Thief Emperor

Chapter 838 Returning home in glory
After the meeting, Zhou Chang was the first to leave and went back to reorganize the army.

The direct descendants of Jiangdong stayed a little longer, did some team-building and had a few meals together.

At the dinner table, everyone spoke more casually. Su Sheng raised his glass, toasted Li Yun, and praised: "I have been in Hebei Province for half a year, but have achieved nothing. I just arrived in Hebei Province, and in less than two months, Hebei Province has been almost pacified."

"In the history books of later generations, based on this incident alone, the ascendant Shenwu will be glorious for eternity."

Li Yun clinked glasses with him and smiled dumbly: "These are the results of our planning for more than half a year. How can I accomplish them in just one or two months?"

Zhao Cheng at the side said with a smile: "Why would it take one or two months to take the position?"

"Let's count the days. It has only been ten days since the king arrived in Hebei."

Zhao Cheng said seriously: "This sentence should be recorded in the history books of future generations."

"The king marched north for ten days and defeated the bandits, and Hebei was finally pacified."

Zhao Cheng had obviously read a lot of books, and this sentence sounded very much like the tone in history books.

Su Sheng, who was standing by, was stunned, then he smiled and said, "General Zhao is right."

"Your Majesty conquered Hebei in ten days, and this story will be passed down through the ages!"

Li Yun also found it a little funny when he heard their words, but when he thought about the possible records in later history books, he felt a little dazed.

According to Wang Jia's itinerary, he had indeed just arrived in Hebei for about ten days at this time. It is possible that later historical books actually recorded that he conquered Hebei in ten days.

Think about the many outrageous records in history books...

Maybe part of it came from this.

Mr. Li shook his head, clinked his glasses with them, and said with a smile: "We are all brothers, so stop flattering me. If you praise me too much in the future and I become a tyrant, it will all be your fault."

Everyone laughed and clinked their glasses to drink again.

General Su raised his head, drank the wine in the cup, and said, "Your Majesty came from humble beginnings and has seen too much suffering among the people. No matter what, you will not become a tyrant."

After a few rounds of drinking, Li Zheng began to stand up to block the drinking for Li Yun. Not long after, he also drank a lot. When everyone was about five or six points drunk, Zhao Cheng looked up at Li Yun and asked, "Your Majesty, are we going back to Jinling?"

"Ah."

Li Yun drank some tea to sober up, and said, "The situation in the north has been determined, but there are still many things to do in the south. However, when I go back this time, the Jinling court will be ready to move to Luoyang."

He looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Brothers, the next time we get together to drink, it will probably be in Luoyang."

Hearing this, everyone raised their glasses and clinked their cups once again, saying, “Once Hebei Province is pacified, we will all go to Luoyang and pay homage to the emperor!”

…………

This meal was a mess of drinking.

When Li Yun woke up the next day, he felt groggy. When he sat up, he saw a tall and thin woman sitting in the room.

When the woman saw him wake up, she quickly brought him some tea and said softly, "The king is awake."

It's Mrs. Lu.

Li Yun drank some water, rubbed his brows, and asked, "What time is it?"

"It's almost noon."

Lu Yuzhen said softly, "Several generals are waiting outside, saying they want to say goodbye to the king."

Li Yun finally sobered up a little. He exhaled the alcohol and shook his head slightly, saying, "You still can't drink too much of this wine."

Lu Yuzhen helped Li Yun stand up. Li Yun touched her buttocks. Her face turned red and she asked angrily, "What are you doing, my king?"

Li Yun acted as if nothing had happened. After coughing, he smiled and said, "I'll go meet them. You pack your things. We'll leave for Jinling early tomorrow morning."

Lu Yuzhen responded, looked at Li Yun, and said softly: "This time, the king cannot ride a horse by himself. If he rides a horse, he must take me with him."

She said seriously, "I can ride a horse, too."

Li Yun smiled dumbly, knowing what she was thinking, and said, "Okay, I'll take you with me even if we ride a horse this time."

Mrs. Lu was delighted and nodded in response.

After Li Yun went out and met with several generals, it was already afternoon and almost evening. He had just finished dinner when Xue Gui cautiously came to the courtyard where he temporarily lived and saluted: "Your Majesty, my...my father is here."

Li Yun looked up at Xue Gui and said with a smile: "He came so quickly. I thought I would see him on the way back."

"Have you eaten?"

Xue Gui was stunned for a moment, then shook his head slightly.

"Then let's eat together?"

Before Xue Gui could answer, Li Yun had already stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Forget it, go ask someone to prepare another table of wine and food, and your father, you and I, the three of us will have another meal together."

Xue Gui nodded quickly, said "OK", and then went downstairs to get ready.

Li Yun soon met Xue Shou, the Minister of Personnel, who had rushed back from Jinling. After the two met, Xue Shou respectfully performed the etiquette of a subject to Li Yun, while Li Yun pulled his sleeve and sat down, smiling and saying, "Brother, you came so quickly."

"I'm afraid it will delay the king's business."

Xue Shou smiled bitterly and said, "I only brought a few guards with me and rode fast horses all the way here."

Li Yun said "hmm" and smiled, "In the letter I wrote to you, I asked you to bring a few capable people to Hebei Province. Didn't you choose the right ones?" "I did."

Xue Shou immediately said, "They are all from Jinling who passed the imperial examination. I have selected a few capable ones and brought them to Hebei. However, they either cannot ride horses or cannot endure the hardship. It will probably take another ten days to reach Hejian."

Li Yun nodded slightly. He looked at Xue Shou and said softly, "Brother, what are you going to do?"

Xue Shou looked at Li Yun and said with a smile: "Of course I will follow the king's wishes. I will do whatever the king tells me to do."

"It's no use listening to me. I'm not familiar with Hebei's officialdom."

Li Yun said softly, "Some people from the Fanyang Lu family are in Hejian. After I leave tomorrow, big brother, go meet them."

"it is good."

Xue Shou said softly: "Tomorrow, I will go to Lu's house."

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "It's not that you should go find them, but that they should come to you."

Xue Shou was thoughtful when he heard this.

Li Yun reached out and knocked on the table, narrowing his eyes and saying, "Brother, the era of the thousand-year-old family is over. Now, the power to select Hebei officials is in your hands. They can only give suggestions at most. You should listen to them, but you can't listen to them."

"Do you understand, brother?"

The thousand-year-old family has too much influence in this era.

It is impossible for other people to look at them without any filters like Li Yun does.

Even Xue Song wanted to establish a relationship with the Gu family in Lin County.

Because there is an old lady in the Gu family who is from a noble family in Longxi.

I don't even know which generation this is, but some people still recognize it.

It is very difficult to get them to break away from their inherent values ​​all of a sudden.

Just like Xue Shou, he even needed Li Yun to teach him how to act cool.

Xue Shou seemed to be thinking about something for a long time before he took a deep breath and nodded, "I... probably understand."

Li Yun nodded with satisfaction and continued, "Then the matter of Hebei officials will be handed over to you, big brother. Before the end of this year, try your best to recruit the chief officials of all the prefectures and counties in Hebei."

"As for the assistant officers, we really can't fill them all, so we can only do it slowly."

Xue Shou nodded and said in a deep voice: "Okay, I'll do my best."

As the two were talking, Xue Gui came running over and bowed to them, "Dad, uncle, the wine and food are ready."

Xue Shou's eyes widened and he angrily asked, "What do you call me, you little brat?"

Li Yun stood up, pulled Xue Shou, and said with a smile: "If there are no outsiders, you should call them like this. Xue Gui didn't call you wrong."

Xue Shou was pulled by Li Yun and said helplessly: "Then I should call you Erlang first."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It's all small matters, let's go."

"Let's go eat."

…………

The next day, Li Yun took Li Zheng and his own royal carriage and headed south to Jinling.

After arriving in Jinling, he rested there for more than half a month. In late autumn and early winter of that year, the King of Wu left Jinling again.

This time, it was not heading north, but east.

However, Wang Jia did not go directly to Luoyang, but went straight to Li's hometown, Xuanzhou.

Li Yun and Xue Yun'er were riding in the king's carriage together. Also in the carriage were the eldest son Li Yuan, the second son Li Zheng who could already speak and ran away, and Li's only daughter Li Shu.

Li Yuan was lying on the window of the sedan chair, looking out, while Li Yun was holding one in each hand, also looking out the window.

After watching for a while, Li Yuan turned back to look at his parents and asked, "Father, where are we going?"

"Go to Xuanzhou."

Mr. Li smiled softly and said, "I'll take you back to our hometown to have a look."

"It's also where your mother and I met."

Upon hearing this, Queen Xue glared at Li Yun and said angrily, "Do we know each other? It was obviously you..."

Because the children were all there, Queen Xue glared at Li Yun and didn't continue speaking.

Li Yun laughed, touched the heads of his children in his arms, and said softly, "The trip to Xuanzhou is over, and our family is going to Luoyang."

"Are you looking forward to it, ma'am?"

Queen Xue looked at Li Yun and sighed slightly.

"In my heart..."

"I'm a little nervous."

(End of this chapter)