Thief Emperor

Chapter 867 "Brother"

Wei Yao looked up at his father, stunned.

After a long while, he came back to his senses, his voice trembling a little: "Dad, are we accepting this?"

"What should I do?"

Wei Quanzhong looked at his son and said in a hoarse voice, "The situation in Jiannan Road is hopeless. The Emperor of the Wu family is unlikely to allow our Shuofang Army to get involved. So the only thing left is to unite with the Hedong Army. However, our two families combined can only muster at most 200,000 troops, which is not much different from the Jiangdong Army... or even less than them."

"Let's not talk about whether we can win or not. Even if we can win, as long as Li Er retreats and delays for two years, we won't be able to hold out for too long without Jiannan Road."

"We occupy Guanzhong, so we have a geographical advantage. The Hedong Li family doesn't even have a geographical advantage. If they don't make any moves, I think Li Er will turn around and attack Hedong after he finishes dealing with Jiannan Road."

"Those brothers from Taiyuan can't hold off the Jiangdong Army for too long. At best, they can only hold out for one or two years."

General Wei bowed his head silently and said, "At the beginning, everyone in the world underestimated Li Er."

Li Yun's rise to power was due to the Yuezhou Rebellion. He took advantage of the Yuezhou Rebellion to occupy several states and counties in Jiangnan. Soon, he took over the entire Jiangnan East Road, and then the Jiangnan West Road. Relying on the Jiangnan Road, he developed rapidly.

At the beginning, few people took him seriously.

Because the fighting effectiveness of the Jiangnan soldiers is not very good.

At least it is much worse than some places where the people are tough.

Even General Su Jingsu, who led tens of thousands of soldiers from the south of the Yangtze River to support the Central Plains battlefield, eventually died on the battlefield and suffered a crushing defeat.

Although General Su's defeat was largely due to the court's problems, it can be seen from this that at least the combat effectiveness of General Su's army at that time was far inferior to that of border troops such as the Shuofang Army.

Therefore, everyone, including Zhou Xu, did not take Li Yun seriously at the beginning.

Everyone agrees that Jiangnan in the future will be a place where one can rule by a single order.

Until Li Yun defeated the Pinglu Army and took over Huainan Road.

Everyone had finally seen this up-and-coming "young man", but Wang Junping's rebellion had not yet been quelled, and everyone's attention was drawn to Guanzhong and the emperor.

By the time Wang Junping's rebellion came to an end, Li Yun had become powerful and no one could suppress him.

General Wei looked at his son and said silently: "Everyone in the world has seen how Li Er rose in the past few years. You should have seen it more than once. He is..."

"I'm so lucky, and I have the means."

General Wei shook his head slightly and said, "I have looked over and over his experiences over the past ten years. When he was in Yuezhou and Wuzhou, he had already established his own small court. By the time he took over the three provinces of Jiangnan, he had actually established his own country."

“Such a person.”

Wei Quanzhong took a deep breath and said, "Maybe it's fate."

Wei Yao gritted his teeth and said nothing.

General Wei looked at him, was silent for a moment, and then said, "Father knows that you are still young, so you are not convinced, and Xiao Heng is also not convinced. You also know what Xiao Heng's fate is."

"He is now imprisoned in Luoyang Prison. His entire family is imprisoned. He may be beheaded by Li Er at any time."

Wei Yao stopped talking.

General Wei patted him on the shoulder and said, "You still have a year, take your time to think about it."

Wei Yao lowered his head and said, "Dad, as long as the people of Guanzhong can be trusted, we may be able to establish our own regime in Guanzhong."

“The people’s hearts can be used…”

General Wei shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Before, many people have said this to me, but I always thought they were just being hypocritical and never took them seriously. It's only now that I know."

"It is not easy to be like Li Er, who wins the support of the people wherever he goes."

"Anyway, you still have at least one year. This year is enough for you to manage the administration in Guanzhong. You can try it yourself."

Wei Yao clasped his fists towards Wei Quanzhong and bowed his head and said, "Then kid, go and give it a try."

…………

Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it was mid-June of the eighth year of Zhaoding.

The weather in Luoyang has also reached its hottest time of the year.

At the gate of Luoyang City, Pei Huang, dressed in cloth, dismounted from his horse. He looked up at the familiar yet unfamiliar Luoyang City in front of him, took a deep breath, and walked in.

There are soldiers guarding the gate of Luoyang City. At a glance, pedestrians are walking in an orderly manner on the roads leading into the city. Various small businesses are set up on both sides of the road, and from time to time, you can hear the cries of hawkers.

Pei Huang stood there, stunned for a long time.

He hadn't seen such a scene for a long time. Even when he was in Chengdu Prefecture, Chengdu was far inferior to the current Luoyang.

While he was in a daze, a middle-aged man of medium height approached silently, looked at Pei Huang with complicated eyes, then lowered his head and respectfully saluted with his fists: "Sir."

Pei Huang suddenly came back to his senses, turned his head and looked at the middle-aged man. After a few glances, he recognized him: "Pei Zhuang."

Pei Zhuang lowered his head, his tone still respectful: "Yes."

Pei Huang looked carefully at his former servant, who was once one of the top ten masters in the capital. He was silent for a long time and then he sighed: "Now, you have found a wise master, and your life has become better." A few years ago, Pei Zhuang was sent to Jiangdong by Pei Huang to work in Jiangdong as an alternative spy.

In recent times, the two have long lost contact.

Pei Zhuang looked up at Pei Huang, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Sir, Jiangdong occupied Wenxi last year."

When mentioning Wenxi, Pei Huang's expression changed slightly.

Pei Zhuang bowed his head and said, "There are some people from the Wenxi Pei family who are now working in Jiangdong. I also took some time to go to Wenxi to meet the head of the family. The head of the family told me to work in Jiangdong with peace of mind in the future."

"So, sir..."

Pei Huang heard this, shook his head slightly, and said silently: "No need to explain, I understand."

Pei Huang's sister married the former crown prince, now the Emperor of the Great Zhou, and became Empress Pei.

From the moment his sister married the crown prince, their family was tied to the then crown prince Wu Yuancheng.

However, their family cannot represent the entire Wenxi Pei family, but only the small family headed by Pei Qi, the father of Pei Huang.

This small family is tied to Wu Yuancheng.

At the beginning, when Wu Yuancheng ascended the throne and became emperor, the Pei Qi family was indeed in great prosperity. Their say in the Wenxi Pei family was once quite important, and they almost controlled the entire Wenxi Pei family.

But now, things have changed.

The Wenxi Pei family had already "cut ties" with the Pei Qi family long ago, at least in terms of political stance.

Pei Zhuang looked up at Pei Huang, took a deep breath, and said, "Sir, let's go into the city. The king knows that you are coming, so he ordered me to welcome you here and take you to see the king."

"Kings…"

Pei Huang murmured, shook his head slightly and said, "He is really humble."

Pei Sanlang's words were not sarcastic. In fact, he was quite surprised that Li Yun could keep his composure so far.

If a normal person reached Li Yun’s current situation, he would have ascended the throne and become emperor long ago.

Back then, Wang Junping dared to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor after occupying only Guanzhong.

Li Yun, on the other hand, had already laid the foundation for founding a nation.

Pei Zhuang did not speak, but turned sideways and said, "Sir, please follow me."

Pei Huang nodded silently and said, "You lead the way."

Pei Zhuang looked at the horse behind Pei Huang and said, "Sir, please get on the horse. I will lead the horse for you."

Pei Sanlang shook his head slightly: "Just lead the way."

"it is good."

Pei Zhuang did not insist, and strode towards the city gate with Pei Huang. Before they reached the city gate, the soldiers guarding the gate bowed respectfully to Pei Zhuang and said, "Coach Pei!"

Pei Zhuang looked up at the soldiers, shook his head slightly, and waved his hand, saying, "Do your job."

After that, he led Pei Huang into the city unimpeded. After entering the city, Pei Huang could not help but ask: "Pei Zhuang, you are in Jiangdong..."

"I worked as a coach in the army for several years and taught them martial arts for several years."

Pei Zhuang quickly replied: "Just a nobody."

As soon as he finished speaking, a young captain of the Jiangdong Army not far away saw him, and hurried forward, clasped his fists and saluted, smiling and saying, "Where are you going, Master Pei?"

Pei Huang looked up at him and recognized him as an old acquaintance. Given his personality, he should have been reminiscing about the past, but since his own son was there, he just waved his hand and said, "I have something to attend to. Are you guarding the city gate today?"

"Yes."

The young captain smiled and said, "It's my turn tomorrow. I'll go have a drink with Master Pei. Where do you live, Master Pei?"

Pei Zhuang waved his hand and said, "I have something important to do. I'll come find you when I'm free."

The captain glanced at Pei Huang behind Pei Zhuang, nodded with a smile and said "OK".

Pei Zhuang then led Pei Huang into the city. Pei Huang looked at his former servant in front of him and sighed: "You have been in the Jiangdong Army for these years..."

“It’s a high status.”

Pei Zhuang said quickly: "I joined the Jiangdong Army to teach them martial arts relatively early, so I know some people, but I don't have a high status..."

After that, he pointed to the distance and said, "Look, sir, that's the imperial city."

Pei Huang looked up at the imperial city in the distance, then looked at Pei Zhuang in front of him. His eyes flashed, and then he sighed softly.

"Brother, please lead the way."

(End of this chapter)