Thief Emperor

Chapter 847 Don’t wait when the time comes

"When I was young, I came to Luoyang many times."

His Royal Highness the King of Chu walked side by side with Li Yun in Luoyang City. He consciously lagged behind Li Yun by half a body length. Then he looked around and said with emotion: "When I came to Luoyang, I either came to have fun or to visit relatives. I didn't expect that it would be ten years later before I could revisit the old place."

The Prince of Chu shook his head and sighed: "I don't know how many of my friends from those days are still around now."

Li Yun looked at him and shook his head as well, saying, "Luoyang City has gone through many disasters. Of the high officials and nobles in the city back then, only two or three out of ten are left."

Mr. Li was relatively lenient towards the former aristocratic landlords. At most, he would find an excuse to look up old accounts, confiscate their property and use it as official assets.

Li Yun will only strike hard at those who are completely uncooperative and ignorant.

But other people are different from Li Yun.

Not to mention anything else, when Qiu Dian, the host of Jiangnan, occupied Yuezhou City, almost 60 to 70 percent of the wealthy families in Yuezhou City died, so that after Li Yun took over Yuezhou, he smoothly completed the "officialization of land" with almost no obstacles.

Because of the obstruction, they were all killed by Qiu Dian.

When these relatively low-level people suddenly gain supreme power over a certain area, that is, the power of life and death, it can sometimes be quite terrifying.

A person who seems to be well-behaved may become an evil ghost in such a situation without the constraints of military discipline.

As for people like Qiu Dian and Wang Junping, they had no military discipline at all.

Therefore, when Wang Junping was in the Central Plains, he swept across dozens of states and counties. Wherever he went, there were almost mountains of corpses and seas of blood. In the end, he died in Guanzhong and was called the Qi thief.

Luoyang City was once occupied by Wang Junping for a long period of time, almost half a year. During this half year, almost all the wealthy families in Luoyang City were wiped out by Wang Junping.

As for the nobles of Luoyang, if they failed to escape in time, they would most likely be killed by Wang Junping.

The most obvious among them is the Zheng family of Xingyang.

This thousand-year-old family had its ancestral home and land completely destroyed by Wang Junping's troops. Half of the clan members died in the turmoil, and the rest of the surviving members were also scattered everywhere. Most of them fled to Jiangdong and settled in Jinling.

A large part of the investment in Jinling New City came from the assets of Zheng family in Xingyang.

Up to now, Luoyang City has been restored in Li Yun's hands, and has regained 70% of its former appearance. However, thanks to Wang Junping, the Luoyang of today is no longer the same Luoyang of the past.

Wu Yuanyou heard this, looked at Li Yun, and said with emotion: "The old group of people back then are now being replaced by new people."

"That's different."

Li Yun turned around and looked at Wu Yuanyou, smiling and saying, "We newcomers are much more tolerant than the old ones."

The King of Chu first responded with a "yes", then smiled at Li Yun without saying anything.

Mr. Li chuckled and said, "I know what Your Highness wants to say. I want to say that it will become like that sooner or later."

"But it seems to me."

Mr. Li said slowly: "The dynasties of the world do not last more than three hundred years. It is because the powerful and wealthy have taken too much advantage that they can no longer continue after more than two hundred years. At this time, a dispute is needed to establish a new order."

"It goes around and over again."

Wu Yuanyou looked at Li Yun and hesitated for a long time before he continued, "Can the new dynasty of King Wu last for three hundred years?"

Li Yun shook his head and said with a smile: "I don't know. I won't live to be 300 years old."

He looked forward and said calmly, "But no matter what, this kind of innovation and rotation is always good. A period of severe pain can at least bring more than a hundred years of relative stability."

"What do you think, Your Highness?"

Wu Yuanyou was silent for a long time before he shook his head and sighed, "I'm afraid I'm not qualified to talk about these things."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It's just a small talk. I'm not one of those petty people."

He looked at Wu Yuanyou and smiled, "I know that deep down, Your Highness may still think that I used force to get my current position. Your Highness is still young, only in his thirties."

"Your Highness can wait and see for ten or twenty years to see whether the world is in my hands or in the hands of the old Zhou Dynasty."

"What's the difference?"

Wu Yuanyou smiled calmly: "I have seen it when I was in Jinling. The southeast under the rule of King Wu is indeed much better than the southeast before."

Li Yun pointed to the mansion not far away and said with a smile: "This is your highness's residence in Luoyang. Your highness will live here from now on."

Wu Yuanyou looked up at the house in front of him, then bowed to Li Yun.

"On behalf of my entire family, I would like to thank the king."

Li Yun helped him up, smiling: "Your Highness is polite."

Wu Yuanyou said solemnly, "If the king needs my help, I will do my best to help him."

Li Yun looked up at the sky.

"Not for now, but if there is a day when Your Highness really needs it." "That will happen after I enter the capital."

…………

Just when the King of Chu arrived in Luoyang, Li Yun's envoy Du Tong, holding Li Yun's imperial edict, had already entered Shuzhong and successfully entered Chengdu Prefecture.

At this time, there was already another small court in Chengdu.

When the emperor fled for the second time, he did not plan to return to the capital. In addition, the situation was urgent and he only took a few close officials with him. The small court in Shu seemed a little shabby at this time.

Compared with the previous Zhou Dynasty court, the number of candidates has been reduced by at least 60 to 70 percent.

At this time, the person in charge of this small court was Pei Huang, who was from the Wenxi Pei family.

Your Majesty, the Emperor now hardly cares about state affairs except for some important matters. Pei Huang is basically in charge of all matters, big and small, inside and outside the court.

Therefore, when Du Tong arrived in Chengdu, the person he finally met was Pei Sanlang of the Wenxi Pei family.

Du Tong was brought to Pei Xianggong's study. After the two met, Du Tong looked at Pei Huang thoughtfully, then bowed and said, "I am Du Tong, the envoy of the King of Wu, and I am honored to meet Pei Xianggong."

Pei Huang put down the brush in his hand and looked up at Du Tong. He stood up and bowed in return, then sighed deeply: "Seventh brother has come from afar to tease me."

Pei Huang's elder sister married Wu Yuancheng, who was then the crown prince. After that, Pei Huang and his son often stayed in the capital.

The Du family is the Jingzhao Du family.

The two families naturally knew each other, and not only knew each other, but were also very familiar with each other.

"It's not a joke."

Du Tong looked at Pei Huang and said solemnly: "Today, the world still recognizes the Shuzhong court as the orthodox. Since this is recognized as the orthodox, Sanlang is the worthy husband."

Pei Huang looked at Du Tong, first pulled him to sit down, and then asked: "Does the Jiangdong court really still recognize the Great Zhou as the orthodox one?"

Du Tong looked calm: "At least I admit it now."

Now Li Yun has not yet taken the throne, and there is no emperor in the Jiangdong court. Since there is no emperor, it is natural to recognize the Wu Zhou emperor.

However, once Li Yun took the throne, it would be impossible to continue recognizing Wu Zhou.

Pei Huang also understood the meaning of his words. He sighed deeply and said, "The Du family of Jingzhao has been blessed by the country for generations."

Upon hearing this, Du Tong put down the teacup in his hand. He looked up at Pei Huang and said expressionlessly, "My uncle has died for the Great Zhou."

At that time, Du Qian's father, Du Shangshu, continued to speak out for justice after Wei Quanzhong and three other military governors entered the capital, and eventually died tragically.

Later, Anrenfang also caught fire, and the entire ancestral home of the Jingzhao Du family was burned down.

The Jingzhao Du family was also destroyed at that time.

"At least half of my Du family died in that turmoil. In my generation, only my third and fifth brothers, Eleventh Brother, and I are still alive."

He looked up at Pei Huang and asked, "Jingzhao Du Shi, are you still sorry for the Great Zhou?"

Pei Huang lowered his head slightly, speechless.

In that incident back then, it was indeed Emperor Wu Yuancheng who was cowardly, otherwise, Shangshu Du would not have died tragically.

Pei Huang couldn't stand and could only pour tea for Du Tong, sighing: "What happened back then, you couldn't do anything, and I couldn't do anything either. Now."

"Why are you here, Brother Seven?"

"I came here to save the last bit of vitality of the Shuzhong court."

Du Tong looked at Pei Huang and said calmly, "As long as Shuzhong opens the gate and welcomes my king's army into Shuzhong and takes over Bashu, my king will forgive all the past mistakes."

"As long as the existing officials in Bashu are worthy of their positions, they can all remain in their posts, Sanlang."

"In the future, you can have a good future in the new dynasty."

Pei Huang looked at Du Tong without saying anything.

Du Tong said calmly, "Also, if your majesty abdicates the throne to me and settles in Luoyang, you can still be granted the title of king and live a life of wealth and honor."

Pei Huang took a deep breath, then looked at Du Tong and asked, "Do you dare to say these words again in front of His Majesty?"

Du Tong raised his head slightly: "Why not?"

……

An hour later, Du Tong repeated it in front of Emperor Wu Yuancheng, then he looked up at the emperor, lowered his head again, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, please consider these conditions as soon as possible, because if I am not wrong."

"Your Highness the King of Chu should have arrived in Luoyang by now."

(End of this chapter)