Thief Emperor

Chapter 862: Jiannan Confrontation
More than 14,000 people died in the battle!

The number of seriously injured has not yet been counted.

According to the report from the Nine Departments, in the battle of Jiameng Pass, the Jiangdong Army lost an estimated 20,000 combat troops.

Li Yun knew that Jiameng Pass was a strategically important place, and he also knew that this battle would be difficult to fight, and that he would have to sacrifice lives.

However, this loss was still beyond his expectations.

From a rational point of view, he can certainly afford such damage, and the benefits he will gain far outweigh the price he pays. However, he was the one who built up the Jiangdong Army, and there are still many soldiers in each army who are his, Li's, Jiangdong elders.

Li Yun stared at the sky in a trance for a long time. When he heard Du Qian's voice, he came back to his senses and asked, "What did Brother Shouyi say just now?"

Du Qian coughed and continued, "I am talking about the reign title."

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and said with a smile: "Isn't there still half a year left? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"The reign title of the new dynasty is different after all."

Du Qian continued, "It would be best to decide now. After all, in addition to issuing it to the whole country, the new money also needs to be minted as soon as possible. When the new dynasty is established, the new money will also be circulated throughout the country."

The money used by the Jiangdong court now is still the Jinling Tongbao. There is certainly nothing wrong with such Jiangdong money, but since the court is to be established, it must be standardized.

Li Yun thought for a moment and asked, "Have you come up with any alternatives?"

Du Qian nodded and said, "I, your servants, have been discussing this with Minister Tao of the Ministry of Rites for a long time. Recently, Minister Tao selected three reign titles and asked me to report them to the higher-ups."

"They are Zhangde, Zhengdao, and Kaiyuan."

When Li Yun heard the last reign title, he was stunned at first, then he realized that there was no Li Sanlang in this era.

Thinking of this, he smiled.

Du Qian was a little curious and asked, "Shangri-La, is there anything wrong?"

Li Yun shook his head slightly. He thought for a moment and said, "Forget Kaiyuan. I don't like this reign title very much. The other two can be considered."

"But I also have an era name, would you like to hear it, Brother Shouyi?"

Du Qian bowed his head slightly: "I am all ears."

"Zhang Wu."

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and asked, "What do you think, Brother Shouyi?"

Li knew very well how he rose to power. Even when he was in the Cangshan stronghold, he fought his way to his position with just his fists.

During the reign of the old Zhou emperor, an emperor often had more than one reign title, but Li Yun thought that was troublesome, and he wanted to emulate the Xiao Ming system, where the emperor would only have one reign title.

Originally, Hongwu was a good reign title, but since it was used by Zhu, Li Yun did not use it either.

As for Zhang Wu.

Although Emperor Zhaolie once used this reign title in order to emulate Xiao Guangwu, he died midway through his reign, and this reign title was not actually used for long.

Li Yun now has no possibility of dividing the world into three parts, and he is not afraid of bad luck.

Think about it, thousands of years in the future, it won’t be bad to be called “Emperor Zhangwu” by future generations.

Du Qian thought for a moment, then bowed to Li Yun and said, "When you ascend to the throne, will you use the reign title of Zhangwu? Or will we discuss this after we return?"

"Don't worry, you can discuss it again."

Li Yun shook his head and said, "This reign title is just a backup option."

Du Qian replied with a "yes", then bowed his head and said, "There is one last thing. The new dynasty's imperial temple has been almost completed. Minister Zhuo wants to ask for the names of our ancestors..."

Hearing this, Li Yun said without hesitation: "Let him go find Li Zheng for this matter. Li Zheng has the family tree I copied down."

Du Qian agreed and smiled, "In that case, there is nothing else to do for the time being. I will try my best to complete these matters and make the corresponding preparations in this month."

"correct."

Du Qian thought of something and said, "Ascending to the throne is a very important matter. Should we send a letter to the foreign nations and ask them to send people to participate?"

Li Yun waved his hand and said, "Brother Shouyi, you guys can make the decisions on these matters. You don't need to ask me."

Du Qian nodded.

As they were talking, the two of them had already walked into the future lobby of the Ministry of Households. Li Yun sat down in the main seat and looked around the environment of the Ministry of Households.

Du Qian stood beside him, and after thinking for a while, he asked, "Is the superior not satisfied with the battle at Jiameng Pass?"

These are not things a minister should say.

Originally, with Du Qian's intelligence, he would not say such an outrageous thing, but since he said it, he was asking this question as a "friend".

If he were a qualified monarch, he would not answer such a question. However, Li Yun looked up at him, and after a moment of silence, he shook his head slightly: "There is nothing wrong with the battle of Jiameng Pass in all aspects. If you say you are dissatisfied, then there is no point in talking about it."

"This result is already quite good." "But I am also a military commander after all, so I can't help but think about it."

Li Yun looked outside the door and whispered, "Will it be better if I lead the troops myself..."

Du Qian was slightly moved when he heard this, and he sighed softly.

"Don't think too much about it, superior."

"It's exhausting."

…………

Jiannan Road, Chengdu Prefecture.

Nearly 30,000 troops of the Jiannan Army have assembled outside the city of Chengdu, and the imperial guards have also assembled outside the Chengdu government. The two sides are confronting each other about 30 or 40 miles outside the city of Chengdu.

The atmosphere was very solemn.

Even His Majesty the Emperor was quite nervous and even planned to leave the city to hide. However, he was already in Xichuan, and there was no place for him to hide in such a big world.

He couldn't hide back in Guanzhong, could he? If he really went back to Guanzhong and fell into Wei Quanzhong's hands, he would have lost his position and value after losing Jiannan Road. He would probably be crushed to death by Wei Quanzhong.

At the critical moment, Prime Minister Pei Huang, also known as Pei Sanlang, took Zhang Huan, the youngest son of the Zhang family, out of Chengdu City. He personally came to the tent of the Jiannan Army and met Zhang Han, the eldest son of the Jiannan Jiedushi.

As soon as he entered the general's tent, the guards in the big tent had already drawn their swords, with the tips of their swords pointing at Pei Huang.

The guards around Pei Huang also drew their swords.

Pei Sanlang turned around and looked at the guards behind him, then pressed his hands and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, retreat."

"Leave the Fourth Young Master here."

Soon, all the guards around him retreated, leaving only him and Zhang Huan.

Zhang Han looked at Pei Huang, then at his own brothers. With a gloomy face, he waved his hands, dismissed his subordinates, then looked at Zhang Huan and said in a hoarse voice, "Fourth Brother, what's going on?"

Zhang Huan walked in front of Zhang Han. He looked up at his brother and finally couldn't hold back his tears. He cried so hard that he finally stopped crying: "Big brother!"

"Zhu Gui from the mansion was delivering medicine to my father when he suddenly jumped up and stabbed my father."

"Father passed away the day before yesterday..."

At this point, Zhang Huan burst into tears.

Zhang Qiong, the governor of Jiannan, was already seriously ill. After being stabbed, he managed to hold on for several days and even insisted on meeting the emperor. However, he eventually succumbed to the disease and passed away.

In fact, it is quite remarkable that he has managed to hold on for these few days.

Zhang Han looked up at Pei Huang with a gloomy face.

Pei Huang clasped his fists towards Zhang Han and said, "My Lord, Lord Zhang Ling has always been loyal to the court. Your Majesty and everyone else have seen this."

"In any case, the court has no reason to take action against Zhang Linggong."

Zhang Han said in a hoarse voice: "Then my father."

"The fourth young master also said that it was done by your servants."

Pei Huang said in a deep voice: "During this period, the people from the Imperial City Bureau investigated Zhu Gui from head to toe, and checked all the people he had contact with during this period. In total, more than 40 people with connections were arrested."

"More than half of these forty people died, but a few of them couldn't hold on and told the truth. They were members of Jiangdong Jiusi."

"Li Thief's men."

Zhang Han's face darkened when he heard this: "Whatever you say, that's what it is."

Pei Huang took a deep breath and continued, "Everything is backed by confessions. The Fourth Young Master has seen it all in the past few days."

He clasped his fists towards Zhang Han and said, "My Lord, Jiangdong's tricks cannot be hidden from anyone and will be exposed to the world sooner or later."

"The most urgent matter now is to ask the eldest master to return to Jianzhou immediately. Pei has heard that the Jiangdong army is attacking Jiameng Pass fiercely."

Zhang Han narrowed his eyes upon hearing this and sneered, "They have been attacking for several days. Let them attack."

"Jiameng Pass and Jianmen Pass are natural fortresses, as solid as a rock."

At this point, Zhang Han said coldly: "Now, I want to find out how my father was assassinated!"

Pei Huang was a little anxious: "My Lord, we will definitely find out what happened to Lord Ling. Before we find out, can we ask the Imperial Guards to send some people to garrison Jianzhou?"

Zhang Han looked up at Pei Huang with a suspicious look on his face.

"Mr. Pei wants to..."

"Go behind our army?"

(End of this chapter)