks along the way.”

At this point, Zhao Cheng smiled at Su Sheng and said, "Congratulations, brother. You were the main general in the conquest of Hebei this time, and your contribution is enormous." Su Sheng shook his head slightly and said with a smile, "I only fought with the Khitans for a few months. In the end, I only killed more than 10,000 Khitans, and I suffered a lot of casualties myself."

"The real credit goes to the Pinglu Army, which dealt a heavy blow to the Fanyang Army, and General Xiao Meng, who also won a great victory over the Fanyang Army."

As they talked, they sat down together under the pavilion. Zhao Cheng smiled and said, "That's not what I said. It was decided at the end of the year that you, brother, would be in charge of the war in Hebei Province. Now, all the credit for Hebei Province can be attributed to you, brother."

"Brother..."

Zhao Cheng smiled softly and said, "Is he going to be promoted to general?"

Hearing this, Su Sheng couldn't help but smile.

This was what Li Yun had agreed with him before he arrived in Hebei. Now that the chaos in Hebei has been basically quelled, only some fragments remain. Most of what Li Yun promised at the beginning will now be fulfilled.

"That can't be happening right now."

Su Sheng waved his hand and said with a smile: "I guess it will be later..."

He didn't say it clearly, but his meaning was clear. He said that he would be promoted to general after Li Yun took office.

At this point, he looked at Zhao Cheng again and said with a smile: "By then, we brothers will probably be together."

Zhao Cheng waved his hands to show that he couldn't do it, and then he suddenly lowered his voice and said, "I heard that brother captured a lot of Khitans in Cangzhou, and also a lot of Khitan horses?"

Su Sheng looked at Zhao Cheng, nodded and smiled, "We did catch a lot. Brother, you don't know, those Khitans are very difficult to deal with. I surrounded them from several sides and fought them for more than a month before we finished the battle."

"Even my cavalry suffered heavy casualties."

He looked at Zhao Cheng with a generous smile, and said, "Brother, if you like those war horses, I will tell the superiors without hesitation and I will give you one thousand horses."

Zhao Cheng shook his head and said with a smile: "A gentleman does not take away what others love. I don't want those ready-made war horses, but..."

"The Khitans that my brother captured..."

"Can you give some to your brothers?"

The Khitans were skilled in horsemanship and could be used to train their own cavalry.

Su Sheng coughed and said, "The superior said that we will soon attack Youzhou and recapture Youyan. Those Khitan captives will be useful..."

General Zhao smiled dumbly: "Brother is stingy."

The two of them joked for a while before Zhao Cheng remembered the serious business and said, "By the way, when does the meeting start? Where is the Supreme now?"

"There's still half an hour left. We'll discuss matters after half an hour."

Su Sheng looked at the inner courtyard of the mansion and said with a smile, "In the morning, the people from the Fanyang Lu family arrived. It just so happened that the king who ascended the throne also arrived in Hejian, and brought Madam Lu to Hejian with him. Now the king is inside to meet the people from the Fanyang Lu family."

"Fanyang Lu family..."

Hearing this, Zhao Cheng couldn't help but mutter, "A famous family for generations."

Su Sheng hummed, and said softly: "It is indeed a famous family for generations."

He chuckled and said, "I'll see if I can get to know them in the next few days and ask for a daughter of the Lu family to marry into our Su family."

Zhao Cheng was speechless: "Brother, you are in a good mood."

Su Sheng waved his hands quickly: "I'm not looking for a wife for myself. My little brother Su Zhan is old enough to get married."

Zhao Cheng was stunned for a moment, then shook his head slightly: "Su Zhan has been with you for a long time, don't worry about this matter, brother, just let you arrange it for him."

"The higher-ups will make proper arrangements."

Su Sheng was thoughtful when he heard this. Just as he was about to speak, Zhou Chang, who was not far away, strode forward and saluted the two men with his fists clasped together: "Zhou Chang greets the two generals."

Both of them stood up, clasped their fists and returned the greeting with a smile.

Soon, Li Zheng and Gongsun Hao also entered the courtyard, and everyone saluted each other with fists.

Zhou Chang and Gongsun Hao looked at each other, both with complicated expressions.

After a while, Meng Qing was the last one to arrive. He clasped his fists and saluted to everyone with a very respectful look.

Everyone gathered together and chatted about the war in Hebei Province. When they were happily chatting, Xue Gui trotted over and bowed to everyone.

"Generals, please come in and discuss matters."

Everyone looked at Xue Gui together and smiled at him at the same time.

"Young Master Xue, please lead the way."

(End of this chapter)